Show THE ROPE HOPE OF LIFE ey by J P MUNN 6 it was a tossup toss up whether old abner green would got get well or die and the sick man lying in his bod bed had seen this in tho the faces of 0 those about him ile he saw the hops hope upon his iri fes mabel loved him in spits spite of 0 his crankiness but julia tho the daughter aau ahter whom he had forbidden to marry tom rogers could not restrain tho the secret hope beneath her look ot at distress it was her fathers suffering that pained her not the possibility of 0 losing the cross grained old man who kho had bad ruled his household with ft a rod ot of iron iran so many years then there was jim tho the son eon whom lie ho had turned out of the h homo hm M un uni i ceremoniously five years before be 1 cause he be wanted to study art jim had earned a living Bo somehow and was on tho the versa verge of success he had coma came back who when n he lyard his father was wai dying to ask forgiveness andio and to got cot a share ta in my money abner woi wondered dered secretly abner green had not disinherited jim an aa he had announced that tbt he ha would do the old man loved jim had always loved him but hlf his mind ans a 6 machine with cogs coga ile set it one oni way it would only go ono one way when al anyone kyone opposed him it t lr ii rotated him into anger he had bad nothing against tom ilo rogers gors tor for example only ho he had not thought ot of julia marrying when she announced her engagement ga it upset tho the mechanism of his mind I 1 abner green wa ver bow lying in bod bed he boomed to hoyer hover upon tho the borderland between turo two worlds sometimes without surprise he be recognized the forms and faces of people who had long ago died and then ho he would gradually come back to consciousness of 0 the hUmin mn faces about his bedside so ha los alternated throughout a period that he could not measure but at last the human faces became dim U abner green wf was very low and disappeared and the dead clustered thickly about him it la Is all over now said the doe tor as abner green stretched out his hi limbs limba and lapsed into a coma abner did not hear bear him he found himself in a strange place a void timeless and spa coless looking into ithe eyes at 0 hla his first sweetheart miriam goddard who had died long ago soon after their first quarrel she stretched out her arms and abner bent his tired head upon her breast like a child you will be better soon abner she said gravely it always requires a short time tame to adjust oneself to the new life I 1 am I 1 dead then asked abner la in awe your body is not dead you yourself have not yet wholly jhony freed yourself from it but you will suffer luffer no more now hew you have suffered luff ered letting your brain control my brain instead of your heart abner that poor old clacking blacking clack ing machine that is I 1 t called balled the brain it goes its weary 1711 around round and now you will rest and lot let 1 everything go but my wife my daughter jim my business abner the souls bouls ot of those you love will be in touch with you even here even while their bodies are on earth but the rest Is a dream abner do you remember our quarrels what nonsense and all tho the while walla our soula bouls were tree free only we know it I 1 shall leave you now but I 1 shall come to you when you need me abner abner was conscious of the void again and then lie be saw a face look lug ina into his one ona that ho he had not seen in forty years my aly son murmured the sweet middle aged woman abner felt like a little boy again you he whispered unchanged mother the spirit never changes you see me as you know me maj what I 1 appear like to Is what each person who sees me here wishes in his bis heart what a poor life abner how glad you must be ba that it la ended here one does not worry about phantoms alf they are not phantoms phantom pro my daughter wants want to marry maria tom nom rogers gers he ha irot earning enough to support port her bar and jim who I 1 hoped 1 would grow up to man inathe farra hea bes painting aad so it goe the cares phantom cares my son said hta his mother smiling you have created them there Is only one real wital WB to live but when we ore are onearth on earth oarth wa we do not realize if it how I 1 worried about my kitchen if you were ariy an hour too long lone I 1 feared eared that you had fallen alien into the pond when you were so BO III with scarlet favor eter every breath you drew draw was torture to mo what Is tho only way to live mother whispered abner to do the will of him who gave us our bodies abner to worry about nothing and to fear ear noth nothing izig and abnor abner green struck dumb realized that he had made all themis the miseries cries I 1 ot of his own life lie he looked ba back ck along a vista ot of tribulations and regrets it I 1 could have my chance again he be murmured so many wish that a voice near him answered and he looked up but once again ho he was alone and he ha did not know who had bad spoken then through the void ho he saw a luminous line which seemed to extend upward from where he stood for art an distance he followed that cord and gradually he began to make out a little object lying motionless at the end of it lie he realized that it was his body the bufor cord had not yet been loosed it if I 1 could have my chanco chance again he ha thought wistfully and ho he began to mako make his hl way hand over hand along that slander rope of life that swayed and trembled aver the fathomless void beneath him the distance seemed an endless adless one but little by little he gamed to be approaching the end and then he seemed to be above his body and looking down at it the effort was an impossible one in spite of all his yearning ho he could not stir that corpse into life looking about abort him he saw like phantoms tho the faces of his wife and daughter both kneeled and both were weeping at that sight so an electric shock seemed to galvanize him into movement A sudden unconsciousness and abner his eyes in bod it was a thousand chances to on one but a miracle has happened he has pulled through said the doctor abner smiled weakly and moved his weak hand toward his daughters why tom here my wan he asked 1 b 4 t ijulia stared into his face incredulously ulous ly and began weeping tor for joy wheres Wb eres jim asked abner presently tho the boy cam camato etc his bedside and stood looking at him halt sheepishly halt half in hope f K better bring them painting things of 0 yours horo here jim said abner im going to have the garret fitted up is as a workshop for or you but it was not until he was convalescent vale valos scent cont that he realized that the dream of 0 the spirit world was true in tho the love of wife and children L abnor abner felt his troubles slip from him man had bad conquered the machine copyright 1815 1915 by W 0 chapman |