Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-05-26

L HE udyS tudI lOllOWCu tnC
Black Rock Christmas were
l~@S1 anxious days and weary, but
lSESSSJ not for the brightest of my
life would l change them now, for, as
after the burning heat or rocking storm
the dying day lies beautiful in the ten
der glow of the evening, SO these days
have lost their WEAKNESS and lie bath
ed in a misty glory. The years that
bring us many ills and that pass so
stormfully over us bear away with
them the uglness, the WEAKNESS, the
pain, that are theirs, but the beauty,
the sweetness, the rest, they leave I'M
touched, for these are eternal. AS the
mountains, that near at hand stand
Jagged and SCARED, in the far distance
reposed in their soft robes of purple
haze, so the rough present fades into
the past, soft and sweet and beautiful.
l have set myself to recall the pain
and anxiety of ii )se days and nights
when we waited in fear for the turn
of the fever, but can only think of the
patience and gentleness and courage Of
her who stood beside me, bearing more
than half my burden. And, while can
see the face of Leslie Graeme, CHASTITY
or flushed, and hear his low moaning
or the broken words of his delirium, |
| think chiefly of the bright face bending
| over him and of the cool, firm, swift
| moving hands that sOothed and smooth
| ed and rested, and the voice, like the
soft song of bird in the twilight, that
never failed to bring peace.
Mrs. Mavor and l were much togeth-
er during those days | made my home
in Mr.. Craig's shack, but most Of my
time was spent beside my friend. We
did not see much of Craig, for he was
heart deep with the miners. laying
plans for the making of the league the
following Thursday, and. though he
shared our anxiety and was ever
ready to relieve us. his thought and
his talk had mostly to do with the
league.
Mrs. Mayors evenings were given to
the miners but her afternoons mostly
to Graeme and to me, and then it was
/ saw another side of her character.
We would sit in her little dining room,
where the pictures on the walls, the
quaint old silver and bits of curiously
cut glass all spoke of other and diff
ferent days, and thence we would roam
the world of literature and art. Keenly
sensitive to all the good and beautiful
in these, she had her favorites among
the masters, for whom she was ready
to do battle, and when her argument,
instinct with fancy and vivid magma
ton. failed she swept away all oppos
| in0 vx-it hn of hnr
enthusiasm, so that, though | felt she
was beaten, l was left without words
to reply. Shakespeare and Tennyson
and Burns she loved, but not Shelley
or Byron or even Wordsworth. Brown
ing she knew not and therefore could
not rank him with her noblest three,
but when | read to her ga Death In
the Desert and came to the noble
words at the end of the tale,
For all was as say, and now the man
Lies he once lay, breast to breast with
Cod
the light shOne in her eyes. and she
said: ooh, that is good and great!
shall get much out of him. had al
ways feared he was impossible" And
"Paracelsus," too. stirred her. But
Wueu L TeClteu TIE IuTllIluS ITdSIueuL,
"Prospice," on to that closing raptur-
Gus cry,
"Then a light. then thy breast
Oh, thou soul of my SOUL I shall clasp
thee again,
And with God be the rest!''
the red color faded from her cheek, her
breath came in a sob, and she rose
quickly and passed out without a word
Ever after Browning was among hel
gods. But when we talked of music
: she. adoring Wagner, scared upon the
: wings of the mighty "Tannhauser.
r far above, into regions unknown, leav
t ing me to walk soberly with Beethoven
: and Mendelssohn. Yet with all ou
). free, frank talk there was all the whil
t that in her gentle courtesy which KEEP
e me from venturing into any chambe
l of her life whose door she did not sc
e freely open 20 me. So l yexed mysel
s about her, and when Mr.. Craig return
ed the next day from the Landing
d where he had been for some days, M
: first questions were:
It "WhO is Mrs. Mavor? And how, 4
:. the name of all that is wonderful an
!. unlikely, does she come to be here