The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-06-06

Isl )E ST DRY
s noW.:..F ollowed BY
Cl caring III. !
BY RosE MEREDITH

s Ss9SH0R----IofloWeQ Dy cIeat LIS
rising temperature northwest
I sto her nephew that March morn
al 8 {. Artfnny looked out OF the
widow ana grnnted: My expert
anee Rhas been that snow is always
! followed BY clearing -side-walks! :"
Gracious ssakes. Anthony, when
Iwag young / didn't mind clean
ing of side wa1ks--keeps the blood
! IN circulation and anyway, the
Ladies, Ala Society's meeting
#sdown at Emmelien's, and you VIII
nave to clear off her walk, too.
.Of course auntie. TIL get at It
AT once-I'ye an important en-
gagenaent at 2 this afternoon ana
sI,u have everything ready for the
injecting before I go. Good thing
I'm q lawyer who practices in his
own house--R had an ofhce
down street would never get
there on timen he laughed good
lhumofe dIy as he left the table and
" stood by the window looking over
\ the morning mail Outside the
world vas wrapped in whits
drift OF snow which had fallen
steadily + for eighteen hours. How
many times he had shoveled the
Zpaths around the house and then
& the broad sidewalk in front of the
house Next to the house was de
Z Datab1e ground, for Anthony,s old
sweetheart lived there solitary,
except for couple OF servants
Their break had come on the eve
of their wedding fifteen years ago
B and the hurt was so deep thas
neither one had ever married.
sAnthony measured the long, lonely
years by the winter SHOWS that
had fallen in summer he rarely
even g1impsed Rose Mary Gray.
for she always spent the summer
months with relatives at the sea-
shore. whence she returned IN
October looking very brown ana
golden Shued, but her eyes were al
ways sad :.
F,ools!', sharp tongued Aunt
Emue1iIe said Of the two.
tsPoor souls. 2, the more gentle
Amanda would murmur, as she
cay them pass haughtily by each
other. Rose Mary with the slight
ssestS lima ton of her head and
with the stiff removal OF
his hat
ssys5slsss.If they would only look at each
other just once" groaned Miss
Amanda that March morning as
she shot glance over toward
Rose Mary,s big square white
house, which stood between the
two big Harper houses on the
main street. She was looking to
f see il odd black Amos was clear
ing the snow from Rose Maryss
walks, but the level stretch was
4ln broken. Something must nave
happened to Amos, for he was
-, f,.I 10y,
4 happened that whenever Anthony
reached the end OF his own side
walks Rose Mary's would be clear
ed SO he could proceed straight on
Ssto5 Aunt ,Emmeline's and clean that
off He might have hired the
work done but he really liked the
exercise.
5ss Anthony, booted and muffled for
the work, went out with his snow
shovel. AS he; shoyeIed the fleecy
@whiteness and the blood went ting
ling through his veins, old dreams
came a-trouB1ing him. If he and
Rose Mary had married, they
would have been living in Rose
sMary's house and their children
might have been playing in this
very snow! At this moment. An
sthonys dug so viciously into the
Caught Lue- SAofei On
4 the pickets <of the iron fence ana
split 1T badly His first thought
was to 60 back for the oVar
shovel, then after he had gone a
dozen PAGES he retracted his step
sand went on shoveling, and that
smoment#of indecisions changed his
whole life.
Driven by the anguished mem
gories and bitter remorse that he
had not humb1ed himself to the
ground to keep his beautiful. love,
the man worked furiously, half
blinded by the mist before his
eyes for an hour he shoveled. for
getting that he had not crossed
! the stretch between his house and
Rose MafE's.
Three women watched him
Miss Amanda saw him when he
tl