New-York tribune., 1906-06-24

she had been to be hers. She dreamed
too of a boV she had known, whose devotion
inSeparably interviewer with the past, and whom
misunderstanding and the years had obhterated.
She could not begin to defend herself that
There remained only regret-bitter and inCeSsant
regret-for the self-sutfcienCy of other days As
the shadows deepened she remembered with
abated bitterness the cruelty of that relative who
had deprived her OF her brthrght and spread before
her the ashes of the world She thought of the boy,
and wondered where he might be now; and felt
glad miseraby glad that he would never know
what had come to her.
But 1oneness-absoute, awful and entire lone
liness-was slowly breaking the girls spirit. She
more and more beseechingly to the future is it
possible she sometimes asked of herself, " that
there is really white face on this island, one of
my own people2 ! believe that | could walk bare
footed a hundred miles just to look at it" The
natives said that there Americans away off,
giving the names of the different stations where
thev were to be found; but Madeleine never under
took any such journey They all men, OF course,
and did not dream that woman OF Their own race
trOd this same island
Madeleine as she left the bamboo hut morning,
on her way to school, called to Rosario to go to Tao
tai that day and get some beef. She had heard
that they to Kill there, and the desire to obtain
confident, was overwhelming. She remembered of
having voiced regret for milk. Leche
echoed the sonora; there was plenty OF It, She
despatched the mnChdchO, and returned presently
with Jar full for MadeleineS 1nCredulOuS con-
sumption. 1t had tasted odd; but the girl, know
ing herself to be overcrtlcal OF palate. had drunk
through Rosario, that it milk indeed the milk
of the carabao The incident had aroused in Made
lene spirit of investigation which from Rosario 5
viewpoint as cook proved frequently trying lie
laughed now good-naturedly she earnestly en-
iOined caution upon him in his selection.
Madeleine herself headed a procession that in
creased steadily each successive hut yielded up
its bare-footed aspirants. The childrens parents
looked down with enigmatical faces from the open
second story of their houses. Indifferent tolerance
was the nearest Interpretation Madeleine could put
upon their attitude But the children, the tiny
brown boys and girls, her heart went out to them
Coming with sleek wet heads dripping yet from
the dip that like the little brown birds, they had
taken in the morning, clad IN cdiHtSdS spotesS and
fresh they could be other than attractive
for they were only children, dear trustul little
children, whose playfuness even was tempered by
a wonderful docility. To confront them after the
suen reserve of their elders was refreshing
In school thev persisted in committing everything
to memory-WhOle pages after the Spanish fashion
Lessons which Madeleine gave out IN history, only
the substance OF which they could be expected
to extract were doed back to her utter stupeactlon
word for word. In mathematics, this hereditary
method of absorbing information tallln9 entirely,
they were sorely puzzled. Almost Phenomenally
quick of wit till the fourteenth fifteenth year,
they then halted for just there the mental high
water mark of the race was stretched, and to go
farther meant stupendOus effort.
Yet one could not be other than patient,
Madeleine often reflected she looked down
upon her little alien flock, playing, strangely
enough, transations of the games that occupy
the children of her land for, despite their
iovfulneSs. there singular pathOS about these
little ones-the girls with scant mother -hubbards
for the smallest the historic CdmiSdS cut to the
Wast-line for the more mature, the hair OF little
and big plastered and rigidly knotted midway
down the head: the BOYS IN long white trousers
outside of which shirts of every pattern and color
in calico fell; upon the usually unsocklnged feet OF
both sexes, heelless slippers that happed at
every step or the silt like wooden variety that
clicked in moving The girl had thought enough
to realize that something stupendous was yet