New-York tribune., 1920-11-15
Books u.yv,ss sS s,,.,

ever our heads so many TIM.
break upon the beach and ,.. Snl' Il
the great ocean, leaving notb;sp y
few planks, broken crate Of 'a'
and handful of pink shells Ssass'
have lost the shells. "ha ~
But there was one moonlit Jun. =.
IN 'oers restaurant, in Forty.ss.''' .isa'
street-still, perhaps, it is in,. ''''''
Tor an old man to keep silent :. ' :.
chimney corner. If We told .b.. :" i''
row we might touch it IN X. ''''
and there. Even then it uos', w. '''s
match the ac entures of on, 's - '''
spondent. In his letter he apDes,, ,'''''
variably as the companion ' ~ q
romantic lover, but we tlink ~ ~ !"
his secret. 1t is safe with us '''s
"ln the spring of 1872 he 49,
Il was with an Intimate fris,s
Genoa, Italy, when we me. At
tary function one of those loveIV sl., w.,
women one finds in northern Ri, IVA =.
instantly fell crafty in love vii, sA'
and got her to promise that sb. m''
in some way see him that sams 49,.
After we got back TO the shin n -
We were attached (the young ~.
seems to have had a marked tsns..
for attachments, but we mustn. ;,,.1
rupt) it was announced that In. -.
would sail early in the morpin, -.
that there would be no liberty ~,
| night. owe wonder whether tn. vor,'
man did not also have tends,..
confuse liberty and 'licenseN "
lovesick friend was desperate. H. ~.
going to meet that girl at any cost z.
would 60 down the anchor chain II ~.
essary, and swim the h.rbor-ever ,
it cost him his life. Now to m. ~.
looked just exactly what it would 49,.
him. At this time Genoa was alma.
in panic Of fear. The Austrian s-r.,
was quite close, the city was filthy v;.,
spies. and no one was allowed 10 nor.
in the harbor without pre- arraneen.r.
The inner harbor, in which our shin,
lay, was lined with soldiers and pol,s
whose orders were to FIRE OF anv ,,.
scheduled movement in the vp-.,
either Of boat or a swimmer. Nv
friend knew all this and knew. to-
that the water Of the harbor was pbos.
phorescent and that every strok. b.
took in the swim toward his lady would
De coruscant target. It is said ths.
8 kind Providence protects lovers, r.
certainly seemed TO be the case with
this lover, for despite his flashing pror.
ress through the water, the watchers On
shore missed him until he had nearlr
reached the beach, when the rifles be.
gan to crack and the bullets to splssa
around him. He won safely through,
however, and he kept his rendezvous
with the girl for a sight of whom rs
tad risked his life and honor and with
whom he had fallen in love at frs;
sight"
Our spondent negIects to say
whether his friend was as much in lore
at the end of his swim as when he frs.
jumped into the water. Be that as i.
may, our young friend turns up late,
in the letter as the companion Of ar
other lover. This time it is in Shang.
kai. We regret that we have not sui-
cient space to print the whole letter.
At any rate she came each night IRON
her narrow easement across the street,
precariouslv, on a narrow plank, to
where the lover and his confdant wers
waiting. One night she did not cone.
The writer suggests that she had been
killed by her father. We are not GER
tain Of this. After al. there may have
been an equally narrow street on the
other side Of h house.
AS time goes on. the young man,
whether he was only friend or princi-
pal, will find that memory will mellow
these tragic experiences and that the!
will seem rather humorous in retro
spect We invariably put our youngest
grandchild to sleep with such ancient
adventures Of ours as begin: "One
night in the Foo-Chow Road or IN
g little grated window in the SultanS
harem we saw in the moonlight
He says-and he expresses himsen
very we'll for child Of three-that he
likes these even better than The IT'D
vne's Bedtime Stories about Peer
Rabbit.