Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1863-11-21

O. very wrong; yet he could not help
t any more than he could help those
other thoughts, for there before him
wero those soft dark eyes. a child's no
longer, and that childish form altered in
to a womaH's.
Il will come back some day and be
-FOUR little wife, These words sounded
ia his cars over aud over again, and
Love climbed the pulpit stairs AMI stood
there beside Ambition. No one guessed
nj this save tie yoapg minister himself,
aad when the sermon was done, Deacon
Grumblo nodded approya! to Deacon
Doleful, and his others eyes were suil
Of tears, called forth by her innocent
nr;i9 in her blue eyed William, and
scapecracc Jasper graspod his brothers
nanl rs ,.e i, s,ended from the pulpit, in
earnest coagratulation. Oaiy the object
Of his interest was dissatisfied, rs no
thought, with self.relroach. upon the
earth filed dreams which had So haunted
him. Yc. that memory Of his child
love would n5t be driven from his heart,
and when he arrived at home and found
those two beautiful girls standing togeih-
her upon the parsonage porch, it grew
still more vivid.
"TLoy had come back 70 live" she
said, ..anl were not. going back again.
and late as they arrived on the past
ninht, she resolved to come TO church as
soon as she heard that William was 70
preach. How strange That he saoa!d be
= crown man and a minister! It seem
Cd but Yesterday sine, they were child
, rem aud lie wore round j"c&et, and
i.heI for r,:nnows with a crooked pin.
Yet she knew him. And ho--was 1t
D ,ssiblc that he would have remembered
herr? So she ran on, and her g"!deE-
haired sister, Eflie, smiled beside her Ike
a happy child. Ia little wh'le' she
.efl them. anl when she was quite out
If sight, William Betsworth went back
INTO the house, and thought how strange
; It was that all those years of travel in Il
foreign lanl had altered his Playmate SO
little, and into what beautiful
blossom the tender bud Of that spring
time had expanded.
lie preached that night again aid
sroye, if ever man did strive. 10 be nc
, hvpocrite; ana il was only too easy. now,
to forget the frowns Of Deacon Gru'nb'o
or the sishs of Deacon Doieful, while
Caroline Graham sat there looking a
him with her soft black eyes. Aal
! when that night he sought his little bed
room, he found himself thinking OF Le'
r once more. lie had spoken TO her, anc
9 SIC remem bcred the school house, an
! the garden, and the pond where The wa
J, ter lilies grew; whether sic remembered
that baby pyomibe, he could not tell
: With this thought tie young minister fel
+ as!ecp. AMI ~ one could Ilame hin
more than he liam 4 himself Tie EeA
f morning.
; Time passed on, and tha' ordeal 0
i the tist Sabbath had grown 70 be az or
r diunry habit. The cong, cgation wcr'
/ no longer 50 fearfIlly wide awake, a"t
he was use! to their faces and to his new
/ position. Bot il Caroline Graham VIZ:
e absent from The service. lie was conscion,
c Of a blank, Iost feeling, which he had nc
{ power 10 overcome, and by tl.is time he
scarce!y sircyo to 10 so, for lie had be
gun to feel rs though the thoughts which
. lang about him were the purest Of LIS
| soul, and bad nothing earthly in them
(, lie Lad Io.ed her al! his life. If she
4 aad not returned it, he should never have
cyed an1thcr woman. So he thought,
, aud 50 tie said TO himself over and over
, again. be.iey:ng it t.ueIy, as lovers al
ways DO believe their fancics. And il
had grown to be another habit of his to
g walk towards her Eome upon those gold
! en- autumn evenings, and, finding her
! upon tie porch o. in The garden, TO join
9 her, and sit talking with her for hours
) His brother Jesper was of.en with him,
!. aud with item also sat or walked golden
barred Eff; but William thought of
neither Of these, nor Of the portly Mr.
/ Graham, who would fam have entered
, into theological dispositions with him,
5 nor of placid Mrs. Graham, perpetually
knitting beside them He spoke to all,
and seemed to look at ali, but in reality
Caroline was Tho only one he saw or
listened TO. Hal lie been less in love,
less deeply immersed in lis own dreams.
be might not have been SO blind to what
was passing before him, and might have
read the story which would have been so
plain TO other eyes, and 50 have spared
himself some nain.