The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-13
Our Daily $bcrt Story

Ei&nt7 th0usanu yedIss Os tne pity of 1t! Eighty times should T have seen Hecula. And now" The dam ask lips trembied ominousIy.
 Never mind." said soothingly, ''iovers must have their trials with right in the end. 1 D: mise it." Nevertheless, I think I shall just lie down again and let the petals fold up once more. It Is the only way i | can forget. But you must promise l to preserve the seed which you will find in the dry pod tomorrow morn ing"
 T promise. But before won ro. ao you mind telling me how you came to be locked up with the life of a plant! {! You see, Aloysius will be in a fine rage if I do not make a full report of this affair."" Very we'll. shall, to please you. not Aloysius. Did you ever hear of Damartus, the great scientist, who wrought so many wonders during the reign of King virginiusT
 '.No,''
 How odd! Some great misfortune must have befallen nay poor country. But anyhow, 1t was this scientist, De- martus, who discovered a method by which he could engraft human be- ings into the life of this plant, which, oy the way, is the perpetual cicacia. It blossoms only once every century for one night. then withers into a sim gle seed. Hecula and I were lovers who guarded the kings flocks on the plains of Arcadia. We reasoned that to bloom together one night every hundred years forever and ever would be better than to live and grow old see. one night in a hundred years for ever amounts to a good bit more"
 Of course, and you consented to test the experiment. He must have been a remarkable man. Did he do many such things as this-this rein carnation of the two iovers?'
 ''oh, yes. many such things. It seems so odd that you never heard of him. I can't imagine what has happened to the world"
 Did he attempt to solve the riddle of perpetual youth?
 He was working on that; but since you never heard of it."
 "Yes. presume he died before he brought the work to completion"
 He must have"
 Such a man could do a great deal of good in this worid."e
 Not always. One of the saddest things I ever heard of was the result of mistake on his part. A pitiable occurrence"
 "Indee6r
 Yes. You see. there was a noble shepherd called Donald. the Pure. who was known throughout the king. dom for his beauty and his virture. Such youth, said the king, shoud be a maiden; and he offered a great largess to Demartus if the latter should succeed in changing Donald into damsel. For three whole years he worked on the experiment before he succeeded; that is, if you may call the tragedy which resulted a success. For no sooner IS Donald transform ed into the maiden Donaldine, than she remembered the beautiful Donald and fell desperately in love with him. She pined and sickened and fretted until the king out Of compassion. or dered Demartus to turn Donaldine back into Donald But, 10! when she became Donald, Donald in turn was in love with Donaldine. It was dis tressing. The end of the matter was that Donald killed himself and Don- aldine was never heard of again."
 Dear mev'
 And now, if there is nothing more you care to ask. I shall fold up the petals and entrust myself to Hecuia and to you"
 My dear," said, T feel that I owe you some reparation for the annoy- ance l have caused you. A hundred years is a long while to be shut up in a plant. Isn't there something I can do which will take the edge from the wearisome waitT'
 70, no. The time passes just as in sleep. Why, it seems like last night that Hecula and l bloomed together in the banquet hall of King Apalonf- us. The greatest fa2or you can do me is to guard we'll the seed which you will find tomorrow when the bloom is withered into a dry pod. Preserve it, together with the other one as you would the apple of your eye"
 That I shall do, and as for Alloy sius. shal give him, a piece of my mind."'
 You must not grieve over this lit- tie mistake. I suppose it is good for us to suffer occasionally" As sine spoke she leaned forward. "Goodby." I felt the tremulous tohch of moist warm lips on my forehead.
 The next moment. with a rustic and snap, the petals folded back over her figure until the flower was only a whitening bud.
 And then came the chatter of horses hoofs outside on the pavement. to- gether with the rumble of cab A litle later there was a wild, exultant shout in the street. It was Aloysius the Jackass,