Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1866-05-31
POLLS, OHIO, MAY 81, 1865.

StEl a. Gme5- et AL the Nme ne
told me it was fashion and courtesy
and kept me quiet while he was by.
He would have had me at the hall
often also, but Sabrina seat no mes
sage. She was the mistress of the
house, and / would not 60 there
without her invitation. So / pined
and grew. thin, and mother thought
me Ill. Sol was, heart, not OF body.
And when she talked about my wed.
ding day; my blood would boil, and
I'd say between my elenched teethi
mo, I'll never marry any one who
weds nae because he's bound to me,
and not from lovs,''
One night I stood by the garden
pslings and looked at the stars, and
as stood there 3 woman in hood
camsAover the fields and stood be-
sid me. It was Miss Sabrina Has
let 4 ] Started as if I had been shot
and ehe took OFF her hood, for it was
warm, and looked hard at me.
"What kind Of girl are youi"
she said.
"What kind OF one are yeu?' said
l. mot civil one to speak in that
way,
Said she: "What I want to know
is this-are you the person TO hold
my brother to foolish bond, or let
him free when he begins to struggle.
You caught him cleverly; and though
his heart has slipped through your
fingers, you may be mistress of
the Hall yet, / suppose. Will your"
with his heart gone from me" /
cried. "Has he told you it is gomez"
aHe'd die first" said Miss Sa-
brina. "His honor would not let
him break troth with you. But see
how he loves Miss Dorcas Oakley,
and she ia q match for him in rank
and wealth and beauty. People are
talking of it, and plying him?"
They shall pity him no more" /
said. 'sWhst is the Hall to me? 1t
was for my WlGe's love that cared.
Tell him he is free"
"You must tell him YOURSELF" she
said. ''If you care to see him hap
py, open-his cage" and she tied on
her hood and sped away.
That night there went note to
Willie.
MASTER WN. HAsLET: I've thought
a long, long while that the bond be.
tween Us was best broken. / feel
sure OF 1t now. II win be better that
we do not meet again; and in this l
send back yourring. BIay good for
tune and happiness attend you. And
with this wish l sign myself.
HANNAH Pantheon"
This wrote with heart torn and
rent as never flesh could be; and it
was sent; and though he came to the
farm | would not see him; and all
Yss over between us.
%Raftnd only 70 hear that he was
betrothed to Miss Oakley. fustv,.I
OF that | heard week after that he
had left the codntry. Where he had
gone, and why, no one knew. When
telt sure that Miss Oakley could be
nothing to him, or at least they were
not married, my heart smote me q
little, and l wondered whether
should not have my pride put down
bit, and have heard him speak for
himself.
Miss Sabrina HRslet did not mar
~. The wedding was put off, first
by her mothers death and then by
her fathers six months after, and
the folks said there was a quarrel.
But be it as it may, he who was to
have been her husband, married in
stead that same Dorcas Oakley.
Other suffers came, no doubt, for
Miss Sabrina was both handsome and
rich: but she liked none of them,
and lived on in the Hall quite alone
but for the servants. By and by she
saw no company, and shut up half
the house, and seemed more lonely
and wretched than many poor
woman. All her beauty had left her
too, and she grew to be 3 sharp, sour
spinster, always dressed in black
she who had been both 4 belle and
beauty.
/ lived on at home. Elias married,
and so did Barzallai. The years did
not seem to give grey hair to my
mother, nor . wrinkle to my father.
They were to placid to grow old fast.
No one wondered / did not marry.
They seemed to think that having
been so nearly mistress of the Hall, it
was not likely should be willing to
wed for less.
The HALL BAH 1t was Willie that
/ loved, and not his house or lands.
One winter night, Christmas time
was nearly come, and 1 sat by the
fire dressing dolls, and tying up
sugar plums in paper horns with bits
of ribbons for my niece's and neph-
ews' stockings, when there came a
loud rapping at the door. ] opened
it, and there stood an old man SER
want from the Hall.
"I'm sent by Miss Sabrina, Miss"
said he, "she is very i'll, and desires
you to come alone. She has some
thing particular to say to you."
"Sabrina Haslet sent for mel" ]
thought, and then heard my heart
beat fast, and / fancied j hardly
/ knew what
"Ill did you say?'' asked.
Every i'll" said the man. 'fhe
doctors gave her up.
went back to get my shawl and
told mother where / was going, and
then came out. The night was dark
and the snow was falling, and lay
deep on the ground, and ttere stood
a sleigh with buffalo robes in ready
for me. 1 stepped in and was whirled
away toward the hall. 1t was like a
dream. Ieould scarcely believe my
self awake. 1t was still a dream,
when We stopped at the hall, and |
only realized that all was true when