The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1905-12-28

-. - .ne Ivy cnmUs aSOg,

-, ,ne Ivy cnmUS aSOg,
| md so year by year his love
| the girl grew even as his great
| fear grew. He saw as clearly as he
saw the blue sky that he must one
| ca lose her, and that made her the
more dear to him. All he asked was
to sit and look at her, to hear her
| talk or sing. To WOO an expression
| of delight from her was ecstasy, and
no labor or sacrifice was too great to
purchase it.
His great love clarified his rather
| slow brain and he figured out ways to
| make more money and still more, that
she could have more advantages and
| more pleasure. From a common shoe
| maker he became the master of a
shop, he invented machine to do a
| part of the work better and faster than
any other machine and out of this in
ventiOn grew great factory in which
was different from any oruer pv.Dv-
| the simple German ever had seen.
There was delicacy and flavor about
| ner strangely in contrast to her sur
rOundings. He felt this Unborn super.
iority of the mysterious waif most
keenly and as the years sped a great
fear took possession of his simple,
honest SOUL With the unerring in
stinct which belongs 70 simple natures,
it came to him that If this were true
if Sophie belong2i indeed to a differ
ent caste, she Intimately would find
her own, even as water finds it's level
AS the years passed this fear grew
into a terror little short of mania
The girl was the only thing Tony had
ever loved since he left his mothers
side, mere boy, to go out and battle
with the world. She came into his
lonely life as ray of sunshine to
gloomy celly and as the years went by
she wound the tendrils of affection
re had substantial interest. And til
his gain and all his earnings he poured
)ut unstintingly-nay eagerly upon
Sophie. The finest clothes, the best
schools, the softest luXuries were hers
sud all the world of travel and
pleasure was opened to her. For him
self, his pipe and his common work
a-day clothes and his frugal fare were
sufficient.
He was passionately fond of music
and her sweet voice was his greatest
jOy-and she delighted to sing to so
appreciative a listener. 1t was sad.
indeed that this very gift of music,
this very sweet voice which gave him
so much joy should have proved the
means of their separation. 1t is the
old story. Somebody heard her sing
and somebody told somebody else, and
somebody else passed it along until
it reached the ears of great impress
ario, and he sought and found her and
heard her sing. Then came an OffeB
for her to sing in opera: wild delight
on her part, desperate despair on the
part of Tony. The months which fol-
lowed were like fairyland to Sophie
and like an inferno to Tony. She
leaped instantly into fame and filled
the house for an entire season. Night
after night Tony sat among the
audience delighting in every note she
sang and proud of every wave of aD-
che was different from any other per-
son the simple German had ever
seen.
plause, but yet dumb with fear and
apprehension and despair.
At last the blow fell, hard and de-
cisive. The Man came He was
gentleman from the great mysterious
world OF the boulevards and the clubs,
favored son of fortune. He saw the
beautiful singer, he sought her, he
asked her hand. She, too, felt the
divine arrow and accepted him.
Tony was nearly felled by the blow
he had been expecting all along.
Sophie chung on his neck and said she
never would leave him and never
would marry if he felt that way about
it. Then his great self-sacrificing love
arose again and swept away his grief
for the moment, and he laughed at
both their fears-yes, laughed over
his leaden heart.
'But YOU will always live with us,
DEAR" she said softly THAT is under
stood. l told Arthur and it is all set
tied"
What" exclaimed Tony, "give up
my comfortable old corner and my
pipe and my old ways to go and learn
the ways of great house? No, no,
my Sophie. am too selfish for that"
Tony disappeared for some weeks
directly after this and it has since
appeared, devoted much time and
displayed no small skill in ascertain
ing accurately the character, reputa-
ton, habits and antecedents of the
man to whom he was to lose his
Sophie. The investigation evidently
proved satisfactory, for the wedding
came off in due season
When it was over Tony went
through the old house and tore down
all the hangings and fixtures, ripped
up all the carpets and piled up in the
back yard all the furniture he had
bought to make the place habitable
for Sophie. Over this great pile he
poured kerosene and made of it fun
eral pyre to his affection. He went
back to the little room in which he
had lived before Sophie came and took