Wichita eagle., 1888-05-30
MARA'S STORY.

the silence of death, no matter how cruelty
fate has dealt by them, we do not say that we
are glad Yet, when / stood above the
cofffned form of my dead FRIENDSHIP to whom
my heart cleaved as David's did to Jonathan
when L saw the smile upon her still face,
IL l might have laid my warm lips upon her
cold mouth and breathed into her once more
the breath of life; if / might have laid my
heart against her heart and sent the subtle
elixir of the blood coursing again through
her stiff veins; if it had been vouchsafed me
to work some such miracle as this, I would
not have done it,
As l passed through the garden ito the
house where she lay dead plucked sprig Of
rue and rosemary and laid them hidden I'M
der all the wealth of dollhouse flowers upon
her heart
Dear" said SO quietly, that none might
hear it save the dead, dear, even in the
grave thou must remember"
All day long she lay upon her bier with
that still, cold smile like frozen sunshine on
her face, and the people she had known in
life came IN by ones and twos to look upon
her for the last time.
Glow beautiful she was" they said, ''and
how sad for one TO die SO young She had
everything in life. ~ And they
passed chattering out into the busy street
where the sun shone and the world rushed on
as if there was no Mara lying dead behind
drawn blinds.
But at last the night fell, and 1 prayed
them to leave me alone with the dead In all
the world only |, who had laid the sprig of
rue and rosemary among the costly funeral
trappings, knew the secret CT that still heart,
and it seemed to me that even III eternity she
must know that for the last time / watched
beside her, and must be glad.
l took in mine the lifeless hand, whose
GOODNESS did not appall me, and laid my cheek
against it. The room was very still. could
hear the muffed ticking of a clock some
where in the distance, the night air came in
through the half open window heavy with
the perfume from the garden, the moonlight
touched and glorified the STILL sweet smile on
the dead face What was il they
had said Of here That she was very beauti-
full and it was sad for such as she to die
y They meant that she was rich; that
she had costly gowns and splendid horses and
a box at the opera; that her husband gave
her fine rniment and dainty food, and so they
brought their overbig dollhouse roses to lay
upon her bier and said that it was sad; but I,
who brought her nothing but rue and rose
mary, | knew that no tears should fall upon
the happy deod.
The hand | held in mine was strangely
heavy, and the moon striking upon it showed
a. cleaning band upon her finger, massive
golden fetter that was her wedding ring l
shranll as | saw it, as if some one had struck
T. a
sharp, but the hand was half shut as if, even
in death, Mara remembered to guard that
heavy band and keep it from slipping from
her slender hold
Perhaps none of us are quite free from
and even our best beloved,
when dead, are strange to us. / turned and
looked upon her / had loved so long, and it
seemed to me that could read in the quiet
smile, and the fair face that no suffering
could make unlovely, nothing but the mute
eloquence of TINT guarded ring.
| have often wondered how Nara came to
tell ME her story. 1t is such common one,
SO many women's lives are like hers, il is
scarcely worth telling; and yet in the deep
silence Of the night, with that dead hand in
mine, the only thing that seemed living,
palpitating reality was the quiet
tragedy on whose end the curtain had Just.
rung down.
All her life had known Mara, but in the
newspaper career L had chosen
there were sometimes breaks of years in our
intimacy, when | would hear of her as -
schoolgirl, or q debutante, or q society belle,
and then | heard of her marriage, and from
time 10 time rumors reached me Of the mag
of her entertainments, and I was
vaguely conscious that she was pursuing the
life OF a fashionable woman in one OF our
great cities.
And then fate threw us together again at
q little sea coast village, and the old friend
ship renewed itself / think knew almost
from the very first that oil was not well with
Mara she was greatly changed, and was
even mora beautiful than had remembered
her, but there was that something in her
syes-you may often see the expression in
proud womans eyes-that tells palmer than
any words the story OF her life. 1t is tho
history of the agony with which she has seen
her idol torn down and trampled under foot,
ietiled forever in her sight; it is the memory
Of the broken hopes and torn illusions in
which she realizes that her youth, with all
its divine hope and faith, is gone from her
never more to be replaced Such woman
may love again, but TO her no man can DO
again a god. She has seen the gold with
which her own fancy gilded her idol fall
doln it, leaving 10 hasest clay, and she BE-
lsyes, and hopes, and trusts no more.
IsupposaI Eesd this story little by little in
atSra'S eyes Il the long SUMMER Gays we wers
.ogetLsr. ! say hsr with her husband.
scw that she bent her viii to his slightest
aw; that she stayed her quick brain to keep
p-oe with lis slow thought; that she brought
her keen WIT to brighten tao market report
L. tho tedious CANA Of cards that seemed the
only taiag 10 cared fer, and it ongered me-.
told yseif that no was selfish; that he IN
ieIS:ood rct5ing of hor quick throbbing Life,
# be- ti5ught thai was Like q lightning
lash, electric, burning, consuming. They
Tcrs MAIDS Of such drHa-alt 6ber their ives
,ooid newer be inrerwoven-
Finally ele husband Vas called away, and
C. days and dsys Nara end sasssilently On
&c sonns t1gusher, or talked in such dis
o.nrcd seatsaecS ~ only friends may, each
aging tbs Iao2gh1 that rose to the heart,
nth the cert4..ty the other would answer
wen tia unS-otsn word. On one such day
5 this-tas sky had boen Ike turQuois above
IS, end the grunge sunset WAS stresking all
he west With tswny gold and the little ships
we're coming In or going out across the fam
ng wster with 81 sails set-Mara and were
lifting on the white sands together. She
lad been watching, l remember, a little boat
hat was going from us, and her face was
urned from me SO only saw its profile j
harply outlined against the splendor Of the
Ky.
She had been silent for a long time. and /
7hen she spoke it was half under her breath. /
at is like my hfe." she said, "sl the |
'hite things and the bright things have gone
ON me-