Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1861-08-28

tirl< they deakse life. We enjoy It's poetry
better for this back ground of practicality. 1t
is the only way 10 save Il woman ifom that great
range of nervous diseases TO which SO many
fall victims. il is Gods ordination, and do
not believe ery woman can live her complete
life, bravcly, symmeri'ally, reioicingly, who
docs not work with her hands and muscles"
"What an eloquent treatise you COLD write
on the subject, for the benefit Of your SEX"
Her quick, cxulant, unused laugh, which al
ways lifted the cnwrappcd countenance into
sIlden light, answered him, "You are making
fun of ne, Mr. Dow"
"Not lit of it. You have converted me to
your theory, as am sure any man wo Id be-
] am going to give you, now, the strongest pos
side proof of il. | came here tonight with
that settled purpose, andif perform i. abrupt
ly, II is because | honor you too nu9 h to be-
lieye tina lovers batteries would weigh any
thing with YOU, and that when ] say to YOU,
love YOU, / mean all those words cmbody in
their best and deepest sense. Charity Moss,
will you be my wife P"
Let me here do Thurs,Jn Dow the Justice to
say, that so mucli of real feeling was enlisted
in this question, that his voice shook along the
words, and there was sudden pallor about his
mouth.
Charity Moss turned up ler face to his. and
tNe small carnations h her heeks, Oroadencd
ard hlossomcd inlo vi,n ormson, .nd hcr eyes
! lifted to and fro, into light and shadow. For a
moment she was steady, but under her breath.
"Will YOU say those words again, Mr.. Dow,
so that may be certain that understood you,
before | answerp P"
"Charity Moss, will you be my wife P"
"She rose up, and walked twice rapidly across
the room, and then she came and stood still be-
fore her guest and. now there were 40 roses
mot even carnations in her cheeks-and there
was something mourr'ul in the steady eyes
which her calm, slow voice con6rme !. Il cam
not be what you have asked me, Mr.. Dow, be-
cause it would ruin me e.
"Ruin you'll don't understandW "
"No; l am going 10 explain. 1t would ruin
me, because our views and aims in life are so
wide apart, and because, with my sensitive, sus-
ceptible nature, there would be great danger Of
your bringing me down ia yours.
81 have breced myself agoinst your influence
f'on tIe first hour iha | mel vou, Mr.. Dow,
because felt that it must be evil over me-for
l saw that the great aim Of your life was esthetc
ENJOYMENT; and this, adorn it with what grace
OF life, or beauty of words, you may, is really
-selishness, failure.
"fou have no high redceming purpose in
| life. With all your cultivation, with all your
generous instin is, with all have seen in you
TO admire, know that this rugged, real world,
is not better becalse YOU are in it.
"Tlie religion that believe in, is name, a
grace, worship-not living reality, to you.
Its love has never penetrated your soul; its
sacrifices are to you words void and unsugges-
tive; and because there is part of my nature
| Tat answers to the luxurious, csthetic part oil
yours, l dare not trust myself TO your keeping.
"1f ever marry any man, it must be liv-
ing practical Christian one, because that be-
lieve all life and love without christian religion
is, in the end, failure.
81 am grateful for the honor your choice does
me and l know immeasurably for | am your
inferior in social and intellectual cultivation, to
say nothing of those things which the world
values therefore, am filled with wonder and
humility at an offer which any woman might be
proud Of.
"Do you think me insensiblc to these things
because | make the others of clIiefest value P
You see | cannot do otherwise and If have
spoken plainly, because simply, truthlully, for
give mew
She paused at last, and stood quiet before
him-hcr face In a kind OF white radlance-her
still large, luminous eyes searching into his.
Ihurston Dow did not speak for the space oi
half a minute--hc was touched, convicted, an
gerel-and yet, he loved Charity Moss ter
times better than he ever had done before and
all these feelings struggled in his tones, as he
said:
$50 am to understand that you mean am
not good enough man to be YOUR hushand?"
"This would be an eqraly true proposition
| am not good enough woman to be your wife
because | could not resist your influence ovel
me, were it TO do Inc harm"
Then Thurston Dow, rose up, and said:
HWill yOu LET me- take yOtr hand n moment
Charity:"
She placed her two small futtering hands r
his.
81 thank you for what you have said to me-
this night-ior every word of it, Charity Moss,
his better nature triumphing over anger and
wounded vanity. 81 shall not love that woman
the less, who has had the courage so to SPEAK
to me; and it may he, that some day shall b(
more worthy to ask you the question which
have tonight"
Something like shadow came over thu
shining face; il bent on him q long, wstful
yearning gaze. Thurston Dow knew what i
said to him-what her lips would not-a hal
"might have been,' contesting with hal
"might be-" as the shining face leaned out OF it
shadowy hair, like some marble head out of I
{ brown cloud.
SO lhurston Dow looked on it a moment
: anu Nao SphS.
That night he walked up and down his libra
ry, until after midnight, with those rapid, ner
vous strides, which usua ly accompany stirred
, agtated mood. What went ON in the youni
mans soul, what new aims and purposes wer
, reused and developed in his heart, was know
only TO Him who realeth the beart of man, an
understandeth our thoughts afar off
Long after midnight, Thurston Dow seized
lamp, and started for his room. In a small
, dark passage, back of the library, which wa
little used a dranght of air caught the ligh
and extingushed it. He fumbl2d round in tn
darkness for some matches, remembering hav
ing hastily replaced some several weeks befor
in one of the compartments OF an old fashione
] mahogany secretaire, which had stood in tn
a passage for years. and which was one of the fe
articles of furniture his great-great grandfathe
G had brought from England to the colonies.
= And searching in the darkness, the hand {
Thurston Dow fell upon the wrong drawer. an
}, he felt secret spring yield to his pressure
This aroused his curiosity, and at last he SUI
h ceeded in finding the matches, and striking
! light. After some difficulty he once more di
n covered the spring, and opened the secret con
parlment. 1t contained a solitary sheet of pI
" per the young man opened it with eager cur
e osity, and read the last will and testament
= his uncle Richard Dow, dated two days befol
/ his death and this will affirmed, that, being
full possession of all his faculties, he had fC
d reasons good and sufficient TO himself, altert
n his mind and bequeathed the whole of his re
IJYor1 nnlu of