River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-08-13
ONE OLD MAIDS WAY.
BY WILL ALLEN DRoMGooLE.


falling upon Miss Elizabeth's neatly
smoothed hair. with the plain little
"coil" twisted low upon her neck and
fastened with a gutta percha tucking
comb-fiOoding her face, and her hands
folded upon the letter In her lap, and
the scent of the old musk roses stealing
in from the summerhouse in the garden
outside. The threads Of life seemed
TO have met in two lengths; the begin
ming and the end. The letter lying upon
her lap represented the end, the musk
roses the beginning
The musfS roses AID the moonlight"
she told herself Il mustn't forget the
moonlight"
As if she ever had forgotten or e.er
could forget. for one single moment.
unless II should be the moment when
she would he lying in her coffin. the
scent of the old roses that night IN 2 far
away June, when she stood within the
shadow OF the burdened branches and
told him good-by. And how the NOON
light looked on the pale blossoms. and
upon the glistening white street out
side, and upon his face as he said good
by.
Him? Oh. every old maid has her
"him!" The one who stands out in her
life as something apart from that life;
a little bit Of the hereafter. that went
back to Heaven to Wait for her there.
Miss Elizabeth had but the one
him" Some women are that way;
some old maids. Blu they are very
weak. simple kind of folk. the world
will tell you. Don't ask yourself If il
requires more courage to stand alone
with life and its deafness and be brand
ed as a foolish little old maid, than il
does to give the lips with lie upon
them to the caresses of husband who
only takes the body of You; the body
and the lie.
Miss Elizabeth sighed and pinched
a corner of the yellow envelope with
her small, wOrlf-hardened hand. She
forgot that her hands were hard, the
scent of the musk roses was in her nos
trils.
HE told me-" she was repeating the
words softly to the moonlight, that he
must have a wife who had money. He
must; his business demanded it and his
tastes, all his life had been one of lux
uTy; ne would be a torture to me with
out money. 1t is for your sake. Eliza
beth = size was repeating his very
words. poor little old maid.-" YOu,
too. would grow unhappy with nothing
but love to live upon"
Nothing but love. He had dared to
talk of love when breaking mis- engage
ment in that coId-blOOded way. Yet he
did love her; she had never had doubt
of that. But she knew that he loved
his ease better.
1t was just one month after her IA
Their died, and the estate was found to
be insolvent; gone to pieces. He had
been considered a very rich man. and
she was his only chiSi. She had not
known an hour since that had not been
hand-tO-hand fight with poverty
Yet, she told herself. il was not death
that had robbed her. but Dives. Dives,
who had entered her life in the form
of Abigail Stone and her money.
She. Miss Elizabeth. had not felt her
poverty. nor her alOneness, until that
June night i'm the mu~k-rose arbOr.
when he told her that money was neces-
sary 20 him. Necessary, how odd il
sounded. She had never found IL
necessary" not in all those years of
struggle; she had lived without IL:
done some little good. too. among the
abject poor. No; money had never
been necessary 70 her but the once
that night in June.
she remembered how poor she felt
that night when she walked back TO the
empty house without him. How poor.
and how-alone! Not how lonely
how alone. There is a difference be
tween being lonely and being alone.
One can bear the loneliness. because one
knows that il will end. But the alone
ness. ali, mo man has come back" TO
tell how that ends.
Then her cousin, with whose people
she made a temporary home. had moved
20 California, and so. tn some extent,
out of her life. too.
lie had begged her to go with him.
but she had chung To the old affairs
whereon her idols had crumbled. She
was a very weak old maid. YOU see. not
TO wish to leave. So weak that sh,.
staid right on there through the mar
riaCe, witnessed the ceremony. and
saw the couple settle down into their
home which AbigaiTs money had
bought. and then. when Abigail'= ia
Their had got him into the bank. and
was fitting his own shoes TO the feet If
his son-in-law. and people had forgot
ten to talk about her disappointment
IN talking Of Abicairs triumph, Miss
Elizabeth gathered up the broken
threads of her girlhood and began her
life. Her life as she knew il must be
always; she wasn't going TO compro-
mise with sorrow; not AZ all. She was
as much an old maid the night her
lover abandoned her for Abigairs
money as she was 20 years after. when
her own money came. Oh. yes, it
came: she had IL in her hand at the
moment. in the yellow envelope
Fifty thousand dollars. or its equiv
alent-a notice which told her that il
was in the express office for her. And
the same note begged her. as the writer
had begged for years, that she would
come west.
II am all alone in the world now.
Lizzie" the note said. unless YOU come
to me John wished YOU 10 have "a
part of his money. and you must know
dear. that l wished il too. Your cousin
loved YOU 10 the last. child. lie told
me that he had always loved you: my
husband told me that on his death
bed. And he asked that YOU might
have a bit of his property 10 make YOU
comfortable in old age. Gladly, glad
"; for l love you scarcely less than
he did. Lizzie. You knew l loved him.
and YOU refused 20 give him heartless
body when another woman's heart was
all his. God bless YOU. Lizzie. and
send YOU 10 me, that we may spend
the little remnant OF life that is left
us together. Write me when 10 meet
you. And don't throw away your
money on the unworthy; you always
would. you know"
Miss Elizabeth had pressed her cous-
in'swife' sletter 10 her lips.and had taken
of her glasses more than once to get the
tears away, before she could finish the
reading Yes, she had given Glare her
happiness IL refusing TO marry her
cousin. who had afterward married
Glare. She had made him a good wife,
Yet he said he had always loved her: he
had said il on his deathbed What
queer thing is love, Miss Elizabeth was
nfuEiuo-fhas X real lr>v.a- - r,s,.r