The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-04-12
THE SUNBURST
BY EDWARD LEIGH PEIr.
A Story For Easter.

BY EDWARD LEIGH PELLA
] said to Jack Donaldson when ne
WAS leaving for Nevada that II he ever
got his mind Strengthened QUITO stay
IL wanted him to wire me.
Don't wait to WRITE" insisted:
send me a wire, old boy. and send 1t
collect
| Jack smiled and promised.
l never saw anybody just like Jack.
He could never get his mind settled
about anything. / suppose 1t was
partly because he was always so
anxious TO get 1T settled right He had
a horror of being different and he
would have given anything to think
and believe like other people.
But somehow he just couldn't The
more he tried to be a Hebrew of
Hebrews the more he talked like a
Philistine of Philistines. He remind
ed me OF poor Joe Tomplsins, whose
highest ambition from the time he
learned to walk was to be six feet tall
and who turned out a hunchback.
| Jack was good fellow and he
served God with an honest heart: but
III you had heard him think out loud
about God you would have half ex-
pected to be struck dead by lightning
for listening to him. And as for
Christ
Don't talk to me-" ne would gay,
about God coming down here and be
Ing born a man: YOU might as well
imagine a man going down into that
ant hill at my foot and being born an
ant"
And he wouldn't say II with the
swagger of a little infidel either. He
wanted you to understand that he
was neither a hereto nor a crank.
Try as l might never could
stralghten Jack out; and so, as l have
sid, when he was leaving for the
West / told him that If anything
tornado, or the Indians or a prairie
fire or anything else with emphatic
ways-eyer did succeed In straignten-
ing him out to send me a wire. and
to send 1t collect.
That was three years ago this
month. Last fall Jack came back for
a short visit The poor fellow was all
broken up. He had lost his son--his
first born-two years before, and he
had never gotten over It.
1t was a remarkable case. Jack and
his boy had been chums ever since
Jacky Junior put on knickerbockers
One was never seen on the street
without the other. and everybody call
ed the boy his fathers shadow. But
when the end came people found out
that he was not his fathers shadow;
+, he was his very substance.
Jack went right up to the gate With
his boy, and there he stayed. He was
sick for year. For twelve long
months he Just lay around outside
the gate waiting for Jacky Junior to
come down and lead him in But the
boy never came. and finally Jack had
to come back to the world without
him. But only the shadow seemed to
come back: the substance was gone.
He frightened up a bit while he
was with us. but when he started back
he looked as II he had turned straight
toward the dark valley again.
One night--it was about n month
aEo--I got telegram from him.
There we're just three words in ii:
Settled at last I puzzled my brain
over the thing fully ten minutes
wondering what II meant. when l sud
denly remembered. 1t was the wire
II had asked for nearly three years be-
fore. But It was not sent collect
And the other day Jack came back
again. / never saw such change in
man. He was as happy as lark.
The next Sunday afternoon l got
hold OF him and We went for long
walk in the country We sat down
to rest under an old oak tree on the
roadside. and Jack dropped into a
reverie 1t was a beautiful day, and
the sunshine was as mellow as an APP
pie and the sky was as blue as my
babv's eyes Presently I said;
Jack. That telegram, old boy?
Wake up and tell me all about 1t"
We'll, now really" said Jack apoio-
getically. sit was such a little thing
vou'n think ! was a fool; but--any-
way, TIL tell you
He looked up at the blue sky mo-
ment and then began:
1T was just such an afternoon as
this and just such a place. had
walked out into the country alone, as
I had done every Sunday afternoon
since Jacky went away. L liked to go
because | could see his face better IN
the clear blue sky and ] could hear
his voice as we walked along the quiet
road together.
He paused for another glance at
the sky. and went on:
Ever since he went away / haze
been talking to him. and sometimes
in those quiet walks l could almost
feel his breath fan my cheek. Three
or four miles out from town ! sat
down on the roadside TO rest AS l
have said It was Just such place as
this. There was a fine old oak ana
a tiny bit of inviting grass beneath It.
AS | sat there l noticed little process
sion of ants leading from an ant mn
at my feet and winding around Dig
rock a few feet away.
II have always been interested In
ants, and I couldn't be satisfied until
Il got up and followed the procession
to its destination. A huge dead pug
Law behind the rock and little army
of workmen were engaged In taking
ii to pieces just as you would pull
down house If you were moving 1t
q great distance. Then / came back
and sat down and watched them
bringing the pieces home.
do you known ants? They are
wonderful And so human. Some
times when ! am watching them they
act so much like folks that they make
me feel positively creepy My little
girl, who watches them by the hour,
insists that they do everything that
folks do, even to publishing news