Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-09-28
its way out Of the smoky station sheds
o& har rnatixa middlo uasf cifv El1.

of her native middle west city. Eli
nor sank into her seat with unspeak.
able relief. She thought of the many
versions Of what the clicking car
wheels had seemed to say to people,
but to. her they seemed to say: IT'S
good to be living and good to be go
ing!" Each time she repeated this to
herself she felt farther away from the
past and nearer TO new life.
Her four years of married life had
been free from friction but respect had
been the strongest feeling she had fek
for her husband. She shivered as she
recalled that she had married steady
Justin Moore, who was twenty years
her senior, because it seemed the only
solution Of all the difficulties which
piled themselves before her when her
mothers Illness was pronounced IN
durable. Moreover, the frequent change
OF scene and the constant attention re-
quired would have been out Of the ques-
ton had Elinor herself tried to provide
for the mother. Justin Moore had long
begged for the privilege of being Eli
nor's husband and brother and father
all in one, and although she told him
frankly that she did not love him as
she felt she ought, she allowed him to
claim her, and as she cuddled into the
unyielding car seat she was grateful
that nothing In her conduct toward him
could have let him know that each day
of their married life was a day of bon
dage to her. ~
tons of itself for the million moods
and circumstances In which people en-
ter into it's life, but to Elinor 1t was
a haven after storm = haven from
which she would later sail out into a
new sea of life. She rode in the rub
berneck wagons, went to the museums
and libraries, to Union Square and
Cooper Union, and hundred other
places Of varied interest, and SO much
had she heard of these places that it
seemed like meeting old friends to see
them. AS for her friends at home, they
had only short notes from her telling
where she had gone.
On springlfke day In late Febru-
ary, Elinor went out in a charming new
soft black gown, which had lured her
into fashionable shop, from which
she had not escaped until she had Sc
cured neckwear and millinery and foot
wear, and dozens OF other things which
complete woman's toilet and her
peace of mind She was giving her
new finery its initial wearing for mat
inee that afternoon, having taken spe-
cial pains to find a theater where she
could see a good old fashioned play
with a happy ever afterward ending.
Between the third and fourth acts
the orchestra began soft rendition OF
IMendelssohns Spring Song" and as
the almost human voice of the cello.
and the golden notes of the harp gave
out their message Elinor's thoughts
flashed back to the springtime day,
five years before. when she and Barry
Elliott had stood together on the pier
at Old Point Comfort watching the
ships pass In and out Of the harbor.
that day when she had stood on the
steamer and babe goodby to Barry,
thus bringing to an end their acquain-
lance of month while visiting at the
Virginia plantation Of Barry's cousin
Alice, Elinors school friend, who had
married shortly afterward and gone to
India with her engineer husband.
All the long hard years that had in
tervened seemed but a troubled dream
to Elinor. AS the music breathed and
tink]ed, her tired body and hungry
heart revived, and she felt again the
magic of the love she had thought dead
during all those five hard years. AS
the fianl curtain rose to show the hero
and heroine united after having bridg-
ed the chasm which kept them apart
during the early part Of the play, Eli
nor felt curious personal sense Of
having bridged the empty chasm in her
own life and heart
She remembered having heard,
shortly after her marriage of Barry's
engagement to a beautiful Southern
girl, but that did not spoil her memory
of that one perfect evening with him
He was then a penniless, embryo law
yer, just out OF college, and he felt
that he must attain some sort of pro-
fessional standing before offering him
self to Elinor, but each had understood
that underneath their formal goodby
was heart cry that even the long
hand clasp could not fully express or
suppress. She hoped he had been hap
py, was happy now.
AS she went from the theater the
languor Of the springlike air paled the
brilliant flush on her cheeks and
brought into her blue eyes Wistful-
ness suggestive Of the heart within
that hungered for it's own. She stopped
to look at window display of BIOS