The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-02-10
A HOVE STORY.
A few weeks since Z was. on q visit

weather was dellgtttul tor the season -
without its heat or mosquitoes, and tho
the scenery appears cold and naked, ve
the clusterof eyergreens, that here and
there ornamented the hillocks, relieved
the eye and impressed the mind with
thoughts of perpetual youth, that neither
the change of seasons nor the lapse o.
time could rob Of its freshness. When
the atmosphere is clear, and the wind
westerly, the mind is more apt to pick
out beauties and dwell upon them, than
when the weather is murky and wind
easterl y. AS the weather was all that
could be desired my friend and I were ia
king pleasant view of surrounding OBJ
: jects as we rode together at an easy pace,
in an open chaise. To us, 1.-The rugged
rock, the mountains barren brow" had
perhaps more charms than if we had been
viewing those oriental scenes, ''where the
eye may look bright upon groves Of the
palm and the cocoa"
Odd you notice that man we just pass
ed?' inquired my friend, interrupting
me in Il description | was trying to give
him Of those lazy Malays who inhabit the
islands of the Indian Archipelago. l had
been telling him these fellows were gen
orally 50 lazy that they considered it too
much trouble to keep the run of time.
During the day they coil themselves up
under the shades Of trees, and loll away
their time, until their stomachs adnlonish
them that something is wanting inside.
the fellows then climb a c( coa-nut tree,
and take down nut or two and devour
the contents oft, or if bananas, or plan
tains are in season, they take some Of
these; then smoke half an hour or SO, and
when Supplied, sink to sleep, AT night
they sometimes fish, more for amusement
than necessity, and thus loaf away their
lives like ''the beasts that perish" My
| object was to show how much better we
were situated, and blessed than the Ma
lays, by being compelled to exert all our
faculties to keep soul and body tegeth-
| er.
''That man. said my friend, ''is between
forty and fifty, but is of such jovial turn
that he can make himself perfectly at
home among school boys. Those who
do not know him well, would be apt to
think him half crazy. You Observed
that he was drawing after him a child in
a basket-wagon, while he led another
These children are not his, he is bache,
Ior.
When he was boy his mother took
charge Of an orphan girl and brought
her up as carefully as if she had been her
own child; and he, too, loved her with
more than brothers love. When he at
tanned manhood he told the orphan his
love and wished her to become his wife.
She acknowledged her gratitude to his
family, but at the same time informed
him that she loved another. He loved
her too dearly, too disintorestedly, to think
of his OWE Disappointment, and expressed
himself willing to do MI in his power to
make her happy with the man of her
choice.
She married and removed to another
part of the country. Her discarded lover
was just as happy and jovial as if moth
ing had happened to wound his feelings.
When joked about it, he used oput on a
half serious, half comic expression OF
countenance and reply that he could new
er feel unhappy, while he knew that his
sister, for such he termed her, was hap
Fpy.
Years passed away: his sister had five
children, and her husband after linger-
ing illness, died, leaving her and her little
ones destitute.
She wrote to her early friends-they
were her friends still-and they provided
her with the necessary. means Of joining
them. Her old lover received her with
open arms-she was still dear to him as
sister, though worn with care and sick
ness.
He provided for her and her little
ones, was kind to them as a father, and
seemed to love them fol their mothers
sake. That mother soon sickened and
died. He watched by her bedside, and
soothed her last moments by assuring hei
| that her children should not want while
| he had anything to give.
The two youngest he took TO his moth
er's house, and waits upon them himself
The youngest is not more than tifteer
months old. These were their mothers
darlings and they have become equally
dear to him. Friends took charge 0
the other three but he feels much interes