The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-11-26

<SSWIn W er err nm nr;th oa tha e' uanai
emphasis of people
who take the downward view, very bad
citizne.
When his wife died he seemed to awake
with sudden shock to the issues OF lie
and the fact of death. lie had loved her
with all that marvellous depth of tender
ness, that inconsistent fervOr which some
times Irderlies the weakest natures.
In the newness of his grief he foreswore
his old ways and habits. He knew him
self to be weak He fancied the way to
strength of resistance lay along the road
of sef-eXile to strange scenes and I'M
familiar faces-that road well worn by the
restless feet of those VINO fly from the
battle within to wage an unequal struggle
with the allies without.
He left his little son. made doubly dear
to him by the sense of loss, with his wife's
cousin. gave to her wha' money be could
spare for the child's support. promised to
send more at regular intervals, and de-
parted westward.
More than a year later he reused him
self as if the finger of Gate had touched
him. He remembered, with an anguished
regret. that he had failed again; that for
months he had drifted from place to
place, he himself ca-'cely knew where or
how. He remembered that his promised
remittances for the boy had ceased. He
saw himself broken in strength. in health.
in spirit. He felt suide1ly overpowered
with the consciousness oI his own weak
ness, and, as a drowning mans arms
I'd IS
help, his thought went out toward his
child.
1t seemed to him that the love of his
boy could save him. The miracle of sal
walton became to him possible. wherein a
little child. strong in love and innocence
and faith. should lift the fainting, failing
manhood of the man.
A passionate yearnlng seized him to
fold again to his heart 'he little form, to
feel ABOUT his neck the clinging arms, to
hear again the lisping words which came
to his weakened memory like distant
echoes in a dream. And then he remem-
bered the day when first the child was
laid in his arms; he remembered the
thrill, the wonder. the first pride of faith
erhood. Then, in brok,1 glimpses. as a
fair landscape is seen i'etween blurs of
mist. there came to him memories in swift
succession. of the growth. the incidents
of the ehild's few years.
81 must go to him" whispered the man
with I gasp, as he lifte;l his head from
his hands. His face was flushed, tears
stood in his eyes. His resolution was
carried out with feverisb haste, and he
turned his face to the East,
His wife's relative had little excuse for
him. She had long considered him a
hopeless vagabond. So when he appeared
suddenly, as from the possible, and. in
her opinion, better. dead. she was not pre-
pared la receive him with especial cordial
'ity. The story was soon told The boy
had died months before. He slept by his
mother. No one had known where to ad-
dress the father, who was supposed to
have forgotten he had L son.. She was
really not much surprised at the apathy
with which the father listened. 1t was
consistent with her estimate of his char
acter. She had 10 means of knowing
that his faculties were stunned. But she
was astonished beyond measure when. in
mechanical way, he insisted upon giving
her money for the expense of caring for
and burying the boy.
''ls hat quite ALP he Kept asking, and
then, abruptly but quickly, he said
."Good-by. I'm going back"
He knew that his hope was dead: he
felt the certainty of fall now that nothing
remained to him to lean upon But he
thought of other Things.
sleety mist filled TIE air, sparkling in
the street lights like a may shower of
briiliauts. The particles stung his face
like elin arrows. His features were
tense and rigid His eyes were hot and
dry and his head ached with a dull, in
sistent. maddening pain He passed the
: colored globes of q drug store and Stopped
Red, yIo.et. and green the shafts of light
pierced the dark. The people about him
seemed "hadows, the sound of their voices
leagues away. Dlmly he remembered q
prescription for an opiate he had used fol
heada aches like that. Fumbling in his
pockets he found L paper and entered
the store.
"AlaSe twice the number or powders
be said to the CLERK. 81 don't want to
bother getting the stuff so often"
The clerk hesitated.
Nonsense" said me man. "I'm per
fectly familiar with the use of it. Give
me one of them now with a glass OF
water"
Then he went into the street again with
the packet of powders in his pocket, and
already the mere taking of the drug had
somewhat soothed him. He felt hushed
his mind seemed to clear and lift itself
into curious, impe-Sonai attitude. As
he walked he found himself quite willing
to contemplate calml- he sodden pain al
his heart. the utter hopalessness and use
lessness of his life With mocking per