St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1905-05-03
Miss lie Sage.
A southern sketch from the Pen of j.
~ HARRIS.
written for the CALIFORNIAN


light in the southland. The pine forests
on the mountain slopes were touched
with that dazzling radiance, while the
deep ravines, always dark, relieved the
evergreen like shadows. Through the
thin, still air the voices of neighborlng
cottagers occasionally rose sharp and
distinct, and far away on the mountalh
side a dog bayed lonesomely.
It was long after the dinner hour, and
nearly all the guests, weary with the
days pursuit of pleasure, had retired 10
their rooms. The words OF the MINOR
tai elegy welled up in my mind as lis
tened to the vibrant peace OF the time
and place, and | could well imagine tne
moping owl complaining to the moon.
A slender figure gowned in black came
from the parlor door, and, hesitatingy,
toward me.
Good evening, Miss Sinclair, 1 could
not be sure at first that it was you.
Dreamland, isn't it,
eyes, Miss LIE Sage, answered. 1t
is l, and it is dreamland."
The lady had arrived at the hotel the
previous evening from the north, and
| alone. She had registered as Miss lie
Sage of New York. and as such l mad
been perfunctoriy introduced to her by
mutual acquaintance. A slight, dark girl,
rather tall and soberly dressed in a plain
dark costume, there was nothing in her
appearance to invite second glance,
much less a study unless it was the sug-
gestion OF mourning, or sorrow.
And her eyes. There was something IN
them that attracted and baffied inter-
est. Possibly 90 years old, she had
profile like a Greek cameo, pale olive
skin, and an extraordinary quantity OF
plainly arranged brown hair. All this
with the prim, not questionable but
very transformations dress, made OF her
a rather commonplace person to look at,
unless the indefnable something hap
pened to arrest attention. Women new
er looked at her twice from curiosity.
Sometimes man did.
She sat down in a piazza chair near
me, and gave attention to whip'poor-
will in nearby pine. She fitted into the
scene like black diamond in an exqui-
site mosaic. Her customary attitude OF
mind seemed to be trying to remember,
or forget, and as she sat there silhou'
cite 10 the brilliance, l remembered, too
that a crown of sorrow is remember.
ing happier things.
And someway, she suggested it. 1t
was not sadness, exactly, but the ghost
Of sadness. | am an old woman, and
being out of the pain and discomfort o
the strenuous life, have time for nader
meditation and analysis of character.
, don't know if my characters are ever
perfectly analyzed; that don't signify
like to study and weave stories out {
faces.
And this commonplace little woman
in black had face for my purpose. II
might prove sermon or a song. Who
: could tell?
The quiet and seclusion OF that piazza
! end in the moonlight invited confidence
5 it appeared, for in the half hours broker
conversation she told me that she wa
e alone in the world, with small means
/. but that her physician had peremptoril,
e commanded the mountains of Western
= North Carolina as hoped for cure of
pulmonary trouble which had becom
slightly manifest. So, she had consulte,
her finances and the hotel rates and tn
railroad map and had come to Salubria
: A simple and pitiful little story and m
heart went out to the far-thinking an
S far-seeing girl in black.
s. In all the world, or beyond it, nothin
!. is so pitiiul as lonesome soul. Naked
4 desolate, crying Tor support, thrown
out its tendrils to find rest. 1t woul
u seem as if they must be the first care c
God.
It AS the frightening spring days wen
a by, came closer to Miss LIE Sage. Whe
s. the other guests were riding or drivin
1t or picniciug in the woods we woul
N wancer out for short distances anon
1t the pines, through the pink rows c
a blossoming peach trees, or occupy GU
in corner at the far end of the piazza.
er liked to have her with Inc, and gave be
If the short and simple story OF my liz
er life without story. Some Made
;" ladies have a past, but mine has been S
he uneventful that it merges imperceptibl
Il back into the unknown beginning. s.
in my web OF life, only weave stori'
~ out of faces.
Ia During our rambIes and quiet talks
I'd came to understand from her that at OF
b. time she had enioyed-or submitted to-
o, all that wealth can give. Her fathe
nd later dying bankrupt, had been pow
he in the financial world, but had left b
IN alone and with very little. | also unde
stood, how she told it l do not knoy
ne that at one time she was engaged to
ST. married to a young southern plant
whose acquaintance she had made durii
~ society season in New York. VIII
lst came between them did not discove
She did not tell me her story, as sue
. but heard it in part and felt it in pa
during the days succeeding our meetin
She did not "con6de" in me; only ga
me to understand. wonder if l ma
4 it plain?
! And beyond all were the far seeing ey
looking over the mountain tops. S
n read very little, received scarcely a
- mail, only walked or sat and looked a
81 thought. The few men whom she n
i'd could make nothing Of her; the wom'
NJ women-like, didn't try. Her voice W
- low and afar off, and was such as mt
Ill necessarily accompany such eyes. l {
n afraid that my little story will cons
'~' mostly of character study of Miss
up Sage, but that absolutely cannot