Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-06-25
interrupted, wlth lover.lIke enthugi-

0nS SiTuch lHe keys a peIulant DanR,
and faced him. Fancy what a life
this is for me. stranded in this social
desert, with no advantages, no oppor-
tunities, nothing!"
What o would you ask?" Little
ventured, making a mental review of
the serried ranks of her adorers.
What more would l have?" she re-
peated; 81 would have a chance to
live in a congenial atmosphere, to
drink deep and live high while life
lasts. Position in a city where the
men + not all miners or gamblers
and the women yesterdays washer
women. And travel" she went on,
her eyes flashing and her nostrils di-
lating, "a chance to see the world.
hear good music-be myself, perhaps,
a queen of song in a world of music
lovers and artists. Yea that is all
! want, but that / must have, and I'm
ready to give my soul in return
for it,"
But even that can not bring you
huDDih1SDs LIttlV lClllOllSt u dtCu,
there's nothing half so sweet in
life as loves young dream and if
you knew, Veronica, how l love
you-"
The naughty head went back, the
defiant eyes blaZed at him a moment
in amazement; then, with a burst Of
knocking laughter, she said: "Oh,
my poor friend, you must be crazy.
Let us talk no more about it. We
will have a little music to dissipate
your sentimental mood" And giving
herself no further trouble about
Little Baltimore. she turned and con
tinued her song.
Without stopping to say good-by
forever, Little, cut to the quick by
the girls disdain, arose and left. The
sound of her voice still reached him
on the broad tagged steps, and the
echo of 'Ditele che l'adoro" was
drowned in the March wind that
surged over the sand dunes and down
the street like a great sob.
After that evening Alfred Little
was no longer a prominent figure Of
San Francisco's gilded youth. As
soon as he could transfer his inter-
ests il the city, he went up to the
mines, and after having tried mining
with but Indifferent success, he sailed
for the Orient. Several years spent
in restless activity started him on
his second quarter-century wiser and
somewhat sobered. In time he re-
turned to his native heath to take up
his life seriously and slip into the
| vacancy in the firm made by his
fathers death.
From time to time, Little met old
trends who, like himself, had turned
their backs upon the allurements of
the Golden West, and occasional re-
| ports reached him of the ambitious
marriage of the beautiful Veronica.
She had married a fortune as great
as her widest dreams could fancy,
and was queening it to her hearts
content. After a number of years
some one else returned with marvel
| GUS tales of merchants, wealthy in
Titles time, who had lost every cent
and turned bartender; washerwomen
| whose husbands had ''struck it rich,'
who were riding in satin-lined car
riages and struggling with their
brogues; music-hall favorites who
had married respectable faro-dealers
and become models of propriety and
leaders of society, and other gossip
characteristic of the mushroom
growth of the sand-hill city. AND
Little realized how well his wound
had healed when he heard, without a
tremor. the name of the dashina
Veronica connected lightly with that
of a soulful tenor. 1t had been al
first against his will that he ha(
come to admit there were still many
women in the world, or many voices
either, that, while lacking the deptf
and pe%netrative power of the one that
had first awakened him, were sweete1
and more'tender; and many eyes less
flashing and fiery, perhaps, but
clearer and more steady.
1t was long after this consciousness
had forced itself upon him that the
business of the firm required his
presence again on the Western Coast
The run across the continent was
now accomplished in a few days, anG
the thriving, prosperous city hat
nothing but the name in common
with the miserable little sand-hil
village" he hal left "A decade before.
Revisiting the only half-familial
scenes of his youth brought with il
a feeling as of revisiting the earth
after having lain centuries dead. The
old plaza was one of the least changed
spots in the city, and it was there
that Little always turned his wander
ing steps. During the day it, too, wa
invaded by the bustling crowds, bur
with the nightfall came some of thu
old familiar figures, as of the ghosts
of the pioneers. The gas-iets fiaret
into their heavily bearded faces ant
bizarre costumes, and the old babe
of strange tongues fell upon his ears
and sometimes even the tinkle of {
guitar, accompanied by a husky
voice, almost completed the illusion
that he was again in the days o.
old.
SO it seemed almost natural ont
evening that some one in passing
should be humming to himself The
opening bars of 1.-THE Flower Song.
Perhaps a day never passes that some
light young heart coming up from
the Italian quarter does not whistle
or sing it to himself and pass I'm
noticed, but this night the idle hum
ming touched a chord in the hear
of a listener that sent the dream
echoes vibrating down the corridors
of memory and ringing, singing in
definitely on. Again this sober, heavy
set man was a hot-headed youth o.
- = - -. l.,