Blessed
Blindness
By Judith Spencer
(Copyright.)
"The condition of our streets is pos
itively disgraceful.” thought Miss Ag
new, as she gathered up her gown and
proceeded to pick her way over unsta
ble boards and loose paving stones,
where the crossing once had been. It
was then that she saw him first.
He was a tall and well-made man,
walking somewhat slowly ahead of
her. Suddenly he stumbled and al
most fell. In recovering himself he
turned and paused irresolute, as if
uncertain which way to go. He was
now facing her and she saw his ex
pression of helpless bewilderment,
and saw, too, that he was blind.
With a sudden pity for his misfor
tune and predicament she advanced
toward him. "Our streets are in such
a chaotic condition,” she said. “Will
you allow me to pilot you to the op
posite side?”
“I should be most grateful to you,”
he replied, lifting his hat. “I have not
been in New York for some time and
confess that I find myself decidedly
at sea.”
It seemed the strangest thing in the
world to Mary Agnew to be walking
thus familiarly by the side of an un
known man. And she felt that luck
had favored her when she had run the
gauntlet of that half mile without
meeting any of her friends. But the
man was a gentleman, and something
in his helplessness had appealed most
strangely to her.
This unconventional episode haunted
Mary Agnew all that day. She caught
herself wondering again and again
who her stranger was and why he had
ventured out alone. Sometimes it
seemed as if she had done something
inexcusably bold and unwomanly; yet
at the same time she felt that she
would never have forgiven herself had
she acted otherwise. His tall, straight
figure and fine face were still present
with her when, late that evening, she
entered a crowded ballroom on her
father’s arm.
Half an hour perhaps had passed
when she saw her old friend Jack
Beverton approaching with—could it
be possible?—her stranger of the
morning!
“Miss Agnew, allow me to introduce
my cousin, Anthony Gordon, once of
New York, lately of the far west and
now of New York again." Jack's
words seemed buzzing in her ears.
“I am glad to meet Mr. Gordon,"
she said quietly, though her heart was
fluttering strangely, as it had not done
since she was a young, young girl.
She saw him start and turn eagerly i
toward her. Jack had now passed on.
and among the crowd these two
seemed quite alone.
“It is you! I was hoping I might
meet you again,” Gordon said gladly.
“The world is a small place, after
an:
“Yes,” she assented; “yet I confess
this is a great surprise—”
“You probably think that a Wind
man is even more out of place in a
ballroom than in the city's crowded
streets, and I agree with you; but
Jack overpersuaded me and now 1 am
glad 1 came! He promised to keep me
in tow and to introduce me to a few
of his friends with whom I could sit
out an occasional dance.”
She regarded him curiously. It was
a novelty to meet a man who was ap
parently no more sensitive about such
a terrible affliction than if it had been
but a broken bone and he was about
Avith his arm in a sling.
“I hope you did not think me—for
ward this morning,” she said im
pulsively.
“I thought you did a most gracious
and beautiful action and I blessed you
for it!”
"You have not been—in this condi
tion—long?" she asked.
“Eight months—an age! And I am
a ‘remarkable case,’ for I have baffled
every specialist in the west and now
have come to New York to baffle these
fellows here. 1 intend going to each
one of them separately, at. first. Then
1 shall have them meet and hold a con
sultation; then I suppose they'll want
to examine me again; and after that.
—the verdict.”
She saw Gordon again just as she
was leaving. "I hope you will come
to—call on me,” she said. She had
been going to say “to see me,” but
quickly changed the word, adding: “I
shall be interested to hear what all
the oculists say.”
“I wanted to ask you if I might,” he
said eagerly. “If I had not seen you
again to-night” (and she noticed that
the old habit of speech clung to
him), “I should have sent Jack to you
to ask if I might, come.”
Within a few days Anthony Gordon
called, and his calls were repeated
with increasing frequency. The first
time he came with Jack, but after
wards with his man Brown, who wait
ed for him below.
He was a fine fellow, Miss Agnew
thought. But she had known many a
fine fellow during the past ten years,
and not one of them had ever had the
power to make her heart beat faster
or the quick flush to rise to her face
as this man had done from the very
first. She wondered if it were not his
blindness alone that appealed to her
and if she would not have been quite
indifferent to him if he had had his
sight like the other men.
Hut his conversation was always full
of interest. His ten years’ experi
ences in the west; liis struggles, his
successes, his defeats—he told her all
—with an eager and almost boyish
confidence. He made no secret of his
admiration for her, and the deference
and reverence he showed her seemed
something strangely beautiful.
Her father liked him, too. “Gordon’s
a fine fellow,” he said. “And so hope
ful. It will be a hard blow to him if
he shouldn't recover his sight.”
Finally there came a pause. Ten
days, two weeks passed by, during
which time Gordon had not been to
see her and had made no sign.
She could not bring herself to
write to him, to have even a letter of
mere friendly inquiry read aloud to
him by that man Brown. She was too
proud to write for news of him to
Jack. And it so chanced that during
all that time she saw no one of whom
she could inquire.
At last one night, when she was
sitting quite alone, he came. She
looked up, flushing at his approach,
and his changed face startled her.
“You have been ill?” she cried.
“Not ill in body,” he answered
gloomily, “but ill in mind. They’ve
rendered their verdict—perpetual
darkness—and I’m off again to the
west. I tried to go without seeing
you—but I am a coward! I have come
now to say good-by.”
