The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-05-04
Out of the
Shadow
@<R
By SUSAN CLAGETT

per SyndicateD
deer miss kin 70 help We unS me
| an liz Crawford is havin a Hard time
| guyment TUX our mems an we alls tryin
| to git vittles an cloths to Give tile
| chilrun TO eat we CANT an miss Honey
we alls mos purish me an liz an her
Gal babyS is Twin with mol wade an
| arfter we ais dun cit thru the wuk
| tharS muffin to do but set fore the Fire
| an tat an knit an woner eff our mensll
| kun hum an how we unsll git thru the
| Winter 1t is Awful cold an ME an mol
| go up the mOuntin an cut down pine
saplins an drag EN- hum amt plainin
miss honey an amt begin but jest
wants to know eff yOre frienSll buy
| we alls latin.
With great Respec yore
"Frien liza rankin"
Lavinia read the letter over and over
again. She could make nothing of 1t
| but tumble Of words all but illegibly
| written. Not comma, not a period.
She glanced at the name: liza rankin
and light came to her. The meaning
! of the letter became clear. Her throat
contracted with an uncomfortable
| ache and tears hid the package in her
| lap at which she fumbled with unSee-
| ing eyes.
| Il was roughly and insecurity tied
| and she wondered how it had come
| intact through the mails. AS the
. 81
smaller package dropped upon the
| floor With an exclamation she picked
| up yards of beautifully fine and intlf-
cate tatting. Examining the contents
of the larger bundle, she found it con-
| tanned several sets of table mats with
| Crocheted borders and coarse, home
| spun linen centers.
Her mind went back to the summer
| just past and the several summers
| before when she had helped spin the
cloth from fax raised in the little
clearing about the cabin. If she had
been asked she could not have told how
she had heard Of the little home in the
Tennessee mountains across the border
from Virginia, but each summer there
after had found her a visitor, and she
and Eliza Rankin had become fast
friends.
She had helped Eliza make her we'd
ding dress; had returned to the noun
tain for the wedding, taking with her
from her own store of furniture enough
to make comfortable the tiny two
room log house that was to be ELIAS
future home. She had been with her
when the child was born; had been
with her when, dry-eyed, the grief
stricken mother had laid the still little
form In its crib for the last time,
and 1t was In the rough little cabin
that Lavinia came under the influence
that altered the course of her own life
when she raised her head from her
spinning and met the keen, questioning
gray eyes of the mountain doctor who
had stopped for moment to ask for
q drink of milk.
She met him often in her WanderingS
about the mountain, but aside from the
pleasure of an occasional meeting She
had given him no thought until she
raised her head that day and her eyes
were held by the dominant gray ones
of the man standing in the doorway.
She felt as if he was reading her
very soul. Filled with resentment, the
angry color flooded her face under his
meeiless gaze. Indignantly she
Strengthened in her chair. Then, to her
everlasting shame, she left the spin
ming wheel and walked directly into
his arms.
She left the mountain the next day.
There was a long wait at Bristol be-
fore the arrival Of the north-bOund
train, but almost as 1t came into sight
Doctor Cochran crossed the platform
to her side.
ELIZA told me you had gone. Why?'
he had asked abruptly.
She had looked at him coolly, criti- |
cally. A big, awkward but powerfully |
built man, coarsely clothed with his |
blue homespun shirt open at the
throat and sleeves pushed carelessly |
back from his muscular arms. Her
very silence brought to him a realiza-
ton of her thought.
"Oh! That's it! A mountain man
Is not good enough! You want the fine
clothes, the suavity and convention to
which you are accustomed. You can
have them If you want. l do not doubt
1t. But whoever he be he will never
have what you have given TO the
She had risen and faced him. How
dare you"
He had laughed roughly in Interrupt
ton. Dare? l dare anything, my
dear young lady, and tell yon plainly
that In that half hour in Eliza Ran
kin's cabin you gave me what you will
never give another man, and that was
your SOUL" and turning on his heel he
left her as the train pulled into the
station.
She heard from him once, months
later He wrote that he had yolun-
teered and must see her before he left
for France. The note was unanswered. |
He did not come, and as the days
passed she knew her day OF reckoning
was upon her; that she had let him go
to his work thinking her heartless.
1t all came back as she looked at
Tie work in her lap and as she let the