The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-03-09
Selret .MiseeIIan
(From Household Words.
A N E w M I N D.

az will tell you that ladys story" said my
friend, the doctor, after we had left the Asylum,
and while he was showing me the wav back to
the railway-station sand you shall Judge for
yourself whether am right wrong in grant
ing her privileges which are not enjoyed by my
other patients, and in allowing her to spend
some hours every day in the society of my wife
and children"
IF you had been in the far West of England
about three year since; and if you had happen
ed to take up the Cornish newspapers on GER
tain day of the month, which need not be spe-
cially mentioned, you would have seen this no.
tice of marriage at the top of column
On the third instant, at the parish church,
the Reverend Alfred Carling, Rector of Pen
liddy, to Emily Harriet, relict of the late Fer
gus Duncan, Esq, of Glendarn, N. b.
The rector's marriage did not produce very
favorable impression in the town, solely in CON
sequence of the unaeeountably private and un-
| pretending manner in which the ceremony had
been performed. The middle-aged bride and
bridegroom had walked quietly to church one
morning had been married by the curate, be-
fore any one was aware of it; and had embarked
Immediately afterwards in the steamer for Ten
by, where they proposed to pass their honey
moon. The bride being a stranger at Penliddy
all inquiries about her previous history was
fruitless; and the townspeopie had no afterna-
enlightenment whom the rector and his wife
came home to settle among their friends.
| After six weeks absence, Mr.. and Mrs. Carl
! ing returned; and the simple story of the rec
| tors courtship and marriage was gathered to-
gether in fragments, by inquisitive friends,
from his own lips, and from the lips of his
wife.
Mr. CARING and Mrs Duncan had met at
Torquay. The rector, who had exchanged
| I,
man settled at Torquay, had called on Mrs
Duncan in his clerical capacity, and had come
away from the interview deeply impressed and
interested by the widows manners, and con-
versation. The visits were repeated the ac-
quaintance grew into friendship, and the friend
ship into love-ardent, devoted love on both
sides. Middle-aged man though he was, this
was Mr.. Carling's first attachment: and it was
met by the same freshness of feeling on the
ladys part. Her life with her first husband
had not been happy one. She had made the
fatal mistake of marrying to please her parents
rather than herself, and had repented ever af-
terwards On her husband s death, his family
had not behaved we'll to her; and she had occu-
pied her widowhood with her only child, a daugh-
| ter, in the retirement of a small Scotch town,
many miles from the home of her married life.
After time, the little girls health had began to
fail, and, by the doctors advice, she had mi
grated southwark to the mild climate of Tor
| quay. The change had proved to be of no
avail; and, rather more than a year ago, the
child. had died The place where her dar-
ling was buried was a sacred place-to her, and
she had remained in it ever since. Her posi-
tion in the world was now a lonely one She
was herself an only child her father and mo-
| ther were both dead; and, excepting cousins,
her one near relation left alive was a maternal
uncle living in London.
1 Fboca al late
unaffectedly, before Mr.. CARING ventured on
the confession of his attachment. When he
made his proposal of marriage, Mrs. Duncan
received it with an excess of agitation, which
astonished and almost alarmed theinexperience
clergyman. As soon as she could speak, she
begged with extraordinary earnestness and anx-
! iety, for a week to consider her answer; and
requested Mr.. CARING not to visit her on any
account, until the week had expired The
next morning she and her maid departed for
London. They did not return until the week
for consideration had expired. On the eighth
day Mr.. Carling called again, and was accepted.
The proposal to make the marriage as private
, as possible came from the lady. She had been
to London to consult her uncle (whose health,
she regretted to say, would not allow him to
travel to Cornwall to give his niece away at the
altar y and he agreed with Mrs. Duncan that
the wedding could not be too private and un-
pretending. IT IL was maue Pupllc, tue lahlily
of her first husband would expect cards to be
sent to them, and renewal of intercourse,
which would be painful on both sides, might
1 be the consequences. Other friends in Scot
land, again, would resent her marrying again
second time, at her age and would distress
her and annoy her future husband in many
ways. She was anxious to break altogether
with her past existence; and to begin new
and happier life, untrammeled by any connec-
tion with the former times and troubles. She
urged these points, as she had received the of
fer of marriage, with an agitation which was
almost painful to see This popularity in
her conduct, however, which might have irri-
tated some men, and rendered Others distrust-
full had no unfavorable effect on Mr.. CARING.
He set it down to an excess of sensitiveness
and delicacy which charmed him. He was
himself; though he never would confess it; shy,