There was a conflict of wild emo
tions in Mary Agnew’s breast. For a
moment she could not speak. He had
come to say good-by!
“I said I couldn’t go without seeing
you,” he repeated, “and I’ve come to
ask a blind man's last favor—before I
go, may I pass my hand over your
face?”
“What if I say no?” There was
something strained and unnatural in
her tone.
"Don't refuse me! You don’t know
what that would mean!” he cried.
“Can you realize that all this time
you have been but a beautiful unseen
spirit to me—a heavenly voice? I
thought I should see you some day
with my eyes and I forced myself to
wait—but that is not to be—and you
won’t refuse to let me carry away
your true image into the night of my
exile?”
“I am not beautiful,” she said. “I
have told you that before. And if in
spite of that you have deceived your
self—why need you undeceive your
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We have decided to leave Newark in a short time, and we
have a nice, new stock of Men’s, Boys and C 1 ren 1 s
Clothing, Suits, Pants and a nice line of fine Rain Coats
and Overcoats; also a complete stock of Shoes for all c asses
of trade; a nice, new stock of Hats, and, in fact, a . • •
A Complete Stock of
Genera! Merchandise, Which
UST CLOSE OUT!
These goods must be turned into cash within the next sixty days, as we do
not want to have any of these goods moved. Come in and see us, and if price
is any inducement to you, we can certainly do business with you. Vi e are
offering some great bargain in Men’s Overcoats and Pants. Come in and look
over our stock.
We thank the many good people of Newark and surrounding country who
have given us their trade for the past six years, and while we have many good
friends and customers whom we hate to leave, yet, under the circumstances,we
feel that it is to our best interest to do as we are doing.
Again thanking you, we are Your Friends,
GRIFFITH & MORROW
All parties who are indebted to us by note or account will please come in
and settle, as we want to wind up our business at once.
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self now? And why need you go Into
‘exile?’ You led us to believe that you
would stay among us—why are you
going back to the west?”
“Because—I am a coward,” he re
peated miserably.
“I don’t understand," she said.
"However, since you seem to wish to
dispel your illusion about me—perhaps
it is better so.”
She took his hand and placed it
upon her face, but at its touch the
self-control for which she had been
struggling gave way; hot tears welled
up against her will and fell in burning
drops upon his hand.
“Mary—Miss Agnew! Tears—they
are not for—me?”
“No,” she cried passionately, “they
are for myself, for I thought you
prized this—friendship—just a little;
and it was a—a shock to find that you
could say good-by so lightly when—
fiftpr Kiirh n YprrHrt—pvpn sn slisrht n
thing as a woman's friendship might
have been something to you.”
“Oh, you do not understand,” he
said quickly. “It is harder than death
to part from you like this! Since the
first night I met you my only thought
and hope have been to recover my
sight, that 1 might see you and win
your love and ask you to be my wife.
That was my vision of heaven, and
you—its angel; and I never doubted,
I thought that light would surely
come. And when they said ‘Darkness
forever,’ I was stunned. I tried to go
away without this last interview, but
1 could not. I had to come once
more. I never meant to tell you this;
but when you think I do not prize
your friendship I cannot bear it! It
is more to me than all the world; it
was my hope that one day I might
be able to win your love.”
“But if—it is already—won?” she
murmured tremulously.
He started. "I—I do not under
stand—” .
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Newark,.Arkansas
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| and Promptly Done at The Journal Office
I "Nor I,” said she. “But I have loved
1 you—from that first day, I think! Now,
Anthony Gordon, have you the cour
age—will you dare go away?”
He caught her hands. “My God,
what shall I do!” he said, helplessly.
“Let me try to make the awful
darkness less dark,” she said
quickly.
“But I cannot let you sacrifice your
self so. Oh, my love, I never dreamed
of this!"
He caught her in his arms, and
while her head rested on his breast
he passed his hand tenderly across her
upturned face and bent to kiss awray
her tears.
"My angel—you are more beautiful
than I had ever dreamed!” he said.
“And now I bless the darkness, which
has crowned me with such love!”
A Hard Debt to Pay
“I owe a debt of gratitude that, can
never be paid oft." writes G. S. Clark
of Westfield, Iowa, “for my rescue
from death, hv Or. Xmv Oi<
covery. Both lungs were so seriously
affected that death seemed imminent,
when I commenced taking New Dis
covery. The ominous dry. hacking
cough quit before the first bottle was
used, and tjvo more bottles made a
complete cure.” Nothing has ever
equaled New Discovery for coughs,
colds and all throat and lung com
plaints. Guaranteed by .T. I. Sturdi
vant druggist. 50c and $1.00. Trial
bottle free.
We are often telling you about the
selection of seed, because so little at
tention, comparatively, is paid to this
most important matter. There is as
much importance attached to sorts of
seeds as there is to breeds in cattle,
horses and hogs, but we don’t seem to
get this idea impressed so it will “take
real good.”
Your Printing
It should be a fit representative of yo«r
business, which means the high grade, ar
tistic kind. That.s the kind we do.
AN EXCELLENT ASSORTMENT
OF TYPE, GOOD PRESSES AND
TYPOGRAPHICAL ARTISTS
These represent our facilities for doing
the kind of printing that will please you.
1 he prices are right, and prompt delivery
the invariable rule at this office.
DR. IRA II. ERWIN
SPECIALIST
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Wishon Buildg
Long Distanoe
Phone No 74-2
Newport, Arkansas
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Is due in a large measure to abuse of
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Guaranteed forheadache, billiousness,
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