Life — July 21, 1898 — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Fable for Critics. “ Astt was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.” SLENDER, white-robed Girl stood before a largo con- course of people, waiting to sing. Hor face was bright with a glad, unknowing smile, her eyes shone with expectancy as the prelude was played, and, when sho sang, the clear, high, birdlike voice floated forth with little effort, and tho people listened. After sho bad finished they applauded politely and murmured, * She is very pretty.” They never men- tioned her singing at all, But Those Who Knew looked at her with cold eyes and said, “Tho Eternal Amatour.” Tho young Girl, disappointed, looked to- wards Fame, who stayed far off and kept even her faco avorted. . . * EARS passed. A Woman, still young, stood before an audience, Jarger and better informed than the last, The color of her cheek was height- ened by art, and in her scarlet dress she looked like some gor- geous - hued tropical flower, Thore was no uncertainty and no expectancy. She had been for years in a land where Art lives nearer to her children than in ours, and all that could be taught by masters she had learned ; and more, for she hud tasted of the Cup of Error, and in her eyes lay Knowledge of the Ways of Men. When she sang, her rich, full, sensuous voice delighted the ears of the people, who shouted bravos and showered flowers at her feet. And even Those Who Knew listened with interest and sald, “She is a great Singer.” But the Woman, who, during the song, had looked only at the peo- ple, turned at its conclusion towards Fame, who came no nearer, but who no longer kept her face avorted, and at timos seomed to listen. ORE years went by. An audience, which crowded every nicho of an immense bulld- ing, stood waiting breathlessly for a Woman to sing to them. Time had changed her, but sho was only more beautiful. Her cheok was quite pale, but her eyes shone with the Light of Stars as sho stood patiently in her black gown, waiting to bogin. All haste and eagerness and desire to please, and intention of any kind, were gone. Great Love had touched her, and Great Grief and Death, and made her human. She no longer looked at the people or at Fame, but Upward, All her work and knowledge of Evil and Good and Love and Hato had moulded her voice into perfect melody, as with passion and pain and joy sho sang, “I Know that My Redeemer Liveth.” When she finished, the people shouted * and applauded, and Those Who Know said at last, with sobs in their throats, “She is a great Artist.” And, amid the multi- tude, Fame came and knelt at her fect, and offered up to her a laurel wreath ; the Woman looked down at her and said gently, “ Whoare You?" And theanswer came, “Iam Fame.” “ Pardon me,” the Woman said, “Thad forgotten you.” Elinor Macartney Lane, “IVILIZATION is the in- stinct of self-preservation cultivated into acute and far- reaching foresight. In Quaker Meeting. OROTRY sits acroas tho alsle, To solemn thoughts her mind attuning, Nor deigns to grant mo e’en a smile— Demurely bent in self-com- muning. The clock upon the bare, white wall Ticks loud amid the silent praying; Tho orickets chirp, the Bob Whites call, And at the door a horso is neighing. An elder shuffles in his chair, In fervent gaze the mild eyes lifting, And then—resumes his heedless alr, Amid tho courts of Heaven drifting. Dorothy's rapt in Christian truth, Her faith is deep and all un- doubting; And so—I smilo at restless Ruth— Dorothy’s eyes and lips are pouting! Hate Howard Richardson. Slightly Different. KIDMORE: So Mullins has married a wife. Ki.pvrr: That is not the way in which I understand it. “How do you understand “My information is that a widow bas married Mullins.” OFTLEIGH: I wondah what makes mah cyes so weak? Miss MaBev: They're in a % weak place. comicbooks.com