| Show 10 AT LIFES CROSSROAD by Wanda A. from last When she he said told to runs the as One summer's day at Carmel-by-the-Sea study at the woman looking The man was ing every detail of her clearly chiseled features What her m a if me does A woman you the trouble to glance take would not public you third the at the second but if you ever glanced you would be sure to look and again and you would never tire of never grow weary of studying and for the closer you the more you would see and the more you would man-el that a face could express could Was it possible express so much that was that one one could mean so or did the excellency of many souls a location defined by one physical While the man was thus studying the she arose as if in obedience to his is by far the loveliest woman I have ever he and then he realized that she stood for beside any woman he had ever she was He was spellbound by her unstudied for upon her brow she that coronal of grace or poise that presides' so positively over a few she was above the average in and now that he knew something of her she was beautiful every though was distinctly lie began to feel somehow that this day would be a turning point in his for as he looked at her a great longing overwhelmed a desire to tell something of his the life that concerned himself his his his ambitions and his Presently he also stood up by her he towered a half head above in his make-up there was dignity without sternness without viciousness gentleness without effeminacy and refinement without hG SUch an that I feel I can take into you my confidence to a greater degree than a more formal meeting would have We left the world of behind us when we emerged f r m the here let us deal with the d of existence Although some one has said tha w e given to man to vord disguise his thoughts i Jl Z the at least in dealing with V She cu felt fd that that she she should should pass pass this this remark remark te 1 off but the ring of earnestness in his voice would not and his voice was B with so much sincerity As the intense in his and the woman gradually became responsive half reluctantly at but finally plunging headlong that was the a spontaneity man was but exerted himself to conceal fearing that the spell would be But many the same tempests that beset his path had been hers and the actuality of a soul being near her who had suffered as questioned as sympathized as and whose imaginings had scored as great a fairly intoxicated her with its realization delved into the hitherto closed book of the and brought forth its most intricate problems to be and its most trivial too important to be At last the conversation waned and they fell to contemplation her thoughts were wildly disconnected and The man's were different-he looked at for he could not do replete with affluence was this woman's He kept asking himself if it was not all a and if he was the same man as was it ever there ever been a time in the past when he not known this If how had he lived without the consciousness of her existence How had he endured the of every day life without this woman to illuminate his But would he always have Would she not go out of his life as suddenly mysteriously as she had come As he looked at she seemed so much more than a woman- Was it possible that she possessed with all human mediocrity that capacity to That innate spark that leads' to the attraction of the Did she have this capability in common with the vulgar and the she must possess but the love of such a woman as was it not within itself a an spiritualized since love itself is but the combined essence of all other attributes of one's How how exalted a man would feel to possess the devotion of such a woman as Presently she stretched forth her arms and cried It was the hour of sunset and she pointed toward the Beautiful as the sunset upon the sea always this was rare The clouds were exquisite in their variety of shapes and and the sea seemed none the less and now the harmonious hues unite in commingling sea and emblematic of the beauty and peace that visits man when the material and the spiritual life is temperately They were gazing upon a magnificent which ever-changing an ideal human art can never a perfection which belongs to God The man for the V hand and-would have it to his but she quickly withdrew while an expression of alarm quickly spread over her The questioning look in his face and then a look of pain and For a moment she saw herself in an everyday world the superficial world of public opinion and she thought she had allowed him to go too but then a reaction and with it came the incongruity of her who had bared her soul to who had poured-forth her heart to him he had shared her most sacred thoughts and Compared to all what was' the clasping of r With a little nervous laugh she- placed her hand confidingly in and the intensity with which his own closed over it almost pained She looked into those eyes and they held her with their magnetic wonderful eyes She had never known before how much eyes' could She was looking away beyond the contour of his gazing far back into the innermost of his have known you for a thousand he and the thrilling words carried their conviction with She was' in the power of his spell and its depth filled her with a rapturous and somehow suggested a tragic danger from which she had no desire to Now she adored that which she had momentarily attempted to As she was still gazing into his the air was suffused with music which seemed to surround them and they knew not the direction from whence it came but presumably an Italian fisherman on the beach below The grandeur of the song as' it surged and rolled echoed the intensity of the and was for the the rocks and the weird caverns combined to produce a not of but played upon the sensitive souls of the man and woman like strains and they seemed to rise on the wings of the music almost to the borderlands of a lovelier life with but a thin veil idealized beyond their wildest expectations of what a song could The most thrilling and passionate strains of Rigoletto of all of all of wonder fused and In the of the weaving out of sense and thought And a touch of the out of which the world is' the music ceased they dizzy with quaffing the of the exquisite for such enchanted glory seemed a symbol of things know what it all he she and dazed with an astounding conviction her hands clasped her forehead and she leaned against the rocky walls for a moment to regain her Then there was silence continued but a communion of souls so so that needed no superfluity of r After awhile started down the steep He took her arm to assist That which had seemed so difficult to each they traveled together as though treading a tranquil Never a word was spoken until they reached of her picturesque but with each beating of her a voice woman seemed to is he is he is Why should have the burden of her heart throbs she never for it was of all hours an unpremeditated a far away but something never to be of the for the a mighty monster within him seemed forcing its way to a massive locomotive that beat and plowed through causing his temples to bulge with its forceful and with every revolution it seemed to she a she a but he must have when a flame was burning his being to What ravages would an hour he could only feel he felt her interest in her to be To be relieved of the agonizing which seemed to be literally consuming Now they have reached the Now they are facing each she is facing the he is facing the and the sound of its restless waters is reduced to a soothing They Life's the blessed consciousness of having her at his side Had he met her only Had she not always been For he could not picture a Yesterday without she had always been only today he had come to realize it Gates were made for Lovers through many ages have stood at Nature makes her most liberal sacrifice for this else History could not have She spreads her choicest incense around allowing but one consciousness to and that overwhelming necessity of each to the laughs joyfully at her clever ruse and invokes the elements to pause in reverence and say to her always allowing her victims to believe they have been their own free agents in selecting the mate of their This that has existed but is always To this hour poets have assigned their most superb masterpieces a dream of this hour has actuated the musician to pour forth the harmonies of earth For this hour have become as common and common people have become as they were at Life's What will the sequel It is composed of four little words spoken by the She did not venture to look into those for she knew the eternal question was there and she was not quite ready to answer so with averted glance and tremulous tone she breathed the you come day is a fresh Every day is the world made As they passed through the gate they passed into a new and Mother Nature stands by and chuckles sweetly and smiles approvingly in the glory of her once more convinced that her magic is still and as she hies away to scenes of conquest the burden of her exultant song is wafted through the pines by gentle zephyrs and seems to say God bless the World God bless the World |
