The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-04-05
WITH THE COMING OF EVEN.
ny Aosns aaozIEa -.

at is only the wind, !" said the Poet.
He threw himself listlessly upon the
hard leather couch, and turned his face
to the wall.
The waves dashed madiy upon the
rocks below the little cottage with
angry shriekiDg the wind beat up the
waves; and the moan of the storm
came upon the Wind. The Poet heard
all these, and smiled wearily young
in years, he was old in spirit, in expert
ence, in enjoyment; they had no
charm for him.
He opened his lips now in diseon-
tent. ''They have written 20 much
about the sea that one is dead sick of it
all" He sighed 81 can find in it
nothing that has not been found be-
fore"
lie himself had written not little
concerning the beauties Of the sea, but
his hand had been young IN sooth
when it held the pen, and his eyes not
yet aweaiy.
He turned restlessly on the couch,
bemoaning its hardness, and cHrsing
the friend whose advice had sent him
TO recruit at this little fishing town,
throwing all the burden Of his disgust
Of life and his own feebleness into the
cursing.
Then through and betwixt the voices
of the storm came a wailing cry the
cry OF a lost soul at Gods gates; the
cry for the unattainable from the lips
Of child of earth. Rising higher and
higher, 1t beat sobbingly upon the
wind it cried with the echo OF the
seagulls' warming; it scattered with
the soft sea foam; and sank hushing
and palpitating into the mutter of the
waves. But only to rise again in a mel
ody so triumphant as to override in
its grandeur the voices Of the angry
ocean.
sit was the great sea-spirit, " said the
Poet.
But the sound had hardly seemed to
come from the sea-rather from above.
He rose and walked to the window.
''It was not the wind" he said, aloud.
1t was still bowling, but the music
had ceased. He threw open the win
dow and looked out. The wind fell in
blast upon his thin face, and tossed
his hair. The sea shouted at him with
angry menace. The look Of the sky
upon him was without a CLINT Of a
smile.
But again the music rose; but so soft
~ that be had TO strain his ears to catch
the murmur Of the halfhushed cradle
song. Whenfit ceased again the voices
of the storm seemed to be sinking, and
the sea to be aweary Of rage. The wind
fell, and into the sky came white
glimmer where a silver star sought its
entrance TO the heavens.
The Poet stood there long, his arms
resting on the sill, a dreamy look on
his old-young face. There had come
to him one of those moments which he
fancied had left him forever, when his
mind, like the worn out sea, could hush
its crying and be at peace.
1t was only when, on his way to his
bedroom later, he passed his laDdlady
on the stairs that the problem of the
strange music he had heard returned
to him. at seemed in the house, and
yet not in the house, he murmured to
himself stopping her. at has been a
wild night, Mrs. Lewis
Indeed, and it has, sir, but it hiss
settled down nicely"
ut was strange; but l thought !
heard during the storm the sound Of a
violin. Some one has chosen a strange
time to play"
There's Miss White, sir: she has
the room above yours. She teaches the
fiddle in town-goes up every day. Bat
she's not been playin' tonight, sir
and she's the only one in the place that
can.D
20, that explains it. She must have
been playing. No doubt it was she
heard"
But she hasn't been playin' tonight,
sir; beg your pardon for saying it.
I've been sittin' sewin' in the room
just above her head, and never a sound
have | htard. She's been that still,
toou
The Poet laughed, but went on his
way unconvinced. Strange playing
for a teacher of the violin, +" he thought,
''and strange time in which TO play.
She must be a strange girl
1t never occurred to him, in the ar
roganee of his few years, that she
might be more than girl. Indeed, he
speedily forgot the whole matter. But
in the dead of the night he rose, and,
hastily dOnning a few garments, sat
till the gray of the morning inseribing
the thoughts of which the strange
strains had sown the seed. He had
found in the sea what he had never
found before.