The Washington herald., 1914-03-19
THE SILVER
LOVING CUP

Dr. Harvey, the celebrated physician,
knelt beside the bed on which his child
groaned and tossed in the agony OF
3csth. All The learning that had made
Nifa is nous had crumplcd like a pricked
tay a.lIoon. HIS science seemed SO
asIsFY aow. a mocking mirage that fails
- tSe aour cf greatest need.
N --child-you must live!" he
gTt.S orokenly, no longer the great
scientist. but the father who begs and
pleads and sobs. Cant you see you
7nsJsl--y on are all l have now! Oh God.'
But the pleadings of the primitive in
eim we're as futile as the artifices Of the
ssisnitsE had been. The great change
Fyss C ming, the unrelenting thing that
10 maj has conquered. After hours
Of heart-bruising grief he staggered to
his feet, and his eyes fell on the silver
loving cup Once il had symbolized the
attainment of eagle-winged hopes and
ambitions. 1t had been given him by
a learned society in recognition OF his
services to science. He had treasured
it as the tangible evidence OF a great
victory of mind. Now-he laughed hys-
teTically-it seemed such brazen
mockery. such a paltry bribe! Nora
had taken a strange liking to It; il had
been a child's whim. During her Illness
she had insisted on having 1t with her
always. fondling its mirror-like bright
ness and staring for long hours at ii with
fascinating eyes. Tonight, while alone
in her room. she had missed her toy.
and giimpsing il on the mantelpiece above
the fireplace, had climbed the chair to
reach it A few papers had fallen into
the fire. the nurse in an adjoining room
had heard a shrek and she had snatched
The child from the ravenous flames. Then
DIR. Harvey had returned from the ball
only to hear the child's groans and pitt
full means trail of into the great silence.
Loneliness, utter loneliness, crept over
him as he watched beside the little body.
Life, paltry Jest that it was, had nothing
more to give now. He had neglected his
work in order to give his wife the social
diversions she craved, and as a result
the hospital board had demanded his
resignation And his wife was all but
dead to him. Only that night she had
walked from the ballroom on the arm
Of Lister-the scoundrel. And now Nora.
the only bright gleam in his life, the
only inspiration that remained, had been
taken from him:
He rose and paced the floor with great
strides. as if to outdistance the sense Of
utter loss and despair that pursued him.
He was too young, too full of red. eager
blood to accept grief stoically. And as
he walked he SlImpsed a little white OBJ
ject on the table. 1t was a note in his
numbed fingers and read it several times
before its meaning came to him.
Dear Jim: After our quarrel at the
hall tonight ii would be folly for US to
attempt to keep up pretenses any longer.
You refuse to understand. You miscon-
strue my motives. thinking tLat l am bad
and firtatiOus merely because l crave
amusements: because l can't become a
slave to home affairs and silly conven-
tions. / am going-I don't know, where.
You will think ! am going with Lister.
which is only further proof Of the fact
that you never have understood me.
Good-by. ESTELLA"
Harvey crumpled the Unconditional note.
surprised that Il did not intensity his
grief. The death of his child had given
him a shock that had dulled feeling. He
would go away. bury himself in the by
ways OF the city, and try TO forget. That
would be less cowardly, less despicable.
than the other thing.
As he packed he remembered the sill
Yer loving cup. 1t had brought him the
greatest grief of his life. but it had also
been the emblem of his hopes, his am
b.tions. his dreams. Nora had loved it
with child's instructive veneration of
things greater than its understanding.
With the cup clasped in her hands she
had gone to sleep in his arms while
waiting for her mother to return from
The theater with Lister. He remembered
that night of triumph and eXultation
when the scientific society had pre-
scented it to him as a token of its cs-
teen. He had regarded it as a beacon
that was to lead him to higher and
greater things. Perhaps, in his life among
the poor in the city's slums, it would