Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1910-02-03
CHAPTER Xxx

ReSta ana MS spiritual reSeueldllol
could awaken any interest in his mind
but as the boat approached Cincin
natl, the places, the persons and tn
incidents of his childhood world began
ito present themselves to his conscious
mess. An irrepressible longing to lool
once more upon the place Of his brit
and the friends of his youth took pos
session of his mind.
EIe found, on inquiry, that the boa
was to remain in Cincinnati for sew
eral hours, and that there would bt
time enough for him to make the jour
ney to his old home and back before
she proceeded down the river. He de-
cided to do so, and observed with sat
7sfaction that those painful groupings
for the next stepping stone across the
streams of action which had been SO
persistent and painful a feature of his
recent life had given place to the swift
1ntuitions of his youth. He saw his
way as he used to when a boy, and
made his decisions rapidly and exc
cuted them fearlessly. The discovery
of this fact gave a new zest and hope
60 life.
I'd at the familiar wharf he was mount
ed upon a fleet horse, rushing away
over those beautiful rolling hills which
ill the mind of the traveller with un-
Cloying delight in their variety, their
fertility and their beauty. 1t was the
first time since he had left the farm
that his mind had been free enough
from passion or pain to bestow its full
attention upon the charms of Nature;
Ehey daWned on him now like new
discovery. The motion of the horse
SO long unfamiliar, so easy so grace
ful, so hythmical-seemed of itself to
key his spirits to his environment for
1T is an elemental pleasure to be seat
ed in the saddle and feel the thrill Of
power and rapid motion. The riders
eyes frightened his cheeks glowed, his
pulses bounded. He gathered up the
beauties of the world around him in
great sheaves of delicious and thrill
ing sensations. Long-forgotten odors
came sweeping across the fields, rich
with the verdure of the vernal season,
and brought with them precious ac-
compartments of the almost-forgotten
past The rich and varied colors of
feId and sky and forest fed his starved
soul with one kind of beauty; and the
sweet sounds of the outdoor world in
1oxScated him with another. The low
of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the
Growing of chandeliers, the cackling
of hens, the gobble of turkeys, the
nultiduninous songs Of the birds en-
velOped him in sort of musical at
mOsphere. For the first time since
his restoration to hope, the past seem
ed like a dream and these few bliss
fuI moments became a prophecy of
new and grander life. For, If the bur-
den can fall off for single moment,
why not for many moments?" So he
said to himself, as the consciousness
of his past misery and his unknown
Ruture thrust their disturbing faces in
70 the midst Of these blissful emo
tious-
The route which he had chosen did
not lead to the farm house, but to the
cemetery where the body of his moth
or lay wrapped in her dreamless sleep;
that neglected grave was drawing him
10 itself with a magnetic force. He
who, for a year, had thought of her
scarcely at all, now thought of nothing
else. The last incident in her life. the
face white with its intolerable pain of
the gasp for breath, the
sudden fall. the quiet funeral, his own
responsibility for this tragic death-he
lived 1t all over and over again in an
instant of time as grief, regret. re-
morse, successfully swept his heart
burying ground, he threaded his way
a uiong the myrtle-covered graves to
the low mound which marked her rest
ing place, approached IT, removed his
hat and stood silently, reverently, by
ZtH side
There come to US all hours or mo-
rnents Of sudden and unexpected dis
closures Of the hidden meaning Of life. -
Such an one came to David, there by
that lowly grave. He saw, as in the
Hight Of eternity. the grandeur and
beauty Of that character which the
story of her sin and suffering had
made him. in his immaturity, misin-
terpret and despisei He did not COM
,orehend that tragic story when she
told IT; It was impossible that he
should. for he had no knowledge or
adequate to furnish him
the clew.
As he stood there by her grave.
measuring this deep and tragic expe-
-ience with his new divining rod Of
sympathy. there rushed upon him an
desire to reveal his ap-
preciation to that suffering heart be-
vond the skies. A feeling Of bitterness
at his inability to do this frenzied
him: a new consciousness Of the irony
Of life IN permitting him to make these
discoveries when they could do her no
good plunged him suddenly into
struggle with the darker problems Of
being which for little while had
ceased to vex him.
do all the appreciations Of heroism
rome too later" he asked his sad
heart. DO we acquire wisdom only
when We can no longer De guided BY
III DO we achieve self-mastery and
real virtue only to be despised by our
-hudren7 Where Is the clue 70 this
.angie7 Oh. mother. mother. II II
couid only have one single hour to
ask thee what thou didst learn about
his awful mystery In those lonely
rears Of struggled II I could only tell
49, az my Denitsnca. Of my adnaira-