The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-07-04
JENKlNSON'S SHRINE.

No wonder he looked a bit leathery !;
no wonder he tied his tie in a manner
suggesting shoe laces, and expressed his
estimate of fellow mans character by
the mysterious letters A, e or D.
He was ''in the shoe business
He always expressed it in that way
as sounding somewhat better than the
more vulgar acknowledgement, II am
an assistant in shoe shop"
But he was.
And his fingers had tied and united
more shoe laces than even the manager
of the establishment. But, although his
eyes were trifie weak, not to say pink
and watery. his trouser knees shiny, and
though he possessed several other un-
pleasant drawbacks. his heart was q
heart after all.
He never knew he had a heart until
the day she came to get some slippers
to wear at her own coming out nartv
on st; Valentines Day. Mamma was
with her-mamma, ponderous and i'm
posing, but whose SHOES he had fitted
Unable. Said Mamma that day as she
swept into the big shop:
Where is MI; Jenklnson? I could
never rt think Of having shoes fitted by
any other young person.
So when they called him-he was at
the II back Of the shop explaining lucidly
me lntrlcacles Of the day book to a lady
of fraud in the matter-he came At once
remember-fves G, isn't it?'' said
ne' bowling before her magnifcence Of
furs and silks. "
"Oh, but it isn't today, Mr.. Jenkin-
son son SAD mamma, in superior way.
IT tw0s, and the narrowest you haveH'
ana tnen for the first time he saw
it was her foot which stole his heartH
healthy and tough in the matter of
pretty feet, from having been in the
BUSINESS Tor yearS-and more
especially.
But that little FOOT
Or rather those little feet, for he fitted
mem both. They were slender, arched
IN .lnstep, curved like the most exouisite
of shoemaker's lasts. Not foot for
an artist to admire-not in the least
put foot to wear and dance in
number two shoe in a manner to win
the heart of the most blase shoeman.
hlte satin, please, and quite jolly
hlsh heels!' said small, imperious
voice.
And such dreams of slippers. Sucb
suggestions of coquetry in the matter
of heels, did the amiable Mr.. Jenkinson
procure from out mysterious green
boxes!
No wonder she was satisfied.
FOR I'm never going to wear white
ones again.. you understand, until Pm
either married or dead: said the small,
'm3 Mncrnys vo;''ce, &C.; essaying a laugh;
reckless way of talking you have learned
at school! I feel quite like finding fault
Il do indeed'
But she only laughed again, and
skipped merrily out to be tucked up with
rugs by pompous footman.
After that, when that footman waited
before the door of the shop it was
more more often tWos, quite narrow" than
Elves, broad"
Ah,, that St. Valentines day.
And poor Mr.. Jenkinson!
How could a little girl Just from
school, reveling in her first season. know
that among her fifty odd adorers there
was one who never so much as dared
raise his pink, watery eyes from her
feet?
''She's got the daintiest foot in town.
press ner! MI. JenkinsOn would say to
And he came to brood upon it. Once
when she tried Oh walking boots, she
kicked OF some tiny shoes which she
had most audaciously dared to wear dur
Ing her trip into town in the smart
brougham and said:
You need not send them home; they
are so wOrn."
That night Mr.. Jenkinson instituted n
shrine: 1t consisted of a corner cabinet
of walnut, which was adorned as tn it's
exterior with a knitted mat and a ch;na
dog: ''
When he had hired his room the land
lady had casually remarked:
It'll open. You can keep your mod
lclnes i'll it. hope you'll put it to no
worse use. My last lodger-him as We
mad an inquest on-used it for his whis-
Ky bottle and always carried the key"
!, was 1t the later fact or the matter of
the inquest which seemed to so envelope
t IN genlal lady in disgust? Mr.. Jen-
klnson never even tried to solve the
problem. But it came to pass that he
gave her reasons after that night to
suspect his own possession of q whisky
bottle, for he afterward carried the kew
even as the man associated with the mar
agraph in q daily paper in reference to
all inquest.
But whisky bottle?
At night when he unlocked the door of
the little walnut cabinet, one might see
something far more dangerous to the
masculine heart
Two tiny, half-worn shoes of bronze
kid. n-o
They were his valentines.
That was all.
Yet many men have worshipped less.
And If on the last great day all is made
open and all secrets disclosed. what
strange, not to say laughable, shrines
of the bachelor heart will be among the
exhibits! And she never knew. That
act impaired strange melancholy to the
affair, in Mr.. Jenkinson's opinion. And
how busy she kept him! Pink shoes, blue
slippers, green satin and lemon satin.
and such wicked. wicked rosettes and
heels!
At last-for there is always that in
evitable Eat LAST in affairs of the heart
even though it be not shoeman's heart
there came to Mr.. Jenkinson a blow-a
bitter, bad blow. You would not think q
pair Of white satin high-heeled s.number
twos, narrow" could administer as s.
we're one. But so it was. Had she not
said, II will never wear another pair Of
white ones until marry or dep And
she was very much alive He could not
wish her dead-an, no!but it was very
hard to bear. He learned quite over thai
little dear foot as he fitted the slippers