The Washington times., 1908-08-29


thing told me that for her sake such
happiness must not be.
''And so she sat there, my wife. JUST
few feet away, and we talked Of
home OF her. and-OS me-a leper- What
was said 1 cannot remember fully now
except that ] know that il the partial
satisfaction OF her companionship ald
sympathy there came a peace thag 1
have not known for eight weary dayc.
"All day long I had tried 70 steel my
self for the meeting that ! teit iutuiUFe-
lv, was 10 come. ] knew JuaL ] should
never face "a trial such as the one soon
to be mine. II YOU are married, you
can know what il would mean 10 YOU
10 hear, TO see, to long Tor, and yet
not be able 10 touch the one why caa
be OF greatest comfort 10 sou IN hours
that are dark Ike mine
Claimed No Credit.
somehow. though, I passed through
the travail to- t---'as NAV ueVer. come
40 those Of you who listen to me now.
I claim no credit for myself, for in the
seIhshncss OF a hungry heart 1 wogId
have clasped my wife 10 my oosoIu for
ever But a voice, almost an audible
voice it seemed, bade me different. j
was told that It was not for John Early,
the Ieper.
so We talked. and the naIf hour sped
that she is here. tt Is something, even
Ito see her, and she says that each day
she viii come ont gnG bring the baby
and spend d while with me. That viii
be something, viii it notF'
And the sympathetic little group
about him answered that u would, and
wondered at the turtitude and cheerful
ness of "A man that somehow sees a mt
Of sunshine behind every big black
cioud.
Mrs. Early. her I1other. and her little
baby reached Washington yesterday
afternoon. Early himself although
coming. She Immediately hunted up an
official of the Health Department, and
knowing how lonely was the leper, she
was brought at once TO the little tent
on the Eastern Branch There she was
allowed 10 talk TO him, but like tb5
true woman that she Is aSSented graE e.
" when told that she could not come in
contact with the husband who had left
her in such high spirits the week be
fore.
Thinks of Husband.
Wholly oblivious to her surroundings,
gazing with an absent look at the car
pet at her feet. as in 2 trance, Mrs.
Lottie Early, wife of John Early, the
leper OF Washington. sits hour after
hour in the home OF Adjutant Wiseman.
Of the Salvation Army. go Pennsylva-
band, in his little white tent on he
shore OF Eastern Branch
Hour after hour the little woman sits
there ia a rocking chair. Hour after
hour she sits gazing at the same spot
in the carpet at her feet aroused only
b. her eleven -months-Old baby, as it
COOS and pTattles in the arms OF Mrs.
Early's mother, Mrs. Larrim, who ac-
Companied her daughter 10 this city
from Lynn y. c, last night
when she talks It IS rarely In any
I'M 3 but mOnOSylabIes, and even then
sometimes she is hardly conscious Of
what Is being said to her. To know
the great love which existed between
John Early and his WIFE, to realize the
euOrmity Of the afiilCtions which has be-
fallen that loving couple. TO gaze uP5n
the pretty little woman, as she sits
there, shocked and Oewildered, IS
enough to move a hear, OF stone
II want TO go to him. she said. "If
Schn is 10 suffer l want 70 comfort him.
I would willingly leave the outside
world and be with hTm-but the baby
the baby
4 have suffered so much during the
past eight dayS-SO much so much.
sue muTmured this afternoon. "OuIy
two weeks ago. John and 1 were happy
in each others love. Today-how differ-
euJ il is"
Bows Head in Sorrow.
And the frail little woman bowed her
il'1'A tls1 Al tAA1 NIAsLiL BL fleI sDfIGM DOTt
il down. She paused before she spoke
again. The first utterance mad been an
effort, the longest she made since she
arrived in the city last night.
his only thoughts are of you. Mrs.
Eafly suggested the synnpathetic ana
kind Adiutaut Wiseman.
- know know, she murmured
slowly, tearfully. 'Thar is like John
There is no man in the WoT1' so kind.
so unselfish. know he thinks but of
the baby and me-"
How did YOU first learn Of your hus-
bands condition." she was asked. and
the questioner would almost rather have
cut his hand of than to bring that
dreadful moment back to l.Sr mind.
The little woman shuddrre1. She liTt-
ed her bowed head and looked straighS
ahead. She was seated in front of a
window, with her f1ne, delicate face
away from the light, but the sorrow
that marked THAT face was pathetic. ont
IN another room the pink-s5inned little
'any, her baby and John Esrly's, gave
q 81 tra ,,