The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-10-09
Copyright, 1910, by Harper Brothers.
All Rights Reserved

To tho ordinary observer, il WAS JUS
A common photograph 81 cheap sun,ne
hotel II hung sumptuous'N tramco u
plush. over the Widow Morriss maniel
The one resplendent note In an osherwis'
modest home, In characteristic Quocr
Anne village.
one had only To see The rapt face o
its owner she sal in her weeds before
nounccd "a strikin' likeness" TO SYM,
pathze with the townsfolk who looked
uskancc at the bercaved woman ever
Whiie they bore with her dclusion. ieei-
ing sure that her sudden sorrow had sci
her mind agog.
When she had received the picture
through the mail, some months before the
fire which consumed the hotel-a hrC
through which she had not passed, hui
out OF which she had come a widow-sho
sndE lS"y wa;Ss Rafssa with 6eT aFGSp' the % posoSe
replying 10 their questions as thcy ad-
mircd H.
"oh, yes! That's wher,s, he w%orkssmii ,%sI
steward in il. All that row q winders
where YOU sec tho awnin's down, they re
his--an' them that amt down, they re
tion,
''You see. he's eot the whip hand over
the cook an the sto' Groom. an that key
don't go out o his belt unless he knows
who's Gettin' what--an he's firm. Morris
always was. He's like the iron law OF
the Ephesians.
1t was an old lady who held the picture
Ut arms length. the more closely TO scan
IL, who asked the question. She asked
il partly to know. as neither man nor
partly 10 parry the historic allusion'- -
disturbing sort OF fire for which Mrs
Morris was rather noted and which made
some OF her most loyal townsfolk a bit
shy Of her.
"oh, amt referrin' to the picture, 3"
she fastened to explain. Il mean the
The regular Joke there is to cali him st
Peter. an he takes II in good part. for
he declares, II there is such a thing as e
simllitude to the Kingdom @ heaven in
n hotel. why it's in the providential sup
ply department which. in manner.
hangs TO his belt He always humors
Joke specially on himself"
No one Will ever know through what
painful periods of unrequited longing the
Widow Morris had souCh, soace IN this.
her only cherished relic. after the
half hour OF sky works" which had
made her. In her own vernacular. "a lone
~. conl1agrated widow. with heart full
or ashes. before the glad moment when
II was given her TO discern in II an un.
como. IS faint CLEAN of comfo~t The
vehec'ion that although her dear lost one
%as not in evidence in m" picture. he
hai realty been inside ami so. Of course
he must be in there yet,
A first she experienced slight els
appointment; that her mar was not Wis
ioie' at door or window 5u, II was only
passing regret II was really better
TO feel hin sarely and broadly within
az larHe IN thc great house. free TO pass
a. WI! from o1c room TO another To
have bad him nzed. 70 matter how e.
fcctiEelv. would have beer 4 limitation
AS IL was. she pressed TIE picture to
he! bosom as she wondered r. perchance
ne would not some Gay come out OF his
h!dinc 10 meet her.
II was r1vfacd pleasure and tremu-
entertained "A ont tbn
whin,sicaliiy OF it was an appeal 10 nor
sensit!zai Imagination, end SO. when
finally the thing did really happen. ii Is
smsll wonder that il came Some what as
4 shock.
II appears thai ono dav. feeling par
ticuiarlv lonely and forloTn. and having
no Other comfort, she was pressing her
iear-sta!ned face against the roy nf win
dow shutters in ;he room without AVA
ines, this being her nearest approach TO
The alleged occupants bosom, when she
was suddenly startled by n peculiar
swisllins sound. as of, wind blown rain
that H. was indeed raining and then
Slnncins BACK at the photograph. she
distinctly sa her husband rushing from
one window to another drawing down the
ssshes on the side Of the houses thot
would have been exposed Ia the real
shower whose music was In her ears
This WIS Eroat discovery. and. nat
uraliy enough. u set her weeping for she
SJDueJ u mace DHr i~cl fOr a minute.
hat she had lost hcr widowhooI and
: hat after the shower, he'd be coming
home.
II might well make anyone cry 10 sud
denly lose the pivot upon which his emo
tons are swung. Al any rate Mrs Nor
ris cried. She said that she cried ali
night first because IL seemed so spooky
10 see him whose remains she had so re
Gently buried on faith. waving recoeni-
lion In the debris. dashInc about now in
so rlatter-of fact a way
Ard then she wept because. after all.
he did not come.
This was the formal beginning of her
sense OF personal compan!onshjn in the
re-companionship. yes. of delight In
II. for there is even delight in tears
m some situations in life. Especially Is
this true OF one whose emotions are her
ONLY guides. as seems 10 have been the
case With the Widow Morris
Afier seeing him draw the window
sasbes-and ne had drawn them down.
ignoring her prese nce-sh. sat for hours
waiting for the rain IN stop. j, seemed
10 nave set in for long spell for when