The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1904-01-29
a PAIR OF%
GRAY: GLOVES.
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ny Kathleen Blake Coleman.


#HB ' re- -
Il ''The sweetest Joy, the widest woe Il
love-" BAILEY FESTUS.
CHE was leaning back in her chair
~ very tired. The day was no;
one. and the room, the highest in tall
\ building. was stuffy &and close. Fal
below the sun shone on q. heap Of
lumber that lay along the wall, and
gray cat picked her way among the
& planks. Dirty papers swirled and ed:
died IN the hot wind. A woman with
~ mop and pail crossed the yard and
II entered an opposite building. Present
~ she reappeared standing on the sill
ssof window and sending the mop up
and down the dusty panes. The other
woman watched her at her work, and
y q faint envy was expressed in her eyes.
wish I were she," she said tiredly.
''How she must sleep at night! Oh!
to be really tired, really worn out, the
. way women are who wash and scrub
and work with their hands, sand have
no time for hoping and fearing. Oh!
1 to be dog-tired. What sleep l would
4 have" Then she laughed. And she,
L ii she looks up, will be envying me here
idling at the window" she said. She
looked back at her desk, at the dis
order of loose sheets covered with mar
row writing which lay about the floor,
at the little stack of white, blank
pages. II must get back to it" she
murmured, stepping to her swing chair
a
easy back. A bell rang. Five
/ O'clock" she cried out aloud, land that
article on PlatOnic Love to be finished
by seven. What on earth made Plato
start theory of his own when love is
the same to-day as it was in the garden
of Eden" She sat down and dipped
I her pen into the inlz-pot. She thought
quietly for a moment, then began to
write
"Platonic love is not possible be-
4 tween men and women who have
brains and sex"
A short, hard step coming sturdily
along the passage stopped her. Her
Office door was half of muffed glass,
and she heard distinctly. She threw
ii the pen from her and listened. It was
long passage, and her room was the
last in the row. Her face flushed
slowly, and into her eyes there came q
deeper, clearer light; but she never
stirred. The football halted, and there
was seconds wait.
cisive.
The woman rose slowly, walked to
the door and unlocked it.
''Come in," she said, gently, and the
man entered.
He looked perturbed. He was a
tall. sunburnt man of about IS, with
massive shoulders and great, gaunt
frame, indicating immense strength.
His head was peculiar; narrow at its
base, it widened out above the ears,
attaining generous proportions. At
heart there seemed to be much that
was tender and graceful. This he had
done his best to hide under an affec-
tation that could only be called dis
agreeable. He rather liked the title
of disagreeable man. He had knack
of saying disagreeab]e things in a nice
way. This piQued women. And when
you excite women to the degree of
piquancy they become dangerous.
Women ran after David Strang. They
protested to abhor him-they secretly
adored him, and played their prettiest
tricks for his benefit. He remained
-unmoved. He found it amusing.
The woman to whose Office he came
this hot July day had long ago
fathomed, or thought she fathomed,
his complex nature. She had certain
ly carefully hidden the clay feet of her
god, enveloping them in draperies of
purple and gold, and denying their ex-
istence to her own soul. But this was
after she had found the tender places
in his deep nature. At first she had
seen the clay feet; gradually her i'm
agination-which was royal-had COW
cred them, and a film had grown over
the eyes Of her soul, a silver film,
through which he doomed gracious and
tender. For long time she had been
growing in upon herself. A great rest
lessness consumed her. Then came
feeling abroad for sympathy. This
gathered around her work. For a time
she wrote brilliantly, pouring her soul
out in quaint imagery. All the hui
man nature in her, and the spiritual,
cried aloud. Her work satisfied for
time,' but hers was stormy soul, given
, to recklessness and feeling the need of
personal, human love. There
should be the intellectual, the spiritual
and also the carnal, or rather the hui
man love. (Should the craving that
demands protection, caringness, close
ness, tenderness, be marred by name
SO suggestive of grossness as carnal?)
As the man stepped inside the door,
pfpich closed quietly upon him, he
bent and raised the woman's hand to
his lips reverently. A reverence
br0oded in his eyes as he looked into
her face. When, without word, he
lightly stroked tile thick tangle' Of
brown hair that gathered about her
forehead, she stood quiet, only smiling