Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-05-17

gravely, II have INDUCED in no such presumptuous
design, assure you" The lady opened her dark
eyes In establishment, dropped Der knife and fork.
and gazed upon her guest with eountenanee IN
which incredulity, surprise, and merriment strug"
gled for the mastery.
"Heiqho 1" she exclaimed at last, with deep in
spiratiOn-" is an interesting young gentleman
who would attempt TO persuade me that he has not
already wooed and won a fair demoisele OF my ac-
Quaintance the FIRST three letters OF whose name
are Bele-Gordonl Is not that what yon
would have me infer y
at is"
''Really, this matter grows serious-my friend
you certainly love Miss Gordon"
"Not at ALL"
"Hesvensl and why not, pray 2"
''Simply, then, she does not suit me, my dear
Madame. From my boyhood, an ideal image OF
the being / should one day love, has been ever
before me; it has mingled in every scene Of JOY or
sadness; it has inspired every hope; it has shed
over all my future soft and holy light. Without
is, this world TO me would be nothing-Iny very
existence blank, and"
'Ohl hold holdl" interrupted the lady, "don't
overwhelm me at once Why, my dear sir, this is
the very absurdity of romancel and even if it be
so, who so worthy to become the embodiment Of
your ideal, beautiful friend! Now, is she
not transcendently lovely"
Scarcely what would call lovely; but she is, |
believe, the most beautiful woman have ever seen.
But it is a beauty 'unchsngingy bright and one
wearies of its shadowless splendor Mind would
make il a JOY forever, but you must acknowledge
that Miss Gordon wants the mind to make even tina:
superb beauty effective She is Ike the still, shad
owess sunlight. | am in search of a rainbow"
(Which, when you find, you hope to be able to
grasp, no doubt. Well, l warn you OF all such
chmeras Many have spent their strength in a
similar race, and caught neither the rainbow nor
the pot of gold which legends tell US lies buried
where it rests" said the lady, shaking her pretty
head.
''If am willing to run the risk, surely no one
can object" replied he, smiling.
Certainly not; but come now, in confidence, tell
me why you have visited our belle 50 frequently,
if you were not in love? Ali l fear you are an
unreasonable rt, and if so, you no friend Of
mine"
"Nay-there you do me wrong, believe me.
have visited your belle as much because she is a
belle as any thing else; they expect Inflammation
is what they live on. Yet have never breathed
one word Of love to your beautiful friend. have
loved to gaze her mstchless charms, for in them
/ found perfect dream of beauty, have given
her my admiration; what more does belle re-
quire? Were / an artist, her imperial beauty on
the canvass or in the deathless marble would inns
mortalise me, but she does not possess those quail
tiles which would make me happy in-a wife"
"And may ask what are the qualities which
yOu fair sir, consider essential in a wife?"
They are those, Madame" replied he, bowling,
with which my friend, Lady Leigh is richly en-.
dowed. The same qualities which blessed the rude
cottage homes of the oden time-that would make
hO1ne anywhere; heart bearing the rare jewels
Of virtue and eontentment-the bright intelligence
to iuterest-the noble intellect to gude-the gen.
tleness to sOothe-the rare sympathy which sup.
ports mans nature, even while il seems only to
cling there for protection. Such loneliness sur
wives and far outweghs all other beauty"
you will never choose fashionable woman
"God Forbid" calculated Frankenstien fervently.
"Never-the crush of the assemblee, the blaze OF
the soree, may serve at times to gid lfe's
pictures-they have nothing TO do with its enduring
lines Ia selecting star beneath whose ray we
must for lifetime live, and love-perchance suf-
fer too-how requisite is it that we choose one
above the lights OF the saloon or the lamps Of the
thoroughbred"
'And yet such stars are rare, my dear friend"
"The very reason why we should seek them the
more earnestly"
"But if you had found such a one, she pursued,
"you would imprison it in the narrow, circumscrib-
horizon OF your own ireside. That is just like
men,
"Imprisou it," be exclaimed, eyes l would, but
only as the lighthouse star, that sends its beams
radiating through world of darkness, guiding the
stout ship and the storm-to tossed mariner to their
haven of rest. The song.brd of oriental story,
when borne away from its native isle, grew hoarse
and shrieked and died. So with woman; borne from
the pleasant isle of home, the lute-like music OF
her voice has fed-ts melody is lost among the
discords Of hurrying, battling world"
Enough, enough, my dear sir, spare mel see
that your mind is made up. How strange that
sages, in the multiplicity of their sayings, should
have applied only to woman the old coupet-
"When she will she sUiU you may depend ont,
And when she wont, she COOnt-so there's end ont"
| think the pronoun masculine would answer admi-
rably, in isolated cases at least But you men
have an odd, perverse habit of not choosing for
yourselves as your friends choose for you. Well,
say no more; l must call on Miss Gordon this
morning, will you go?"
THANK you-with pleasure, as l leave this ewes
ming, must call and make my sdieux"
TwOhours after the visit made. Miss Gordon
mot at home" That evening at O'Clock,
our hero took passing steamer for New Orleans
still most desperately, most deplofably in ''the
Mizn