Evening journal., 1899-07-13
HIS LITTLE LADY.
4AKY LIrrLE LApY.., l used to eall


IVA her greatly. 1T is such an absurd
name, she would say, "and besides, YOU
know how much dislike any remarks about
my personal appearance. It is quite mis-
fortune enough TO be so ridiculously small
without being reminded Of it constantly"
"Ah, but one OF these days you will be
great" / would say, and she would laugh
heppily at the prophecy-how that happy
child laugh of hers rings in my ears even
now-and would accuse me of blind par
tiality, (which is she would remind me,
quoting a favorite saying of mine, which
was prone to occur often in our many lit
erary discussions, "only another form Of par
tial blindness"
How shall / describe her, ] wonder; how
put on paper all the incongruous charm
which made her what she was.
No man could describe her and do her
justice He could not faithfully portray
the clearness Of the beautiful eyes; the del
icate color of her cheeks; the distinct shade
Of her wavy hair that fell about her shoul-
ders in a mass Of half curls; be could not
picture in words the subtle form or the at
tractive grace that made her all the world
to me.
To tell you Of her appearance is to belle
her character, for the outward being and
the inner self had no sisterhood save when
now and again, at some chance word that
inspired a noble thought in her, the wom-
ans glorious soul peeped shy out through
her blue eyes till they grew dark and deep,
and the warm glow Of her divine intelligence
permeated and shone through her clear baby
skin.
She loved poetry-true poetry-and re-
membered all she loved in it. All III you
1 1. !, ffrr hos vol
At such moments she was beautiful-more
than that, worshipful.
have seen young men and cantankerous
old women rise spellbound to that bright
angel face. and listen breatlessly for the
words as they fell from those baby lips.
At such times the beautiful story of the
Christ child in the temple has seemed to me
to gain strength and reality, and / have pom
dered wonderingly over the power some NOR
tails have to hold and enthrall Others, bind
ing them fast to good OF evil,
must speak Of her as a child, suppose,
in order that you may see her as she APP
peared to the physical eye; one had to know
and to love her (the terms are synonymousl
to see her with the eyes of the mind. Those
who knew her-they were not many-saw
her as child, but they loved her as
woman.
A woman TO be loved fercely, hotly; a
woman to dare for, to work for to achieve
for-if need be, to die for-but to die hon.
orablv on life's battlefield, fighting to the
last
A woman Of whom the world sees but few,
bv far too few. A woman that brings out
the noblest traits Of man. Such woman
was my little lady.
A woman at whose feet mans successes
might be laid, and whose one word OF praise
/ would be all-sufficient guerdon.
All. We womenl VIII you never under
stand your wondrous powers to make mer
or to mar theml
You laugh at this "high-fown nonsense
about a child" do you not? forgive you
for YOU never knew my little lady
Until my little lady came into my lie,
was alone. Do you know what that means.
| Have YOU realized it? Can you realize Il
To 90 out into the world, to eat and to drini
ike other people do, to shake your fellow
creatures bv the hand while mentally yo'
snurn them under foot and void your rheuu
upon them, to greet all men and women wit4
| n lie upon your lps-a lie that processes n
/ terest in their health and in them for whom
i Won care no more than for the starving mon
| grel which YOU drive from your doorstep
with savage kick and an oath muttere'
through set teeth To be without any low
for any living thing; nay, to hate the who'll
hinge human race because one man and on
woman have proved unworthy--to hate an'
loathe Yourself even more than You detes
the vilest thing that crawls the earth-th
Il 10 be alone And so was ] until my ht
tie lady came into my life
! How well remember the first time me
herl
A silly woman who thoueht-I might per
chance become the purchaser OF one OF ne
silly daughters, had asked me TO come am
helm amuse some children thinking, n
donbt. that the juvenile setting would en-
hance in my eyes the value Of the jewel sh
intended for me.
IN did lust the reverse. have always love
| children. and the sight Of their sweet mn'
oence made me hate the men and wome
there still more. / sat in corner an
watched the children play, wishing coul
be one of them again. My little lady wa
j, foremost in the games, but presently sh
left the others, and came to sit near me.
ssHave YOU a headache?" She asked, in
voice that struck me almost unconscious
, as too deep and fun for so young girl.
srNo-a heartache," ! answered, withor
D. thinking of what / said, and then, angr
= with myself for self-betrayal, / tried
I Joke away my answer and to talk nonsens
4 10 the child
l What happened after that hardly know
= I only lsno,.<nat soon we were in deep COZ
vcrsation. and gradually 7 talked to her {
I had never talked to living being sin'
those two devils-bul no matter. As lei
the house I noticed two stains-tear stain
o upon my glove ], the misanthropel
D who almost hoasted that nothing ha
r. touched my heart for IS years.
D Oh, my little lady, my little lady
p 1t was her birthday. her eightegAssti irt
n dav. and had brought her a While roseht
S TO put in her hair which she put mp that d'
e for the first time.
d 1t lay unnoticed on the ground at her fee
now half picked TO pieces by her nervo'
fingers.
e Fool to have told her then, and so su
3 denlyi
q How could child Of her age love ms
Of mine?
How could she understand How cou
IL she-I went away and cursed myself.
II is four years since left my little h'
with the panied look in her blue eyes an
nv rosebud at her ieet, and in half an no