Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1908-09-10
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[Original.i l

turn th, current Of uuI lives. A hu man career mav be lii.cncl to a chip cast into Il rlvulet. II goes " tn the current, over stones, tumblins from tiny cascades, till it is caught ill an eddy aud stranded Some slight dis turbance starts it again, and after a few setbacks it rejoins the channel Caught by fallen branch, it waits till released by a swelling of the waters And so it goes till it is at last thrown into the ocean.
 When l was about twenty l went to . cornhusking. l remember sitting in 8 pile of corn beside a girl of sixteen. Suddenly in tearing husk 1 saw that the ear it inclosed was red. Claiming the privilege of cornhuskcrs when red ear is found, 1 kissed my com panion.
 I had met one of the dellections in the current of my career.
 There was a pretty blush, q slight resistance, the kiss, the blush and the resistance making charming con- bination Later in the barn 1 danced with my little girl, went with her at midnight across the moOnlit fields to her home and kissed her again in the shadow of tbp vine ovcrhanging the porch.
 There fo!loWcA a c3ntship as tender, as sweet, as fragrant aS Il young rose plant. oHIt. il'rr WeEe HD thAA&s The thorn, grew later We became en- ga@al.
 There Wa& no oi ..asittoI to our rn- ga@&mcHt and no reason why we >houla not marry, though we were too young to marry 1t once. or two AeafS life was a garden spot, though We cid not know how happy we &a.e hecaGs.e' we were inexperienced. Loving waS ike breathing.
 Then wl.en we were ready to be mar ried my little girl and her mother must needs go to the city for her trousseau.
 joined them there after the pur chascs had been made for a few days sightseeing and to bring them back We two, my iiancee and myself. went to the park, to the theater. to shows of different kinds. One day We were walking down q broad thoroughfare, jostled by an immense crowd of peo- ple Seeing some jewels blazing in shop window. I called my iianeee's at tention to one of them and asked her jocuarly if I should go in and bay it for her. Her only reply was d smile. But. oh. how sweet it was,
 Fate throw in our way an obstacle. The wedding did not take place. did not know the real cause, but l Sus- pected her mother of changing her mind. My iancee was at an age to be dominated by a stronger person and gave way. She broke the engagement.
 After this the country grew dull to me, and I concluded to go to town to live. l went into business and pros pered. Ten years passed, and had not married. Being Il member of sev- eral clubs and having the means where with to enjoy city life, l, did not care to give up my bachelorhood. At times l even considered my mother-in-aw that was to have been as having done me favor in throwing me over. Had it not been for her 1 would have been tied down to the drudgery of family.
 One day, being away from home-l really had no home in the full meaning of the worldwide waiting for an ap- pointment l sauntered into q vaudeville show. A vitascope was q feature of the performance, and one of the scenes given was crowded street in q great city. The throng was both going and coming, those going fading in the dis tance, those coming growing larger as they advanced till. reaching the fore ground if seemed that they would walk right in among the audience.
 My eyes suddenly became fixed on young couple in the moving picture. My heart stood still. My love of some ten years before Was the girl. Then, to my amazement, the young man was myself. Ny photographed figure point cd to a shop window and said some thing The girl looked at ms double .n1 smiled. Then ill another moment shey came on as if about to walk over ne. when they diSapa hared.
 When We two lovers were together preparatory to our Hgtended wedding. we had been unFoasciouSly photo graphed.
 But that smile. Ii brought back the delightful period from the moment when at the cornhusking l had found the red ear till the breaking of my en- gagement was olier now and was conscious of the change in me. Indeed it had taken me some time to recognize myself in the yitascope. She was the same in my memory as i'll the picture, though l realized that she must have changed.
 l felt again the de,j.-ht of young love. Quick as light = my inner self was transformed. N t.achelor life be- came not only G9u La disagreeable 1 saw myself e. <,' .. corrupt had not reali"" l.. sw tone of bachelor clnbma :; uan of the world. The smile of a tle country girl had not only revealed it to me, but had shown me the beauty of purity.
 made T resolve l would 70 and