The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1865-09-20

interpreted the psllor of her cheek as a
signal Of hope.
81 know that love you,' said; III the
earth and the stars were blotted out, and you
remain, would not miss them. You are
my universe Without you there is no crea-
ton, and the elements are 1T war. II you
leave me, you have left only bright space
in . wretched eternity No voice but yours
can say "peace to me. Be merciful and
remain!
"She was moved with my appeal and tears
came to her eyes.
- did not know that it had come to
this, she said. Then her composure re-
turned, and she raised me, with smile.
IF you would win any woman, she said
meaningly, you must first be man. You
are not man, Luke. You are q child You
have shut the sunlight from you. and the
trill of thrush pieroes you like an arrow.
Would you cage your wife in the gloominess
songs, land tremble beneath her caresses
and die in the delights Of her love- Go to !!
Open the window of this vault! Mingle
with the crowds OF the cities Ascend into
the mountains Cross the seas! Become
worthy of my affection, and then entreat me
again
'She had shown me the abject thing
was. Her conditions were harder than
death but the hope she had spoken was like
glimpse OF heaven, and answered:
"' Hersine, will do it!'
"ln month | set out for my travels. An
easy coach conveyed me TO London, and the
third day l lay sick in Paris. Sore of body
and Of brain, strained in nerve and stunned
in sense, | persisted in my resolve, and was
whirled, more dead than alive, across the
continent TO Berlin. In the period Of three
months, had travcrsed all the leading king
doms, and pushed my purpose to the sandy
banks of the Nile. Every moment in this
journey was An infnity Of torture but in
the bitterest pangs remembered the divine
contamination, and kept on. My infrmities
were increased rather than diminished In
the deepest thunder could hear the delving
of the beetle; though the whole vault glowed
with electric light, could see the twinkle Of
the glow worm. But among the multitude
Of noises which haunted me, the most per
| sistent were the footballs Of men. There
were pauses in the lives of all other beings.
The weasel and the hyena rested sometimes,
and | could avoid their haunts. but men
were forever alert and ubiquitous. l heard
them in abysses, upon peaks, and in wilder
nesses. They trod upon my nerves; they
crushed sleep from my soul. closed my
ears in vain; fled without refuge: prayed
without avail. The patter Of little children,
the football of the maiden, the elastic pace Of
the youth, the racking limp of the cripple,
the veteran hobbling upon his wooden stump,
the confused tread Of crowds, the steady
tramp Of solders-thesc tortured me BY
daylight, and kept penance at midnight
with the going Of outcasts and Migrants.
81 learned to classify these footballs. Ny
sensations Of them were so keen that my
memory retained them. | recognized indi-
viduals, not by their faces but by their feet.
4 solitary tourist met me among the ruins Of
Luxor; | knew his tread, though months
had elapsed, among the thousands on London
Bridge. gypsy family, whom passed on
the Spanish sierras, went under my window
in Paris, and missed the feet Of the lad who
had been hanged. Ten thieves were marched
to the pllory in kiev; counted the PAGES
OF the four who escaped from closed dill
gence on the Simplon. lost not one among
the millions Of FOOTBALLS. But there were
two which l distinguished everywhere
When | pursued. they retreated; when /
fed. they followed me. They were like two
echoes in different keys and one of them
loved, the other hated. The first was soft,
tinkling, harmonious, like memory rather
than q sound the other was firm, vigorous,
and vehement, and it kept time with the soft
footstep, as if to drown it to my ears. When
tagged and wretched, the light football ap-
preached me; but when, inspirited. l rose
to behold its owner. il died away in the
thunder Of its companion tread.
AT last | embarked for America, and
yhn.x q ID, II 4 n 10
At sea, at least, no footballs can follow. But
one night, when the clangor Of the screw
drove me upon deck, heard, far astern,
through the deep fog, the sound oftwo haunt
ing feet. Next morning swiftcr steamer
overlook us. The waves revelled between,
and the winds were high, but above the bel
low Of our engines and the element, those
thrilling footballs rang out. | caught u
glimpse OF familiar something, as the rival
craft went by, and reeed and fell upon the
deck
Il found New York the noisest city in the
world, and that . weeks tenure there would
drive me mad. A fire occurred in Broad
way, the night of my arrival and the din of
the mobs which ran to its relief was greater
than all the combined clamors Of Europe. So
resorted to beautiful village called Wyo-
ming in the heart Of tho Susquehanna Noun
tains, and passed the month ofISeptember in
comparative quiet Ii any place in the
world is shut in from brawls and storms, it
is this historic valley. Its "reminiscences
were sad and painful to me, but its scenes
were like soft dreams.
During part Of my tenure in the vii
lage, missed my shadowy attendants but
when, one day, assembled to Prospect Rock,
| heard amid the hum Of farms, and mines,
and mills, those same audible repetitions
floating up the sides Of the mountain. The
valley grew dim upon my sight, and has
tened nervously to my cottage. Thencefor-
ward seldom lost them When | penetra-
ted the wild glen Of the Lackawanna, or
climbed the Umbrella Tree, or ventured into
the VOLTS Den, or sat upon Queen Esther's
Rock, or sailed upon Harvey's Lake. they
followed me, the one iulling, the other mad
dening--invisible but omnipresent, types of
the good and the evil, which forever hover
in the air.
Zone day ventured to Falling Waters, q
vast reservoir, which is precipitated from
cliff, called Campbelrs Ridge, into gorge Of
the Shawnee Mountains The deafening
roar of the cataract would be almost deathly
to me !; but strengthened by the promise OF
Heraine, determined to add this achieve
ment to the long list Of Affections endured for
her sake.
II made the ascent on foot. and could see,
from the base Of tho ridge, tho skein Of foam
shining through the pines in its everlasting
flight down the rocks. became accustomed
to the sound, Ms gradually approached, and
mused, with gladness, ON an early return to
England Heraine would acknowledge my
vindication. Suffering more anguish from y