The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-30
A Recollection

|
from you?
There is the gravel You cannot enter
there
When Ruth Steele was a little girl in
short frocks and with the care OF dolls
Tor her only responsibility. she thought
Reginald Nixon the dearest boy on her
street, or, perhaps. in the whole world.
Not only were his manners kinder than
those OF the other boys she knew and his
face handsomer, but it seemed as if the
paint on the big square house in which
ne lived was whittier and the grass Of his
we'll trimmed lawn greener. As for the
peacock who marshaled the grass plot,
ne was the most gorgeous and naughty
OF birds. In short, a giimmering glory
was round about this boy He seemed
to Rutland, perhaps, to some other
persons. TOTO be set apart from the
rest Of the world.
Years later, when Ruth was going out
to her first dances. it was Re-inald who
assumed the right TO make the grand
march with her and to take her down 10
supper. and see her safe into the old fam
| lily carriage. Ruth wondered nc less than
| she re1olced. How he could choose her
with her plain, severe face, her quaint,
! homemade clothes. and her shy ways.
to the other girls was a perplexity to
| her. She was no more than a child when
she realized that she loved him. and
| when she was a woman she had the great
| happiness of telling him so.
That was the night before he left for
his European trip. He had just finished
his college course and at the command of
| his father consented to go abroad, though
as matter of fact he would better have
enjoyed remaining near his modest lit
tie sweetheart. No place in the world
was so enhancing to him as her high
! walled rose garden, no music so exquisite
as the soft cadences of her voice, no pic
ture so moving as the light in her dove
like eyes.
1t CHANGED most unhappily that Regi-
maid Nixon staid away from home much
| longer than he had intended. The far
places Of the world cried out to him and
babe him come so on he went TO Russia,
to Arabia, to Persia, to India, and japan.
And one day he got word that there was
| silence in the rose garden-that his dove
eyed sweetheart waJ' dead.
Then all the knowledge he had been
gathering seemed useless. He did not
know what to do with it. Neither did
he know what to do with the two ex-
cellent fortunes which had recently came
to him, one from his grandfather and
the other from his mother. He was in
| the midst of the islands of the Pacific
by this time, and he wandered about
among them till his soul was stated with
the languor of meaningless days, the
! splendor of burning skies, and the toss
! ing of palms. Then, out Of sheer mani
! ton, he returned home.
He was no selfish sentimentalist. He
meant to do his duty by the world. So
he assumed various duties, built blocks
of buildings, erected a church in memory
! of his lost love, made his town present
of park. and took upon himself hun
dred civic responsibilities.
But he was badgered
| why don't you marry, Reginald?" his
friends continually asked him. It became
the insistent theme of conversation at his
| home The clergyman talked to him about
it; the old family physician remonstrat-
ed; even casual acduaintances ventured
to Jest upon the subject. There appeared
| to be universal conspiracy against him.
So. one day, to the amazement of ev-
cry one. he ordered the laying of the
| foundation stones of a mansion. Then
he announced the engagement Of Miss
Sara Vibert and himself. Society gasp
ed-ard wrote its congratulations. Miss
Vibert was a great beauty and sophis-
ticated and imposing person. She and
! Nixon went driving together in a black
boated and went horseback riding. They
seemed, in fact, to be forever before tho
! eye of the public and always in gala at
| tire. If the town had craved diversion,
| it was surely satisfied.
! They had a church wedding, ana every
body came; and there was a wedding re-
! ception which was also the house warm
! ing of the newly completed mansion. The
wedding journey. il was given out, was
] mo RI ha +oI- fO~ he
! "No wonder thew want to settle down
and enjoy their new house, commented
! the people as they drove home from the
dance in the early dawn.
! 1t was said afterward that when the
! bride, worn out with the exertions Of
| the day and the festivities, went to her
room she found it empowered in flow
ers, and that she waited there among
the flowers for the voice of her BRIDE
| groom till she sank into unwilling sleep.
! The day was far spent when she awoke.
and so heavy was the room with he per-
/ fumes that it almost seemed to her that
| she was in a tomb-that she was dead
and covered with grave flowers.
| She ate in her room. The breakfast was
| sent to her by her husband, and It was
an exquisite little feast And then he
came and showed her all the gardens
/ ana then the plate ana the DOCKS ana
! the musical instrument At each thing
he looked longingly like one who desires
/ something he may not have. The gar
dens and the books and the dishes OF
silver and gold seemed not enough IN
themselves. He appeared TO be search
ing for their meaning and their compen-
satory potentialities.
The bride ard groom dined mat night
IN great state. At his request she even
wore her diamonds Afterwards they had
music and then they walked IN the moon
light. And then he left her at the foot
of the great stairway and went 10 the
library TO smoke, so he said.
Again the bride had fallen asleep amid
the perfumes Of her flowers. when she
was awakened by a sharp and fatal
sound. She ran through the halls, and
met nothing but the summer wind: but
at the door OF the library II seemed as II
something which she could not name nor
/ see combatted with her as II II would de-
ter her from entering. But she forced
/ her way in, and she saw the thing that
for some inexplicable reason she had ex-
/ pected TO see.
A dead man sat in the chair before nj.
unit hearth. The pipe that had fallen
from his hand was still aight. As for
his revolver two chambers OF that were
empty
Editorial Episodes.
Whenever man protests that he does
not care what the ravVs0aus~s say ab,u+