The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-01-29
Wolves.
BY HUGH KIRK.

larchives favor the vision. and | see an aristo
cratic line of ancestors stepping stately dow
the past, with lordly carriage and proud beauty
Back TO when tie royal red mon made the New
IEngland rocks their thrones and pantherskln
their footstools, back over coast reefs spoutlnt
foam, afar in lonely vessels cutting dreaue'
seas. back in antique halls rich in ivy, moss, ant
the mellow memories OF centuries, 1 see theh
passing. In turning over the aged and faith
full records of numerous generations. | am sur
urised at the fswness of such family alliances
"a might be likely to lower the high instep o
the Rothrocks. The fresh, radical, levelling IN
huences of life.in a new country, while they
crushed with unsparing heel many fine preju'
ldices and ingrained opinions, seem to have iounc
q finn resistance to their tendency to repuoll'
canize the wooings and the weddings OF the
transpIanted family. Two or three cases, how
ever, IIhave found, where the habitual prudence
of the stock seems to have been set aside, ano
unknown motives have peremptorily crashed
down the walls of usage. My interest in these
facts being great, TO my exceeding Joy, in ex-
lamining an Anticipated, leather covered diary o.
my mighty great grandfather as Ben johnson
would say, l lighted upon the history of one Of
these exceptional cases, drawn out in Affections
ate detail b. one of the parties chiefly interest
ed. From it l gather the following:
Rachel closed the heavy, softly shutting par
| Tor uOOf, anu NdlEGu SiOmiy bhtObS" 'hC iNhS
laan and into the kitchen. The tidied room
showed clean and bright, cooking utensils shin>
ling like the satisfied face of General Rothrock
when. for dessert, q chef d'aeHUre of their per-
/ formance had that day made it's appearances
lad been the las. time Rachel would serve
! the family at dinuer, ard she had presented u
farewelluffaring of fine flour, coaxed with necr
! essary aids into foamy delicacy OF form and
I Righteousness of taste. Now she had served the
tea fitted The parl0r for The evenings quiet com
fort, and come ont. 1t was bitter cold. A freez'
ling shrek of the wind walled down the chin
ney. Rachel stirred the fire and turned vacant
ly to the window which the coarse sleet was
raspmo. At sunset the weather had promised
to clear: masses of red and purple, b~lushing
OUT from whirling snow, had parted and shown
a sea of green coaste0 by f1ama %c0lor,out then
! the clouds had swung back and mountain pine:
were not blacker than the night sky. Rachel
Idi2 not see that it stormed she stared some
minutes into the icy blackness, but saw only the
warm, snug picture she had turned her PACK
upon at the parlor door-a high room with soft
warm lights making the rich carving lqsttoa9'
ard ROWING grotesque shadows which grew
ont of the luxurious furniture rosy curtains
and Seeply colored paintings glowed around the
walls. end the glories of summer bloom, golden
hearted Dansies, scarlet geraniums, and royal
roses. IL Y, cGrpetimprisoned, upon the hoor.-
Mrs. Roi brock was softly settled in the purple
recess of IN arm~chair, the folds of her wIne-
colored sd x throwing a warm tint upon a lace
rich in mat zred and stately beauty her fingers
toyed with employment that had dropped from
her hands. W bile he General in his opposite
seat read to h " tie news by The last Enghsh
vessel. To Ra ehsl her master had never looked
90 fine q gentle man, her mistress SO lovely q
lady, as tonight, and yet that very day they
had made her feel numb with the heart>ache
till she WAS stupid with such 'torpor rs crawls
from snow drifts into weary limbs. they nae
hidden her pack her clothes to start on the
morrow for New Haven-&n invalid friend OF the
family's, they said,, desired her care. She kne"
they meant her Il, ever 10 return; Hugh' thell
only son, had told her SO, when ne babe her q
secret good bye four weeks ago, before he wen
over The mountains TO Fort No. 4. on business
for the General.
