Aunt Madeline

"Gad! she's the only really beautiful oid Human X ever saw." The speaker was one of a group of mm who stood od the steps of a church one Sunday morning a few years ago n a fair city of whioh we all know. The group had apparently been dis;ming the woman whose appearance called furth the exclaniation. I followed the direction of their looks and found ampie warrant for the emphatic utterance whioh I had overheard. The association of oíd age with uucommon womanly beauty in one prson is rare enough to excuse the curiosity ífiátbíy." ï'wSfrndt; inereióVé; ouwariy apology for what the reader, and possibly the lady herself, may regard as an impertinenci'. It is a fact that I did learn the story of hor life, stranger though I ani in the city that is her home. It is not a thrilling tale. Thcre is in jt not one essentially dramatic incident. Yet it moves me to deeper fimotion and stirs within me a loftier ailmiration than the story of many a life that genius h;is snatched out of the commou for immortalitv. Aunt Madelme (for Boahe iscallod by thone who Iove her) woi:ld smilein mild reproof if any one. sere to say to her, Yon ara beautiful''- so mauy yean have come añil gMM since she gave much thought for iMMdf. Han is a two-fold beauty, beiug made upof those singular gragea of pr.-on which attrru-te.d llx1 uol'n o of tliegroup atehurch m that. Sunday morning and the highor gi nee ot a life that U OHIiWuf 1W to others without flom-ish or pretenae of elL-ahnr};,ll.iin I sliall liit tn to l.'ll linw slio appcared froni my own )oint of view. Thd narfa(ive proper shall bc in tlje word of the pmtov. to hom t m bpiind lor it.a néarlyá's lean set thptn down. Th Qgure i tall aul the rsrriajje gracful. sim alks likn on accua tomed tr ttv ojjércise. Rer aturé ís undeniably rlejrant. The least practical obüerver of m-h (hing niay seo at a phineo that il camp frouj the hands of a Mshiooamé maker, l aeterittine therefore, that she is uot cm poot to gratify hof uatur:il uotiiiin's taste for' ilaintinoss of drs Hit frfce blle hafrlrs niy powers of "loi-riptirn. H is thn fcn of siNty yoar. That I have learned; lmt wben looking int) it ontj dop not think of ita years. I can not say that it conforms to anv ostablishëd stanilnrd of -btauty, havjng nuither a "pretty" chin nor thü"soulful eycs"of which wehear sp much in verbal portratts of beautiful woruen. Nevertheiclsg l ani roady to staJce my judgmeat on tho. goncral proposition that it is ono of thn kvolicst faces that was ever seen out of droams. The nose, I must say, is of perfect mold; tho haiv is a puro white mass nrranged in a Grecian coil at the back, parted in the raiddle and falling in fleecy naves over the temple?, half &overing_ttae irs and forroing a tnilv arti.'tic frame for the nevor-to-be-forgotton face. She speaks to ayoung gul at her side, and her smile discloses a mouth full of natural teeth, whoe whiteness time has not touched and whose perfect symmetrv is unbrokn. Her skin is clear and fresh - an eloquent tribute to right living and a aign of freedom froni thosc viuiiüe.s of wpmen ou.wliicl Hip ut no-itnim makers nrc built. One can not doubt that sim is an old woman, bnt her years are years of peace, of purity, of sweet piety. of wholesome restrain'ts. I do not marvol thtither face ia glorified. "Aunt Madeline was one of two sisters," said my friend, tho pastor, in beginning the recital which I am to reproduce. "Her father was a politician. and an honest man. He loved truth for its own sake, and though he filled many offices he died poor, leaving nis inotherless daughter nothing in (he. way of fortune except the modest home in which thr.y werc bom and reBred. Madeline was tweuty and Ethel. her sister, lifteen, when they 'wero called to face the world. A livelihood must be made for both, and It was clear epough that onlv olts of them could undettaVe th! dnqious The chilil Kthi-1 rusun-dlv was notequipped forit. Medelin alom' must roll the heavy stone up the hill. "With what resolute courage and simple faith in herself she get to work, we who have always knowu her best nndemtooil. Mm ma' le