The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1869-07-21
SELECTED STORY.
Only One Fault.

q You may see it in Greenwood cemetery.
e A splendid tombstone, with a. woman S
name upon it. Not, Ruth Holly though
that Is the name under which you shall know
(, her-but a prouder name, and one you may
q have heard. Flowers grow about her tomb
20 and the turf lies softly over it. You would
scarcely guess her lille and its sad end as you
stood there, Rather would you fancy that
love and tenderness surrounded one, over
whom such costly pile of sculptured mar
BILE rears itself, from her birth unto her
death =.
1t is story such rs seldom write-this
life of hers-une that cannot he ended by
happy re unions and the sweet sound of
marriage bells but there are too many such
stories in the world to be quietly passed
over, if haply, there be any warning for
them. The lives of others are. if we read
them rightly, the best ever preached,
I and this of Ruth Hollys is only too true.
u Yet it began very sweetly, like some old
pastoral poem. She loved, and was belov-
"a ed again, and the man she loved had only
one fault. He was young. he was brave,
he was witty, he was handsome, he was
generous his ioYe was devotion, his friend
shipno lukewarm thing of words; he had
great talent and great power. His elo-
quence had thrilled many an audience worth
the thrilling. What he wrote touched the
. soul to the very quick. He was an amateur
painter and musician, and everywhere was
: loved, honored and admired He had only
one fault in the world--he drank too much
wine at times. When he did so he turned,
so convivial friends said, into very demi-
god It was wrong, but not so bad as it
might have been, and lie would sow his
wild oats some day, they said, loving him as
his friends all loved Inn; and so Ruth
Thought Sweet, loving, beautiful Ruth, to
whom he had plighted his troth, and wooed
in verse and song, and with his most elo-
quent eyes, long before he had put his pas
sion into words; but SO did not think Ruth
Martins father. This one fault of Edward
r Holly's oyershadowed his virtue in his eyes,
and he refused him his daughters hand,
giving him the reason why, plainly and I'M
kindly st.I-sFa.ss13 i'--asr1 go
You'll be drunkard, yet, Ned Holly"
said the old man, shaking his head sternly.
"Tve seen men, OF genius 60 the same road
before. I've said I'd rather have no talent
: in my family, since it seems to lead so surely
Ito dissipation. My sons are not yet too
+ brilliant to be sober men, thank heaven, and
{ as for my daughter, only sober gentleman
shall have her for a wife; you'd break her
. heart Ned Holly" a.tll IA.
So the dashing man nf letters felt himself
insulted, and retorted holly, and the two
Z were enemies - -.--
~ Ruth suffered bitterly; she loved her
father, and she loved Edward to disobey
her parent, or to break her lovers heart,
seemed the only choice offered her. She had
other lovers, she Lad seen much society, and
had been introduced to the highest circles in
France as well as in England; but amongst
e all themen she had known noue pleased
her as Edward Holly did. Not what one
styles an intellectual woman herself, she
reverenced intellect, and her affections were
d intense. The struggle in her heart was
Is terrible. .4-ll - 12s
She met her lover by stealth, against her
:, fathers will but for a long while she re-
sisted his entreaties to marry him in defiance
OF the old mans refusal. At last, angered
by her persistence in obedience, Edward ac-
cused her of fearing TO share the fortunes of
one comparatively poor-one who must
carve his way up LIES steep hill without
assistance. The unmeritcd reproach sunk
impulse of tenderness and sympathy she
gave him the promise he had SO long sought
in vain. They were married that evening,
: and before morning were upon their way to
far off city, where Edward, sanguine and
of power, believed that he should
make for himselfia name and position of
which any woman might be proud. To her
father Ruth wrote a long aud loving letter,
imploring his forgiveness, but the answer
2 crushed all hope within her bosom. Il
az As you SOW, so you must reap" were the
words the old man wrote al have no
longer daughter" and Ruth knew that
kenceforth-(for she had been motherless
for years. she hsdin ell the world only the
: husband for whom she hsti sacrificed fortune.
and what is worth far more, the tender pro-
lection of father. 4, -.-.,,
In those early days Edward did his best
to make amends for ali, and she was proud
of him, and so fond OF him that she soon
forgot to grieve zs54
She heard his name uttered in praise Nv
all She knew he had but to keep steadily
on, to mount to the proudest seat in flames
stemple, and Tor year she had no Tear of his
ialtering. Now and then feverish some.
tu-uS III us fOiCc anu manner, q STRANGE
Light in his eye, greater flow of eloouence
In his talk, more passionate demonstration
OF love for her than usual, told that he was
i. under the influence of wine, but the fact
only seemed to enhance his power of fascl
g nation; never was he SO brilliant. never
SO handsome Almost could Ruth hav,
laughed at the sermons preached by temper
g ance folks, of the harm sure to follow wine
drinking
- If the story could end here. the true stor,
of Ruth Holly's life, it would be almost
g happy one, bnt alas, the sunny slope dow
q. which it seemed so easy to slide, daily grew
darker as the years flew on. How the
began to tell her the fate before her, Rut
hardly knew. -
a little flush Of shame came first when hi
step was unsteady and his voice too loud
Then .grieYed tear or two when he was un
q reasonable. Then sorrow that kept he
heart aching night and day.. for the ma
who had first won inspiration from the glas
now lost it in its depths; lectures to b
delivered were not given to the expectar