Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-03-22

| through your holiday world without {
thought for anything but pirouettes ant
| jigs and whirligigs of laughter. TIT
! most sonorous of sacred sorrows may
sound i'll your ears. and wake no echt
but Jape within your heart. And yor
would put me upon that dead plane Of
ribald merriment with yourself? will
laugh with You. Yes. will 60 beg Of
you for jests in my jocund seasons.
am willing to shrek over your within.
sleallties at my own pleasure. In my
serene unthinking moments l will be
content to exchange humors with you,
and to VOW that life were more than
VOID and dull were not such rs You at
my beck. But when have opened my
chamber and fastened the door upon
myself my soul and 1 shall be alone to-
gether, and will weep and pity and
repent and ache out my heart with sor-
rows in which you can have no lot. l
am young, but I have an inkling of
what the world may mean"
1.-THE world" said he, "means hap
piness.
''The world" she retorted, "means
tears and bitter wringing of the hands.
Have not heard of death? And have I
not seen pain? You think me gay, yet
how long shall keep this gayety in my
heart? l go round upon the wheel. 1t
turns and changes. What shall befall
tomorrow that should not weep today?
You would pluck me with no greater
consideration than you would pick a
flower from its stalk wherewith to deck
your coat. Should it wither or fall
adjust, another will serve until the COM
ing of the wine. Look you, you will
sigh and weep for love, and your signs
will be smiles, and your tears will be
laughter. Fortnight your heart is
singing like lark. Yours! Yours is the
shallowest of paltry passions. -
IT would do much for you. - said he.
"Give up your dimples, cried Mi
randa, 'and so to the churchyard with
wry face?"
Given that" he answered, nodding.
''Pah!''' said she, ''you will not con-
tain your face lugubriously for five min
utes by the clock. Though you shall re-
member to be sober for two sentences,
at the third you will be whistling, and
the fourth will find you holding your
sides"
He moved step towa ard her.
''And if I should die for your he
asked pleadingly.
Miranda gasped. She contemplated
his face with uncertainty. His eyes
shone with the dew of tears. His hands
trembled. 1t was the corner of his
mouth betrayed him. Miranda burst in
TO laughter.
"You!" she cried. "You!. Why,
you would forget my coffin as it passed,
and the color of my face ere my back
was upon you. See here, - she said, II
will give you to the hedge for misery,
but swear you will take the lane as
jauntily as an hour since. Get you
gone, my merry man, and come again
to dispute with me in an idle humor.
File, fe, to think on you and death in
the same companyP'
He sighed and turned away.
You have the smallest heart of any
maid know, /" he said, shaking his
head.
''The better for my laughter" laugh
ed Miranda.
He moved across the meadow, his
head hanging, his eyes downcast, his
stick dragging among the daisies. Mi
randa stared after him, her lips parted
in amusement. He climbed the stile,
and stopping on the topmost step turn
ed to her again.
81 have at least one solace,' he call
ed across the meadow. 81 shall forget
your tickle face by night. -
Miranda's laughter touched the skies
and ceased. Her face fell thoughtful.
She sighed and shrugged her dainty
shoulders. B. Marriott Watson in
Sketch.