Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-05-21
RICHARD NL4GMBg1RV G|EzZD1

i bird her true nome Was upon Tie open
moors with their free spaces and the
shadows of the clouds passing over the
grass; New York, of adamant and rec
tangles, was as good for the JOY of her
voice as it would have been for that
of wild nightingale. She never spoke
harshly of that "turrible Babylon
however, without adding, But twas
! there I met your father. Brena, and I'll
speak no i'll of it,
So, with some of her sparkling self
dimmed, she gave all her expression OF
| loyalty to her husband; her fight upon
/ gauzy, unsubstantial wings was al
ways a circle about his head, as if she
were brilliant moth lowering about
| the top of grim mountain which al
ways quivered, threatening volcanic
disasters. Something had died within
her when they took her from the moors
and the open places, and that which
/ was left was an Irish beauty and bot
| tomless well Of affection for her man
and her Brena.
1T is from her that / have a leg
acy,' said Brena. 1T is a storehouse
of unspent passion and tenderness.
And it is still mine-to do with as /
please"
| She did not go on to say that those
to whom it would be opened might
enter to be destroyed.
! Brena could not recall the details
of her mothers accounts of the part
her father had played in the disturbed
period Of Greece. There were vague
impressions of secret organization
under the Council of Twelve" to
which he had sworn devotion, of
problem of honor which he had decid-
ed by following a course of conduct
! that had brought down upon him the
penalty of assassination A sharply
defined portrait of this young patriot,
a member Of the Salamis deputation
| Of 1862 informing King Ohio, the last
| of the Bavarian alien mOnarchs, that
the throne Of Greece was vacant, re-
/ manned in Brena's mind. She confessed
/ to a thrill of pride that upon an Occa-
sion, historic and momentous, her ia
Their, then only twenty-eight, had been
present in, a major role. This had
been the top moment of his life; those
whom he had aided turned upon him.
The strength of powerful secret or
ganization, gradually falling into un-
scrupulous hands after it's true func-
/ lions were over, had been turned
against him. His name became ira
i ditional center of oaths of vengeance;
/ with knife wounds upon his great
arms and thighs and an unremoved
bullet in his shoulder, he came to
America. He was a man who had
| lived one life, and expected the world
/ to recognize him as an important be-
| ing. 1t saw In him only a silent,
| learned man, inventing thousand am
billions and from them choosing no
fixed purpose, designating money in
! land where money, for the time, was
the fetish, careless of poverty but hui
inflated periodically by debt, discourse
ing upon biological chemistry years be-
| fore the scientific world had the
| Imagination to listen-a giant, with
dark haunting eyes, long Homeric hair
| and beard, always brushed back as II
he were eternally facing hurricane,
and g. voice and presence as mysteri-
ously impressive as that of some Eli
jah. Even Brena remembered his af-.
lection for her, profound as 1t was, as
being like the affection of some god of
mythology directed down upon beau
tifui but mortal child.
/ Between the frivolous sunlight Of
her mother and the magnificent sha-
dow Of her father, Brena grew, acquir-
/ ing from one a whimsical humor and
| from the other a calm of high cliffs
and of a Parthenon.
According to Brena's own phrase,
/ she chad no childhood and all child
hood" She had none because her fa-
Their, after a month or two of concen-
trated application of his mind upon
studies of similarities In the architec-
ture of ancient Mexico and prehistoric
| Greece, would find the butcher, land
| lord and grocer at his door, and then,
| as If awakened, he would take his lit
tie family and board the train for some
minor university where he would teach
himself out of debt and into period
| of bitterness of heart because neither
his learning nor his important place
| in history were given recognition.
/ With a great sigh from his expansive
chest, he would move on again in pur-
suit of some inquiry, some research,
some new application of his heroic, i'm
practical head. In consequence, the
| little girl, red of cheeks, with spin
/ ding legs and great wondering brown
eyes, never stayed long enough any
where for acquaintance with children
and for play. Tutored by her mother
and by the booming, terrifying voice of
| Demetrius SelcoSs when he, as he said,
could spare time for it, she learned a
taste for books aud consumed them,
according to her own story, like a
hungry little pig regardless of the wis
dom of a diet and eating all that was
within reach" The books served to
give her a. fake veneer of experience
/ and maturity.
This outer covering was fake be-
cause it failed to represent the truth
that Brena had reached sixteen, with
physical attributes which made men
| turn as she passed but without any
consciousness Of having approached
womanhood. Without contacts with
childhood ever on the move, living in