Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-11-30

mad lost so much and I had gained 50
much Might it not be written in the
book that there were yet brighter days
in storeI
For now could 'see men as trees
walking
Home again How strange everything
was at first At times some Of the ways
of civilization appeared to me absurd
and superf}uous. Perhaps l was a little
inclined To chafe over my enforced in
action.
February was comparatively mild
for that season Of the year at 81. Leon
ards-on-Sea. where my people had taken
a house for the winter. l could now
walk slowly about alone. and. though
unable to recognize human features.
could trace outlines with tolerable clear
ness Oh. how sweet life was becoming
again My feelings at this period were
of "a nature that l do not care to write
about There are some things which.
like delicate flowers, cannot be trans
planted Ny life was Colored by the
memory Of one dear face. and all the
current of my being set toward il.
There were times when | looked upon
my blindness as "A blessing in disguise.
for it was not hard To realize that but
for it might never have fully known
the depths and purity of her great love.
which had risen superior tc the tragedy
and wreck of my physical life. Still the
afs- - raaft-arfrrr gfrsb~ rx~uz
everything, for ! told myself that had
my blindness continued il would have
been crime TO allow her to throw her
self away on an imperfect and useless
life. But now&Sould. with glad heart
and a clear conscience, accept the pre-
cious trust she had so nobly offered.
On my arrival in England had gone
to great oculist. Contrary to expecta-
items he did not give me much comfort.
l almost resented it when he told me
that, despite the temporary improve
ment in my sight. he could not hold
out any definite hope of recovery. If
you get better, good and well. " he said,
''but you've had hard time of it in
the gulf, and the shock was terrible
one. It's as well. however, to tell you
frankly that, once let there be relapse.
and it means that any vitality your
eyes now possess is leaving them for
ever. You know the old saying about
the 'fiickering of the candle.
Oh. these were cruel words, although
in all truth the great man meant them
kindly enough. However. l only re-
membered the proverbial caution of
physicians with regulations to lose and
took his verdict for what / thought it
was worth
One morning 1 received my first let
ter from Norah, but am sure that no
chiyalrous reader would care to read it
Suffice it that its tone was cheerful.
although she advised me to exercise pa
thence. Could l not, she wrote, take up
again my old prediction for story
writing reluctantly abandoned be-
cause editors were not sufficiently APP
preciative? l had now a unique expert
ence to draw upon. She had heard
there We're typewriting machines for
those whose sight was like my own, or
better still could employ an amanuensis
for few hours every day. There was
nothing so conducive to happiness as a
little work or having a hobby, no mat
ter if it were only keeping rabbits.
Strange to say, what she suggested
the writing, not the keeping of rabbits
had been growing upon me for some
time, until at length it had become al
most irresistible. In the old days l did
not realize that / was only writing
about the same commonplace and hack
neyed things that hundreds of others
were reproducing from their colorless
lives-colorless like my own-and
which only few, either by reason Of
the subtle spark of genius or the quick
ening touch of sorrow, Were doing we'll
Now felt that in all truth my appren
ticeship had been served to the greatest
Of all neutrality-suspicious. / had seen
what it falls to the lot of but few to
see-I had heard the keynote of exist
ence in the school of human suffering
and the infinite tenderness and purity of
a true woman's love-the pathos and
the poetry of life. All, that were a song
worth listening to-one that never
grows old.
As soon as l resolved to take up my
old pursuit again 1T seemed as II the
workaday world was not SO very far re-
moved from me after all
The month of June, the town of
Plymouth and the morning of the day
when the great Australian liner will
arrive with the squatter and his daugh-
ter on board.