They me N to get you Of quietly, Rachel
while [ am gone. But don't fear ; I'll outwl'
them by coming back before thev expect me.
But, Hugh, hadn't better go row else VII
it all end 7?
End W~hy,sweet, I'll yet make them Proudel
to call you a Rothrcck than TO speak the siiled
names of those who once bore the familv Gres
in The grand days of Queen Bess.'
4 should bring you small dowry little moF*
than the beggar girl you tell me of
BE glad, then, that you can make me as
happy as the beggsr girl did some one else
Stay qaler, Rachet-keep a brave heart, and
trust me-
Hugh had said this to her, a servant girl bred
by charity in the Rotbroek house, and destin-
ed by her providers 10 look after the Roth~
roch's happiness in quite another way than
growing up 10 love the heir of the family
Things were decidedly out of joint. No wond-
erHugh's parents had much grave communl
cation on tne subject.
Hugh is beside himself. deplorably insane.
He has never seen a prettier face than RacheFs
we should have sent bim to Boston long ago.
Yes, and then we allowed Rachel to seen
his equal He loves in ignorance
And Mrs, Rothrock sighed at the remember
ed vision of virgin grace aud d au5y, sprung
from choice transatlantic stock. which at tina
time adorned the Puritan city.
She is good anu faithful-we should mis-
her ;; aud the general thought Of his good din
ners.
True, but our dsnger-she must GO
well, III send Hugh off for q while, and w
can get her safely down to Connecticut; tn
stages are regular this winter.
So they decided.
Rachel had not looked into the darkness tie
minutes when the BEL summoned her to the pal
Tor. Her master asked
is the Lake stage IMP
' Yes, sir 1 heard the bells an hour ago.
1T will start, then, st five in the morning an
you will need to be ready at that hour. You
mistress and myself will see you In the morn
ing.
d Rachel went back to the kitchen, and thi
time covered over the fire. She might hav
8 said:
Coil blacker round it's horrid crags,
Swing low thy folds ofIcy night
Like sea-torn shreds OF half-mast flags.
Fold heavier, shroud ofsorrow, down
? Upon my spirit, shorn ofpoweF,
AL sweet thoughts deep, o Tempest drown,
3 dumbly own now is thine hour!
sGoing so early 2 she thought. We'll, ther
I cannot go out to get burrs from the pines o
s the hill. Yet l want to see the dear place
Hugh and | have had many a happy time thei
since he first kissed me, while over us the shag
gy branches blew music from their tufted truu
Of pet. But it's too dark and cold tonight an
Hugh is not here to lift me through the snow
drifts.
y The FIRE burned warmly, but Rachel shivereG
her hands lay bloodless in her lap and her heal
beat with the difficult throb of q tiny streaI
lie caught in the teeth of the frost. She tried /
lie feel that this was the old kitchen, this tn heart
by which she had nestled many a night lk
this to play at draughts with Hugh, or to sit
& council upon some toy the shape of which Wa
is yet dim in the young mechanics intentiv
dream. while the hammered flames furled an
IN unfurled in lazy beauty this the old eloc
hintly ticking near by, which Hugh,to frighte
= her, once called a dead mans coffin; there th
windows where in golden afternoons thick glC
ct nv shimmered, and from which she could sc
= the elder bushes shake they snowy fower-moor
, over the meadow clover; that low branch no,
grating under the caves from the fierce swell
a singing wind, the one where swung the OF
d, ole's nest, the birthplace of silver songs, one
a. the dewy shrine of young eyes, and still the d.
nd lig ht of older gaze. But no, her eyes turne
blankly, she seemed even now far away ar
looking back through uneasy dreams. Hugh hs
k told her to be braye-she tried to be so; h
TO memory made a nervous clutch at his good-by
10 words, but they seemed to have been said loE
ago, and she remembered them as from beyo1
tho rrnro In-nirht She nrnnchad ~ IL 49,