Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1859-04-12
Misttllanp.
YEARS AND YEARS AGO.

LIlltlJ A4NO E1AAA'N hNN w
sToutes ces chooses sont passees
CONNIE roinbre ct CONNIE lie vent !'-VioToR HUGO.
These things have passed upon their mournful way
Like the Wild wiid, and like the shadows grey -..
Suzanne was not sixteen, and was
barely nineteen, when we first met. She
was the daughter, the only child ola poor
Protestant pastor near La Rochelle, one
of the chief and oldest strongh holds OF the
French Reformed Church, ,.-..
At that time / was about as wild a
scapegrace as you would see IN any place
| could name at this moment. had been
expelled from school for heading an insur-
recton against the proper authorities; i
had got into endless scrapes in every po-
stion in which nv poor father had tried
to establish me; had finished when | WAS
eighteen by throwing off all restraint
crossing the water, and with knapsack
on my back, started on a pedestrian tour
through some of the French provinces,
not with any definite aim or object, or in
pursuance Of any settled plan, but to exer-
else my usurped liberty, and to get rid of
some of the superAuous lie that would
not let me rest OF adventures | had
plenty; but the relation of these is little to
the point now. A = La Rochelle, chance,
as | called il then, threw Suzanne in my
way. Whether she was beautiful or not,
hardly know. She was utterly unlike
any one | ever saw before or since a
little thing with a pair of eyes that pre-
vented your seeing anything else when
they were before you--a pair of eyes
which, like those of the German fairy,
were not only one barleycorn bigger |
think they were Two barleycorns bigger)
than anybody else's eyes in the world; but
which loved you, and repulsed you. and
pitied and scorned you, and laughed With
you, and cried for you. and made you
wild with delight, and desperate with de-
spair, twenty times day.
From the first time | saw her, l pur-
sued her without ceaslng; and We often
met by those accident, that occur when
TWO people do their best to AID fate in her
arrangements. At the back of the pres
bytery was a garden full! of roses, and Ill
les, and jasmines, and all sorts of beauIi-
ful old fashioned flowers that grow any
where you may plant them, but that can
no more get common OF worthless tor all
their bounteous blooming, than if they
REQUIRED to be watered with champagne.
/ Beyond the garden is what Is called a
cha agnerae; little wood, carpeted with
close turf moss and wild flowers, over
shadowed with magnificent Chestnut
trees, each Of which might form study
for a landscape painter. OBly a paling
and wicket separated The garden and the
wood; and, The latter being enclosed ,.any
one had right to wander there at will
privilege OF which the peasants in tne
neighborhood, having other means of EN-.
ployins their time, seldom availed them
selves; and IL WAS, except at the chestnu
gathering, generally deserted.
So there | used to repair in the glowing
July days, with sketch book, to lool
business ke; and, lying on the grass, ol
leaning against tree, myself hall hidden
watch for Suzanne How it is all before
me uow--bef"re me now, and in me, and
about mcleod heaven, how clearly
after all these years! .as
The broad rug gged trunks of the trees
the sunlight streaming with soft, greer
light through the leaves; the warm, Ipe
sill heat that quivered before my bal
closed eyes; and there, there beyond
through n narrow vista, an opening, as i
were, lnlo heaven, in the guise of LITTLE
Bit OF the pastors garden. blazing in sun
light aud flowers. On this my eyes woult
fix ill the angel should come to give it 1
hoIier light. Some lines waited through
the .ong hours in vain; sometimes l saw
her pass and repass, coming and goins
like alternate sun and shadow; ss the place
seemed frightened or darkened with he
presence or departure. Then, how m,
heart beat; how watched, how | lis
tened J. did she guess 4 was there?--di'
She wish 10 come ?-was it timidity o
Indifference that prevented her turnin;
her steps this way ?--Useless She woul
b.. not come to-day; and, cross and sick a
heart, ! left the wood, and wandered home
ward to mine inn-the bare, hot cham
= bers of which, with the old fumes of ba
e stale tobacco, were little calculated
d soothe the nerves that had been strun
and fretted and ruffled in the green, COO
: perfumed chestnut wood.
t, Next day all would be joy and HOP
Il again. Back once more to the sylvia
temple, where / hoped to meet the sh
: goddess. An hour--two-would pas
!, and then she foated to and fro ACROSS th;
{, Bit of sunshine. gathering a flower herr