The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1918-04-12
Out of the
Shadow
o<O
BY SUSAN cLAoETT

| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| Copyright, 1918, by tho Mcclure Newspa
per syndicate)
"deer miss kin yo help we uns m'
an liz Crawford is havln u Hard tim'
guvment TUX our mems an we alls tryiI
| to git vittles an cloths TO Give th'
chilrun to eat we CANT an miss Honey
we als mos purish me an liz an hel
/ Gal babys is livin with mol wade al
arfter we ais dun git thru the wui
! thars muffin to do but set fore the Fire
an tat an knit an woner eff our mensl
kun hum an how we unsll git thru the
Winter 1t is Awful cold an me an mo-
go up the mountin an cut down pine
saplins an drag EN- hum / aint plainin
miss honey ~ aint begin but ! jest
wants to know eff yore friensll buy
we alls Tatin.
with great Respec yore
"Frien liza rankin"
| Lavinia read the letter over and over
again. She could make nothing of il
but jumble of words all but illeglbly
written. Not a comma, not 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 hel
lap at which she fumbled with unsee'
ing eyes.
1t was roughly. and insecurely tied
and she wondered how it had come
intact through the mails. AS the
thought flashed through her mind a
smaller package dropped upon the
floor. With an exclamation she picked
up yards of beautifully fine and intri'
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 flax raised in the little
clearing about the cabin. II 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 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 EliZa's
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 it 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 a moment to ask for
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
merciless 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 it 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 realiza-
ton Of her thought.
"Oh! That's itk 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. / do not doubt
it. 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? / dare anything, my
dear young lady, and tell you 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
eft her as the train pulled into the |
station.
She heard from him once, months
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