The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-02

With a light tap at the door the
maid entered and. putting back the
inside blinds. let a flood of April sun
shine into the room. This done, she
stopped to turn the day" il being one
of her duties to see that Time and the
calendar in Miss Georgiana's room
agreed,
Az she quietly withdrew that lady
hopened her drowsy eyes, but only to
Scloss them again Immediately. Though
she was full OF appreciation for the
days that arrived fresh every morn
ing" like the breakfast rolls-she liked
10 become aware OF them gradually,
drifting back and forth on shallow
waves of sleep, until irrevocably cast
ashore, wide awake.
A gentle yawn broke the stiffness, as
she lay, half asleep and unwilling to
move until convinced that there was
no further hope of drifting back into
oblivion. Evidently there was none, for
little by little her vision cleared until
she was startled into full wakefulness
by the date staring her in the face from
the opposite wall. With such a calen-
oar, there was no mistaking il. 1t was
the 25th of April.
That she, who had an innate dislike
OF all calendars. should be the recip-
lent of one that recorded the days in
5yllluOlS Two inches nlSn ana as Dldck
as jet was an illustration of the irony
of fate. She was a person who had not
the slightest need of a Calendar, re-
garding the least offensive of them as
full of disagreeable innuendo. This one
was the gift of a friend with a mania
for exactness, who had complained
that Georgiana's habit of dating letters
'.s;ome time Il May, think" or Late
- October-but what difference does IL
mi la T.,
nervous system. To Georgiana-to
whom a day was a day and who cared
not a jot what particular link il
formed in the chain of time-this pas
sion for mathematics was incompse-
hensible. But she accepted it as a
cross to be borne in the sacred name OF
friendship, and, hanging the calendar
opposite her bed. gravely instructed the
methodical Nora to wind 1t up every
morning.
Never since IL had hung there had
any day ioomed so portentously black
to her Imagination as this 25th of
April. 1t was that day in the year
that she would fam have avoided. be-
ing one OF those ruthless anniversaries
that even the iightest mortals recog-
nize as days of reckoning. when what
aHe-is is subtracted from what-one-
osxEht-to-be, with the most Notifying
result.
She buried her face in her arms to
hut the calendar out, but 1t did no
good. Though she covered her eyes
she could not close her mind to its ap-
proach and she eroveled, knowing that
whether she willed IL or not, her case
was up for investigation.
'Do you know how old you are?" It
glared satirically.
Not exactly" was her mute admis-
sion. "Thirty-six or seven or eight. If
you please, I'd rather not know pre-
cisely. / prefer to undated, If it's
all the same to you. In our family we
never mention birthdays"
You were born in the year
Haughtily-"Stop right there! Well
let bygones be bygones."
Have you ever heard
And this same flower that smiles to-
Tomorrow will be dying?
do you know that you are old enough
to have sweet sixteen for a daughter? ?"
Miss BraDt sprang out of bed and
grasping the offending calendar with
more force than care. stuffed 1t into the
nearest drawer with the remark that
she never wished to see its face again.
How any one can live with a thing
like that staring her in the face and
reminding her of the sere and yellow"
she grumbled as she turned on the cold
water for her bath, 'is a mystery to
me. feel as IL I'd aged visibly in the
last ten minutes"
I The thing seemed so probable that
'she picked up hand glass and, stand
ing with her back TO the light. scanned
her face with anxiety. AS the exam
nation proceeded she breathed more
freely. There we've. to be sure. some
Of the little telltafe lines by which the
years blaze the path for old age. but
on the whole the survey raised her
spirits. An exultant smile curled the
corners of her mouth as she put the
glass down.
II don't know Just how old am"
was her compliment verdict, but I am
sure that I don't look it. And so long
as one doesn't look II and doesn't feel
II, the years do not matter"
Having thus imperiously brushed
aside accepted standards and taken a
fresh hold on her faith in life. she pro-
ceeded with her toilet. But in spite Of