The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-09-09

Author of ION the Face OF the Waters:
II was in little lath and plaster house
down By the river that 1t all happened,
The merest CONNECTION OF house, look
ing for all the world as II 1t were
NeapeIitaR Ice Strawberry aud vanilla
in alternate stripes, with shattered win
dows of coffee, and furled wafer of an
awning over the fllgree chocolate bal
cony. And 1t rested so to speak,
against platter OF green plantain
leaves, bright rs any emerald. No
doubt the trees belonging to the leaves
grew somewhere to the back or the side
OF it, but from the wide street in front
You could see nothing but the green
leaves surrounding the Ice cream.
For the rest It was a three-storied
house outwardly, inwardly a two
storled one, or, to be more strictly ac-
curate, it consisted of a story and a
half, since the further half of the
ground floor and the whole of the mid
die story belonged to u different house.
having a different entrance in differ
ent street which lay in different quar-
ter, A very respectable quarter, In
deed, whereas the less said about the
morals Of the wide street down by the
river the better, They were so bad
that the modesty OF the middle story
did not permit of n single window
whence they could be seen, And this
gave the house u queer, half-hearted
look, for the top story and half of the
lowest one which belonged TO It was
full of windows and doors opening on
TO the broad path leading to destruc-
ton, There We're FIVE, with fretted
wooden architrayes filling up the whole
of the ground floor, so that you could
see straight into the long, shallow hall,
whence there was no exit save by Il
narrow slit In the middle, showing II
dim, steep staircase. 1t was always
empty, this hall, though 1t was car
peted With striped carpets and painted
deliberately In tlowery arabesques OF
dull pale pink and flaming crimson; an
Dad mixture, reminding you vaguely of
blood stains on rose leaf. And there
was red lamp over the center door,
which sent u rosy radiance into the
growing dusk; for It was lit early.
So was the pale, the palest of green
lights on the top story, which you
could swinging from the roof when the
colree-ice shutters were thrown back
as the evening breeze came down the
river 1t was pale, yet bright, like the
first star at sun setting.
And sometimes, but not often, OF you
watched IN the early dusk you might
see the over Of the Ice cream house hit
across the open window. She was like
sugar drop herself, rose or saffron
decked with silver leaf. slender
scrap of a creature, who tinkled as she
walked and gave out a perfume OF
heavy-scented flowers. But this was
seldom; more often you only heard the
tinkle, either Of silver or laughter since
Burfani-for thai was her name-wa3
of those who barter the one for the
other II was In truth her hereditary
trade, though neither her father nor
her mother had practiced it, their role
in life having been that of pater and
materfamllias. a very necessary one IL
the race is to survive, and so in this
generation also her brother had under
taken the duty by marrying his first
cousin. The young couple being now in
tne privacy and prOpriety of the second
story, engaged in bringing up fine
family OF girls TO succeed to the top
sorry wnen Iurfani's age should drive
her 20 a lower place In life, In the
meantime, however. she allowed them
so much mOnth-enough to enable
illa Iulfkar to fight quail in the bazaars
and keep his wife Lagigan in the
s.ric;est secluslon as beiltted one filch-
Cd from the profession OF bartering
smiles In order to fulfill the first duty OF
Noman-the rearing Of babes.
Thus In more ways than one the
house was conSlomerAte. on the side
overlooking the broad path there was
the roae-ieaf hail. empty. sweet and
gainished, and the dark stair leading
up and up to the wandering star OF
lamp twinEling out into the sunset
amid the sound OF laughter and money.
On the side giving upon narrow respect
ability a hail full OF household gear and
dirt, where the little girls played, and
q dark stair leading TO darker room
where Laglgan sat day after day be-
walinE her sad fate; for, of course, lie
would have been much gayer over the
way since she was beautiful woman.
Far more beautiful in lavish, some
- ut loud fashion than the lady belong
Ing 60 the Ice cream house With her
dellcntc small face; but that was the
out from many to carry on the race as
it ought to be carried on. Burfani, Of
course, was clever, and that counted
for much. but II never did in their pro-
fCssion to rely on brains above looks,
Nevertheless Laglgan. when in u bad
temper, was in the habit Of telling her
self that II she had been taught to sing
and dance as the little lady had been
taught, she could have made the Ice
cream house more paying concern
than Il waste Judge by the pittance
they received from It, And this angry
complaint grew with her years, until,
as she sat sucking her fourth child, she
tct sometimes as II she could strange
it, even though It was a boy, and
though. as n rule, she was an affection
ate mother. In truth. the sheer animal
instinct natural to so finely developed
a creature lasted out the two or three
years during which her children were
hers alone; after that. when they be-
gan crawling down stairs and playing
in the hall, where she might never go.
she became Jealous, and then forgot all
about them.
Nevertheless the boy being some
nine months old when he was suddenly
carried of by one Of those mysterious
diseases common to indian children,
she wcpt profusely, aud told Rurfan--
who as In duty bound came round de-
Gently swathed In a burka to offer con-
docnce on hearing of the sad event.
that some chlIdleBs one had doubtless
cast a SHADOW on him for his bcauty's
sake, seeing that--thank heaven! all
nor children were bcautlful-th there was
Always militant iinvOr underlying the
b0llteness OF these two, and even the