Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-08-20
CHAPTER I.

There are conflicts in most l1ves-real
hand-to-hand combats, that have to be
fought, not with any feshlY weapons. but
win the inner forces of the being-bat-
ties wherein the victory is not always TO
the strong, where the young and the
weak and the little ones may be found
abiding nearest to the standards
Such conflict had come to Alison
Merle breaking up the surface of her
smooth outer life and revealing possible
shoals and quicksands. in which many of
her brightest hopes might be wrecked.
1T is hard. l do not know that even
if Aunt hi think it right | shall ever
have the heart to do it," murmured Ali
son. talking to herself in her agitation,
after the manner of older folk. Il have
just rooted myself in this dear place, and
the soil suits me. l could not flourish
anywhere else; and" finished Alison,
with a quaint little smile, ''sckly plants
are worth nothing"
To any ordinary spectator the interior
of that little room would have presented
a picture of perfect serenity and abso-
lutte comfort. Even the young creature
comfortably seated in a chair by the win
dow, with an open letter and a cluster
of deep red roses lying among the folds
of her white gown, presented no disturb
ing image though the cheek had lost its
wonted fresh color and the dark, dreamy
eyes had a look of doubt that was al
most pain in them.
Two years agO-she had been sixteen
then, and oh, how discontinued and i'll
and unhappy she had been. 1t was not
only the loss of her mother, it was her
own incapacity for responsibility, her
morbid dislike to her surroundings. that
had fretted all her fine color away.
Change of air would do her good, and
then Aunt Diana had come down upon
them with the freshness of a moorland
breeze
You must give your eldest girl to me,
Ainslie," she had said to Alison's father:
''she wants care and cheriShing more than
Miss Leigh has time TO give her" And,
of course, Aunt Diana had her way.
Instead Of the whir of machinery-for
her fathers sawmills were just behind
their house-Alison had now only 10
listen to the soft flow of the river that
glided below the green lawns and shrub
berries of Moss-sde; instead of waking
up in the morning to look across the dusty
shrubs and trees to the vast wood piles
and masses of unsawn timber, that seem
ed endlessly between her and the blue
sky. Alsons eyes had now the finest
prospect one shaded garden seemed to
run into another and when the willows
were thinned or bare in winter time, what
q view of the river and green meadows on
the opposite side
The moral surroundings were almost as
much changed. Instead of Miss Leigh's
dry method of instruction, Aunt Diana
had placed within her reach many a
pleasant short cut to knowledge, had sug-
gested all sorts of enviable accomplish
ments: money was not stinted where Ali
sons talents could be turned to account
In this pleasant but bracing atmos-
phere Alison had thriven and grown. She
was still q tall, slim girl, somewhat youth
full in look, but with plenty of warm life
and energy about her; and though the
dark eyes had still their old trick of
dreaming, they seemed to dream more
happily, and the shadow did not lie so
deep in them-not, at least. until the
june afternoon, when Alison sat signing
and vsibly disturbed with her lap full of
roses. 1t was evident at last that she
found ner thoughts too painful, for after
another half hours intense brooding she
suddenly jumped up from her seat. scat
tering the flowers where they lay unheed-
ed on the Indian mating. and walked
abruptly to the door. She had dropped
her letters, too; but she went back and
picked them up, not replacing them in
their envelopes, and then she went ont
into the passage.
dark oak staircase led into a little
square hail. fitted up with bookcases like
library, with a harmonium on one side :;
n glass door opened into a conservatory.
through which one passed into the gar
den
Alison turned the handle of a door just
opposite the staircase, and stood for a
moment hestating on the threshold.
What pleasant room that was, half
studio and half drawing room, full of
cross lights, and artistically Uttered with
an odd tumble of medieval and modern
furniture-oak chairs and cabinets bas-
network longes, tiny tea tables, fit for
Liliputian princesses, and hanging cup
boards of quaint old china that gave warm
coloring to the whole. Alison's eyes were
still fixed on a lady who stood with her
back toward her, painting at an easel
Well child, what now?" The voice
was nicely modulated. clear and musical,
but the manner slightly abrupt.
Alison came forward at once and in
spected the picture. 1T is very pretty,
Aunt Di," she said, forgetting her own
worries in moment. 1T is one of your
best. l think l see what you mean, but
TO me it is all beautiful that old man
pensioner, is he notf and that poor
tired sheep, that seems TO have dropped
down by the way, left behind by the
flock, is so suggestive of the title. Noon,
tide Rest.
That is what l intended. You are
an intelligent child, Allie; both the mar
and the sheep must be old; it is not fol
young creatures to rest at noontida my
old pensioner has already borne the bur
den and heat of the day"
"Of course, l see what you mean
Aunt Di.'
MY parable is not hard to read" re
piled Miss Darlington, with a smile, bu
as Alison studied the picture with in
creased interest and admiration, pai
of shrewd, kindly eyes were studying thu
girls lace.
go and put yourself in that cas-.
chair opposite, and tell me all about 1t,
she said at last, rousing her by good
humored little push. 81 must finish thi
branch if l am TO enjoy my nights rest
but | can listen to any amount of let
tered woes with suggestive glance a
Alisons hand.
"Oh, Aunt Di, how do you find gu
things 500" stammered Alison; then. a
though used to obedience, she moved t
the chair that was always reserved 70
Miss Ca.rington's visitors, whom she wa
wont to entertain after fashion of he
own.
''I wonder how long l am to have pa
Sience," observed Miss Darlington, paint
ing on industriously, as Alison sat wit
dropping head, looking at her letters, witt
out offering to read them. Il am quit