w&m mwcW wywirW, 12 THE PITTSBUEG DISPATCH, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1892. A LEMON TREE. WBITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH BY "QUID A. "But put it out of your bead, out of your head, little onel" he said. "Even if the boy should keep of the same mind, never would Lillo consent" "Cecco -will keep in the Bsme mind," said Lizina, with the serene, undonbting cer tainty of childhood, and she broke off a lit tle twig of the lemon tree with a bud upon it and three leaves, and gave it to Ceeco that evening in the dusk as they tat again upon the river wall. It was all she had to give, except her lit tle waking heart. The next day he went away along the dusty high-road in his father's cart to begin his new life. He sobbed as if his heart would break, and lastened in his shirt was the lemon shoot. "To break off a uud. Oh, Lizina," cried her father in reproof and reproach. A bud meant a frnit, and a fruit meant a half penny, perhaps a penny. "It is only one," said the child, "and I have nothing else." Lizina did not speak of him, nor did she seem to fret in any way. Her blithe voice rang in clrar carol over the green river wa'er as she at on the wall whilst her father worked below, and she ate her dry Dread wittt healtny ana nappy appetite. "She is only a baby. She has forgotten the boy already," thought tier father, half disappointed, half-relieved, whilst he broke up the earth about the roots of the lemon trees, and counted the little pointed fruits coming out on it, green as malachite, and promising a fair crop. No letters could arrive to stimulate her memory, for Cecco could scarcely scrawl his name, and Lizina could not read her A, B, C Absence to the poor is a complete rupture, an absolute blank, over which the intelligence can throw no bridge. Frincuello worked early and late, worked like a willm; mule, and lost no chance of doing anvthing, however hard, which could bring in a centime, and he was so tired when night lcll that he could do little ex cept an allow his bread soup and fling him self don n on his bed of dry leavesthrust into an old sack. So that as long as Lizina's voice as heard in song, and her little bare feet ran busily to and lro, he noticed noth ing else, and was content, believing all was with her. The winter which followed on Cecco's departure to his military service was of un usual rigour for the "vale of Arno; the waters ere stormy and dark and the fields were frozen and broun, and snow lay on the long lines of the mountains from their summit to their base. But the lemon tree flourished before its narrow window, and Lizina was well and gay in the cold little brick-floored, plaster-walled, unceiled gar ret; and her father asked nothing more of Fate, and went out to hU work in the bitter coldness and darkness of the morning dawns with an empty stomach, but a warm heart, leaving her sleeping, easily and dreamless ly, curled up like a little dormouse in her corner of the room. The winter passed and the spring came, making all the orchard lauds once more be come seas of white flowers, and setting the chaffinencs and linnets and nightingales to work at their nests anioncst" the lovely labyrinth ot bursting blossoms; and one sunlit afternoon toward the close of April, the village priest, coming alons the road bv the nyer, saw Fringuello, who was back ing his sand-cart into the bed of the now shallow stream, and beckoned to him. The priest had an open letter in his hand, and his plump, smooth, olive face was sad. "Dano," he said gravely, "I have some terrible news in this paper. Lille's sou Cecco is dead. I have to go and tell the f.uuily. The authorities have written to me." He stopped suddenly, surprised by the effect which the news had on his hearer. "Saints protect us, how vou look!" he cried. "One would think you were the lad' father!" "Is it sure? Is it true?" stammered Fringuello. "Aye, aye, it is true and sure enough. The authorities write to toe," answered the vicar with some pride. "Poor ladl Poor, good, pretty ladl They sent him to the Harenna marshes, and the ague and fever got on him, and he died in the fort a week ago. And only to think that this time last year he was bringing me armsful of bloom ing cherry boughs for the altar at Easter