The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-05-18
zL91 lHl AsHLA ND. ASHLAND COUNTY. OHIO WTDNEsDAY

ar tiny hands ofsAlice were clasped in his as
icy said, very lowiy and sweetly
1T HIf l live, Ben, when five years more ha
ley passed, and you return from sea seco
as ime-"
eh Alice did not finish tit never was Rnis
,as So they plighted their troth, that calm, he
he Sabbath evening; and the buoyant heart
er Ben, In its gushing sunniness, pictured radia
as hopes of the future, He was so young. al
full OF yltalityz-eyery pulse of his heart W
I'd beating gladly, and the coming five years we
y more precious to him than all the past
III we both live, Ben; God will have us
ID his holy keeping she said in answer to h
t. parting words; ans as he pressed her convulsiy
d ly to his beating heart he replied:
God will be.mercifnl to those who love $
"a dearly, Alice, dailing." -
d She knew it, hut knew also, that God di
i not always heed prayer falling from the hopefr
] lips. So "a Ia 90, - - =
Sweet ,Alicei fAdown the future, Ben Bol
looked tremblingly, and he saw her fraoil
!" form and spiritual face, with white violet
: braided in the soft brown hair, his eyes grev
!. dim with tears, for he knew not if it was
bridal o. burial, for side.the altar was the
gray yard. So =
They were not an ing who wondered AT
Ben Bolts choice, and thought it strange he
should take Ally May in preference to the
fairest and wealthiest. Some there were who
he'd their heads lofty when they passed her,
but her heart WAS on the blue waters, and she
needed them not. s4r -se- 49,
How she watched the summer days in their
passing She noted how the summer dawned
how the fields of waving grain grew yellow
in the sun-light-she heard the glad voices of
the reapers; and when the leaves were falling,
the ckildren went nut-gathering in the woods:
and the noiseless snow fell on the hill side, as
IN oiden days, until the genial spring tide s ST n
melted it away, and the violets and hare-bel!s
dotted the fields. So passed the year.
She was growing fairer and more beaut;fnl-
too brilliant for any thing earthly. Once she |
knelt at the altar in the little church, and
listened to the words uniting her to the Sa- I
Vlours redeemed on earth; but it was only an
outward form, for her heart had long been in
keeping of the angels
Again she watched the waning of the s,,m
mer days, and when the soft wind swept over
the silvery rye fields, she thought of the ocean
afar, with Its broad waves. All through the
W -er Gays she grew more spiritual in her
beauty, and the slender white hands were offer
folded on her breast, and she prayed for those I
who would soon be left destitute. for she knew
he was dying. :
1t did not startle her, for she f 1t lonc aeo Il
nat the far green earth would hold her pulse. Ii
ess heart, ere 1t had left the cloister of girl n
lood. Life was sweet and beautiful, and m n
er sinlessness, death had no agony, save her n
orrow for those lefsfns slpneliness.l 1t was ',
my very little wayte TIE land of rest, and h
er feet had never grown weary: vet she ione- m
to look once more upon the flowers and of
ave them braided in her hair; and so she N
ngered tlll the voice Of spring was heard f.
pom the hlltops ~
One morning. when viewless hands were sb
itherng back the misty curtains of the night
I'd the stars grew dim in the glory of early ma
wn, sweet Alice stood on the Threshold OF to
iraoise, and the golden gates were opened 90
the lair, meek girl. Then trembled on her to,
IS prayer and blessing for Ben Bolt and her wi
other, giving radiance to the fair dead face fro
d they braided spring flowers in her brown i'm
he church bell chimed softly to the he
lrs earth had claimed the stainless soul for
'Shce May, as they brought the coffin into am
little old church. How beautiful she look eve
in her white al-robes-too fair and sweet She
death-too holy, had there not leen re- and
fGo.ion beyond Close behind her stood sui
friends of her. girlhood. gazing on that tho
ng face as if they would fain call her hack and
~ ne .i anu Is sweet love: dep
~ y "'u sweet Ance 10 sleep IN the old gre
rchyard, and those who had looked coldly wer
her, took to their sorrowng hearts dear kne
nory ofth early dead. c. from
.Sio "'o tSohJ tOo ueep IOr Ut eraT =. when met
s'rohg aroent-hearted man. whose guiding her
had been the love of the sweet girl, came ever
( to lind the cottage heme desolate, and A
'e sleeping beneath gray stone in. the old days
rchyard. roi;;,
VI Uoa ana Time are merclful; and as years form
ed away, he came to think of her as gar had
ed In the golden fruitage of Edenland. So vice.
his was the memory that his friend sang roue
Is they sat in the summer twilight wears man,
ward, and talked of the faces that had whic
mered and faded in the early pathway a fg
, OF all the glad hearts childhood had ed
cred together, only they two were LETT III
e slept in the jungle depth; others in the f red
t shade, and beneath the waving prairie ing I
. Some there were who slept peacefully the
e green old churchyard; and of all these was
arrest and best was "sweet Alice" All tbou,
'uld never forgetl NOT !,
; had heard from the lips of that desolate natur
er, ere she went to sleep beside her dar- six !
how patient and holy Alice had grown; and u
she had passed away in her saint-like Po
y, leaving messages that fond and few
ing heart can only dictate. Down in his diseas
deeper than any other earthly being. he pallid
ain them, cherishing their beauty and comp
ness. Many time had the spirit form disan,
ce risen before his eyes in all the beauty en-.
at far off land he saw dinly, and. he motbe
when that thing called life had merged AIber
he should meet her again life.
lrs afterwards, they laid BEN BoLr to the da
oy the side of "SwEET ALICE" Laura
ghs into Being for one Thing ores nUps' .
Living for Another! sniritu
Tifhn Tribune says, 'sthe republican for ind