The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-02-26

spine sustaining such severe injury that he

spine sustaining Such severe injury tnat II
only lived long enough to appoint my uncl
our guardian, and to take his leave Of us
with many words of affection and regret tina
he had not proved a more prudent-he coult
not have been klnder-parent. His affair
were so embarrassed that another six moAth
must have produced bankruptcy. He haI
mortgaged the estate-in itself much dete
riorated in value-to the fullest extent; and
in short, when all his debts were paid, moth
ing remained to US but our mothers legacy
of which we should come into possession Il
the ages of ne-and- twenty, Twas then ter
Jack thirteen. We went home with ou
uncle to the great, grim, cold house in th'
dull country town.
Katy was sorry on our account, glad OF
her own, for since her mothers death he
life had been very monotonous. | dom
think my uncle was harsh to her, though b,
never showed much kindness or considera
ton towards anybody. Yet, child as sh,
was, she had contrived to obtain some sligh
influence over him. | fancy he might have
loved her if she had been his own daughter
But whatever expectations of company ant
immature coquetries our arrival excited il
katy's bosom, were doomed to disappoint
ment at that time, for our uncle soon an
nounced his intention Of sending us to board
ng-school. Our ignorance justified him il
this, if his dislike did not. say his dis
like, for knew he always hated us, and
from that day he become our guardian, hat
promised himself the qualification Of sub
DUNG us, breaking US into his humors, and
as he once said foggipg the rcbellous deve
out of us. How he succeeded in this viii
be seen.
Hitherto we had had, literally, no cduca
ton. For when our father sent us to school
as he did once, upon the FIRST attempt at the
infiction Of punishment we had made &
fight for it, subsequently escaping and re.
turning home to be half-laughed at, half
commended-no ordered back. But, now
there was no'disputing the will of my uncle
even if we had been inclined to attempt it.
To boarding school we went accordingly.
Yorkshire schools have of late years OBJ.
tained most unenviable notoriety. In my
day all schooling was conducted on seyerer
prime! pies than the more fortunate youth Of
this generation have any idea Of. Punish
ment by blows and starvation formed IN
ordinary part Of it. do not know tina,
the school selected by my uncle had saw
ager master or crueler discipline than
many others, but am sure that d more
direct method for the perversion of every
honest and manly quality could not have
been devised than the grinding tyranny
which. under the name of an education, we
endured for two years. Strong boys il
transformed into bullics; weak boys into
towards and liars.
We experienced enough Of it md to spnre.
am not going into detail suffice it to say
that we were not conquered easily. One
thing our school discipline taught us-to
bear, perhaps to inlict, pain.
We never went home for the holidays,
or saw our uncle's face, until the expiration
of two years. lie paid the shoolmaster's
bills regularly, and received reports of US
from him. Then word came for US to re-
turn. We had had all the schooling con-
sidcrcd neccssary-all We were destined to
have, as it proved.
| Katy was more beautiful, and more con-
scious Of it, than ever, when we saw her
again. Often as we had talked of her
Jack was especially prone to this. and once
tried his hand at shoolbov letter to her,
which the schoolmaster contiscnted, fogging
him for writing tive had never pictured
to ourselves such lovliness as two years had
/ developed in her whom we always regard as
I our cousin.
am not good ut description. or would
attempt to convey some idea of katy's
face; though don't think words could do
it. see it in dreams somctimcs-dreams
that it is dreadful to wake from-but shall
never meet its similitude again, unless in
heaven.
The struggle between us and our uncle
commenced Immediately. lie never made
any pretentencc of liking Us, always address,
ing US rather ns dogs than human beings
| think the spirit with which we met and
resented this, presented some sort of inter-
nal fascination to him. The day after our
return, cnraged ata defiant answer Of Jacks
he took Il horsc-whip and, in spite Of q
furious sosistancc, logged him merclessly
/ My turn came soon enough, and after TINT
! it WINS all oaths. curses and blows on one
side, and desperate but Intellectual struggles
on the other. We should not have remain
son-katy. We were both in love with
her.
You may smile at the idea of the passions
entertained by boys OF twelve and fifteen
! for girl of thirteen. But | am sure that
nothing have since experienced was more
real or all engrossing. The trivial incidents
connected with it remain indelibly impress
ed upon my memory, while thousands of
more important events which have trans
pircI since are forgotten. irecollect the
color Of ribbons in her hair, the look and
scent Of flowers she,wore, the precise aspect
| of the rooms in which she sat aud worked
or moved about, even in the minutest detail.
Sometimes this retrospection is misery to
me.
loved her with my whole boyish SOUL
The sound of her girlsh voice, the very
rustic of her dress, affected me with deli
cious pleasure which was half pain. l have
woke up at night from a 'ielirious dream to
sob out her name and call passionately upon
her. | knew, at the same time, that my
passion was irrational and absurd, and that
she was not worthy of it. Belief in the OBJ
cct is not necessary to love. A man shall
! be we'll convinced in his heart that no good
can come of his success, that peace and hap
pncss do not lie thcre-nny, shall be sure
Of the moral perversity Of her he worships
yet shall be ready to risk life and soul to
get her.
My brothers. passion was equally vehe-
| ACLts aiit bSNh''o Vi
me. think he had greater faith in her
than I-showcd his feelings with less dis
guise, and was therefore more cruelty sport
ed with. In wooing coquette-and Katy
was born a coquette-hc who feels or betrays
least emotion will have most chance of sue
cess for he can avoid unpleasng manifes-
tations, while his rival is morbidly sensitive
to every look, word and action-at once ex-
acting, slavish and rebellious.
Katy cared for neither of us, but her fckle
favors were sometimes bestowed upon Inc, q
was considered the Handsomely though al
ways with an air of seniority, which her
one years difference in age rendered equal
ly ludicrous and exasperatins. Tormented
by her caprice, found a cruel pleasure in
angmenting Jacks sufierings. Very soon
he hated me with all the strength of his
fierce, ungovernable nature. She knew it,
and, unconscious of the depth and danger
Of the feelings excited, triumphed in it.
OF course We made no confdants. can
not tell how my uncle became enlightened
us to the existing state of affairs. When
that happened, his scorn of what he consid-
red our juvenile folly seemed to intensity his
| hr,talitv rn,r,o ,;bo- ,o.l