putterings 004 < 005 > 006 index
who ever heard
I was a vain puss then, a petted, half-spoilt, only daughter, and heiress to many broad acres. You’ll ask for whom were all these preparations? — certainly not for lone me. Who ever heard of a girl of eighteen working and puttering at such a rate, when she does not expect a beau? You see I knew, intuitively, that Philip Dean would come — you know Philip. There had been a little kindness growing up between us two from mere babyhood. He had carried my dinner-basket night and morning, during all our school-days, and always insisted that I was much handsomer and better than a rival belle, sweet Jenny Wheeler. Besides, he won my girlish gratitude, by slyly working out for me the long hard sums in the old arithmetic—no wonder he was undisputed owner of a large share of my affections.
ex Nell Clifford, “How I Lost My Lover,” in Arthur’s Home Magazine 16:17 (Philalphia, October 1860) : 240-241
and at hathitrust
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more by Nell Clifford —
- “Theodore Barnet’s New Neighbor” in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine (March 1886) : 195-197
- “Stratagem” in Dollar Monthly Magazine 22:1 (July 1865) : 54-58
- “Nellie’s Conversion” in Dollar Monthly Magazine 22:2 (August 1865) : 151-153
- “A Woman’s Trust” in Dollar Monthly Magazine 22:4 (October 1865) : 284-288
- and this response to her submission —
“Nell Clifford.” — The MS. has not a money value to us. In order to use it at all, it requires cutting and pruning. With a little more experience and practice, however, you would probably be able to write very acceptable sketches. You did not send your full address; we could not therefore communicate with you by letter.
from the readers section “Our Monthly Telegraph” in Demorest’s Monthly Magazine (July 1868) : 255
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later in the story —
“A dear little girl, but a poor cook.”