The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-03-14
THE ONLY MAN IN TIE WORLD.
From the San Francisco Cali.

In one corner of the car, near the
| door, sat a very old lady. Such plain,
| almost shabby old body, with queer
| black bonnet, of style of years gone
by. and rusty black wrap. Her face
was wrinkled and scanned and worn
with age and care. and her slender old
shoulders had begun to bend beneath
the accumulating burden of years and
the sorrow of this world. Behind her
steel bowed glasses her faded blue eyes
shone dimly and the soft bands of hair
beneath the recessed roof of her an
cient bonnet were silvery white. But
the faded sold eyes were full of calm
peace, the wrinkled old face bore not
line OF impotence or annoy
ance, and the gentle smile that
hovered about the sunken, with
cred old lips were certainly not sug-
gested by anything connected with the
cheerless, dispiriting scene of a broken
cable car standing silent in the drench.
ing rain. She was accompanied by a
lively, pretty girl of perhaps eighteen
years, whose smart gown and stylish
coat showing beneath the storms coat
that she had unbuttoned and thrown
back presented a sharp contrast to the
old lady's antique attire. The girl had
been fussing impatiently for several
moments, and finally, after an irritated
study of, her companions face, she
burst forth with:
81 declare, grandma! I don't see how
you can sit there and take things SO
qnietlyl It's too provoking! 1t seems
as though all the tiresome things in the
world saved themselves up TO happen
between Christmas and New Year's!''
There was no reply, and after an in.
stant the young girl spoke again.
Doesn't it seem SO to you, grand.
maps
The blue eyes that had been looking
afar through the mist came back to
consciousness of the impatient child.
The wrinkled face bent itself tenderly
toward her. but the smile about the
faded lips was strangely wistful.
81 don't know, child" she said. "The
season is always pleasant to me-" And
then softly, as though she had forgot
ten her hearer and was speaking to
herself: II was married between
Christmas and New Years sixty years
ago-to the only man in the world"
There was a hush, during which the
young girl gave quick, startled
glance about the car to see whether
anyone had overheard grandma's
speech. No one looked at her. The
conductor was briskly wiping off a
few troublesome raindrops that had
driven into his eyes. The clustering
passenger in the opposite corner was
gazing intently down the street with a
curious quiver of the chin that even
his pugnacious black mustache
could not hide. The mother Of the i'm.
patient little boy suddenly lifted him
into her arms and hugged him close to
her heart The facetious young mans
face was illumined with tender glow,
and he made no pretense that the rain
had gotten into his eyes. Outside the
heavens still wept torrentiaily, and not
sound came from the motionless
cable, but within the car hatred had
been banished, and every passengers
heart warmed with a sudden sense OF
brotherhood with every other one. The
steamy, heavy air seemed TO Tighten,
and not soul there but felt its bur.
dens lifted and ITS sordid gloom bright
ened and purified in the holy radiance
that shone in the wrinkled face of the
passenger who had been married sixty
years ago to the only man in the world