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jij: Two Lovers |>
{ji By RALPH HAMILTON fjj
(Copyright, 1919, by the Western News
paper Union.)
The belle of the village, Gladys
Marcy, had two aspirants for her
favor upon whom she. bestowed espe
cial attention.
They were Alan Druse and Morton
Bayne—opposite# in every sense of
the word. They had each attracted
Gladys and it was difficult for her to
decide which appealed to her liking
most: Alan, with his flashing, .fun
loving ways, or Morton, with a soul
enwrapt in* music and seeming always
In a poetic dream.
Alan loved her, or fancied he did,
and his vivacious ways bade fair in
the eyes of the gossips to outvie Mor
ton so far as courting went. It had
begun to dawn upon Gladys, however,
that Alan was somewhat frivolous.
It was all Morton with Gladys when,
in the church choir at entertainments,
or passing an evening in the Marcy
home he wrought from his violin be
wildering, witchery of harmony and ex
pression that caused her heartstrings
to quiver with a rare delight. He had
never, however, hinted at anything
more than friendship. His income was
modest and seemed a steady one, for
a number of his compositions had be
come generally popular and likely to
remain so, and out of royalties he had
received he had already accumulated
several thousand dollars.
Gladys fluttered visibly one evening
when Morton appeared at her home
while Alan was already in evidence.
Somehow the manner of the latter had
indicated to her that he was on the
verge of a proposal, and she had won
dered how she could seek to evade %
direct decision, feeling instinctively
that she scarcely knew her own mind
as yet. A certain sullenness over
spread the face of Alan as he dis
cerned that he was not to have Gladys
exclusively for that evening at least.
He looked bored as the parents insist
ed on some music and Morton, ever
accommodating, brought out his violin.
It was in the midst of a lovely so
nata that entranced all his auditors
save Alan that the unexpected hap
pened. Gladys was seated by the
lamp on the table when there was a
quick hiss and then a sudden outburst
of flame. She uttered a vivid scream,
her hands went up to her face with
frantic suddenness. Alan shrank back,
quite unnerved and affrighted. Mor-
ton cast aside his violin with a fiing
and sprang toward her, noting that
one sleeve of the light, dainty dress
she wore was all ablaze. There was a
second explosion, and he had extin
guished the flaming dress when his
eyes closed with a spasm of pain.
Then —darkness, so utter for himself
that he groped blindly about him.
"Is Gladys safe?" fell from his lips
In an eager, anxious gasp. "I cannot
see! I fear —"
There he paused, appalled. In vain
he strove to strain his darkened vision.
It was only from the exclamations of
the others that he could trace what
was happening! Gladys, insensible
and sustaining frightful face burns
from the second explosion, himself
helpless to assist her, the injured girl
carried to her room, a collapse on his
own part, a fading away of all con
sciousnessi its feeble, bewildering re
turn, and a realization that old Doctor
Moore was at his side examining his
eyes.
"He probably saved Gladys by extin
guishing her flaming dress,s* Morton
caught the physician's tones, "but at
a terrible cost —he is utterly blind!"
It was many days before the lives
of those disturbed by the startling
event of the explosion settled down
into the old peaceful grooves. Only
once did Alan Druse call at the Marcy
home. He was genuinely solicitous.
A glance into the next room, a sight of
Gladys so shocked him that soon he
left the house, never to return. And
Gladys, understanding, turned her
head on her pillow and wept bitterly.
Then, when her nurse had left her
alone, she stole to a mirror with her
eyes almost affrighted as she stag
gered back to the couch. Her beauty
was gone! She realized now why
Alan Druse had fled as from a pesti
lence.
It was a week later that Morton
Bayne knew the worst. He was told
that his case was hopeless. For a
time that gentle, sensitive soul was
dumb. Then in sorrow, in self-coun
sel and prayer he emerged, chastened,
patient, with a rare smile upon his
face and his mind at perfect peace.
"There is music!" he whispered
raptly to himself, and then, half
doubtlngly, but with a longing quiver
in his tone: "There is Gladys to dream
of, to love, even though she never
thinks of me save as a friend."
The mother of Gladys one day led
the welcome adored hero who had
saved the life of her daughter into the
room where that daughter sat. She
left those two aftiicted ones alone,
went out and closed the door. Before
that patient face and the sightless
eyes and at a thought of what this
sacrifice meant to her, Gladys impul
sively extended her trembling hands to
meet, the groping ones of her visitor.
