The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1906-08-11

/ It must be, OF / should have died
two years ago" Is
You mean
81 mean when Alec's letters stopped.
and father died. and everything went
wrong all at once. Il have an idea /
prayed to die then, and being young
and foolish really expected a little pri-.
vate pestilence to be furnished on my
behalf
The girl in black replenished her
friends teacup and drained the pot
into her own. Then she said:
/ Your experience is wider than
mine. You have had the privilege
OF loving and being loved. Now, that
never came to me, for was born to
this life like thousand other girls
around US. We go straight from
school to Office, and If we have ro-
mances they are connected with
pasty.faced youth behind counter,
or worse, far worse than that-with
one OF Mr.. Simeon's kind Personally,
never was in love. and don't know
the feeling"
Il thought love was the rule In
life"
mot for the superfuous woman.
She is better without what is foisted
upon her for the article. She has so
little chance of the real. All, Lila,
envy you your generous heart, my
dear, and your brave lover! It mast
be something to feel that there are
/ nobler passions In life than hunger
and jealousy and hate"
THAT is an extravaganr way of put
ting it; but it is something-no, It is
everything. It is the one thing that
is pure and unselfish, the one thing
that we give away freely, and are glad
when it costs us much Mildred, I
have it in my heart to-day to be glad
lin spite of these two years of hope
lessness, in spite Of the ache that
never leaves me, and the sick longing
tor sight and touch-to be glad that
loved my boy. When his letters stopped
and they said the ship was lost. I
thought I knew all the bitterness of
| life. But there is worse than that,
because all I have suffered has been
tempered by the thought that we loved
/ each other. Alive or dead, we love
each other STILL"
The girl in black had flushed, and
she did not move for minute, or two.
The other gathered the tea things to-
gether and began to tuck biscuit-tin
and kettle away in their dusty cor
ner- =
"Heigh-ho!" she said. I'VE both
have to fight. Let us thank God we
can see the humor of it. To me, now,
there is something very quaint IN your
tea-making
Il was thinking too hard of things
in general, suppose-a trick of mine.
And, indeed, know it, for I have
forgotten to tell you that there is
| letter for you on the manteIpiece.
1t came in just as was starting out
to 'Snuffy's.''
Lila turned to the mantelpiece. and
the girl In black opened her notebook
and ran pencil up and down the
lines of shorthand, reading it to her.
self in an undertone. An exclanla-
ton made her look up Her TREND
had turned round to her and was
standing with her head thrown back.
very quiet and pale, and with glory
that was not that of the evening sun
shining in her face.
1T is a miracle" she said, "a God
given miracle!'
What Is it. Lilla?''
"And thought that happiness had
shut it's doors on me! When hope was
gone, and-there was only Heaven a
long way away-too far to see-and
now it is here. Here, in my hand!"
Lila, you look like sleepwalker.
Tell me what it is"
"Only this, Mildred" She thrust the
letter into her hands. "Only a story
that one sees in books and never hopes
to find. Shipwrecked, but not drowned:
washed ashore in lonely island, ltv-
ing through scurvy and loneliness and
horror; and now back again in home:
ward bound ship, and soon to be in
America. Oh, my love, my love!"
The girl in black read the letter
through and stared long at her COM
panion. Lila had sunk into a chair.
and the kindly tears had come and
were running down her face.
IL Lnere is anyone TO thank, |
thank him now, Lila, for your sake.
4 It is most beautiful-and most strange
The man who wrote that letter is a
lover for whom it is worth waiting
years-or lifetime. And for you
you are worth dozen shipwrecks.''
{. ooh, how wonderful this happiness
is said Lila through her tears
THAT it should come to me and
change the current of existence on
the instant! How could one die of
joy? am alive now, and l have
been half-dead for so long that l do
not know the world about me. Why.
this new life is different to what I
thought it-how many minutes ago?"
The girl In black turned quietly
away and looked out at the chimney
pots. The noise of the streets surged
up plainly to her ear, and the little
room felt hot and sitting.
=. No. she said, softly, this life has
not altered, and it will not alter. You
are the exception"
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles)
r's9rrs~~9r-e.~.Qr-..-Qr-..
IT N00N2