The times., 1898-08-07

CERTAIN Eentltlutf WIZ nav N"A@NS'- -'
fancies for having their clothes fitted in
her fathers dingy shop used to say thai !
her smile found its way into the creVlces
and through the door and upstairs to the
street and the sunlight as any otner sane
thing might have done. Jess took their
speeches as a matter of course and only
sneered in reply. No one felt better than
herself the truth of what they said and
having been lily trained she did not know
how to hide her knowledge, nor did she
care But on the contrary she had stood
as a child of ten on the pavement that
reached the middle of their windows and
had stared eagerly at the fiashily-dressed
women who were always passing. Ana
after it was all over she had gone INTO
the foul room she shared with a younger
sister and had looked into the deformed
mirror which hung there, wondering why,
she, who was ten times as handsome as
the creatures she had seen, might not al
so wear diamonds and silks that rustled
as one walked and stood stiff when one
remained still.
Old Alto Nurmadez, whom accident had
made her father, used to look up then
over the eternal pantaloenS at Whicn ne
was ever sewing and frown. The girl
was in danger and he knew ii and cared
little for her sake. Only If she ran away
things would be different. There were
six gentlemen who wore fine clothes and
drove in carriages who had brought
their custom down east of Third Avenue
and to him since Jessica had become
beautiful Perhaps they might not relish
her leaving Once Alto had spoken to her
about the matter but there it had drop
ped. He never beat her. Alio knew
something of human nature and under
fhy-a= IN
girls with black hair and brown eyes
with thick lips and square chins, with
olive skins. and long. narrow fingers.
After all there were few things to keep
a restive girl near the shop. To those
who know nothing OF them, there may
be novelty in harsh smells and dingy,
/ crowded rooms and in the rumble of the
elevated overhead, but it is neither
strange nor pleasant for those to whom
sun and air come only at long intervals.
I On dazzling hot days that same elevated
used TO complain itself about the narrow
ways and the fearful sights through
which it was forced to so. To Jessica
! the roar of the trains spoke only of toll.
/ She herself had worked since long before
t she had understood the meaning of the
] word. 1t was at about that time that her
/ mother had come home one night drunk
and had stepped from the moving surface
! car directly against one of the iron poles
| that support the road above. She was
still drunk when they picked her up and
/ she died so.
Jess cared no more for her parents than
/ they had ever done for her. AS baby
! she had gone at her tasks sullenly But
for the younger sister she had never had
anything but kind words and kinder
| deeds. Nita was not as pretty as she nor
half so strong. Perhaps it was both of
I these that made Jess love her. 1t is 50
delightful to have others trust us and de-
! pend upon US when we ourselves under
| stand how simple an affair it would be 10
! crush them did we but care to do So Nita
used TO pray and the elder girl never
! laughed at her. Now and again both
would speak their Aves and Paters to-
gether, only Jess would not kneel.
The little one was the single person in
the neighborhood TO whom Jess said a
word when she did go. For a twelve
month she had been visiting the cheap
theaters near and had spent hours in
staring at ugly pictures and betighted
players outside under the gas lamps. Once
she had seen on the stage woman as
beautiful as herself and had waited ir
the alleyway for her afterward. But the
creature was not handsome without hel
red cheeks and pink fieshlings and jess
had gone home with a new wonder bu
an mistaken faith in self. Three days af
ter she met the manager of the burlesqu'
show. He, too, wore diamonds and seem
ed happy. Jess asked to go with him ant
, he looked her over, mentally unclothe
her trim legs and bust, kissed her ant
assented. There were other conditions
but they were trifies to Jess. She had a
well live with one man as another
When she returned home Alto had gon
some distance to deliver a pair of trou
sers. Jess did not wait for him to com
, | back. She merely took with her q strin
Of beads and two red kerchiefs that sh
had bought shortly before, but left be
hind the more costly things that had bee
given her. They might help to appeas
the wrath Of her father when he foun
her gone. Before leaving she kissed Nit
three times on the mouth and once on III
forehead The child threw both arm
around her sister and clung there a
! though she had been frightened. Some
thing rose in her eyes and Jess woul
have cried for the first time in her Iii
; had not the sister preceded her She wa
still sebbing when Jess opened the froI
door and strobe defiantly out of the hous
The wanderer did not know that thel
| is a proverb about all not being gold thf
glisters, but in less than year she foun
= IT ont. She was hurt on the first day
her new experience when she found thf
| the sparkling things she had seen on II
, / tights We're not diamonds but glass. a
. | ter that she was always miserable. Oti
. er women in the company were unkind
her and. often Stern, the manager, wou
2 come TO their hotel drunk and would be;
n her. She would have killed any 9th
5 man. but he had never feared TO stril
= her and she loved him. Not even Il
blow he hit her with a chair one mornir
made her cry-Jess never cried.
i But she was unhappy. Had not Il
paint and the music and the lights hi
den ii those who knew her in the 3
Il dience would have seen that her face Wi
: not sn round but that her eyes were bi
: ger than of yore. Had 1T not been f
s the sister, Jessica might have gone bac
= but she would never let Nita know of b
. humiliation Through all the rest of
her strange, wild love for the girl nev
tagged nor wavered. 1t was through
;, ia that an accident occurred one nigf
- Earlier in the afternoon Stern had to
. less that on the Saturday before he b;
- met her sister and the woman had broo
: ed over it all day. Just before the Pc
formance she determined TO sacrifice h
= pride and take advantage of their pre-
AZ ence near home to warn the child S
m had left the theater and was passing
/ front lights, when the manager stopp
I'd her. Nnere dit YOU SoIiiS. he el-9A'
. leaning so far over that she could sm
y the LIQUOR on his breath. But she a
n swered, I'm going to tell Nita abo
YOU
ID 1.-THE hell you are" was his reply, a
L. he struck her in the face with his clenc
ar ed fist Jess fell against the curb a
Y. the Jagged stone cut into her temples a
ne let the blood out. A crowd ealherea
Id a policeman came ana asked questloi
II l,ay dom tod