The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-07-24

With AWAKENED EYES
-s%o-
BY SYLVIA ST. JOHN.

There was once a boy who took a
dreamy-eyed, pure-souled girl for his
wife. The vision of death, cold and
naked, eternal. terrible and never
to-be-ended, had cast a sudden pail
over his world, and his soul, smitten
! with the emptiness of its delights,
reached out for something real-some-
thing that would endure. He found
the girl. She had waited for her
: lover-the strong man Of her dreams
all her life. True, 1t was but lit
, tie tale of childish years at best, and
when the boy-the boy with the
soiled soul and the sin-smeared life
,, told her of his love land, indeed,
he thought that he loved her), she
, questioned not, but gave herself to
him, gladly and freely.
, For little while all was well. The
boy kept the memory Of the shroud
the marble brow, the pulseless breast,
the nameless terror of the hereafter;
! and the girl wife, SO calmly unafraid,
{ was love and life to him.
But slowly the vision faded. The
, din Of the world broke in upon him
/ the noise of the tumult that he loved.
Clamorous voices called to him, and
would not be denied. The girl wife,
! with her artless love, her transparent
! sincerity, her dreams and her absurd
ideals, became hateful to him. He
/ called her hypocrite, but he knew In
J his soul that he lied.
! OF all this, he told her nothing, and
! she, sweet soul, being q dreamer,
! dreamed on She dreamed that his
love for her, like her love for him,
was rooted in intinity, and had Meth
er beginning nor end. However,
3 changed he was, and oh, he was
& changed However her heart might
! grieve over him-and oh, the grief
I was bitter.-one thing she never
I Questioned-his unchanging love.
/ 1t was hard for the boy, these years,
J, harder than for her. He had to endure
! her love, when every fiber of his be-
: ing loathed her. The chain that bound
/ him to her dragged heavily
+ He wondered sometimes that he did
( not break it, once for all. But he
! could not: there was human goodness
( In him still, something OF the primal
! man--man before the fall. Children
l, were in the home, and each one was
: mighty link, forged by nature, to
4 hold him In the toils-he loved and
= hated them. The wife. too-the girl OF
K dreams-he loathed her, yes--yet
9 there was the jealousy Of possession
4 she was his-his to protect and care
y for though despised Still the CIR
!, dreamed on, and sickened him with
Q her kisses
But the day of awakening was al
Misunderstanding for both. He, too
= was a dreamer, though his dreams
i, were evil dreams,
7 She was brushing his coat one day
i, careesing 1t as If ii were living thing
Z and singing softly to herself, when
i, paper dropped from one OF the pock
e eta. She took It up--it was an en-
j velope, addressed in his handwritin,
e to one whom she knew well
4 A sudden pang smote her through
/ the heart She opened the letter
4 there were fresh yiolets in it-ant
! read-only word or two, but enough
+ All, God The girl who had kept he
Z girl heart and her dreams throuo!
g the long years, would never dream
J. again. She was woman, now, Wit
T a voman's knowledge, and her inhnit
: capacity for suffering.
z How long she sat there, consciou
j only of a mortal wound. dull throt
Z hing in her ears blindness in he
i eves-she knew not A careless whis
E lie aroused her The boy had com
i hack for the forgotten letter Their
Z sat his Wife, and the letter had falle
= at her feet. She stopped and handle
Z Il 10 him: and as she lifted her eye
z 10 his. he saw that there were n
I dreams In them, but only memories
g you have read It" he said mechaI
4 ically, not as question.
d Yes"
{ ut is all over then" he said. Their
j was an accent of despair In the wore
Z He had lost her and with instar
j realization he knew that in earth an
T heaven there was nothing so dear
> him. Her simplicity, her sincerity he
" sweet unworldliness were jewel
3 worth the ransom Of a soul now, I
2 The fool who had despised them BI
!, II WAS too late. There was a fr
e smoldering on the hearth. He rake
/, the Goals together and threw the lie
{ Ter in the midst, violets and all, Watcl
= tho With a fierce delight as 1t shri'
: eled into ashes.
7 At last he turned and fixed his ga2
Z from the hearth He moved toWar
I her and took up his hat, holding 1t
: his hand as a chance caller might, b
+ ,ora he went away. Yet he delaye
! "a seconds ran into minutes. He couI
T not 20 until she knew, though II wa
! too late now But his tongue faile
Z bim-the ready tongue, so glib al lie