The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-02-14
The Py'renniaiS
OF the Admiral
q Pretty Sketch Of an Old Sailor
and His Daughter.
BY MARTHA GILBERT DICKINSON.

$~~e~~~e~~~~~~e~~~~~~~>~u$
AS long rs Sercta 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 vague spot somewhere
in her memory Of day when it first
occurred to her that she. too. was
something Of ''py'rcnnial." She knew
no more than these golden playfellows
how she cnme into the adm rails 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 tallcst white Easter lily that she
inquired further: What is py'ren-
NAL. Samuel? What makes it q py'ren-
nial?"
IA py'rennial." said Samuel convinc-
ingly. ''has character enough to go
right along and keep going right ahead.
It's got no call to be sown or trans
planted or slipped; 1t blooms till It dies,
and next year it gets up and blooms
again
The admirals garden. all rose petals
and butterfly wings. was Il glowing
background for the girl flower breath
ing her youth fragrance out with theirs
hO ~ 1ox
terraces. shaded by lofty clms. and q
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 Ills pipe and raising his
eyebrows occasionally at the fire-as if
exchanging amusing memorics-Sereta
followed his glance until 1t rested upon
photograph that always stood III the
same place on the high colonial man.
tel-nn ocean liner, nose down. under
full sneeG-lnd she spoke before her
natural shyness checked her impulse.
ut must be like a 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 us he touched the shore
of reality after his voyage on that sea
or fancy where each must sail alone.
1T is better to sit In big chair and
think about 1t, little friend" he 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 # away. After that day she
never prompted his conversation or
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 the
look that meant something she could
not misunderstanding to be kept
asleep if possible.
But sometimes after her lessons were
done. or after his moderate dinner
glass had warmed his memories, the
admiral would talk to her uninterrupt-
edly for hours about that great un-
known place he called life. until little
thrills and shivers of excitement crept
over her and she could not sleep all
night for remembrance and conjecture.
When Sereta was H., an odd little
rose Jar Of humanity. all silences and
dusky perfume, her world suddenly un-
derwent q crisis. There came guest
to the hall.
This revolutionary visitor was q man
without wife and therefore presuma-
bly, harmless and inoffcnsive: Sereta
liked him almost as we'll as Samuel
after morning spent together while
the admiral was busy and depending
on her to do the honors for his guest.
They were out of doors. which makes
oil things possible to begin with, and
the man on her hands was old enough
to appreciate her charm and lure her
simplicity by his varied knowledge of
complexer womanhood. So she chntted
and explained all down the garden,
through the py'rennlals, laughed with
him over the clumsy colts In the pad
dock, showed him the view from the
pasture hill. brought him home by the
woods and was singing to him In the
empty drawing room when the admiral
returned.
Somehow the afternoon seemed very
dong after the two well mounted fg-
Ures dropped down the road together
,and were out Of sight. Sereta among
tie roses prlcked her. fingers more than
common. Samuel, should think the
admiral would like q change" she said
1iercely when she had cut all the pink
buds and walked carefully around the
curved beds to begin on the red.
Samuel stared as if he hnd been chal-
ienged from the burning bush. "The
admiralty Miss Sweefn the admiral's
n py'rennial. Most OF the men that
come here Is Just blown away seed,
half sown or wind sown-come up FIRST
in one garden, then Id another. The
admirai's rooted like red laloc. He