Day. And now dead and buried! Good lack! Far away from all his friends, poor ladl The decrees of heaven are inscrutable, but it is, of course, lor the best." He crossed himself and went on his way. Fringuello doffed his cap mechanically, and crossed himself also, and rested against the shaft of his cart with his face leaning on his hands. His hope was struck down into nothingness; the future no longer had a smile. Though he had told himself and them that children were fickle and unstable, and that nothing was less likely than that the lad wonld come back in the same mind. he had nevertheless clnng to and cherished the idea of such a fate lor his little daughter with a tenacity of which he had been unconscious until his air castle was scattered to the winds by the words of the riest. The boy was dead; and never would iziua go to dwell in peace and plenty at the old farm house by the great pine. "It was too good to be. Patience," he said to himself with a groan as he lifted his head and bade the mule between the shafts move onward. His job had to be done; his load had to be carried; he had no leisure to Bit down alone with his regret. "And it is worse for Lillo than it is lor me," he said to himself, with an unselfish thought for the lad's lather.- He looked up at the little window of his own attic, which he could see afar ofi; the lemon tree was visible, and besides it the little brown head of Lizina as she sat sewing. "Perhaps she will not care; I hope she will not care," he thought. He longed to go and tell her himself lest she should hear it from some gossip, but he could not leave his work. Yet, he could not bear the child to learn it first Irom tho careless chattering of neighboring gossips. When he had discharged the load he carried he fastened the mule to a post by the water side, and said to a fellow carter: "Will you watch him a moment whilst I run home?" and, on the man's assenting, he flew with lightning speed along the road and up the staircase of his house. Lizina dropped lifr sewing in amazement as he burst into the room and stood on the thresh old with a look which frightened her. She ran to him quickly. "Babbol Babbo! What is the matter?" she cried to him. Then, before he conld answer, she said timidly, under her breath, "Is anything wrong with Cecco?" Then Fringuello turned his head away and wept aloud. He had hoped the child had forgotten. He knew now that she had remembered only too well. All thronch the vear which had gone by since the departure of the youth she had been as happy as a field mouse undisturbed in the wheat." The grain was not ripe yet for her, but she was sure that it would be, and that her harvest would be plenteous. She had always been sure, quite sure, that Cecco would come back;and now, in an instant, she understood that ha was dead. Lizina said little then or at any time; but the little gay life of her changed, grew dull , seemed to shrink into itself and wither up as a flower will when a worm is at its root. She had been so sure that Cecco would re turn. "She is so young; soon it will not matter to her," her father told himself; but the months went by and the seasons, and she did not recover her bloom, her mirth, her elasticitv; her small face was always grave and pale!, She went about her work iu the same way, and was docile, and industrious and uncomplaining, but something was wrong with her. She did not laugh, she did not sing, she seldom even spoke unless she was spoken to first. He tried to per suade himself that there was no change in her; but he knew that he tried to feed him self on falsehood. He might as well hive thought his lemon tree unaltered it he had found it withered up by fire. Once she said to him: "Could one walk there ?" ' "Where, dear ? Where ? "Where they have put Cecco,'' she ans wered, knowing nothing of distance or measurements or the meaning of travel and change of place. She had never been far ther than across the ferry to the'other bank nf th river. He threw up his hands in despair. "Lord! my treasure! why it is miles and miles and miles awayl I don't know rightly even where somewhere the sun goes down." - And her idea of walking thither seemed to him so stupifylng, so amazing, so incred ible, that he stared at her timorously, afraid that her brain was