A FIELD FLOWER’S COMPLAINT.
I f I had been a snowdrop, the first one o f the year,
Would you have thought me beautiful, belug the first, my deart
I f I had been a royal rose grown higher than your heart.
Would you have bent your face to mine, and drawn my leaves apart.
Until they dropped about your feet, and all my heart lay bare?
A broken heart, a golden heart, for you to leave or wear—
Would you have gathered In your hand each fallen rosy leaf,
And said a gentle word for life so beautiful and brief?
But I, that fain would be a rose and wear her royal red,
A field flower among field flowers, I lift my loveless head;
Among the tall dead nettles, white campion who will heed?
White campion shrinking faintly mid dock and silverweed?
— Black and White.
Cupid and Gray Hairs.
HE pretty gray-balred lady
sighed. " I never really had a
fair chance at partridge be
fore," »he said. Indicating her well-
fllled plate with a pathetic smile.
“ I have a fellow-feeling," she con
tinued, "fo r that old gentleman who
said that the wing of the chicken was
doubtless the very nicest portion of
all, but that he had never tasted It.
When he was young the old people
were supposed to monopolise It, and
now that he uad grown old, he said, It
had to be reserved for the young. ‘My
dear,' he lamented, ‘I have never tast
ed the wing of the chicken 1* .Tragic,
wasn’t It?"
“ It was dastardly!” The fine-looking
whlte-mustached gentleman on her
right hand stifled a snort of Indigna
tion.
“ Nothing gets away from the young
sters o f to-day,” he growled. " I ’m only
a bare 59, you know— "
“ Yes— I remember you were always
just five years ahead," the sweet-faced
little lady smiled sympathetically.
"Fifty-nine years, Mrs. Merrydew!
and to Judge from the attitude of the
young fledgelings In this hotel, one
would say I was a relic o f the stone
age— belonged somewhere, unclassified,
with the pyramids and Rameses II."—
Ms genial face took on a sudden mul
berry hue; "dastardly, I repeat! You
can't plead the most trivial sensation
o f Indigestion nowadays, even just a
plain ordinary l.eadache, but It’s put
down to Incipient senility— I meet It
on all sides. I can tell you!"
" I know— I know!” responded his
fair listener, appreciatively. “ And
that rosy-cheeked girl from the acad
emy prefaces every other remark to
me with 'In your day— !* It does come
hard, certainly, when one Is still In a
fair state of preservation, and can yet
maintain ordinary conversation.”
"Conversation, humph! merely the
last expiring efforts of a once powerful
Intellect, my dear madam,” quoted the
elderly gentleman, savagely.
T L j pretty little widow giggled out
right at this— she could look very
charnlng when a smile dispelled her
naturally pensive expression. “ Really,
It's a comfort to meet you rfgain, after
so many years," -he confided, “ let's go
over to that window seat, where we
can sympathize. I feel quite as young
as I did twenty-five years back—and
younger; but there Is always such an
unreasoning prejudice regarding gray
hair— It's public opinion concerning It
that harrows up your ioul.”
"Gray hair la most becoming over a
youthful face,” put In the gentleman,
with a gallant bow, while they both
withdrew to a friendly alcove. “ Oh,
thank you for not saying 'still' youth-
full That 'still' Is such a paralyzing
word!" the little lady shuddered. "They
might as well say: 'Mrs. M. still re
tains her Intelligent expression.' It Is
all very unnerving.”
He chuckled, and moved hla chair a
trifle closer.
“ I say, this Judging o f age by years
Is the most outrageous procedure ever.
Isn't It now? I maintain that It Is
primitive and unworthy of our ao-call-
ed civilization. One might as well
fttlg e by rheumatism, of which babes
In arms are our most prominent expo
nents In these days. Why, that young
cub out yonti>r at tennis Is barely a
self-confessed twenty-four, and yet his
mamma (the stout, be-dlamond per
son, with three chins) Is sore put to It
to extricate him from his considerable
and flourishing crop of wild oats (regu
lar horse-chestnuts they are, too, I be
lieve!). My dear young friend, you and
I might be styled mere babes In the
wood by comparison with this world-
weary youth! And yet” — the white
mustache went upward with a twist
of fierce exasperation— "he wanted to
know what colleges they had in my
day, and were telephones and horse
cars Invented.”
The lady laughed so heartily that
the Irate speaker Joined In perforce
after a while.
