Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-03-05
BY ELLA SAUNDERS

THE large lilac tree had seen SO
l. many kisses exchanged beneath it.
| II had lived to an Incredible age. When
ii was a very little lilac tree a very
| little girl had come toddling past it
and blown kisses to it with her hands.
u like 90, pretty lilac tree she had
said
And she had kissed her kitten and
her puppy and her doll and her moth
| er beneath hat first, tentative spray
| of lilac. because childhood is prodigal
| of kisses.
Youth is no less greedy than child
| hood is prod gal The lilac tree was "a
large tree now, and laden with flow
ers, when the youth and the girl, who
| We're strolling hand in hand, stopped
| beneath it.
They looked at each other, and
| suddenly he was holding her in his
arms and pressing her to him Sweet
neart, love you, only you, TO the end
of my Iife!' he said.
and | you, John" the girl whis-
pered.
And passionate kisses were inter
| changed under the laden lilac bOughs.
| If a lilac tree has neither eyes nor
ears, perhaps it has a sort Of sixth
sense which enables it to understand
ana to rejoice in the happiness of
| others. Al any rate, it had never bios
somed SO gaiy as that spring, when
| the young people met every evening
| beneath its branches.
The girl tore them off fragrant with
the flowers. and carried them home,
and their scent brought back to her
the memory of those kisses.
They were married, and now a tiny
girl comes toddlng under the lilacs.
Kiss 90, Mummy
The mother signs Il little wistfuly
remembering her own childhood un-
der the same lilac tree. She kisses
her, and wonders at the difference be
tween those kisses and the ones she
exchanged with John.
The Mac tree only has eyes for hap
pinesS. 1t knew nothing of the white
Grape on the door that year, or of the
broken-hearted mother. Nor of the
slow estrangement that followed. But
the next spring there was strange
man standing with the girl beneath
the lilac tree
And the kisses that were exchanged
there were slow, deep, burning, bitter
kisses
He doesn't care for you, Mildred.
He never cared. He is wrapped up in
his business"
NO, he never cared" she answered
Come away with me, Mildred, dar-
ling, can make you happy. | viii
lake you South to my home. No one
shall ever know the past"
Charles" raised her eyes
earnestly to his face-"wth all my
heart want to. Butt can't. II
isn't my nature love you, but every
fiber in me revolts against what you
ask me-"
Are you going to sacrifice all the
happiness of our two lives to an ideal,
Mildred?"
And he pleaded very earnestly, but
the lilac tree WAS only conscious of it,
as if cold wind blew through its
branches, closing each tiny petal of its
lowers
"Then this is to be good-by," he said.
"It is to be good-by," she breathed
softly.
And the kisses that were exchanged
for the last time were salty, salty aS
blood; it was their hearts blood that
| they poured out under the lilac tree.
An old woman comes and stands be-
meath the lilac. 1t is Il warm May
day. The aged lilac feels the warmth
and puts out its flowers. They are
fragrant, but they are not like the
flowers Of long ago. 1t is a very o'd
tree. and will not see many more
Mays
An old man comes from the house
ANA approaches the old woman Their
J hands clasp; he takes her in his arms
and kisses her.
do YOU remember, Mildred-that
day long ago.
Yes, John
1--WE found each other then. And,
after our first little girl died, we
nearly lost each other. didn't we?'
-But we found each other again for
| ever, John Second love is best
1T was always the same love, Mil
| bred" the old man answered.
And perhaps that tender kiss that
they interchanged was the best Of all
the kisses that the lilac tree had
known For, in the kiss of youth is
the sting of jealousy and the kiss o!
| childhood is like an unONened flower