The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1867-11-01


days? Did men live by bread alone
Was this new life coursing through
every vein to be ignored, or was it not
rather to be hailed as token for good,
and cherished as the purest, richest
experience Of my lite? Did she scorn-
fully suggest, you are in love with n
shadow p | triumphantly replied,
Glow many lovers know as much of
their fair ones heart, mind and soul,
as / do. How many men love any
thing but shadows? They have seen
the face and figure; | have seen the
real woman that dwells within" SO
chung more blindly to my image, and
turned to the fair sheets, which now
came regularly with new delight, scan
ming every word and letter, nay, every
turn Of the pen and every line and
/ dot, those insignificant nothings which
after all give character to penmanship.
How pure and fair were those light.
graceful touches; how they imaged the
order and pureness of her soul; how
Immediately neat the sheets: how
daintily folded and enclosed; "and on
these, | said, as l lifted them to my
lips, cher fair hand has rested, over
these her sweet head has bowed ?"
How plainly could see the low, broad
forehead from which were softly laid
away the bands Of golden hair, Just
ripping here and there into a wavv
curl; and the sweet blue eyes. full of a
tender Sadness in whose depths lay
slumbeling latent fires only waiting to
be kindled by lovers glance.
"Avaunt common sense 1t is n fair
hand, the eyes are blue, the brow is
broad and the locks golden Is there
nothing In life but what is seen bv
your duh eye, or ielt by your coarse,
rough hand | have faith in higher
Instincts, and the divnost in me is
called into existence now. / will not
degrade myself by listening to your
low taunts :"
OF course | must at some time see
Elton Ellery, but how, where? Should
| disclose my passion first and have
the sweet delight of being accepted,
and carrying on a correspondence with
an unknown betrothed Que. till on the
eve Of marriage We should meet in
some romantic manner? This was an
alluupg plan; but l owe to having in
my inmost soul slight misgiving. No,
| would dave one glance at her before
| was ireyocably pledged
Providence favored me. | had tax
en- to lecturing little the year before
that is, had written out a synopsis of
the chief incidents in the life of one of
the heroes Of history, adding such pro
found and moving comments thereon
ms had suggested themselves, and de-
livered it in several country towns in
my native state, to audiences who
wanted cheap commodity Il had
taken well, and that year | had indi-
Gated in the Star, whose rays mostly
penetrated remote districts. my will
liuguess to serve the public in the ca
paclty oflecturer; SO it was not strange
| should have received a letter from G
-asking me to deliver a lecture
there; and C--was where Elton Ell
lery lived My already heated brain
was thrown into a state Of intense ex-
element by this; it was another proof
that we were destined for each other
The more / thought of it, the more
momentous il seemed, till, as the time
for my going drew near, | began actu-
ally to be afraid should not be able
to command my voice before an audi
ence that contained my hearts idol
The day before left home, | received
the following note in the well-known
hand:
Elton Ellery, having heard you ale
to lecture in Con Tuesday even
ing, hopes you will do her the favor of
calling on her You will find her in
II street. Enquire for Alice
Hedge
A. II hopes no allusion may be made
to the fact of her having written for
the press.
was disappointed by this it was
taking away all the romance; it would
be like calling on any ordinary person
in broad daylight; besides, the note
sounde d formal and stiff; the woman
used very different la guage from the
author, who poured out all the afflu-
ence of her glowing soul on paper.
But she was woman, and had my
fayorite name Alice; this was some
thing, and on the whole was recon
ciled to this discovery, or at least COM
PEELED to make the best of it,
The town hall in C-was dense
~ packed when | entered, escorted by
one of the committee who had taken
me to his house. had arrived just in
time to swallow cup of tea before GO
ing to the hall. There was the usual
smell of lamp smoke, the usual tumb-
Ter Of water on the desk, and the usual
sitting atmosphere But the audience
how much more interesting was that
than ordinary ones! With what
huttering heart east my eye over it,
only to sec at first a confused mass of
bonnets bows, cheeks and eyes of all
sizes and compilations. After little
flourish of trumpets by way of intro
duction, the committee sat down,
and was left standing alone My
first sentences were husky and unin-
telligible, but gradually | became en-
gros ied by my subject, and forgot
everything else, my articulation be-
4 I I