The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-29
A VOLUNTARY DEATH.

student days when we used TO take our
meals together.
Louis had the deep eyes, the pale COM
| plexion and the long and disheveled hair
of all those young men who came TO town
from the country TO conquer glory.
He was writer. l soon found his name
/ in Sunday Journals and reviews. and then
! he began to write those short and exquisite
| sketches which have made his reputation.
/ Thus five years passed, when | met him
/ one day in the editors Office of a journal
| for which l worked.
Each of US was rs much pleased as the
| other at thus meeting again; and after the
! first What is that you! Is that you?' we
stood facing each other, shaking hands
! and exposing, in laugh of cordial delight,
! our teeth, which in Old times we used to
/ exercise on the same crust Of poverty He
! had not changed. He had not even sacri-
( feed his long hair, which he threw back
/ with the graceful movement of a horse
! who losses his name. Only he had the
/ clear complexion and calm eye of a con-
/ tented man, and his slim figure was clad in
/ most fashionable costume.
! 1--WE won't drift apart again will WEI"
said he affectionately, taking me by the
1 arm; and he led me out in the boulevard
where the April sun gilded the young
! leaves of the plane trees.
| All, happy day! How we exhausted the
Don't you remembers" DO you re-
member the fried eggs which tasted Of
straw, and the dreadful rice milk, the mel
ancholy air of your landlady, and the Ger
man who used TO pawn his watch every
three months?"
Those days of hardship for Louis were
finished. He had from afar applauded my
! success, as l had watched his. But one
thing l did not know, and that was that he
had married woman whom he adOred,
and that he had charming little girl
"Come and see them; you shall dine
with me-"
let myself be persuaded, and he carried
me TO a pretty suburb, where he lived in
cottage among the trees. There every
thing made you welcome. No sooner had
we opened the door of the garden than
young dog frisked about our feet.
Down, Dick He will soil your clothes"
But at the sound of the bell Mrs Miraz
appeared at the steps with her little daugh-
ter her arms. An imposing and beauti-
full blonde, her well nodded figure wrapped
in q blue gown.
W on Il lldIe ulOEt- We du Olu COI0-
rade with me-"
And the happy father, keeping his hat
on his head and caressing his little girl,
showed me all over his establishment-the
dining room, frightened by light bits of
faience; the study, Astounding in books,
with its window opening out on the green
turf, so that a puff of wind had strewn
with rose leaves the printers proofs which
were scattered on the table.
This is only beginning, you know It
wasn't so long ago that we were working
for three sous line"
And while l luxuriated under blossom
ing Judas tree which l saw in the garden,
Miraz, at ease in his home, had slipped
into his working vest, put on his slippers,
and, lying on his sofa, caught little Helen
in his arms to toss her in the air-"Houp
Ia! Houp lap'
! do not remember ever to have had a
more perfect impression of contentment.
We dined pleasantly-two good courses,
that was all; dinner without pretense,
where we served ourselves with the pepper
mill.
The charming wife presided with her
bright smile, having her child by her side
in Il high chair. She spoke but little, but
her sweet and intelligent attention fol-
lowed our light and paradOxical chat, the
good humored fooling of men of letters,
and at the dessert she took a rose from the
bouquet which Ornanented the table and
placed it in her hair near her ear with a
supreme grace. She was indeed that love
ly and silent friend whom a dreamer re-
quireS.
We took our coffee in the study-they
intended to furnish the salon very soon
with the price of a story 20 be published
by Levy; then, as the evening was cool, a
fire of sticks and twigs was built, and
while we smoked, Miraz and ], recalling
old memories, the mistress OF the house
holding on her knees little Helen, now
ready for bed, made her repeat Our Faith
er" and Hail Mary" which the little one
lisped, rubbing her little feet together be-
fore the warm flame.
We saw each other again, often at first,
then less frequently. the difficult and com
phcated life of literary labor taking us
each his own way. so the years passed.
We met, shook hands. Everything go
ing well2" "Splendidly." And that was
ali. Ten. later, l found the name Of
Louis Niraz but rarely In the journals
and periodicals, Happy man; he is rest
ing" said to myself. emembering that
he was spoken of as having made a small
fortune Finally, last autumn, l learned
that he WAS seriously i'll.
! hurried to see him. He still lived at
the pretty suburb; but on this somber day
of the last of November the little house
seemed cold, aud looked naked among the
leafess trees Ii seemed 70 me shrunken
and diminished, like everything that we
have not seen for long time.
The dog was probably dead, for his bark
no longer answered the sound of the bell
when passed the little gate and entered
the ga<ien, all strewn with dead leaves
where the nights frost had witLered the
last chrysautbenlumS.
II was nos his wife-she was abSent-it
was Helen who received me-Heien, who /
had grown 70 be great girl Of II. with an
awkward manner She opened for me the
door Of her fathers study, and brusouely /
lifting her great black eyelashes turaed I
on me a timid and distressed glance
found M.raz huddled in an easy chair .
IN the corner Of the fireplace, wrapped in 4
sort of bedEovn, with gray locks streak
Ing his long hsir. and by the cold, claumv 4
hand which he reached toward me. BY the /.
p2llid face whice be turned upon me, 4
knew that he was lost Horrible, found in /
nv unhappy oomrade that worn and ruined 4
loCk which used 20 strike u formerly I
among the poor Po4es We used 70 see
All, well, old rlan, things are not going (
welL?"
'iDeucedIv bad nv how h answered. 1
Wiz hesr-oreaKrnc Srlle II srn going 4
out st1p1dly With consumption, ~ tbey do .
liz the 18th act, you know, when tbe ven
cradle doctor, with head Ike Bersnger,
feels tie first walking gcnteusn's pulse, /
and lifts his eyes toward heaven. saying, I
The death struggle aPproackesr Only .
the difference Is that wrrh me L continues;