Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-10-28
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
: 4 BLIGHTED MIND :
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NJ ' u - ! ! I ~ q
Yet ali. that spring should vanish with the rose.
That youths sweet scented manuscript should
| close,
Omar Khayyam.
Alwys did not assist @in the parish.
There We're so many women who did that
kind of thing-women who had once been
quite young.
Alan arrived. He was the new doctor
who had bought old Manselrs practice.
For brief throbbing period church work
ceased to be all engrossing to certain of
the congregation from whose waiting
hearts all hope had not yet faded. as
leaves on the decay of summer, for whom
all possibilities were not yet ended.
But from the beginning Oakwood saw
only Alwys. He loved her devoutly when
first he beheld her one May evening in
the old church. sitting in an overcrowded
pew and dressed in black Ia shabby black,
if he had noticed). with radiant eyes
fixed, it seemed to him, on the stained
window above the altar. 1t was poor
specimen of a stained window-a senti-
mental st. Peter dragged an impossible
net out of pale. dirty sea. The half
trained choir droned with their own ac-
cent "'Owly, 'Owly, 'Owly" The school
master organist biundered on the pedals.
as usual Alan wondered much at the
fervor of the young girl. rapt as some
virgin visionary of old time. For himself
he had come only TO he seen. which is
necessary for the country doctor.
Love grew like a flower in the sun
shine. They were intensely happy. and
Alwys' parents were pleased. 1t was a
complacent relief to them, for the child
was delicate and by nature untitled to do
battle.
And so the early summer passed, glad
procession of quickly speeding days, and
the joy in their hearts was overwhelul-
ing, so that they marveied at their own
happiness. 1t was perfect. .
| But the time was short, for one day
as Alan rode out along the Northbank
road to an urgent case OF diphtheria in
house beyond the town he met gypsy
caravan creaking slowly along the road
to Hildon fair. His quiet old hack grew
| uneasy and restive at its approach. When
the yellow painted van drew near, the
warm smell of the bears pelt and the
low vibrating growl sent Bruce mad
| with panic. There was no holding
| him. Half a mile farther on be crashed
into stone wall Horse and rider were
| killed instantly. Alan was carried back
to Hildon.
Alwys did not cry; only the faint color
left her cheeks. and the light died from
her fac& The night of the burial it
rained. and then she wept for the first
time. She feared for him under the
damp mold.
| Sometimes she would meet a villager
whose bright good morning" she passed
unheedingly, and sometimes little brown
birds would flutter in her path, and,
| cheeping, fly away unnoticed. for she had
| eyes that saw not and ears that heard
not. At night she slept i'll, but sat
crouching in a chair through the dark
hours, and when the birds sang early
in the morning she rose and went out.
| The fresh sounds OF summer were a
vacant silence and the gladness of the
| day as nothing to her. Everyt thing had
ceased to distinguished in her dull
memory. And only week before she
| had been alive.
The man was coming toward her. The
| way he vaulted the stile caused her heart
| to beat more quickly. He came swiftly
to where she stecd, trembling, irresolute.
"Are you not glad to zee me?" he ask
| not more so than her own, and his voice
was thin.
"AianI" she cried. starting forward on
heart throb, and then drawing back.
''But you are dead, They buried you
six-seven days ago.
Il am not dead" he said in a low voice
81 am alive, and you see me. Are you
glad:'
She passed her hand vaguely across her
forehead, puzzled.
But you did die" she repeated in her
shadowy monotone. You were thrown
from your horse-don't you remsmber!"
She shuddered
"And you placed flowers in the coffin,
the roses you love, from your garden.
They were pale roses" He spoke al
most as to himself as he walked sound
lessly by her side. She turned toward
him.
"Tell me the meaning of it. Alan,'
She stretched forth her hands to touch
him, but he quickly drew away.
''1he time is not yet" he said.
Are you dead?" she asked. her eyes
glistening
My body lies in Hildon churchyard
covered with moist earth. and there are
flowers planted on my srave-white roses
in the black mold. And l live"
And where are you and what do ycu
do?"
Il am in the strange land" be said.
A transparent silence fell between
them. The next moment be had passed
from her view.
With quick, light step she ran almost
to her home. They gazed in wonderment;
It was as if she had been raised from
the dead Eagerly she explained. and
their expressions changed.
She persisted in her statements.
''Seer' she cried you will believe me
now. Here is his handkerchief: he drop
ped it. and picked it up."
In happy triumph she held out the OBJ
ject in her hand.
Good Gojr' said the gray haired Gu
rate.
II was a fallen leaf.
But afterward she saw him often and
many were the sweet conversations they
held. They had taken her away from
the white village to great brown house
where all treated her with a pitiful kind
ness. and grave hooking men asked often
after her health. Not unseldom her rela-
tives came to see her.and she would talk
brightly to them of Alan and laugh hap
PLY. She could not understand why they
wept.-West End.
Bookkeeping Comes High.
att makes me tired" said the young
man-.these advertisements guaran-
teaino to teach A perS0u hookkeeptuG