River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-07-28


such people" / saw Mr.. Coverings
hair slowly begin to rise on end. THAT
old rag picker" | added, "told me yes
terday that"
But Mr.. Coverings head looked more
and more like an electric hair-brush,
and mamma cried Margaret p
"Why, mamma, We are all human
beings together"
81 really must insist" began mann
ma; and then Amy giggled, and man.
ma looked as if she thought had gone
out OF my head, and Amy was hyster-
ically sympathetic.
"Ynur daughters advanced opinions,
said Mr. Lowering, stiffiy, care sur
prise to me-"
'You silly little mother" Amy laugh
ed. at is our boating club at home,
! the Internationals, our charity school,
the Nihilists, our sewing club, our
book club, our"
Il really thought you meant secret
societies, y gasped the old goose of an
elderly lover.
And what if | hadg' said /, my
native yigor returning. "What if /
were an own cousin to Vera Sassalitch?'
/
Doctor. Il was afraid thatyou young
ladies would be following Natalushka s
fashions as soon as Mr.. Black made her
so charming"
"Charming?" said his father. "a
girl with such ideas charming?'
81 am rejoyced to hear you express
yourself so, mamma.
"And ], said |. Because they are
my ideas"
(which are your ideas?" he asked.
"Mine, or those of that young Russian
girl2"
"Hers, certainly" / said ''The ideas
of humanity and brotherhood" And
my heart began to beat like an engine
one hears in the night, with wild sort
of exultation that now, no matter
what had happned to Loring Richards,
had made it impossible that should
ever marry Mr.. Coverings stocks and
bonds, for the temptation was out of
the way; ne would never ask me.
But it had all been little too much
for me. And | saw that mamma was
compreheuding the situation and
growing angrier and angrier. Oh, how
angry the dear soul vast "You looS
very pale, Margaret" she said. care
you not well? see by your converse
ton that you are not quite yourself.
You had better go to your room. Our
friends will excuse you, | am sure.
And | bowed to them all, and caught
the Doctors twinklipg eye-the Doctor
who wanted no young mother-in-law--
and rose and slipped from the room be-
fore either he or his father could Offer
me an arm. / could not have held out
through another five minutes
The elevator was Just coming up
from the lower hall. l stepped in. A
gentleman in it took off his hat as usu-
al [ seated myself, the boy closed the
door, and we softly slid upward. We
assembled half way to the next floor
when we paused with slight jar. The
boy looked up at the bell signals; pull
ed one string and then another; pushed
open the door against the blank wall
and then before he had shut it, there
came sudden sense of breathlessness
and we shot up toward the roof like q
catapult; the boy had flung himself out
as we passed one of the open spaces Of
the flying floors; all at once we stopped
again with shock, suspended by some
unknown agency between the two up
per floors with some seventy feet o.
empty space under us, and nothing thai
we knew of between us and destruc
ton.
The light in the elevator had gone
out, and only dim glimmer from the
Jets in the upper hall made the dark.
ness visible. For moment | closed
my eyes, and leaned back. half lifeless
at is horrible" gasped. For / thought
of the fierce shock, the crushing of body
and bone that was to follow at any mo-
ment, if we fell to the pavement OF
were driven up into the timbers of the
roof. Then came the thought that i
was but moment after all, and witt
it would end all that was so unbear
able. Loring Richards wife and Lor
ing Richards himself would be nothing
then to me- No more torture, no more
heartbreak, no more tears-lust peace
And there came with that certain glad
ness over all immediate horror. care
you afraid ?" l said, turning to the 9th
er occupant of the cage. at whom haC
not yet glanced.
afraid, Margaret Here ?-alont
"Loringl Oh, how dreadful! AnC
and your wife"
"My wife! There is only one wifi,
possible for me, Margaret, and yor
have kept me away from her for fivt
years"
"Do you say you are not married tt
that lovely creature at the table"
married? To my cousin Rose? AnC
you ask me that, Margaret?-you?"
/ raised my eyes to look at him. HI
was standing directly before me in thu
half-shadow.
ooh, Loring," said, eve are in tht
face of death. Can you forgive me-
now, when there is nothing left for u
but to die?"
He bent down and caught me to hi
: heart "At any rate, )" he said, ITO di'
together. There is no greater bis
than that"
"Oh yes" | cried-'to live together
All, viii nobody save us? Oh, when W.
have just found each other, after al
these bitter years! Were they bitter t.
you, Loring?"
And just then the ropes began tC
slide softly over the pulleys again, anC
we went easily slipping down, anC
gently alighted at the lower hall as j
nothing had been the matter. Talk o
the total depravity of inanimate things
It is sacrilege. l believe that elevator
knew just what it was doing But you
ought to have seen dear mammals face
when Loring told her that he should
not let me out of his sight again till hC
had legal claim upon me, and h'
would be glad of her company anC
Amy's in the Church of the Heavenl,
Heaven in exactly one half-hour's time
-Harper's Basar.
The Famous Chief Sitting Bull and his
Warriors Surrender.