Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1930-03-15
HER SWEETHEART CAME
BACK TO HER DEAD


<that he was also sacrificing her
chance to be happy. But that didn't
matter. There was a human life at
stake.
They sat in the porch swing in
front of her fathers bed room, and
the moonbeams fell, lighting the misty
places of the enormous lawn. Besides,
church bell was ringing softly in
the distance. Soon there would be
many rich southern voices singing
church hymns, and feeling of in
tense sacredness would take posses
sion of her.
Her hand stole out and met the
boys in the semi darkness Of the
secluded porch corner.
"All right, dear" she murmured.
81 understand. am willing. It's like
forcibly tearing my heart out to see
you go, for I know that when you
leave all is over between uS-that l
again. But it's to save human life.
The life o. a girl like me-and I can't
stand to see her die. I guess you're
right. There's no other way. Go
now, and God bless you, my sweet
| heart"
ness.
That was dramatic ending to one
of the strangeSt love affairs that has
ever been carried on by boy and a
girl. They sacrificed their happiness
to save a human life. What more
could humanity ask? And they were
colored - hero and heroine, as are
seen in movie thrillers, only they act
ually lived through this climax. This
was a sacrifice for love.
The boy went away. He stayed
away. He did not come back. Day al
ter day Maybelle walked about in
the isolated parts of the town, alone,
thinking and dreaming. Years pass
ed. Changes came. Old ways went
out and new ways come in. There
was no end to the changes that &C.
Cured. Styles in clothes changed.
The hammock in the Martin front
yard, which was made of barrel slaves
changed too. 1t became suddenly a
bright red lawn swing, with an avn
ing to protect Maybeile from the sun.
Down behind the house not far away
was the river. 1t cleaned like huge
patch of silver in the sunlight.
But perhaps Maybelle was not
aware of the fact that she, too, was
changing She had never married.
She had never, in fact, had more
than one sweetheart in her life, and
he had made a sacrifice to save a
human life ter. years before. Ten
years. That is long time. 1t was
certainly a long time for Maybelle,
and she counted the days and the
months since she had parted from
the man who lived in her heart. She
shuddered. o, it had been so long
ago.
Maybelle walked down the railroad
track that night - the night of the
big event - thinking of how she had
walked down the rails that evening,
ever so long ago, before the only
hope she had ever known, had passed
out of her world And she sang a
SAD little song, deliberately, feelingly,
with the sentiment of her soul CROP
ping out between the words. What
else could one expect of a woman
who had been denied the happiness
of romance?
| W q paw va
the track where something attracted
her attention. 1t was dark lump,
motionless, flat against the cinders
and the steel rails, and, she saw, al
mos before she realized it, that she
Wa staring at the body of man.
The man was uncouth in appear
ance. He wore overalls. These were
soiled Patches showed here and
there. Besides, the face was unshav-
en-, and the shirt collar, showing,
was dirty and wrinkled. Was the
man dead?
She did not know what to do at
first, but knelt down beside the pros
trate figure. She felt the flesh; it
was cold. The mans face was like
ice. She lifted one of the motionless
hands, it too, was like ice. There was
no sign of life about the man. Was
he dead?
A terrible fear beat at her brain.
She could not see the face without
T0TITu ED0M