1897.]
THE THREE EVENINGS.
Several miles from the little town of Van Meters, in Eastern
Pennsylvania, stood, somewhat back from the dusty highway, a
small white cottage shaded by a few fruit trees.
Inside the house, from a table placed close to the wall, three
people—Felix Filiatreault, his wife and Pierre, his son, who sat
facing the open window —were partaking of their simple evening
repast. They were eating in silence, for it was to be Pierre’s last
supper with them for a long time to come—he was going out into
the world to seek and to claim.
From where he sat he could look out upon the little garden
with its well-kept paths and nicely-tended beds, beautiful with its
delicate and varying shades of green contrasting with the brown
earth, all of which was set off, like a picture in a mat, by the low
whitewashed fence which surrounded it, while the gentle winds
blowing in through the window wafted to him across the table the
sweet odor of the roses which grew just outside. There under
that large apple tree and on that seat he had often sat with his
father viewing the sunset or listening to tales of sunny France of
long ago. This evening he thought that the river, which flowed
in the distance, had never appeared so silvery, nor the hills be
yond so beautiful. Up above them, disported by the breeze, was
a large fleecy cloud and now, catching the last rays of the sun
already hidden, it took on a beautiful hue, and as it slowly
moved about seemed to him like some great fiery dragon. But
the sun sank farther and farther behind the horizon, the river
lost its silver, the hills their detail, and the beautiful play of
colors in the sky ceased and twilight had fallen.
It all seemed so sadly beautiful to Pierre, and his heart welled
up within him when he thought that the morrow should find him
gone.
Years had passed. ’Twas late one evening last May in one of
our large northern cities. Around the tables in a‘' private
saloon ’ ’ were seated a company of about a dozen men and women
drinking and talking. They were not of the lowest class of hu
manity—they were of that homeless people who congregate at
such places because they have no other.
The Three Evenings,