New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-03

den things who watched, with young arms
about each other. the ancient march of time
and ageI Perhaps even then, saddening their
happinessN they were dimly conscious of forces
within them driving to the crossroads where their
ways must part. At any rate. the differentiating
fngerboard of Fate lOCmed soon enough for
them down the road a misty autumn day.
and that their tragedy. Neither loved the
other more. and they parted beneath its shadow.
Yet. for memOry's sake, and because love and
lips are hard to part withal. their faces yearned
together at the Eastward, and soft, encircllng
arms were warm once more. and there were
tears and heartache at the parting. Did she
forget? Did he forget? The story leaves them
at the double pointing signboard. does it not?
All. there are some things even the pigeOnhOIes
do not disclose. Let be The ghost of a sweet
face. wherein We're centred all youths dreams
in the daybreak of desire may lay hard. and
the grown man may keep one sweet and haunt
ing memory even from his mate. And some
where in the world there is a gir-She must
alas be a woman now-whOse heart. Ierhaps, in
its furthest corner hides the bruise of a persisted
kiss that was the first ard the most wonderful
kiss she ever knew. But the lips that gave IL
are not the lips which call her wife. Well. why
don't you pass on to the next pgeonhoe:
Another poem? Dear. dear But it's good
one; it must be very good one; every maya
zine editor in the country has refused it. See.
the top is all soed with little glue spots where
the corners of stamps were applied. each spot
the record of a rejection! You don't think
yourself the poem is half bad? No. of course
You don't. If you did you'd be an editor. or
something equally Objectionable and dull But
the poem. you notice. is hardly a defence
of the doctrine of the Immortality of the soul.
The soul of the little dead child who speaks in
1t Is wandering on the earth looking for the
lost days Of its life and piaintively declaring
that 1t never heard of Heaven. That is quite
shocking, is it not? Put the manuscript back
in the desk It's only poetry. but it had best
be hidden.
All. This will anuse you It's farce.
screaming farce" the vaudeville managers
say. 1t is single act III length and admirably
adapted for amateur production. But it was
never produced You See it's all about ping
pong, and before 1t completed ping pong
was ancient history. Does any one now play
ping pong? Like the bicycle, il is a thing of
the past and the remote rural districts. 1t in
terests only the antquarians. So the little
farce is hidden in a piseonhole, a sad re-
mindcr Of the folly of writing for the faddish
present. instead of for all time, 1t is also
reminder that II you going TO write for the
faddish present you would best be quick about
1t. The wise author perhaps is the rapid one;
stocked with check books. Yet he doesn't have
so much fun rummaging through his desk for
all that.
Next we have n discourse on hands which IL
you will pardon the pun. could probably never
be palmed off editor. About every body
has hands, you see; they are, in fact. so COM
mon that nobody will believe there Is any
thing uncommon about them. There is. though
And the hands which the clasped heroine
of that discourse were quite the most wonder
full things in the world. They were small hands
not too soft and not too white. but dainty and
feminine and trim and very good to feel the
touch OF. When they lay in muff mankind
was robbed of the best feature of the land
scape. But that wasn't why they were wonder
fui The wonder lay in their strength and
friendliness. Few women know how to shake
hands; they make of ii either a social function
or reminder of sex. But when one of these
hands clasped yours the muscles knotted
through the skin at the back for the hands
were trile thin. and your hand felt a warm
strayed amid the heart strings of a friend ex-
eept to unravel with strong and tender touch
seeming hopeless tansle or To strike a great
rich chord. You had only to see these hands
to know what God can do when He wishes IN
show the world Il Woman
All that you will find most charninclv set
forth in the manuscript But furthermore Won
VIII md far more remarkable thing than
Heine's discovery in church in Trent OF the