The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1900-05-18
"A Silent Shy Divinity"

lOOhtu Jul uDOl lIC WOiiu III 0uSh w
wilderment for the reason that their
observations were supplemented
by no audible message. In
other words, the little child
had no voice with which to speak her
thoughts and no hearing by which the
thoughts of others could reach her.
She was one of big family, and all
of the rest were without physical or
mental defect. They were, indeed,
robustious family, intelligent, frugal
and industrious. The neighDors
thought we'll OF them. Mrs. ScharH
had the reputation of being the best
housekeeper on the block. Joseph
Scharff, a contractor for ornamental
stone work, was accounted a success
full and fine workman. The boys and
girls were bright at school,. they were
sent to the turner's for physical de-
velopment at the earliest possible age,
and they were conspicuous among the
pupils of a dancing school popular
among the well-to-do Germans in their
community. Moreover, every one OF
them could make music Of one sort
or another, and the front room looked
1aore like the musicians practice room
at a. theater than the pa.rlor OF fam
| lily.
| But while the Scharffs appeared to
have a number of homely virtues and
to be citizens of which any city might
well be proud, the fact remained that
there was a certain hardness about
them. They found it impossible 10
forgive incapability, which they
seemed to confound with laziness. Inc
boys invariably spoke with contempt
of a schoolmate of theirs who was
lame The girls openly commiserated
any of their friends who were plain
Joseph Scharff never had much use for
any man who was out Of work, and
his wife was more apt to be irritated
than sympathetic if one OF the girls
was found to be I'll in the morning and
not able to perform her share OF the
household duties.
| OO LCud, Win IhV pui yOSt e'AAN'
the ears which would not hear, and
the sensitive mouth which uttered no
| articulate word, came as an unspeak-
able modification to the Scarffs. She
had been such a pretty baby that at
first she had been made much Of, but
when the discovery Of her misfortune
was made nothing more was said about
| her. She was kept in the background /.
When callers came she was hustled
into an upper room, and as she was
singularly patient child, more and
more she was left by herself in room
| at the end of the upstairs hail. which
had been set apart for her. The place
was warm in winter and cool in sum-
mer; bars were put across the win
dow that the child might be in
no danger from falling out, the room
| was thoroughly cleaned once a week
and Lena was looked upon by the fam
| lily as being well enough treated. A
few toys were got for her, but she
seemed not much interested in them,
and after a time her relatives ceased
to make additions to this stock. She
was dressed in sack-like frocks of
dark blue calico, and her hair was kept
shaved close to her head in order that
there might not be trouble in comb
ing it. In short, no caresses were ever
given the little one, no one held or
,fnr flI yN1o xtyit
became, as time went on, almost as
solitary as hermit Much earlier than
any of the rest she learned to care for
herself, and she instinctively fastened
to her bare, sunny little room the min
ute a meal was over. In time work
began to be required of her. She was
set to wiping dishes, to busting rooms
and to sewing. She did whatever she
was taught, patiently, without tears.
But the droop of the sensitive mouth
grew greater, and there was look of
hopelessness in the purple eyes which
nothing ever banished
What thoughts were struggling in
that inarticulate being no one cared
to think. There was no curiosity felt
upon the subject. The family went its
prosperous and well satisfied way and
let the soul, silent amid sociability,
starve for lack of the food of human
love.
There was, not far from the house of
the Scarffs, a certain college settle
ment, enthusiastically sustained by a
number of disinterested young men
and women. And one of these women
heard, by the merest chance. of the ex-
istence of Lena Scarf. But to reach
her was a task as. difficult as that of
the Prince Charming when he went
to find the Sleeping Beauty. The
Scarffs might easily have thought
themselves as fit persons to augment
the working force of a settlement, but
they would never have admitted that
they could be its beneficiaries.
Miss Airport, the young lady OF the
settlement, had need of much diplo-
macy before she could as much as
catch a glimpse Of the morbidly shy.
pale creature. only half human in her
who chung to the safe |