Alice Hegan Rice

“ Overhead the tender green of the interlaced boughs made a network against the radiant blue of the sky; dog-roses were doing their best to cover the unsightly spite fence; everywhere about her was the hum of bees, the chatter of mating birds, the thrilling, sentient excitement of the earth's rebirth.
“Gosh! How I hate spring!” said Miss Gee savagely, slapping the shutter with her paint-brush as if she were administering chastisement. It was only when she spied a bird's nest under the eaves that her energy abated, and she strove with infinite caution not to disturb its occupant. ”

“ Redding stood on the corner where they had left him, and the smile died out of his face. Within a block was a jolly crowd and a hearty welcome; across the street was the big apartment house where his dark and cheerless window promised him nothing. For a moment he stood irresolute. "There is certainly nobody to care where I go," he thought gloomily; then suddenly the smile came back. "But if I'm to be Billy Wiggs's model, I guess I'd better go to bed." ”

“ Love was something that hovered with the calcium light about beauty in distress, something that brought the hero from the uttermost parts of the earth to hurl defiance at the villain and clasp the swooning maiden in his arms; it was something that sent a fellow down from his perch in the peanut gallery with his head hot and his hands cold, and a sort of blissful misery rioting in his soul.
Joe lived in what was known by courtesy as Rear Ninth Street. ”

“ Presently Evan stirred and moaned, then suddenly a flash of joyous wonder overspread his face.
"It 's beautiful, it is!" he murmured breathlessly, "all beautiful now. Life—and—love—and death."
The years have passed, but the weather-beaten little shelter, with its pathetic inscription yet legible above the penny-box, may still be seen on the path that leads to Fous Noddum. But it is only a place for the birds and squirrels now, and no vibrant harp notes mingle with the music of the Glen. ”

“ Are not a world to-day—
But just a place God made for us
In which to play."
HEN the last snow of the winter had melted, and the water was no longer frozen about the corner pump, the commons lost their hard, brown look, and a soft green tinge appeared instead. There were not many ways of telling when spring came to the Cabbage Patch; no trees shook forth their glad little leaves of welcome, no anemones and snow-drops brought the gentle message, even the birds that winged their way from the South-land hurried by, without so much as a chirp of greeting. ”

“ Meanwhile Miss Joe Hill, in the blind infatuation of celestial affinity, condoned the friendship. "You are developing your own character," she told Miss Lucinda. "You are exercising self-control and forbearance in dealing with that crude, undisciplined girl. Florence is the natural outcome of common stock and newly acquired riches. It is your noble aspiration to take this vulgar clay and mold it into something higher than itself. Your motive is laudable, Lucinda; your self-sacrifice in giving up our evening hour together is heroic. ”

“ Gribben appeared lost in abstraction; from time to time he cast surreptitious glances at Beulah as she moved about the dining-room, and once he got out the Bible and reread the passage in Isaiah.
"Beulah!" he broke forth, at last, "I don't know what on earth we been thinking about all this time. It's just come to me what Martha means. She wants you and me to get married and go on living here just like we are. It's as plain as the nose on your face, and yet I never saw it till this minute. Talk about your spirit control! Why, if ever a man was led into a thing, I was led into this!" ”

“ What was it all about, this chintz cabinet? And the elaborate binding and fettering of Tom and the Doctor with stout ropes? Even so were they both confessedly bound in the fetters of her enchantment. But she had to set one free! What a pity men must bring things to an issue! She couldn’t say which she preferred. Tom, so large and splendid—the Doctor so—er—compelling. As the lights were lowered Miss Corcoran was gazing at her finger tips. ”

“ Five minutes later a breathless figure presented himself at the Beaver kitchen. He had on a clean shirt and his Sunday clothes, and while he wore no collar, a clean handkerchief was neatly pinned about his neck.
"Everybody but the bride and groom come into the parlor," commanded Mrs. Beaver. "I'm agoing to make a speech, and tell 'em that the bride has done changed her mind."
Joe and Mittie, left alone, looked at each other in dazed rapture. She was the first to recover.
"Joe!" she cried, moving timidly towards him, "ain't you mad? Do you still want me?" ”

“ Australia, screaming wildly, lay in what appeared to his excited vision to be a pool of green blood; Europena was jumping up and down beside her, calling wildly for her mother, while Cuba, with ears erect and a green liquid trickling down his nose, sternly surveyed the wreck. In a moment Redding had Australia in his arms, and was mopping the paint from her face and hair. ”

“ UP in the Welsh Mountains, hid away in a deep ravine of the Lledr Valley is the far-famed Fairy Glen. Here the turbulent river Conway comes plunging over resisting boulders and mossy stones to meet its brother river the Llugwy in the valley below. Each season hundreds of tourists leave the highway to toil up the wood-path for a glimpse of the seething waters, the verdant forest, and the wildly picturesque Glen.
About half-way up the steep ascent the traveler was wont to hear, above the dashing of falling waters, and the wind in the tree-tops, the deep vibrant notes of a harp. ”

