Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1865-10-21
TALES AND SKETCHES.
BROKEN vows.

own PROMISED Wllef
"All yours. l will never forget you," she
answered.
II may be gone years, sweet one1 viii
you wait for met"
II will watt
And, with a passionate embrace, he left
her stan ling, white and still, in the pale
moonlight, his firm, ringing step carrying
him out TO u new life, new scenes, the battle
with the world; her trembling feet bearing
her back to old monotony, unbroken by
the sunshine that had gladdened 1.-THE
light of his love.
"she was very fair and pretty, and six
teen summers only had printed their warm
kisses on her lips, when she stood in the
porch on that moonlight evening. Her
simple dress of cheap cotton print could
not hide her graceful figure, but the soft
culls shaded a sweet, childish face; but the
small hards were Scared with work; the
rough seal of poverty was stamped on all
her surroundings.
They had been neighbors, these lovers,
from the time when they were rocket. in
their baby cradles; and they had grown up,
side by side, knowing no pleasure that was
not shared between them. She was the
only child of widowed mother, the village
seamstress; he boasted of no higher origin
than the parentage of village schoolmaster
afforded. But the monotony cf life, i'll the
obscure country town, had at last wearied
the ambitious boy, and he had wrung from
his father reluctant consent to try his for
tune in the world outside of his quiet home,
of which he had heard much--seen nothing.
He was of age, man of fine intellectual
PROMISE unpublished but welstuded learn
ing, full of hope, ambition, and courage.
when he pressed his farewell kiss upon the
lips of the maiden whose heart he had won.
His father, quiet, studious man, had mus
tered an immense fund of book learning;
and this, sifted and refined, cleared of all
useless dross, he had impaired to his only
son. A brother of his mothers, u lawyer in
full practice, had consented to take the
young man to his office on trial, and it
there was any stuff in him, teach him the
law;" and so leaving his fathers lonely home,
his sweatheart's breaking heart, Coleman
Lee turned his back on L., to win u
name and position in the world.
Four years rolled away. The meek
widow, whose needle had known but little
rest for many weary years, lay at last in the
little chuIchyard; the old schoollnastcr who
had lost his son, had taken into his lonely
house the widows child, and Coleman Lee
was still far away from his village home.
His letters to the uir-haired girl whose
heart hc had won, were at first long and
frequent; then they grew shorter, and came
AT long intervals, and at last they ceased
altogether, and she had learned the bitter
lesson of neglect. To his father hc wrote
frequently, and she knew that he was rising
in his profession: MES admitted into the
best society the city afforded; was becoming
Known, and earning 4 competent support;
4 Ia. I.Nl Ia 80
old home ever crept into his letters that
were read with such sad hearts at l..
From the time when HELEN Montgomery
had turned from the vine wrcathed porch
tn enter her poor home, size had made II
new resolution, which, through hard striving
she had kept. She had felt bitterly, that
her education and manners were far below
the standard which he would seek in bis
WIFE after he had lived IN the great world
outside of l., and she had tasked her
mind to reach the ideal image she had
erected fo- model. For six months, her
life had no change from the mOnotony Of
household drudGery, and aiding her mother
in tic weary routine of sewing; then she
was orphaned, and the old schoolmastcr
Op"Lch ris home to her He had known
of his soh'S engagement, and he easily per
su.ded the gentle girl to come to him in
his lonely cottage. From the day when
her foot first passed the threshold Of her
home 4 new life opened for Helen. Re-
lieyed from household work, only called
upon TO superintcnd the labor of the tidy
servant she gave her whole heart to study.
The old schoolmaster, who had saved a
modest income, and given UP his school to
! a younger pedant, was only too glad to pour
/ from his fountain of learning stream into
! this young. eager mind As the conviction
/ of Coeman's faitl fnlness gained ground in
! llelen's mind, she grew mere engrossed in
her new studies; more eager to sta" -
SORROW OF her heart j" . ..,,.,;.; ,-G .u' a'
| lect and ''''' Tue eAtanu'H 'H.e .,,
| four years crept away,
1t was summer again. and in the school.
masters little cottage there are again
changes. A gentleman from New York, q
man of refinement and taste, has come for q
few days fishing to l., and has persua-
ded the old gentleman to give him Cole
mans room for short stay. The days
heightened into weeks, the long summer
drew to a close; but the visitor fingered
Then sorrow came; lingering fever seized
the feeble frame of the schoolmaster, and he
sank to rest in the arms of the girl who had
| =
and the Young girl stood in the parlor OF
the little cottage, listening to another lover
pleading for place in her heart, the right
to comfort her sorrow. In the room above
lay the cold still form of her only protector
: This was how the postman found them
This was the missive he brought to thu
, doubly bereaved girl, orphaned for th'
second time:
S "Dear Helen-I am writing to ask a re
a lease from the childish engagement whicl
has, doubtless, become irksome to you Ions
ago. We were mere caildren when W
= parted, and doubtless you have ere thi
r met with some one who will make your lif
happier than l can. For your long devo
ton to my father, beg you will accept IN
hesytal thanks aud under all circumstance
believe,
"Eyer your friend,
COLEMAN LEE"
Two hours later, the answer was sent:
'"Your father was buried this morning
,e | shall be married tomorrow, and sail fc
r Europe With my husband in week.