The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-07-12


| in the evening, laughing and talking be-
| meath the wild roses that chung to cliff
| and limb and shrub, and mingled their
1 biushing blooms with the deep green of
the grape leaves, and the deeper green
/ of the ivy, and wooingly pressed their
/ cheeks to the saffron-colored, wild
| touch-me-not, and where sang the birds
| at morning, noon and evening as if they
| were all one joyous hour, and where he
had sat and merriIy chatted with the in
| nocence of youth, now he gloomily sat
| alone-a picture of the depravity Of
maturer years. He said to himself:
What a fool I am TO be getting in
| love with a simple little girl" Love has
| conscience; a man of the world doesn' I
| want that With love and conscience
| we are miserable; without either we
may find some happiness in this fever
/ ish dream called life. why should we
| love and weep and break our hearts for
| others when even our loving them
| makes them miserable as it makes us
! Just today we saw the simple fond hus-
| band cry because he left a woman who
/ was neither fair nor fine, and who
would have. perhaps, been better off
! had she neither seen nor loved him.
| Love means marriage; marriage, sla-
| very. To get into love is to become
| anxious, is to become uneasy and TO
| have no gay times, no fiirtations. No,
no, wise man must let his sweetheart
| do the loving. and he the scheming, and
yet l must confess to myself there is
something about her unassumed life
| that has a charm that makes me feel
uneasy and excites nv pity She is
| alone, father gone to war, for which L
am really thankful. I fear he suspi-
cioned me, but Carl Brandon must be
himself"
Thus solilOquised this human vampire.
He had taught himself to believe all
the world was vile, the second lesson
was to surpass the world in villainy.
He StartS-he heard the rustic OF gar
lnents in the thorns, he heard a football
on the path. Why did his heart beat
faster than before, and why did he hold
his breath to listen for another step.
Really he was afraid, and Of what?-his
own conscience. On approaches his Wis
itor, and he wonders if it is Sparkle.
! In the darkness he cannot see, he can
but hear and think All, he sees a form,
it stops. hesitates. then approaches
slowly, then it disappears. He hears a
murmur as IL some one was talking low,
and wonders what il can be. Rising,
he cautiously approaches, step by step,
nearer, stopping. listening all the time,
hearing the same low murmur going
nearer, and again that mysterious pres
ence that he could never understand
barred the way, and he was forced to
withdraw and wait upon the bench for
results, whatever they might be. Nearer
he would have seen Sparkle kneeling.
The low talk stops. again he hears a
tread; lighter. quicker step than before.
and Sparkle stood by hin1--a lamb for the
slaughter. A sacrifice for devil worship
Innocence in a cave of serpents Gaz-
ing into his face steadily through the
shadows for a moment, the frightened
girl extended her hand and said:
why am | here? IT is awful"
With a shrewdness Disgusting himself,
Carl replied:
Nothing is awful that Sparkle does,
your presence gives my heart peace
your words bring to my empty life a
comfort that passes all understanding.
Why, 1 know not"
These words he truly felt. for the time
being he was really honest. Holding
her reluctant, trembling hand, he pressed
it to his lips. kissed il often. and every
kiss sent thrill through every drop Of
her young blood. Two lives had been
changed. For the time being the man
of sin was transformed into an angel of
light the innocent girl into a flame of
fire. 1t was an uncommon event for both.
He was unused to the purity Of youth,
she began to catch the cOntagion, but
only for instant-both lives assumed
their normal state. he is the villain now
and she stands forth the sinless child.
She sees the yawning gulf upon whose
verge she played. The paradise his bet
ter soul opened is closed again. Her
InOuRnIS returned TO the DSHl. MS u
the night, and as they sat side by side
so near in body. between their souls was
a universe of space he could not cross
a meaSurelesS chasm to her. She shud-
dered at the thought of approaching
him. Each loved as only a man and
woman can love. She loved with a
high, exalted, divine pity, a love that
belongs to that supreme idealism that
lifts it's creatures up TO God and car
ries with them a holy conten, a blessed
satisfaction that would make them SUI
premely happy even in the confines of
he'll. While il is in the soul no evil can
enter. He loved her not the less devot.
eddy but less purely. He was of the
earth, earthly. Nothing in his nature
was above the coursest human passion,
polished for the sake of conquest. Her
ambition in loving him was to save him
from himself, and make him worthy of
her love. He loved her with the animal
instincts, base as they may be, are not
withall uncommon. Neither understood
the other He was as ignorant of her
life as she of his.
Lord Bacon has said: I'VE can only
understand what we experience" We
never understand another persons life
until we experience their thoughts, feel
ings, and are surrounded as they. For
this reason the world is full of strangers.
The rich cannot comprehend, from their
mansions, how the poor feel in their
novels. The honest cannot conjecture
why the dishonest steal, or the kind,
why the brutal murder.
Sparkle first told him how her heart
sank when she saw her father vanish
as he went over the hill, how all the
world seemed TO change and put on a
black veil of mourning.
He thought: How like her eyes"
She told him how she wondered about
the living for herself and mother. and
if her father would come back, and how
in the sadness Of her life she turned
herself TO the bower that night, knowing
she ought not to have come, knowing it
was not prudent for young girl to do
so. and yet her grief from the events Of
the day and her unwavering faith in
him seemed to draw her onward.
The rehearsal Of these events was too
much for her feelings and she gave way
to tears. Truly a helpless child. Lean
ing toward him, he gave her head rest
upon his bosom, stroking her hair,
soothed her with kind words. telling her
let come what may she should never
want, he would be her friend, her pro-
tector, and asked her II she could be-
lieve him. would she trust him? She
had trusted him already too far. She
could answer only by clinging more
closely, and for the first time i'm her life
she felt the indescribable helplessness
of a girl who feels all alone in the world
How natural it was to want some arm
to lean upon, and that arm she was
leaning upon she felt around her waist,
where, save her fathers, no mans arm
had been. She felt the burning kisses
of a passionate lover upon her lips that
swept like a flood-tide all the bearer of
her timidity away. For a moment the
creatures are again transformed-she is