Evening star., 1919-04-13

you would never have dreamed that
she was embarking upon her great
adventure. You would never have
guessed that the semi-yearly closet
cleaning was to give to Rose thrill
as delicious as it was eXquisitely
painful. But Rose knew. and SO she
teased herself, and tried not to think
of the pasteboard box on the shelf in
the hall closet, under the pile of re-
serve blankets, and told herself that
she would leave that closet until the
last. when she would have to hurry
over 1t.
When you clean closets and bureau
drawers thoroughly you have to carry
things out to the back porch and flap
them. Rose was that sort Of house,
keeper. She leaned over the porch
railing and tapped things SO that the
dust notes spun and swirlcd in the
sunshine. Roses arms worked UP and
down energetically, then less energeti-
cally. finally ceased their motion al
together. She leaned idle elbows on
the porch and gazed down into the
yard below with look in her eyes
such as no squalid Chicago back yard,
with it's dutsy debris, could summon,
even In springtime.
From far down the alley sounded a
chant, drawing nearer and nearer, until
there shambled into view a decrepit
horse drawing dilapidated huckster's
cart. Perched on the seat was a Greek
who turned his dusky face up toward
the two women leaning over the porch
ratings. "Rhubard, Teddy. Fresh rhu-
barb"
MY folks don't care for rhubarb
sauce" Rose told the woman next door,
out on her porch. s
1t makes the worst pie in the
world" the woman confided to Rose.
Whereupon each bought a bunch of
ND rnd ,Aol1 lis
was their Offering at the season's
shrine.
Rose flung the rhubard on the kitch-
EN- table. pulled her dustcap more Arm
~ about her ears. and hurried back
to the disorder Of Floss dim little
bedroom. -, -,"-
After that 1t was dustcloth, and SOAP
suds, and scrub-brush in a race against
recurrent water bags. insistent door
bells, and the inevitable dinner hour.
1t was midafternoon when Rose, stand
Ing a-tiptoe on chair. came at last to
the little box on the top shelf under
the bedding In the hall closet. Her
hand touched the box. and closed about
u. A little elctric thrill vibra ted
through her body. She stepped down
from the chair heavily, listened until
her acute ear caught the sound of the
sick woman's slumbrous breathing;
then, box in hand, walked down The
dark hall to the kitchen. The rhubarb
pie, still steaming in its pan, was cool
Ing on the kitchen table. The dishes
from the invalid's lunch-tray Uttered
the sink. But Rose. seated on the
kitchen chair, her runpled dust-cap
pushed back from her flushed. per-
spring spring race, united the rude bit Of
stfihs that bound the only candy box,
remov we'd the lid, slowly, and by that
act was waited magicaily out of the
world or rhubarb pies, and kitchen
chairs, and dirty dishes, into that place
whose air Is the breath of incense and
nyTrn, whose paths are rose-strewn.
whose dwellings, are temples dedicated
to but one small god The land known
as love, and Rose travelled back to #
on the magic rug of memory,
1amiiy or five In a x-room Chi
caso nat must sacrifice sentiment to
necessity. r There is precious little space
gowns, and ribbon bound packets thai
inquired so prominently In the days of
attics Into the garbage can with YES
terday's roses! The janitor's burian
sack yawns for this mornings mail.
I ,as, years gown has long ago met it's
END at the hands OF the ol'-clo'es man
or the washwoman's daughter. That
they had survived these fourteen vears
ana the structures Of their owner;s
dwelling, tells more about this boxfui
OF letters than could be conveyed bv a
battalion of adjectives. ~ Z"
Rose began at the top Of the pile. in
,e ner orderly fashion, and read straight
through to the last. 1t took one hn,,r
Half OF that time she was not eadinr
she was starting straight ahead with
what Is mistakenly called an unseeinr
look but which actually pierces ths.
ven OK years and beholds things far
Th 1Mr beyond the vision Of the actual eve
Ihey were the letters OF a commrn.
place man to commonplace wn,;,om
written when they loved each othar
ana SO they were touched with son,a,
thins OF the divine. They must have
Deeh' eise how could they have sustaino