The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-17
BY DOROTHY cANFIELD.

Journey and affairs in Paris. but finally
looked at me whimsically as she con-
tinued urging him after we had all I'm
ished and Polite was making her own
satisfied meal not far from US. Please
tell the holy sister that I am most
grateful for her kindness. but even
gratitude cannot make me care for
more Perhaps you smoker ] sug-
gested, and with an eager. oh, If you
really allow me- he pulled out his pipe.
There was an oddly domestic effect
about our group. the white cloth glim-
mering in the twilight and the smoke
from the monsieur's pipe going straight
up in the still evening air.
a big star suddenly flashed out high
above Us, and. looking up at il, re-
peated. half humOrously the old super
stition Of my childhood:
Starlight. star bright.
Very first star We seen tonight,
Wish / may, wish ] might
Have the wish l wish tonight.
Monsieur looked curiously at me and
asked If that was an American incanta-
ton You look like q priestess chant
ing your evening devOtions'
Il translated the nonsense laughing
ly into French. and was surprised by
the seriousness with which our COM
panion received II. Why, that is for
meI he cried in his resonant voice
That is for me, this night Of my lifet'
And he said it over after me ievout-
~, with his soft. black eyes fixed on
mine so that felt at once restless and
strangely at ease.
Sister Ruth was nOdding again in
her chair and we lowered our voices
He said the rhyme reminded him of
an old one in French that used to be
said in Champagne when he was a lit
tie boy. and I repeated il over after
him, that and many other scraps of
peasant verse which came into his
head amusing myself by trying to
catch the slight accent Of the patios in
which lac recited them. Sister Ruth
now slept profoundly and Polite had
curled up by her side. I covered them
over with his travelling rug and rose
to walk UP and down to warm myself
Monsieur paced beside me and talked
in hushed tones Of the suave and smil-
ing country of Champagne. 1t seemed
very much like the green valleys Of
Connecticut, which I could remember
from my childhood. and we compared
early experiences.
"A wave of homesickness for my own
country and a regret for the years
spent in English schools came over me-.
] sought for intimate memories of
hooks in the woods to match those of
this lover of green fields. / amazed
myself. not only by the frankness with
which I spoke Of that early. precious
time when my mother was still alive,
and we were living a home in Amer
lea, but by the depth OF my love for it
In the dusky, shimmering twilight I
felt strangely moved by underlined emo
ton. 1t was as though a vivid flood
of warm feeling had suddenly filled my
heart, or as though 1t had always been
there and a hard crust Of Indifference
once about il had now been broken. l
found myself saying to this stranger
to this foreigner of an alien tongue,
things of which I had been scarcely
conscious myself.
The stars came out in quiet hun
dreds and shone down upon our pac-
ing talk. There seemed nobody alive
at all but ourselves. Sisters Ruth and
Polite slept, and the channel scarcely
bTeathed under the breeding sky. We
looked up at the stars and tried to
say. as have all young souls, what
their still, kindly. austere light meant