The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-01-29

hiNHh HFed In sleepy little New
England village, and was it's recog-
nized beauty. Not that the quiet. staid
New Englanders would ever have adj
mitted openly their pride i'm Elyira-
that would have been impossible to
thelr grim tenets Of faith; but they
TOOK the same pleasure in the girl
as they did over the bright flowers in
tnelr gardens, glorious Gala lilies, light
wavy priEce's feather, sweet-scented
honeysucke, Towering candytuft. Ell
vira was very pretty, so slight that by
the side of more heavily built girls she
looked like wild flower and quite as
ethereal; blue eyed and with a cloud
OF fair flaXen hair that would fall in
SOFT drifts round the sweet oval face
she lived with an old unmarried aunt
In house close to the road. n thick
hedge of evengreens surrounding il
and FENCING off the garden. The house
belonged to the aunt, also a small sum
In the bank, on the interest of which
they lived in fair comfort.
Elvira wanted to earn her own liv-
Ing. Once she had persuaded Amt
Hardy, the village dressmaker. to take
her as an apprentice, but old Clarissa
Lane mad descended with flaming
cheeks on the busy little woman
Il just guess, Mis- Hardy" she cried
that we amt so hard put to il that
my own brothers child goes out to
work, 1t was real kind of you to take
her-but-Elvira, you Just put on your
bonnet and come home this minute. 8"
80 blyira rose from the table where
she was sitting SEWING with another
glrl-and as she shook away the
scraps and ships of silk from her
gown she shook away her own freedom
and independence. From henceforth
she would belong utterly to this erect
gray-haired old woman-she would go
back to the white house-and live
there, an imprisoned princess.
Old Clarissa worked herself TO the
bone for Elvira. She hated to see
the girl doing rough work and soilipg
her delicate pretty fingers. In the
same way Elvira was debarred from
working in the garden.
Don't you go for to brown your
race like them wild Mellor girls. Ell
Vira,' was Clarissas constant cry If
she saw her niece digging in the gar
go right in at once; guess the
sun won't hurt me-"
To see Clarissa at her happiest mo-
ment was to see her on SUNDAYS walk
Ing up the aisle of the meeting house
behind her niece, conscious of the adj
miratlon given Involuntary to pretty
ElYira by even the strictest members
present, watching every fold of the
white dress and flutter OF the ribbons
her eyes dwelling lovingly on the
pale yellow hair and slender, graceful
form. Clarissa was exalted by her
great and passionate love out of a chill
winter spinsterhood into warm and
rich maturity.
She loved to dress Elvira In soft
girlish muslins and to tie her straw
hat with fine silk ribbons. For her
self a rusty black alpaca and an old
faded bonnet, but Elvira must always
go fresh and dainty. The girl REBEL
ed, with flushing, sensitive face and
weak tears-she hated to go fine while
old Clarissa wore her ugly cottons
to rags, but her protest was unheed-
ed by the strong, masterfuI old wo-
man.
Elvlra was allowed nc sweetheart.
Other girls could walk home from
meeting with their beaus. and sit with
them at winter time in a lamp lit par
Tor, but Clarissa trudged alongside Ell
Vira like some old duenna. and the
young men Of the village could only
gaze at the delicate fowerllke girl
who was not for them and their kind.
gaze with a half reluctant admiration.
also a dim perception that here was a
material too fine.
But the lover came-c came I'm the
person of one Gilman Holmes, n young
New York pressman, who was spend.
ing his brief holiday in search of
copy" Chance or fate took him to
Elvira's village. lie came TO study
types, he remained to smdy-love.
An alert bright eyed man Of thirty.
precise In dress, slim in figure. Gilman
spoke with a sharp crispness pleasant
In contrast to the slow New England
voices. Compared with the village
young men he was as the racer to the
willing carthorse. brimmnig over
with nervous vitality, a creature Of
high pressure
lie had taken rooms with Deacon FL
win, but the good man saw little Of his
boarder, for Gilman took the village
by storm, and every door was open to
him. lie went about with his note
book his keen eye ever ready to seize
a likely picture. his fingers itching TO
transfer to paper the hCmely speech Of
his rustic entertainers. Journalist first
Gilman Holmes afterward.
Clarissa. not to be outdone GA hos
Ditality. wrote a prim. formal note in
wiling the young man b. tea, an inW-
tation which he accepted with alacrity
for rumor had already reached him OF
Elvira and her beauty
Il was with peculiar care that Clar-