The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1865-12-07
The Young Husbands Return from
E4 rE n the War. a-

I
trees stand laden with ..apple blossoms
whose delicate perfume floats in the twi-
light air, just as it did four years ago to.
night. 8.U.a. s... A "w
| There is nothing changed about this old
place as / look upon its picture now
There stands the stone-curbed well over
which the long sweep hangs with itsedang-
| ling bucket, moss-covered and dripping
monotonously-jus as ever. There is
Carlos kennel, and Carlo himselfis lying
there, with his nose upon his outstretched
paws, and his eyes closed lazily; precisely
| thus he lay as 1 looked out of the window
| four years ago this hour. / can hear Kate
and Bess stamping with their iron
hoofs i'm their stables in the old red barn;
and over the top of that same tree that
bears the golden sweets, peeps the wooden
weathercock on the roof of the hay she'd
The DIVES have been flying in and out OF
their cOtes over the wide door for the past
hour; and the swallows not vet gone to
sleep, are squeaking and chattering i'm the
caves overhead. There bangles the swing
under the oak, Yonder comes Philip
whistling up the road. lie has changed
no more in these four years than if he were
an image instead of being, as he is, a mid
dle-aged serving man. Everything my
eye rests OH is just the same-iust the
same. L wish it were not. How can the
world 60 on so unchanged?
1t seems as if / had been dreaming here
by the window in the sun of the warm
May afternoon, and had inst awakened in
falling. Was it my wedding night this
night four years ogo?
Yes. There, OH the bed within this
room my boy is sleeping. Here on my
finger is my wedding ring, and kiss it;
and ii is cold to my lips as his forehead
was. Here are my widows mourning gar
mcnts. ] am twenty-five. aseightcen
when Frank drew mo to his heart, here i'll
this very room. lie called me his darling.
brown-eyed bride. oh, how l loved him
You ladies who live in cities, and whose
iivesNa are crowded with eventS--who have
loved and unluved one man after another
whose hearts are older mt eighteen than
mine is this day. even after all its deep joy
and s0rrow--you cannot know how / low
ed my husband. .u r....
He was the only one ever loved, re-
member the only one. My father was so
stern with me, that ] never dared 10 love.
My mother died when Twas little, and my
father kept me always under hi, eye, per
mitting me no sBch pleasures as those that
country girls generally have. There We're
pic ME parties in the woods in erl'nmcr
nd l. Ia., in,
merrymakings of which meyer saw any
thing. Almost my only knewledge of life
oatSidc of nay own home was gathered
from the glimpses / got of the neighbor
people on Sundays at the .httle church,
where all the farmers on Morton Heights
met to worship and still do. Ii was there
first saw frank k-when WAS q littlecur-
iy headed girl, and he was little blue,
eyed boy of five years my senior. There
l saw all L ever saw of him. till | was six
t Ell, aud he was homo from the college
vacation. / noe; him then one afternoon,
a | was going home from nrghborS
house, and he walked along by my side.
j loved him from that hour with my whole
soul; and during the two years following !
his smile. the thrilling touch of his hand
and tive soft words of love he spoke to me;
and at last too | sunk in tne tremor OF
haesln"sS upon his breast
when he asked me 10 be his wife.
Can you wonder, then, that the wedding
night on which he made me his. was daH-
zling in it's brilliancv to my eyes? was
almost Intoxicated with the novelty and
iov OF that scene. The great rooms of
Squire hnrt0n's nous" were like those of ii !
palace compared to the humber home
where had been reared. and it was there
that We weFj married, f',r !HEA'1> wiSued il !
SO. The crowdin1r guests. the cleaning
lights, the marriage ceremony, the con-
gratu !ationS, the whispered joy II my huH- !
band as he bent o'er me, and the odor OF
apple-blossoms beTyHifng all. seemed |
like "a beautiful dream then, seems like |
dream now, with the orchards bloom still |
...r. |
DO Won believe me Sxauuaratinc when 7 |
say would have yielded up my life un-
for my husbands sake? III
you do, IL only shows that you have no
of a love that bore for Frank. |
II was wrong to love nbn-so. perhaps |
but oh, I was SO happy! He was my all, !
remember. ON him ! lavishcd the long !
boarded affection OF n nature whose depths |
no mortal being looked into before him |
Nj heart would lestis with glatlness al the
sound Of his voice at distance, I knew |
his footsteps so well that would 90 far |
beyond the gate To meet him when he was
coming up the road His kiss WAS heaven
to my lips, and fhe fond glance of his blue
eye would thrill TO the core. .
You fnay wonder that consented to
part With Frank when loved him so. 1t
was because loved him as did, that !
ron'd not oppose him when he told me.
MS face All glowing with enthusiasm. that
he wanted 10 raise a con, panv for; the w,-
Then he talked $" e'uquently about it. his
eve sAohe Win such II lustre and his voice
had such cheer in il, 'ssHe spoke OF 60
ing forth with his comrades To fight in de-
fence of the dear old dag. how could put
IN my selfish protest? rv3 ..-
But i clung to his neck with silent fear
in the darkness of the night, when he Law
fast asleep; pictured his loved form w.
ing wounded and bloody on the battis-
field, and hid my face on my pillow, and /
pressed his dear cheek with my hands, /
softly, so as not to wake him, wept as if
my heart would break. But in the day
line / never let him know. l tried nv
best To cheer him, for / knew it was the
Did patriotic fire that burned i'm his manly
breast, and no tears of mine should auench
=, ] was ALWAYS proud of Ernnk he wns