Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-05-28
THE ATTIC REFUGE.

| He was an old man, whose life had
been one long story of wrongs and in
Justice That January night he was
very weary, Yet, even as he entered
| his attic. he became aware, suddenly
and acuteiy, that he could not yield to
his WEAKNESS. He had to brace himself
to meet something unusual. He was
not alone in his own room. The attic
was full of the sound of a mans deep
breathing, the deep, regular, nasal
breathing of a sleeping man.
1t was dark. There was, indeed. a
very faint light in the window because
of the glow coming up from the many
lighted windows of the street, but it
served only to show the window very
family. The attic itself was dark.
Schmidt, who knew every inch of his
home, knew where the sleeping man
was The sound of the breathing came
| from the bed
For a moment he was at loss what to
do. 1t seemed a strange thing to him
| that anyone should have come to his
attic, should have stayed in it and should
have fallen asleep. Always ready to
imagine danger, the old man did so now.
Yet what danger could there be from a
sleeping man?
| He went softly to a corner by the
hearth where he kept his candles. He
| took one, struck mattel. and lighted it.
Il was as he thought. A man lay
upon his bed, sleeping.
He stood beside him, holding the cam
die so that the light fell upon the bed,
The man was lying prone, his face
resting upon his bent arm. He had
taken off his boots and had loosened his
clothes, which We're rough and weather.
stained. His head was partially turned,
so that his profile could be seen. But
| the growth of black hair upon his face
| disguised it. Schmidt was puzzled. He
did not know the man who had made
| himself free to the comfort of his bed
But there was something in the build
of the shoulders which was familiar.
which stirred some memory of the past.
Moreover, though he told himself that
he ought to resent the intrusion, he felt
no anger towards the sleeping man.
! He held the candle so that the light
on the half-turned face was stronger.
and suddenly the hand which held the
candle began to tremble. he bent down
and looked keenly at the sharply fea-
tured profile,
Then, as he bent down and searched
the face, a light came into his eyes
which they had net known for many
years. 1t was the light OF pure Joy.
nicholas Nicholaevitch. he muir
INJURED twice with a tenderness which
mingled with his amazement till it con-
! quered it, you have come to me at last,
| to break my loneliness to share my
exile! Eou have come thus. with no
word of warning, here to nc to this
attic Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel, who has brought YOU safely to
this REFUGEE Blessed be God, who has
| brought you to met"
| lie spoke partly in Hebrew, partly in
Russian, he, Otto Schmidt who was
| known to Paradise street as a German.
| For he also was Russian jew
| And for time he stood there in
silence, looking down at his son, Whine,
! from The house betw from the street
and from the great thoroughfare a few
streets distant, there stole up to the
attic the seldom silenJ murmur of the
terrible, overcrowded, struggling life of
the East end of London
Long after midnight Otto Schmidt
still sa5 waiting. He sat beside a bright
fire, his face turned toYards the bed. A
kettle was steaming on the hob, and a
candle brlnt steadily upon a small table
on which cups and food had been placed
! ready.
The old man had spread some coats
over his son to protect him from the
cold but had not broken his sleep.
! when the exhaustion has passed"
| he told himself, he will wake
| ha Of m
filling his thoughts while the mu-murs
and shouting from the hou1,, from the
| street, and from the neighborirg thor
oughfare grew gradually fewer and
| fewer as the silence of the small hours
| approached.
Al length, which the quiet had GENE.
the sleeping mau stirred and woke.
He woke quickly, as one who has
been accustomed to living in danger
| learns to wake. Yet. for :, moment he
| looked in amazement at the fIc. Its
| comforting glow was something which
had long been foreign to him. Then
he saw his father, grown older. whittier,
and more bent than he remembered him
but with a look of content and happi.
ness in his face which he had never seen
before and suddenly he remembered that
"""N iiC saw was iiOl u uFeuUl. DGL ms
attic of refuge, the reality of the picture
which had been with him all through the
long, dangerous days Of his fight
Welcome, Nicholas Nicholaevitch!
| said the old man simply and fervently.
Nicholas got up from the bed and.
coming to the hearth, kissed his father
on both cheeks.
There have been days when lost all
hope of reaching this refuge" he said.
But those days are past. God is not
wholly without mercy
Then he knelt down to warm himself
at the fire,
Through the long. silent hours father
and son talked together.
You have not told me why you have
come" said the old man. when his SON
had eaten.
Nicholas laughed.
You can guess why" he said. Il was