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MEETING EYES.
s t,\ to oni tmriiMl post,
\ ! m *'*;•' o»<i moiirniNi oy the lonely grave
;p n^mriitni lift* mm could not last—
fin* ot'HMiiM* no iei!<i«M’H8t prayer could save.
Then into iht- vMiriti wo turned away.
Ami sorrow waikod with uh day by day
a faii**a tw».« an<l a u„„ wute glove
lantern a lees oi hair, half curled—
Pooi sn*i tMvjut-sts of our dear dead love,
Yet viuiih the wfuiuiot the whole wide world,
A kI))*ii h |w*t»hle nmy tell aright
Of tiir iH'tiun s .input ami the ocean’s might.
We made a irrnve. and wosaid good-by 1
Ah. looiwh dreamers' we moved apart.
And thought, m out folly, Love could die,
While nfe throbbed on in the brain and heart.
“Now nil ih over ” we sighing said
Since Love, the cherished, lies cold and dead.
Not so es*iov«*(l -ah. never so'
For whettevei your dear face comes In sight.
Heart springs to heart with the old, warm glow,
Ami silence speaks with the old delight,
t jj empi v grave in the sunshine lies,
«Jut Love still lives In our meeting eyes. , ,
- Madeline 8 Bridges in Frank Leslie’s.
S’BETH.
A wugon drawn by two mules was cross¬
ing the track below the railway station at
Shelbyville It was used for hauling
earth ami Its low sides and heavy wheels
were painted thickly with clay, whose dull
reddish line fell In with the swan tints of
the mules and took a brighter color from
contrast wivh the faded blue jean clothes
of the driver
He sut slouching forward on the seat, a
man of years enough to have his sandy
bail grizzled and his temnles tracked
sharply beyond the opaque looking blue
’eyes set deeply in the leatberu yellow of
his genial lace fell In between staring cheek
One cheek
bone and ponderous jaw like a curled
beech leal of winter; the other bulged did
over a piece of tobacco whose presence
not hindei the song that broke in cracked
melody from the driver’s scooped under
lip
Cornu, warid'rent Id tbln vale o’ cbeara,
Bid uv’ry |i>y on yearth fahrwoll;
Arouse yo’ souls to dismul fears,
Fui yandur stalks the lord o’ hell.
Nun take yo’ suilt, my bretheren,
An’ march ahead like conquerin’ men!
The way is long, the ske-y Is dyark,
A thousand rocks our footsteps stay;
The floods ihet raged eroun* the ark
i *o wait to sweep our souls away.
Nen lake yo stuff, my bretheren,
An march aheatl like conquerin’ men I
He beat the dolorous measure of the
hymn on the mules' backs with loosely
held reins to whose slight motiou they
gave no heed, unhasting and their unresting
they addressed themselves to task,
then solemn tan colored noses nod" ding
confidentially at the grouud. their tall
ears fanning the soft air cverhead
It was a morning lifted toward arch the of blue height sky of
April across the a
light wind was herding a flock of furry
little clouds The magic of a few warm
days had frothed the silver poplars In
* carry foliage, maples along the foad were
alert with small honey dipped itself foliage, and
here and there a bush showed strung
with pale green heads
As the wagon went seemed on, springing In uke im
pulse of the blood, year be squared to stir himself D
Runyan upright s altitude, for and told the to
an having of
mules they were too lazy to got toy, out
their tracks, ho began s tender whose
burden was
Then I’ll stand oncet more
Aside her door.
And hiiik my heart thet s pinin'
The sitting team was. sedately now drawing in near square a cot¬ of
tage There a prim
yard off the street were other
houses and a store hard by. but this house
had an air of quaint neatness thut made •
it noticeable in a Kentucky town It was
of oue story and so low that unwittingly
one bent his head in crossing the thresh
old A porch rau the front length, painted
with the rest of the house a decent drab
coloi like the even curtains in the two
front windows The door was darker
.
and hsd an iron knocker The uarruw
bricked walk to the gate wore a fictitious
• redues*. due to a certain wash spread over
it ou Saturday mornings at 8 precisely of
the dock
This reddening process had not kept
some thrifty ants from casting chinks, up a num- each
her of little mounds in the
with a hollow on top like a dimple in a
dark cheek Daily these defiant bulwarks
were thrust down by Miss Elizabeth Shat
tuc’s broom, daily they rose again.
