The free press., 1894-07-26

used to work there? That was long
time ago"
Ages ago." said the little woman
in brown"
But the boy did not find the work
hard or tiresome, the big man in gray,
went on. Twice each week there
was an old gentleman who came to the
mill bringing with him his little girl,
and while the grist was grinding the
boy and the little girl used to play to-
gether and he thought her the pret-
test, dearest creature he had ever seen,
and the days when she and her father
came to the mill the brightest, sun
niest spots in all his life. After time
the girl stopped coming to the mill.
She was fifteen then and the boy was
eighteen. But the old gentleman used
to ask the boy to his house for dinner
on Sunday afternoons, and after dinner
was over the old gentleman would lie
down~on his sofa in the little parlor
and take long nap, while the boy and
girl would talk together for hours'ata
time.\ What they talked about would
have Interested no one but themselves,
yet they were interested, and to the
boy at least those afternoons were very
precious, y for he Moved the girl
dearly"
"I know he did, saidN NtheNlittle wo-
man in brown. - \
''But there came an end to all this"
continued the big man in gray, not no.
ticing the interruption. "The boy
was poor, very poor, while the girls
father was the richest man in the
town. One day the latter gave the
boy to understand that he could never
hope to claim his daughter for wife.
The boy was crushed, completely
broken. He went a poor, miserable
ghost of his former self.
'|He went into the army; he was
ever in the thickest of the fight and
always welcomed danger with glad
heart. Men said he was brave sol
dier and made hmm officer. His su-
periors said that he was capable oifi-
Ger and asked him to come up higher.
At the first Bull Run he was only a
private; when the war closed he COM
manded regiment. But o him all
these things were melancholy pleas
ure, for he was only ghost. When
the war was over he went to travel in
foreign parts and then settled down In
a great city, where in business he was
successful, perhaps, beyond his deserts.
He was famous, and men were G lad to
claim him as a friend. At times he
was happy in strange, sad way; but
then how could ghost hope to share
in the pleasures of the world in which
he was dead? Often, very often, he
thought of the old life and the things
which had once given him so much
pleasure and happiness. He thought
of the girl who had once been SO dear
to him, and he wondered if she had
ever loved him "
81 think she did" said the little
woman in brown. But lump came
up in her throat and choked her, and
the big man in gray wenVoR: !
"Once n very reat while think
he really wished that be had never
lived"
"D@'he?'' said the little woman IN
bro. n but the big man in gray did
not answer her.
"a few days, ago." he continued,
'the poor ghost heard for the first
time that the father was dead and the
daughter alone. He resolved to come
back and see if he could not find his
Ii st self in trying to win back the wo-
pan he loved. But then he'is only
ghost and perhaps doomed to be dis
appointed" Is
81 don't think so, said the little
woman in brown and when the blg
man in gray very tenderly pulled her
head down upon his breast she did not
resist.
A month later there was wedding
in the village church. The wedding
was a quiet but joyous one, ana a1tef
it was over the big man in gray went
to live with the little woman IN brown
at the old cottage. People say that
he is now the most contented and nap
py ghost in all the world
The Parsee-His Dress and ways.