going wrong. He had never gone anywhere in all his life. "Ask how one can get there," she per sisted,' and wound her arm about his throat, and laid her cheek against his in her old caressing way. "lou are mad, little one; quite maai said Fringuello, aghast and affrighted; and he begged the priest to come and see her. The priest did come, but said sorrowfully to him: "Were I you I would take her down to one of the hospitals in the town: she is ill." He did so. He had been in town but a few times in his whole life; she never. It was now wintry weather; the roads were wet, tne winds were com; tnecnuacougnea as she walked, and shivered in her scanty and too tbin clothes. The wise men at the hospital looked at her hastily among a crowd ot sick people, and said some unin telligible words, and scrawled something on a piece of paper a medicine, as it proved which cost to buy more than a day of a sand carter's wages. "Has she really any illness?" he asked, with wild imploring eyes, of the chemist who made up the medicine. Uh, no; a mere nothing, said the man in answer; but thought as he spoke: "The doctors might spare the poor devil's money. When the blood is all water like that there is nothing to be done, the life just goes out like a wind-blown candle. Oet her good wine, butcher's meat, plenty of nourishing food," he added, reflecting that while there is voutn there is nope. The father groaned aloud as he laid down the coins which were the price of the medi cine. Wine! Heat! Nourishment! They might as well have bidden him feed her on powdered pearls and melted gold. They got home that day footsore and wet through; he made a little fire of boughs and vine branches, and for the first time, ever since it had been planted, be forgot to look at the lemon tree. "You are not ill, my Lizinina?" he said eagerly; "the chemist told me it was noth ing." "Oh, no, it is nothing," said the child, and she spoke cheerfully, and tried to con trol the cough which shook her from head to foot. Tears rolled down her father's cheeks and fell onto the smoldering heather which he had set alight Wine! Meat I Nounsh mpent! the three vain words rang through his bead all night Tney might as well have bade him set her on a golden throne, and call the stars down from their spheres to circle round her. "My poor Itttle baby!" he thought; "never did she have a finger ache', or a win ter chill, or an hour's discomfort, or a mo ment's pain in mind or body until now." "Oh, my prettv, what should we do, you and I, in a strange place!" moaned Fringu ello, weeping with lear at the thought of change and with grief at the worn, fevered face lifted up to his. "Never have I stirred from here since I was born, nor you. To move to and lro that is for well-to-do folks, not for us; and when yon are so ill, xny poor little one, that yon can scarcely stand on your feet, if you were to die on the way" , "I shall not die on.the way," said the child firmly. "But I know nought of the way," he cried, wildly and plteouslv. "Never was I in one of those strings of fire-led wagons, nor was ever any one of my people that ever I heard tell of; how should we ever get there, you and I? I know not even rightly what place it is." "I know," said Lizina, and she took a crumbled scrap of paper out of the breast of her worn and frayed cotton frock. It bore the "name of the seashore town where Cecco had died. She had got the priest to write it down for her. "If we show this all along as we go people will put us ricbt until we reach the place," she said, with that quiet persistency which was so new in her. Lizina, in the double cruelty of her childhood and of her ill health, was merci less to her father, and to the tree which had been her companion so long. She was possessed by the egotism of sorrow. She was a little thing, now enfeebled and broken by long nights without sleep and long days without food, and her heart was set on this one idea, which she did not reveal that she would die down tnere and then they would put her in the same ground with him. This was her idea. In the night she got up noiselessly, whilst her father was for awhile sunk in the deep sleep which comes after hard manual toil, and came up to the lemon tree and leaned her cheek against its earthen vase. "I am sorrr to