Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-02

was. She was the sort Of woman that
m nand inspire man to noble deeds II she
than to lose her: whom a man might love.
INC. losing. die for. knew that. even
| npugn was but a lonely old musician.
ceptions and balls in the great world ever
give thought to the musicians sitting of
n ny themselves en- and playing for their pleas
snat We see all that goes on about us and
are the unseen audience OF many q farce
room is the scene of events that NAV rn ea,a
or mar a life. and we musicians. left ont
a. Sou account and screened. perhaps. behind
as.nnd most Interesting spectators. A queer
F IRE is this Of ours going from house to house,
parts i n scaOn. % ball room. playing our
no, no part Yet We are always there During
eg e gay season we may see the same face
night. until We get to know them We'll We'll
New faces come familiar faces disappear
low with gd ipts,.y yet wany,s the one we fol-
| for the first time. They talk idly FOR q
wniie. dance together and, perhaps, never
winter we see them together everywhere
we go and. seeing one, we know right we'll
one ~ can s ts see the other not far away.
persons eye light up as # sees a wished
Lor lace appear. That may be ali. or the
So the world wags. and SO IL Will CONTINUE
70 wag on long after my fingers shall have
iosf their cunning and grown stiff and cold
at young girls first dance, and later on
nave played her wedding march, or, per-
S aaa t,. TINS is the saddest task Of all
did not hear and that would have sounded
Weak and poor compared to the sweet
All, me, what a deal an old man hiss seen :
anu yer mat boy who is now In his Ia 81
SIs M pace knows more of the great rid
learn In a long life on earth. I'm a moment.
In the twinkling of an eye" said the min,
But 1 am wandering from his story
II was IN her second season that they
met From the FIRST she had been what
from my point Of view. She was courted
sought after and admired. At every no
IL seemed to me she held a little court Men
pered ,h 40 n ne side and heard IT whs
they had never met her i did not like bcr
as well as / did when first knew her 7
am am oio, ana 1 may have been little Gym
tcal, put IL seemed 10 me as though hcr
face had lost something of its girlisb
.,ahkness. She had been too popular ana
the result was she was spoiled.
ne was very young, and a certain hon.
est boyish look in his face made him look
even younger than he was As You prob
aply know yourself he was better built
Tor books and work than for the wavs ~
society. but his pleasant manner and his
hosts of friends
And so they met I remember It was
during an interval between the dances
They were standing close to our corner
when mutual friend went through that
curious formality that is necessary in a
clVlnzeo society before any two Of Gods
creatures may even recognize the fact OF
each others existence They STAYED to-
gether for an hour and IL was evident they
liked each other very well. That was but
the f1rst OF many meetings. He was evil
IDENTIFY fascinated and he never lost an OBJ
portunity Of being with her L do not
tnihk she was ever in earnest; perhaps
she did not realize how far along they
were drifting with the tide. At any rae
II was not long before IL must have been
clear to the dullest onlooker that he had
lost his heart to her; and he was the sort
OF man to Win or TO lose every thing II
may all be true enough that the world
loves lover but it's equally true that IT
has but little sympathy and feeling for a
man who has given his all in love and
has received nothing in return. No man
dies of love nowadays, they say, and per-
haps they did not die when L was young:
they just lived on and tried to forget it.
One night late in that same winter 1
saw them together at a great ball that was
quite the event Of the year. She was the
gayest OF the gay, and no one else was half
as fair as she, with a great red rose almost
buried in the wealth of her dark hair and
another on the breast of her white gown. 1
watched them with a closer attention than
them from the throng of dancers. They
were gone some time, and then i saw them
coming IN from the great conservatory
beyond She had his arm, but they Were
not speaking, and there was a hard strain
ed look about his eyes that was Infinitely
sadder to me than tears. He slipped away
later without being observed, and I saw
him no more for many a day.
80 time passed on and they had well nigh
gone from my thoughts. until one night
couple OF years later this old church was
wealth and fashion Of the town. 1t was
with dull heart. however, that I sat up
here and played the wedding march. Yes
you are right IL was her wedding night
ana people called IL a wonderfully fine
match. She had come home to wed a for
eigner of rank and title she had met ana
won In some European capital IL was a
Soubt thst nirbt emo snI many young girl no
As L played the old familiar strains of
the march, old, yet ever new for two Young
hearts II they but beat in unison. turned
part way round and watched them coming
down the aisle. They made a handsome
pair, he In his gorgeous uniform with the
Jeweied decorations OF his many orders
pinned upon his breast. and she-weIl she
was radiant. and she had that might a
proud and satisfied smile that added 70
her grace and beauty, IL not to her woman
~ sweetness. Once I thought she gave a
nasty glance up into the organ loft, and as
she did so j saw her face grow strangely
white and a look of pain come into her
eyes. 1t was but for a moment however.
ana then II passed away as suddenly as II
/ turned once more to my key board. ana
as glanced around / caught a hasty
glimpse of young mans figure and a sad
white face almost hidden away among the
palms that filled the organ loft / knew
then, and understood IL all.
Two years later she came back alone
saw her one bright spring morning riding
In the park. She was not in mourning
but she looked tired and worried and any
thing but a happy woman 1 imagine she
had not found life much to her liking Per-
haps she had but herself TO blame for n
put was she any the less to be pitied for
tnatE she had done many another
young girl has done, and as they will con-
tinue to do through all time. she had hut
lived up to the teachings of her little world.
ana had made about as much out OF her
life as she had been taught TO do A butter
fly would do but poorly in harness, YOU
know. '
1 saw him, too. not long ago-no, not her
husband, but the other one. / heard that
ne had been on in the mountains in the
,ar west working hard in that open, free
lie that is SO close to the heart OF Mother
Nature, and striving. l suppose to FORGET
But there are some ghosts that will not be
laid. To me the fact that he had nursed
poor sheep herder through a long Illness
and then had fallen Ill himself and had
been vainly knocking at deaths door for
weeks, did not altogether account for hts
pitable condition. 1t may have done SO
with the rest. but IL is my opinion that
1 was not much surprised last night when
the old sexton came to me and told me
that my services would be needed at the
church today.
Size, too, was here, and / saw her. off
In dark corner OF the church. where no