Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1925-12-04
promised we should be merry" :"

Eyes, today the violin shall sing
of joy; 1t is too beautiful here to be
sad. Even though the first gray geese
Of the year pass south, l shall send
them no message
"And this MESSAGES it a secret?
"a secret, monsieur? What secrets
can a woman cherish in these forests"
Her reply had been spontaneous, in
nOcent Of subterfuge; then, in his
lifted eyebrows and humorous curl of
lip, she caught the reflection of the
double implication of her question
and her face flushed to the temples.
Have you ever longed to journey
south with the passing geese?" he
| quickly asked, gallantly covering her
embarrassment. "As you play them
down the Skies do you not wish 10
join them?"
why, Monsieur Steele, you have
stolen my Dreams" she cried, radiant
with surprise. always, as they pass,
l stand here calling to them to lend
me wings to follow-follow into the
south. I try to lure them back with
my violin-but no, they pass. SO
send them down the wind to mad
quick-step-my bon voyage, my fare
well-until spring pipes them north"
She had risen. And her eyes, shin
ing with emotion, her face, vivid with
the color Of her thoughts, strangely
stirred the man who listened. The
lines of her straight body, from
shoulders to trim feet, held his eyes
Watching her, Steele, asked hinself
what this strange girl, tense as the
strings Of her violin, with her moods
Of aloOfneSs and silence, followed by
swift changes to whimsical gayety end
lightness Of spirit, was coming to
mean to him. AS her eyes again met
his he wondered what memories he
should carry down to Nepigon In Octo-
Der.
"And the message you send VIII
the geese?" he asked. '"rhere ,s HON"
sickness in 1t for your France-your
Touraine?"
"Ah,' she sighed, els 1t not natural
monsieur? do long for the roses
and the poppy fields-the warm sun
on the white roads and the laughter
of the people. There is no laughter at
Wailing River-now." She raised her
hands In eloquent gesture. 1.-THE
winter here is so long-so cold. The
eternal wind in the spruce-does 1t not
speak to you, too? To me there are
always the voices-voices of hunger
and pain-and DEATH"
"Yes, summer or winter" he said
"the voices are everywhere, in the
white-waters. the spruce. the hills
And often, in the breeze, the forest
becomes one great orchestra"
"You have heard 1t, too" she
cried, "the sweep Of the violins, the
moaning of the cellos?"
II always hear them In the sum
mer, from a river; with the drum
beat Of rapids as accompaniment"
"Ah, there Is much of the poet
In you, monsieur" And for an instant
there was, light in the girls eyes
which set wild thoughts stirring in
his brain. But our winter Is beauti-
full, also, in moods" she went on
"The quiet days with the sun on the
snowI love then to walk in the
forest And the winding snowshoe
trails; do they not call you to fol-
low"
Like the white roads of your
Touraine?" he replied. II think / pre-.
fer the northern winter to the sum-
mer, but, of course, it is often grim
and lean for the families Of the hunt
ers-for the women and children"
Her eyes clouded. ut is always
so, for the women and children-they
find life hard-here-in the north. ="
For long interval she was silent
and he knew that her personal prob
lem again haunted her thoughts
Then the muslc-hungry Steele
handed the bag containing the violin
to it's owner, with: please, anything
you care to play that is not sad. To-
day. you know, you were to forget"
and he smiled significantly.
Stretched at length, with hands be-
hind head and closed eyes, Steele
listened as the violin of the girl ran
the gamut of the composers. Rhap
sodies, love songs of many peoples,
fragments of melodies he had never
heard, mad dances Of the Slavs, of
the plains of Hungary, serenades of
Spain and Italy, a riot Of love and
Joy, redolent Of moonlight and fra.
grant gardens, Of ivied towers and old
romance, she conjured for the en-.
chanted ears of the man lying on a
Canadian hilltop. For two hours the
violin sang on the height above the
forest
And as he watched and listened,
Steele often compared this girl he
had known but days, to other women,
who in the past had caught his fancy |;
and to his surprise, as he conjured
them up, and cOntrasted them with
the vivid personality of Denise ST.
nWw