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Show 1 HicT M Resolution V -L Catherine sissP Edolma LnpVflihi, 1911, WMtn Nwppr Union. pTJjljltTHUU WILLIAMS came h-VvJl (1wn to the otllce nil out of "irV Norts with everything anil l'ill evel'.vhody, so much so that jl'Kigfflll when Clark Winston began to confide In blm about t he many good resolutions that he was making for the New Year he tried to cut hlni off with a shnrp retort. But Clark Winston, bubbling with the exuberance of youth, and radiant with the enlhiiMl- I agin of the newly- engaginl, was not F 1 easily rebuked. 1 I "Not make New 1 Tear resolutions?" t f he said. "Why! Lf r t'1"1'" J,lsl lieTrwuV"" ew Year's mIWm'm for- 11 t"k'f, a Im'Ml'Mwflm (1"y "k(! " 10 J"" m ulir L a f,'"w oi" r ",e K riit lu' mis u(,i'n f 'VfLy- traveling In too llP X.v long, and to kee,, i Z away from the ' hT1 Ideal 8 of our , SszA school days. So, I ' 1 you bet you, I'll be making good resolutions this year and try to keep them, too, so I'll bu worthy of the love of the best little girl In the world." Arthur Williams turned away Impatiently Impa-tiently and went to his desk. But all morning there came to him again and again the memory of the conversation and the look that had been on Clark Winston's face as he had voiced his determination to make New Year resolves. re-solves. Each time the thought came to him he tried to put it from him. but somehow he found it hnrd to do. For there had come to him, too, the memory of a time when he, too, had made such resolutions when he, too, had looked to the future with the desire de-sire deep within him to make himself more worthy each day of the woman who had consented to he his. Now. however, he was content to drift along with the tide, to take each day as just a repetition of the one before content con-tent to Just hold the place he occupied occu-pied In the business world, and worse: almost content with the home life that was now his, almost Indifferent to the fact that he and his wife had slowly drifted apart and that the ardent love which had been theirs In the long ago i seemed to be now dead. But In other days It had been different dif-ferent with him he had then been Just as full of hope in the future as full of the fire of zeal and devotion toward the woman who was his as any man could be. How, he asked himself him-self now, had It come to be that things were as they were? Was it that his love for his wife was dead, that he 'ared no longer for her, or was It her 'nult that they had slo vly, almost Im perceptibly drifted apart? Looking hack, he recalled now, with a half-shudder half-shudder of remorse, many little Instances In-stances where she had tried to bring the old ways back, which he, In the blind stupidity of taking things for granted attitude had treated lightly and passed by. He recalled with a pang one particular instance a wedding wed-ding anniversary it was when she had met him at the door in a pretty gown and when she, had gone to all manner of trouble in preparing a wonderful won-derful dinner, with all his favorite dishes, and when during the meal she ! had asked him several times if he l were not forget- 5 t ting something. n 1 -l And when after ') 1' ) I 'jfejt dinner was over and she reminded tfijSfe? him that this was ill " their fifth wed- yi ding anniversary f&L lle liad onlJ' mum-iljP mum-iljP z V bled through his $tAi evening paper : r-MwmrM "Yes- 1 guess u 0lmWW- is' but 1 hai1 f(,r" gotten all about fifillMr ' A11 tliese tninss i' M J IL came to him now, 1 as often before a dying man will flash in a few moments mo-ments a hundred episodes of his life, and he realized with a sudden rush of feeling how empty and desolate his life would be with Evelyn out of it entirely. True, for a long time now he had just taken her presence for granted had just thought of her as some one who was always there some one who was necessary to his well-being and comfort, just as some article of comfort and convenience might be, but now he realized how much she meant to him, and he knew that the love which he had thought was dead and buried was still burning, burn-ing, but that its flame was not felt because of the heavy curtain his indifference in-difference and neglect had thrown over It. And then it was that Arthur Williams Wil-liams made a New Tear resolution and one which he kept through all th years that followed, judging from the new happiness which came to him and his wife and from the buoyancy and hopeful attitude toward the future which he brought to his tasks each day. |