Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-04-09
WAITING.


take you from large and happy home cir
clio and doom you to a lie of poverty nnl
drudgery with me
''Some men do II, know, but could not
IL would go against every instinct of my man
hood, every principle Of my life.
when first felt the sway Of this pas
sion; when first OWNED the powerful affin-
fly Of your soul for mine, tried TO go away
II did go away, you know but IL was not
In nature for love 10 keep silence forever, aud
In that one weak moment before left, let
you zee my heart, and-God help NEIL saw
yours"
He hid his eyes. Hecould hurt her when 1t
was for her ultimate good; but he could not
watch her face grow whittier and whittier in IFS
pain.
''Oh, il you couid know how often have
wished had died. ere ever | brought this
trouble into your life!
TRY to he happy. Try to be joyous and
glad as OF old-the sinple chldiike woman
first loved-or else | shall feel a criminal In
deed.
II am going away now-going away TO get
well and strong that may work like other
men, ami when | have something more to
offer than my miserable self but no. that
= time Is too far of You must be as free as q
bird, Margaret: not even n word must bind
you. We are neither Of Us TO blame--we did
not seek this love: il came TO US both unbid.
den, but IL is bes; should part. know
IL Is best, and, believe me, 1t is ali for you.
Will you trust mef
His lips tremhled and his breath came in
gasps-the proud mans sobs, as he stood be-
fore the woman he loved and pleaded for her
future against his own.
Too well he knew the generous nature and
A.,s. aHxrf 10. uK,I A.
reason forced himself to be hard
And shei All. God has made her sex very
helpless. Could she tell him that while you
may lift the latch and loose bird from i'm
cage, you cannot free with a word the heart
OF a woman--that better life with him in q
hut ON the prairie than existence in another
mans palace-that poverty shared is IA Sam
son sforn OF his strength, ard work for one
you love is the prose Of life set to music.
No, she must beIlumb-self becamed in the
silence and chill Of reserve, while her whols
being was ono rebellious protest against tht
cruel masculine decree.
Separation, silence, indefinite waiting.
These were the conditions. and she was
woman and loved hint
She was a woman and loved him, and be
cause Of that she hnshed her pain, ans
framed her lips into the shadowy semblanc.
"a
II was a piteous smile--we see 1t ON tn,
faces Of mothers when they send their frs
born to battle. the last brave cheer OF hear
before IL breaks; and the eyes uplifted to hi
were strained wide with that sudden over
knowledge Of life that suffering brings
He could not meet their gaze.
II were ensier 10 look ON the murdere.
dead Had he killed her souli
His reeling steps found the door, and b
hed before all courage left him.
He knew i4e was doing right, but II was q
crus, tnat IL wore the look OF wrong
For a long time she stood where he left her
staring at a small black speck in the wall pa
pering above the mantel-was ii fly or
break in the paperi But when she reache.
her room and put out the light, she took th
slender right hand that ached vet from tha
last fierce wrench, and covered IL with tear
and kisses; kisses that fell softly now as O
the dead and now wildly, passionately, .
we press the lips Of the living.
When we are waiting for dream to com
trueor dear wish 10 be fulfilled we first coun
BY DAYS, then by weeks, by months an
txelvemonths, until at last, disciplined b
m,ich patient habit Of hoping and rebopins
next year" seems as close as our childis
Ito morrow
So Margaret Cancelled the DAYS after awhils
but 1t took her long, as IL DOES us all, to rea
Inc that Time exacts his same number Of mil
utes to the hour and seconds TO the minui
whether We be
Swift or slow.
Mad with Joy dumb with woe
She worked constantly and steadily-sl
was poor as he was-and laughed and sang
her tasks sometimes, for the heart does u,
give up its habits any more readily than Il
mind; but She felt that something had slipps
away-something that had made the skies
deeper blue and the grass richer green.
The bright tints with which youth pain
the world had dried on the brush, and 81
wist not how to mix the colors anew.
It Is when we are glad that we want Il
dav, the blaze Of light, the sunshine: b.
when pain struck and weary, we ask only 4
some place in which to hide-somewhe he
whore the soul can slip for a space the :
straints Of the body. and stand face 70 ia
with itself
Long ago, In compassionate pre-knowled
OF this God said: LET there he night rs ",
as day. and since then into the sympathei
ear of the dark, whose Thousand eyes, a
sightleSs have been sobbei the secrets of |
the restless and grief laden OF earth; Al
Margaret, like the rest carried her sorro
there and wept her tears In the safe cover
It's gloom.
Sometimes in the long years that follow
a letter would come and Il was always kind
but ID never said Il am coming and tho
were the words she was thirsting to hear.
Poor childi How was she to know, " !
ont assurance, that his love had not grow
cold-perhaps diedl
She had listened long at the wall
space in vain for sound from the other sie
had looked into distance with eyes Il
burned, but were powerless TO pierce; h
hoped until the nerves Of her soul ached; b
lulled longing with dreams, quieted inn
tience with faith, only TO find at last that J
can no more nourish starving heart ON 81
unsnhstantinls than you can satisfy will
crust hungry child.
In time the body responded to this s'ih
sickness OF the soul with that fine sympat
found only In delicate organizations, 4
when day came that hope lay slain, the
nor forces gave way, too, and never again
ssered to natures rallying call.
Before the worn spirit took It's flight it
psnded all Of itself that was earthly in