Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1861-08-28
VOL. XXVIII.
pHURsToN DOW AND CHARITY MOSS.
THEIR ENGAGEMENT.
by NIEoINIA =. TOWNSEND.

! Thurston Dow threw his newspaper with
: vawn, as he made this laconic and comprchen-
!. siye statement then he settled back in his
i cushioned easy chair, and looked out of the
= window with kind OF haf-sotiated, hall-ds-
!. satisfied gaze.
!, North SOUTH cast, west--to the utmost point
i which his gaze could sweep, lay the fair and
J. goodly lands Of his posscssion-green orchards
:, with ripening fruits, which hung thick upon the
bough like large goblcts of emerald-pastures
: whose rich loan was stitched thick with dark,
waving grasses-felds of wheat and rye, whose
cleaning locks Of silver and gold were shaken
{ to and fro in the soft, summer wind and all
these were dimpled with homely, ample farm
houses, and brown barns and these were oc-
cupied by the tenants of Thruston Dow; for
Aaron, his great grandfather, had purchased
the land for five miles around his old gray
stone English homestead, near Rockland, when
Massachusetts was a colonyj and the estate had
descended to his heirs, undisputed and undi.
minished, for not one of the Dows has sold
! rod of the land which had not been in their
possession for a century.
The present owner of the property, with
whom we have chiefly to do, came into its pos
session on his twenty-second birthday, just after
he had graduated at colleges and he had held
it for years. The estate had been left him by
his Uncle Richard, an eccentric old bachelor.
:, | III nQu been supposed IUdl all OlueT nCpUCW,
who was now residing at the West, would be
the heir of Richard Dow. This last mentioned
nephew had lived with his uncle from his boy
hood, but he had mortally offended him by
marrying in opposition to his wishes, and, con-
sequently, been cut off in the will.
Thurston Dow had seen his uncle but few
times in his life, for the two brothers of Rich
ard Dow always felt they had not been fairly
dealt with in the settlement of their fathef's
estate, and boldness had always existed be-
twiXt them.
The elder brother, who was a shrewd bust
ness man, had managed to get all the Rockland
property into his own hands, while some min
ing lands at the West had fallen to the share of
one of the brothers. and some land in the East
Indies to Thurston's father, who removed there
soon after his marriage.
The property in the Tropics had never been
very productive or available property, and when
Thurstons life had slippe across S fourteenth
birthday, he was sent back to America to be ed
ucated.
His mother died before his remembrance,
and he was not twenty-one when his father slept
on one of the Tropical islands, in the still
shadows of the palm trees--and being indolent
and studious, with no taste for business left his
son only few thousands with which to COM
mence lite
But year later the young man was sum-
moned, suddenly, to the funeral of his uncle,
and learned there, to his unspeakable surprise,
that he was appointed sole heir to the Rockland
estate, with the solitary condition that he should
pass his summers in the old homestead.
Thurston Dows character combined good
many strong antithess-he was studious and
indolent, selfish and impulsively generous.
quickly stirred to passion, but generally good
natured, with unusual social gifts and graces
easy, most indulgent to his dependents-a fa-
vorite with all classes of men and women ;
changeable susceptible, easily influenced by
every wind, and yet with latent force of will
which wrote its strong lines about his mouth,
, and flashed sometimes through the tones of his
voice, and bore its subtle testimony in the very
carriage of his head.
AS he sat in the window that summer after
= noon. In his crimsoned dressing-gown and
fiowered slippers, Ihurston Dow looked very
much what he was-the owner of the Rockland
e estate You would have known, at the first
glance, that the esthetic element was predom-
= nant in him, constitutionally and by cultiva-
ton.
He was neither tall nor short, with supple,
compact limbs and rapid, graceful movements.
5, His features were bold and thin, suting his
figure, the complexion, colorless and yet a clear
n ! henlthful olive, the eye of light hazel, but
full of disturbances of light and shadow, and a
mouth large and sharply cut, sensitive and sus-
D ceptible but no Incidence and luxury of life
could erase the lines written there by charac-
p ter of innate force and strength.
1t was late in the afternoon, and soft, mellow,
thoughtful, the sunshine lay over the land and
n as the gaze of Thurston Dow dwelt upon it, his
e. expression of Indifference and dissatisfaction
was disputed by one softer and grayer.
At last he up and walked across his
n library and the deeper and better part of his
nature stirred itself and woke up.
His life, his selfish, aimless, sensuous life,
confronted him in its true iea ures.
"What am | living for?" he muttered to
- himself "Iiere | have health, youth, riches
d education, everything that the heart of man
+, as though was an unlucky dog, anyhow.
at "The best part of me is getting drowsier
every day, and I've no purpose in life to stir
N me up to action, or to make me anything but
i. the luxurious, idle dog that am
"One day, here, goes over my head just like
another, cut after the same pattern-boatng
a riding, hunting, eating and sleeping-a mos
: delicious sort of life for a human animal, il
d the soul had only been left out of it.
s. "'Ghen, it's only varied in the city with lit
at tie sharper spice of peasure-dissipato is thu
6 better word races and clubs, parties, theatres
operas-that's condensed historyof your life
Mr. Thurston bow!
20 at viii be pleasant to look back upon whei
!, you are an old man. But what can fellow
'r, dop | mean one that's afflicted with chronic
On laziness, and has the interest of a couple o
on hundred thousand dollars to spend annually
We Sometimes think this is a curse to me, ant
p that | should be better off il | had my owl
fortune TO carve out, and not an acre of land OF
nd the round earth.
IL "But if "A mans born with a silver spoon il
- his mouth. he must take his fate resignedly
vi vi and ii pluck and poverty usually walk hand il
pa hand, why, I've no special desire IN win tn
ro former by intimate acquaintance with the latter
me me Still, | want to be more of a man than
am-nOt to squander away my youth after thi
fashion. ! want to have some work and aim
10 | should really like to do some greater goo
> than putting my name to score of subscriplio
- lists-lor missionaries and meeting houses, an
., ragged children, and reform societies. Look
,er straight in the face, it's frghtfully hollow, VI
eat satisfactory sort of life you're leading, m
friend ! believe I'd better get marriet
""' Thatll at least give me object to live for"
.. Aud then, walking up and down the room
ON while the light ot the summer day faded III
Ter needed after him, Thurston Dow thought of a
ocs the women of his quaintance-b beautiful, hig
tie born, graceful, fascinating, they passed befol
80 him but the noblest instincts of the man turnt
D away from them all and at last "A fair, pa
tie face, its oval outline broken by shadowy ban,
- of hair, half brown and half gold, stood belo