Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1879-10-21

hS OuSht w oS III iONC WIN ooiic OhS -.
this time. lilly was almost the onl
girl he had ever known well.
But fate interfered with his intention
Mrs. Eaton was so i'll that lilly could no
be spared from her side for more than fv,
minutes. She ran down just to say good
by. John resolved that he would writ,
instead. He told lilly he would write
"And take care of yourself" he added
She did not cry this time. Persons whC
make an extreme view of human mala.
dies would perhaps have said that she
looked simply broken hearted
When John did write, it was differ.
ent sort of letter from the one he had
planned. On his return to camp he was
confronted by crisis in his life. A gay
party from Washington came down to
dance and firt in the tented field in lieu
of the conventional ballroom.
OF its number was Maud Gale, who,
if experience goes for anything, should
have been an adept in both dancing and
flirting. A society girl par excellence,
but the first of the type who had crossed
John Leonard path. She had cultivated
fascination to the full extent of her pow
ers, and John fell an easy victim to her
practiced wiles He was bewitched.
What if her hair Were blondined, and her
skin were whitened and REDEEMED, and her
eyebrows darkened: John was as nno-
cent as babe about these matters. To
him Maud was radiant in all the fresh
beauty of Young womanhood Tilly:
She faded in his thought by contrast into
such a mere dull little country girl.
Still bewitched, he became engaged TO
Maud She reasoned that she might do
worse. She had weathercd a good many
Washington campaigns now, young as
she looked. Still bewildercd, he would
have married her had not fate intervencd.
Had he done so, he would infallably have
rudely awakened from his golden dream,
but he would doubtless have survived his
diSilluSion, Just as other men and women
have done before him. He might have
found comfort in the reflection that he
was no more wretched than other men who
like him had married-for love.
He was still madly infatuated, however,
when his regiment was ordered into battle
"a battle which ended in a victory for
his side. but which left him in a condition
lowering between life and death. He
was desperately wounded; and-poor
fellow when they first told him that an
amputation of his right arm was una
voidable, it seemed to him that he would
rather die outright. \ cripple maimed !,
He thought of Maud and her strong,
bright beauty with a sickening sense OF
unhtneSS.
He lay at death door for weeks Part
of the time he was too i'll to recognize
any one. Only the tendercst nursing, the
most assiduous care, saved him. And
when he first opened his eyes to conscious
ness, upon what do YOU suppose they
rested;
1t was incredible. Upon whom but
gentle, care-worn, gazellc-cyed little lilly.
"How on earth began John, then
dropped off to sleep again.
1t had almost been a year now since he
had seen this dewy woodland rose. He
had only written her one letter mean
while, but that letter had been her heart :
sustcnance ever since. She laid it away
among certain other memories of hers
memories which retained their sweetness
ike withered sprigs of lavender. As the
months sped by she made up her mind
that she would never see John again
that he had forgotten her. This was her
prcsentiment. But she did not blame
John because he had not proved all that
she had once hoped he would; that had
been her mistake; but mistake which
had been her one JOY and romance. She
called him her good angel. In the dear
Hebrew phrase, he had come to her-as
in truth every good angel comes to us
as an angel of God.
During this weary while her mother
died, and lilly found herself without a
tie in life She might come and 90 as
she pleased. There was a distinct desire
in her loving heart to do the one work
for unemployed woman just then. But
it was some little time before she gath
cred courage to carry out her wish tC
become hospital nurse. The alarming
first step once taken, she went on easily
enough. And she found an immense
pleasure in thus being of use-as she
proved-and of comfort to many suffer
ing souls.
The Providence which directs smal
matters as well as great, appointed hel
duties in certain ward in certain hos
pital, where she came upon John Leon
ards white face one day, as he la!
stretched on his cot of pain, and she real
lied, with sudden tumultuous rush o
feeling, that it was for her, humanl!
speaking, to tend him back to life. ShC
felt as though this satisfaction more thar
compensated for all that she had suffered
Loneliness, neglect, disappointment
in the past.
There was little romance about MauC
Gale. She made some excuse for break
ing her engagement as soon as she Learned
of John misfortune. She had little faitl
in a one-armed man being able to fgh
the battles of life successfully. AnC
success meant to her more than affection
one might fall in love many times over
John fortunately found that the curt
for his disappointment lay in the mature