The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-11-03
EVENING STORY
The Beginning and the End.
tBy susan E. Clagett.)


(By Susan E. Clagett)
when did it begin?''
The girl upon the lower step hug
ged her knees as she looked reflective
ly across the hills to the forest beyond
Then she turned her eyes to the face
Of the older woman.
81 don't know. 1t just came"
1T sometimes does come just like
that, all in moment, but L didn't
know there was young man within
a thousand miles of this place"
Il knew you would think it odd to
hear of one in this foreign spot, yet
1 have never regarded the place in
that light. 1t is quiet. however, and
l have often longed for something in
teresting to come into my life. OF
course, with a young girl the most in
teresting thing is that form of amuse-
ment IN which young men hive a part
and the youngest man here is Uncle
Henry. who owns to 60 and is so, if
he's a day, and Mr.. Hamilton, a wild
over, who is crippled with rheuma-
tism and has asthma. and Mr. Alden,
who is old and deaf
"Of course, it is none of the three"
Scarcely" Rachel Warren answer
ed with a certain degree of indfgna-
ton Il said truly l do not know
when it began. Really there was no
beginning. The nearest I can come to
1t Is that subeonsciously 1 must have
retained a memory of him. We met
TWO summers ago on that northern
trip. You know that 1 was sick and
rather unhappy had no wish to
make friends, no heart to talk, but in
some way he interested me- 1t was
rather lonesome, especially when the
fog shut us in- and after two days of
fog l was little glad to have some
one take the vacant chair next to
he 1fxr,
In fact. there were very few people on
deck the first three days out
1 think he must have felt a little
as o1d-averse to making acquaint-
ancestor he would sit near me for
hours, saving only word now and
then But he was congenial and I
missed him if he did not come to nv
corner for companionship
There must have been something
uncommon about him, judging from
tnat remark You are a little stand
offish in regard to making acauaint-
i, ances"
There was" The girl laughed in
evident amusement. at was his
length I had never seen any one
quite so long" She rose to her feet.
Imagine the contrast 1 come about
| to his elbow.
we took a good manv little trims
together after we landed and came to
know each other fairly we'll Indeed
there were many interesting places /
would never have seen if he had not
taken me. 1t sounds absurd, 1 sup
pose, but 1 could not overcome nv
southern training and would have
/ passed by many places, show places
really, rather than have visited them
alone. For ten days or more, we saw
each other every day, but upon my re-
turn home he slipped from my mem
| ory. l found my life too full of duties
( he tir1ex ~
! that first trip away from home. Their
all at once 1 remembered.
I had gone to my mornings work
with my soul in revolt fairly
loathed my duties. I was tired-tired
from a constant striving to do cheer
fully what 1 hate to do with every
| fiber of my being. 1 remember had
cakes for breakfast that morning and
with each cake 1 turned on the grid
! die I added one thousand years to my
life AS there were seven would soor
have rivaled Methusela but that my
| inner consciousness took a series OF
somersaGlts and / found myself stand.
/ ing upon the deck of the old Trinidad
! as she plowed thru the Gulf of ST
| Lawrence.
"A far reach from my kitchen stove
| to the moonlit sea and the northern
lights on that distant night, but it suf
feed to change my mood. Buckwhea
cakes and sausage are good and Il
there is more poetry in the moon
especially when you watch it with al
agreeable companion, and that com
panion a man, the other is more salts.
| flying for an early breakfast.
However my mental gymnastics
served a good purpose Life had beer
, trying all thru the week. For days
had been pricked until 1 felt as full
of holes as an old pincushion. 1t is
the tiny stabs from unexpected sources
| that make life hard. There are
strength and endurance for the big
issues, but the little things end by
rasping raw nerves. Then is the time
| for me to get into the open if l can
| It is not always possible. But did get
away from the house for little while
Just a walk to the mail box and back