Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-05-16


on the big white face of the moon.
How long had it been since he had |
| heard a song or any discourse of music |
other than that furnished by the Platt- |
willie band? Not that he had no taste |
for brass band. But music that he |
| loved always gave him an ache or de- |
/ light and the twinge of "reminiscences |
! of old gay days gone forever. Tonight |
| his memory leaped to the last day of
| n June gone seven years to a morn
ing when the little estuary waves
twinkled in the bright sun about the
boat in which he sat. the trim launch
that brought a CHEEKY party ashore
! from their schooner to the casino land
! ing at Winter Harbor, far up on the
! Maine coast.
Tonight he saw the picture as plainly
as if it were yesterday. No reminis-
cqnces had risen so keenly before his
eyes for years. Pretty Mrs. Van Skuyt
| sitting beside him-pretty Mrs. Van
| Skuyt and her roses - what had be-
| come of her? He saw the crowd of
friends waiting on the pier for their ar
rival. the dozen or so emblazoned class
| fannelSl who sent up a vOlley of col
Iege cheers in his honor. How plainly
the dear old. young faces rose up before
him tonight. the men from whose lives
he had slipped. Dearest and jolliest of
the faces was that of Tom Meredith,
| clubmate, classmate. his closest friend,
the thin. redheaded third baseman. He
could see Toms mouth opened at least
a yard. it seemed, such was his frantic
righteousness. Again and again the
cheers rang out, HAIRLESS! Hark
less" on the end of them. In those
days everybody. particularly his class
mates, thought he would be minister
TO England in few years. and the or
chestra on the casino porch was play
ing The Conquering Hero Comes" in
his honor and at the behest of Tom
Meredith. he knew.
There were other pretty ladies be-
sides Mrs. Van Skuyt in the launch
load from the yacht, but as they touch
ed the pier. pretty girls or pretty wOm-
en- or jovial gentlemen, all were over
looked in the wild scramble the college
men made for their hero. They hailed
, him forth, set him on high, bore him on
their shoulders, shouting ''Skal to the
| Vikingv' and carried him up the wood
ed bluff to the casino He heard Mrs.
Van Skuyt say: "Oh. we're used to it.
We've put in at several other places
where he had fri -nds!' He remember
ed the wild progress they made for
him up the slope that morning at Win
ter HarbOr-hOw the people looked on
and laughed and clapped their hands.
, But at the veranda edge he had no.
ticed a little form disappearing around
a corner of the building, a young girl
y running away as fast as she could.
See there" be said as the tribe set
him down; you have frightened the
populace." And Tom Meredith had
,, stopped shouting long enough to an
swer: It's my little cousin, overcome
with emotion. She's been counting
. the hours till you came-been hearing
| about you for good while. She hasn't
been able to talk or think of anything
else. She's only fifteen, and the crucial
J., moment is too much for her. The great
Harllless has arrived, and she has fed"
But the present hour grew on him
as he leaned on the pasture bars. 1t
I had been reminiscent day with him,
t but suddenly his memories sped, and
> the voice that was singing Schubert's
Il "Serenade" across the way touched
t him with the urgent personal appeal
that q present beauty had always held
l. for him. 1t was a soprano and without
t tremolo, yet came to his ear with a
\ | certain tremulOus sweetness. 1t was
| soft and slender, but the listener knew
it could be lifted with fullness and
power if the singer would. 1t spoke
only of the song, yet the listener
I thought of the singer. Under the
/ moon thoughts run into dreams. and
VI he dreamed that the owner of the
II voice, she who quoted The Walrus
N and the Carpenter" on Fisbee's notes
was one to laugh with you and weeT
y with you, yet her laughter would be
s. tempered with sorrow and her tears
VI with laughter
I When the song was ended he strucl
= the raH he leaned upon a sharp blow
a with lis open hand. There swept owe
I him feeling that he had stood precise
! ly where he stood now on such a nigh
4 a thousand years ago; had heard tina
7 voice and that song and been moved b.
Il the voice and the song and the nigh
4 just as lie was moved now. He ha
n long known himself for a sentimental
4 list He had almost given up trying t
~ cure himself And he knew himsel
81 for a born lover. He had always bee
in love with some one In his earle
rus youth his affections had been so cor
stantly inconstant that he finally cam
Sh- to settle with his self respect by ret
a Ognizing in himself a fine cOnstanc
leo that wOrshiped one woman always.
as was only the shifting image of her tha
changed Somewhere Che dreamed
the whimsically indulgent of the fame,
M Yet hooking himself for it, there was
ds. girl whom he had never seen who wal
ma ed till he should come. She was ever.
ar thiOo Until ba fOund her he could M