“ Through the long, hard winters, and hot summers, Miss Gee pursued her militant way, apparently independent of human companionship, and superbly indifferent to criticism. But when May came and the locust bloomed, Miss Gee drooped. At other times of the year she could keep the doors of memory closed, but when the poignant fragrance of the creamy locust-blossoms filled the air, she always took sulphur and molasses, and spent her days and nights in trying not to remember.
[illustration: “I guess I'll have to try to get him in at the hospital,” he said dubiously.] ”

“ Miss Joe Hill took her hand firmly and said: and said in a commanding voice: "Lucinda, collect yourself! You have temporarily lost your poise. Let the past week be wiped from our memories. You have gotten out of the center of your individuality; with my help you shall return. Divorce yourself from all positive thought, Lucinda. Allow the subliminal self to assert itself." ”

“ Without color, or form, or visible motion the earth was still beautiful to him. He smiled out into the darkness, and sang as the birds sing for very joy of living.
As he sat there, day after day, in the sunshine and the rain, with the music in his soul, something of the sweetness of the still wood, and the mystery of the sunlight became inwoven in his very being. It was as if Nature played upon him, as he played upon his harp, tuning the subtle strings of his sensitive soul, making him responsive to her moods and the moods of her children. ”

“ Surely no rich man need have any fear about entering the kingdom of heaven since Joe Ridder managed to get that particular thread through the eye of that particular needle!
But when a boy is put at a work bench at twelve years of age and does the same thing day in and day out for seven long years, he may have lost all of the things that youth holds dear, but one thing he is apt to have learned, a dogged, plodding, unquestioning patience that shoves silently along at the appointed task until the work is done. ”

“ A man in your condition is a fine one to talk about starting across the continent by himself. What do you care what those old twaddlers say? If I told what I know about some of the Danvers Fund Committee, it would knock the whole church silly.”
“I can speak for one member of that committee,” said the Doctor, his fat face mottling with purple. “When I leave this community, all I shall take with me will be a blameless conscience, and the love of my fellow-man.”
“That wont break your back,” said Miss Gee.
Dr. Mawkins rose with an air of injured dignity, but Mr. Lukins put out a detaining hand. ”

“ Mr. Tommie White, whose six feet two of athletic solidity was as nothing in strength compared to the strong attachment of his friends to the diminutive form of his name, was showing Miss Corcoran and Miss Wingate, together with their chaperon, about the building. In this office Dr. Ernest Hardin was assisting Mr. Tommie White.
“You see,” said Mr. White, “it’s all here: gymnasium, pool, dressing-room, barber shop, kitchen, billiards—completest sort of arrangement—”
Miss Corcoran lingered behind with Dr. Hardin. Impersonal enthusiasm always struck her as a waste of good material. ”

“ People were thronging in every direction, and she realized that she was occasionally the recipient of a curious glance. She began to watch rather anxiously for the return of her party. Ten minutes passed, and still they did not come.
Suddenly the awful possibility presented itself that they might have lost her. She had no money, and even if she had had, she knew she could never find her way back to the hotel alone. Anxiety gained upon her in leaps. In bitter remorse she upbraided herself for ever having strayed from the blessed protection of Miss Joe Hill's authority. ”

“ When you fall asleep the dense body is left behind. You then function through your astral body alone, which is what the miscalled 'dead' are also doing. The living and the dead are therefore together again. If you wish to commune with your dear departed, you can do so through astral experiences, popularly known as dreams."
Mr. Gribben and Beulah exchanged glances of profound bewilderment, then they looked at the medium, who still sat with head back and closed eyes as if her recent round with Pharaoh had been a bit too much for her. Even Beulah's face expressed credulity. ”

“ The wedding night arrived, and the Beaver cottage was filled to suffocation with the elite of Rear Ninth Street. The guests found it difficult to circulate freely in the room on account of the elaborate and aggressive decorations, so they stood in silent rows awaiting the approaching ceremony. As the appointed hour drew near, and none of the groom's family arrived, a few whispered comments were exchanged.
"It's 'most time to begin," whispered the preacher to Mrs. Beaver, whose keen black eyes had been watching the door with growing impatience. ”

“ It may be experience of suffering makes one especially tender to the heart-aches of others; at any rate, the article that Lucy Olcott wrote for the paper that night held the one touch of nature that makes the whole world kin. She had taken Aunt Chloe, the old colored servant, and gone home with Mrs. Wiggs, relieving as far as possible the immediate need of the family. Then she had come home and written their story, telling it simply, but with the passionate earnestness of one who, for the first time, has come into contact with poverty and starvation. ”

“ When the dinner was over, the party started forth on a hilarious round of sight-seeing. Miss Lucinda limped after them, vaguely aware that she was in a giant electric cage filled with swarming humanity, that bands were playing, drums beating, and that at every turn disagreeable men with loud voices were imploring her to step this way.
"Come on!" cried Dick. "We are going on the scenic railway." ”

“ The spirits are fond of writing in strange tongues; they sometimes write backward, or upside down. Our experts will interpret these messages for a small sum, and you will be surprised often at the results. I beseech you not to listen to any discouragement in your investigation of this mighty truth. It is a debt you owe to science. You will promise me to persevere?"
Mr. Gribben yielded to the spell of those pale, insistent eyes and promised. He also bought a copy of The Mystic Veil, at a price that sent Beulah into the kitchen in a towering rage. ”

