Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1907-07-18
THE ASHES
OF LOVE
BY d. y. JOHNSON
tcopyTighl b Daily Story FHb' Col


volume OF prose pearls,
yes. please do" she answered In
her soft voice. half coaxing, half
commanding.
Suddenly he paused In his lingering,
Here Is one named The Ashes OF
Love"
lie settled back and began 10 read,
1T was noon time and all the land
was warm with the kindly sun and
sweet with the fragrance OF flowers,
The man and the woman paused to
feel the pulse of life, They had come
to the end OF the road,
LET US tsrry here while, love,
he whispered. the fire OF his soul
glsaming through his eyes,
No. dear. cannot stay. We have
come to the parting of our paths and
| must go back Idly she plucked a
red rose that brushed the border of
her mantel
Darling, come with met he cried,
and drew her TO him. covering her
mouth with flaming kisses.
II cannot, dear. ! do not love
enough The woman's lips trembled
and her voice broke In a sob.
The man sat still long time, tense
with the frenzy Of his passion. Then
he arose slowly. ! shall 60 he said,
but the fire Of my love shall never
die She put the red rose into his
hand and left him standing there, as
one dazed. at the edge Of the wood.
Time passed and the woman's
heart began to ache. 1t was hunger
that made II ache and with each pass.
ing day the pain grew more intense.
The only relief she found was to go
20 the end of the road by the edge
Of the wood and look and listen long.
ingly At last she could remain no
longer. so she set out in search of
her love whom she had sent away.
She journeyed long time. over rough
roads and through dark woods, and
after many days came upon deserted
howell. Being tired and foot-sore she
entered it to rest The hut was
empty and bare, save for crudely
built hearth, on which was heap of
dead ashes. In the baked clay above
was scrawled The fire OF love- The
woman looked again. At her feet was
dead rose half hidden In the ashes"
The reading came to an end, but.
with the book still open before him,
the reader looked absently into space.
Presently he drew out a pencil and
wrote something in the margin.
The girl, too, had been in thought,
but broke the silence by saying with a
touch of bitterness In her voice. How
like mans love, to burn and scar,
then die. have always believed 1t to
be thing of passing moment"
''Paulinel" the man cried ifiercely,
between set teeth. You speak like a
child that has not yet known the first,
faint awakening of love-" He had
leaned forward to look her in the
eyes, but now he sank back slowly,
an expression of ineffable sadness com
ing over his face. But then, how
could you know, If you have never
felt its relentless call if you have
never known its infinite MEASURE"
He paused moment. She was quite
still, the stiffness that is awe in the
presence of power. When l came
here tonight, came with the burden
of my love filling my heart-my love
for you. was consumed with the fire
of it, mad with the JOY of it, and
TRANSPORTED with the glory of it. But
now mere words would die on my lips
They say love kindles love, but they
are wrong; for then, surely, my love
would have burned into your soul"
The girl looked tensely at the floor.
Perhaps cannot love-" she said
simply 81 care for you, know-yes,
more than anyone else. But do not
love you. Il can feel nothing Of the
passion you have pictured.
The man arose. mo, that is true.
I shall carry away no illusions. You
were kind, very kind. Some day,
hope, you may feel measure of that
infinite law Of life"
James Farnsworth and Pauline Col
ton shook hands and parted, nor did
they meet again before the latter
sailed for Europe
In the meantime Farnsworth. pass.
ed through stormy period of self.
discipline that went toward the deyel-
opment of the fibre and muscle of
character, albeit at the expense Of
that transcending quality, idealism
His was not sufnciently practical
nature to accept a situation as one Of
the inevitable DEGREES Of fate and ad-
Just itself accordingly. On the con-
trary, up to this time he had never
really taken serious account OF fact
but had dwelt tn the rarefied atmo-
sphere Of theory. And now the order
of his existence had been reversed
He was wrought to earth with jolt..~
4 To- the ztroubled In spirit there Is
one avenue Of escape-work-and this
Farnsworth seized with avidity and in
it found sanctuary. From the literary
dilettanteism that had served him as
| pastime before. he now gave himself
to really serious work. He was writ
ing play begun with no other object
| than to occupy his thoughts but