Middletown transcript., 1894-09-01

1 Nr=fN s1sn failure, E, and Tns she
hills themselves
suggested the brilliant violet of fash
ionable fabrics rather than the duski-
ness of the purple that rests upon dis
tant uplands. Seeing these things,
Marietta suddenly dropped her head
upon table where palettes, paint
boxes, brushes and the remains of a
frugal luncheon lay, and wept.
BY and by, when she could weep no
longer and when there was dull pain
in her head and her neck ached and her
eyes were heavy and smarting, she
looked up again. 1t was getting rather
dark to work, and so she busted her
self in dull, uninterested fashion in
putting her room to rights. Then she
drew chair to the window and looked
drearily out. She could not see the
western sky, but from the trailing
clouds that floated about in her range
of vision she knew that there was glor-
i0us color at the end of the street. She
knew how the high chimneys and
crowded roofs stood out against it.
She knew the slight vapor that veiled
the dazzling color, the smoke that rose
from the roaring, dirty, noisy city, just
now touched with poetry from the set
ting sun.
Knowing as she did what view the
end of the street presented, her mind
called up contrasting picture-the
sunset lying above the hills at home.
There was no smoke there to dim the
glory, Miles and miles across the coun-
try ones gaze could travel through the
clear air. And as she thought these
things Marietta's head went suddenly
down again upon the window sill.
Truly, it was hard work and folly,
this striving after artistic fame. She
hated The little room that was at once
studio and bedchamber. She loathed
the makeshifts-thed divan that was a
bed, he en.hidden washstand, the
curtains that hid tins of crackers on
her bookcase. She hated her fellow
boarders. She hated the gossip Of the
art class. She had been an idiot to
come from home and, still worse, an
idiot to persist in staying She had no
talent, she told herself. And if she
had, what did talent and accomplish
ment amount 10? Was the woman
whose pictures might hang on the walls
at world famous exhibitions. who had
achieved greatness and wealth, was
she as happy as the bright-eyed woman
in the village, whose face was radiant
as she walked with her baby in her
arms to meet her husband at nightfall?
And Marietta vailed.
That picture of woman, loving and
beloved, stayed with her even when she
dried her tears and brushed her hair
preparatory to meeting her fellow
boarders at dinner. Only the girl in it
was no longer an indefinite figure, and
the husband whom she met took on IA
niiiiar lines and lineaments. There was
big yellow house Oh one of the hills
il that fair hill region that Marietta
loved. And in it there was room,
dark with wainscoting, bright VITA
light from many windows, ruddy with
the glow of the wood fire on the hearth.
She knew tine place SO we'll. And she
might live and reign there. She saw
herself at evening before the fire. Her
yellow hair cleaned against the dark
chair in which she sat. The lines OF
care and disappointment were magi-
cally gone from her face. She was
waiting, quiet, peaceful, happy at last,
for the coming of her husband. She
said the word aloud in her little room.
Then the color surged over her face
and she laughed abruptly.
81 WONDER" she said, "whether l
shall do it. | wonder whether | shall
ever tell Arthur the vision have seen
to-night?" :.
The next morning Marietta started
home ''for VISIT
n y
The country was the same; the air
was clearer than ever. The universe
seemed spread out before her she stood
on the hill. Her heart beat with sucL
happiness that it was pain. Nothing
was changed-the home, her mother,
everything was the same. Thanktul
tears welled up into her eyes. Then
she heard her sisters voice from within
the house.
''I WONDER" it said, ''if she knows
of Arthur's engagement"
''Oh, don't guess it matters much
to her anyhow" said her mother. ''She
refused him once"
''Of course she doesn't card for him,
said the worldly wise sister, "but IL
always is annoying to a girl to learn
that anybody she's looked upon as her
property has exercised the right OF tree
choice and selected another owner"
Marietta tip-toed softly off the piazza
and went to the place where she had
been wont to go with all her childish
griefs. When she came back she treated
herself with slightly ironical indul-
gence.
The next winter she won her hrst
triumph in art. The picture was well
hung at the exhibition; critics were
kind to it and great art connoisseur
bought it. 1t was the picture of yell
low.haired woman before the fire In
quaint old library, and it was called
Waiting"
Econemy and Strength.
Valuable vegetable remedies are
used in Incorporation of Hoods Sar-
saparilla in such peculiar manner as