Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1911-05-05
THE MESSAGE WITHHELD.

tied upon them. Gladly they took up
the duties, the joys and the hopes oi
married life, and for time they were
very happy. But after awhile the man,
picking up bright pebbles on the shore
of the lake of paradise, became in
tensely interested in his hunt. From
early morning until late at night the
man secured the shelving sands for
comedians and brilliants and diamonds
and rubies. AS time sped his pastime
became a passion and not only his
waking hours but his dreams were fill
ed with this mad desire to hoard pretty
stones.
His wife, sorrowfM, noted his pred
Election for garnering heaps of treas
ure. Day by day she saw his heart
60 out from her to the things he sought,
At times she almost cried out in the
agony of her yearning for single
word from him-a little word of SYM
pathy and love.
This went on month after month,
year after year, until the strain upon
the woman had stolen the freshness
from her cheeks and the luster from
her eye, until she was mere echo OF
the beautiful creature he had won In
Agapemone. To the woman's horror
the man seemed sometimes to realiZe
that her beauty had fled. but still he
did not seem to understand that her
very soul cried out for single word
of love, little embrace Of affection.
One day the man came home from
his hunt, his pockets bulging with the
pebbles Of the lake shore, his mind full
of avarice, to find the woman stricken
with q disease that left her speechless.
Her limbs were paralyzed, her face as
white as the linen of the bed on to
which she had fallen.
AS though awakened from great
stupor the man attempted to restore
her, but his efforts, though half fran
tic, were futile, and from her lips
could come no sound to direct or as
sure him that what he did helped to
alleviate her suffering.
Only her eyes spoke to him, appeal
ing with strange language he could
not fathom. His heart was wrung by
the appeal in the orbs that once were
as beautiful as the depths Of the foun-
tain, an appeal he could not sense.
And with this look of hunger, with
this steadfast gaze upon him, she died
The man hardly realized his loss Mt
first. Out under q beautiful scarlet
maple he dug a grave and heaped a
mound above the mortal remnant Of
the once beautiful and graceful wo-
man who had been so much to him In
the golden honeymoon days.
And then the great lonely, loveless
life swooped down upon him. making
him helpless, nerveless. broken. Every
thing he touched reminded him of her
Everywhere he went he saw some
thing to speak to his heart Of her low
ing care and solicitude. At last in
utter woe he threw himself upon the
cold soil of the mound and cried OUT
"Oh, Mary, Mary, how ! miss you!
How loved you!"
Daybreak found him by her grave
repeating his love, and in the moon
| light he sat beside her grave and re-
| peated his assurances of undying af-
| fection, but from the grave came no
answer. The pile Of pebbles Knocked
him; the waves and the wind and the
| sunbeams scoffed at him. Broken and
| spent. he wasted away until merci-
| full God took him home.
In the light Of heavenly understand
ing let us hope that the man learned
his lesson and that in the union above
her heart no longer hungered unto
death for little word of love.
.---.