Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1893-12-07

through the mail addressed to Caroline.
She took 1t to her room, and, although
there was 10 one in the house but her.
self, locked the door. She pondered. II
she should use the dye, would she be the
only one deceived? Would the rest of
the world pierce the deception at once;
She sat there awhile pensively listless in
her manner of thought, examining the
label Then a sudden revulsion against
the deceit of the world overmastered her.
She arose from her chair and drew in
long breath. She applied the spark Of
self condemnation and shook at the ex-
plosion.
Never
There was no danger now that she
would ever use the dye. She perused
the list of testimonials. "Mrs." was the
abbreviation that prefixed each sigma
ture. 1t would be no disgrace to grow
gray if she were married now. Surely
not. Not so much of a disgrace if she
were widow now. So she thought.
But an unmarried woman! A spinsterl
She drew the cork from the bottle and
poured the contents out of the window.
With penknife she scraped off the Ia
bel. She put these scrapings, the testi-
monials, the wrappers and inner wrap.
pers into her pocket. She would burn
them later.
= ::
Five years ago an oculist examined
Caroline's eyes and told her she was near
sighted-a fact she had known for the
previous decade. He prescribed glasses,
and she purchased them. She concealed
them in that drawer of the bureau that
was always kept locked, except when it
was necessary to take out or put away
certain valuables and keepsakes. When
nobody was about, she would Wear them.
She was reluctant to do SO, but they add
ed to her comfort. And the newspapers
and Thackeray and Hawthorne and Bal
FAC must be read, even at the expense Of
personal vanity.
An unmarried woman, with no father,
no mother, an income Of pittance, a
single servant, was excusable for doing
almost anything. So she wore them.
She did not dare to look at herself closely
in the mirror when she first put them on
She stood about 10 feet back, at which
distance she noticed that her hair had
an iron gray appearance. She gained
courage awhile later, and examined her.
self in the hand glass. That iron gray
shade was her optical illusion. There
were black hairs and white hairs-a
slight predominance of white. Rarely
thereafter did she wear them when gaz-
ing into the mirror. She turned her
head away when walking past it. Every
time she put them on she did it with a
wry face. Once she cried and was about
to throw them away, but restrained her.
self.
A few weeks ago Caroline plucked the
last black hair from her snow white
head. She did it with the same petu-
lance with which 10 years before she
had drawn out the first thread of white,
the one ray of light in the black dark
ness She took from the bureaus secret
drawer small envelope, and from this
distracted that original curiosity. She
placed it by the side Of this latter day
curio, the black hair, the last remnant
of the cascade that had been the admira-
ton Of her school friends. She wound
them about her fingers and tied them,
then placed them in the envelope.
1t was the spirit Of the gambler in his
moment of desperation with which she
had done this. The world should know
now that Caroline could grow old I'M
finchingly. She pick ed up volume Of
"The Scarlet Letter." that was near at
hand, to steady the envelope while she
wrote simply:
g. am spinster. John loved me
and would have continued to love me.
Now he is the statesman upon whose
words depends the welfare of nations. !
have discovered that loved him, but ]
was prejudiced. He wore glasses''-
She locked it in the bureau and tried
the drawer to make sure. Irving S. I'm
derhill in Buffalo Illustrated.