New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1905-05-10
A Mood
By KEITH GORDON
Copyright. 1905, by T. c. Mcclure

And no man can foreten what the
future has in store for him.
Nature herself, to judge from appear
ances, had the dumps. A despairing
sky looked gloomily down on de-
spondent earth through an atmosphere
as damp and chilling asa wet blanket.
With little SILVER of discomfort at the
aspect of things, katherine laid the
book face downward on her lap in the
way that one should not and, picking
up the poker, gave the fire thrust or
so as rider spurs his horse to greater
effort
ugh! What day!' her thoughts
ran. Zone would think Joy were dead.
Fire won't burn, sun won't shine, even
the sparrows huddle together lumpish-
ly without energy enough to scrap"
She picked up the book again and re-
read the last sentence, And no man
can foretell what the future has in
store for him. This time she closed
the book and placed 1t on the table be-
side her. Decidedly she was in NO
mood for reading, and with hands
clasped idly in her lap she sat staring
into the fire. Bat that last sentence
logged her thoughts. The past, with its
smiles and tears, was left behind. The
present seemed momentarily a thing to
be endured as one might But the fl-
ture
At this point her eyes turned from
the CRATE and fixed themselves upon
the ring that she wore upon the third
finger Of her left hand. 1t was beau
tiful ring-a pink pearl that reminded
one of tender dawns fianked by two
diamonds-her enga cement ring. Ordi-
narily she could not look at it without
kindling of the heart, thrill of
warmth and happiness. Today she eyed
it with languid, restless interest.
That, then, represented her future.
It was as fixed and irrevOcable as the
past itself How we'll she knew what
it would be like. Had she not seen
dozens of her friends marry, bubble
blissfully for q brief year or SO and
then subside into the stale beer of do
nestle existence? If she had ever
thought that with Jack and her it
would be different the illusion had van
ished in the bleak light of this all re
vealing day, which brought out every
sordid detail of existence with bitter
emphasis.
Different? OF course they would not
be different. There would be the brief,
dazzling happiness of the honeymoon,
the glamour of new possessions, and
then some day they would both sud
denly tire of the play and see each 9th
er for the first time plainly. Jack
would squint his eyes critically and
discover that she was not the most
beautiful woman in the world after all
though, of course, he would be toe
well bred to say anything. He would
simply be a trif1e bored at the let-down
and plunge into business to forget, kiss,
ing her absently in the morning and
evening as a mere form-a matter OF
habit
And she? Well, she would rub her
eyes about the same time and see to
her amaZement that he was just a
plain, ordinary, average man, without
single godlike attribute and with q
painful and unmistakable tendency to
grow bald and stout. But she, too
would be politely reticent and hold ul
her face for that perfunetory kiss and
try to forget it all in a feverish en-
thusiasm over house and gowns. And
they would grow more and more ST
lent toward each other, conversing
mostly in monosyllables Never would
they Quarrel-her lips closed trife
more firmly at the mere thought-but
each would withdraw farther and far
would communicate with each Other
| through small wickets, as the ticket
sellers at the theaters do with the pub
| lie.
The details Of this gloomy picture
were as clearly visible to her mind as
| though she saw them with her eyes
and she laughed ruefully. Was this
| sort of thing necessary? How did she
| know that Jack was the man? Nigh
not the real person still be imbeddet
in the future, like fly in amber?
| AT the thought she caught her breati
and, leaning forward, dropped her face
upon her hands and gazed is1to the fire
with a new intensity. 1t was a tire
mendous thought, but what guarantee
had she that he was her ideal? HI
seemed SO, perhaps, merely because ht
approached it more nearly than an,
man she had yet met, but no one couli
tell what the future had in store fol
him. There was the rub.
She proceeded to develop the though
with applications Enthusiastically femi
nine. Like an index finger her mini
pointed backward to the day when bi,
sleeves had seemed the most entranc
ingly becoming things woman coult
wear. Then inexorahly it pointed again
this time to the sleeves she was the1
wearing, tight above the elbow, bu
with great pouches sagging below. Ant
these were now chic, and the Others
impossible. The poor old fashions O
yesteryear-how ugly and deformin,
they appeared! Could it be that by an!
possibility the likings, the loves of to
day/would--
With rush it came over her tina
ones loves did change. There wa
In ~