The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1902-02-07

the present alone, but extended back almost
to boyhood. He was young when he led
his company CALAMITY in some of the fercest
battles of the civil war. He never hinched.
The war over, coming back as did so many
thousands of good men to future prospect
without much definition, he showed the
same unhnchingness He completed col
lege course under exceptional difficulties,
helping others in the meantime. He took
up a professional career and fought it out
as bravey as he had fought out anything
before When he fell in love he was not to
be denied, and the woman he sought, the
one with him now, found herself his wife
almost before she had become accustomed
to the breath of his swift wooing He had
won fortune and some fame.
He looked the man he was, too, this Leon
ard Gentil Broad of forehead, keen of eye,
stern of jaw, erect of figure and decided
of movement, his wife admired him as she
must, and yet she sometimes wondered
and was troubled. She wanted him per-
feet, and he was not quite that. He ex-
hibited, at times, what seemed a sort of
cowardice She could not understand Il.
Once they had made a trip to Switzerland
and he had stayed in the chalet below while
even she, woman, had done mountain
climbing with their friends. Time and
again such things had happened, but there
had been no explanation. She knew her
husbands sensitveness, but, to-day, some
impulse led her to speak outright. 1t might
be that she could aid him. She found him
in their room at the hotel, where he was
smoking TRANQUILITY and reading. She ad-
vanced TO his side, patted his head and then
put the question simply:
Leonard, way wouldn't you come upon
the roof with me-"
The man flushed, laid down his book and
looked up at her silently for a moment
or two. Inen he spoke slowly:
81 was afraid"
"Afraid of what"
Chat | would fall off the roof"
"But there was no danger OF that. 1t is
a great broad roof
That makes no difference 1t seems to
me | would have fallen off, somehow"
WAS that the reason you would not
climb the mountains in Switzerland? Was
that why you were alarmed at the Ferris
Wheel"
yes" He hesitated, and then resumed.
I'm glad you've spoken of it. We should
have talked the matter over long ago.
Where heights are concerned | am a coward, |
and | can't help it, I've tried and failed.
know others affected that way, but | |
thought | could snow enough force of CHAR
acter to gradually overcome the weakness. |
haven't done it. What are you going to
10 about it, my girl?" and he laughed
7exedly.
Nothing" she answered, cheerfully.
It's only queer physical weakness. May
De | can help you. Anyhow, we'll try to-
yether But how did it ever come upon
youE'
81 could not have answered you definitely
Until this very afternoon" was the reply.
I've been thinking backward since / came
Town the stairs and | realize, now, just
when this trait in me began. III tell you
III about it.
when | was a small boy" he resumed,
L climbed trees as recklessly as did the
,ther boys; | scampered along the beams in
he barn, and heights did not affect me more
han they did any other healthy youngster.
Ny family, as you know, lived in Spring
ield, Ill 1t was one day late in the '40s,
when | was a boy of about ten, | believe,
hat | wandered into the old state house,
ow the courthouse, and upstairs into a
ig room where a group of attorneys and
fticials were gathered, talking politics and
cling stories A story was in progress
S l sidled in, and it was being told most
raphically by a gaunt young attorney, a {
IAN of extraordinary height, who was sit
ng in the open window. | had hung about
hear him tell stories before and knew
IS peculiarites. He had a way of work [
g story up to a climax, then, at its close, :
sing suddenly from his char, uplifting his
ms and bringing them down with a sweep 4
some droll point was made. Then he |
ould drop lazily back into his chair. / {
God listening this afternoon, open-mouth-
and fascinated. The story-teller went y,
q, reached his climax, rose, threw up his
ms and sat back suddenly, not into his |
lair, as he imagined in his absorption and 5
consciousness, but INTO the open win. !
owl He shot backward and outward, but,
the same instant, two enormously long {
rms shot upward and the outstretcned {
ands with the fingers barely clutcheu the. E
lge of the sash abovel The man drew
mseif upward and inward with grim
nile upon his face, but the faces of the t
hers in the room were white, and hearts t
opped beating. Finally some one spoke: +
Abe, if your arms hadn't been five :,
ches too long you'd be a dead man.
Somehow, I've never recovered from the a
feet of that strange scene. I've been II
raid OF heights and death. Had that man h
lien, one of the grandest figures in history
ould never have loomed to its splendid
light. The history of the United States i
Guild have been changed. Mary, that man a
as Abraham Lincoln!" ;,