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THE HESPEKIAN
THE SILVER POPULAR.
A poplar stood on a sunny slope
And it was all a-tremble :
The east wind blew
The branches through
A shimmering sheen
Of glimmering green
The tree.
A poplar stood on a sunny slope
And it was all a-quiver:
The west wind blew
The branches through
A hazy light
Of mazy white
The tree.
A poplar stood on a sunny slope
And it was all a-flutter :
The east wind blew,
The west wind blew
A lustrous beam
Of silver gleam
The tree.
Amy C. Bruner.
A STRANQE EMANCIPATION.
I.
Dark tapestries, with pale, grotesque fig
ures covered the walls. The floor was
carpeted with black. The furniture was
sombre and massive and anciont. Crimson
curtains drawn tightly over the windows ad
mitted a dull rod glow faintly illumining the
apartment.
Wrapped in a blood-colored robe which
twined about a form serpentine in grace,
she paused, motionless but for the light
tapping of her foot on the velvet carpet.
Presently she turned quickly. A rod light
gleamed in her gloomy eyee; her lips curled
so that the sharp teeth flashed. She smiled
and her smile was cold and cruel. On the
face of a man or of another woman it
would have been a grin.
"You will not marry mo, then? You re
fuse me me ! And for a doll a dead
thing!" She laughed, a low musical laugh
but gruesome as a hyena's howl. "It is
well; you shall have your will," she hissed.
"Yon shall wed the dead ! "
The young man, half discernible in the
shadow, shrugged his shonlders contemptu
ously, bowed stiffly and wont out. She
laughed again, her low hyena laugh. Thon
she threw hersolf upon a couch. For n long
time she lay silent, a moody sadness in her
gloomy eyes.
II.
A young man awaited the coming of his
bride to the altar. While he waited he
thought only of her. Before his eyes floated
a fairy phantom the image of a maid with
clear blue eyes that sparkled and smiled and
glanced tenderly down upon him, and a fair
bright face, shining gayly through the mist
of her golden hair. It was a very dear
phantom to him, one that ho behold often.
And soon she was coming to bo his, his
own forever. The young man turned wist
fully toward the door. And just then it
was thrown open and the bridal party en
tered and marched slowly to the altar.
The slender form of the bride was
shrouded in floating robes of white. Even
her face was lost beneath the silken veil
through which her golden hair yet gleamed.
Tho minister came. All was ready for
the ceremony. Eagerly tho voung man took
tho little white hand whore a groat jewel
flashed tho little hand that was to be his. But
he shuddered and paled when he touched it
and glanced anxiously at the veiled figure by
his side. A few noticed, and wondered.
Tho ceremony was finished. Ho turned
and drew aside tho silken veil for tho bride
groom's kiss, yet, even as ho leaned forward
for that first pledge of his wedded life, ho
caught himself and drew back. His white
face becamo whiter and his features storn-set.
A startled cry was smothered on his lips.