The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-01
TIE EVENING STORY
A-Niaying.
IRv Mary Allen Deckel

ooh, that we two were Maying.'
The words came softly through the
open windows of the tiny cottage set
far back from the read.
"Oh;, that we two were Maying,"
followed the same words in maScu-
line tones and to the same music.
Russell Barr stopped suddenly at
the gate and listened. Yes, it was a
Caroline's. He felt wave of dis
appointment over his whole being.
So Caroline had so far forgotten as
to be able to sing with some one else
song they had sung together so hap
PLY.
He continued to listen. and the old
melody took him back five years and
maze his heart ache. Caroline had
told him she would wait for him even
if he did not return for years. With
her promise in mind he had sought. the
small village he had left for the dia-
mond mines of Africa Caroline still
lived in the cottage on Crescent road
with her mother; that much he learn
ed at the postoffice. Now he wished
he had not come. He could not bring
himself to enter the garden and rattle
the old brass knocker when he realiZ-
ed that Caroline could sing ooh, That
We Two Were Maying'' with another
man.
Retracing his steps he found the
little hotel and buried himself in a
ma gazine. When he retired he could
not sleep; he felt too bitterly the
disappointment of the evening. He
would leave in the morning and Caro-
oline would never know that he had
returned.
From his chamber windows he
watched a glorious spring sunrise,
for the village hotel was not sur
rounded by high buildings He
thought of the date-it was the
first of May. How often he and Car
oline had gone a-Maying! How often
they had filled baskets with the early
spring flowers to hang on the doors
of their young friends homes. He re-
membered even the tiniest details of
their Maying parties-the dew drops
on Caroline's pink cheeks when she
had buried her head in the sparkling
blossoms.
The spring was far advanced, and it
occurred to Russell that he might
before he shook the dust of this old
home village from his heels forever
go out to the woods and seek some
Mayday flowers. He could not sleep,
so why not revive a custom now be-
coming only a memory to him? 1t
seemed the irony of fate that he should
go alone, but it was better than this
lonely thinking in a hotel bedroom.
The fresh, sharp air of the first
morning of May sent thrills of new
life into him as he wound his way
along the village pathways to the
outskirts OF the toWn HIS step was
light, his head was held high and a
brilliant color began to radiate
through the bronze of his cheeks.
If it had not seemed too much like
boy, Russell Barr would have yelled
for joy when he spied the first tiny
anemone among the leaves. He bent
to pick it, and his eye caught sight of
many more. He found, too little c1us-
tiers of Sweet William and here and
there purple or a yellow violet. He
Z, L, L, Il, -
tight bouquet. He was not artistic and
he never could arrange flowers, but it
occurred to him that they used to
gather violet leaves to surround their
basket bouquets with. This he did,
and when he had a handful of flow
ers and leaves he stood quietly in the
lonely woods and looked about. The
birds twittered in the boughs above
his head and the sun made sparkling
jewels, of the dew on the leaves. Tt
His flowers gathered, he felt lost.
What could he do now? He had no
basket and if he had possessed one he
would hardly have dared to hang it on
the door of the girl he Ioved-now!
Slowly he found his way out of the
woods and, almost without knowing
it, he was returning to town by the
road that led past her cottage. AS
he drew near he thought more seri
ously of hanging the flowers on her
dOOrknOb. 1t would be silent fare
well and she might even guess who
did it. When the gate was in sight
he determined to leave the flowers for
Caroline. Impulsively, he took off his
hat and let the flowers tumble into
the crown. Then, treading as lightly
as he could, he ran along the path to
the steps and, laying the hat with it's
message of spring on the doorstep, he
Shook the knocker and ran, barehead-
ed, away.
Not for years had he felt so buoy
antly foolish. Here he waS-a man
nearly forty-running bareheaded
through the village street before z
o'clock in the morning. Fortunately,
uncovered heads were the fashion in
the village and he need not be con-
spicuous because of his loss of hat.
Caroline, in her little last snooze be-
fore rising, heard the knoclSer of the
front door Being curious, she slipped
on a kimona and went down stairs as
quietly as possible to peer through the
sitting room windows.
oh she exclaimed aloud when she
saw the blossoms peeking over the hat.
It's Mayday and 1 haven't had basket
for yearsi''
She slipped out to the porch and picked
up the odd offering. Curiosity, wonder
ment, then a fleeing shadow of memory
passed through her thoughts Why did
Mayday always make her think of Rus
sell Barr? She was fast leaving the spring
time of her own life-and all such senti-
mentS she had entertained for him
and yet his memory became So poignant
when spring came creeping over all the
world that she sometimes wondered II
he might not one fair day in May return
to her.
Caroline looked at the hat She took
out the flowers and looked within. "R.
B." were the initials in the leather band
1t vast must be he
She almost upstairs to dress If
he had been so close he would surely
come again Hurnnling softly, she found
a dainty morning dress and arranged her
hair with unusual care. She must look