The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-03-10

| lODdDIJ YOU IGllJSllDGI HOW YOU uSSh,
when child, to watch a moth that had
flown too near the flame. You were then
also amused. The moth fell shivcring to
the floor and lay on her back. waving
her poor burned wings, until you interest
ed no longer, squeezed it with your little
finger The poor insect stopped suffer
ing Oh, af1ectionate reader, if you could
only squeeze me with your little finger,
that my suffering should also take an
| end
She was a very strange girl. When
war was declared, she went around for a
few days silent and melancholy. could
do nothing to amuse her. Listen" she
said to me once "You are an honest
man, are you not?" 81 think So" l re-
piled. Honest people prove theiiwords
with deeds. You were for war; you must
fight" She knit her brows, and pressed
my hands with her little palms.
Hooked on Masha and said to her ear
nestly, Eyes"
"On your return, l will be your wife, )"
she said to me on the railroad station.
Come back" Tears choked me; l
could hardly keep shem back, but l tried
to be a man, and found the strength to
say to Masha:
Remember, Masha: Honest people"
"Prove their words by deeds" she said,
finishing the phrase.
1 took her in my arms for the last time,
and pressed her to my heart, then quick
ly released her and jumped into the car.
l went to the war because Masha
wished it, but l did my duty to my coun-
try honestly. bravely walked through
Rumania in the rain and dust, in the heat
and cold. 1 gnawed the company's
bareback with real self-sacrihce;I did not
turn coward when we met the Turks for
the first time. l was no coward; that is
why l was given a cross and made a
corporal. When we met them once more
something fell to the ground. A groan-
a mist-a doctor with a white apron and
bloody hands-Sisters of Mercy-my cut
foot with its birthmark below the knee
all these flew past like a dream. The
sanitary car, with its comfortable beds,
carried me back to St. Petersburg.
When you leave a town with two good
feet and return to it with one and piece
of the other it means much to you, be-
lieve me, it does.
They put me in a hospital; that was in
July. l asked them to find out in the
city directory the address of Masha
Ivanovna G., and the good-natured
watchman-soldier brought it to me. In
the same house on Gallery Street. l
wrote letter, another, third, but re-
ceived no reply.
My good reader. have already told
you everything. You, of course, do not
believe me. An impossible story; a knight
and false lady every bit like an old
romance. My penetrating reader, you
are wrong in disbelieviug me. There ale
many such knights in these days-plenty
besides me.
At last they made me a wooden leg
and l was able to go to Gallery Street
and find out for myself what was the
reason of Masha's silence. | came there
in cab and hoped up the long stair
How quickly l used to fly on them only
eight months ago At last. her door
l rang with my heart at a standstill.
Steps could be heard behind the door;
Audotia, the old servant, opened and let
me in, and l, not listening to her joyful
EXPLANATIONS, ran Gfone can run with a
wooden leg) into theparlor. Masha!
She was not alone; she sat with rela-
tive of hers, a very nice young man, who
was finishing his last term in the univer-
sity before l went to the war, and ex-
pected to get very good position. They
greeted ME very tenderly Undoubtedly
thanks to my wooden limb; both were
very confused. In less than fifteen min
utes understood everything.
did not want to be an obstacle to
their happiness. My clear-sighted reader
is smiling maliciously: "Do you want me
to believe this story? Who would let his
loved one be taken from him by a scamp
without struggle"
First, he is not scamp; secondly, I
would probably tell you what secondly
is, but you would not understand; you
could not understand because you don't
believe that there is any goodness or
truth in our times. You would prefer
the unhappiness of three beings to the
unhappiness of one, if that one should be
yourself. You don't believe me, clear
sighted reader? You need not; the Lord
be with you,
The third day they were married; |
was the best man. proudly oficiated
at the ceremony by which the woman 1
held dearest on earth gave herself away
to another. Masha looked at me timidly
from time to time. And her husband
treated ME with such painful attention.
1t was a very joyful wedding. We drank
champagne, and German relatives of the
newly married couple cried "Hoch,' and
called me der Russische Held"
Believe me or not, clear-sghtcd reader,
it matters little to me. But ii you
would take a walk with me on the shore
near the palace through the long winter
nights; if you would listen with me to
the wailing of the storm, the tolling of
the bells, and the tapping of my wooden
leg on the pavement; if you could pene-
trate and comprehend what is going on
in my soul in these dreary nights, you
would surely believe me. "Ding-dang
Ding-dang" Four o'clock.
Time to go home, to lie down in the
cold, solitary bed and go to sleep. Good
bye, reader!
Brain Leaks,
Kindness thrives on kindness.