“ Lukins' approval.
“I think you're a wonder!” he wheezed. I don't believe there's another lady in the State—no, nor a man either—that can put things over like you can.”
Incense was something new to Miss Gee. It had a strange effect upon her. She, who had waxed strong and aggressive under abuse, grew almost gentle under the ardent admiration and gratitude of Mr. Lukins. Whatever darts of cynicism now shot from her bow, they were never aimed at her patient.
It was inevitable that word should soon go abroad that Miss Gee had a beau. The news filled Purdyville with unholy glee. ”

“ Wiggs got up and went toward the bed. The three little girls lay huddled under one old quilt, their faces pale and sunken. She turned away abruptly, and looked toward the corner where Billy slept on a pallet. The blankets on his bed were insufficient even for him. She put her hands over her face, and for a moment dry sobs convulsed her. The hardest grief is often that which leaves no trace. When she went back to the stove she had a smile ready for the sick boy. ”

“ Still Evan smiled. "I ll wait for thee, Gladdwyd," he said.
When they were gone the wood seemed very still. He had held his breath to catch every word of the revelers until they were lost in the distance. Now he rose and paced up and down the path, and the youth in him cried out in protest against his blindness. He longed to run and leap and be free, free to see the world he lived in, free to live and love like other men. ”

“ She insisted on the house being painted, on the fences being mended; she even concerned her astral mind with old Kitty and the decrepit buggy.
"But you surely ain't going to do everything she tells you!" protested Beulah.
"I am," said Mr. Gribben. "There's no living woman whose advice I'd give a copper cent for, but when one comes back from the dead and tells me that if I don't spend my money while I am living that Tom Gribben's children are going to squander it in riotous living when I'm dead, why, I listen to her. What do you reckon it will cost to paint the house?" ”

“ It was Christmas Eve when she stepped off the train, gaunt as a hound, and gray, with tragedy deep-seated in her eyes. But her shoulders and her jaw were still square, and she swung out of the station with her old independent, mannish stride. ”

“ But Miss Lucinda's traditions were firm. "Why, Florence," she began reproachfully, but Floss interrupted her:
"Don't 'Florence' me, Miss Lucy! You're just pretending to be mad; I know you. Miss Joe Hill keeps after you just like she does after us. The girls told me how she made you rip all the trimmings off your clothes, and would n't let you have sugar in your coffee. I don't care how smart she is or how good she is, we all love you best." ”

“ Asia went back to her digging with a will; the prospect of work, of learning how to do things right, and, above all, of learning how to paint, filled her with happiness.
"If I was you I'd make that bed in the shape of a star," said her mother, breaking in on her reflections. "Why don't you make it a mason star? Yer pa was a fine mason; it would be a sort of compliment to him."
"What is a mason star like?" asked Asia.
"Well, now I ain't right sure whether it's got five points or six. Either way will do. Lands alive, I do believe there comes Miss Lucy!" ”

“ Joe, with both hands entangled in her veil and his feet lost in her train, looked down at her through swimming eyes.
"Want yer?" he repeated, and his lips trembled, "gee whiz! I feel like I done ribbeted a hoop round the hull world!"
The signal was given for them to enter the parlor, and without further interruption the ceremony proceeded, if not in exact accordance with the plans of Mrs. Beaver, at least in obedience to the mandate of a certain little autocrat who sometimes takes a hand in the affairs of man even in Rear Ninth Street. ”

“ Lukins' features underwent a sudden spasm, and his Adam's apple began to work violently.
“You are still weak, I see,” said the Doctor kindly. “I am sorry Miss Gee and I couldn't have arranged this without you.”
“No—no!” he protested. “I am the one to act—and to act at once. I shall leave on the evening train.”
In vain did Miss Gee remonstrate, command and threaten. For once Mr. Lukins opposed his will to hers and remained firm in his decision. Even Dr. Mawkins forgot his own grievance in witnessing Mr. Lukins' anguish. ”

“ Without teachers, without guidance, he sought and found the highest life can give, in the silence of the wood, in the depths of his own soul, and in the gentle humanity that lies in the hearts of men. ”

“ The effect of Joe's efforts were prompt and satisfactory. The next day being Sunday, he spent the major part of it in passing and repassing the house on the corner, only going home between times to remove the mud from his shoes and give an extra brush to his hair. The girl, meanwhile, was devoting her day to sweeping off the front pavement, a scant three feet of pathway from her steps to the wooden gate. Every time Joe passed she looked up and smiled, and every time she smiled Joe suffered all the symptoms of locomotor ataxia! ”

“ But Miss Gee ruthlessly dug up the tender budding romance in order to examine its roots, and it promptly died of exposure.
Soon after that Minnie left her, and from that time on, she lived quite alone, with no companionship except her dog and her chickens and her beloved horse. The affection that the average woman distributes among her friends and family she concentrated on Bonnie Prince. ”