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Show "XSBRS FOR W$0Z yUWmhuV VniUAM E' x iuWu fisher In ll the legendary lore of tho story famed Hudson there In no mure s beautiful, more pathetic, or mure un canny tale than the life itory of Wll- Ham Fisher, the hermit of Ardaley, who for thirty year a baa hldilen him-self him-self away from the eye nf the world to mnurn In unbroken solitude for the loss of the woman he loved. r Until the village authorltlea of Arda ley forced antranre Into tho retreat of William Fisher a few daya ago he had lived an Ideal hermit's life for thirty yeara. During all thla time no human foot had crossed his threahold. Then the sheriff's Jury mthlesaly Invaded m-'l,' his hovel for the purpose of formally declaring him Insane and Incapable of I managing his large eatate. With the ' s aanie determination with which he has shunned the world, the aaed hermit e resisted them, and, thounh old and de crepit, he boldly declared that he would rather die fighting than to leave the hotel where he baa boen waiting v ' ' for the return of the woman for love of whom he became an anchorite. J Forty-five yeara ago William Fisher waa the beau of Bleepy Hollow. He a 28 yeara old then, good looking. f t regarded aa the beat matrimonial catch In ail that part of the Hudson Itlver country. He waa the only child of the richest man In Sleepy Hollow. Cham-ea to marry came to htm by the . score, and he was eagerly sought after I by all the rural matchmaking mothers. Hut be remained a bacuelor, Immune I and Impervloiia to the enchantment of love, until one day he met the right girl. Then be loved aa ateadfaatly as he had avoided love before. Tho right girl waa Catherine Odell, the daughter of Nehemlah Odell. a wealthy farmer of Dnhhs' Ferry. Fisher, Fish-er, handsome, dark-eyed, and every Inch a man, loved her madly, and bis lovo wss returned In full measure. Their courtship was brief, and soon the day was set for the wedding. It was to be a fete day, and the whole population for miles around waa Invited. In-vited. There was to he a dance and a frolic at the bride's hotiso, after the ceremony, and then the company was to repair next dsy on horseback to the home of tbe bridegroom's father, the house In the ruins of which the hermit now lives. Here the most important part of the marriage ceremony wss to take place. The welcome home to the happy bridal couple waa to be a grand affair. All these preparations had 1 been completed, the bride's gown lay folded in the lavender-scented chest, and everything was In readiness. But Instead of the featlvltles came a tragedy. trag-edy. On the day before the wedding the lover and bis sweetheart were crossing cross-ing the ferry and the girl was drowned. drown-ed. As she sank beneath the water the heart of William Flaher went down with her,, and down It haa remained ever aince that fateful day. From that time the rich and gallant beau of Bleepy Hollow was a recluse. He consecrated con-secrated his life to the memory of his dead love. Years afterward bis father died and a long time ago his mother passed (way, leaving him In sole pos-session pos-session of a valuable estate. Yet this did not tempt him from his vigil. When they carried the mother's body m through the front door her son cloned that door forever. He boarded up all the front windows of the house, locked , up the empty rooms and threw tho Ky away, lie wished to see nothing., remember re-member nothing of the past but the woman he loved. He arranged tso back rooms, the kitchen snd an ute Joining rooms, and dec lared his Initiation Initia-tion of living and dying there. Tbe aged hermit Uvea In the midst of a scene of decay and desolation. His hovel I? now a ruin, and it standi not more thsn a stone's throw froirif old Hleepy Hollow highway. The nxs Is sunken and a side of tho house Aas fallen In. Overhead the trees and garden gar-den ahruhs have Interlaced, forming a sort of bower. A dense growth of old-fashioned shrubbery conceals It from the pssslng traveler. There Is but one way of Ingress to the retreat, and that Is by an obscure path which unwinds a labyrinthine passage through the shrubbery and undergrowth. under-growth. The old rain barrel, split and bent, still stands under the drip of ths tumble-down stoop. The grass has overgrown tne once wen irampn-u dooryard. . , , The recluae, once handsome and (be Idol of many women's hearts, presents a sad picture now. His figure, tall, gaunt, snd specter-like, seems almost In have loat Its human resemblanse. Ills eyes are wild, his whore appearance appear-ance badly dlshevelis!. He la something some-thing more thsn six feet tall. His face Is thin, c lear cut, and hawklike. On his chin Is a stubble of white beard and a fringe of snowy hair hsngs over his neck and about his temples. On the top of his head he wears a queer wig wove after the fashion of a bird's neat out of his long gray beard. Day In and day out and through the long hours of the night the old hermit stts before the one window In bis room peering out Into the world of which he Is no part and watchlni for the return of his long-dead sweetheart But she doesn't come and he continues his watch, which he declares will not end until his fading life ebbs away and he ran forget the world altogether. Fisher spends much of his time making mak-ing rough aketches of the girl as he remembers her face on the dsy she wss drowned. The walls of his hovel are covered with these crude, drawllgs which he worship with pathetic sincerity. |