Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-10-29

Wc8fy e4meuc6b Oh Tue races sue KNOW
90 well. the pft-told tales OF placer
where nothing happens. got upon her
nerves until she felt that she must
either commit suicide or end life In 4
madhouse. Then. summoning her
courage. she went to her husband and
told him Of her longings, her despair,
1T Isn't that I don't lore you,- she
said. hurrying Y the words that
she knew wounded him like stones
thrown by q cruel hand. but there 10
something that tells me that I must
60 away to the life that Is calling me.
or I will die. rou-you have seen the
world. you have your workout I'll
have never been beyond these hills
that smother ms. I have nothing to
notwithstanding but the days that
are all alike. Let me 60" she walled,
let me go only for three years, It
/ isn't much out OF q lifetime. and I
VIII come back and be your slave the
balance Of my life"
For reply Jim Benton took the
slender little figure in his arms ana
pressed It tight against his breast SO
that she might not see his face, but
she could feel the beating Of his heart,
and once It seemed to her It almost
stopped. At last. however. he found
his voice.
Poor little girl" he said, poor ut
tie song bird that was given wings to
fy and that I have Gagged" and then
he let her 90 from him to the life she
craved--freely, and ungrudgingiy, and
made the way easy for her feet, for
the big silent man. keeping his faith
full watch over the trust confided to
him, had powerful friends in the great
city. who put his wife in the way Of
realizing her ambition.
From the first she was n of those
destined to success Her glorious
beauty and her superb voice attracted,
attention at once. and added to this
was q strange. Elusive, intoxicating
vitality-a sense OF the joy Of living
that was almost madness-that swept
her audiences into her mood, and
caught and carried them along with
her In an irresistible Juror. Up and
up she wen by leaps and bounds In
her profession Of The Queen Of the
Cannibal Isles" She had, as the Angel
had said to the manager. her little
world at her feet.
It a at this food tide of her sue
cess that she had turned her face
homeward. The three years that she
had asked for had expired. and not
once in all that time had she e her
husband. Not nee had he asked her
to come back to him. or repined at the
loneliness Of his lot. Now she was
going to the mines once more, and as
the train bore her on and on to her
destination. she strove in vain to
pierce the veil that hid the future.
Could she go back to the lonely mo-
notony OF that life? Was n mans
devotion worth the adulation Of q
thousand?
She had not answered the question
when she arrived at the lonely sta
ton OF the lonely little mining town.
She had not written Jim that she was
coming. and she made her way alone
to the little cottage where he lived,
and pushed the door softly open. The
rooms we're vacant, and she wandered
from one to the other until she came
tc the one where her husband lived.
There was his big desk. with his pa
pers and his little piles of ore to be
tested-orderly. b~usiness-like al she
remembered them, but over in one
corner, hanging against q nail was
something pink She went over and
touched it. It was a little pink linen
gown that she used to wear before she
went away. and that Jim had liked to
see her in. In a flash Of intuition 1t
came to her all that 1t meant--the
lonely man, deserted, heart hungry.
who had faithfully kept the little cast
OF love. as the only thing he had left
Of the wife he had lost The pathos
Of It cut her like a knife. She dropped
down on her knees and buried her
face in the folds of the dress. and
when she got up her eyes were bright
with indescribable tenderness, and she
knew that this had answered her ques-
ton.
A minute more and she had slipped
Of the Paris gown she wore, and put
on the old pink frock. and then she
heard Jim's step along the hall, and
she turned to greet him
Lorraine" he cried, and staggered
against the wall as IL he had seen a
ghost. but her strong young Arms were
about him. and her dear head ON his
breast
"Jim-Jfm," she sobbed, I've come
home a" last. I know now that there
is something better than fame and
glitter, and tinsel. and that the love
that can just be faithful is worth all
the applause OF all the audience on
earth, but" and she looked up fear
lessiy in his eyes-"I am not sorry
that I went. I had to try my wings.
but they have brought me safely back
to the home nest"
Il hear" said the Angel to the man
ager that down at that little mining
town in Alabama the most glorious
co~ntralto voice in my memory IL be-
ing used to hush Q baby to sleep"
II told you she was a woman re-
Piled the manager.
tcopyrtsbt 1914, by Daily sfory Pub co.)