The Argosy — page 302: what you’re looking at

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

Marionettes. 281 Crisp, exquisite, the shadows transparent, with lovely, pearly shades. Each pink rose seems to emit light from itself. It is a poem in flowers, and no other hand in the world could have painted it. There is a murmur of applause, hushed only at last by the raising of the drop scene. But it is this and this alone that the crowds have come to see—not the Marionettes. And night after night it is the same. ‘There is not room in the theatre for the crowds who pour in. A Russian prince sends for Luigi. He offers him ten thousand francs for the drop scene. ‘“‘ Kccellenza,” he replies, hat in hand: ‘if you gave me its weight in gold pieces I would never part with it. It has saved our lives. But for the man who painted it, we should have died of hunger. God has blessed his work and brought us out of our despair. I will keep it for ever.” BETROTHAL SONG. As he who the dead night through unhappy watches and wakes, And is glad of the pallid surf where the first wave of morning breaks, As he long pent in a dungeon is glad of the first free breath, As he who is tortured with living is glad of the promise of death, As he who is weary to sickness is glad of the ceasing of strife, I am glad of the thought of your presence, of your feet in the ways of my life! As autumn weeps for the summer, and night grieves after the day, As age reaches arms back to youth, and December thrusts hands out to May, As all that is sad and unloved desires all that is happy and dear, As all that is stormy and dark loves all that is quiet and clear, As despair yearns back for a life burnt out at an idol’s feet, My heart yearns passionate after whenever you leave me, Sweet ! As the world, with its broken lives, hopes ever, for ever longs For a new bright life that shall lighten its darkness and right its wrongs, As the starlight dreams of the moon, as the moonlight dreams of the So I aga of the day that is coming, when I and my heart shall be When you who are one with my heart, with all of its pleasure and Shall fe one with my life for ever, and never leave me again ! E. NESBIT. COM ) NOOKS (SO