Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-07-18
seTbe moon Is we'll enough in her way,

| aDDearance is, TO say Une least OF III, pc
cuiiar to man floating on his back in
the centre Of stone tank, with dead
wall of some fifteen or twenty feet rising
squarely on every side of him !" (The
young man smiled bitterly as he sal
this, and shuddered once or twice be-
fore he went on musingly.)
"The last time / had noted the planet
with any emotion she was on the wane.
Mary was with me; had brought her
| out here one morning to look at the
view from the top of the reservoir. She
said little of the scene, but as we talked
of our old childish loves, 1 saw that its
fresh features were incorporating them
selves with tender memories of the PAST,
and | was content.
"There was n rich golden haze upon
the landscape, and as my own s"irits
rose amid the voluptuous atmosphere,
she pointed to the wan 'ng planet, DIS
cernib'e like faint cash in the welkin,
and wondered how long it would lie be-
fore the leaves would fall Strange girl
did she mean TO rebuke my Joyous mood
MS if we ha no Fight to be happy while
nature, whitening IN her pomp, and the
sickly moon wasting in the blaze of
noontide, was there to remind us of the
gone forever
'They will all renew themselves, dear
Mary, said ], 'and there is one that will
ever keep tryst n ike with thee and
nature through all seasons, if thou wilt
but be true to one of lis, and remain Us
now, child of IL ture.'
ga tear sprang to her eye, and then
searching her pocket for her card case,
she remembered an engagement to be
present at Miss Lawson's opening of
fall bonnets at two o'clock
"And yet, dear, wild, wayward Mary,
l thought of her now. You have prob
able outived this sort of thing, sir; but
l. looking at the moon, as tlcated there
upturned to her yel ow light, thought
of the loved being whose tears | knew
would flow when she heard of my singu-
lar fate, at once so grotesque, yet mel
ancholy to awfulness.
"And how often have we talked. too,
of that Carian shepherd, who srent his
damp nights upon the hills, gazing as
do ON the lustrous planet WEo will
revel with her amid those cd supcrstit-
ionsl Who from our own unlegendcd
woods, will evoke their yet undetected
haunting spirits Who peer with her
III lllO EtNN,
and challenge the whispers of poetry
from tho voiccless throat of matter
Who laugh merrily over the stupid
Cuesswork of redants, that ne er
mingled with the intinitude of nature,
through love exhaust'ess and all en-
bracing as we have Poor girl she will
be comranionless.
"Alas companionless forever save
in the exciting stages of some brisk fir
tation. She viii live hereafter by feed
ing other hearts with loves lore she has
learned from me, and then. Pygmalion-
like, grow fond of the images she has
herso endowed with semb ance of
d vinity. How anxious she wi be lest
the Coroner shall have discovered any
of her notes i'll my pocket!
49,, 81 felt chilly MS this last reflection
~ = iossed my mind, partly at thought of
The Coroner, partly at tie idea of Mary
being unwillingly compelled to wear
mourning for me, in case of such dis
closure of our engagement. 1t is a
provoking thing for II girl of nineteen to
have to go into mourning for q deceased
lover at the beginning of her second
winter in the metropolis.
''The water though, with my motion
less position, must have had something
to do with my chillincss. see, sir, you
think that t II my story with great
lcvity; but indeed l should grow delir-
ious did L venture to hold steadily to
the awfulness of my feelings the greater
part of that night. l think, indeed, L
must have been most of the time hystcr-
ical with horror, for the vibrating emo
tons l have recapitulated did pass
through my brain, even as have de-
tailed them.
but, as I now became calm in
thought, l summoned up again some
resolution of action.
81 will begin at that corner, said /,
and swim around the whole enclosure,
l will swim slowly and again feel the
sides of the tank with my feet. If die
must, let me perish Mt least from we'll
directed though exhausting effort, not
sink from mere boot,ess wearincss in
sustaining myself till tho morning shall
bring re.ief.
"The sides of the pace seemed to
grow higher as 1 now kept my watery
course beneath them. 1t was not alto
gether dead pull. / had some variety
of emotion in making my circuit. When
l swan in the shadow it looked to me
more cheerful beyond i'll the moonlight.
When l swan in the moonlight had
the hope of making some discovery
when l should again reach the shadow.
| turned several times on my back to
rest just where those wavy lines would
meet. The stars looked viciously light
to me from the bottom of that vel;
there was such company of them; they
were so glad in their lustrous revelry,
and they had such space to move in
l was alone, sad to despair in u strange
element, imprisoned, and solitary
gazer upon their chorus. And yet there
was nothing else with which l could
hold communion
81 turned upon my breast and struck
out almost frantically once more. The
stars We're forgotten, the moon, the very
world of which L as yet formed part,
my poor Mary herself were forgotten
l thought only of the strong man there
perishing; OF me in my lusty manhood,
in the sharp yigor of my dawning prime,
with faculties illimitable, with senses
all alert, battling there with physical
obstacles which men Ike myself had
brought together for my undoing. The
Etc. nal could never have willed this
thing l could not and | would not
perish thus. And ] grew strong in
insoience of self-trust; and j laughed
aloud as l dashed the sluggish water
aside.
"Then came an emotion of pity for
myself, of wild, wild regret; of sorrow
oh infinite, for q fate so desolate, doom
so drenry, SO heart sickening You may
In Of fln L. NJ