The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-11-26
THE OLD
BOOKKEEPER
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.

whom I more rarely see, that my
lonely life has not been without
love for woman, you will perhaps
laugh or doubt.
"What!'' you will say. sThat
oaunt old specter in his. attic, with
his books, his tobacco and his three
tjowerpots? He would not know
that there is such a word as love
1id he not encounter it now and
then in his reading"
True, I havd divided my days be-
tween the books in rich mans
counting room and those in MY at
tic. True, again. I nave never been
more than merely passcble to look
AZ even in my best days.
Yet I have loved ,:oman.
During the five years when nv
elder brother lay i'll the hospital
across the river, where he died, it
was my custom to visit him every
Sunday. I enjoyed the afternoon
walk to the suburbs, where the air
has more Of nature in it, especially
that portion of the walk which Law
upon the bridge. More life than
was usual upon the bridge moved
there on Sunday. Then the cars
were crowded with people seeking
the parks. Many crossed on foot,
stopping to look idly down at the
dark and sluggish water.
One afternoon as I stood thus
leaning over the parapet the sound
of woman's gentle laugh caused
ME to turn and ocularly inquire it's
source. The woman and q man
were approaching. At the side of
the woman walked soberly q hand
some dog, a collie. There was that
in their appearance aad manner
which plainly told me that here
we're husband and wife of the mid
die class, intelligent, but poor, out
for stroll. That they were quite
devoted to each other was easily dis
coyerable.
The man looked about thirty
years of age, was tall. slender and
with neither strong nor handsome,
but amiable, face. lie was doubt
less clerk fit to be SOM thing bet
ter.
The woman was perhaps twenty
four. She was not quite beautiful,
yet she was more than pretty. She
was of good size and figure, and the
short plush coat that she wore and
the manner in which she kept her
hands thrust in the pockets thereof
gave to her a dauntless air which
the quiet and affectionate express
sion Of her face softened.
She was brunette, her eyes. be-
ing large and distinctly dark brown,
her face having that peculiar COM
plexion which is most quickly af-
fected by any change in health.
The color of her. cheeks, the dark
rim under her eyes and other inde-
Unable signs indicated some radical
ailment. In the quick, glance, that
| had of that pair while the woman
was smiling feeling of pity came
over me. I have never detected the
exact cause of that emotion. Per
haps in the woman,s face read the
trace of past bodily and mental suf-
tering, perhaps subtle mark that
death had already set there.
Neither the woman nor her, hus-
6and noticed me as they passed.
The dog regarded me cautiously
with the corner Of his eye. I prob
ably would never have thought Of
the three again had / not seen them
upon the bridge under exactly the
same circumstances on the next
Sunday.
SO these young and then happy
people walked here every Sunday, +
thought. This perhaps was an event
looked forward to throughout the
week. The husband doubtless was
Kept prisoner and slave at his desk
from Monday morning until Satur-
day night, with respite only for eat
ing and sleeping. Such cases, are
common even with people who can
,hlnk and who have some taste for
luxury and who are not devoid of
love for the beautiful.
The sight Of happiness which ex-
ISIS despite the cruelty Of fate and
man and which is temporarily un-
conscious Of its own liability to in
t5erruption and extinction invaria-
oly ILLS me with sa9 less. And the
sadness which arose at the contem-
Patton of these two beings begot IN
me a strange sympathy for and in
serest in them.
Vn Sundays thereafter / would go
early to the bridge and wait until
.hey passed, for it proved that thjs
was their habltual Sunday wal.
sometimes they would pause and
10 ION those who gazed down at the
olack river. / would now and again
resume my journey toward the hos
nlfol Ill. AZ ta-al - -.