The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-05-26
haps, as the realization of exquisite

haps, as the realization of exquisite
beauty and perfection, the ideal that
had taken birth from a thousand fam
cies. Whatever he did, wherever he
went, her loneliness lowered before
him-her bright, childish, laughing
face and the sylph figure pressing for
ward with its gauzy folds swept round
it by the wind. Waking from fever
ish sleep, one night, after her creation
had been perfected, he started up to
gaze at her in the moonlight. half
believing he had heard q smothered
laugh, that the delicate, uplifted hand
had beckoned him. Then he crept near
her with awe and drew q heavy veil
about her.
The next day the figure was taken
away, and Philip did not look at il
again until he saw the veil drawn from
it on exhibition night in the presence of
the great audience crowded into the
hall of the Academy. The two or three
intervening days before that long-an-
ticipated time came he spent wandering
about the city, building a castle, look
ing into the print-shops for foreign
pictures or lurking near the docks,
watching the great steamers sailing
away to that far-otf land he had in
mind. Somewhere in those enchanted
regions were great palaces, rich with
works of art; the haunts of all the
great artists that had ever been-Rome,
Florence, Venice, lying under the warm
Italian sky.
cit will be a joy forever. mother, a
Lethe that will make us forget all
else," he said, elf only
''Let us wait, Philip! Let us wait"
she answered, mildly, trying to keep
her hands from trembling.
But they did not wait long. Soon
there came one snowy night, memora-
BILE ever after to them both. Hidden in
the shadow of the Academy building,
half numb with the cold, the timid
woman looked up at the lighted win
dows and listened to the gay sic
within. Philip had begged her to 90
with him. She had shrunk, though,
from the glare of the lights; for her
clothes were scanty and shabby, and
there would be no one there like her.
But she wanted to be near him some
how, and had come alone after he had
gone.
1t was still night, the snow was fall
ing in large. fea,hery flakes, and not
many people were out. Drawing her
old shawl round her shoulders, at
length, she walked to and fro, and then
down side street while, to fight oft
the cold. She was thinking of the time
when Philip was a baby, and went
further, perhaps, than she intended.
When she returned, she heard the
music only family, and then the
audience burst into applause. The
entrance to the building was in front of
her. In few seconds she could see it
all. and, drawing the ticket from her
pocket. she hurried up the stairs.
A giddy, wild, intoxicated moment
followed. The lights of the great place
seemed to dance before her in mad
whirl. Men were cheering and ladies
were waving their handkerchiefs. On
the stage the beautiful statue rested, I'M
yelled in front of black velvet screen,
and some one was leading Philip away,
crowned. She put her hands to her
throbbing temples, and fed down the
stairs to the street again. 1t was like a
bewildering dream; something that
could not to be real. But soon the
crowd came pouring out, laughing, chat
ting and filling the night with life. She
heard many Of the people praise the
young artist, as they went by her. and
the blood tingled to the tips of her fin
gers.
Then, after a few minutes, the
lights began to be put out and it be-
came suddenly quiet. Philip was
coming down from the hall with a
party Of jovial fellow-students, and she
walked away in the direction she knew
he would take, after parting from
them. Goodnight, Kempton?' "Bon
voyage, old fellow!'' she heard them say.
Finally, his quick, nervous step was
close behind her, and when they came
to street-lamp she turned round.
"Motherv'
Eyes, Philip''
He put his arms about her neck and
bursted into tears. ''Let us thank
Godr' he said
She drew his head close upon her
bosom a moment. Then they went on
in the darkness, weeping.-M y In
dependent.