send you away, deary," she said to it; "but there is no other way to go to him." Her father hid his face in his hands; he felt helpless before her stronger will. She would force him to do what she desired; he knew and he trembled, for he had neither knowledge nor means to make such a journey as this would be, to the marsh lands in the west, where Cecco lay. "And the tree, the tree," he muttered. He had seen the tree so long by that little square window; it was part ot his life and hers. The thought'of its sale terrified him ai if he were going to sell some human friend into bondage. "There is no other way," said Lizina, sadly. She, too, was loath to sell the tree; but they had nothing else to sell, and the intense selfishness ot a fixed idea possessed her to the exclusion of all other feeling. Thea the cough shook her once more from head to foot and a little froth ot blood came to her lips. She felt as if it must understand and must feel wounded. Then she broke off a little branch a small one with a few flowers on it "That is lor him," she said to it; and she stood there stupidly with the moon light pouring in on her and the lemon tree through the little square hole of the win dow. When she got back to her bed she was chilled to the bone, and she stuffed the rough sacking of her coverture between her teeth, to stop the coughing which might wake her father. She had put the little branches of her lemon tree into the broken pitcher which stood by her at night to slake ner thrist "Sell it, Babba, quick, quick," she said in the morning. She was afraid her strength wonld not last for the journey, but sbe did not say so. She tried to seem cheerful he thought her better. But she was so young, and had been al ways so strong, he thought, this would pass before long;' and she would be herself again brisk, brown, agile, mirthful, singing at the top of her voice as she ran through the lines of the cherry trees. He denied him self everything "to get her food, and left himself scarce enough to keep the spark of life in him. He sold even his one better suit ot clothes and his one pair ot boots; but sbe had no appetite, and, perceiving his sacrifice, took it so piteously to heart that it made her worse. 7b be continued to-morrow. Pebfeot aotfon and perfect health result from the use of Da Witt's Little Early Bfcers. A perfect little pill. Very small; verysuer H V 11 1 W UP Nature's remedies are ofttimes poorly flatte'red by chemical and dangerous imi tations. For five centuries Carlsbad has stood in the role of strength and health giver, and millions have been cured by the Carlsbad Waters of all sorts and man ners of diseases. The genuine Carls bad Sprudel Salts are the Carlsbad water solidified, bottled, and placed in every American Drug Store, to re lieve the public of malassirailation of food, flatulent obesity, catarrh of the stomach, and gives to, all a healthy appetite, strong, vigorous flesli, a perfect digestion. Take no imita tions. Eisner & Mendelson Co., N. Y., Sole Agents. w MEW ADVERTISEMENTS. A New Shortening If you have a sewing machine, a clothes wringer or a carpet sweeper (all new inventions of modern times), it's proof that you can see the usefulness of new things. SAILERS Men's All-Woo! Cheviot Suits, Men's All-Wool Pants, - -Boys' Two-Piece All-Woo! Suits, Boys' All-Woo! Dickey Suits, 's Fine Fur Derby Hats, - - $9.75 - $2.25 - $3.00 - $3.25 - $1.24 Swits Conde Double-Thread Underwear, 44c Is a NEW shortening, and every housekeeper who is interested in the health and comfort of her family should give it a trial. It's a vegetable product and far superior to anything else for shortening and fry ing purposes. Physicians and Cooking Experts say it is destined to be adopted in every kitchen in the land. This is to suggest that you put it in yours now. It's both new and good. Sold by leading grocers everywhere. Made only by N.K. FAIRBANKS, CO., CHICAGO. PITTSBURGH AGENTS! F. SELLERS & CO. Mir, Tailor, Hair aii Fouler, Cor. Smithfield and Diamond Sts. ie28-M7 TO-DAY ALL N TEREST CENTERS IN THE BEAUTY SPOT OF PITTSBURG. $k4 Ld JLrttf PLACEl JJ " T NORTH HIGHLAND AV. EAST END. - -WHERE A LIMITED NUMBER OF- - The M OS Charming Are B Residence Sites in All the City eing Offered For Sale. LJELLA PALACE mlDraces I2 acres f nicely-rolling ground, situated fronting Highland Avenue, near Highland Park and the ...