Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-12-28
Copyright, 1905. by Lee and shepard.)

quicken, but as he drew near he halted
The spot had not changed at all. TIL
great naples, now thick with summe,
foliage, almost hid the house, tn,
faint odor of lilacs and syringa.
greeted him; the two oval panes ove
the front door cleaned like two wide
open eyes, but no white-clad girl sa
on the porch. Instead, from out thu
house issued medley Of voices chat
ting aud laughing, quite oblivious of {
listener. He did not catch what was
said, and did not try, and as he ad-
Eanced again the tinkling Of a piano
began, and some one started singing
1t sounded like Angles voice, and then
others joined in one of the old songs
well remembered by him. It was I'm
the Sweet Summer Time, Long Ago.
and many time had he been the sole
audience while Angie sang it. And
now once more laughter and voices,
two of them certainly masculine and
while he halted again in shadow, he
heard how
In an Empowered cottage,
Hidden back by oaken trees.
Blithe and happy as you please.
There upon low veranda
Every summer eventide,
! sit among the flowers,
Fair Camelia by my side''
IL was all very sweet and charming,
and doubtless the young men who were
joining Angie in the old-time ballad en-
Joyed 1t, but somehow Martin didn't.
He wasn't sitting amid flowers with a
sweet Camelia" by his side-and what
made it worse, another man was in
bis old-time place. If Angie had been
plnlng for him all these years, it hadn't
AFFECTED her spirits to a serious extent.
Then, as another burst Of low laughter
reached him, he moved on.
A little gathering of friends were
doubtless enjoying a call at Angles,
and he was not one of them. More
than that, it began to dawn upon him
that now, upon his return to the scenes
of his youth, he was likely to find him.
self forgotten. At the head of the
street he paused again, looking across
the Mizzy to where the home of David
Curtis stood. There was no light or
laughter here issuing forth, instead the
mouse was silent, solemn, and appar-
emily empty, while the low rumble of
the Mizzy falls, now close by, was the
only sound. For moment only Martin
paused, his spirits at low tide, and
then retraced his steps.
Reaching Aunt Comforts again, he
halted. The callers were still there,
voices and laughter still issuing, and
the two wide-open eyes over the front
door now seemed to glare at his in de-
risiOn
A stranger in the village of his youth
there was not one there who thought
of his existence!
Even Angie, once all in all to him.
was, or just had been, joining her
voice with another mans,
Then, as he moved on, how the old
memories returned! One by one, like
the quick flashing views of a stereopti-
con, they sped blythe many evenings
ne had sat on that same porch with
Angie, the lingerings at the gate when
the moonlight fell checkered through
the naples, the summer evening rides
along lonely and shaded roads, the
elpter nights when the snow cleaned
white and the bells jingled, the barn
dances when their feet and hearts kept
happy time to the music of the fiddle,
the huskings. the spelling schools, and
always the homecoming to this one
sacred dwelling, to repeat the parting
again and again, and then walk-no
float away on air!
And now, when this dream had be-
come only charming memory of the
long ago, he had returned to find her
who had inspired it, singing with
others and doubtless Obvious to
whether he was dead or alive
1t was all the silliest sort of nom
sense then, of course, and foolish to try
to recall it now; and yet, as Martin
did, 1t seemed that to feel the same
boylsh happiness and live once more
In the same fairy palace built Of moon
shine and filled with delusions, would
be cheap at the cost of all the years
that interviewed.
When he, somewhat saddened BY
these by-gones, and not at all sure that
AAAAS A~SNAA ~ w Nj OOAFd10 was Wise.
reached the doctors home, to find it
occupied now, the greeting that fol-
lowed seemed doubly welcome.
tits all my fault admitted Martin,
In response to DR.. Soils profuse ex-
plantations, "and after all, the hours
stroll gave me little pleasure, for I
passed Aunt Comforts and heard An
gle singing some Of the old songs. She
has piano now, judge"
'Why didn't you cail?" queried the
doctor, with a laugh. she knows
you're coming, and it wouldn't have
surprised her."
But Martin answered not, for to ad-
NIT the facts would expose him to
the doctors raillery. d
Then they sat down to q social chat.
The doctors wife insisting that Martin
relate his side of that wonderful trip
into the wilderness and the discovery
Of both wild man and hermit, and after
that the doctor recountcd changes that
had taken place IN Greenvale since
Martin had left It. i .5 81. !. !.
u One story more. especially pertinent