When the time of year permitted. Miss
Elizabeth was (generally liuke Runyan out sweeping by at
the bour when went
If there was any design on either side it
had custom of twenty years to sanction it
People bad long since ceased smiling
wtien they saw tne dirt carf stop for a
moment opposite the cottage gate, as it
did this morning •
“Huh there huh. you Jim " This to
the mules who were like to have halted
of theii own accord though them Mr Runyan
always tried to persuade that while they ho
had nevei himself slopped there before,
carried as if the idea of pausing
had come over him so suddenly thntjie mules
was hard put to it to restrain the
from going on day. Miss 'Beth Still
workin “Right pretty yen?” a
, are
She leaned over the gate "Law, yes,
Mr Runyan Pears like thar’s no end to
it Now these ants Well. I don’t know;
they t ahly beat me sometimes Las’sum
uiei some o the little 1 weeny red the kyind got
in the house, au hed to hev logs o’
the kitchen safe sot in pans o’ water the
hull season They like to a wore me
out ”
“Yeh aln t a tellln’l" excluiroed Duke,
expresiveof surprised condolence “Well,
thars lots o worriments in life How’s
Gene tee I fn this ino’iiiiiT’ There was a
keen inierest in Iiib inquiry that he seemed
to I'-gu-i foi lie added, hastily, “I thought
mebhy ihis pretty weather’d make him
right peart ”
*
Miss Elizabeth looked down the street
with studied scrutiny of a distant object.
Her forty years sat light upon her There
was something childlike in her carriage,
though her hair was quite gray save In
places where touches or Its former under light
brown still held its color, below her
lip giving her white little face a pathetic
expressi'M strongly was n sudden holloa, so
•m.u Ued it looke^ as if held by an
inner suction She seemed to be casting
in her rniud for an answer to Duke's quec
tion
"’Gene’s been complainin' some this
monln .’ she said, slowly, after a little.
he hed a pore uight’a rest—skesly
caught wink sleep ”
a o
“Shuh 1 1 wuz with stijdyin bout to-night, cornin'
around to visit him some
but, o course, ef he's feelin porely”
He broke off with an anxious questioning
in his voice
“I don’t b’lteve he’d keor to talk much
right now lies deep in his railroad wheel,
yen know CL. an he Iowh thet talk unsettles
him." sat Miss Elizabeth, hurriedly
• ’Well, yeh must let me know ef thar’s
anything I ©an do fer y‘ all.” said Mr
Runyan as he gathered his reins “I’ll
be puttin' on now Mo’nin’. Miss ’Beth
G’up. Jim! Clk elk, elk."
The heavy wagon rumbled on, and^pre
sently after Miss Elizabeth went indoors,
and several ants came out of ambush, be¬
ginning hopefully to lay the ground work
of new fortifications
“Who's thet a-gassin’ with yeh out
front, s’Beth?” ^
Miss ’Beth came into the mid one of the
house’s three rooms, whence the voice pro
ceeded “Why, I reckon yeh must iiev
heel'd Mr Juke Runyan, druv ’Gene, an’—ast he passed fer
the time o’ day as he by.
you’us. ”
“Did. hey?" said ’Gene, in a thin voice
of sarcasm He was something younger
than his sister Elizabeth, a man distorted
from his birth, drawn and shrunken of
limb and body as if wrung out of fair
shape by nature in a demoniac mood, vet
her freaks bad left his bead noble, as if to
add a deeper hurt by showing what she
might have made him Noble modeled as to high lips,
brow, clear eyes, and finely
though the beauty of these was stained
with a querulous expression, born less of
suffering thau of a profound realization He of
bis difference from other men sat in
a chair shaped to his meager proportions;
before him was a table laden with odd
tools, coils of wire, sheets of paper over
wrought with diagn&ns, and others of the
furniture that appertains to the man of
inventive turn
Be was working on a small wheel, the
hundredth continent of his ambitious
hopes, he set it down as he looked nar
rowly at his sister “What does Juke
Runyan keer ef I’m well er sick, s’Beth?”
“I reckon he jest feels friendly, ’Gene.”
