The Press., 1915-12-29

TWICE
GIVEN
Story of a Repeated
Christmas Present
Ry F. A. mitchell
I.-AER STORY.
By F. A. mitchell

twenty-one and l eighteen-and lived
ON adjoining places In or rather near
the beautiful village of Glendale. That
was before people had become com
mercialixed. before those who were In.
tellectual We're divided into groups. as
they are now. the scientists forming
one group. the musicians another, the
literary people another. Then refined
persons took some interest In all these
branches,
True, individuals had their favorates-
Philip and were devoted to poetry.
Philip had naturally refined taste
for poetry and did much to form my
taste. He loved the pure and simple
poets, like Wordsworth AMI Burns,
Tennyson was IN his prime at that
time. At Christmas time Phil had Civ
en- me blue ana gold bound edition
of his works with steel engraved
frontispiece portrait of the author AS u
young man, and he was very hand
some. His "Locksley Hail. was then
favorite, and every one with any
poetic taste ut all was reading 1t.
Philip and l used to read together,
and since 1 owned a copy Of Tennyson
and there were In it some gems on
which Philip and l agreed the book
was at the time u part of our intel
lectual lives. My little blue and gold
edition-blue cover and gilt edge-was
very pretty, but l fancy now it was
the association that gave it its beauty
for me. And Is it not often the asso-
citation that makes certain bits Of lit
erature especially dear to us?
There was one poem that Philip and
| considered the gem of the whole
book, and l have since seen it men-
toned by litterateurs as one of the
most effective poems ever written.
This is the first stanza:
Tears, idle tears
know not what they mean.
Tears from the depth
OF some divine despair
Rise in the heart
And gather in the eyes
In looking on the
Happy autumn fields,
And thinking on the days
That are no more.
One morning l was in the conserva-
tory gathering some flowers to deco
rate the living room mantel. Philip
came in without ringing, as was his
custom. Up to that moment 1t had
not occurred to me that this period Of
happy youth would ever end. Indeed,
had not realized how delightful 1t
was. Phil brought me news that 1t
had passed forever. He had been Of
fered a position in a western city and
was to take his departure Immediately.
How l strove to avoid showing the
shock the announcement gave me! 1t
seemed that could feel the blood ieav-
ing my cheeks. Tears, SO beautifully
described in the poem l have quoted,
rose In my heart and gathered in my
eyes" But lest Philip should see them
turned away from him.
There were but a few minutes for
the parting. We had not been lovers
at least If we were we had not known
it, Phil put out his hand to plant
beside him, plucked u rose that had
just passed from bud to bloom and
handed it to me. He said no word, but
I knew that he meant it to be express
sive of his regard for me. My hand
was pressed by his, and he was gone,
back to the house whence he had come,
and reappearing with his belongings he
entered a carriage standing at the gate
and rode away.
| can see him now, though half a
century has elapsed. waving his hand
to me as he passed out of sight.
The dearest thing in the world next
to Phil was now the rose he had given
me. l kept it for a short time In wa
ter, then put it into my TennysOn, pin,
ming the stem to a fiyleaf on which my
name appeared as the owner Of the
book and Pills as the giver on Christ
mas day. with the date. Under 1t l
wrote the number of a page In the
book. On that page was the poem that
Phil and | had agreed was our first
favorite beginning Tears, idle tears -
These words | underscOred.
All this may seem very lackadaisical
to those who are engaged in the hum
drum of life. but to me, even though /
am an old woman with snow white
hair, it is the tenderest memory of my
long life. l sometimes wonder if the
present generation. now that the per-
vading sentiment of that period, or at
least the almost universal love for a
beautiful poem. has died away. feel as
deeply as we did then. The human
heart is the same. but has not the COM
mercial spirit of the age blunted hu-
man sensibilities?
Though Philip and l were far from
was in my heart and as much to me
absent as present. 1t never occurred
to me that I could love any one else
and never did. Others came an6
went Some honored me with the SUI
preme compliment a man may pay a
woman. but found no response in me.
Indeed. I wondered what had led them
to suppose would respond.
Fathers death made a great change
for US. his income depending upon
what he did instead of what he had.
When we left our home to others who
could afford to enjoy it l was i'll and
unable to take away with me such
articles as 1 especially wished to keep
That which l priced most-my Tenny-
son-mother and the others knew least
about, and for what l priced it told
no one. After my recovery I looked
for it among the few books that had
been brought away, but did not find
it. l never had an opportunity to re-
cover it.
ll.-HIS STORY.