The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-12

SOME PHENOMENA PECULIAR t
CpDINC

l
| SPRING.
| He awoke early. refreshed and intensely
alive. With the work done he became con-
seious of feeling of disassociation from
the surroundings in which he had so long
been at home. Many words of the talkative
German were running in his mind from the
night before. He was glad the business was
| off his mind. He would now go the pleasant
| journey, and think the way.
| His trunks were ready for the car; and
| before he went down stairs his handbag was
packed, and the preparations for the start
completed.
| When, after his breakfast, he read the
| telegram announcing that the car had been
| delayed twenty-four hours in Chicago, he
| was bored by the thought that he must
pass another day in New York. He was
eager now to be off, and the time would
hang heavily.
| He tried to recall some forgotten detail of
| the business that might serve to occupy
| him. But the finishing had been thorough.
| He ran over in his mind the friends with
whom he could spend the time agreeably.
| He could recall one he cared to see. He
had no longer an interest in the town or its
people.
| ne went dliIlleSSly out Oh bIOduNdt
the full flood of a spring morning breathing
the fresh air hungriiy. 1t turned his
thought to places out of the CRIME and clam
| or of the city; to woods and fields where
he might rest and feel the stimulus OF his
new plans. He felt aloof and sufficient unto
| himself.
| He swung on to an open car bound north,
and watched without interest the early
| quick-moving workers thronging south on
the street, and crowding the cars that
| passed him. At Forty-second street, he
changed to a Boulevard car that took him
to the Fort Lee ferry and One-hundred-and-
| twenty-fifth street.
Out on the shining blue river he expanded
| his lungs to the clean, sweet air. Excursion
| boats. futtering gay streamers. worked
| sturdily up the stream. Little yachts, in
| fresh-laundered suits Of canvas, darted
| across their bows or slanted in their wakes,
looking like white butterflies. The vivid blue
of the sky was fiecked with bits Of broken
fleece, scurrying like the yachts below.
Across the river was a high-towering bank
of green inviting him over its summit to the
| dangerous freshness beyond.
He walked off the boat on the farther side
| and climbed series of steep wooden stair
ways, past tiny cataract that foamed its
| way down to the river. When he reached
the top he walked through a stretch of
woods and turned off to the right, down a
| cool shaded road that wound away to the
north through the fresh greens Of oak and
chestnut.
He was entranced at once by the royal
| abandon of spring, this wondrous time of
secret beginnings made visible. The old
earth was become young wife from the
arms of an ardent spouse, blushing into new
| life and beauty for the very joy of love. He
breathed the dewy freshness, and presently
he whistled the Spring Song of Mendels-
sohn, that bubbling, half-joyous half
plaintive little prayer in melody.
He was well into the spirit of the time and
place. His soul sang. The rested muscles of
| his body and mind craved the resistance of
obstacles. He rejoced. He had been wise to
| leave the city for the fresh unspoiled coun-
| try-the city with all it's mean little fears,
it's petty immoralities and its very tri1ing
great concerns. He did not analyze, more
| than to remember, once, that the not reti-
i cent German would approve his mood. He
failing instinct of the wounded animal.
The mysterious green life in the woods at
either side allured him with its furtive pulls
ing But he kept to the road and passed on.
| He was not yet far enough from the town.
Some words from little song rang in his
mind as he walked:
1.-The naked boughs into green leaves
| slipped,
The longing buds into flowers tripped
The little hills smiled as if they were glad,
The little rills ran as If they were mad.
There was green on the earth and blue in
/ the sky,
The chrysaiis changed to butterfly,
And our lovers. the honey-bees, all album,
To, I,r1nf for 0I1r hos rtc hay IN.
When he came to village with an cleo
| trio changing through it, he skirted its
| borders, and struck off through a woodland
toward the river. Even the village was too
| human, too modern, for his eariy-pagan
mood.
In the woods he felt that curious thrill of
| stealth, that impulse to cautious conceal
ment which survives i'm man from the re-
mote days when enemies beset his forest
! ways. On a southern hillside he found a
| dogwood tree with its blossomed armament
| of white stars. In low, moist places the vio-
| lets had sprung through the thatch of
! leaves and were singing their purple beau
| ties all unheard. Birds were nesting, and
| squirrels chartered and scolded.
! Under these more obvious signs and
| sounds went the steady undertone of life in
root and branch and unfurling leaf-provok-
ing. melting, making lawless whomsoever it
| thrilled.
He came out of the wood out on to an
| other road that ran not far from the river
| and set off again to the north along the
| beaten track.
In an old-fashioned garden in front of a
! small house girl bent over a flower bed
| working with a trowel.
He stopped and looked at her over the
| palings. She was freshly pretty, with yellow
| hair blown about her face under the pushed
| back sunbonnet of blue. The look in her blue
| eyes was the look of one who had heard
echoes; who had awakened with the spring
| to new life and longings, mysterious and I'M
welcome, but compelling.
She stood up when he spoke; her sleeves
| were turned prettily back upon her fair
| round arms.
Eyes. the road turns to the left, a bit
| ahead"
| She was blushing.
You are planting flower SEEDS
| Yes; so many flowers were killed by the
| cold last winter.
At see: there must lot of them have died
| here but their souls didn't go far, did they
now?'
She went to digging again in the black
! moist earth He fingered. The girl worked
| on and her blush deepened He felt law
| less impulse to vault the palings. and carry
| her Of to be a flower for ever in some
| wooded glade near by. He dismissed il as
| impracticable. His intentions would prob
| ably be misconstrued.
IL hope your garden will thrive. 1t has
| pretty pattern to follow"
| THANK your
He raised his hat and passed on, thinking:
| thinking of all the old dead flowers and
/ their pretfy souls that had zone to bloom in