Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1899-05-20

gan 10 travel again Years pa.sed She
earned money rapidly She squandered
il with equal celebrity She spent her
summers in watering places She had
To und,rg" treatment I" keep her voice
from failing Once in awhile the news
papers hinted that her impresario
should see toit that SHE took better care
of her voice. which had lost some of its
clearncSs People who demanded money
from her became more pressing She
had tn travel more To earn funds To
meet these demands The treatment Of
her throat became mere and more diff
cult
Voices of such intensity never last
long said the experts and hers Ought
to have been carefully husbanded and
scientifically treated nstead of being
squdn,i,I.d and neglected
A few more years rolled by To hear
"A world famous singer was still inter
esting enough for many people; but the
unstinted applause. the flowers. the
presents. became rare Evina' income
too. diminished rapidly The time came
moving they begnn tn call her an organ
with pipes broken and tunes missing
Her lcwclry had found its way into the
pawnshop. her country place became
the property of her creditors She her.
self had become suprriiuons To the pco-
pie who once looked upon her ms a bril-.
liant star They withdrew from her
and began to avoid her Her recollec-
tion of the lake became vivid to her
She saw il plainly before hcl eyes II
was still blue and il bcckoned a wei
come to her Yes. She ~till could sing
there but there WIS no newspaper to
snccr at her no imprrsario to annoy
her and the old hut was not valuable
enough 10 attract creditors
One morning Nermund saw smoke
rising from the hut across the lake He
had taken care of il for long. long
while He kept il in order for her. for
he knew that she would return some
day He felt il To- h. his duty To row
across and see what had happened
Bending over the fireplace he found
Evina preparing her breakfast She had
arrived the evening before. she was not
richer than on the day she left her home
years ago But to Ncrmund il appeared
that this was well. for the less she pos
sessed the surer he was that she would
remain there And foi her maintenance
he thought he could provide
He came across every day He put
the hut in good condition He brought
fish and ne brought game He brought
sweets from the village which they
shared Both felt satisfied They went
ont fishing together till the cold wealth
er set in. and the ice made il hard to
cross the lake One day Eyina stood on
the shore and made signs with u scarf
He understood that she had tried to call
him over 10y song. but that her voice
had lost its power he could not hear
her He cleared way for his boat
through the ice. and when he reached
the other shore she told him that there
was no food in her house He Thought
that the best thing for her To do would
be To 90 back with him 10 his hut in the
boat They rowed across that very day
Snow covered the ground the winter
had arrived People in the village
thought it curious that she. who had
been celebrity in the world. should
again have become plain Evina. and
that she should have married Vermund
In their hut Evina used to sit in front
of the fire watching her pots She
would sing or she would hum parts Of
her operas. and. like an old bird. she
would succeed sometimes in bringing
forth some broken melody
And sometimes. when she saw the
tall tree tops Of the forest. her fancy
pictured to her the brilliantly lighted
opera house. she saw the upturned faces.
she saw the swaying bodies. she heard
the deafening applause. and she stopped
to pick up some flower Then she would
smile and murmur softly to herself
'Old age dreaming of youths pleas
ures From the German For New
York Commercial Advertiser