no fi'fillo ppeals for help. A ft:w of us gave her colnel fro'.n time to timo, whoa ha asked it, but that was all. Slie ceased to sk even so much long ye&n ugo, and I, at least, havo many time? been proud to be counselcd by lier; for a wisnr woman T uever knew. "Aftfir hfr father's funeral expenses were settled thore may havo been iifty dollars in the houM. Mailoüne saw that inmediato action was imperative. Wbat should she - wbat could shc- do to eire n incomo? It was not hard to answpr the question. In her happier nnd leisure girlhood sho had modera tely dovelopcd a faculty for writing children's stories, somc of which hri(i foiinil Iheir way into print. Sha resolved to maki! a rious test of her power3 in that dlreqüou, and in tho course of a few weeks, urged on by neoesaity, she produnod a small volume of tales. A publisher was found who undertook to put tli volume forth and pay Madeline a fair royalty. The venture was moderatelv prosperous. Others followed, and after ten years of stniggle the hard-worked author found herself in possession of an income that was more than sufficient for her own and Kthul's needs. It was about this time that Ethel married. Madeline was now thirty and unmarried. She still remajaa. un.m.arried, and on that fact liingps tlje noble devotion and the inglfl-heartedness of this woman whoe lif bas hn a bfautiful and toni inmpli6cstion of faith in the denr whom she serves with noh unostenta'In the early days of her Btniirl" une loved and promísed herself in marriagh to ,Toe Bertratn. He loved Madeline, too, in hi way, and, I do not doubt, nieant to make her happy. Joe wm in professional life- had nade a protnising start, and we all thought he was destined to take a commanding place. But goodfellowship wa3 his ruin. When I look back upon it the swiftness of his deseent appalls me. The convivial habit which at tir.ttmanifested itself in occasional nights of gayety, ¦oon beeame unmanageable. Hij business sullered irora neglect. The blear look and blasphemous speech of the drunkard sneaked into the place of gallant and high-minded Joe Bertram - and he must once have been all that to have awakened love in a, heart of gold likc Madeline'e. To look at her plac d face now you would hardly beleve there was a time when she wóuld have accepted the martvrdom of firo for Joe Bertram's sake- 'for her love's sake; but 1 teil you that that love was long the. "I do not suppose that this part of her story is out of the common experience of women; but Madel ne's was a love that stopped at nothing short al crime. Not Joe's degradation quencliecl it; not her loss of respect for him weakened it; not death itself was poweiful enough to lay it in the dust. Throogh degradation, through pity for his faïl, through the black shadotv of a shamef ui death, it mounted, . a steadf ast llame ; and it has shone undimmed upon hr pathway during all her solitnry years. "She loved Joe then. She loves liini now. She will nevercease to love him. "But how bravely she hu? lived! While her grief over poor Joe's death was sorest, Ethel dicd. The husband who had been tenderly attaoheii to her strangely disappeared, and two other children had lieen left helpless buf for Maileline- Aunt Madeline, aseveiylxidy had called her ginoe that tin hnd given them more than a mofh Bolicitude and care, and all a motli love. She worked tor them, rearad thrro, educatd thom. Now both aré tnarried, and their children aro dailv tanght to ask God's Messing on the duar saint who waits, but not in idleness. for the Voice of Mercy to proclaim the end of esrthiy love and duty. Her homo is musical with the romp and láughtér of happy children; the house cat purs in nleek content; and tho seent of flowén pprvodes the rooms where pcacc broodf and Madelins's gra.-iou, ¦ In the soft nuDtner afternopn sbe nnd droanii. Tho little old-fashioued lorkot, in which Joe Bertram's picture has Inin for thirty years, hangs on her botom. Littlo Oai.-'y comes lenping into ;!iroom. "Aunt Madiline, you ot'n'i au old maid. ij you?" "Yos, 'dear (the chin droops lower and rosts unon Joe's locket); yea, dear