Show BLASTED HOPES A still calm night lay over the valley there was no sound abroad save the occasional shrill call of a companionseeking tabby cat the yelping howl of disconsolate hungry hun-gry homelessdorg of the monotonous monoto-nous wail of the peanut mart As if subdued into consonance with the otherwise perfect silence the gently breaking southwind scarcely whispered whis-pered a requiem as it swept softly and sadly over the dead and decaying decay-ing vegetables its murmurs were hardly audible as it gathered up in its loving embraces the fragrance of the defunct cans in front of Market Bow Nighttime as it was the streets were all lit up with a wonderful won-derful white glorious radiance the electric lamp at the Emporium Corner shaming fair Lima goddess of night in her distant feebleness and causing the twinkling stars to look as small and insignificant as V Zs returns in the last election for delegate A youth of gallant mien and handsome face stood leaning in an agonizingly graceful attitude against the iron railing which protects pro-tects the cellarway and obstructs the sidewalk at the north side of the Emporium Building The railway was evidently intended by the benevolent be-nevolent humanitarian who erected it to serve as a place for loiterers to loiter and loafers to loaf and the youth tully aware of his rights on the public avenues of the metropolis metropo-lis of Utah the writer does not wish to 1 e understood as throwing dirt on Ogdens pretensionsstuck to his post with as much tenacity as a mule clinging to an empty grain sack And yet he showed signs of a restless feverish anxiety and ever and anon would roll a fresh cigarette and as he slowly and methodically raised his right leg to a horizontal position and artistically scraped a matcha feat which a female can never hope to gracefully accomplishhe would gaze anxiously anx-iously down the dim vistas of the sidewalk toward the Kimball block The slow moving hands on I the dial above had marked the lapse of an hour when the youth Marcus Emil Podrose gave vent to an exclamation ex-clamation of bitter disappointment and swinging around on his heel started off at a brisk pace in the direction di-rection of the Jordan He had not gone many paces when out of the deep shadow of the buildings sprang a young fairhaired maiden over whose head seemingly not more than thirtyfive summers had passed The maiden seize the youths coat collar with both hands and thus gently halting him exclaimed Where are you going dear Marcus Emil Marcus Emil smiled a bitter ghastly smile as he gazed down into the upturned face of the maiden at his side and Said Arimene Jane I have been at the trysting place for an houran hour which to my aching ach-ing expectant heart and madly burning corns seemed an age De fered hope maketh the fond heartsick heart-sick The cold iron of disappointment disappoint-ment entered my soul likelike a sliver from a cellar door running into a school boysahemfoot You came not and the turbid waters of Jordan are sounding a dismal but irresistible invitation to my ears to come and bury my sorrows and griefs beneath their foamcres ted billows HOb Marcus Emil hear mel I cried the maiden as she wrung her hands distractedly The fault is not mine An unsympathetic mother forbade my coming until I had finished my daily task How I hate the dull routine of washing pots scouring pans mopping the kitchen and scrubbing the front steps household duties whose enforced en-forced performance causes rebellious rebelli-ous thoughts in a girls heart and chaps on her hands My mother knows not and cares less that the drudgery to which I have been subjected sub-jected has broken my young heart and embittered your life my own dear Marcus Eml Podrose The youth folded his arms across his heaving breast his eyes shone with a stony glaresuch a glare as illumines the eye of a small boy when he is creeping upon the blind side of a mince pie as he replied Too late too late Your explanations explana-tions are useless MOW Mine is a love that will not bear disappointment disappoint-ment mine is a heart that will not brook delay A dark fate awais me Destiny like a policeman escorting es-corting a plain drunk to the lockup urges me on And flinging the pleading clinging fair one from him he sped down the street his retreating retreat-ing form faintly visible for a time in the misty shimmering light then lost forever to the gaze of JAnmena fArimena Jane as she stood silently gazing into the gathering gloom He hurried hur-ried along until he reached the confines con-fines of the Sixth Ward where he stealthily entered a small and unpretentious un-pretentious cottage and plunging into bed shouted in wild delirious tones as he viciously punched his little brother Lay over there and give your wearied heartbroken brother a share of this humble pallet pal-let PLUS ULTRA |