" I ’m'so glad you came," she remark
ed prettily; “ I am getting demoralized
here alone by myself. O f course my
daughter comes at times, but then I
am more than ever guiltily conscious
of my shortcomings. I f 1 as much as
mention wearing my brooch or tortoise
shell comb down to dinner I feel that
It Is almost a personal Insult to her,
and sometimes I Just long to take up
the baby and soothe and pet him when
he Is hungry or fretful, but I am
promptly Informed that the best grand
mothers do not do I t O f course It Is
all for my best good, for she says It
all In love, and It hurts her more than
It does me (or she thinks It does). As
for an eardrop, an eardrop Is an an
achronism! I don't mind any of these
things so much, but In my little parlor
at home there are my pretty colored
wreaths, and that quaint shell work
father made, and the tidies I worked
long ago when mother was alive—all
unhygienic, I suppose— ”
“ Unhygienic! ’ ejaculated her listen
er hotly, “ and I ’ve an old red silk
dressing gown, reeking with germs, no
doubt, that's been the chief prop and
stay of my declining years; It’s got to
go. o f course, as soon as my folks strike
the place!"
“ And the mottoes my little Em mu
worked when she was 111, before the
last!” —the sweet voice trembled a lit
tle— “ I can't let them go, even If for
their own sakes: The Lord Will Pro
vide,’ ‘Welcome,’ ’No Cross, No Crown'
— I cling to them all. even If they are
old-fashioned.” Her voice ended in a
little sob.
The elderly man cleared his throat
with a mighty noise and patted the
plump little band In wordless sympa
thy. “ Anyhow," when It comes to the
old drama we're all right!" he ventured
at last “Think o f those good old
names, and the old standard shows
they gave! Plays that hurt nobody,
and gave our Imaginations some small
chance for exercise.” (A tacit but vig
orous opinion of the modern stage was
conveyed In the repressed growl with
which he concluded.) T t - pretty color
deepened a little In the lady's face; she
looked up, smiling brightly.
“ I have a curtain tassel from the old
museum.” she said softly; " I had" to
have something."
"And I have a gilt cherub from one
of the upper boxes.” he chuckled.
"Jove!" he went on, his voice sinking
to a confidential whisper. "It's good ta
FURIO US FOREST FIRES.
meet some one who has things to re
member! Mrs. Merrydew— Anna!” he
said softly, "do you ever recall a piece M an an d B eaat A r e H elp lea a A g a in s t
T h e ir O n c o m in g .
that answered to the name of the 'Car
The
furyof
a forest Are Is Indescrib
nival of Venice’ or the 'Blue Danube
able, especially In soft-wood or conifer
Waltzes?' ”
“ And the 'Last Hope,' and T h e ous forests. Here the flames sweep
Malden’s Prayer’ and the'Battle of Se through, making a roaring wall of
bastopol?’ Can I ever forget them, you blaze that reaches from the ground,
mean? And yet, I f I want them now carpeted with Inflammable material,
adays I have to steal away and lock to the topmost branches where resin
the doors like a criminal. And—-what’s ous sap snaps and crackles fiercely,
the matter?” — she broke off suddenly | throwing blazing particles to Ignite
as some memory of past wrongs dark other trees at a considerable distance.
I In addition a high wind blows, In
ened his face for a moment.
“ Matter?” he echoed; “ perhaps you many cases generated by the Are Itself,
noticed that at my parlor chat last the heated air rising causing an in
evening nobody listened or appeared to rush of colder air from adjacent areas
care a straw for my modest reminis that acts like a draft of a furnace. Be
cences of Holmes, Longfellow, Lowell fore this combination of ground and
und Emerson? I was a doddering old crown Are nothing can prevail. Ani
: Imbecile to have undertaken It, of mals flee before It or are roasted to
course. Everybody simply yawned un death. During the tires In Wasblng-
til the lady mopologlst came on— the on and Oregon In 1902 lakes were
found packed solid with putrefying
humorist.”
“ Humorist!” ejaculated the- little and partly roasted bodies of bear, deer,
widow, warmly. "There was nothing panther, and other animals, fearless of
humorous about her except her bonnet each other In the frenzy that brougM
—and our $20 doubtless went for that them together to perish through
In
‘creation!’ I f that be creation, give me drowning, heat, or suffocation.
these same Ores a picnic party o f nln«
chaos!”
