Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-07-29

| Mr.. Waring was but man he did not love
JoSephine-he admired her he loved nothing
but himself, his quiet, his pleasure aud while she
minstered to either, he regared her with
! species of affection that put on the mask OF q
diviner passion and used its language. A thou
sand little things showed the man fully to me,
a cool spectator but she who needed most
the discerning eye regarded this gay bubble as
| if it had been jewel
Perhaps blame him too severely for it was
against the very heart of my heart that he sin
ned possibly do not allow for the tempta-
| tionit was to young maD, quite alone in a coln
| try village, without resources, and accustomed
! to the aatteryand caresses of a devoted mother
to find himself agreeable in the eye of a noble
and oveable woman Possibly, in his place,a
better man might have sought her society,
drawn her out Of her reserve for his own de-
Iectation, confided in her,wOrked upon her pie
ty, claimed her care, played on her simplicity
AMI ignorance of tie world, crept into her heart
and won its strength of emotion and its gener-
Gus affecton-n short, made to love her, with
out saying so, honestly and openly. Yet
there are some men who have done it, and
even yetwhile try to regard Arthur Waring
with Christian charity, | feel that | cannot
! trust him that | do not respect him-that if
| dared despise anything God has made, my
first contempt would light upon him.
Ia the autumn, while all this was going on,
| received painful and wretched letter from
Lefty Maiden, begging me to come to her. [
could not resist such an appeal and one of
Josephine's little neceS' having come to spend
the winter with her, | hurried to SItpngton,
not, am sure, in the least regretted by Mr..
Warng who had begun to look at me with un-
easy and sometimes defiant eyes
| found a miserable household here. Mr..
Maiden had in no way reformed. When did
marriage ever reform bad man ? On the
contrary he was more diSsipated than ever
and whenever he came home, the welcome that
waite for himwaS one little calculated to make
home pleasant for Letty's quick temper blaz-
ed up in reproach and reviling that drew out
worse reCrimination and even the little, wall
ing, feeble baby, that filled Lucy's arms and
couSoed her in his absence was only further
cause of strife between her and her husband.
Often, as | came down the street and saw the
pretty outside of the cottage, waving with creep
ers, and hedged about with thorns, whose gay
berries decked it as for festival, i thought of
what good old preacher among the Friends
once said to me Sarah, thee will live to find
"a
b Juse with gay Il lows, that is hell inside"
| soon found that must stay all winter at
Slepington had hard task before me-to
try and teach Lefty that she had no right to
neglect her own duty because her husband ig-
n0red his. But six months of continual drop
ping seemed TO wear a tiny channel of percep-
ton and my presence, as well as the efforts
we made together to preserve order, if not Sc
Il
to Lettys mind, and began to see that the
publication by fire was doing its work in slow
pain but to a sure end"
Selfish as it was | cannot say that | felt
sorry to return to 10, who wrote for me in
April urgrg me to come as soon as | could,
for Mr Waring had fallen from the mill-walI
and broken his leg, and the workmen, in their
confusion had carried him to her house, and she
wanted me to help her | learned, on reach
ing Valley Mills, that the new building on the
Island had been completed far enough to re-
sSt a heavy freshet, that had swept away part
of the first story where the mortar was not
yet hardened and it was in traversing these
wet stones to ascertain the extent of the dam
age that Mr.. Waring had slipped and unable
to recover his footing, fallen on heap of
stones and received his injury.
My first question to Josephine was, where
is Mr.. Warnings mother ?"
He could not send for her, Sally" said
she, " because she is not well, aud he Jared to
Startle her"
HIM ~ said I, very earthly.
Josephine looked at me with innocent grave
eyes-dear, simple child !-and yet, for anybody
but herself she wonld have been sufficiently dis
cerniHg This love seemed to have remodeed
her nature, to have taken from her all the SER
! pent'S wisdom, 10 have destroyed her common
sense, and distorted her view of everything in
which Arthur Waring was concerned. She had
certainly got on very fast in my absence. | had
returned too late.
| had little to do with the care of the in
valid that devoved on Jo: my offers of SER
! wee were kindly received, but always declined
Nobody could read him as well as Miss Boyle
Nobody else understood his moods, his humorS,
! his whilnS she knew his tastes with omin0us
exactneSS 1t was she who arranged his meals
Oh the salver with such care and grace, nay
even cooked them at times for 10 believed
! like a rational woman, that intellect and cult
vation increase ones capacity for every Office
| that a woman of intelligence sh0nld be able to
excel an ignorant servant in every household
du'y, by lust so much as she excels her in mind
in fact this was a pleasant life to two persons
but harasSing enough for me- Had | been
confident of Arthur Warnings integrity, | shod
! have regarded him with friendly and cordial
! interest but had every reason TO distrnSt
him. perceived he had so far insnuat,d
| himself into JOS confidence that his whole ar
tillcry Of expressive looks, broken sentences,
even carcsseS, were received by her with entire
good faith but when asked her seriously
if was to regard Mr.. Waring as her lover,
she burst into indignant denial, colored scar
let, and was half inclined to be angry with me,
though a certain tremulous key, into which her
usually usually sweet and steady voice broke
/ while She declared he Ind nnynr snnknn To ler.