Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1920-06-18
SPRING MAGIC
By CRAWFORD LUTTRELL

| . BY CRAWFORD LUTTRELL !.
+~~>~>>>>~~>~~
It was a foolishly sentimental lit
tie poem, yet there was something so
Intimately friendly about the lines that
Jim Reynolds felt no great surprise
when he glanced down at the writer's
name and found it to be Mary Nc
Chez. Mary McGhee!
What troop of ghostly little men,
cries those words conjured UP for the
man, as he sat by window In tie
great book-lined room! CHANGING out,
he was conscious for the first time
that spring, with age-old magic, lad
touched the earth again and that bur
geoning boughs, and b6ttercups faunt-
ing scalloped yellow petticoats, gave
evidence Of the revivifying power Of
the fragrant wand.
Lilacs that his mother had planted
in her own youthful days tossed pur-
pie and white plumes in the light
breeze. White-throats were busily
building In the blossoming pear tree
by the driveway. A pot Of tulips on
the window sill caught and held the
sunlight and glowed goldenly.
Strange that those lines Of girl he
had known back there in the unfor-
getable days of i1lmaturity should
make him conscious Of bird and leaf
and blossom that had been there, I'M
noticed before. But that had been
Mary's way. She was 6ot content "a
enjoy beauty alone. She had always
pointed it out for less discriminating,
less appreciative eyes.
Jim looked at the silver-framed pic
ture Of his wife that stood Oh the huge
fat-topped mahogany desk before him.
The little ruffled dress she had worn
when the picture was taken was no
less light and airy than the pretty,
smiling girl herself.
It was indicative Of her attitude to
life. For the ten years Of their mar
ried life she had laughed and danced
and played, and when at times, in mo-
ments Of real need, he had turned to
her she had been able to offer him
only the star dust on her brightly
hued butterfly wings.
He read once more the lines Of the
poem expressing the romantic ideas
that the thought Of youths first love
forever fingers in the heart. All at
once there registered IN tie recess Of
his memory the look ID Mary Nc
Ghee's face when he had told her that
Claire Inman had promised to marry
him.
He recalled dimly how awkwardly
tender he had felt toward the little
girl to whom he had often made love
lightly before the great and binding
passion for Claire had caused him to
feel himself suddenly a grown man,
with the desire to possess and cherish
her filling his whole life.
If Claire's fortune had had any
thing to do with his choice, he had
tried desperately to put the thought
behind him. But sitting there by the
window, years after, he WINGED q Ut
tie at the memory Of Mary McGheAs
face, with her heroically suppressed
hearts secret blazing like scarlet
banner across her cheeks.
For one terrifying second Jim had
known and Mary McGhee knew be
understood. Then she had ral1l9d and
warmly congratulated him. 46pinH
with all her heart, she had said, he
would be as happy as he deserved.
She had gone away before the we'd
ding, and Jim remembered h9w
strangely he had thought Of her that
JUDE morning, Of how she would have
loved the madonna lilies and great
banks Of daisies that filled the house.
He had missed her, and then the
JOY Of possessing the pretty, spoiled
giri he had asked to be his wife had
blotted everything else from his mind
until the day came when he realized
that Claire had never loved him, that
she could not, perhaps, love anybody
but herself.
Once in awhile he had seen stories
written by Mary in the current maga-
zines, had wondered for few min
utSs where she was and what life had
offered her, felt briefly conscious OF
tie pain that his careless youth had
Given her, and then considered grimly
that the healing touch Of years had
doubtlessly erased him even from her
memory.
Yet the thought of her strangely
persisted. He reflected that he had
been q very sick man lately and that
he might attribute to his present
weakness of body the reading Of po-
etry, in which he never by any chance
INDUCED, and his sentimental thoughts
Of youth, of unattained ideals and Of
shattered dreams. Life did that to
everybody.
1t took you, young and vigorous and
idealistic as Galahad. and broke you |
on a turn of the wheel. Here he was |