The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1919-01-15
CHAPTER M.
TINE FIRST COATING.

At Devondale the April days
went sweetly and slowly by, touch.
ed by the warmth of gentle sun.
/, shine and thrilled by the splash Of
silvery showers. Flowers were ev-
erywhere in bloom. Snowdrops
carpeted the meadows and violets
lined the fence rows; and more and
more beautiful became the lilac
bush, with its great prolific bloss-
oms, filing the air with its delicate
perfume. The amorous songs OF
the feathered choiristers stole on
the charmed ear of the nature low
er from every hidden bower All
Nature was in her gentlest mood
dressed in her wedding gowns. the
flowery wreath in her sparkling
iair,. waiting for the bridal hour u
come. Never was such spring as
came after such an unusually
dreary winter.
But Samantha did not appreciate
it at all. After the parting at the
garden gate took place and Merlin
had departed for Chicago, she went
about with bowed head continually
as If she were the captain of a
funeral procession, was sailing
alone the seas of detection and
figured prominently is several
other mournful circumstances. The
neighbors said she was just pining
away, and he was-or lilacing
away rather, for each day she fer
vently kissed a whitening lilac
blossom, counting its petals over
and over like beads of rosary.
And she was in dead earnest. In
fact she was in that idyllic state Of
emotional progress which old folks
are inclined to term "calf-love. {"
Still It is the purest and most ideal
of life's loves and in after years
awakens in the heart the sweetest
memories. Even if it is 'calf-love,
considering the innocence of the
blessed state of calfhood, it would
seem infinitely purer than ''cow-
love-" Youth is the proper time
for love, even though it may at
times be marked by too much de-
monstration; for what is more
disgusting sight than an old bache-
Tor and maid making love?
So Samantha continued to droop
about, picture OF sorrow, with
her head hung low and the wander
ing curls weaving cobweb over
her pretty brow. The reason was
she did not comb them as often as
she had been used to doing. That
she was hard hit, and by Glove
lick" It was plain to be seen.
One of her favirite past times
was to wander over the spots where
she had roamed with Merlin or
loitered by his side in the cool of
summer evenings. These lonely
pathways where oft they had stray
ed at dusk or held their twilight
trysts invited her: the shady lane
which led out to her home held for
her thousand hallowed memories.
Over and over she must visit them
in order to keep the memory of
Merlin fresh in, her heart.
She would usually start out in
the morning with her lunch basket
under her arm, revisit all the old
scenes, eat her lunch and cover the
remainder of her beat" by mid-af-
ternoon. But after a time it grew
monotonous and she would like to
have had a change of program. 1t
may have been the spring days
were too beautiful to allow of
heavy heart; it may have been the
breach between her and her first
love was growing a little wider
with the passing of each day. 1t is
difficult for the darkest clouds to
shut out completely the light of the
rising sun. And it was difficult
for the joyful temperament of
youth TO be hidden by a cloud of
grief--assumed grief at that, the
creation of romantic emotional
nature. However. Samantha at
tempted to continue her pilgrim
ages, for she feared that to discon-
tinue them would be a sign that her
affection was waning.
On one particular morning she
set out before the sun had risen.
! do rot know her reason for such
an early start unless it was be-
cause the early strawberries were