The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1857-05-14

with cucumber and melon beds in front
and. cinnamon roses behind; with three
windows and FIVE chimnies. and seven
sheds and barn."
Yes, we lived in farmhouse and
had no means to expend on landscape
gardening. The cinnamon roses plant
ed, Ned, when my hands were young as
yours. picked the buds for your mo-
ther when she was a baby. and often my
own mother pricked them into my hair
before these curls grew grey"
Aunt Elsie passed her hand over the
fading locks, as if half expecting to find
withered rosebud lingering there still
!" Our neighbors were simple country
folk, who cared as little for bellies -lettres
as we for butter-making /; and hence we
were mutually satisfied with but dis.
tant acquaintance. But in one thing,
Ned, the wise and simple prove their hu-
man relationship: all young hearts have
secret yearnings for love with its dreams,
and hopes, with its sweet disquietudes.' .
"Why, aunt Elsie, you could write a
novel !"
Would | had thought in youth, OF
such safety-valve for my pent-up ro-
nance; now | have only dried memo
rles, as you call them, to remind me of
the altar at which used to kneel. One
day my heart awoke within me, and I
felt that without love life was only weari-
ness. body and no soul. must find
some one to adore; at the sight of eyery
handsome face, at the sound of every
musical voice, had secret beatinps of
heart"
fou are qulzzing me, aunt!"
No, from the time I Welded to that
morbid fancy, my thoughts had but one
refrain, love, love, love. watched nv
nelghbors with their simple swains. and
envied them their very simplicity. Ah,
no one came to ask me to take evening
strolls, no lover fingered talking by our
gate until the moon went down there
was no one to draw out and respond to
the. intelligence of my mind, no one to
praise the beauty of my face"
Poor girl, I wish I had been alive
then, I'd have made love to you, aunt l''
" 1t was hard. Even my sisters, who
looked upon love as merely an incident OF
life, and not its one great purpose !; even
they, one by one, married, and left our
home"
"And you ?"
One bright May morning, out early
in search of ld-fowers, / was reaching
for bough whose white blossoms
courted when ssrong arm detained me,
grasped the branch and stripping off its
blossoms, threw them at my feet. had
hardly time to thank the stranger, for
bowing graciously, he passed on.
But could draw his face now from
the memory of that first impression. A
low, broad forehead. kindly blue eyes,
curling hair, and beard that gave his
whole visage classical outline. I walk
ed home on air. lived in a dream un-
til we met again !; first with smile cl
recognition, after, with the light talk oil
strangers.
"He must have discovered that YOU
loved him."
$50 my father said afterward. Be
that as it might, we met frequently
My turn had come for moonlight walks
and whispered conversations"
:" What did you talk about, belles-let.
tres 2"
+. "No, I had done with books. We
seemed to be living belles-lettres. Any
sweet nothing we said to each other vas
poetry
"And how did It end ?"
Like many a love-at-sight. Edward
Irving married the daughter of the vii
lage butcher, a clumsy, ignorant girl
who had saved a few hundred dollars
from her trade of sausage-making."
$50 that cured you of love %
"After struggle. For all his treach
cry. my heart chung to the man. Yes
even after heard him insult my grey
} haired father, even after I found hin
coarse and ignorant. Not until I discov
cred myself to be trial and subject o
ridicule to all my friends, had I the mo
raj strength to turn onceand forever from
$ the thought Of love-turn back to tn
} dear old wells of philosophy, and SO re
gain my peace. I have had what som
7 called eligible offers since, from respecta
BILE widowers and bachelors of fortune
! but a burnt child fears the fire. and
shall live and die aunt Elsie. Now 70
. the news"
t Master Ned Cathcart joined an engn
t company in the course of week, an
forgot sweet Mary Marshall.