Eastern High School - Echo Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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20 THE EASTERN ECHO Kathleen fConcludedj Edna Shanahan '23 T TI'llS point, his guest again inter- rupted his thoughts. I am like Vergil's Aeneas in one respect, he began in a bitter 'fr -Mefrc tone of voice, but it occurred to him that most likely his host knew nothing about Latin, and he was somewhat surprised when he looked up and saw the father smiling knowingly. And this respect, he continued, His that misfortune follows me wherever I go. I have co-me from the South. My mother died while I was yet very young. My father had to go to Europe, so he placed me under the care of an aunt, the only living relation I had besides my father. She robbed me of my boyhood by not allowing me to go with other young peo- ple except during school hours. Then, when my father was on his way home, and liberty seemed near, a storm came up on the seag the ship was struck by lightning and it sank. All the people were reported as lost and my poor father's name was on the list. Then, my Aunt decided that as I was left almost penniless, I should not finish my college course, which was my chief joy, and she put me to work. I-lowever, in a few years, or to be exact, when I was eighteen years of age, -she died, and to my surprise, left me an small sum of money. I decided to come North and try my luck- you see the result. Thus he ended his story. Your name, boy? the father asked. Wallace lVlcDannon, the young fellow an- swered. Well, I know your father, we went to school together, Kathleen's father said. I-le was my friend and you are welcome here. Indeed, sir, I am glad I have at least found one friend and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind offer. I am staying at a cabin about three miles from here. How strange it is that we should meet here in the North and under such conditions. You know, he continued, I had a very strange dream-I mean I think it was a dream. I thought that when I was lying in the snow, a girl with deep blue eyes and curly brown hair came and tried to take the trap off my foot. She was just like the fairies I read about so long ago, he added dreamily and he looked up for an answer. Young man, said the older man in a voice of mock sternnessf' That blue:-eyed fairy was my daughter, and he burst out laughing at the comical look which overspread the young man's countenance. The days passed. Kathleen was well again and she was preparing to see the stranger who, for the first time was able to come into the liv- ing room. She arranged her hair becomingly on the back of her head, but she put in only three bone hairpins. I-ler dress of light blue gingham with its white collar and cuffs fitted her perfectly. I-ler eyes twinkled with excite- ment. I'ler father called and with a few more pats to her unruly curls she hurried into the room, and stumbled over a rug and fell right on her hands and knees. In this position she looked up rather odd- ly first at her father and then at the stranger. She knew not what to do or say, but seeing her father and his guest laughing, she too joined in, although she blushed deeply at her mis- hap. She got up, but the hairpins which never would stay in slipped out, letting her curls fall in disorder over her shoulders., After her father had introduced Wallace to her, the two men began to talk again of the South. The evening passed pleasantly as did the thirteen following ones. But when the thirteenth came, the stranger, whom we may now call Wallace, left for his own cabin and Kathleen once more began her writing with zeal. I-lowever, this did not last long, for the evenings soon became lonely for the young girl. Her father noted the differ- ence, but jealousy kept him quiet. Kathleen and her stranger friend as she laughingly called him seldom ever saw each other. She had ventured a few times to ask her father about him but she soon realized that her fath- er appeared strange and stern when she asked him about Wallace. So she refrained. Three such years passed and Kathleen's father became very ill. The servant and Kath- leen tiptoed about as if fearful that Death might enter. For weeks, nothing had been heard of Wallace because news travels slowly in the thinly populated Northland. Kathleen dared not send him word, though she longed to see him and have his help. Often she sat

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THE EASTERN ECHO 21 by her father's bedside, waiting and wonder- ing what would become of her when her father died. As she was sitting thus one evening in the dim lamplight, two large tears fell upon her father's hand. The tears seemed to carry a. message and to waken the old man for a short time from his pain to his daughter's sad- ness. He opened his eyes and gazed a moment at Kathleen's pale, tear-stained face. He asked her why she was crying, and with a sob she said that if he should die, she would have no one in the world to care for her. These simple words at last awoke the stern father to the fact that he had wronged both his daughter and Wallace. ln a flash he real- ized the truth of Kathleen's words. He trem- bled and then in broken sentences assured her that there was someone who cared for her and who had often begged to see her. He also confessed that he had kept them apart. At this moment there was a knocking at the door and soon Kathleen was joyfully lead- ing her lover to her father's bedside. With a wan smile her father laid his hand on theirs and said: May God bless you, my children. With these words his eyes closed and he fell into a restful sleep carefully watched by his bright little girl, Kathleen, and her faithful stranger lover. Clrinisl !Qi NATURE'S MAGIC Nora Kirwan, '24 When l awoke this morn l was surprised To find the sun far up within the skies, For when l went to sleep. a cold fast rain Was tapping gently on my window pane. And had l known the fairies throughout the night ego Had worked and transformed everything in sight, l would have roused myself from just mere dreams, To see this fairyland shoot forth its gleams. Each object from my window. as far as l could see, Was covered with a sheet of ice, twig and bush and tl'8C- S The clothes lines and the gateposts and e'en the mean- est thing, Were clothed in glistening crystal, as rich as any king. Some maples standing on a, hill, a group, Seemed jewelled, decked beauties in a chorus troupe, The hill, the stage on which they stood arrayed: 3114 The sun, the light that all their jewels displayed Sometimes in union with the wind they swung. But fast to them their sparkling garments clung: A tall lone tree stood like a bride of state, ln irrideiscent robes to greet her mate. l Sometimes where branches met and intertwined They formed a silvery lace of network fine, With the sky behind of palest blue, 'Neath nature's own creation shining through. But this heaven was not long to be, For as l watched, drops fell from every tree Like diamonds glistening in the morning sung Who smiled to- see this glory fast undone. l sigh-ed because the fairy jewels must fall, ' And thought I must have dreamed it, after all.