The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-11-09

hmelt by her and held her hands tightly.
chow peacefully she seems TO look
ON DEATH" whispered the kinswoman. |
"She was a good woman" answered
the friend brokenly. a. oGi laarD
But the sick woman opened her eyes.
and they seemed TO look eagerly over
the heads OF the watchers "What do
you see?" they asked her. thinking 1t
delirium. Nothing but shadows" abe
sighed. IT thought--I hoped And
her voice sank until 1t, was inaudible.
When the doctor came, she gazed at
him piercingly. then closed her eyes and
murmured, ~ thought you might be-
I was looking for him.
''She means the death angel, said
the watchers. .rsrs 'f.r.-. p,
She spoke only once moro before the
death angel in, very, reality entered and
laid his fingers upon her lips that
would mock no more. Then she gazed
through the clouds which seemed to
surround the familiar objects in the
room, pointed to the portraits Of her re-
jected lovers and weakly whispered:
~Burn them. hate them still. Dear
God, who knowest why, thou dost not
despise me-thou who madest me so?" I
Then her mind wandered, and she muir
INJURED, "a munifcent reward, And
her lips. which still smiled scorn at
life and death as they had smiled at
love, grew suddenly cold. When she
was buried, the world came, some to
weep, all 10 marvel and exclaim that
here, at least. was one woman who
could live and die independent Of love
(which 10 TO say independent of nature.
This would have been all were it not
for the old yellowed letters which have
been mentioned. They were not so old
and yellowed when the kinswoman
found them the day before she departed
for her own home, hidden In an obscure
corner Of forgotten piece of furniture.
and started rs she recognized the dead
woman's handwriting and signature.
''To my dear love- What was this?
No name on the snperscription., but in
the letter the fondest terms Of ,endear.
ment, the most passionate expressions
Of love and trust and womanly cling
ing. She read the other letters, all writ
ten in the same vein, as from woman
who gloried in showing her whole heart
to her lover. TO whose name and identity
there was given, however. no clue. The
kinswoman bIoughtthe to the writer's
friend. Here. she said, .'look and see
the living proof that your woman who
said she had no heart was human after
all There are more Of these letters than
can count They are of all dates, re-
/ mote as we'll as recent-one was writ
| ten the week before she died-and they
| are all addressed 10 some man, some
lover, of whom no one ever guessed -
There was no such man." positive
ly asserted the woman friend. Il knew
all her secrets; l saw every. one whom
she saw; i was aware Of every letter
she wrote OF received; was as insepa-
| rable as her shadow, and there was no
lover to whom she ever listened"
/ Nevertheless, when she was alone
with the letters, she read them, know
ing that there was no counterfeiting her
friends handwriting. and as abe read
her wonder grew. for she read a wQm-
ans heart--warm, tender, glowing.
poured out for love- sake OH these pages
as willingly as the soldier sheds his life
blood for his country. And never did
hereto recant his errors at the stake
more absolutely than she denied her
own denials and scorned the scorn
which she had professed for love. "They
believe me when say have no heart, -
she wrote, but / do not care. You
know-you only, and that is enough.
for no one will ever see these lines. II ]
could not write to you would sicken
and die Of hope deferred. or my heart
would grow heavy in me and break for
lack of anything on which TO spend its
gold. Dearest, am saving il for you
am spending il on you only--you OF
all the world who know my secret.
Though, is not my desire that Of all
women's hearts? .4 .tlr4..s... al
,''I hate those men, whose hkenesses
keep to remind me how different you
are. You guess wby?, 1t is because they
are not you. OF each i hoped he might
be you, and when found he was not
could not forgive him. ! did not wrong
them they wronged and defrauded me. -
The reader gave cry and gazed fix
eddy at the letter, which bore no name.
"There was no NAME" she whispered
'.There was no lover. Oh, lonely, lonely
woman, to cheat your, heart with shad.
ows, as you have cheated minei Had you
known, as have known. the face. the
voice, the touch Of q nesh and blood
lover, you could not have staid the i'm
perious cravings Of your soul with this
poor pretense-with letters written to,
but never read by. the unfulflled ideal
Of your unacknowledged dreamsi''
II The letter written last, before her
death, was briefer. less hopeful in its
tone, and showed the traces OF bodily
weakness; but between the lines the
loving, longing heart Of her who wrote
it throbbed with almost painful eager
mesa "Alas, dear love, , it finished, ~
sometimes become weary Of writing let
sers and wish You would-come-in-
stead The last page was blurred.
Fresh tears blurred IL still more-the
bears Of the woman who ut her bidding
had given up oil that would have made
two lives worth living, and who bowed
her head upon the lottcr and echoed her
words:
Dear God, thou dost not dcspise us
--thou who hast made women sol Is
GOT our desire that Of oil women q
b CONGRATULATIONS TimeA
Ingenious Peruvian Postsrics.
| A long. slim neck is distinguishing
feature Of much Of the Peruvian pot.
terry, and nearly every vessel Ia orna.
mented with figure Of some sort, hav'
ing holes TO represent eyes and other