Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-01-20
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ried up town the undecided question
danced before lis eyes, his heart became
suddenly weighted.
Should he cast the old life behind him
utterly and enter upon a new one-free?
He reached Union square. 1t sparkled
in crystal whiteGess. The branches pat
termed on the pavements waved fantas-
tcaliy about his feet as he strobe on, his
head down. Passionate INDIGESTION went
with him like wrath in the white rays
He thought Of his enchanted dreaming
Of the night before. Only last night!
All, he had learned much since then
Had he ever really reasoned or under
stood before?
Keep yourself unshackled The man
who enters a race fettered is u fool"
The frosty breeze that whistled past
his ears seemed whispering these words
to him.
His memory flew back to miserable
childhood spent among the rigors of a
poor western farm, and he shuddered
Only by a hard fight and incredible sac
rifice had his father saved the money
necessary for issupport and education
Poverty! How he loathed and feared
it! How he had always loathed it! In
grained in his nature was love for the
poetry of life. hatred of the common
place, and row-let him be careful, lest
by one i'll advised step he taste all the
old bitterness again.
The fragrance Of the hyacinths in his,
coat came to him in the crisp air, so
penetratingly sweet it gave him heart
ache-the flowers she had given him
With q groan he flung himself into
seat
Il love her! love her! And shes
Have / not had the confession in her
eyes-in her kiss? Who has helped me
who has understood me like her? How
can pain her-how can leave herr"
For himself, if the reckless ambition
mastering him required it, he could put
love away, blot it from his life. and the
thought had some of the ecstasy of mar
tyrdom. But Virginia loved him and he
knew it. The thought of hurting her
was cruel, and IN the agonized tumult of
the moment cold drops stood on his
brow. Again rs in the morning came
the inward avowal OF his own weakness.
Oh, what if Delatole had spoken truly,
and the sovereignty of love meant the
enslaving Of the talent he had sworn
should make him famous! Then-oh.
then, to what depths his ruined hopes
would fling him! And he would drag
her with him in his fall, perhaps making
her taste a bitter anguish to which this
younger disappointment was but little
And the other side of the picture-the
life of the artist purely, the untrammeled.
easy, earnest life, where great things
would be accomplishments it not bet
ter?
Hours passed in this mute conflict
Love with doves eyes first pleaded, then
changed to a fury and scourged him
Doubt, fear of himself. Unsuitable ambi-
ton, passed in mocEing line and with
shadowy lips whispered predictions that
terrified him.
When he rose from the seat, he was
benumbed. The frost seemed to have
made casing for his heart The mid
night traffic of the town. like the throb-
bing of massive machinery, swept across
the white silence of the square impera-
lively rousing him to a sense of action.
Yes, there lay his world, his life No
more dreaming. He had dreamed long
enough. The conflict was finished. Love
had received it's death wound