Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-11-19
Re, OHIO, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1869.

almost collapsed. She dreaded ths
thought of parting, really parting
| from her father or her lover and heI
eyes were filed with tears and he1
little limbs trembled.
But the father and the lover peFse-
f vered. One or the other would 20 -
and each urged more and more vehe-
mently his own claims. Both CON-
bined in pressing a decision upon
Ottilia.
"Come, ottilia, my child" said her
father at last, in an urgent and decis-
i've tone, 1--WE expect q little firmness
and q little sacrifice from you. Don't
ask us both to draw back from q good
cause, to which we feel In our hearts
that one at least ought to be dedicated.
This is the true cause Of all free men,
and all men who wish to be free every
| where over the world. Truly, America
could we'll do without as. But that is
not the question our duty is not the
less clear. She could probably have
1 done without Rochambeau and even
Lafayette. One OF US must gO-deeide,
0ttilia-and remember Eric is to be
your husband"
Eyes, decide, ottilial" cried the
young man, "and remember that my
| rival in this dispute is your father"
/ Ottilia's heart beat hercely and her
eyes grew dim, and for q moment she
could not see or speak. But If she
must choose, her decision was clear
She made one or two efforts to speak
and failed then at last collected ali
her strength and sense, and said:
Father, dear father, you must not
go. Ericy my own love, I send y0st."
Eric sprang forward and caught her
in his arms. For the effort had over
taxed her, and she was falling in a
faint.
Before a week was out, Eric had
| sailed from Bremen. A brave little
handful Of sturdy young Swedes went
with him, all eager to offer their strong
| arms to the service of human freedom
| and of the American Union. Eric,
| who had been many times in England
On engineering projects, and spoke
English huently, occupied himself a
good deal during the voyage in teach
| ing his cOmpatriots a little of the Ian
guage. He hoped by his and their
exertions among Swedes in America,
to raise distinct Swedish regiment,
which should make its mark on the
battle-felds of the republic.
He was to have written to Ottilia
ever so often and he did write many
letters full of love and high spirits and
hope. Then there came a long blank.
She expected, poor girl, every day to
find the papers full of some wonderful
exploit performed by her young hero
but the stories of battles brought no
record of his deeds or his name. The
last letter she received from him was
written on the eve of the great fight at
Antietam. Ottilia and her father fol- |
lowed on the map every movement of !
the war. She knew more of its scenes |
and its progress than many q New !
York girl did. Indeed, her whole soul |
was in it.
So the days, and weeks, and months |
wore on, and Ottilia never heard of her |
lover. She and her father hardly dar- |
ed to speak the doubts and fears that |
tortured them. Westfeldt wrote to /
the Swedish consul in New York, who /
made careful inquiries, but could find /
no trace Of Eric's movements or even I
Of his existence after Antieean. He |
had served in the German regiment, i
and his name was returned with those
of the missing. The only scrap OF 1
comfort was, that the list Of killed and /
wounded had no name like his.
81 ought to have gone," said West
feldt to himself, very sadly, one day. /
81 ought not to have left it to her de-
eision" "-he was gazing at the pale face
of his daughter-'1 ought not to have
allowed him to go. She would have
got over the loss of me, and been hap
py with her husband. Him she can /
never forget. Her life is ruined from
its very spring-time."
He thought for a few moments, and /
then he went over to his daughter, and i
took her hand in his.
''Ottilia, my child, let us go in search
of him."
A flush of light that seemed almost
joyous came into her deep blue eyes,
She pressed her fathers hand raptur- L
oJlsIy, and cried, 'Oh, father, dear
place at once. We shall find him-I
know we shall"
Their preparations were not very
troublesome, and they hoped to leave /
StockhoI m on their love pilgrimage in
a few days. But fate sharply inter
posed, and dealt them both a heavy,
sudden blow
Westfeldt, who had always seemed
in noble health, was siezed with con-
vulsive Spasms one day, and appeared
to be stricken with something like
paralysis. His condition apparently
baff1ed the doctors, and he became
steadily worse and worse. The very
morning of the day when he and his
daughter were to have left Stockholm
for their voyage he suddenly called
her over to him, clutehed her hand,
murmured conVulsively, 'Oh, Ottilia,
my daughter! OGod, watch over herw
and then sank back-and Ottilia was
alone in the world.
Her grief, his burial, her utter pros
tration when the excitement of fresh
agony was over, kept her long in Stock
holm. Then her friends endeaVored to
retain her with them, and dissuade her
from carrying ont alone the enterprise
she had resolved on with her father
The American war was by this time
drawing to a close. Even
the London Times was beginning to be
less confident about the utter failure
of Grant and the disastrous retreat of
Sherman. One of the young Swedes
who had sailed and served with Eric
actually came back to Stockholm
wounded and wasted and he reported
that Eric had long been given up by
such Of his compatriots as still sur
vived. There seemed little use, in
deed, in Ottilia's quest; yet go to
America and seek for her lost lover
she would. At last, to escape the adj
vice and the Importantly of her friends,
she literally broke away from Stock
holm fed, without giving any one
notice, or saying q word of farewell, to
Bremen; and thence sailed away
across the Atlantic, more lonely and
less hopeful than the wife of Cameral-
zumar, in the Arabian Nights, % when
she starts on her brave, sad pilgrimage,
to find the husband who had so mys-
teriously disappeared from her side.
When Ottilia arrived in New York
the war was all over, and President
Lincoln lay dead. What was this poor,
solitary Swedish girl, who spoke but
little English, to do in this strange,
vast city-in this almost limitless land
where she had come to find an OBJ
scure young man who had dropped out
of the sight of the living world years
ago? She took an odd, girlish, roman
tic course. She sought out an Ameri-
can poet and scholar whom Frederika
Bremen had known well, and she flung
herself down before him and told him
her story. He listened with interest,
compassion, admiration; he offered
her a shelter with his family; and he
threw all his energy and influence in
to the effort to find her lover. Some
trace of Eric was found at last. He
had beyond doubt been taken prisoner,
and confined in the fearful Libby Pris-
on. He had even been there until a
comparatively recent period. But
whether his wasted bones filled one of
the numberless nameless graves of the
prison whether he was among the
living skeletons at last redeemed from
bondage; whether he was one of g few
men who had succeeded, under extra
ordinary difficulties, in making their
escape, it seemed impossible now to
know. Ottilia's new friend and pro-
tector did all he could to get further
tidings, but in vain. The trail Of the