Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1899-02-17
THE MAD GODS.
What would the mad GODS do
For hate with me, / wonderR
or what for love with youf

ElnIurne.
Percy Charrington was carried homo
on q hurdle with his neck broken one
stormy afternoon in mid-NOvc-aber.
having lost those who stopped 10 proIer
assistance the best run of the season.
People shook their heads and remark
ed that young men from tho grass coun-
ties who viii try to fly the Essex fences
can only expect broken necks ms a mat
ter of course. A fence that begins with
n small ditch and O soft take off. con-
TIME with a big built Up bank crown
cd ty a stort staEcd hazel hedge and Is
concluded by a nine foot drop into "a
cham like a ready made grave on the
far hide Is not the Place to fly, as any
fool should have Known and all Essex
people do know.
so Percy Charrinston went home on
n hurdle-all Of him That the startled
soul left behind when it set forth IN its
separate journey from the bottom Of
that pitilcss ditch. and Mrs Charring-
ton. five days later. sat in her widows
weeds in the lonely library and gazed
across the sodden. gray garden with
eye that looked ana saw not.
She had boen a prisoner and now the
shackles had fallen. and behold. she was
freel
Two hours before tho heavy Essex
clay fell dead and soleinniy upon her
husbands coffin; two hours ago she
turned her face from the PAST and faced
~ r-A-.. A., f-4,-, fNws ntrs, 4 nrs
back had never existed for her Where.
fore she sat in her library AID was
calmly. steadfast'y glnd
In having been wrctched fer three
years she was spared the sreat misery
she aholld rightly have fit ut her lone
illness. At moments sGch rs these it /,
permitted one to be thun,Efrl that al
women Go not love their hurblnds.
Mary Charrington was a small WON.
an with Il slight figure, n pale face Q
Little too long for its width, big gray
eyes and d mass of old fashioned M
brown hair. She was focr ana twenty.
and che had mover been sincerely happy
in the whole of her life.
Who are we to cast n stone at her
when we realize that she ca1iO nearer
to happiness on the day Of her hus-
bands funeral than ever beforc5
II is sinful TO wish a mar dead, sin
full to be glad when he dies. but when
that mans person has constituted {
barrier between oneself and all pleasure
in life. if it be sinful to rejoice Mt that
barriers removing. then sin s1ch re
ioicing must DO, and thero's an end o.
it'll
She had married him three years be
fore for a diversity Of reasons. not fo
the only one. She pat all thought o
that aside. She said YES to MIR
Charrington because he was young AM
good looking and loved her and pro
posed to her. and because she was lionel,
and poor ana tired of ell her surround
ings and wanted a strong arm betweei
her and the world. Women marry 70
that last reason much of.ener than the
have any idea Of.
OF course directly she was marie
she met the man she was to love. an
forthwith loved him. and suffered d
only these little. pale faced. gray eye
women can. because they have u
strength TO rise superior to their love
AOA UAlAADO IcAHaAhAA WA
cutting the Gordian marriage knor
The mans name was Jack CollingwooC
and he was q barrister, who, being
brave man. ran away and went OF
try his luck at the Calcutta bar.
Fate was kind and let him succeed
Fate wanted to keep him away fro
Mrs. Charrington. and then one da
Ii forgot and let Percy come to irreIh
diable grief out hunting after whicl
having committed a blunder. it washC
its hands Of the whole affair and salt
''What must be shall bel'
Fate Is a fatalist.
She wrote to her lover; she told hi
She was free. 1t was not a long lette
but the whole Of her life and her lo'
and her hopes of heaven went out
Calcutta between two pages Of foreil
paper.
The answer came back-the answ
she expected and longed and pray
for, and Mary CharIington made h
preparations. set hlr affairs in ord
and bought her trousseau, walking in
golden world decked with purple al
rose and silver-a world all fair 10 Sc
that had never before been aught b
gray TO her.
She sang about the big, empty houa
she laughed whenever she caught h
own eye in one Of the many great nj
rOrs Once she took off the little viii
Grape cap and threw II into the air.
was very bad taste on her part, but S
was 50 happy that she had got beyoi
refinement.
so at the end Of six months she boo
ed her passage In the Kandahar 10
out 10 him
She said goodby to all her frienC
She smiled vaguely and i%rritatingly
their slightly stiff congratulations. a
their half yelled hints as TO the son
what indecent haste displayed. VIII
Percy's body was hardly cold "a
tomb according 70 ciFcumstan'