Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-05-16

black crutches.
what can ever do?" the girl asked.
anXiously. Fate has decreed that ]
shall spend my life half helpless. J
can't walk q step. Dick. without these
crutches Of mine. It's just as IL had
. milestone hung around my shoul
ders."
Dick Fairfield was rarely at a loss
for a ready reply. He looked out al
the sea 30 vast and imperious, and he
thought Of how the lame girl at his side
had come into his life.
You are doing much, Virginia." he
answered, after a moment. "You are
bringing happiness into many of our
lives. What more can you want to
DOR
The girl turned her face and an
swered not at ALL
The orchestra was playing in the long
ballroom. 1t was one Of the stirring
marches that a great bandmaster had
given as his tribute to his fellow men
and women. 1t had been dedicated to
the national colors, and the swinging
cadences and clear rhythm told of the
waving 6ag of the free. Dick Fairfield
thought Of what 1t had meant. He
beard it as a marching chorus, and he
bad but to close his eyes again to see
the long files of dust-covered men who
had left the dock In front Of the hotel
twelve months ago to fight beneath its
folds. He saw 1t carried and wavina
before the trenches In the swamps
where disease, the deadliest form Of
hidden foe, was lurking. He thought
Of his own town In the west: how;
when at the convention which had
nominated him for mayor. the local fire
department band played the song OF
the flag and every single man in the
link had risen and shouted wildly.
These easterners were content to crit
Ccise. They wondered why the hotel
bandmaster didn't get new selections
New selections? Why, a march song
Ike that had no age; it was superior to
time itself. He had little use for these
eastern men and women. They were
too languid, too contented.
II doubt If your thoughts are worth
the fixed price," said a voice at his side
Wont you give them to meY'
And Dick realized that it was a mans
occasional privilege to change bis mind
For Virginia Howper was another kind
Of easterner. During the ten days he
had already spent Of his fortnight's
vacation the girl had come to mean
more to him each day. Her restless
spirit, her ambition to succeed, he
thought a wonderful contrast to the
splendidly built eastern women, who
preferred to let others talk and think
and act for them.
81 should have been thinking Of you.
Virginia." he finally answered.
The girl looked him full in the face,
and read the truth in a moment with
the God-given intuition OF her sex.
There goes your dance with Miss
Clark" she broke in. You must not
keep her waiting"
But can't leave you, Virginia, all
alone here"
after the number. 1 want to be alone
for awhile
And Fairfield reluctantly left her sit
ting on the farthest corner of the broad
piazza, which had been made gay for
the party by long festOOns Of colOred
paper and multitude Of candles in
fantastic paper cases. Virginia sat In
a brown study. The bandmaster, with
an ingenuity nearly akin to sacrilege
had made the intermezzo from "Caval-
leria Rusticana" into a waltz. The girl
knew that the music told of a mans
love fOr a woman, of the great Joy that
had come into her own life.
\ solitary breath of wind stirred thu
festoons along the front Of the piazza.
The coasting sailors knew a storm was
brewing. A sharper breath Of wind
came and swung the festoops near
where Virginia sat- Tho candle In one
Qf the papss lAntegue tsp2led over. In