The daily morning Alaskan., 1902-09-17
BLEEDING HEARTS
 AND HEARTSEASE

] AoNNsANNsl
 The name seemed to fall on her like a blessing.
 The brown nun!
 Why was she so calledl
 Perhaps because of tho quiet rest. ful little figure. Again, 1t may have been the shadowy, brown eyes, the smooth silk of her hair under It's white cap or the serenity breathing from the broad forehead. Be that as 1t may, the name had taken her for it's own. the little brown nun. not of the con- vent. but of the world.
 The lonesome little girl who lived across the street, whose mamma had said goodby one day and had never come back, would hang on tho Iron fence and look at the brown nun with her distrustful eyes, would watch her onviously as she worked among her cheerful flowers. r.
 But she met the sweet, shadowy eyes one day divine with unspoken pity. and a lump rose in the rebelllous throat as the brown nun rested a tender hand on the uncared for curls and asked:
 "Are you lonesomer'
 ''Yes'm."
 "So am l."
 Thus was the bond established be- tween them.
 Another day the brown nun gathered a flower from her garden and put it In the hot palm of the child.
 ''This is heartsease." she murmured.
 That night the child took 1t with her to her lonely bed and laid it on her breast. "She said it was heartsease," she whispered. And afterward the small, grave lips smiled as she slept
 The lonesome little girl played by herself In a small park at the end of the block. A pale, youngish man, whose hair was streakcd with gray, nearly always came there Of an evening. He was so quiet the child minded him no more than the trees. He looked lonely, too, and she was never afraid of lonely folks.
 And when he called her to him one day in his grave voice she did not feel timld, but came unhesitatingly.
 "You always play alone" he said kindly. Don't you have any one to play withY
 She shook her tangled head.
 "Then you arc lonelyT
 "I was till she loved me-"
 "WhoY
 "The little brown nun" she said soft ly.
 Then the blood tinged the white face, and the light in bis eyes drew the child nearer
 ''The little brown nun," he iterated, then added: "She Is good to you. Where is your mother, my childT
 "She wcntaway" answered the lone ly child, and' two tears fell on the thin cheeks.
 The brown nun asked her that night lf she ever saw any one fin the park, and the child told her about tho young man.
 'Is he aloneT
 "Yes'm."
 Docs he look happyp
 "No'm. He Jus sits there an he stares, an he's all whity," she ex' plained lucldly.
 The next evening the young man call ed the child to hlm again as she played tag by herself.
 He had beautiful dropping spray of pink flowers in his hand. and he gave 1t to the little girl.
 "Wnl you do something for meT' be asked, and she nodded her head.
 "Take this to the little brown nun, and she will understand" And the It. tie one ran till she came to where the brown nun wns tending her flowers.
 "Bc sald give 1t to you. uo said you'd understand"
 "Who said itI Who gave it to youf
 "lIlm, in thc park"
 The flower was a bleeding heart.
 Then the brown nun put it in her bosom aud pluckcd tiny flower and pressed lt into the soilcd palm Of the uttlc one.
 "Thls Is a flower for the lonesome young man." she faltercd. and her cheeks grew rosicr than her roses.
 The flower was hcartscase.
 The child played about the pale young man long time. unable to ap- proach him. She was jealous and a dozen times was tempted to throw the flower away. It was crushed, withered and dirty.
 Finally he sighed and rose to leave. Then she pressed her hot little hand Into his, leaving the flower tn his palm. "She sent 1t. She said 1t was hearts ease"
 "Wh1 sent it?" Herr She flung her head toward the brown nun. then darted away.
 And the pale young man looked/at the token. his face flushing as he mur- mured:
 "She has sent me heartsease(by the child. Can it be she has forgiYonr
 That night the lonesome little girl could not sleep in her lonely bed. She looked longingly at the brown nuns garden under the moonlight. Then she slipped over to the gate. and the next moment the little brown nun, the shadows In her eyes aed away before