Evening star., 1909-07-18
Around the CITY

A woman walked alone in a quiet,
green place. There were deserted paths
winding through grassy slopes, with for
est trees and Towering bushes with sun
light and shadow everywhere and a blue
sky overhead. The woman was the only
living soul in sight but there were many,
| many men, women and children who
We're done with life,. forever sleeping
under snowy shafts and trailing myrtle
leaves. Under one tree there lay gaping
open to the sunshine long, narrow. deeI
hole, and on one side of it was heaped a
pile of earth, with one lone, fat worm
crawling clumsily over clod. AS the
| woman stopped to consider the long
narrow. deep hole. a bell tolled in single
strokes, each like drown-out sigh. and
to the bell was added the grinding OF
wheels on gravel. The woman knew the
| story the bell was tolling. so she went a
little way up the grassy Slope and stood
| under another tree and waited. The
wheels stopped and line of men and
women came along one of the winding
and heaped with flowers and palms. The
| men who carried it wore bronze medals
on their breasts, and that made the
woman know that in the tlag-draped
casket lay a son of the Grand Army who
| had been mustered out by the Great
| Captain of all armies and was being
brought to sleep out his everlasting
! sleep under the shade of the tree. A
black-robed priest finished the last sacred
service that consigned dust 10 dust, and
when he had withdrawn the men with
| medals on their breast stood at the head
and foot of what was going to be a
! grave. One of them, in closing his tribute
to his comrade, cast a wreath of bay
leaves on the lowered caSket. The woman
who stood on the grassy slope shivered as
it struck the lid. Another man ended a
prayer by stretching out his arm over
the narrow, long, deep hole and dropping
into it a beautifully fresh pink rose. A
third man let f1utter from his fingers a
few bay leaves, another scattered al
pinch of dirt, and. as an everlasting
goodbye to the things of this earth. the
man at the head of the grave dropped
upon the casket tiny flag that rippled
in the breeze as it fell.
And when the people had gone slowly
and sorroWfully away; when the grind
ing wheels had died into silence broken
only by bird that sang joyousy in the
tree above the long. narrow. deep hole,
the woman gave a last glance at the lone
fat worm crawling clumsily over ciod.
Then she said to him on whose breas;
lay wreath, a rose and the flag he had
loved:
Don't be afraid. my brother. There
is always Cod
Two rag-tag boys were drawing a baby
in rickety go-cart. AS they reached a
Bakeshop the elder boy went in the shop
and came out with scalloped sugar cake
which he broke into two unequal parts,
giving the smaller portion to the other.
The other boy howled.
You amt give me half-I'm goin' to
tell ma you ct the cake she told you to
buy for the kid
Il am givin' you half! Amt l got
to rub crumbs around de kiddie's mouth
to make her look like she done ct the
cake? You eat your share an shut up
Then the diplomat sprinkled about one
scullop of the cake the baby'S face
while she chuckled and kicked her bits of
feet in ecstatic anticipation of the feast
out of which she was being bunkoed.
Somebody had dropped Glove pink
AS IL lay, fresh and fragrant and beau
tiful on the dusty tagging woman
moved it gently with her foot until it lay
close to wall While she was doing 1t,
a younger woman who was with her ex-
claimed, with small laugh that had a
big streak of annoyance In 1t:
with you Ann! Anybody would think
you had contract for cleaning the
streets. I can stand for banana peels
but where's the sense of kicking that
thing out of the way?'
Not much sense, | reckon" answered
the elder woman, she walked on
lust a matter of sentiment. I've got
memories connected with Glove pinks, and
that one made me think of-things.'
And a woman, who was walking behind
and heard. understood. Maybe she, too,
had memory connected with Glove pinks
What woman has not?