The daily Alaskan., 1910-01-12
THEYGREW0LDAPART
sv MERIAM B. sEcKWITH.
lsJ9. by American Press AssO-
 rintiOu.

on her deathbed. when 1 am gone forget me. Seek some one to fn the place leave vacant. Don't delay. Never mind if the world says, This man has no sooner buried ouc wife than he begins looking for another know what is best for you, The longer you put 1t ofr the less you will desire 1t. and l don't wish you to be- come again used to bachelor habits"
 "The place you will leave vacant will remain vacant"
 q have given you my wish; can't argue with you, and can't remain with you to influence you, though, if possible, l will do so from the other existence. One word more. If you de- lay and become a middle aged or an old man before marrying again choose young woman who will bear you children to love you and for you to love When you think of me picture me watching over you trying to lead you in the path that know will alone bring you happiness"
 When all was over and he began the life without her these words came back to him, and he was wonder stricken that they should have been spoken by woman. and that woman his own wife But the realization of her wish is Impossible" he reasoned, "because l shall never find the woman who can fll the place she has left va cant. and if could find one who could fn it I would not wish 1t filed"
 On this account and from preference he hugged her memory and ignored her wishes. Shortly before her death and while she was in the flush of health her portrait had been painted. This portrait he took from the wall where it hung and placed it over his desk in his study. He was literary man, and his work was influenced by the woman whose mental and moral strength and virtues were memori2ed In the portrait
 A year passed, and he still loved-a memory. Was it love or the memory of a love? He never asked himself the question. He did not doubt that it was love. It might not occupy his mind. he admitted. as much as at first but this is true of one we love who has been gone a long while. Those who are absent do not occupy our thoughts as if they were present, but on their return we find them as dear to us as ever. At times he would remember her earnest look when she had made her last strange request and would experience momcntary troubled re- gret that he could noc accede to It. Then he would recall the reason and would be satisfied.
 One day five years after her death he stood looking at her picture. It seemed to him that there was a more mature look about 1t than he had be- fore noticed. The lips did not appear so red. the eyes not quite so bright Then a sudden pleasing thought struck him. He was growing older, and some unexplained mental or, rather, soul con- structlon within him was enabling him to see her growing older with him. Whence it sprung or what power had planted it he cared not. It was there They would grow old together.
 Another period passed, and he no- tlced greater change. The cheek seemed to have lost some of its round- ness. The uostril was thinner There were faint whiush pencil streaks on the hair that might be the effect of light on the canvas or a beginning of white hair. There were lines about the eyes and on the neck. Two feel ings within him contendcd for mas tery-a pleasure that he was not leay- ing her in youth behind him and distress that her beauty was fading.
 These mingled feelings did not leave him. He thought the distress that she should change was unnatural Does a husband regret to seethe wife he loves grow plain? Does she, indeed. grow plain to him? The latter question set him off on another course of thought Supposing a man loses a wife of twen- | ty. At forty or fifty she comes back to him. Is love the same as if she had grown old beside him? He could not make up his mind that it would be.
 From this time he noticed a change in his feelings toward the picture. 1t was not the same to him. In vain he tried to get used to this singular trans formation in 1t, which he attributed to some mystical soul effect. He felt that 1t and he were divergiug. Instead of growing old together they were grow ing old on different lines. Then it be- gan to be repulsive to him.
 He was struggling with a desire to remove 1t when one morning a girl of twenty stumbled Into his study Her cheeks were ruddy enough with out the blush that spread itself from her forehead to her dimpIed chin. A startled look was in her eye, followed quickly by an embarrassed smile that parted her lips, showing her white teeth Then hurriedly withdrawing, ' yb, gb,,f tI, 1,,.