The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-23
THE ADVERTISERS DAILY SHORT STORY

She had cften spoken to him of her l various ideals, so it was not surprising that she should begin to enlarge upor one of them as soon as they were com fortably seated.
 My ideal river is dim and deep and silent" she said. "I have small love for gurgiing, splashy streams"
 Why, l don't know, he objected witn hard"
 That is why object to them. They create such an atmosphere of wasted energies. As long as they arc In sight one has to keep thinking of every fool | Good Lord" he commented. You Rest assured. she will never return the
 No. that is true. She makes a joke of us from the cradle to the grave; Marden stretched himself on his back | and contemplated the clouds. I've often wondered he said lazily, what your ideal man is like. He must
 'I believe it was Plato who declared that the only difference between men and fowls lay in the cut of their clothes" she remarked loftily. ,, cbap S that rla'S No end ns aes of sand Wasn't it Thoreau who made the other distinction about the way the knees bent?
 NO, not Thoreau. Some friend of hls made the distinction and he chronicled
 That so? I do remember something about 1t now. How do you like Tho | reau?' ,.os | nature better than most men. It was a l 10 ye affair that drove him to that wild animal life in the woods. l 'I know. Always struck me as rather pitiful the way he tries all through his Walden to convince himself and every budy else that he was perfectl" nanny | and contented." 1 wt nder," thoughtfIlly, why tha' sort of thing generally happens to gift
 Need it to bring out the best that is in them"
 That only appreciation and happn ess can bring out the best in any human
 He had been through the fire and | ought to have known. It was his wife that went back on him, wasn't ,t?' | ~ es; well, she fell in love with one of his friends and he allowed her to get a divorce" | knock a pretty big hole in mans life. v He turned on his side and looked at | her. Queer thing. love- isn't It! Al sorts of fashions. but the same thing. | She nodd ad assent and quoted absent
 ' As he Is the whole world over. was this Cupid in the clover.
 Then coming back to earth with a rush:
 I've a picture of a river over my desk that this one reminds me of. It is a l girl drifting out to sea in an old boat; | the river Is dim and deep with sedgy banks and the way the moon looks down on the desolate girl and the forsaken river is wonderfully suggestive. All dead
 "Oh, I say" he exclaimed, sitting up don't say things like that You make me wretched."
 How absurd" she commented.
 brushing of the ciinging straws.
 "Ir this strikes you as so lugubrions. iets go elsewhere"
 Not at all; I find this delightful"
 lot well of osaa SeS 1hlnsf W nd that where. Among the haunts of men 1t is dead hopes, impulses and energies. and | In the by-ways of nature l Its dead bugs and beetles. I wish you wouldn't talk that way. I tell you 1t troubles me. People do not see death | with their eyes unless there is sorrow In their hearts. It would hurt me more than I can tell you to think that you were unhappy"
 She looked at him for a moment with clear eyes.
 I'm not a stricken deer. yet" | He sat down beside her" I hope yot | never will be-" he said after lont pause, but you are bound to fall in lov some day. You wouldn't have been giv | en such glorious eyes unless 1t was in tended that they should be lighted up
 Now, wonder she murmuret thoughtfully, If that could be called :
 "I object to ideals" he said: 'thel
 .I wager you have lots of them" sh' ventured shrewdly.
 | "Wel and if 1 haveE
 You at least don't bore other people with them, and l do"
 Thursdays story, AFTER THE STORM