The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1860-03-01

p" Sir, | will be your wife, and love you
very truly all my hfe."
| drew the little creature to. my breast,
aud felt tender pride in knowing she
was mine. Something in the shy caress
/ those soft arms gave touched my cold
mature With a generous warmth, and the
innocence of that condding heart was an
appeal to all that made my manhood
worth possessing.
Swiftly those few weeks passed, and
when old Jean was laid to her last sleep,
little Ethic wept her grief away upon her
husbands bosom, and soon learned to
smile in her new English home. It's
gloon, departed when she came, and for a
while it was very happy place. My Bit
ter moods seemed banished by the magic
of the gentle presence that made sun
shine there, and | was conscious of fresh
grace added TO the life so wcari$ome
! before
[ should have been a father to the
child, watchful, wise, and lender; but old
Jean was right was too young to feel
fathers calm affection or to know 4 ia
theirs patient care should have been
her teacher, striving to cultivate the ma
| ture given to my care, and Et it for the
trials Heaven sends to ALL should have
been friend, if nothing more, and given
her those innocent delights that make
youth beautiful and its memory sweet.
| was a master, content to give little,
while receiving all she could bestow.
Forgetting her loneliness, | fell back
into my old way of life | stunned the
world, because its gayeties had lost their
zest. / did not care to travel, for home
now possessed a charm it never had be-
fore. J knew there was an eager face
. that always frightened when | came,
/ light feet that few to welcome me, and
hands that loved to minister to every
want Of mine. Even when sat engross-
ed among my books. there was pleasant
consciousness that [ was the poSsessor
Of household sprite whom look could
summon and a gesture bauish. | loved
her as | loved a picture or a flower, ia
little better than my horse and hound, =
but far less than loved my most unwor-
thy self.
And she,-always so blithc when
was by 50 diligeat in studying my de-
sires, SO full of simple arts to win my love
and prove her gratitude, she never ask
ed for any boon, and seemed content to
/ live alone with me in that still place,
so utterly unlike the home she had left.
had not learned to read that true heart
then. | saw those happy eyes grow wist-
ful when | went, leaving her alone; |
missed the roses from her check, faded
for want of gentIer care; and when the
buoyant spirit which had been her chief
est charm departed, | fancied, in my
blindness, that she pined for the free air
Of The Highlands, and tried to win it
back by transient tenderness and costly
gifts. But | had robbed my lark Of heay-
ems sunshine, and it could not sing.
[ met Agnes again. She was widow,
and to my eye seemed faircr than when
saw her last, and far more kind. Some
soft regret seemed shining on me from
those lustrous eyes, as if she hoped to
win my pardon for that early wrong. !
never could forget the deed that darken-
ed my best wears, bnt the old charm stole
over me at times, and turning from the
meek child at my feet, owned the pow
er Of the stately woman whose smile seem
ed a command.
meant no wrong to EtHe, but, looking
on her as child, | forgot the higher claim
| had gwen her as a wife, aad, walking
bIindly on my selfish way, J. crushed the
the little flower | should have cherished
n my baeast
+ To be Concluded IN neat Jcurma7.1 I