Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1853-04-29
The MeEchant anG his Fairy VIE.


4 Z; mersnart married fairy He was 50 manly.
go earnest SO energetic and loving, that Ter heart
was constrained towards him and she gave up her
neT,age IN Ialryiand to accept the lot Of woman.
early months glided away ike the VANISHING naren.
try of dream. Q e.
Before the year was over. he had returned to his
afairs. They were important and pressing and &C.
cupied more and more of his time but every even
ing, as he fastened back to her side she felt tho
WEAKNESS of absence more than repaid BIZ this de-
light OF his presence She sat at his feet and SANG
to him, and rratted away the remnant of care that
fingered in his mind.
But his cares multiplied The happiness of ma
ny families depended on him. His affairs were vast
and complicated; and they kept him longer away
from her. All the day, whilst he was amidst his
bales of merchandise, she roamed along the banks
OF sequestered stream, weaving bright fancy pa
charm his troubled spirit. bright and sunny be-
ing, she cOmprehended nothing Of care Life was
Astounding in her. She knew not the disease of re-
Election she felt not the perpexities of life To
sing and to laugh-to leap the stream. and becken
/ him TO leap after her, as he used in the old lever
days, when she would conceal herself from him in
the folds of water lii yto tantase and enchant
him with thousand capricious coquetries-this was
her idea of how they should live. And when he
gently refused to join her in these child like GAM
bols and told her of the serious work that awaited
him, she raised her soft blue eyes to him in baby
wonderment. not compromising what he meant.
but acquiescing. with a sigh because he said it.
u She acquiesced but soft sadness fell upon her
Life to her was love, and nothing more A soft sad
ness also fell upon him. Life to him was love- and
something more and she with regret that she
did not comprehend it. The wall of care raised by
busy hands, was gradually shutting him ont from
her. If she visited him through the day, she md
herself a hndrance, .eand retired. When he came
to her at sunset. he came preoccupied She sat al
his feet loving his anxious face. He raised tender
y the golden ripple of loneliness that fell in ringet
on her neck, and kissed her soft beseechng eyes
but there something in his eye-a remote look
as if his soul affair." busy with other things
which made her little heart almost burst with un
cOmprehended jealousy.
She would steal up to him at times. when he was
absorbed in calculations and. throwing her arm,
round his neck, WOO him from his thoughts.
smile, revealing love in its very depths, would
brighten his anxious face, as for moment he push
ed aside the world and concentrated all his being
f IN one happy feeling.
She could win moments from hm-she could MOI
> win his life she could charm-she could not occu
r. Ply him The painful truth came slowly over her
| as the deepening shadows fall upon a sunny day
until at last it is night-night with her stars of in
finite beauty; but without the lustre and warmth
of day.
She dropped and on her couch of sickness, he
keen sighted love perceived through all his ineffa
BILE tenderness that ssame remoteness in his eyes
which proved that, even as he sat there grievins
and apparently absorbed in her. there still CAM
dim remembrances of care to vex AMI occupy hi
soul.
1t were better were dead!'' she thought;
am not good enough for him -
Poor child! Not good enough, because her sim
pie nature knew not the manifold pe9plexites tn
! hindrances Of incomplete life ! Not good enough
because her whole life centred in one whose lif
was scattered.
y And so she brcathed herself away and left he
husband to all his gloom of care-made tenfo
darker by the absence of those CLEANS of tender
ness which before had ftfully irradiated life Th
light was starless and he was alone