The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-11

power when it was torn with the convui-
sions which came when the ice broke up in
the spring. Somehow the thought of the
river brought to her that picture, for the
human mind runs on the Irrelevant things
at its times of greatest crises. This was
not so lacking In relevancy. either. for the
turmoil in the mind of a strong woman
| brought face to face with her sins is much
analogous to that opening of the river
which those who live on the Mississippi
appreciate only as something common
enough. though she did not think of that.
She sees herself as a girl watching the
| quiet expanse of ice nearly a mile wide and
| extending fifty miles farther than she can
| see. 1t is as motionless it has been all
| winter, but while she looks there is line
| drawn out from the shore far below her
| feet, and this line grows little wider In
| a minute little waves of water can be seen
| in the broadening line, and far below there
| is a crunching sound as the great sheet of
| ice mounts upon the other expanse below
and the whole plain moves little. Then
comes boom, distant but clear, like the
| surf beating on rocky coast, and with
| the power of invincibility the whole sur
| face of the river moves down dozen feet,
| irresistible and terrible i'm its magnificence
| Crash follows crash and draws her eyes
| down to the lower edge of the moving gla-
| cier, where fragments of ice as big as a
| gunboat are being thrown up in the air
| where a sandbar obstructs the river and
| rock juts up from the bottom. Never an
| instant does the vast plain stop. and the
| line at the upper edge has become wide
ribbon of mauve across the white marble
! plaza. At the lower edge, far below, the
| ice is piling in masses of crystal, from
which the sunlight Is reflected in prismatic
| colors, and the white of the surface is
changed to gray, decorated with mother
of-pearl. Higher still pile the gray and
white and parti-colored blocks, and that the
river Is laboring hard is proved by its
| groans, which may be heard a mile
away A warship would be crushed like
lockwood in that terrible strain. and few
who have been on the river when 1t came
have lived TO tell what they experienced so
close to the miIlstones of the gods. The
masses of crystals direct from the work
shop of omnipotence continue to pile higher
and higher, and the roar of their friction
sounds the diapason of the river, heard but
once each year, and once heard, never for
got. The mauve ribbon above turns into
floating in it, and in half an hour the river
is running by again, filled with huge pieces
of ice. but yet the river of the summer
time with it's currents and bars, it's snags
and its towheads, waiting for its working
dress of churning wheels, and low, fiat
barges with red and green signal lights, to
replace the neutral color tone of the win
ter.
I,oIf
open, and it took only half hour for that
woman's soul to go through the travail
which God sends at times to change the
character of rivers and women. When
Senator Shacklett came in he was surprised
to find her still in the library, with the
room flooded with light, as when he had
left her
do you think" she said, that you love
me enough-to give up everything-and take
me back to the Heights at Warsaw, where
/ can see the river-and keep close to the
truth of things-and to your"
Mr.. Griggs," Shacklett called back to
the young man who was struggling out of
his overcoat in the hall, 'come in here.
I've brought you clear up here to tell you
that shall not be candidate for the next
term. You can say so whenever you like.
Some business interests will keep me in
Illinois for some time, and we go there as
soon as the session ends"
Mr. Griggs came running in after drop
ping his overcoat the foot of the hall
tree, and gasped:
do you mean that you're quitting our
State for good?"
''W-e-l-l," drawled Shacklett, perhaps
you'd better not put it that way. some
mean people might ask for whose good"
But shall 1 say that you're going to
move to Illinois? And I'll have to have a
lot more about that. you know. Senator,
I'm tremendously obliged to you for giving
this to me exclusive. but personally feel
sc sorry and shocked at what you tell me
that am sure the State will be in the same
condition of mind in the morning. 1t seems
to me that the State should have a full
explanation in the beginning; don't you
think so?'
I'm in the good humor tonight to give
you all you want to know, Mr.. Griggs, and
If you'll take a cigar there and sit at that
, table I'll dictate the whole thing to you
l don't want 1t to go as an interview
though. Let it go as your own statement
entirely-say as a big piece of news your
, rare tact and ability enabled you to get
ahead Of everybody else. You know how
to give that impression, of course, and
since it won't hurt me, you might as well
get some credit for it. Are you ready
Then take this
While Shacklett was talking Mr. Griggs
had arranged some paper on the table and
taken out a fountain pen, and Shacklett
himself had walked over to his wife, who
was sitting stupefed on a divan not far
from the correspondent and behind that
young man, who again had the feeling that
he might get into the foreign office" after
all. Shacklett sat down by his wife. and
with his around her waist held her
close as he dictated rather slowly to the
writer, too busy with his notes to see them
Shacklett spoke in an even tone much as
if debating a letter of courteous thanks to
his own stenographer, and said:
Il have always felt out home a good deal
like a favorite son-in-law living with his
wife's family. They have been good to me
beyond my deserts. but there are other sons
of our great State who deserve more than
l and have not received as much as l.
went out West because l thought 1 would