Lady of the Decoration
Book Description
THE LADY OF THE DECORATION
By
FRANCES LITTLE
TO ALL GOOD SISTERS, AND TO MINE IN PARTICULAR
The Lady of the Decoration
SAN FRANCISCO, July 30, 1901.
My dearest Mate:
Behold a soldier on the eve of battle! I am writing this in a stuffy
little hotel room and I don't dare stop whistling for a minute. You
could...
MoreTHE LADY OF THE DECORATION
By
FRANCES LITTLE
TO ALL GOOD SISTERS, AND TO MINE IN PARTICULAR
The Lady of the Decoration
SAN FRANCISCO, July 30, 1901.
My dearest Mate:
Behold a soldier on the eve of battle! I am writing this in a stuffy
little hotel room and I don't dare stop whistling for a minute. You
could cover my courage with a postage stamp. In the morning I sail for
the Flowery Kingdom, and if the roses are waiting to strew my path it
is more than they have done here for the past few years. When the
train pulled out from home and I saw that crowd of loving, tearful
faces fading away, I believe that for a few moments I realized the
actual bitterness of death! I was leaving everything that was dear to
me on earth, and going out into the dark unknown, alone.
Of course it's for the best, the disagreeable always is. You are
responsible, my beloved cousin, and the consequences be on your
head. You thought my salvation lay in leaving Kentucky and seeking my
fortune in strange lands. Your tender sensibilities shrank from having
me exposed to the world as a young widow who is not sorry. So you
"shipped me some-wheres East of Suez" and tied me up with a four
years' contract.
But, honor bright, Mate, I don't believe in your heart you can blame
me for not being sorry! I stuck it out to the last,--faced neglect,
humiliations, and days and nights of anguish, almost losing my
self-respect in my effort to fulfil my duty. But when death suddenly
put an end to it all, God alone knows what a relief it was! And how
curiously it has all turned out! First my taking the Kindergarten
course just to please you, and to keep my mind off things that ought
not to have been. Then my sudden release from bondage, and the
dreadful manner of it, my awkward position, my dependence,--and in the
midst of it all this sudden offer to go to Japan and teach in a
Mission school!
Isn't it ridiculous, Mate? Was there ever anything so absurd as my lot
being cast with a band of missionaries? I, who have never missed a
Kentucky Derby since I was old enough to know a bay from a sorrel! I
guess old Sister Fate doesn't want me to be a one part star. For
eighteen years I played pure comedy, then tragedy for seven, and now I
am cast for a character part.
Nobody will ever know what it cost me to come! All of them were so
terribly opposed to it, but it seems to me that I have spent my entire
life going against the wishes of my family. Yet I would lay down my
life for any one of them. How they have stood by me and loved me
through all my blind blunders. I'd back my mistakes against anybody
else's in the world!
Then Mate there was Jack. You know how it has always been with
Jack. When I was a little girl, on up to the time I was married, after
that he never even looked it, but just stood by me and helped me like
a brick. If it hadn't been for you and for him I should have put an
end to myself long ago. But now that I am free, Jack has begun right
where he left off seven years ago. It is all worse than useless; I am
everlastingly through with love and sentiment. Of course we all know
that Jack is the salt of the earth, and it nearly kills me to give him
pain, but he will get over it, they always do, and I would rather for
him to convalesce without me than with me. I made him promise not to
write me a line, and he just looked at me in that quiet, quizzical way
and said: "All right, but you just remember that I'm waiting, until
you are ready to begin life over again with me."
Why it would be a death blow to all his hopes if he married me! My
widow's mite consists of a wrecked life, a few debts, and a worldly
notion that a brilliant young doctor like himself has no right to
throw away all his chances in order to establish a small hospital for
incurable children. Whenever I think of his giving up that
long-cherished dream of studying in Germany, and buying ground for the
hospital instead, I just gnash my teeth.
Publisher | |
Binding | Kindle Edition (59 editions) |
Reading Level | Uncategorized
|
# of Pages | N/A |
ISBN-10 | B004LGS54M |
Publication Date | 01/28/2011 |
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