"Mortonsue sot,:>ed that name
only, and her head fell upon his breast.
The face of the blind man was mo
mentarily glorified —heart to heart, he
could feel the responsive thrill to his
ardent own, and, lo I there flooded his
soul a light that could never dim—lh«
radiance of lastidg, perfect love.
AGENT jAVE IT UP
Nothing for Him to Do but Hand
Out Ticket.
Now He Makes Plaintive Appeal for
Rule by Which He Can Tell a Min
ister From Ordinary Run
of Mankind.
"Sky pilots! Whe-e-w!" whistled
the ticket agent of a Missouri town the
other day, so the story goes. "Well,
it seems to me there are just ten times
as many as there used to be in this
neck of the woods, and I tell you some
of the guys who come up here to this
window sayin' they're ministers and
asking for half-fare tickets look more
like ballyhoo men r tl a street fair or
circus than sky pilots. %
"The trouble is when a fellow comes
up here to the window and says 'l'm a
preacher,' there ain't any rule 3 laid
down for me to go by to tell him from
a professional'crooi', or moll buzzer, or
a right reverend, and so I have to hand
out the ticket.
"The other night 1 was talking to
my wife about it, and we hit on a
scheme, and when I went down to
work next morning I had the family
Bible tucked under my arm, and when
a sporty-looking old chap, putfing a
cigarette, with a plaid suit and a neck
tie so loud it was screaming at you,
came up to the window, and says 'min
ister's ticket to Kansas City, please,' I
said respectful like: /
" 'Please excuse me, sir, but will you
please tell me who wrote the second
book of St. Paul's Epistle to the Gala
tians?'
"He smiled at me friendly, and said
pretty quick, 'Why Paul, of course.
Now get busy with a ticket.'
" 'Nope,' said I, just as cold as you
please, looking him hard in the eyes.
'You're dead wrong there. Paul didn't
do any such thing, and nobody else
ever wrote a second book to those Ga
latians, for there ain't any such book,'
and I thought I had finished him.
mind you, he just sort of look
ed at me sad-like for a minute like he
felt sorry for me, and then he reared
back and said in a voice just like he
was praying: 'Sir, I am a minister of
the holy gospel, whether or not this
finite thing, called mind tricks me. In
reference to the number of books writ
ten by the blessed saint, Paul. I teach
the philosophy of rational thought so
as to co-ordinate with the elucidation
of internal forces upon the outward or
extraneous matter which operate in
opposition the complete domination
of the purely physical to the intellec
tual —the soul, some call it —and that
the elevation of the spiritual retards
the development of disease and error
on this terrestrial planet on which we
live and move and have our being.'
"I looked at him a minute, and then
I said out loud, 'Well Ibe dogged!' For
I was thinking all the time to myself
how a ten-dollar-a-tveek ticket mah
was ever going to get wise to a line of
talk like that even with a Bible in his
hand. And I handed out the ticket." —
Kansas City Star.
Quaint Island.
Elmley, one of England's oddest
little islands, though only 48 miles
from London, is a parish where roads,
shops, lamps, telephones, motor cars,
public houses and postoftices are un
known. The island, which lies off
the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, has an
area of about 2.000 acres, and is the
property of Oxford university. The
Inhabitants are mostly shepherds of
large flocks of sheep. The oldest man
of the village is in his seventieth year.
He has yet to see a motor car. The
school and church are the two chief
landmarks on the island. The rea
son they were built in such a sparsely
populated spot is that in winter it
is almost impossible to leave the
island, as the ferry which runs to and
from the island is dangerous.
A novel method of obtaining th€
services of the ferryman, who Uvea
opposite to the island, is the open
ing of the white door of a hut facing
the shore. At night a lighted candle
held aloft serves the purpose of the
open door.
Stonewall's Plan.
As an American troopship pulled
away from a New York dock on Its
journey to France, Stonewall Jackson
and Welcome .Brown hung over the
forward rail and looked with solemn
faces down into the choppy waters of
the Atlantic.
"What you'all gwlne to do. Stone
wall. if one of dem pow'ful mean tor
pedoes smash into dis here boat?"
Stonewall remained silent for a
minute, then he turned a sober face
toward his brother in sorrow.
