Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1856-10-01
Gales ano Shettbts.
SIX SCENES FROM ALIFE-DRAMA
BY DEsMARAIs.

When | get married, ! mean 10
teaze my husband almost to death do
like to teaze those love-" Thus. with
gay laugh and a toss Of her head,
spake the pretty and ptqaante Kate
Edgely, at the. age of seventeen, as she
sat, one evening, under the shade of
Spanish oaks, on her uncle's lawn, at
Edgely Grove.
She said this to a young man OF some
three or four-andtwenty, with whom
she had been gayly chatting for half an
hour or more in all the abandon of long
friendship; for Carol Avcry had been
her companion from childhood; their
fathers were connected in ties of kindred
sympathy through long years--long be-
fore their children lived. Carol Avory
was also somewhat Of philosopher. or
believed that he was--which is pretty
much the same thing. especially if he
was able to make others believe it. He
belonged partly to the stocs and partly
to the cynics--or thought he did; and
many said Carrol had been crossed in
love; perhaps he had. Nothing heeeiS
younger philosophy, or sterner, than dis
appointed afieetion-except crashed am.
bition.
When Kate had spoken thus, and
laughed, he smiled--cynically---and re-
piled: +" Giving you credit for all that
talent in The teazing line, there are at
least two classes of men whom you could
not succeed with"
(" Do tell me which they are"
Certainly. First, there is class
whose love is too enduring to depend on
their patience, and whose faith is TOO
strong TO doubt their ability TO bear and
their certainty of being rewarded; their
only passions are love and grief. Then
there is another class--far more numer-
ous-whose will is so firm, whose moral
force is so great, whose character is so
steeled by self-conirol. that they con-
quer the will of weaker by an iron
word, or look of command, or. if this
fail, by a system Of tyranny far more
terrible. With the first class you wonld
cease, from shame with the latter from
fear"
Gracious what long speech r
exclaimed the laughing girl. g You
didn't think / was in earnest, surely p
- hoped you were not" replied the
stole youth, gravely.
And rising, they entered the house.
ii.
Three years And what are three
years. An atom. an infnitesimal por-
ton of the great desert of time, whose
countless sands are dropping, one by
one. into the fathomless ocean Of Eter-
nifty. And yet each one bears the bur-
der of a life and the mystery ofa deaIh.
And how much, how very much are
three years to humanit, how much Of
JOY and sorrow how much Of happiness
and misery! how much OF crime and
retribution how much of hunger and
thirst, and blood, and tears, Of cloud and
sunshine, of sleep and watching, OF
night and day how much Of being
how much of dust and ashes Oh. how
great, and constant. and terrible. are the
changes of three years
Three years since Kate Edgelv and
Carol Avory talked together in the sof
starlight undAr the whispering foliage Of
the old Spanish oaks at Edcely Grove
Three years; ; and Carol is wan.
derer in distant lands. across stormy
seas--seeking two mysteries. which
like the banquet Of Tantalus. ever seem
within the grasp, yet ever elude the ex.
tended arm; two phantoms, which, like
the mirage of the desert, spread their
airy glories upon the weary traveller:
vision. but melt into space at his eager
approach two will-o'- the-wisps-healtl
and forgetfulness. Alas. it was fiend
who fabled Lerhe, for there is no Lethe
but the ravel
Three years and Kate is widow
Edmund Sfaunton was the only sor
of clergyman near Edgely Grove
/ His father was wealthy. but he lahored
not the less with a pure heart and firm
faith in leading in the strait and mar.
row path" those committed to his charge
Edmund was twenty-five when he
first saw Kate Edgely. His life had
been passed, of late, in the studies of :
distant university, preparing himself tt
follow in the footsteps OF his father; anC
it was upon his final return to the Roof
tree at Wilton parsonage that he me-
the sparkling niece of old Squire Edge
| ly. Although of meek, timid nature
Edmund was poetical and romantic
and the wit, the beauty, and the anima
tion of the gay Kate fascinated him
The unreserved intercourse of the coun
try, the walks. the rides. the fishing. th'
sailing, the picnic parties, brought then
constantly together; and three month
sufficed to kindle mutual affeciion-o
at least its semblance. Ouiwardly
|. Staunton was handsome, though some
what pale; gentlemanly. and dignified
I inwardly. harvest. fearful harvest
| was slowly but surely falling before tn
pitiless reaper. Death. But of tha
none but him knew-perchance. nc
: even be. They were married in th
} spring-time, with the love songs of woo
: ing birds for their epithalamium- TIL
2 honeymoon was passed in travel. an
e they returned TO settle down TO dome'
t tic happiness in a charming spot upo
. his fathers parish, where he hoped
aid him in the "good work" Fc