The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-02-23
The Pu'renniafS
OF the Admiral
A Pretty Sketch of an Old Sailor
and His Daughter.
BY MARTHA GILBERT DICKINSON.

VVVVVVVvVSV%V~ V~V~rSW~Vy~VN~&
AS long as Sereta could remember
there had always been yellow lilies at
the end of the garden walk, and as
long as the lilies could remember there
had always been Sereta blowing down
the walk.
Here they are again. Samuel" she
cried every spring. and the hard faced
old gardener would go on with his hoe
ing and reply, "Py'rennials, Miss
Sweeta; when they come, they stay"
There was a vague spot somewhere
in her memory of a day when it first
occurred TO her that she, too. was
something of ''py'rennial." She knew
no more than these golden playfellows
how she came into the admiraHs gar
den and, like them, spring after spring
found her sunny head among the re-
turning flowers. But it was not until
she was head and shoulders taller than
the tallest white Easter lily that she
inquired further: What is a py'ren
NAL, Samuel? What makes it u py rem
nial"
"a py'rennial," said Samuel convinc-
right along and keep going right ahead.
It's got no call to be sown or trans
planted or slipped; it blooms till it dies,
and next year it gets up and blooms
again."
The admiraPs garden, all rose petals
and butterfly wings. was a glowing
background for the girl flower breath
ing her youth fragrance out with theirs
on the summer air. Beyond lay some
terraces, shaded by lofty elms, and a
wide built house. well back from the
road and three or four miles from the
"shire" town of the rather lonely
county.
One stormy day when the admiral
was smoking his pipe and raising his
eyebrows occasionally at the fre-as if
exchanging amusing memories-Sereta
| followed his glance until it rested upon
a photograph that always stood in the
same place on the high colonial man
| tel-an ocean liner. nose down. under
| full speed-and she spoke before her
natural shyness checked her impulse.
ut must be like bird to cross the sea
| like that-like bird crossing the open
| sky on bright August day. The ad-
| miral smiled down at her. but his face
| had saddened as he touched the shore
| of reality after his voyage on that sea
| of fancy where each must sail alone,
1T is better 10 sit in big chair and
think about it. little friend" lie replied
"These birds find darker skies than
| your meadow larks and run heavier
| risks" Then the look of WEAKNESS
| came back that Sereta dreaded. be
| cause she did not understand it or how
to drive it away. After that day she
never prompted his conversation ol
asked the thousand and one eager, irrel
evant questions that ignorance natu
| rally Graves of maturity: she learned by
intuition that questions are cruel; be
| sides she was afraid OF bringing thu
look that meant something she coul(
not notwithstanding TO be KEEP
asleep if possible.
| But sometimes after her lessons were
done, or after his moderate dinner
glass had warmed his memories, th'
l admiral would talk to her uninterrupt
edly for hours about that great un
known place he called life, until littl
thrills and shivers of excitement crep
| over her and she could not sleep al
night for remembrance and conjecture
When Sereta was II, an odd littl
rose jar of humanity, all silences anC
dusky perfume, her world suddenly IN
derwent q crisis. There came a CUES
to the hall.
| This revolutionary visitor was mai
without a wife and therefore presuma
bly, harmless and inoffensive. Seret
liked him almost as well as Samue
after morning spent together Will
the admiral was busy and dependin
on her to do the honors for his CUES
| They We're out of doors, which make
all things possible to begin with, an
= the man on her hands was old enoug
| to appreciate her charm and lure he
simplicity by his varied knowledge c
| compeXer womanhood. So she chatte
and explained all down the gardel
through the py'rennials, laughed wit
him over the clumsy colts in the pa(
:. dock, showed him the view from I'll
pasture hill, brought him home by I'll
= woods and was singing to him in I'll
= empty drawing room when the admir-;
returned.
Somehow the afternoon seemed ver