"What I gwine to do? Listen,
Welcome, my # ole mammy done tole
me dat dere nebber wuz but one man
dat eber walked on de water an' got
away wid it —but ef one ob dem chas
ers ever smash into dis boat —say,
Welcome, Ah'm goin' to be de second
one." —John E. Scroggins, U. S. N., in
Judge-
LITTLE KNOWN OF ST. MARK
Facts as to History of Evangelist Have
Been Lost in the Passage
of Years.
St. Mark, the evangelist, is believed
to have been born of Jewish parents,
deriving their origin from the tribe of
Levi. He is also thought to have been
"sister's son" to the apostle St. Peter,
though some have confounded him
with John, sumamed Mark, "sister's
son" to St. Barnabas. He was prob
ably converted by St. Peter, and was
his constant attendant in his travels.
He is traditionally said to have found
ed the church in Aqnileia, and there
to have written the gospel which behrs
his name. St. Mark suffered on April
25, though the certain year of his mar
tyrdom is not precisely determined by
the ancients. St. Mark's symbol is the
lion, because he has set forth the royal
dignity of Christ; or, according to
other writers, on account of his begin
ning with the mission of St. John the
Baptist, which is figured by the lion;
or to a legend that was popularly be
lieved in the middle ages, that the
young of the lion was born dead, and
after three days was awakened by the
voice of its sire, symbolical of the res
urrection.
. v
Dark Ages.
The term Is applied to a portion of th#
Middle Ages, including the period of
about 1,000 years from the fall of
Rome to revival of letters In the fif
teenth century. It Is generally re
garded as beginning with Invasion of
France by Clovis, 486 A. D., and clos
ing with invasion of Naples by Charles
VIII in 1495. Learning was at a low
ebb during this period.
1 -
Burning Truth.
Said the facetious feller: "The*
golf fanatics get a lot of satisfaction
out of reducin' their strokes from last
season, but the real joy of life cornel
from bein' able to reduce the number
of tons of coal from the winter b»
fore."
Important Rivers.
Just as Egypt has been made by
the Nile, so Mesopotamia has been
made by the Tigris and the Euphrates.
The view put forward with some au
thority that the rivers should be kept
exclusively for Irrigation and not be
depended upon for transport is chal
lenged on many grounds, one of which
Is that irrigation and navigation can
be effectively combined, and indeed
made mutually , advantageous for
many years to come.
Disapproves Old Adage.
In spite of the old ada? to the con
trary. some done by halves are
done most satisfactorily. a< for exam
ple the much-used Quinsigamond
bridge at Worcester. Mass. Here traf
fic suffered a minimum of interruption
by completing and putting Into us«
one longitudinal half of the new struo
ture before the other half was built
A Glass Horn.
An innovation in phonographs Is an
instrument equipped with a horn of
beveled mirror {rtass. The claim of
the makers is that the horn of a talk
ing machine best amplifies the tone
when its surface is smooth and rigid,
hence one of heavy glass is preferable
to one of wood or metal.
Make Most of What Vou Have.
Shakespeare says, "Vou can't turn
the wheel with the water that is past,"
The modern age says, "You can't excel
in fitness when you sp«iul the hours
in idleness." Dreams of the glory that
is to be are lai'uvly dreams still long
after the days are past that should
have witnessed the erowuing. But life
is more than dreams. Most folks have
learned to their sorrow that It is a
rather stern reality. It promises much,
but it's always conditional. It teaches
men that in the using of what they
have they become the heroes of the
days that are to be. It's the filling of
present hours that brings the full hours
of the future. It's folly to mourn the
past. It's all made in the present and
today passes so swiftly into tomorrow
that we scarcely realize how swiftly
go the speeding hours.
Salute to the Flag.
The salute to the flag Is given bj
raising the right hand, palm outward,
until the index finger Is even with tht
lower edge of the forehead, and stand
ing at attention.
Mineral Lake.
A lake near Blggar, Saskatchewan,
has been found to be saturated with
sodium sulphate, and the deposits un
der the lake and alongside the edge
to be nearly 07 per cent pure sulphate.
The mineral is used extensively In the
manufacture of sulphuric acid, In pho
tography and other industrial pur
poses.
Early American Statesman.
Alexander Hamilton, one of onr
greatest statesmen, was sometimes
called "Alexander the Coppersmith."
because of the copper rents he had
made in 1793. when he was secretary
of the treasury. These pennies were
very unpopular with the people. Ho
was killed In a duel by Aaron Burr. I
Casa Stabilita nel 1895 PROVATEI L'Olio Marca "La Siciliana" 1 1 i
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