Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-29

And yet certain hint of the sweetness of
the rose always hung about her, perhaps
spiritualized. but none the less sweet The
children recognized it, for 1t was Miss
Rhody who put the buttered brown paper
on their bruises and consoled them for their
bumps. now with an apple when no one
else had apples-for Miss Rhody's few trees
always bore On the eff year-and now with
a shining square of loaf sugar from the
great cone wrapped in purple paper which
seemed to them a Part of the wonders OF
the outl1ndish countries on the other side
of the world where people walked head
down as the flies do the ceiling And
now and than she consoled one of the ten
derest and dearest with a kiss instead,
which the Little thing endured for the sake
of the cuddling the soft shoulder, the
agreeableness of the half-guessed scent of
dried roses that she was never without. and
the joll-baby rags that came afterward
And the young girls recognized it, for 1t
was to Miss Rhody they came with the
weighty condolences of their hopes and their
griefs and besitations, their gushes and
bushes and it was from her that they had
the excellent advice which they never fol-
lowed The mothers recognized it, for 1t
was not only that Miss Rhody came to
them in their Illnesses and the illnesses of
their children, nor that she brought them
the bunch of peonieS for the pGrior pitcher,
but she seemed to have insight into eX-
periences which she had never shared, and
gave them silent sympathy at unexpected
moments when they would have been the
last to confess they needed it, And the old
people recognized 1t, too; but. 10th 10 say,
rot altogether with the same friendliness
of feeling toward it; for it was Miss Rhody
who SO long had dressed their dear ones for
the last long rest that they knew she was
the one likely to perform that office for
themselves. and that fiower-hke sweetness
of hers had to them something of the quail
ity of the flowers poisoning on graves
shore really Indifferent to this poor charm
of Miss Rhodys. and that was Will Ma
Their. who never perceived any charm at
all about her. and who looked on her with
a good-natured indulgence as he would
have looked on Ann Mather's canary had
1t escaped and come across his way, and
who never thought of her when he did
not see her Her pale, thin personality
was such a colorleSs thing beside that of
her cousin Ann, the black-eyed. red
checked beauty. or even beside the tender,
smiling loneliness of the pretty Sally,
whom Tom Brier would have died for,
and whom Humphrey Lavendar had made
his own She was, in fact, to VIII Mather
only like the shadow of some one eise and
Will Mather was the only one whose feel
ing in regard to herself had any vital sig
nificance to Miss Rhody-
Every time that he came home from a
voyage, more bluff and burIy and trump
et-toned than before, all the suggestions
of the romance of the deep seas gathered
about him in her fancy. and the whole
outside foreign world came with him. He
was the hero of wild wreStles with
wind and weather; what dangers of night
and storm had threatened him; what tri-
umphs were his when he brought his
white canvas into port For VIII was now
the captain of the Man-o- Null, man OF
mark and of authority in the village of
been much as this and more. before
ever he ran away to sea. always an ideal,
always a being of adventure II might
have seemed to another that she wavered
a little in her allegiance when Humphrey
Lavendar took the hand Of his crazy
mother as she was dancing in the street
and put her shawl about her and led her
home. and Rhody ran and took her other
hand. sharing with Humphrey the shame
and pain of the thing he was one day to
inherit But 1t was nothing of the sort
Humphrey was some one in distress, and
she went to him just as she went to the
hurt creature. out of the abundance of her
hearts tenderness. But for VIII, he
would never be one of those IN any dis
tress, for even before she was a dozen
years old she had felt all that was potent
and fortunate, and that captivated all the
girls in town. in his strong and reckless
nature. even before he climbed the out
side of the meeting house steeple to res
cue a parrot that had taken flight OF
fancy to the vane and had hurt Its wing
and feared to try its fate downward To
be sure, he was thrashed for 1t. And de-
served It," said Will; but 1 had the
climb
In teach you to brighten your mother
again. you ships monkey" cried his faith
er. But VIII saw the twinkle in his faith
er's eye, for all the blows. and knew there
achievement in the old sailors heart. IA
chip of the old block the father was
muttering to himself as he put up the strap,
and that in spite of the fact that he had
been heard to say that he would rather
the boy died young than live to follow his
fathers path In blue water.
But nothing of that mattered to Rhody
and to the little public. to Ann and Flora
and Humphrey. TO Sally and Tom Brier
and Joy Hodge and the rest of them. ro
whom the thrashing was an affair of every
day. but the climbing set their nerves to
thrilling and their blood to spinning They
held council among themselves. and knew
that sooner or later II was decreed in fate
that Will Mather would run away to sea
And he was good their word. To sea
he went, and when he came back breezy
and brown and rolling in his gait. he could
have had any girl on the shore for the
asking-except Sally. 1t is hardly any
sacrifice of her maiden modesty to say he
could have had Rhody: although l do not
know but the asking would have surprised
her out OF the possibility. for she did not
look on him as girls look upon lover but
as subject looks upon a king. as a slave
upon "a master: he was the hero of the long
unwritten romance she was spelling out
and reading every hour. But Will Mather
hardly knew that poor Rhody existed other
than as part OF the dim outlines and phan-
tasmagoria that fill up the background of
all peoples memories. Her cousin AIMS
rich color, her flashing eyes and sparkling
teeth. her ringing laugh and gay spirit all
that indeed. filed up the foreground of
Wills fancy, and when he took ship again
II was with AIMS promise that she would
be his wife when he should ship first
mate. What Will wanted TO go to sea for
when he could stay at home and be happy
with her. Ann could never imagine; but
Rhody understood 1t all. She too, without
being poet. knew the tune VIII Mather's
heart was beating.
God help me, save I take a part
OF danger on the roaring sea-
A devil rises in my heart
Far worse than any death to me-
and her thoughts followed him all along
the wide sea ways and into storms and into
Gains and into strange ports OF the orient
"Oh. Ann. she would say, running In at
the close of a lowering day. when such
tempest of rain and sleet was beating that
no one who could stay at home ventured
abroad Il thought I'd jes' step over; you
must be so sort of dismal. But you know
u amt blowing any such way as this down
on the other side Of the globe"
Well. Rhody. you must think As IL 1
didn't know THAR was the reply, with n