Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-07-30
ON THE BRIDGE.
The Old Bookkeeper's Love for a
Strange Woman.

When I tell you, my only friend, to
whom I so rarely write and whom l
more rarely see, that my lonely life has
not been without love for woman, You
will perhaps laugh or doubt.
What You viii say; that gaunt
old spectcr in his attic, with his books.
his tobacco, and his three flower pots!
He would not know that there is such
a word as love did he not encounter it
now and then in his reading"
True. have divided my days be-
tween the books in a rich mans count
ing-room and those in my attic. True,
again, have never been more than
merely passable to look at, even in my
best days.
Yet l have loved a woman.
During the five years when my elder
brother lay il the hospital across the
river, where he died. it was my custom
to visit him every Sunday. I enjoyed
the afternoon walk to the suburbs,
where the air has more of nature in it,
especially that portion of the walk
which lay upon the bridge. More life
than was usual upon the bridge moved
crowded with people seeking the parks.
Many crossed on foot, stopping to look
idly down at the dark and sluggish
water.
One afternoon, as ! stood thus lean
ing over the parapet, the sound of q
woman's gentle laugh caused me TO
turn and ocularly inquire its source.
The woman and a man were approach
ing. At the side Of the woman walked
soberly a handsome dog "a collie,
There was that in their appearance
and manner which plainly told me that
here were husband and wife, of the
middle class, intelligent but poor, out
for a stroll. That they were quito de-
voted to each other was easily discover
able
The man looked about thirty years
of age, was tall, slender and with
neither strong nor handsome but anna
BILE face. He was doubtless a clerk fit
to be something better.
The woman was perhaps twenty-four.
She was not quite beautiful, yet she
was more than pretty. She was of
good size and figure; and the short
plush coat that she wore, and the man.
ner in which she kept her hands thrust
in the pockets thereof, gave to her
dauntless air which the quiet and af-
fectionate expression of her face soft
ened
She was brunette, her eyes being
large and distinctly dark brown, her
face having that peculiar complexion
which is most quickly affected by any
change IN health.
The color in her cheek, the dark rim
under her eyes, and other fndefinable
Sims indicated some radical ailment.
In the quick glance that had of that
pair, while the woman was smiling, a
feeling of pity came over me. have
never detected the exact cause of that
emotion. Perhaps in the wOman's face
| read the trace of past bodily and men
tai suffering; perhaps a subtle mark
that death had already set there.
Neither the woman nor her husband
noticed mo as they passed. Tie dog
regarded me cautiously with the corner
of his eye ! probably would never
have thought of the three again had l
not seen them upon the bridge, under
exactly the same circumstances, on the
next Sunday.
SO these young and then happy peo-
pie walked here every Sunday, l
thought. This, perhaps, was an event
looked forward to throughout the week.
The husband, doubtless, was kept
prisoner and slave at his desk from
Monday morning until Saturday night,
with respite only for eating and Sleep
ing. Such cases are common, even
with people who can think and who
have some taste for luxury, and who
arc not devoid of love for the beautiful.
The sight Of happiness which exists
despite the cruelty of fate and man,
and which is temporarily unconscious
of its own liability to interruption and
extinction, invariably fills me with sad
ness; and the sadness which arose at
the contemplation of these two beings
begat in me strange sympathy for and
interest in them.
on Sundays thereafter l would go
carly 10 the bridge and visit until they
passed, for it proved that tnis was their
ltesbAAAAstA ElALAAAog VAN A'CAAANNAAAAOo
they would pause and join those who
gazcd down at the black river. Iwould,
now and again, resume my journey
toward the hospital while they thus
stood. and l woulG look back from a
distance. The bridge would then ap-
pear to me an abrupt ascent, rising to the
dense city, and their two figures would
stand out clearly against . the back
ground.
It became a matter &c care to me to
observe each Sunday whether the
health of either had varied during the
previous HCCS- The husband, ALWAYS
pale and slight. showed little change,
and that infrequcntiy. But the fluctu-
atoms Of the woman, as indicated by
complexion, gait, expression. and other
wise, were numerous and pronounced.
Often she looked brighter and more TO
bust than on the preceding Sunday.
Her face would be then rounded out,
and the dark cresccnyS Ueneas.i LEI
eyes would be less marked Then /
found myself clated.
But on the next Sunday tine checks
had receded slightly. the healthy lustcr