Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1897-02-19
HER LAST DANCE.

lricnuS admitted that. And though
seyen-;,nd-twenty, and the mother oS
girl Of seven. She still retained SO
much of yirginal expression and eou-
tour that Imagination Was 10th 20 ac-
eept the fact of matrOnhood. One felt,
indeed. that if the "Ewige Weiblich,"
ehangefully changeless, radiantly soul
satisfying, were to be personiiied. here
was the model. Gracious and graceful,
gentle and joyous, she possessed
talepts innumcrable. al cultiyateSl 70 a
certain aegree-to a dpgree that had
quite sufiiced for her own enjoyment ami
the ediiicatiop Of host of admiring
and not too exaeting friends. who
thought her a delightful prodigy and
spoiled her accordingly.
tfpt, now, cudgel the stunned brain
as she would, no real capability "of
marketable value" as Il had been SO
blnntly put to her even in these early
hours of misery--Cousin Selma always
put things bit bluntlY, she fel i with u
little shiver OF nnnoyance-no resource
gould she discover TO stand her in good
stead in the dreaded day that had come
at last. The bolt had fallen that morn
ing, and, with numb. fplheh hands and
dry, tsrror-filled eyes, she sat in the
, darkest corner of her gay little draw
ing-room, bepeath the CHASTITY chamber
whence we're soon 10 be borne the Garth
ly rcmaips of her husband.
What was she 10 do2 How was she 70
procure, not the luNures without which
she scarce imagined her child could
>xist, but the bare necessities OF life?
every piece OF furniture in the house
was mortgaged TO it's full value, and
her Inst jewel had gone TO pay the rent.
Thank heaven, they would have this
maven for some time to come. She WAS
IN debt to butcher and baker, and she
had not had y new pair of gloves foi
Iuonths. Shillings had bocome the pas's
OF expenditure as gpineas had beeu
hitherto.
In the morning sympathizipg friends
came TO support and assist her through
the trying ordeal All passed Ike u
dream. ''Tout passo. tout casse,r she
said, over and over, but my heart is
strong"
When, IA month later, she cat with
Cousin Selma In the snme room. i'm the
same chair, listening again to the gusty
Il
yvas TO her as If no appreciable time had
inteTvened Dreamily she took up the
! thread of her thoughts where she had
dropped II that sad night, and the
strange conceit came back 90 her.
Women. less brilliant but stol,d and
| plodding, were cnsconced In journals
/ where she had dislained even TO allow
ler verses TO appear. With voices in NJ
way comparable 10 hers, she saw others
succeed; while she. who sang like n
bird-but like bird. too, only when in
spired-could make no impression.
And SO. lowered as she was, she WINS
poorer and more helpless than the
humbfest woman who could conscien-
tiously knit pair of stockings or en-
broider a teacloth.
The pretty face seemed pinched and
weary; two deep lines began TO inclosc
the dropping mouth. II smile Ell
rarenthese," she said, to Cousin Selma
us she turned from the mirror. where
she was trying TO change the express
sion Of those qpivering lips. that even al
the moment curved upwards, Cupid's
bow, at the quaint eonceit.
More surely than ever she knew she
COULD ask no favors, but must put her
own shoulder 10 the wheel. But what
10 do when all else failed? To dance on
the stagcI Why not2 She could dance;
all her life she had loved 10 dance. In
her greatest JOY she had ever found full
est expression ip dancing TO her own re-
elections before the long mirror in her
boudoir. a hundred times her darling
had been lulled 20 sleep eased of her
pain by the dancing Of ber pretty
| MuInsie." Once. with her husband. she
had seen famous actress--a woman
chaste as hcrself-dance so gracefully.
yet with an abandone so perfect as to
captivate an audience accustomed to eX-
hibitions from which she had turned
in loathing-to his annoyance. since
mis- taste grew yearly less refined. Ever
then, 'The pity of it," she had sighed.
And how much even then was implied
that she should say. turning 10 him:
THAT could do. am certain"
"May you never need" he had an
swered, fervently. For he loved her and
was proud of her. though his paths in
life were devious, though no would no.
follow her. II all came back TO her vivid
ly-the gay scene, the eager faces. the
murInur of delight. the applause that
rose again and again, and could not be
etayed. Her heart beat fast; yes. she
would dance. 1t might cost her the few
friends she still possessed, but as long
rs she helped herself she could maintain
her pride.
Next day began a tiresome round OF
interviews with impatient, incrcdulous
, or impertinent managers. with heart
J growing daily heavier and a brain
sharpened almost to yiciousness. At
last an impressario, touched by her
grace and the expression Of braEe des-
pair in her hungry eyes. granted her a
, trial, fixing an hour at the theater on
! the following day in the early forenoon
Amid a concourse Of women. some sym
pathetic, some brazeply .inquisitive. all
so different from herself that she scarce
felt they were her sisters. she made her
first essay. How unreal it seemed; a
dream, she kept telling herself. u dream
from which she would walsen' IN mo-
ment.