86 



RECREA TION. 



There are other things I value more 

 than the farm that you are robbing me 

 of. Money will not heal the wound or 

 compensate for my loss. You are aware 

 to what I refer ; so promise me, if fight 

 we must, it will be a fair, open fight, and 

 you may have the farm." 



Regarding me a moment with bitter 

 scorn and hate, he turned on his heel 

 and left me. L was about to proceed 

 down the street when Jessie stepped 

 over and laid her hand lightly on my 

 arm. 



"Allen," she said, " I have not known 

 you long, and until the other day I was 

 not aware you two were brothers. Why 

 this fact was concealed from me I do 

 not know, nor do I know much of the 

 quarrel between you, your brother and 

 your father. What little I have seen, 

 and the fact that your nearest relatives 

 are arrayed against you, indicate that 

 you are in the wrong. You are of a 

 vindictive, sullen nature, brooding over 

 imaginary wrongs, and magnifying real 

 wrongs, until they loom before you in 

 imagination, and appear to surpass 

 the unforgiven sin. Come, you are 

 surgeon enough to know a sharp knife 

 makes a quick cure " 



" Yes," I replied, bitterly. " A sharp 

 knife cuts deeper than a dull one." 



The color left her face and then 

 slowly returned until a deep crimson 

 suffused her clear, transparent skin. 

 Her voice slightly trembled as she 

 replied. 



11 Nay, friend, I have no wish to 

 wound you unnecessarily, but you 

 brothers are so like Cain and Abel 

 there is no telling where this feud will 

 end." 



" In your estimation I am the Cain. 

 Well, it only needed this bitterness to 

 complete my woe." 



Could I have analyzed my sensations 

 as I stood listening to her pleading for 

 Steve, I would have found nothing but 

 murderous hate for the brother who had 

 robbed me of the fairest being this 

 world contained. My countenance, al- 

 ways an index of my mind, spoke the 

 grief, love, hate and despair that tore 

 my soul. A look of pity lighted the fair 

 face before me, and again laying her 

 hand on my arm, she said. 



" Indeed, I am sorry for you, Allen ; 

 but you must remember you are big and 

 strong, while your brother is weak. He 

 is of a forgiving nature and will readily 

 overlook any wrong you may have 

 done him. He has already offered to 

 atone for the loss of your animals, if in- 

 deed, he is to blame/' 



" There is a loss he can never atone 

 for. Is it nothing," I cried, passion- 

 ately ; " that when I confessed to you 

 it was my fault you sprained your ankle; 

 that when my boorish manner so griev- 

 ously offended you, he betrayed me to 

 you, listened to your abuse of me and 

 concealed the fact that I was his brother, 

 and all this, after I had compelled him 

 to go to your assistance?" 



" I did not mean to stir your evil 

 blood," she answered, coldly. 



" No," I said, somewhat hysterically. 

 " If what I said related to me only, you 

 could listen readily enough." 



"You are unreasonable," she replied, 

 drawing herself up proudly. " And I 

 will bid you good day." 



With a groan I turned and walked 

 rapidly away. 



TO BE CONTINUED. 



When ripening is the early fruit 

 And solar fires begin to glow, 



The maid her handsome bathing suit 

 No more goes to the beach to show. 



The surf no more she paddles in, 



That's not the modern maiden's way; 



Along the road she takes a spin 

 Her pretty bloomers to display. 



— Boston (Mass.) Courier. 



