The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-11-07

trsg IN the flowers or q the spirit Of the
wlna. or Of Ire shapes az the dead Slid
ing softly through The fields that they bad
loved. they di6 h95 speak the truth. They
~ these th3ngs. Tor they possessed the
SIKH sense. They saw the wcrld as utter
" alive IN every vein ard pore.
What yea see here IS bat the fn!ness
q what they saw in part yeRder. There
IS nothing Inaninate where God S. Yea.
did nor Christ say. that II men had nos
praised him the very stones Of the street
would have cried oute-~for he knew well
that even the stones hsd life. and felt
what fo0t IL was thar trcd them"
And behold, at the mama O. Christ all
these pala 9es OF God seemed 90 Shudder
with an awful JOY. ana the walls cried:
"Aiieluia
Look at your child. and yoa VIII under
stand said the angel, Watch aim.
And as ! looked. / saw that the child
had stopped his face above the rose he
held. and was talking to e. And while he
spoke the rose in his land changed shape
and color. expanding mystically, TIL pres
entity il seemed a little globe q HaNe,
and the flame became whittier and purer
eacR Instant til wings sprang oGS q IL,
as wings emerge from the broken enrys-
ais: and then q human shape came 70 X.
ike J. newborn Child; ard the child grew.
till 10. Il was q fair maiden, aAn Inc
maiden stood beside my son. radiant a.
he. each finding Joy in The aspect Of the
other.
He always said that flowers had souls :
! I1urmuEea. and my thoughts went eAch
to that DARK house. and that gray room,
where / had often watched the child talk
ing TO a flower.
He had the sixth sense" said the angel.
He was right"
And that was why we thought him
stranger"
That was why. he was a poet. You
thought him strange, but to him 1t was q
much stranger thing that you did not see
what ne saw. You did not know how
lonely the child was. and so God took
him"
II loved him." said, with proud re-
sentiment. for the words cut me like a
reproach.
You loved him; yes. bat you did not
understand said the angel. in a tone 50
soft that knew he pitied me. THE time
would have come when you would have
bid him put his foolish dreams away. You
would have had him taught some task
against which his heart rebelled. You
would presently have had him enlist in
the race for what dull men value most
gold. You would even have been angry
because he did not succeed DO not inter-
rupt--I know. As time went on, you and
he would have grown more and more es-
tranged. You would not have minded so
much if other men had seen anything
beautiful or wonderful about MS gift; but
ii was destined that many. many years
should pass before that could happen.
And in the meantime he was weak and
Sickly: he would have suffered much. he
would have felt bitterly your aisappoint-
ment In him, and would have known HIM
self incapable OF preventing IL; his lite
would have been a tragedy Only now
and then does God let the poet live out
his full days on earth, for only ar long
intervals does there rise man capable
OF enduring the bitter discipline. and tri-
umphing. Your child would not have tri-
umphed. He would have been bruised and
hurt beyond endurance in the struggle,
and. worst OF all. his gift would have
persisted. So God took him. God is kind. :"
| trembled at the words. yet something
told me they were true. | remembered
that / had had great visions of my child's
success in life. And as | thought, looking
In the crystal al my feet, / saw a spot Of
darkness like a spreading cloud. and il
formed itself into a picture-the picture OF
a narrow garnet with one smoke begrim-
med window; of youth lying on poor
bed. pale and sad: table beside him, with
crust of bread. and many papers, let
ter IN his hand, which bore my name.
over which he wept. The picture vanished
almost in the instant that ii came; and
instead OF ii the crystal held multitude
of faces. listening radiant with pleasure.
open-iipped and eager. while youth sang
TO them from an ecstatic song.
You have seen: was il not better so?'
said the angel.
And |. with bowed head. answered hum
bly, Yea. II Is well with the child"
And once more the living music throb-
bed through the place. and far off a null
titude of voices cried "Alleluia," and
then a great silence fell--St. Louis Globe
Democrat.