-.-.. v.v.w,, .j ..w mv j. uui, juuii n- uo .uuju uv.iuu ai a, ousi ji piuu,uj yji iiiuiim, ctuia w uc x 111UU.CI ui dl U11I- tectural beauty. The tract is subdivided into 5 7 large, well-proportioned, evenly-graded lots, fronting on broad curbed, asphaltum paved and sewered ave nues and streets, bounded by wide concrete sidewalks, with spaces on either side of the same for shade trees and borders of grass. The Plan is bounded on three sides by Highland avenue, Bryant street and Callowhill street, and bisected by Elgin avenue, Euclid avenue, St. Clair street, Mellon street, Mildred alley (36 ft. wide), Azimuth alley and Maringo alley. In addition to a choice frontage, each lot has a roomy, convenient rear outlet. The systern of sewerage is most elaborate and complete, reaching to every lot. The grading of the grounds, as well as of the streets and alleys, evi dences a feat of engineering skill. The curbing, paving and sidewalking are of the most durable and artistic kind. EASY AGGESS, GRAND OUTLOOK, HEALTHFUL AIR, NO FOGS. By a graduaHnciine an elevation is reached here above the unhealthy fogs and dampness of the lower vallev. where the air is alwa-vQ nnrp nnrl p-vl-iilorat-inrr nnJ fmm -Ua ...:j 1 i : : !.. i j' - j" 1 -" ""..miS, aim Hum wjiuuia. 0. wiuc ana picdbing view is ourainea I over the richest scenery in the East Liberty district Bryant street intersects Highland avenue at the corner o- 1.1 j a hi "."'v"s" "- uavtiacu uy uic , .LyuLiuebiic jciectnc nne, me cars marKea 'Highland Avenue being through cars, and the Bryant Street line issuing for a single fare transfer tickets over anv of the three cable and elertrin linet sn rrmt- it ma K triif-tifullir o-,,M !,... oil .. ji.. :j 8 ' . . ' -" - ""j " .a uui.uuy jalu tuai au casi WctlUlV IdUlU transit lines lead to and from LUELLA PLACE. THE ST. GLAIR STREET INLET TO THE PARK. Within a brief period St Clair street, running from North to South, and dividing the Plan near its cen ter, will be opened and finished into the Park and extended to Penn avenue, in East Liberty. It is proposed to make St Clair one of the finest drivewavsanrl rcir1nrv cf-f-c in n riht nnA ; ,:ii .- ..l. u. ,, , - , r , ,1 . --....v. i.xx.v.w ... ' y-, """ " "1" 3UUU UJlIipClC Willi I Highland avenue for the fashionable travel to and from Pittsburg's favorite resort NEGLEYAVE., THE GREAT INTER-RIVER THOROUGHFARE. Lies two squares west of LUELLA PLACE, and will be tapped within that distance by both Elgin avenue and Callowhill street, adding greatly to the accessibility of the property, particularly from the North, to its at tractiveness, and immeasurably to its future value PRICES, TERMS, RESTRICTIONS, Etc. A computation of the cost of the work on and under these grounds will conclusively demonstrate the fact that the prices at which lots are quoted are notably low, as cohipared with values held on rough land in the same vicinity or of a similar class. Everything has been done with a liberal hand to fit the grounds per fectly for residences and to protect buyers from assessments and contingent expenses, which usually add heavily to the first cost. TERMS OF PAYMENT will be made to suit any reasonable demands of purchasers, and building restrictions, such as to preserve the high character of the neighborhood, will be enforced. STEADY ENHANCEMENT' OF VALUES IN LUELLA PLACE Is assured, and purchases made at the original figures, now ready for presentation, will yield undoubted profits in resales a short time hence. No other quarter of the city is making such rapid progress in improve ments and development, and no other quarter presents equal inducements to those in quest of homes or of investments alone. A neat tendance. office has been erected on the grounds, where representatives will be found in daily at- FOB LITHOGRAPHED PLANS (SHOWING A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF JIIGIIL, AND PARK), PRICE-LISTS AND FURTHER PARTICULARS, APPLY TO JOHN ITITE, Owner, "berty ave. .or to. OHAELE8 SOMERS & CO., A g-ntia. fourth ave. TT-nTTm -.- . -T --i-,..,., . . ' 3x but jjUK Afl .AJUflllTAULK TLAfl UP SEE THAT .DESIGNED BY NATURE.X- j 812541
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