The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-14
a A Tragedy in the Philippine.r. V
By WILL R, HAMILTON.

& was handed to him. Breaking the seal he read the letter which ran as follows:
 Tn Camp December 14. My Dear Carlisle:
 After your exceeding generosity and manifold kindness to me l, perhaps, should not infiict upon you my gloomy thoughts or ask you to. share the burden of my sorrow.
 Carlisle, am desoiate, dreary. Bear with me until you have finished reading what I write for I must relieve myself by telling you the story
 T was drawn to you, Carlisle, be- cause, sympathy was necessary to my existence and you gave 1t to me with out stint. One sure enough friend is worth dozen ordinary friends. Ordinary friends are a nuisance any how. True frinedship is love and love is a mystery that is not given to poor frail men to solve. Sometimes. l think love is an imaginary power, which softans the heart. I know that it Is a power that often makes happy the miserable and just as often makes miserable the happy.
 Concerning my life you know little save that I am 90 years old and native of Kentucky. I want you to know more. My parents. who live at Carrville, equipped me with as good an education as their slender means would allow. despised mathematics and turned to literature. As soon as I could do so l entered a newspaper ofice-a weekly in our little town-and began to write. It was a small beginning, but it gave me an opportunity.
 There's no use to keep you longer in doubt, Carlisle, a woman figures in this, to me terribly human or in human story. She came into my life while was happily situated in that country newspaper office. was "A years old. Maybe I was a fool then If so I am still a fool Helen Huston that was her name-came there from Chicago with her wealthy and aristo- cratic father and mother to spend the summer. She thrilled my whole be- ing the first time l saw her. She was about l9 years old and. from the viewpoint of a conventional world, far removed from my social station.
 ''It is useless to burden you with a story that, to one who has not suf- fered, is prosaic. It Is useless to go over those days of happiness to me. I laid siege to her affections and won her-at least l thought l had won her. Her father was an intensely practlcal Chicago banker. She told me must make a name for myself in journalism commensurate with her social station, even though I could never hope to achieve a fortune commensurate with that of her father.
 Ambition nreQ me anu l put AOi LII my best effort As the months went by I became editor of the Carrville newspaper. When Helen Huston came to Carrville the following summer l owre ed the Carrvile newspaper.
 She sympathized I'd with my work and said I should go to Chicago where would become a great journalist. Then she said we would be married. That woman swore eternal constancy to me, Carlisle. and, like blind fool. believed her
 "Well, I went to Chicago, where, after weeks of anguish, which l need rot recount I secured a small place on The Gazette. As soon as the place was assured, I wrote Helen a buoyant note telling of my good fortune. She replied affectionately. tenderly, say ing that her father and mother would not consent to me calling at their resi- denoe until I had risen in my profes- sion At her suggestion, we frequently met clandestinely, and for many months had notes from her each day. She swore she loved me and worked and waited. l thought I could do nothing more honorable than to use every effort in winning the wo- man I loved for my wife Indeed, I felt 1t was my duty to do as she sug- gested.
 All of this is tlring you, Carlisle old man, but 1t may interest you to know that my love for Helen Huston made me one of the editors of that