The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-17

LOVE, THE
DESTROYER
By Elizabeth Jordan.

The story I am going to tell now is
about something that happened to Mabel
Blossom and me. 1t is very, very sad
but very interesting and instructive, and
/ hope frivolous readers will not turn
from it because it has not happy end
ing. 1t has wrecked our lives, Mabel's
and mine; and as that is the saddest
thing in the story, l will mention it al
once, so my readers can get over it. Ma
bel and | know we can never get over
it. We have come into our heritage
of sorrow, and we realize that never,
never again can we laugh, or share the
careless pastimes of our young school
mates of St Catharine's, or enjoy any
more of Maudie Joyce's Welsh rarebits.
But even though we are only fourteen
we know that happiness is not every
thing There is Development of Soul,
and there is Fortitude under Affection,
and there are Heroic Endurance and
High Nobility and Strength of Charac-
ter; and somebody who knows life even
better than we do said that no soul can
be truly strong until it has been ham
mered good and hard by the blows of
Fate.
SO when I pointed out to Mabel how
we had gained all these things, she adj
mitted at once that they were better than
mere thoughtless, girlish happiness, and
that. as the poet says. we had climbed on
our dead selves to higher things. Then
we began to feel better right away, but
we are not cheerful yet, and we are not
going to be- We are lust strong and
calm and brave. That is more than
most girls would be under the circum-
stances, | can tell you | will now be-
gin this story at the place where it be-
gins.
For a long time / had been feeling I'm
happy. Sister Irmingarde thought 1t
was indigestion again-she always does;
and the girls thought it was a symptom
that | was going to write another story.
So Sister Irrningarde sent me to the In
Urinary for some medicine. and all the
girls LET me alone, because they suspect
ed it was plot. and they know | don't
like to be interrupted when | am think
ing of my Art. But this time it was
neither plot nor indigestion; and the
strange part OF it all was that | did not
know myself what was the matter with
me. I didn't know whether it was go
ing to turn out to be story or only
typhoid fever or something. That was
the way | felt when | went home for
Christmas.
NV presents cheered me little. They
were very nice, and lot of them were
quite grown-up things. For, as | have
long pointed out to papa and mamma,
I am standing with reluctant feet at the
place where they cannot treat me as
child any longer. But even the presents
did not help much, and l kept longing
to go back TO school. This was strange
indeed, for though I strive to give my
mind to studious pursuits when l am at
St. Catharine's, I am always able to re-
member that the brain must not be con-
stantly overtaxed, and that it is COM
fort to forget all about the old books
sometimes.
Well one day I was at Grace's (she is
Mrs. George Verbeck and the dearest
sister in the whole world D-one day |
was at her house and she was at the
piano singing for Mrs. Russell. Mrs.
Russell was Grace's chum at St. Cath
arine's, and they are just as fond OF each
other now as they were in those olden
times when they were girls. L remind
Maudie joyce of that sometimes when
she seems to be afraid our friendship
will not last till we die. Grace and Mrs.
Russell have been friends for twelve
whole years. and now Mrs. Russelfs
baby. Jack Russell, plays all day long
with Grace's little boy, George. George
is my nephew He is most four, and
that is another reason, | suppose, why
my mind is so mature. Character devel-
OPS under responsibility, and to be an
aunt at ten was great deal of respon-
sibility.
Maudie and I used to plan how we
would live side by side, the way Grace
and Mrs. Russell do, and our babies
would play together, too. was going
to have six boys and Maudle SIX girls, so
they could all marry each other when
they grew up. But those plans were IN
the DAYS before my life was blighted.
All is now changed and poor Maudle's
children will have to get along the best
they can without playmates. Mabel Bios
som and | are going to devote our Jew
remaining years after we leave school
to work among the poor. Will now
return to Grace at the piano, and you
need not think l had forgotten her,
either. The true literary artist throws
out many lines of thought in different
directions and then gathers them IN at
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES sssss 8s.sSsasss
-. -ss=,. -. q. .rss--