•« Hm-m! think so? Don’t yeh reckon
he’d feel a heap friendlier ef he wuz to go
by some fine day an’see a string o’ crape
a Eu^riuucr dandlin’ on the door knob, s’Beth?”
indignantly “I would so ’F yeh feel
thet a ways I’ll go out in the kitchen I
don’t hev to tek sech talk off’n yeh, an’ I
ain’t a goin’ to.”
’Gene laughed a little unpleasantly;
then his face drew together painfully, and
lie leaned his pale forehead on one hand.
“Yell’d marry thet man ef 'twuzn’t fer
me. h Beth-me an’ the promise yeh made
to mother thet yeh wouldn’t never let
nothin’come betwixt us. ”
S’Beth s lips quivered; then she smiled
“Well, l will! 1 reckon I’d wait till I wuz
ast. anyways, J which I’ve never been yit.”
"I'o ,, ,, ks can onderstand , . , each i other ,, ,, thout v. .
paasMi' words." said Oeae ahavpi. W
diff'ruiice S’Beth, you wait, that's more
ahead ef yeh then to be a dirt hauler’s
done, tbar’ll be money by the pile fer
every last year I’ve lived in this wreck of
a body . t. a pfmn vx We 7 vs'ii U Croat the seas an
well see t he hull world. I know 11 I ve
dreamt it' Who knows, s’Beth—thar’s
great doctors beyand the ocean—who
knows but what they can make me like
other folks?—make me straight ’Lizabeth an’ well.
Quit a sturfn’ at me thet a ways.
Shut t tie' I won’t hev it!"
She came to him swiftly, and shut his
eves against her breast Something like
amused satisfaction curled his lips
"Thet sort o’talk alwuz fetches her,”
In* was thinking
■ I didn’t go to stare at yeh, honey,”
niurmuiod his sister “I’m only a study
in how 1 cun do fer yeh to make yeh
happv I want, yeh to quit a rnakin’ out
like yeh jedged L wuz hankerin’ to marry
away from yeh—mie that promitsed uever
tq‘UM She pol bin close separate us ” Her
was to tears nature was
a familiar instrument to her brother, and
he moved the tune that pleased his mood
upon Not its tight drawn strings
long after she had gone about her
morning work ’Gene was roused from his
muse by a shrill greeting “Ain’t yeh go
in to give me a bid to come in, Mr Shat
tuc?” Ixxiking up he saw Looiy Ann Beas
p>y standing in the doorway She was a
young ff woman, whose fresh face looked as
j t had been stroked upward in the pliant
time „d dented of babyhood; lip her hairless abruptly eyebrows each
a upper rose at
center, there was even au upward turn of
her chin, in which Nature had planted a
hard little dimple, as if by way of vicious
experiment doin’?”
‘* How re y all she asked, cheer
fully
“On’y from fair to middlin’, Looiy Ann,”
said ’Genu Vouie an shake hands.”
Ho took a t^ul grim delight in forcing folks
to lake hi., right hand, he liked to
see them blench at its chill touch, unnat*
ural in temticrat ure as in shape. \
Sel d “ wu tt " teU “ 8 w . lut 8 e° m . , „
Mtss „ Shelbyvtlle Beasley , earned and her the , very . latest of it ,
news in verstott
tvas fresh fermenting and expansive as
now TO that keeps to the sl.ape of the
(luvo. of malice that pervaded her views
pleaseti him with Us sharp taste
W hat s happened o late. Looiy Anil?
he pursnctl happens
Awe nothin ever hyere,
sae replied with a flare of her nostrils;
thai hezn l been month—- a thing gom on in this call
town fei n.sin a less yeh d
the church doin s last night sumpthin.
t went but 1 don t give a snap o’my
t t ei church doin s
? VVUS J a ^n 'alr wuzn t *t^
• . \ os. but >eh d a thought it wuz a
from the way people turned out
U by. wuzu t you a s Beth thar? Y all
gnuniU^ aJve ni se- h things^
• « tell oo poieiy, an s beth wouldn t
hyear to leavin me I diduit want her to
stay homo, but she wouldn t hev it no
°L;ei way. said Gene
"WcH. yeh didnt miss nothin , , cept
ono thine, aii likely yeh wouldn t a po-
ticed it ez I did Ever see that niece i
Mis’ Bylands thet s visitm her from
Breathitt county ?
