Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1913-08-13
A Decade In
Transit
BY ALICE I. BuRoE

I
What a receptacle for miscellaneous
articles are books. When one closes a
book be or She most probably She
will take up almost anything 10 mark
the place Then. too. things that may
be well preserved find their way be-
tween the leaves of volumes. Flow
ers. photographs. old letters. bits Of
paper of all kinds. may be shaken out
| of books.
One day one Joseph Werner. q man
OF thirty. strolIed into library TO nose
about among the volumes on the
shelves He was scholarly fellow.
and the books he sought were such as
/ few persons cared for. Passing a
shelf marked History" he took down
| a copy of "Josephus." an eminent dew
ish historian. who wrote during the
first century of the Christian era.
| Turning over the leaves. he came upon
an unfinished letter written In a wo-
mans hand The words Dear Joe"
caught his eye. and since his name
| WAS Joe he was interested. CHANGING
at the date. he saw that ten years had
/ passed since the letter had been writ
ten.
| He pictured In his mind the history
| of the volume from the day the letter
| had been placed In It girl was writ
| ing to man Some one entered the
room whom she did not wish to see
| the letter "Josephus" was lying
| open on a table She placed the letter
In the book and closed IT. Either she
| had forgotten II or Ind been called
away and never saw IL again. The
volume with the letter In IL had found
| its way into the library. where II may
not have been opened up to the pres
| ent time.
While Werner was dreaming about
/ the letter be was looking at the chi,
| Biography. II reminded him OF writ
| Ing that he had seen long ago. II was
| all very vague, but there was some
thing inexpressibly tender connected
with II. He glanced down TO see who
was the writer. but since Il was nnfin-
ished there was no signature.
about the time the letter was written.
Perhaps It was an association with
the handwriting He was then enter
| ing upon his first and thus far bis
only. love. How delightful that grad
ual fusing OF two young hearts, Low
ing was ms natural as breathing Then
came the serious part. He was about
10 go away to tight on the worlds bat
tleieid for a liviug-a competence.
| fortune. He had spoken his love,
which was returned. hut the girl must
have time To- think about H. She was
farseeing and thought IL unwise to
engage herself to one who had not yet
even made a start She would let him
know before he went away. But he
did not hear from her,
| While thus reverting to the past his
eyes We're fixed on the letter. He read
without knowing that he-was reading.
| The writer evidently was giving TO a
lover an answer such as be bad hoped
to receive
| Leaving the volume on the shelf. he
took the letter to a window. where he
could get clearer view OF the hand
| writing. Ii looked more familiar than
before. Gradually a belief came 10
him that the letter had been written
TO him He remembered the date that
| he had left home. and that on the let
ter was the day before his going. As
he looked and continued 10 look the
old familiar hand came back to him.
There was no mistaking IL. The letter
had been written-not finished-to him.
But II had never been sent
Why? All! There was the mystery.
The letter went into werner's pocket
instead OF the volume In which 1t had
been inclosed. He knew where the
writer lived. though he had not seen
her since he parted with her decade
ago. he determined to go TO her for
an explanation
They stood face TO face. Each rec
| ognized the other He drew the let
ter from his pocket and handed II to
her She looked at IL In wonder. rec
ognizing 1t. but evidently being dazed
at holding 1t In her hands.
How did you come by thisr' she
asked
He related TO her the strange hap
pening by which he and the letter had
drifted TO the library and met there
Her memory seemed to be confused in
part. though as to writing the letter
II was clear.
~ wrote this she said. ''the day be-
fore you left us. Mother suspected
that something was between us and had
advised that we remain each free until
you were able to marry. Nevertheless
resolved to answer you In the affirm
alive. While ] was writing l heard
mother coming A book don't re-
member what book-iay open on the