The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-01-24

whose son had fallen on the battle
field had cried over him IN the place
Of his own mother, whose frail thread
Of life had snapped In the tension Of
the first fer months after he had gone
10 the front
: IN the midst Of this tumult Of pity
and sorrow he had again had a glimpse
Of Hetty. her gaze Withdrawn from
him. calmly penciling some memoranda
in a little silk-bound book that she
carried, and be had wondered If she
were making note Of some hnefy she
intended to wear at the next party
! or church festival or was taking down
the date Of an engagement she had
made for a boat ride OF dance. bitterly
contrasting her gay life Of pleasure
with tAe heavy burden 0f care ani per-
plexity that had descended upon him.
Yet a few seconds later there had been
a moment. a strange, bewildering mo-
ment when she had paused before him,
looking into his eyes again With
mute, beseeehing look. striving to
speak. her trembling voice dying away
in broken utterances. One instant she
had put up her little hand to re-
arrange some trihing disorder in his
dress. as a loving woman might have
done for her disabled hero; in the next
she had slipped away out q his life
forever
He had taken bis place with his COM
rades, behind the wheezy string band
that led the procession, preceded only
BY the high dignitaries of the village
and the carriage containing the orator
Of the day. Citizens were grouped on
the platform, watching the line form
while waiting for their carriages. For
the instant. the old soldiers, whose
services were forgotten for the rest Il
tho year, were the center Of attention.
John Sexton saw Miss Mchitable
Plympton standing on the church
steps. He lifted his hat conrteously, /
albeit somewhat awkwardly, vita his
left hand, and calmly regarded her. /
She was really a very well-preserYed /
woman for her age. but there was a
wrinkle forming on her forehead. bc- /
tween her eyebrows. and her hair was 4
getting grayer on the temples. The
crows feet that had begun to show at
the corners OF her eyes three years
before were perceptibly deepening. /
Thus he deliberately remarked the /
ravages of time on her pretty face, as
be had invariably done on the rare Oc- /
casions when he encountered her, for 1
more than a score Of years. Did she /
note the small bald spot on his head, \
or the slight limp where the rheuma-
tism had laid hold Of him, he Won
dered?
John Sexton could not have told why
he made this cold-blooded examination
Of the vanishing charms Of her who
had once been his ideal Of all womaaly
worth and loveliness. IL may have
been unconscious revenge for the man
ner in which she treated him. It may
have been to prove to himself that his
heart was hardened against her. It
may have been the innate savagery
that turks In all men.
Marching along the weary road TO
the cemetery, he recalled the rest In
those days Of his weakness and despair
others, men and women. had sought
him and cndeayored TO cheer him. She
had never come. When he met her at
the houses Of mutual friends she had
treated him with a rigor that had
taughg him only too well the changed
relation that he, a cripple occupied
toward her. Other problems confront
ed him. He had found himself use
less. helpless man. depending upon a
brother, and barely tolerated in the
house by his byother's wife. He could
perform no active labor. was incapac-
Itated for a trade. and had not the
means to 1T himself for learned pro-
'ession. He drlfted about from one
light vocation to another, filling each
more and more oppressed
with q sense OF his uselessness- s-he. a
Young, ambitious man, filed with
energy and industry that he could
ind no means to apply. He taught
himself TO write with his left hand. and
% write rapidly and well. aud the gov
srnment for which he had sacrificed so
much at length took pity On him and
gave him a place in the land Office Of
he district. Withdrawn from society,
with few friends and no intimates. ne
ed the life OF a recluse. Miss Mehit-
lble, on the other hand. kept pace
With the world and all good works.
Years had sileuced her girlish gayety,
md lent her a certain gravity and Sc
rerity Of demeanor that in no wise de-
ractcd from the esteem in which she
vas held. Sexton watched the growth
i this tendency as dispassionately as
he had witnessed the fading Of her
youthful bloom.
"She has rounded forty now" he
said to himself Soon her eyesight
viii begin to fail when she puts on
spectacles her temper will begin to
grow acid"
The graveyard was on a little knoll,
.rowned with naples. which we're be-
ginning to leaf. As they moved up the