" I was a little lower than the Jani persons, with team and wagon, was
tor,” he continued gloomily. "And the cut off by flames near Mt. St. Helen,
worst Is yet to come. A sweet young and all that was found later to prove
freshman from Yale, addressing me as the tragedy were the Irons of the wag
'in your day’ (why Is that Innocuous on, the carcasses of two horses, vea-
observation so unfailingly exasperat tlges of the remains of human beings,
ing?) said he supposed I was acquaint the buttons of the clothing the only
ed with all the leading lights of the evidence left to show how they fell.
early nineteenth century? I effaced The horses had been cut loose In a
myself before he- could ask about vain mercy that sought to give them
Washington and Lafayette, and did I a chance to shift for themselves. Near
sign the Declaration of Independence. the tires of the wagon were the re
It was blood-curdling!” The speaker mains of the women of the party and
mopped his brown In fevered retro the position of the men at various
spect “ But the limit was reached this points from the central group of the
morning, when some youngster of tragedy showed that they had tried to
fered to read me the war headlines In make some sort of a figh t ibe task
the morning papers. I made up my was as hopeless as making a living
mlna then that I was considered In the space In the midst of a blast furnace.
advanced stages of paresis.”
—The Chautauquan.
“ It’s fearfully aging, I think, to meet
such things,” sighed the little lady pa
L o s t H e r W h o le F o r tu n e .
thetically. “ And then— some o f the
A fter having tolled for many years
old ways I simply cannot get over— I without being able to lay aside more
don't want to try! The old hymns I than a few dollars for a rainy day,
lived by, and shall die by— that have Mrs. Mary Slavln, a middle-aged wo
brought me through so much sorrow man, of 57 South Sixth street W il
and loss; there have been crises I nev liamsburg, by the recent death o f a
er could have survived without the help relative Inherited a piece of property.
of those old tunes"— she was weeping She sold It for $8,750, and deposited
softly Into a delicate Ulm of a handker the money In the Nassau Trust Com
chief.
pany, near her home. As the banking
“ Never mind, dear little woman— Institution pays but 2 per cent on de
these things are ours for keeps, and
posits she decided to withdraw the
nobody can take them away.”
His
money and deposit it In Institutions
voice was full of sturdy optimism and
paying 4 per cent
sympathy, but It was very gentle, and
She took out all the money, and aftei
a bit unsteady, too.
placing it in the bosom o f her dress
“I have some almost priceless old
she set out for the Dime Savings Bank,
laces and some china such as those
at Broadway and Wythe avenue, two
rosy maidens have never even dreamed
of In their philosophy," she affirmed, blocks distant
There were eight $1,000 Mila, a $500-
“and a highboy and sideboard that are
worth their- weight in gold, and some bill, two $100 bills, and one $50-bill.
andirons— you remember those and When she reached the Dime Savings
irons of mother's, don't you, Stephen?" Bank she withdrew $100 she had on
She blushed slightly as she spoke— It deposit there, and then set out for he»
had been a quarter o f a century since home. Intending to arrange the money
In lots, and deposit each lot In a sep
she had called him Stephen.
"And possibly you forget the waffles arate savings bank.
On reaching her home she discovered
I made you one day— ”
"W affles! say no more! I may be a that all her money was gone. Shs
past, a pluperfect, but there are gome became hysterical, and while In that
memories that tell me I have not lived condition she went over the ground
she had traversed from the two banka,
In vain!”
•That soup to-night," he Interrupted, but failed to find the money. A crowd
breathlessly, “ Mrs. Merrydew— Anna! gathered around her and Joined In
didn’t It seem to you that It lacked a the search. Policemen lent their aid,
faint touch of something— something but the money was not fonn<L On
Impalpable, Inexpressible, soul-satisfy reaching her borne she collapsed com
ing—almost psychological— ”
pletely and a doctor was called In.—
" I t did. Indeed; also the steak and Washington Post
the croquettes! As you say, a some
W here Lies the Bast7
thing— "
"Yes, I ’ve Just returned from a tws
“ Onions!”
months' visit In the E a s t” the P ort
“ Onions!”
The word burst from both simulta land young lady was saying, “ and, oh
neously— they gazed at one another In 1 had such a lovely time! Those Bast
erners are so different from ng
speechless ecstacy.
“ I Just love them In everything," she though."
“ What point» did yon v la lt r In.
faltered In sweet confusion.
"Everything— everything! M rs Mer qulred the new comer In Oregon. T ds
hope you saw dear old Boston.”
rydew— Anna! Dearest!”
“ Boston!” the Portland girl ejaco
The Yale “fledgeling” who was Just
entering the door closed It softly again, lated. “ I should say not I waa la
and reflected that there are some things Montana."— Portland Oregonian.
that youth does not monopolls«, after
On a rainy, windy night when you
all.— Boston Transcript
are unable to sleep, ever look youraell
What proportion of people speak of over candidly, and admit your faultsl
a bag as a "kid?"
And wasn't the result pretty tough?