Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1860-12-01
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The Old@@Man's Darling.
by MRS. c. T. GERRY.


Il turned and hummcd a bitter song,
That mocked the wholesale human heart,
And then we met in wrath and wrong,
We met, but only met to part,
Full cold my greeting was and dry;
She family smiled, she hardly moved;
| saw with halfunconscious eye,
She wore the coors appro5cd."
"Which shall I bc-an old mans
darling, or young mans darling?'
These words ] said over and over to
myself, as paced ny room at Congress
Hall, III tie hush Of the midsummer
night. was q say it without vanity,
the belle Of the season, and during The
month I spent there, had drawn many
suitors at my feet. But none Of these
had touched my heart, and in all them
any prudent mother had found some
thing to disapprcrc.
That night had added another to the
list Of conqncsts-a lnan who had al
rc&dy numbered sixty years, but who
counted his fortune by millions, and as
b. far the most brilliant match at the
Springs. had just had . long talk
with my mother, and | now saw why
she had not been in the least anxious
Tor me to accept the foplings who had
proposed for my hand-she wished ne
to win Judge Cameron. She was
elias that ] should be obliged to &C
knowledge it-a worldly woman, and
asplred to shihe in the first circles
We could have lived comfortably-nay
elegantly on our income, had she been
content with q home i'll some quiet
place, but she was welded to fashion
able follics, and therefore our life was
a constant struggle to keep up appear
ances. Of her six children only two
were left myself and q brother Of
twelve, . bright, handsome boy, With
a thousand fond dreams Of future great
ness burning in his heart, 10 whom,
cramped rs we were, we could not give
half the advantage we wished. To me,
therefore, my mother looked to build
up the fallen fortune Of the family, and
furnish my brother with every facility
for pursuing his studies. During my
conversation with her rconcerning Judge
Caneron's proposal, she had not only
expatiated on the position | should oc-
cupy as his wife, but had alluded to
her slender means, her inability to send
Lawrence to college, and told me how
much | could do for him, for her and
others, if only had wealth at my com
anand.
Perhaps I should have been more
dazzled by the Milionaire's offer, had
[ been heart-free, but | was not;
knew what love was There was one
whose face haunted me sleeping or wa
king; whose casual glance had power
to thrill every nerve, whose smile of
approval was far sweeter to me than
all the homage of the gay idlers that fre-
quent watering places. Thought now,
IN my hour of self-communion, Of our
first meeting at Locust Grove, Uncle
Dicks snug little house on the banks
of the Connecticut, where he had come
with cousin Hal to spend college va
cation; of our sails up the river: our
loiterings under the blooming boughs
of the old locusts; our reading from
Tennyson, and the memorable night
when he told me his love. That was
the golden age of my life, and it rose
before me in the solitude of my room
as memory of Eden might have risen
before Eve when far from the lost Par
adise. But Russell Maynard was poor.
charity student at Yale, and though
I loved him as should never love an
other, | had not yet dared to promise
that [ would be his wife, for I knew
my mother would not give her consent
to such a marriage. My readers will
understand, therefore, something of the
ordeal through which I passed tha,
night. On the one hand was Maynard,