Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-10-16
Settled by a
..VnoScope.
Original

IOriginal.l
There are commonplace things and
there ara strange condolences that
turn the current OF our lives. A hu-
man career may be likened to a chip
cast into a rivulet. 1t goes with the
current, over stones, tumbling from
tay cascades, till it Ia caught In an
eddy and stranded. Some slight dis
turbance starts It again, and after a
few setbacks 1t ~rejoins the channel.
Caught by a fallen branch, 1t waits till
released by a swelling OF the waters.
And so 1t goes till It is at last thrown
Into the BAR
When I was about twenty I went to
a c~ornhusking. I remember sitting In
a pile OF corn beside a girl Of sixteen.
Suddenly In tearing a husk l saw that
the ear 1t inclosed was red. Claiming
the privilege OF cornhuskers when a
red ear Is found, l kissed my COM
panion.
l had met n of the reflections In
the current Of my career.
There was a pretty blush, a slight
resistance, the kiss, the blush and the
resistance making a charming com
bination. Later in the barn | 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 the vine o~verhanging the
porch.
There followed a courtship as tender.
as sweet as fragrant rs a young rose
plant, only there were no thorns. The
thorns grew later. We became en-
gagged.
There was no opposition to our en-
gagement and no reason why we should
not marry, though we were too young
to marry at once For two years life
was a garden spot, though we did not
know how happy we were because we
were inexperienced. Loving was like
breathing.
Then when we were ready to be mar
ried my little girl and her mother must
needs go to the city for her t%rousseau.
l joined them there after the pur-
chases had been made for a few days
blBuLDCCtuB uA0 " DlALS OdCh
We two, my f1ancee and myself. went
to the park, to the theater. to shows
of different kinds. One day we were
walking down a broad thoroughfare.
jostled by an immense crowd of peo-
Pile. Seeing some jewels blazing in a
shop window, | called my fiancee's at
tention to one Of them and asked her
Io1,,In wIx 20 7 chA,,1l no IL ord htu ~
for her. Her only reply was a smile
But, oh, how sweet 1t was!
Fate threw in our way IN obstacle.
The wedding did not take place. l
did not know the real cause, but sus-
pected her mother of changing her
mind. My iancee was at an age to be
dominated by a stronger person und
gave. way. She broke the engagement
After this the country grew dull to
me, and | concluded to go to town TO
live. / went into business and pros
pered. Ten years passed, and | had
not married. Being a member of sew
eral clubs and having the meal where
with to enjoy city life, l did not care to
give up my bachelorhood. AT times |
even considered my mother-ln-law that
was to have been as having done me a
favor In throwing me over Had 1t
not been for her l would have been
tied down to the drudgery of a family.
One day, being away from home-l
really had 40 home In the full meaning
of the Worthwhile waiting for IN APP
pointment l sauntered into a vaudeville
show. A vitascope was a feature of
the performance, and one of the scenes
given was a crowded street in a great
city. The throng was both going and
coming, those going fading in the dis
lance, those coming growing larger as
they advanced till. reaching the fore
ground, it seemed that they would walk
right in among the audience.
My eyes suddenly became fixed on a
young couple in the moving picture.
Ny heart stood still. My love of some
ten years before was the girl. Then,
to my amazement, the young man was
myself. My photographed figure point
ed to a shop window and said some
thing. The girl looked at my double
and smiled. Then in another moment
they came on as II ABOUT TO walk over
me, when they disappeared.
When we two lovers were together.
preparatory to our intended wedding.
we had been unconsciously photo
graphed.
But hat smilel 1t 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 older now and was
conscious of the change in me. Indeed.
it had taken me some time to recognize
myself in the vitascope. She was the
same in my memory as in the picture,
though l realized that she must have
changed.
l felt again the delight of a young
love. Quick as lightning my inner self
was transformed. My bachelor life be-
m , not nDIu dull h,1t 1ica or.aaa hIa