ods that, like a pendulum, ever
vibrate between mirth and sadness. Circumstances will almost invariably
force the vibrations to greater extremes, but just as surely will its
opposite mood return. Though clouds darken to-day, the sun will shine
to-morrow; and if sorrow comes, joy will follow; while ever above the
rippled shores of laughter floats the mist of tears.

In some respects Liddy was a peculiar girl. While loving those near her
with almost pathetic tenderness and constantly striving to show it, she
shrank like a scared child from any public exhibition of that feeling.
She had another peculiarity that might be called a whim--she loved to
try experiments upon her own feelings to see what effect they would
have. It was this that had been the real cause of her desire to attend
the military funeral that had taken place in Southton a few months
previous. Since her mother's death Liddy had remained at home nearly all
the time. She seldom went to the village, because to do so awakened
unpleasant memories. To drive past the now vacant academy or near the
depot was to awaken unhappy thought and force her into a sad mood. The
seclusion of her home seemed more in harmony with her feelings. She had
but few intimate friends, and even those jarred upon her now, and her
father was the best, and the only one she cared to be with. One day in
mid-summer, she surprised him with a strange request.

"Father," she said, "I want to go fishing. I don't mean to tramp
through the brush along a brook, but I want you to take me to some
pretty pond where there are trees all around, and where I can sit in a
boat on the shady side and fish. We will take a basket of lunch and have
a nice time. If we cannot catch fish we can pick pond lilies. Will you
go?"

As there was nothing that loving father would not do for his only child,
it is needless to say that the trip was made.

When Liddy began to catch fish, and he noticed how excited she became,
he said, with quiet humor: "Which would you rather do, Liddy, put your
fish in the boat or hang them up in the trees? Tut, tut!" he continued,
as he saw a deep shadow creep over her face, "you will have Charlie to
bait your hook next summer, never fear!"

That night she wrote to her soldier boy: "I coaxed father to take me
fishing to-day. I wanted to see if it wouldn't bring me nearer to you or
you to me. I came home in a sad mood, however, though I learned one
thing, and that is wherein lies the fas