The Normal Record. September 1896

              THE NORMAL RECORD.
She listened only to the thumping of his heart
and was satisfied. But not so he, for hunger
was gnawing at his soul.
"Ah!" he lowly breathed, " I still have my
longings."
"Do you sigh for, O! do you sigh for the
infinite?"
"No," he answered, "I don't cipher that
way this time. My heart's yearning is for
clams." Alas! I can live upon romance
through all the shimmering afternoon; lean
subsist upon sentiment until the sentinel stars
set their watch in the sky, and the sweet
tintinabulations of the supper-bell vibrate
upon the evening air, then hunger asserts
itself, and when I get hungry I want to eat."
"How strange," she said, " how fearfully
and wonderfully made is man!"
Then taking her lily-white hand in his, he
gazed into her eyes as though he would pierce
her very soul with his glance.
"Fair creature," he gasped, "doyounever
eat ?"
" Perish the thought," she replied with a
shudder. "Sometimes I partake of refreshments, but I never eat."
Slowly, with tardy steps, and somewhat
leisurely, they strolled across the gleaming
sand to where the white-washed front of the
hostelry strove to outstare the sea. There
the delicate girl sought the refectory and
called for clams, which she swept with a
charming grace between her rosebud lips,
and then she called for clams. These also
went over from the minority and joined the
silent majority, after which she musingly
wiped her pretty mouth upon a scarlet
fringed napkin, and called for clams.
A young man gazed upon her through the
lattice in speechless admiration.
"She is partaking of refreshments," he
whispered to himself.
That night he sat upon the edge of his bed,
fanning mosquiloes away with one hand, and
casting up countless rows of figures upon
the backs of old letters with the other.
"I never could stand the racket," he said
at last.
When the mist crept up from the sea in the
morning he had departed. He was no longer
there.    He had gone.
A  Jaunt  Through the Picture Gallery.
We walked into a picture gallery, a junior
and I. It was his first visit. He did not tell
me so, but I knew it from the expression on
his face. We stood before the first picture
to the right of the door as one enters*
"This," I said, pointing to the large affair
framed in wood, " is one of two Shepards, the
Shepardson." "This is of Bryan," but before I could say, "late of the H. S.," he asked
if that young-looking fellow was the one who
wanted to be President on the Democratic
ticket. I thought every one would know the
next, but I told him it was " Galen Cumming
thro' the rye." 1 said, "Have you seen the.
picture of Eliot ?" and he innocently said,
"Why, have you a picture of him? He
used to teach in our district," But I said,
"Come and see if it is your friend." And
there he  saw  Our   Eliot.     The next is  one
which  pleases children—" Simon Met a
Fireman." No. 6 is that of a Hunter bidding adieu to Mann. No. 7 is a study in
Brown. No. 8 is a Southern girl in a Cotton
field, near which is a party of Campers.
No. 9 is a beautiful study of Daisies, Myrtle,
Roses, Marguerites, Ivy, and Lilies. No. 10
is an old Gray boat on the Schorr, the upturned bottom of which is covered with
Barnickels. No. 11 is a scene by the fireside,
with James S. Moak(ing) andJosie Boyle(ing),
T in the Dym background.     The next is
an etching in Gray of a Priest and an Abbott
discussing Mars and his Godbolts. No. 13 is
the original of Ames Carline, on wnich the
" Campbells are comin'." The next was of
little Willie trying to Seymour of the Bart-
lett pears in the Mansfield next his own,
hardly daring to venture in from fear of the
Manseau(ing) sacks under the Shedd. The
next clearly depicted the horrors of the
Johnston Flcod. No. 16 is of the Graces.
There are the Taylor and their Mery sisters,
brushing the Crum(s) up for the hungry
Drake that may be seen through the door.
The last is of a lovesick Swain, who, called
by the Bell of the old Temple, to service,
passes by Graves, and is startled to see the
inscription, "Died at Chico'S. N. S., June 18,
1886, Jean, Hugh, Leona and Emma." "Gone
but not forgotten."