The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-07-21
Love Affairs of a Lonely Woman
By MARY HALF

pairing voice. as she drew the picture to her and kissed it reverently, What shall do?"
 She held it before her at arms length and sought to find an answer to her great problem It seemed living pres ence. this simple photograph, and the only connecting link between her and the old days of the loving comrade- ship.
 Mother of mine" she whispered, "help me-guide me. From where you now look down on me you must know all. you must understand what is best for your little Jane. Can you not guide me aright?"
 It was the comfort of companionship even to study these sweet features in the dim light, and Jane felt curious sense of response from the little minia- ture of the dead one.
 Mother, must turn back my steps to Fernbank and admit defeat? Must l give up my dreams of finding happi- ness and breath and true love-or must I return to the old grind of teaching in the village school. misunderstood and lonely, even in that simple life?"
 She remembered, suddenly, the debt to her employer. Mortimer. She owed him for the pretty gown she was wear ing, and unless she could repay him SAC NoQiu be dStilS ulSHOilOi dpiy ciiC turned to her purse to count the re- maining rainy days" fund with which she had come to New York.
 There was a fraction more than one hundred dollars. If she were to re- fund the money advanced to her now she would have barely enough money to return to the west There would be nothing with which to exist after her trip, and she was not even certain of securing work in the little town.
 If I do go back what can I do?" she asked herself, in panic at the thought. School is closed now until the autumn term. The board has probably already made arrangements for some one to take my place, and there is nothing but domestic work open to me in Fern bank"
 The horror and ghastly loneliness of it overwhelmed her. She had indeed burned her bridges. There was no home to which she could return. There were not friends able to help her or to whom she would go in humila ton and defeat
 The fighting spirit of her family re- acted on the girl, now, and with that same discrimination which had car ried her father-a boy of sixteen wounded and famished through the bat tie of the Wilderness do deeds which won a Congressional medal of honor. with that indomitable, undying pluck, Jane Brown suddenly found herself and rose to her feet.
 She remembered the great fighting message of her fathers general in those sanguine days of her life-and-death ggle and she repeated them now with a new understanding which had never struck her during the quiet te- dium of hours in her little history class. q will fight it out on this line if ;& o1xo Ton Tod n herself. her eyes sparkling with a new determination, a new vitality. And if lit takes a dozen summers l will never retreat"
 She fumbled for a match on the little dresser and struck it. to light the gas jet by the side of the mirror. She saw her reflection, and despite the glisten- ing traces of tears, the reddened frances of weeping in her tell-tale eyes, she realized that she had found herself. Jane brushed back the dark tendrils of her hair, and wiped away the tears. Her heart fairly sang with the new thrill of resolution.
 T will succeed" she told the image | in the mirror. with tone which was actually defiant. "Do you hear me. Jane Brown of the Past--Jane Brown
 of the Little Town. Jane Brown of the tears and Lonliness. I will have friends. I will win love. and joy and respect. l Do you hear me, Jane Brown of the dead past?"
 | She donned her hat once more. 1 T am going out for a walk. Jane 1 Brown" she confided to the mirror fig ure. T am going to conquer my fear of ] the great crowds, and I am going to drive my lonliness away. In a few l weeks I will have earned and saved I enough to repay MT. Mortimer for the
 clothes and this pretty hat And then
 Jane Brown of the timid soul we shall see what we shall sec"
 "Outdoors on such lonely evening 1 is better than cage like this" she
 murmured as she opened the portal. She reached the top. of the steps and was
 halted by the sound of strident voices down stairs
 l T say you can't go up stairs. She don't live herA anyway. You git outer
 my house, you drunken fool" came Mrs | Selden's screeching tones. This is some of that there Dick Holidays
 monkey business. and I'll call the po- l Ice"
 : "Aw. shut un. woman. Here's 2