The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1921-11-18
%THE DAILY
Blind Eyes
By DORA MoLLAN.

BY DORA IOILAN'
+ often happens with drink.
/ 4 man VINO has lett inte%i-
tA6ts strictly alone in youth de-
eiops a weakness for them late
a lie, That man comes q harder
copper than one who has carry
"a root in the bIbulous way. 80
was with Niles Grey, the oio
pycr, as- they call nm no" IN
Pleasant Valley. But 1t Was no
craving for strong waters tnat
waited till past his middle years
abef0re assaiIinE Niles. 1t was q
honging for romantic love.
The township OF Pleasant Valley
Embraces a lake. One shore o. ~
Scts as a boundary FOR the village
Of pleRgantYille; the other Is
Nsweetly wooded in front OF a
erassy plateau and on the plateau
\ sits al old brown 1~&SElhVuse, y
tuanted for five years at inc pc
ginning of this story.
Niles Grey was an u~nnotlceahle
ma VINO for many years baa kePE
4 gmait hardware shop In a stunt
ed City and lived in tie little room
/ ak the rear. He remembered very
little about his parents, but an
y aunt had dinned INTO him the tast
n That tney mad died In restitution.
Niles purpose VAS trat !
should not happen 20 him So the
I little shop and che back room saw
Niles HAIR turn from! dusty brown
M dusty grey and his body grow
lnerceutibly less, like q russell APP
Die alter a celIarcd winter, the
While his bank account grew Sfs3e'
Niles never employed more than
one clerk and that m always q
eirl, for housewives were scorntut
! 81 q mere mans opinion on house
hold utensils. There had been a
succession Of such clerks; usually
lEhey had left to be married.
NileSs ambition had been to re-
IRE at fifty with enough saved 70
Hive on comfortably Tor the rest OF
his life. Like Most men with this
Aspiration he overstayed his limit
And it took the words Of an out
doors preacher, which reached his
ears as he stood on the doorstep
Zone evening, to bring sharply to
his consciousness that oldest OF
4 truths-that man Ia born to die,
and verify his years are three
score and ten, and if--but Niles
knew no reason why the If
should apply to himself.
So Miles sold out his business
N4nd, having always lived in q city,
Ankered for the country. Thus in
the course Of events, showed along
4 bit BY an astute real estate
AGENT, Niles Grey came to live in
tfe Old brown farmhouse on the
aSRoods encircled plateau above
FAKE Pleasant.
Niles had always kept house for
himself and he continued to do so.
he made a little garden, putting
To- use for the first time, with his
own hands, the tools. he had spent
his life selling to others. He took
walks through the woods and to
The village, andsh sat ont In front
.Est his house and looked down on
the Lakeland thought.
There was one conclusion at
which Niles thought always ar
riVed-how little he had to think
about. The many, many days
spent in his little shop had been
iineventful enough. The departure
81 n clerk and the hiring Of an
6ther alone diyided them into per-
i6as. Many times he ran over the
Iist-and always he stopped when
he camo to Miss Lamb. Why had
me left? 1t was not TO be mar
ried, he knew.
"1s it because Of anything l
have done?" Niles had asked her.
cts because of something you
haven't DONE" she answered and
there was a look in the pale blue
Ayes which said, "I'm safe in say
ing this for you will never under
Because Niles had so little to
think about he learned to dream:
And the eligible single women OF
the village, looking across the lake
md seeing him sitting there in
4ront of his house, pitied his lone
IL life for its emptiness. All but
one, Miss Lefty, the village
Seamstress, couldn't see that far,
she couldn't see anything clearly,
Sd1oyadays, unless it was quite
Tclose to her eyes:
Niles wasn't thinking of the sin
sle women of the village, but
! about what his life would have
been like if he had married young.
And because now it could never be,
of course, he began to wish that it
might have been. He took to walk,
e past the houses where lived
the two newly married young
couples Of the village. Till one
evening a daring idea came to
him. Suppose he were to build a
little house right near his-such a
cottage as a newly welded pair
might we'll long to live in; might
not one Of the young couples take
TO it, if he offered it almost rent
free, and let him be an onlooker
Il. what lie had missed? That
" 1hry evening he rveGLad around to
The Pleasantvillc :~-office to mail
a letter TO q ma who could tell
him exactly what such a little
house would cost.
He arrived there just as the
mail was being distributed and the
Nillage news Of the day discussed.
They were speaking of Miss Lefty,
the towns dressmaker for twenty
, years. The tragedy was that she
could be the dressmaker no more.
She had cut out the doctors wife's
rauy summer silk partly on the