Grainger County news. (Rutledge, Tenn.) 1917-current, 1919-08-07

JuSl - bhI Dh VA OOHhNNaAN0R
irregular coast line snnggled between
two rocky lodges. A narrow crescent
of glistening white sand stretched be-
tween curling blue waters and wealth
erbeaten board walk. A soft lap-lap-
ping of tiny waves. The shrieks of
clrcling sea gulls. The distant chug-
chug of engines as an Eagle boat,
closely followed by a submarine,
emerged from the nearby harbor. 1t
was the first day of spring, the equi-
nox, but there was nothing to Indicate
the wild upheaval Of nature that had
preceded and made this miracle of a
day possible but some scattered debris
of the deep, long curls OF brown sea-
weed, queer shells and creatures
strewn over the sand.
A blind man reclined on a steamer
chair on the broad veranda OF one of
the many cottages which lined the
board walk. He listened intently and
from the sounds he heard tried to re-
construct the scene. 1t wal more than
two years since he had seen 1t, this
beautiful spot where all his boyhood
and college vacations had been spent.
Perhaps that was why he had chosen
1t for what he called his 'reconstruc-
tion period and withdrawn here at q
time when he knew 1t would be prac-
tically deserted, with only his old
nurse and housekeeper, Aunty Kate, to
look out for him.
Not one bit of shrinking, only I'M
daunted courage entered into this
mans acceptance of the result of the
supreme sacrifice he had offered his
country and humanity-Only a desire
to be alone for awhile, to think things
out, to formulate some philosophy Of
life to replace the ambitions which
now must be relinquished forever.
Footsteps sounded on the board
walk. Aunty Kate, looking out of her
kitchen window, saw two women APP
preaching, one elderly, with a fretful
face, the other young, piquant and
CARRIED In the uniform of a nurse. The
blind man heard two voices, one young
and fresh: Z
"Oh, Mrs. Bently, If you had only
come out here yesterday-just a mass
Of tumbled waters, raging against the
gale, the huge waves breaking right.
over this walk"
A ~QuerulQus voice answered, q
never go out In a storm II 1 can hen
It."
When the two women were out Of
earshot of the man the younger re-
marked, "That's Major Angre. He's
q very famous s~urgeon-or, rather,
was. He's blind now"
The q~uerulous woman, reused for
the moment out Of her absorption in
imaginary ills, asked, How did 1t
happen? In this WARP" The nurse
nodded.
"Well 1t only goes to prove what
my father and his father before him
always said, that this country would
go to rack and ruin when the Repub-
lican party went out Of power"
When the two women had passed
from sight Aunty Kate emerged from
her kitchen. "Those must be the
people who are staying In that little
cottage back on the creek" she said,
"where I've seen the light nights. The
girl is a nurse and the older woman
her patient, evidently. Don't envy her
the job. She looks like a fussy old
thing"
That night at ten o'clock lights
shone in two places in the little beach
colony. Then simultaneously the
lights vanished. In their living room
Aunty Kate was reading aloud to her
charge, stumbling through the long
words Of a medical magazine. She
stopped abruptly with, 1.-THE electric
lights are out"
'"Then it's up to you to rustic out
matter to me-" the blind nan added
r%eflectively, "if they stayed out for
ever" To himself he said: INC
amount of light will ever enable my
dear old nurse to negotiate those
words. It's going to be necessary to
find someone who can soon, though, II
l want to keep abreast of things"
In the little house by the creek the
young nurse, with the aid Of q flash.
light, was searching for possible
candles, while her charge sat perfectly
still, only her tongue wagging on in its
usual complaining way, when a knock
sounded on the door. The nurse
opened, in the midst of her patients
protests that 1t wasn't safe to do so
and disclosed Major Angre holding Q
lantern and accompanied by his house.
keeper.
SIT occurred to us" he said, that as
our lights are out yours must be also
Aunty Kate decided that as none ap-
peared in your window you must be
without any way of making one, sc
we took the liberty Of bringing you
some candles"
Mrs. Bently hustled forward and In
vited them in, introducing the nurse
as Miss Forbes, doing most of the
talking, and monopolizing everybody's
attention as only a selfish person can
So that. on her way home, when the
blind man remarked, THAT woman Il
a pest" Aunty Kate knew very vel
whom he meant, and heartily agreed
Neither spoke Of Miss Forbes, per
haps because both were thinking aboui
her. In Aunty Rates mind was evolv
Inc n scheme She shrewdlv susnartaf