Show H. H 7 II to On One e Life THE Eastern train bound for Ogden had been blockaded for hours fifty now but with the exception of the irritable old lady in the end seat unlike the usual snow-bound snow passengers passenger's experience ence the details of this one were such that for years to come the p participants would look on it as one of the jolly variations of this life which tend to tomake tomake tomake make existence of constant interest They had enough to eat and managed in various ways to keep comfortably warm and were above all cheerful In the center sleeper my story is to be told for in this car four of the most popular of the Western commercial men kept Open house for the other passengers passengers passengers pas pas- and they were royal hosts This the third night of the up tie-up was to be devoted to story Things had been heen going with a flourish and the people had just subsided from the paroxysms of laughter into which they had been thrown by the absurdly entertaining story just finished when demands for Craddocks Craddock's story were made and Craddock who was was- famous as an entertainer commenced Two years ago I dropped into Tacoma Tacoma Tacoma Ta- Ta coma for a two days' days stay While there the absorbing topic of local in interest interest interest in- in terest was the mysterious disappearance of a Dr Wilkins and that night in the Tacoma Hotel Jimmy Timmy one of the jolliest reporters I ever knew gave me a brief idea of the affair Dr Wilkins had come two years before from his home in Syracuse and settled in the then new and and flo flourishing city of Tacoma Being a man of un- un ual brilliancy energetic and genial he soon became one of the most popular men socially and gradually his ability made him the leading physician there He was at the age ge of twenty-eight twenty years one of the most men in the State Then he went south for a short visit and returned a happy Benedict His bride a typical Southern beauty was accomplished and entertaining and the future of the young couple seemed roseate indeed II One day after they had been married three months a message called the doctor doctor doctor doc doc- tor to the bedside of a sufferer in an adjoining city city- He never returned II Time passed weeks changed to monts and not a word or or sign from the missing man The crushed and agonized agonized agon agon- bride finally gave up all hope of solving the terrible mystery of her husbands husband's return non-return and so left for her former home in the South carrying with her the sympathy of the entire community Ah true true- indeed that N Not ot a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds speak great words and suffer noble sorrows Three months ago continued Craddock Craddock Craddock Crad Crad- dock I had occasion to go to the Sandwich Islands In company with an official there I went one afternoon to visit the island where lepers are ate con- con fined 1 the only sp spot t on on earth where wherefrom wherefrom wherefrom from the human breast that elixir of life hope hope has has fled when suddenly a man young but the most touching picture of human despair it had ever been my lot lotto lotto lotto to behold came crouching near and in inquired inquired inquired in- in if I was from the United United States When I told him that I was he seemed almost in an agony of expectancy until I answered his next question which was whether I had ever been in Washington Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington Tacoma When I said yes he seemed wild in his varied emotions and andI I had to spring back to resist his embracing embracing embracing em em- bracing me On seeing my act of repulsion repulsion repulsion re re- a look of inhuman hate quickly followed by a torrent of tears prostrated the man In a tumult of feeling I stood rooted to the spot unable to resist the desire to hear the story of this one life Then it came out that he was Dr Wilkins He told me that after finishing finishing finishing finish finish- ing the business which had taken him from home he took the traIn tram for Tacoma Tacoma Tacoma Ta Ta- coma but while in the sleeper that night he became troubled by a queer eruption on his arm and on arriving in Tacoma he went immediately to a physician who had located there only a few days before This man confirmed his worst fears He was a leper a athing athing athing thing to be shunned by all mankind In his agony he paced the streets of the city all night he dared not go to the wife whom he adored The only course left was clear clear silence If she knew he felt that no living mortal could deter her from following him into this living hell So he took the morning train for forSan forSan forSan San Francisco and from there the first outgoing vessel and entered this home of the cursed His only desire in life now now was that I should return at once and to his wife Craddocks Craddock's voice trembled as he continued I I went back found from Tacoma people the address of the wife in the South where I immediately went that I might bring light to her of this long dark mystery of her life too life too late I h learned arned that she had died three months before the fearful strain of uncertainty on her mind was too great She one of natures nature's natures nature's natures nature's na na- tures ture's roses as beautiful in mind as in feature had lived loved suffered and died unsatisfied And such is life After the train ain had again started on its its' way and was nearing Ogden it was was visible to all that the irritable old lady in the end seat had had become cheerful and seemed to realize that she did not have so much to complain of after all A. 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