The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1921-01-28
LILACS
BY NELLIE A. FAIRBANKS.
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suit, then stopped for moment to
gaze out across the great green fields.
For 16 years, weather permitting,
Bill had watched and loved this time
of day, when the sun was casting its
last slanting rays.
Tonight he was leaving the home he
loved so well and the man who had
shared his home and with whom he
had worked for 16 years. That was
the hard part of going. Something
that looked suspiciously like tears
welled up in his honest blue eyes, and
he gazed for a minute at the man at
the sink, doing up the supper dishes.
AS rule this man was laxative, but
tonight he was strangely silent.
The arduous task of making an old
suit look something like new was final
ly completed and Bill stepped out on
the little platform that served as
piazza. He looked sadly at the two
empty arm chairs.
"At the end of two days journey
l will be with Marcia again." and
once more he could see the little white
clad figure as he left her that last
evening. Again he could hear the
soft sobbing as she begged him not
to be away long, and Bill held her
close as he whispered:
when l have made the little fortune
l have dreamed of, then l will come
back to you. And when 1 do come
back, Marcia, it will be in lilac-time,
just like it is today"
The first few weeks had been I'M
bearable to Bill; then as the months
and years passed he fell into that
rut of being perfectly satisfied with
working hard all day and spending
companion and his pipe.
His little pile of money grew big
ger each year until he at last decided
it was time to go back to the old home
and Marcia. His heart beat faster
as he pictured the little vision in white,
and he sighed happily as he again
entered the little cottage. But his
spirits dropped when he beheld Jim,
sitting with his head resting in his
two hands, picture of despair. Go
ing over, he placed his hand on Jim's
shoulder and said:
We've spent some very happy years
here, old scout, but now l must be
going back to Marcia. l wish you
could see her, Jim-so small, with
wavy tresses and"
Yes, but 16 years makes an awful
difference, old man," Jim answered.
"Yes, yes" Bill murmured, half alb
sently; "in some people, but not Mar
cia."
At last the time came when the
comrades parted. Jim drove Bill over
the two miles to the railroad station,
and they silently pressed each others
hand, for neither could speak just
then.
Jim drove back to the lonely cot
tage, seated himself in his arm chair
beside the vacant one, and when the
big full moon arose it's beams fell on
one lonely figure. and an empty chair.
In the meantime the train sped on
towards Bills old home and Marcia.
His journey ended at noon two days
later, but as Bill felt terribly roman
tic, he waited until the sun was set
ting, then Marcia must see him first
by the lilac bush near her door. AS
he neared the house he wished he had
kept corresponding all these years /;
but then, he felt sure Marcia loved
him enough to watch and wait for
him even though it was sixteen years.
He was almost at the gate when a
sudden fear tooh possession of him.
Things did not look just right. What
if Marcia had gone away, or had died
but no, he must put such thoughts
away. At the gate piercing scream
reached his ear-just as he was by
the lilac tree, where Marcia must see
him frst-and two dirtyfaced boys
came rushing around the corner of the
house, the larger one finally overtak-
ing the other, and they Immediately
started a fist fight.
The door of the house opened quick
ly, and a woman, one who would cas-
lily tip the scales at two hundred, ap-
peared in a soiled Bingham dress,
sleeves rolled to her elbows, exhibit
ing pair of fat red arms thickly COW
cred with white suds, and the equally
red face showed plainly she had just
emerged from the family washtub.
Bill rubbed his eyes and looked
again. There might just have been
an ordinary double chin attached to
that face, but Bill could swear he saw
four He also noticed the thin, halt
gray locks, twisted into a little hard
knot at the back of her head. Crush
ing the innocent lilac where he had
few moments before so romanticafly
placed his hand, he stepped back lit
tie farther.
There was no installing. The eyes
proved it was Marcia, and if there
was the least bit of doubt left in his
mind, it disappeared when a man In
overalls brushed past him and called
out, Hurry up and get my dinner,
Marcia"
and Marcia was just starting back
for the kitchen when she espied the
man by the lilac bush. Raising her
voice, she called out loudly:
Get away from them lilacs or I'll
call the dog"
Three days later Bill turned the
corner of his own little cottage, and
peeking through the window, beheld
Jim in the act of setting one single
place at the table.
''Set it for two old man." Bill sang