The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-19
zHE EVENING STORY
The Last Rose.
(By Temple Bai1ey

(By Temple Bailey.
Miss Persis Monroe walked in he
garden.
) Winters coming, Peter" she saic
her.
Peter scurried down the path after
the rustling, romping leaves. He
rather liked the GOODNESS of the north
west wind. 1t made him feel young
again and frisky.
But the wind made Miss Persis
shiver. In summer, with her roses
about her, in her soft white dresses
with q rare lace scarf picked up by
her father on one OF his voyages
draped about her head, she felt young
and looked young. But in the winter
her growing poverty compelled her to
buy serviceabie gowns. SO she usually
| wore black. Only In summer could
she set off her beauty by daintiness,
and then the price was an expendi-
| ture of time and strength, for she did
| her own washing.
In the days of her girlhood Miss
| Persis had never roughened her hands
| by labor. A prosperous sea captain
| can keep his family in certain lux
| ury. But with the death of her IA
| ther and mother the last remnant of
| the family fortunes disappeared. At
| ter that Miss PersiS and an invalid sis
ter supplemented a most meager in
come by the summer sale OF roses.
The guests from the summer hotel
bought them. There was usually a
thriving trade-and even as she spoke
of the winters nearness Miss Persis
had a comfortable sense of the little
nest egg in the bank which would
keep them from cold and hunger.
'sBut it's very small, Peter said
Miss Persis, "and I don't dare to get
q new dress"
Miss Persis had dreamed of a new
dress She had never spoken OF her
ambition to her sister, for Lavinia
would have seen a certain unworthy
vanity in the desire for prettiness'
but Miss Persis craved gown Of sub
dued gray-her ambition had even
comprised touch of pink at the
throat.
"Yet. I'm only 40. Peter" said Miss
Persis as she bent down to smell the
last pink rose left in the garden. And
I haven't had a becoming gown in
winter since 7 was a girl 1 wish
could have just one
but as the thought Of it afterward
she wondered IL some goblin grand
mother had not waved her wand at
that moment to make her wish come
true.
But there was no evidence of magic
in the personality of the man who
spoke to Miss Persis from the other
side of the fence.
sell roses
Miss Persis looked up. An erect and
military looking gentleman was waiting
for her answer.
Earlier in the season." said Miss
Persis. I'VE had many roses, but now
that the winter is coming we have
only one-rm sorry"
AS she stood there, tall and grace
full. beside the bush with its one faint
pink blossom, the man outside felt
his heart singing. and the words form
ed themselves. thus:
"'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone
It should like to buy that one"
he said, there's a child i'll at the hotel.
I want to take her a flower
Then you shall not buy it," said |
Miss Persis eagerly. Let me give 1t
to you--for the child"
He felt that to insist would be to
hurt her. He took the flower from /
her, and as he thanked her, gazed |
face, with it's delicate flush against |
q clear whiteness of skin that show
ed no wrinkle.
I'm the winter what do you do"
he asked, without your garden?"
at dread winter said Miss Persis,
~ feel shut inNbut I plant flowers
in the window boxes. and by Christ
mas. have hyacinths, and after that |
violets. and they keep me busy"
And y-S1 sell your fiowers?"
There isn't much sale for then,"
said Miss Persis. The guests are
gone from the hotel. But 1 have the
pleasure of giving them to the village
people. To the girls when they grad
uate and the brides when they marry,
and to the sick, and now and then
to the dead
He was a man of the world, but
something in the soft voice thrilled
nin Women did not talk that way
IN the city, but they had talked that
way in his dreams.
.sCould you''-he spoke with hesita-
-ion-"have some hyacinths ready for
Christmas? I should like to buy them
Her radiant glance repaid him Real
y?'' she asked.
Yes He wondered If he should
nave to wait so long to see her again.
He felt that he would not be per-
nitted to pass certain bounds
That night he asked questions at
he hotel The next morning he pre-
L have found that my father knew
7our father" he said. Their vessels
sailed from the same harbor. 1 won
Ter If I may come in and talk about
t a little
There were treasures in the old house
of which Miss Persis cid not know the
value and had she known it she would
not have sold the fan which her father {
lad brought from China, the little (
II in Japan, the wonderful vases and
worries on which her new friends eyes
,ested with appreciation. My name Is
he said, as he was present.
ID to Miss Lavinia. i've been a rover -.
myself, in the navy. I never married.
because didn't want my wife to live
lone, and because never met a wom-
III I cared about" =
Something famed up in Miss Persis' !
leart as he gave this little history of | :