The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-02-02
PAsrEL ~ PROS.
A Fanciful Tale by, the Author o
"The Story of an, African Farm"
E.-or, ne ph f21,-yeI,shisk Pres. Z ress'


From, the Philaielphia Press, -, g.
All day, where the sunlight played ON the
seashore. Life sat. smab We g. arHug q
All day the soft wind played with her
hair, and the young, young face looked out
across the water. She was waiting-she
was waiting; but she could not tell for
what.
All day the waves ran up and up on the
sand, and ran back again, and the pink
shells rolled Life sat waiting; all day,
with the sunlight in her eyes, she sat there,
till, grown weary, she laid her head upon
her knee. and fell asleep waiting still.
Then a keel grated on the sand, and then
step was on the shore-Life Hwoke and
heard it. A hand was laid upon her, and a
great shudder passed through her. She
looked up, and saw over her the strange,
wide eyes of Love-and Life now knew for
whom she had sat there waiting.
And Love drew Life up to him.
And of that meeting was born a thing
rare and beautiful-Joy, First-Joy was it
called The sunlight when it shines upon
the merry water is not so glad; the rose
buds, when they turn back their lips for the
suns first kiss, are not 50 ruddy. Its tiny
pulses beat quick. 1t was SO warm, so soft |!
1t never spoke, but it laughed and played in
the sunshine: and Love and Life rejoiced
exceedingly Neither whispered it to the
other, but deep in its own heart each said,
at shall be ours forever"
Still it played; still it laughed; still it
stained its mouth with purple berries; but
sometimes the little hands hung weary, and
the little eyes looked out heavily across tho
water.
And Life and Love dared not look into
each others eyes, dared not say, "What
ails our darlingP Each heart whispered to
II 10
row it will laugh out clear" But tomorrow
and tomorrow came. They journeyed on,
and the child played beside them, but heav-
ily, more heavily.
One day Life and Love lay down to sleep;
and when they awoke it was gone; only,
near them, on the grass, sat q little
stranger, with wide-open eyes, very soft
and sad. Neither noticed it; but they
walked apart. weeping bitterly. 80, our
JOY our lost Joy shall We see you no more
| foreverT
The little soft and sad-eyed stranger slip
ped hand into one hand of each, and drew
them closer, and Life and Love walked on
with it between them. And when Life
| looked down In anguish, she saw her tears
reflected in It's soft eyes. And when Love,
mad with pain. cried out, II am weary, /
am weary l can journey no further. The
! light is all behind, the dark is all BEFORE, a
| little rosy finger pointed where the sunlight
lay upon the hillside. Always its large eyes
were sad and thoughtful; always the little
brave mouth was smiling quietly.
When on the sharp stones Life cut her
| feet, he wiped the blood upon his garments,
and kissed the wounded feet with his little
| lips. When In the desert Love lay down
| faint flor Love itself grows faint, he ran
| over the hot sand with his little naked feet,
| and even there in the desert found water in
the holes in the rocks to moisten Loves lips
with. He was no burden-he never weight
ed them; he only helped them forward on
| their journey.
When they came to the dark ravine
where the icicles hang from the rocks-for
| Love and Life must pass through strange
drear places-there, where all is cold, and
the snow lies thick, he took their freezing
hands and held them against his beating
| little heart, and warmed them-and softly
he drew them on and on.
| And when they came beyond, into the
land of sunshine and flowers, strangely the
great eyes lit up. and dimples broke out
upon the face. Brightly laughing, it ran
over the soft grass; gathered honey from
the hollow tree, aud brought it them on
the palm of its hand; carried them water in
the leaves of the lily, and gathered flowers
aud wreathed them round their heads,
softly laughing all the while. He touched
them as their JOY had touched them, but
his fingers chung more tenderly.
At last they came to where Reelection
sits: that strange old woman who has al
ways one elbow on her knee, and her chin
in her hand. and who steals light out Of the
past to shed it on the future.
And Life and Love cried out: so wise
onel tell us, when first we met, lovely
radiant thing belonged to us-gladness with
out tear. sunshine without shade. OF
how did we sin that we lost it? Where shall
| we go that we may find lt?
And she, the wise old woman, answered,
"To have it back, will you give up that
which walks beside you nowP'
And in agony Love and Life cried "Now
"Give up this!' said Life. "When the
thorns have pierced me, who will suck the
poison out? When my head throbs, who
will lay his tiny hands upon it and still the
beating? In the cold and the dark, who
will warm my freezing hearth
And Love cried out, Better let me die
Without Joy can live; without this can
not Let me rather die, not loseit"
And the wise old woman answered. sc
fools and blind! What you once had is
that which you have nowl When Love and
| Life first meet, radiant thing is born
without a shade. When the roads begin to
| roughen, when the shades begin to darken
when the days are hard, and the nights cold
and long-then it begins to change. Love
and Life will not see it, will not know it
till one day they start up suddenly, crying,
% Godl o God we have lost It'll Where il
itP They do not understand that they could
not carry the laughing thing unchanged
into the desert, and the frost. and the snow.
They do not know that what walks beside
them still is the Joy grown older. The grave
sweet, tender thing-warm in the coldest
SHOWS, brave in the dreariest deserts-iti
name is Sympathy; it is the Perfect Love.
| South Africa. OLIVE SCHREINER.
fEsIl IL l.