The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1904-01-28
IT A PAIR OF ~
! GRAY GLOVES. !
by Kathleen Blake Coleman. 1

'"The sweetest joy, the widest woe is
love-" BAILEY F'ESTUS.
CHE was leaning back in her chair
y very tired. The day was hot
one, and the room, the highest in tall
building, was stuffy and close. Far
below the sun shone on heap OF
lumber that lay along the wall, and a
gray cat picked her way among the
pianks. Dirty papers swirled and ed
died in the hot wind. A woman with
a mop and pail crossed the yard and
entered an opposite building. Present.
IL she reappeared standing on the sill
Of a window and sending the mop up
and down the dusty panes. The other
woman watched her at her work, and
a faint envy was expressed in her eyes.
Il wish l were she," she said tiredly.
'1How 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, and have
no time for hoping and fearing. Oh!
to be dog-tired. What sleep l would
have" Then she laughed. And she,
IL DIG lOoNS up, WILL uC civ 1h6 llO hCi Y
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. 81 must get back to it," she
murmured, stepping to her swing chair
and resting moment against its I'M
easy back. A bell rang. Five
O'clock" she cried out aloud, 'and 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
her pen into the ink-pot. She thought
quietly for moment, then began to
write
"P!atonic love is not possible be-
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
the pen from her and listened. 1t was
long passage, and her room was the
last in the row. Her face flushed
slowly, and into her eyes there came a
deeper, clearer light; but she never
stirred. The football halted, and there
was a seconds wait
Then came a rap, quick, sharp, de-
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 35, with
massive shoulders and a great, gaunt
frame, indicating immense strength
His head was peculiar; narrow at it's
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 disagreeable 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
iy 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
itn 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, silver film,
through which he doomed gracious and
tender. For long time she had been
growing in upon herself. A great rest
iessness consumed her. Then came a
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 a
time, but hers was a stormy SOUL given
to recklessness and feeling the need of
a 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,
SEich closed quietly upon him, he
bent and raised the woman,s hand to
his lips reverently. A reverence
brooded in his eyes as he looked into
her face. When, without a word, he
lightly stroked the thick tangle of
brown hair that gathered about her
forehead, she stood quiet, only smiling
at him.
'You must go in minute" she
said, and her voice was exquisite
SOFT. deep and very tender. 81 have
a xxyrofahoH To oato hofo