The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-21
IN SORROW
auome, sweet Home! Home. sweet.
By
ROSETTA GRACE SPEARING

Only an old melody. blazoned out by an
itinerant German band playing oiscoroant-
~ at the further corner or a side street
leading out OF a London square But
softened by the distance. waited on the
wings of the still evening. air. and neard
beneath the glittering starlight SHINING
through the dusky metropolitan trees IL
sounds dreamily sweet and pathetically
appealing to the lonely. friendless girl VINO
stands listening TO the old familiar strains
at the open easement giving on to one OF
the balconies far away down the quiet,
terrsced Enclosure, where, save for the
sound of that memory-recalling air, there
f. nothing 10 disturb the Sabbath-like still
ness Of the warm summer nights silence.
There are tears in Muriel Hazlitt's pref
ty blue eyes as she turns away from the
window and filings herself into the nearest
chair, burying her face I'm her hands and
weeping as II her very heart would break.
Home, sweet Homei Home, sweet,
sweet Homer
How the tune seems to mock her misery!
Alas! she has no such place ~now-unless,
indeed, these unfamiliar walls in the house
Of a stranger can be called by that sacred
name. She Is a weary wanderer on the
~earth-alone, penniless, homeless, with no
one to help and no one to heed how and
where she fares to-day and tomorrow.
And once she had been as happy, as fond
ly beloved and tenderly nurtured as she
Is now wretched, uncared for and badg-
cred about from pillar to post. Oh, how
she longs for a sight of the dear. dear
home she has left forever! How she
hungers to feel her weary form clasped
in her darling mothers arms. her tired,
aching head pillowed upon the kind, gen.
tie bosom that has throbbed for the last.
last time! How she yearns for a few COM
forting words from the manly, noble sweet
heart to whose pleadings and devotion she
had seemed so pointedly deaf and indif-
ferent! But she knows now how much
and how truly she had loved him. al
though 1t had once pleased and amused
her to trife with his sensitive feelings
one hour by a little word from her pout-
ing ruby lips, a look from her deep lustrous
eyes. to raise him to the seventh heaven
of rapture and delight, the next by a cold
glance, a freezing remark. to sink his
hopes and spirits to the lowest depth OF
disappointment and dependency.
Two years age a stepmother had been
brought to the home in which, amidst all
NAC case iii ~ nColNh Coh SNNaASt
her own adored dead mamma had SO re-
Gently reigned as its homaged queen, be-
loved and respected alike by friend and
retainer. Fortunately for the fifteen-year-
old daughter whom the bankers first wife
had left behind hef the girl had been sent
away to a boarding school Immediately
after her mothers death; so that when the
new mistress OF the Lindens was brought
- .-4r -r--
spared the misery Of having to live be-
meath the same roof with the mercenary
young adventures who had been the for
mer Mrs. Hazlitt's rival, and the wrecker
of that lady's peace. There came a time,
however. when the girl was forced to re-
turn TO the house wherein she had once
been so happy and careless. Her educa-
ton had been completed, and Walter Haz-
lit expressed his desire to have her home
again; but from the day on which she had
re-entered the noble old mansion in Sus-
sex. war to the knife had been declared be-
tween her and the stepmother whom she
most naturally disliked for having broken
her dead darling's heart and then usurped
the place she had for many years so gra.
ciously filled. But II this modern Jezebel
was disliked by her husbands daughter
~ DduhcL > Only CIlAQ vas a uIl0IC
times more bitterly hated by the false
vicious woman who envied her youthful
charms and was jealous of the true and
tender love she had at sight awakened In
the loyal, steadfast heart of Sir wilfre6
Clarendon. a handsome. wealthy and hon.
orable young baronet of six and twenty
whom Hazlitt's second wife had tried with.
out effect to bring to her feet.
L-1..- 49,
the task of making Muriels existence a,
the Lindens wholly unendurable; and sc
zeaiously had she persisted in her crue,
treatment. and SO we'll had she succeeded
IN her wicked resolution to drive the cir
from home, that one morning. six week:
ago. she had been found to be missing
having left her birthplace without leaving
behind the smallest clew by which he,
whereabouts could have been discovered
had the rich banker been never so anxious
Of finding her and bringing her back t.
the shelter from which she had, after much
struggling with her daily increasing sens.
of rebellion. decided at length to run away
With only a few pounds In her poke
and a violin case containing a very valu
able Amati. she had come to London in tn,
hope Of earning her living as a musician
DcinB orlAildnt ana tnOrOuSn executant OF
this instrument, as also on the piano. Blu
when she set herself to secure suitable EN-
pioyment she discovered only too soor
what a poor, worthless thing is talent II
this branch of the profession when Offered
as a marketable commodity. Weary of try
ing 70 get the engagements which In he,
Ignorance she had deemed so easy of gain
Ing. and being driven to desperation. sh,
had st length even answered advertise
ments for vacancies in meaner capacities
but w to the present with no result. Sh,
can reply to no more. She has not so mucl
as a penny with which to purchase a star,,
TO post the letter she had just been finish
ing addressing when the sound of that old
old sweet tune had broken in upon the ST
lence. and Knocked and saddened her wit
thoughts OF the shome to which she wa
now a stranger. the friends from whom sh
had for ell time severed herself.
There Is one who would rush to serve her
who would give her back even more tina
she has lost. were she not too proud to sen
for him. But although she must soon be
starving outcast, unless Fate smiles upo
her from out the darkness send for. hir
she could not. would not! She misse
him-ah! none but herself can kno,
how much-and yearns to take shelter 4
his arms from her young ife's storm an