The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1918-01-24
My Secret
Copyright. 1917. western Newspaper Union. }
By WARNER MILLER

when I first saw her, a rosy checked,
laughing girl who had never known
misfortune. We were fisher folk, and
sailors and lived under the canopy
Of heaven; used to the breaking Of the
waves on the beach, which at times
lulled us TO slumber and at times
merged with the roar of the tempest.
I was thirty years old then and
when I saw Annie racing over the
sands or climbing the dunes, her hair
streaming behind her, In the wind. i
felt then In comparison with her i
was a hundred. At any rate l knew
that to her / was an old man while to
me she was a child. The day would
soon come when some youngster would
carry her off and I left In world
that would be dreary without her
But still she romped and pulled
about, when the water Yves calm. In
her boat, and with bare feet ran on
the sand of windy day like a bird.
"Of tempest-loving kind
Thus beating up against the vino"
and no wooer came. The only claim
had on her was when she would
sit beside me on the end of the dock
under which the waves were rolling
and would tell her stories.
Then came a sailor lad still in his
teens and he and Annie came together
with q snap like two magnetIzed met
ais. How / envied that boy. He was
handsome fellow, and In his sailor
togs, unique costume unlike any
other, thought II no wonder that An
ME should find a mate in him. An
MES father and ! were chums, he
be.ng but a few years older than I
and one day he said to me:
"Tom, dye mind this young Croker
boy, maken up to my AnnieT.
The devil tempted me to say he's
no good. 'Twould be pity for Annie
to throw herself away on such as he.
IL l had said that Jim Clark would
have sent him away without Annie.
But I braced myself and said. Hes
a likely chap, and believe would go
aloft to furl sail In a hurricane as
quick as any man."
That settled 1t. The next day Ned
Croker asked Clark for Annie's hand,
and got 1t.
was menden nets on the sand In
the mornen when felt q pair Of arms
around my neck and turnin' saw An
MES happy face near to mine. She
had come to tell me that she was to
marry the sailor boy.
Papa says you think well Of him."
she said, "and papa will take your
opinion Of anyone in preference to his
own"
"rm glad you're so happy, my dear"
said, but the words choked me.
Annie's happiness did not last long.
She married Croker, but he sailed
away from her and never returned.
my words about him to her father
were proved. When his ship came In
we were told that In a hurricane he
went aloft to furl a sail. when no
other man dared go. and losing his
hold was blown overheard.
Annie mourned him but she had
youth on her side and though she was
never the romp she had been was In
time herself again. She turned to me
for comfort and sometimes dared hope
that we might in time be something
more than friends. but q few years
after Crocker's taking off. she mar
ried again, this time the mate OF
ship that sailed between New York
and Japan. He wasn't the handsome
sailor lad Crocker was, and he didn't
sail with the wind. His ship was
steamer.
Simmons, this was Annie's husband.
didn't live much longer than the first.
He came home sick from his first voy.
age after their marriage. and though
Annie nursed him tenderly she couldn't
save him. He died In her arms and
we buried him In the little plot OF
ground on the hillside. q mile back
from the village.
A big storm ragged on the coast. Sew.
eral miles out was reef. covered
with water at high tide. In the after.
noon q ship was seen to founder on
the ledge and within q few minutes
she was broken to pieces. In time
wreckage and bodies began to come In
and the beach was soon covered with
both. We did what We could to take
In and bury the dead. but night came
on before we could clean the beach.
The next day ] went with several
others 70 hunt for bodies that had
drifted northward. We found them
scattered along the beach and buried
them as we found them. ! got sep
arated from the rest and came upon
the body OF young man. started
the moment l saw him for l recog-
nized Ned Croker.
He was several yebrs older than
when I had last seen him and had
some beard on his face. but he was
Crocker all the same. Before any OF
the others reached me l had carried
him back TO where there was earth
instead Of sand and buried him.
found out In time why Croker was
alive the day before found the body.
He had found another mate and the
account OF his death had been made
up 10 screen his wife from a worse
blight. l have continued the decep-
ton never having told her that found