Evening star., 1921-07-03
LANDS END
BY WILBUR DANIEL STEELE.
Love, The Life Guard-And New Worlds To Conquer
illustrated by {. Bachelor
BY WILBUR DANIEL STEELE.

Wlnu dlOne W aS
1t seened fit that this should be
the last house in the world. There
was about the hollow thing some.
thing so wasted and blighted, and
yet unconquerable. like an enduring
disaster.
There was long. loose-boarded
Porcn with pillars across the front
of the house and above it second
porch open to the. sky. serving tne
'plastered tenement" Summer visi.
tors sometimes took the piastered
tenement They never stayed long,
and they never came back anotner
season. because they could not bear
the tragic beauty of the outlook from
that hilltop. The land was no longer
like itself, but already half in the grip
of ocean; at the end. huddle or sand
bars. and then nothing but the ocean
and Il bell.
The. woman on the bed in the
plastered tenement was listening to
the bell: faint. repeated note borne
in the bosom of the wind.
She might be twenty-five years or
age or forty. She was of rather
slight figure. Looking at her race,
one saw only the eyes at first. Large,
clear. quick-moving between the low
archtd lids. brown almost TO soIden
and yet carrying an illusion OF great
depth all the vital aspirations SEEM
ed to have come to center there, ana
the replica of the draughty candle,
tiickering either orb. seemed at home
tnem, as IL tEeS Hdu OSch uoSN ~
flame and wind. Save for sanguine
feather on either cheek bone, the rest
of tine face was glass white, the fea-
lures fooled to a fneness so exquisite
that they seemed transparent ana Al
most luminous.
She was talking to herself
I've been so happy here with the
sun and the stars and the wind and
the bell. Sweet bell. so patient. so
kind, calling to me. day in. day out!
Mrs. Sparrow. where is the bell!'
Mrs Sparrow. middle-aged. worn
and feshy, answered from her rocker
in a shadowed corner:
The bell. dearie? Why, it's out to
the Head, dearie."
The Head"
marshes, y'know. Byond ever'thin',
soh! The end, So If I could go
out to the end. then could see the
bell. 1 wonder. I wonderT
qua dea1is qSar's there: SeT heM hear Mr. % Men
dal coming up now" Mrs Sparrow
was already busy with her shawl
and bonnet, relieved by the footballs
beyond the door. =! hope vi feel
her shoulder and stepped out of the
room and closed the door behind her.
On the landing she confronted Mr..
Mendal
Sne says now ner money 5 AL SoHc'
she announced in a worried under
tone. She 'xpected to go a week
back, she says"
CHE would have liked to be an
- idealist, this Widow Sparrow:
she would have loved not to have to
think of the money part
IF you was t have four to home,
an the Oldest too young yet t fish"
She peered up at him. "Tain't 8
if 1 knew the first thin about 'er-
where she come from-if she's got
folks or no!'
Don't you worry about the money.
Mother Sparrow" Mendars voice was
rich and quiet, How does-she seem
oh. dear about the same. waitin'
"Oh, dear. about the same. Waitin'
to be took. 1 declare she don't seem
Z be worrit much. though. She begins
t talk queer, though-talkfn' bout
goin' out t the Head an the like.
1t give me start t hear 'er"
She's been out on the porch!"
Yes, a while. 1 carried 'er in bout
an hour ago. She don't seem t care
much what
"Yes. yes Well, I guess that's all
Goodnight, Mother Sparrow"
Entering the room. he drew the
rocker from it's corner and sat down
beside the bed, leaning little for
ward.
well. We'll. p! he said. "and how are you
All, dear friend, dear friend. you
know how l am-this last night"
.Pshaw! You've said that every
night the past week."
"Yes. my time was up almost a
week ago. I've stolen a week, Men
dal-a week of sweetness"
Her eyes went back to the can
dles-two Of them now-on the wash
stand. Mendars chin sank farther
int tn hio and hia heard
and brown and thick, covered his
chest. Both were thinking of what
was to come.
The woman began again. her voice
low and powerless and yet full Of a
kind of color.
Its like a balcony here hung over
the edge. beyond noise and hurry and
naggings and heartbreaks, little
loves. tiny hates: beyond time and
space. Mendal; beyond everything but
the bell and the end. 1--we been
wondering-" She drew one hand
from beneath the bedclothes.
81 wonder IL you would hold my
white hand with his own brown one.
"Mendal. I wonder if you know
how-how-if you know what you've
been to me. Down here at the end Of
things you've always known every
thing SO we'll, you people here-your
neighbors. your plastered tenement,
your marshes, your yesterday, your
tomorrow. Dropping out of nowhere
as / have, unexplained, nameless even,
/ must have seemed like a-like-"
Like an angel There was a curl
Gus harshness in the mans voice.
'Is that why you've been so good
and never asked? 1t was raining that
night And you were driving along
ahe road in your buggy in the rain,
thinking of-what were you think OF,
Mendal?'
II was thinking how late it was.
II remember hearing your voice be-
fore I went down-other voices, too.
Were there some men with you, Mem
dal?"
out and walked.
"And you brought me up here! Why
did you bring me up here. Mendal' IN
stead Of taking me on into the VII
lage?" ..,n t,e
carts on the cobbles, children play.
ing and all. And you were SICK ana
frightened" .,.,
"S'rightened! Oh, how terribly
frightened, Mendal, at first. But now
-only peaceful and happy WatcnlnS
the sunlight drift across the wall,
listening to the bell out there at
the last end, calling
Mendal got up suddenly to tim
one of the candles. He stood staring
for a moment out of the window tnat
had grown black; then ne wneeleo
around abruptly. ,.,.
How would you like little muS'o
tonight for q changer
head. and then, seeing by his face
nS-s -. 1uonfed IT she smiled and