The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1911-11-23
CHAPTER Xxx.
Saltwater Fountain Girl.
His next sensation was that warn


than any gift his millions could have
bought her. I've spent it for the
girl love-" The stream pervaded him
caressed him, folded his limbs about
became an enchanted sea on which he
foated, and its color changed from
crimson to coral pale, and then to
white, and became a cold, cold polar
sea-and he lay on it like a frozen
man, whose exploration had been in
vain, and above him Greenland's icy
mountains rose like emerald, on every
side.
That is it-"Green'ard's icy noun
tains." How she sang it-down-
down. Her voice fell on him like
magic balm. He was a little boy in
church, sitting small and shy in the
pew The tune was deep and low
and heavenly sweet. What pretty
mouth the soda-fountain girl had-like
coral; and her eyes like gray seas.
The flies buzzed, they droned so loud
ly that he couldn't hear her All, that
was terrible-he couldn't hear her.
Mono, it wouldn't do. He must
hear the hymn out before he died.
uzz-drone-drone Way down
he almost heard the soft note. 1t was
ecstasy. Sky-high up-too faint All,
Saltwater Fountain Girl-sing-sing
with all your heart SO that it may
reach his ears and charm him to those
strands toward which he floats.
The expression of anguish on the
young fellows face was so heart.
breaking that the doctor, his ear at
Dams lips, tried to learn what thing
his poor, fading mind longed for
From the beds foot, where he stood,
Dams chauffeur came to the gentle
mans side, and nodded:
Right, sir, right, sir-I'll fetch Miss
Lane-I'll ave 'er ere, sir-keep up,
Mr.. Blair
He was going barefoot, boy still
following the pillow through the noun
tain fields. Miles and miles stretched
away before him of dark, loamy land.
He saw the pillow tear up the waving
burrows, tossing the earth in sprink-
ling lines. He heard the shrill note
of the phoebe bird, and looking heav
onward saw it darting into the pale
sky.
"What dandy shot!" he thought.
What bully shot!"
Prince Poniotowsky had made
good shot.
All, there was the smell of the hay
fields-no-violets that sweetly laid
their petals on his lips and face. He
was back again in church, lying prone
before an altar. If she would only
sing, he would rise again-that he
knew-and her coral shoes would not
dance over his grave.
He opened his eyes wide and looked
into Lefty Lanes. She bent over him,
crying.
Sing" he whispered.
She didn't understand.
"Sodawater Fountain Girl-if you
only knew how the flies
buzzed, and how the drnning was
living pain. !. -
She said to Ruggles: HE wants
something so heartbreakingly-w
can We do?" She saw his hands stir
rhythmically on the counterpane-he
didn't look to her more than ten years
old. What cruel thing-he
was boy just of age-a boy
Ruggles remembered the nights he
had spent before the footlights of the
Gaiety, and that the pale woman trem-
bling there weeping was great sing
err.
81 guess he wants to hear you sing"
She kneeled down by him; she
trembled so she couldn't stand.
The others, the doctor and Ruggles,
the walters and porters gathered in
the hall, heard No one of them un-
derstood the Gaiety girls English
words.
From Greenlands icy mountains,
From India's coral strands -
They were merciful and let him
listen in peace. Through the blur in
his brain, over the beat of his young
ardent heart, above the short breaths
the notes reached his failing senses,
and lifted INHIBITED him. There
wasn't a very long distance between
his boyhood and his twenty-five years
to go, and he was not so weak but
that he could travel SO far
He sat there by his father again
, and heard. The flies buzzed, and
he didn't mind them. The smell of the
fields came in through the windows
and the Saltwater Fountain Girl sang
and sang; and as she sang her face
grew holy to his eyes-radiant with
beauty he had not dreamed wom-
ans face could wear. Above the choir
rail she stood and sang peerlessly,
and the church began to fade and
fade, and still she stood there in
shaft Of light, and her face was like
an angels, and she held her arms out
to him as the waters rose to his lips.
She bent and lifted INHIBITED him