The Minneapolis journal., 1902-07-29
CHAPTER ".
At the Pasture Bars: Elder bushes
May Have Stings.

The street upon which the Palace hotel
fronted formed the south side of the square
and ran west to the edge of the town, where
it turned to the south for quarter of mile
or more, then bent to the west again. Some
distance from this second turn, there stood,
fronting the close of the road large brick
house, the most DretentiOus mansion IN Gar
low county. And yet it was homellke place,
with it's red brick walls emboWered In masses
of cool Virginia creeDer, and comfortaoie
veranda crossing the broad front, while hal1
hundred stalwart sentinels of elm ano
beech and poplar stoodGguard around 1t. The
front walk was bordered by geraniums and
hollyhocks; and honeysuckle climbed the pill
lars of the porch. Behind the house there
was a shady little orchard; and, back OF
the orchard, an old-fashioned, very fragrant
rose-garden, divided by a long grape arpor'
extended to the shallow waters of wander
ing creek: and on the bank rustic seat was
placed, beneath the sycamores. ~
From the first bend of the road. Where II
left the town and became (after some lnde-
cision) a country highway-called the pike
rather than proud city boulevard, pathway
led through the fields to end at some pasture
bars opposite the brick house. -'~,.s
|. John Harkless was leaning on the pasture
bars The stars were wan, and the full moon
shone over the fields. Meadows and woodlands
lay quiet under the old. sweet marvel OF d
June night In the wide monotony OF the nat
lands, there sometimes comes feeling that
the whole earth is stretched out tefore one
o-night IT seemed to lie so, in the pathos OF
silent beauty, all passive and STILL yet breath :
ing an. antique message, sad, mysterious, re-
assuring But there had come divine mel
ody adrift on the air Through the open WIN
dows it hoated Indoors some one struck
peal of silver chords, like harp touched by
a lover and a woman's voice was lifted. John
Harkless leaned on the pasture bars and list
ened with upraised head and parted lips.
ITO thy chamber window rowing, love hatn
led my feet"
The Lord sent mama to the children of Is
raei in the wilderness. Harkless had been Fl We
| years in Plattville, and woman's voice sing
| ing Schubert's serenade came to him at last
as he stood by the pasture bars OF Jones
| field and listened and rested his dazzled eyes
ON the big, white face of the moon.
| How long had it been since he had heard a
song or any discourse Of music other than
that furnished by the Plattville band-not that
he had no taste for brass band! But music
that he loved always gave him an ache OF de-
light and the twnge of "reminiscences or old,
gay days gone forever Tonight his memory
! leaped to the last day of June gone seven
years; to morning when the little estuary
waves twinkled in the bright sun about the
toat in which he sat. the trim launch that
| brought a CHEEKY party. ashore from their
|
Harbor, far up on the Maine coast y ~
| It was the happiest of those last irresponsl-
! BILE days before he struck into his work IN the
world and became a failure. Tonight he saw
| the picture plainly as if it were yesterday
no reminiscence had risen so keenly before his
eyes for years; pretty Mrs Van SKuyt slttlne
| beside him-prettyf Mrs.gVan Skuyt aud her
| roses! What had become OF her? He saw the
crowd of friends waiting on the pier for their
arrival. and the dozen oreso enlblazoned class
mates 1T was ii the time sof 5brilliant fan
nels) who suddenly sent up avoliey OF college
cheers in his honor-hoW plainly thesdear old,
! young faces rose up before him tonight, the
men from whose lives he hadEslpped! Dear
est and iolliest Of the faces was that OF IOn1
Meredith clubrnate classmate, his! closest
friend. the thin, red-beaded third baseman;
| he could see Toms, mouth ooened at least a
ward. 1t seemed, such was his frantic yoclfer-
business. Again and again the cheers rang
out. "Harkless! Harklessp on the s5end. OF
| them In those days everybody particularly
his classmates) thought he would be minister
to England in a few years.. and the sorchestrs
on the Casino porch was playing The Con;
ouerine Hero" in his honor, and at the behes1
Eof Tom Meredith, he knew. a*ss@E %rs
| There we're other pretty ladies besides Mrs
Van Skuyt in the launch load from the yacht
hut. as they touched the pier, pretty girls
or pretty women. or joval gentlemen, all Were
overlooked in the wild scramble the5eollegt
men made for their hero. They haled him
forth, set him on high, bore him on thei1
shoulders, shouting "skal to the Viking! J
| and carried him up the, wooded bluff to tn
Casino. He heard Mrs Van Skuyt say Oh
we're used to it; we've put in at several othe
| places where he had friends. = He struggled
manfully to be set down, but his triumpha
procession swept on. He heard bystander
! telling each other, "It's that young Harkless
the Great Harkless, they're all so mat