“Little low gyurl—fair complected „
“Yes—hez fve yeller hair. her apa^m;dont , ,,
‘d b heve seen
her nose do somethin funny, sa d ene,
* n delicate compliment to M ss Beasley,
who said the nose in question was ‘sorter
though \V ell, ez I ^ wuz tellin , she v\uz
at ^ ocia ,- an a lck * ed yeh
to death to a watched Juke ™ Runyan set
Yeh know them old baches #
tin up to her
genrully do fancy a right young fool of a
£y uid gallavanted °*d lady her the Runyan, bull even
an kis Lua ^; wuz
pleased , ez punkins, she passed the re
mark thet ske w hlsb f to goodness Juke d
marry an she lowed ef he settled to suit
^er she d give inm he* house, an bui a
1143w sk f d kitchen on, for a wedding pres
dm ^ er l 4 ez portion m . 9 <msal o , r 5 e ^; ^ ^ lu \ law a * to ‘
her, they 7 say 7 she can smell dust on the
, . , , A £2
^ Ji,V‘".
h Uul h “ ,d Dut down her
. , Miss Beasley’s
v0 '' ttttle «?’ ot e ° 8s P .“M ,S ,112
her arms still bared, the ^ knuckles show
® , 7 her nds M
her shaken mind strove to com prehen ,
a
s ‘ on R® P a * a - she .was oddly conscious
of observing the delicate flushing of
j iard s ©t finger nails, bleached at each tip
a w kite cresent that held by a space of
vivid rose color from the smaller arc at
^ ase ^ ar g er emotions were
calmed and . held , by this little. sensation,
as running waters by a dam of clay.
Presently she began to see that her
tranquil happiness result less during of her the slavish long devo- years
kad been a
to Gene than of her perfect trust in
Buke It Runyan in s unspoken her that faithfulness, he right
came upon was
give over a woman who could sacrifice
him as well as herself, and who cared more
fog breaking her box of uard at the feet
°* a ^ auc * 6d duty than for him and his
welfare
Once there came an impetuous desire to
fli n g k© r bondage, but it was throttled
a * the first gasp by the thought of Mrs.
often, By 1 and s niece flower She had seen, the its web gin
arid that of a face in
of bright hair mocked at her She raised
a quick hand to her cheek, and flesh, as she she real¬ felt
the flabby laxness of the
ized with a qualm of physical sickness
tba t she was young no more.
“S Beth, Im goin out on a little arrant.
Dou .’ t Y eh S° to sweep in yonder, er tech
a thing on my table, mind yehl Thet
wheel don t want to get the first smitcb
° dus t on it.’
.
’Gene was passing through the kitchen.
He had on a soft hat. and carried a staff.
His face was paler than its wont, and wore
a stern the expression
As bent form went by her, and she
f aw tk e writhed fingers shut over the
knotty stick, any hard thoughts she had
: ! forever e t ^ or k mi wonI out 8 doth s mind
“Don t yeh go too fur, bro Gene, she
said She called him brother ratiy only in mo
her mC nts of tenderness, wjthout the while he tha { spoket. ^
uaffie sjbUant
for sist( . r sbo thoughl ^ be used , t merely £
^ babjt „ rm to bake betoa55t an
yeb musDt -
: bev ! J ^ mMtb toed fer it/ . he satd
M he went out.
gjj e se ^ vvork, hard driven by her
feelings, and the square reality or pots
and pans relieved her mightily The ta
hie was set forth, and she was watching
^ wo e ggs frying in the skillet, their golden
spheres quivering in shoals of white,
when Gene came back
-Set right down to the table. ’Gene, an 1
I’ll slap oneof these aggs on ter your plate
while it’s rale hot I’ll pass my word
yeh’re \ V har feelin’kind yeb?” o’gone after thet walk.
at wuz
..| didn * U Ht so awful fur-jes down to
whar Jeems Hoggins is goin’to put up
his house, tain t no good half mile, but X
feIt like I d bceu drawed through a knot
bole back ' ards bout the time I got thar;
spring o'the year. I reckon ” He sighed.
.. Ye h oughtn’t & ’a went thet fur ways 1