Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-02-02
the Thought of her

Have you ever climbed a mountain
early in the morning while 1t was yet
dark and having gained some domi-
nant crest stood staring at the far
horizon, the empurpled east, while the
dawn came up like thunder" Or
better still, have you ever stood with
in the cold, dark recesses of some
deep valley of river or pass and
watched the clear light spread it's
bars athwart the heavens like nebu-
lous mighty pinions along the light
touched crest of towering range, I'M
til all of sudden. with a leap almost
of joy, the great sun blazed in the
high horizon?
You might be born child of the
dark, and light might scar and burn
your eye balls accustomed to cooler
deeper shades, yet you could no more
turn away from this glory, though you
might hate it, than by mere effort Of
will you could cease to breathe the
air. The shock that you might feel,
the sudden surprise, is only family sug-
gestive of the emotions in the breast
of this man.
derest of voices called from the dark
to the light, the blind. And it is given
to modern science and to modern skill
sometimes to emulate that godlike
achievement Perhaps the surprise,
the amaZement, the bewilderment, Of
him who having been blind doth now
see, II we can imagine 1t not having
been in the case ourselves, will be bet
ter guide to the understanding of this
mans emotion when this woman came
suddenly into his lonely orbit. His
eyes were opened although he would
not know 1t. He fought down his new
consciousness and would have none of
it. Yet 1t was there He loved her!
With what Joy did Selkirk welcome
the savage sharer of his solitude! Sup
pose she had been a woman Of his own
race; had she been old, withered, hid
eous, he must have loved her on the
instant, much more if she were young
and beautiful. The thing was inev.
liable. Such passions are born. God
forbid that we should deny it. In the
! busy haunts of men where women are
as plenty as blackberries, to use Fal
STATS smile, and where a man may
sometimes choose between a hundred
or thousand, such loves are born, for
ever
A voice in the night, face IN the
| street, a whispered word, the touch
! of hand, the answering throb Of an
other heart-and behold! two walk to
gether where before each walked
alone. Sometimes the man or the won
an who is born again Of love knows 4
not, refuses to admit it, refuses Il
recognize it. Some birth pain mus
awaken the consciousness of the new
life
If those things are true and posi-
BILE under every day conditions an,
to ordinary men and women, hoy
much more to this solitary He ha,
seen this woman, white breasted lik
the foam, rising as the ancient god
dress from the Paphian sea. Over tina
recollection, as he was a gentlema
and Christian, he would fain draw
curtain, before it erect a wall. H
must not dwell upon that fact, b
would not linger over that momen
Yet he could not forget it.
Then he had seen her lying prone
yet unconsciously graceful in her abaI
donment, on the sward; he had caugt
, a glimpse of her white face desperat,
ly uptossed by the rolling water; b
had looked into the unfathomabl
depth of her eyes at that mome1
when she had awakened in his arm
! after such struggle as had taxed b
, manhood and almost broken his hear
he had carried her unconsciousl
CHASTITY white with her pain-draw
face, stumbling desperately over Il
, rocks in the beating rain to this, b
home. There he had held that poo
. bruised slender little foot in his han
. gently, skilfully treating it, when l
: longed to press his lips passionate
upon it. Last Of all he had locke
: into her face, warmed with the n
! light of the fire, searched her wea
4 eyes almost like blue pools, in who
9 depths there yet lurked life and ligf
while her golden hair tinged cril
son by the blaze lay on the white p
1 low-and he loved her. God pity hi
fighting against fact and admission
, it, yet how could he help it?
q He had loved once before in his Ill
! with the fire of youth and spring, b
A it was not like this. He did not re
!. ognize this new passion in any Zig
g from tie past; therefore he would n
L admit it. Hence, he did not undt
d stand it. But he saw and admit
O and understood enough to know tn
the past was no longer the SUPPER
a subject in his life. that the prese
a rose higher, bulked larger and h
y more and more of his far-off horizon.
He felt like a knave and traitC
81 as If he had been base. disloyal, fal
- to his ideal, recreant to his reme1
a brance. Was he indeed true maj
a Did he have that rugged strength, tn
q abiding faith, that eternal consciol
. ness that lasting affection besi