OCR Text |
Show AUNTIE'S ROMANCE I By LYNDA W. BOLES. (J. jZ, by iicCiure .Newspaper Syndicate. What a wonderful field for the machinations ma-chinations of fate is the old canvas mail bag, unesthetic and unromantic to look upon, but Containing the gladness glad-ness and sorrow, disappointments and surprises which so often make the turning point in the lives of its many slaves. None of the many elements of the seasons is too fearsome to struggle with on our road to the village post office, wherefrom the unrelenting hand of fate, reaches forth and lays its mark upon all who wait upon it. In a small town general store and post oflice I stood one day watching the strange mixture of human emotions emo-tions depicted upon the face of the village people as they gathered to await Fate's shuffling of the cards. How quickly can the eagerness be wiped from a face by that unfeeling, "Nothing tonight, Mrs. S." A little old woman in rusty black timidly approached the window, he tremulous, "Did my letter come tonight, to-night, Mr. Morse?" revealing the anxiety of her mind. Breathlessly she waited, as did I, the result of his search through a pile of letters and when at last one was handed to her I experienced a sense of satisfaction in fate's kindness to this tiny bit of humanity. With a smile of gratitude she clasped the precious bit of paper close to her old black shawl and hurried through the door. "There, I do declare. Aunt Lizzy has got her letter!" exclaimed someone behind be-hind me, and, turning, I recognized the speaker from whom I very easily drew a pathetic little story. It seemed that the letter was from "Faithy," a niece whom the old lady had mothered from babyhood a trust which had demanded many sacrifices, but In return had brought a great deal of happiness to the lonely old woman. Then, through a strange twist of fate, again masquerading in the old canvis mail bag, Faithy had gone to the far West to meet and marry the man with whom she had become acquainted ac-quainted through the exchange of a few letters while he was In service in France. They had been married now almost a year, a year full of happiness and complete contentment, but very few luxuries, and oftlmes, I gathered, not enough necessaries. As each letter was received the little old lady would breathe in the atmosphere atmo-sphere of young love and unshattered ideals, her old cheeks flushing and eyes glowing as she read the young girl's praises of the man who had come to fulfill all the hopes and dreams of her girlhood. And so the little old lady with the youthful eyes lived her "second hand" romance. Two weeks later as I was waiting for my train to be bulletined in the terminal ter-minal of one of our large Eastern railroads, rail-roads, I felt a light touch on my arm. Looking down, I gazed into the uplifted uplift-ed face of the youthful old lady of the post office episode. "Will you tell me," she asked In a confidential tone, "if that train goes to Chicago?" "That's the train, sure enough," I answered, pointing to the track. "I suppose you are on your way to see Faithy?" I questioned with a smile, for I knon she did not recognize me and had m reason to believe that I knew anything of her affairs. But my little Joke was lost. Aunt Lizzy seemed to take it for granted that the realization realiza-tion of her dreams should be an established estab-lished fact "Yes, I am on my way now. She really needs me. It's not Just thnt she wants to take care of me. Up to now she had only her husband to look after. But a baby Is a different thing. There's a knack to raising them." "It will be a lucky baby to have you to cure for it," I answered, as I found her chair in the car she was to ride in. "Now I will see you again before the train leaves, but I have an errand to do now." "Land sakes, you don't dare to go away now, do you, with the train all here? I wouldn't leave this seat for anything," she said, with a happy laugh. With the aid of a taxk-ab I made a dash for the nearest department store and there I turned my case over to a floor walker, telling him I wanted an outtit for a very young man. On being be-ing questioned more fully I admitted that measurements hadn't been delivered deliv-ered yet, but I wanted everything that couldn't be bought in a small western west-ern town for a baby. I leached the station with ten minutes min-utes to spare, found my little lady and dropped the package in her lap, whispering, whis-pering, "For him." About dinner time I decided to strol. bad; to her cur and see what Aunt Li.zy was going to do about dinner, I found Ikt asleep and in her lap lay a tiny cashmere garment, its dainty pink silk lining matching the tlusi' upon the sleeper's cheeks. |