The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-02-19
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: BIT OF ROMANCE.
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by EDWARD b. CLARK.

road, keeping in the grass between tns
dust of the highway and the skirtlnf
stone wall He was not very big
man. and there was something sugges.
tive of physical frailty about the stooT
at the shoulders. There was strength
in his face. however, and a look in his
eye that told one that few things that
God had made held no place in the
mans heart.
It was a historic old road this. Il
was the road that led and still leads
from Concord to Acton. Minutemen
had hurried along the thoroughfare
and the tramp of the feet of the young
men of Acton going to the front in the
days of civil strife had left many more
marks than were made when the sur
vivors returned. The man who this
day was trudging along carried a little
geologist's hammer in one hand and in
the other a botanists tin box Occa-
sionally he would stop to pick a aower
or to rap with his hammer on the sur
face of jutting rock Another man
was coming along i'm the opposite di
rection. The two met and this saluta
tion passed
Good morning, Ralph"
Good morning Henry"
Then Henry showed Ralph a flower
and bit of chipped rock, and they sat.
on the top of the stone wall to talk.
"They are cutting down the big trees
In Holmes woods, Henry, said Ralph
Thank God, man can't cut down the
clouds. Ralph" answered Henry.
Then Ralph took up the flower which
his companion had first shown him and
said: Henry. you know more of these
things and of the trees and the mann
mails and the birds than do most of US
You are one of Mother Natures bes;
lovers There is one thing you lack,
and then a smile spread over the
speakers somewhat grave face You
lack a wife. You would find still more
beauty in this pink anemone. much as
it holds in store for you now, if you
were married"
Ralph. you speak with the feeling
of the man who has but recently
found mate to whom the very stones
sing. This is rather idle talk, though
it is between old friends. Mating and
marrying are not for me. III keep on
tramping the fields, and when | go
home tired I'll take OF my oyercoat
and cool my fevered brow
TheL they parted. Henry with his
hammer and box. kept straight on
toward Acton until he reached a lane
leading through a tangle of wild roses.
He knew the way well and whence it
led. He had run many a surveyors
line through this section and. notwith-
standing the nature of his last words
with Ralph, his feet quickened as he
turned into the shaded byway. ana
with the quickening of his pace came
quickening of heartbeat though he
would not own it. A house came into
view. It was the place of fairly Well
to-do farmer Under a tree in front
was girl-a woman perhaps better
describes her, for she was at least l9
years old.
Of late when Henry had been botan-
izing he had found that the flowers
grew falrer along this way than even
along the road that led to his loved
Walden Pond and Walden woods. Hc
had never thought it possible that
there could be a place in his life for
any love save that Of bird and beast
and flower and of that broad, human
sympathy with men ard women, but
which is sympathy only
The girl had liked these visits Of the
scholar She was nattered by them
sae knew of his friendship with the
great minds of the village. She knew
that already his fame was broader than
the state. She knew all this and was
pleased thereby AS for the naturalist,
he said little when he stopped for his
half hour at the farmhouse. He never
attempted TO find out how much there
was of gold and how much of dross in
this creature who pleased his eye as
did beautiful flower or a rose-tinted
cloud. Analysis, which was the first
thought on plucking a rare plant
never entered into his head. He did
mot Iruouy tvbafbe- ha rt-s.s in love or
not in the sense in which he had neard
and read of love. He was content 20
see her occasionally and 20 ponder over
the meaning of this strange thing
which was creeping into his being and
which made him at times pass by mod
est-faced field flower that had never