Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-09-21

mere was great deal of truth In what
JACK Miller said. She had too mncb
money. As telegraph operator i'm the
VlhaSe store, she would have found ar
Istence far more endurable. Now
with an income which sounded fabnI.
life. ia'eu
something In the beauty of the night
'onehed Melissa with a vague sense of
pam: Unrest and discomfort were her
portion. She knew not love. and
Wonld not know il. The waters of the
Ou'wa piashed musically against the
wooden piles knee-keep in the food,
A whip-poor gave forth its weird
haunting wall. Myriads offirefiies fitted
between the trees or sank ;2to the long
grass, as the moon played upon the tin
roofs of the French cottages. and
changed Them into glorious seas of
little shimmering waves and breakers
People sat about upon doorsteps. or
lounged lszily in their zay little gar.
dens- But they did not talk. The
mysterious sweetness and beauty of the
night filled them with quiet content,
All but Melissa and Jack they were un.
happy.
Melissa had never been unhappy
during the old bslcyon days when Jack
used TO swim across the Creek in the
early Summer dawn, and lure her out
to The Bush. Oh, the wild Joy of those
Incense breathing morns, the fallen
fern-covered trees, the frisking of
squirrels from trunk to trunk, the
gliniing sunlight through the long
branches of the pines whose stately
stems were still moccasined amid the
fallen needles of last year; the harsh
cry of the Jay as he Knocked them from
high up on majestic cedar; the gauzy
threads of scarlet, and crimson, and
gold OF dragon-flies fitting over the
forest pool; all these came back to her
through the silence of forgotten years
The rapture, the delight, the cool,
sweet, aromatic breath of The Bush ap-
pealed to her once more. Again, she
decked the Scared trunks, slain by
forest fires, with festoons of ground
ivy, and long laces of Virginia creeper
SIS 1t rsmbled in and out of the rocks
No, she was not unhappy then as she
lay on her back, crailed In masses of
maiden-hair, and gazed up through the
black, palm like stems into the high
o'er-srching temple of intercostal
bOughs. Unhappiness had only ap-
peared with the humiliating restraints
enforced by civilization and the pos
session of phosphates "Me bein'
sbout to peter out M'lissa," her father
| had laboriously observed on his death
| bed-"Me bein' about to peter out,
| you'll have to hoe your own line, but
| you've got goldsn hoe to do it with "
Then MelIssa's progenitor had departed
for the happy hunting grounds in pur-
suit of phantom phosphates. "Run
| the whole show fur what it's worth, "
was his dying injunction; "an' if any
darDed confidence man plays it low
down on You, jest sorter set Jack at
| bin" So Melissa became an heiress.
She learned to value her complexion,
and a great many other things. In
| course of time, she also became aware
that long lashes are very effective when
| fringing eyes of deepest, softest brown.
But she had not yet discovered the
secret of happiness. Perhaps she had
left it behind her in the awful solitude
of The Bush.
'.It is refreshing to come back to
this, jack" she said, waking from hel
reverie, as they forsook the wharf and
strolled down the road beneath Old
Tolleyent's spreading elms.
Eyes" he said; we've both been in
the desert for so long. There is nc
solitude like that of crowd. See how
rash aud sweet. and cool it isl Every
thing whispers of peace-except our
selves. Look at those great shadows
in the moonlight as they fall across the
road. There are our own shadows be-
yond them, keeping step for step.
And yet you want to leave here, to
journey into the wilds from some fan
tastic idea of sacrifice, although hap
piness is at your feet. Melissa, don't
go"
"Ah, she mourned, ''that is all you
think of. Lovei Happinessl What
ore they, Jack' Shadows! A mirage
And yet-and yet-why didn't yor
speak before went to Europe?"
"Why didn't 1 speak?" He stopped
in the middle of the road. "Do you
think 1 am cur? You were young
ineIperienced-rich You knew moth
ing of life when our parents strucl
phosphates. Dozens of Vines IN the
dewy, summer morns we've ddncec
along this very road to school, bare.
footed lad aud lassie, but loving one
another. Now we aOalk apart. Wall
slowly and sadly. That cursed money
caused all the mischief. We grew ou'
of one another's hearts. We threw
aside something money couldn't giv'
US We lost all faith in love, and hope
and belief in goodness, and now
Young as we are, we're old, Melissa
andSboredI Good heavensi it's too
absurd. We csn't-at least you can
find anything worth living for e1
cept oily ArmenIans, whilst l murder
trees. We've missed ali the sweetness
the true meaning of life.
She stopped also. "Yes, she said
looking up at him with troubled brown
eyes full of questioning pain, "W.
have missed something. Perhaps
shall find it in Armenia.
.You will become Mrs. Hsgopian?
he said, almost roughly. Then he tool
Melissa in his arms. and softly kissed
her lips,
For a moment, she lay motionles
like brown lily on his breast "a
least I'm the first" he said, his eye
| shining, as he bounded away into tn
/ night without daring to look behind.
Melissa still stood in the middle o
7 the road thinking. Life was an eng
D ma. People had perpetually to asl
Themselves what it all meant. Had !
{ anv meaning? Wasn't the world al
! ent. .hesp2 Crush! and the iron sho'
boof OF Circumstance scattered TN
ants or drove them into the dust, on,
j vas sick of the eself-consciousness Whlcl
is really self-love-which canno. se'
anyone pick up pin without devotlnl
the rest of the day to q subtle anal
81 40 extraordinary an action. bu
l. there was blank in her HE; JACK
} kiss had robbed her OF something
4 sealed her lips to all others. LoV
4 meant slavery. She would not resle
. her freedom at the bidding oil any man
and vet, wasn't falling In love the tax lax
jng up Of an empire even grander ina,
that pictured by girl ~llaes ss
1 dreamsP What instruments SO snoti
to play upon, SO full OF harmonies an