The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-04-02

s"N siIiShbS Va " ptittob
by skillful hand. r,'ached the ear of
this lonely. spectator, who looked down
on al this luxury, gayety, and life not 30
much with sting of envy as crushing,
overwhelming sense of personal failure.
The night was clear, stars sparkled in
the sky above, and the radiance of d full
moon began to illuminate the city roofs.
A girl entered the conservatory, APP
preached sash, and opened it, leaning
out Ia discover the moon. She wore n
pink dress, with soft white lace on neck
and arms; a jewel flushed in her hair
Turning aside from the window, her
sleeve caught in the branch of flower
ing plant, she overturned it, and it fell
outside the window with O crash of
broken pottery. The girl uttered a lit
tie cry of dismay, glanced down on the
wreck she had occasioned q moment,
then withdrew her head, and closed the
sash. The plant, an offshoot of the con-
servatory's wealth of blossom and fra
GRANGE, remained on the ledge where il
had fallen.
Now the silk curtains separated, and q
gentleman joined her. He was tall
and slender young man in evening dress,
with Il flower i'll his button-hole, and
he tossed aside a cigarette as he APP
preached.
"Therc is one for whom life is for
tune" unused the artist. "How readily
can picture him attaining maturity,
smiling and good-humored, and growing
old in that charming home, surrounded
10y friends?'
The girl clasped her hands on the
young mans arm, and gazed up into his
face. He responded to the thoughtful
scrutiny by touching her hair lightly,
caressingly with his lips, and then speak
ing with careless laugh.
"Well, l have consented to go to Min
nesota for the winter, May. Such
nonsense as it Is should prefer Paris
or Italy. 4 mere trife of a cough and
all the doctors looking so wise and grim.
They rejoice to secure 'case,' 1 sup
pose"
May disengaged her hands from his
arm, and plucked camellia. Her face
was untroubled as his own.
I" L shall return in the spring for our
wedding, dearest, he continued. "What
a weather-roughened giant you will have
for bridegroom.
Henry, take me with you," she
pleaded, softly. "Do not go away all
alone, dear. Let us be married to-mor-
row."
Without the Worth trousseau, ma
mignOnne, and a great reception?" he
questioned, half mockingly.
"You should be gallant, and say
something about beauty unadorned,"
said May, tossing the camellia at him.
Then the brilliant eyes of the young
man clouded, the rich color in his cheek
paled with the emotion which made his
lips tremble.
my noble girl! my good little wife!"
he whispered, folding her closely in his
embrace.
Agnes Clement witnessed this scene
without divining all its significance, and
a tender smile dawned ON her own face.
The homely devotion of sister Anne to
her husband in her cabbage-scented do
did not touch her. The meeting
of the two young people in the conserve
tory, moved her profoundly. Was not
her artistic taste gratified by their beau
ty, the light shed through the silk cur
tains behind them, the rosy simmer Of
the girls draperies, and the shadows of
exotic plants meeting above their heads.
She remained there motionless long after
the pair had disappeared, her eyes fixed
on the fallen plant, which still rested on
the ledge. The stone work blanched, in
contrast, the delicate white blossoms to
snow, and the moonbeams touched each
petal with silvery luster, until the spray
the lilies of the Medci chap
el in the church of S. s. Annunziata at
Florence. The plant had been cast out
into the frosty night, to die and be for
gotten in the cold purity or the moon
light, and beneath the cruel brilliancy of
the distant stars. If she could have res
cued il from such a death by stretching
forth her hand, she would have done 80;
but she was powerless to avert evil.
Slowly she returned to her room, extin-
guished the gas, and sought forgetful-
ness i'll sleep. The journal containing
the advertisement Of Lang d Co., re-
manned on the floor, where she had
thrown il down at an earlier hour.
Next morning her first thought was of
the neglected plant. Had it survived the
night? What had become of it? She
hastened to her post of observation of
the previous evening. The conservatory
sparkled i'll the morning light, and the
plant remained ON the cornice ledge.
Yes, it had persisted during the night,
cast forth from it's home in the balmy
Already the leaves were
shrivelled and blackened, the spray of
blossoms dropped wan and ghostly in the
dawn, retaining tie rose tints of shell.
As Agnes looked at it, the early sun
shine, which smote the sparkling colors
from the glass dome, like the prism of
n crystal, also touched the dead flowers
with warm, golden rays. Thus the
might be absorbed in sun
shine and waited on, she thought,
Suddenly the artist put her hand to
her forehead as if preoccupied with
thought, her eyes dilated, and a smile
impaired Il warm glow to her usually pale
face.
At breakfast she was silent, replying
vaguely to the conversation of her
brother-in-law. Afterward she went out,
and was absent two hours. Returning,
she shut herself in the studio, and spread
about her recent purchases-sheets of
paper, new brushes, and box of water
colors. Then she began to work, and rs
she labored a soft, grooming song welled
up to her lips unconsciously.
One Saturday evening, when the little
clerk had returned home atan early hour,
and was warming his feet luxuriously in
slippers before the fire, he was surprised
by the hasty entrance of Agnes. The
artists aspect was animated, and she
held a sheet of paper in her hand.
Humphrey, have decided to COM
pete for the prize of the Easter card, I"
She said, quietly. "Tell me if you like
my design"
Husband and wife hastened to inspect
the proffered sketch. They saw an up
rooted plant caught on stone parapet,
the blossoms still tinged with rose even
in death. Above slanted shower of
golden sunbeams, and on this luminous
pathway were inscribed the words:
am the Resurrection
And the Life
"Surely you have never done any
work like this, dear" said sister Anne,
kissing the artiFt affectionately. 81
know you consider me no Judge of art,
but it reminds me of the studies you
used to make when girl ut home. Do
you remember gathering the leaves and
wild flowers in the hedges, and painting
them Just as you held them in your
hand?"
az burned all that rubbish when 1
began life seriously" replied Agnes,
with curling lip. "Flower painting is
all very well for schoolgirls"
Humphrey continued to study the de-
sign attentiyely. ~ suppose the up
rooted plant signifies the human body
after death, and the sunshine Christ in
resurrection. The flower will bloom
aQnln." he said slowly.