Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1869-08-20
SELECTED STORY,
MAUD RAYMOND'S MISTAKE /;
OR
LOVE VS.. DUTY.
BY P. B. BosTWICK.

In one OF the elegantly furnished draw
ing rooms in one of the palatial residences
of an eastern city, sat two ladies, mother
and daughter, engaged in conversation The
richly carved furniture, the handsome and
costly pictures that graced the walls, beto-
kened that wealth and luxury dwelt there,
and was lavished with profuse hand. A
silence of some minutes had ensued, which
was at last broken by the mother asking:
care you sure, Maud, that you love this
stranger we'll enough to leave mother, sis
sers, friends and home for him and, permit
me to add, an easy life of social enjoyment
among friends, for unknown connexions p
Maud's cheek was varying through all the
shades from Rose to crimson, as, with earn
est voice and fearful eyes, her mother thus
questioned her, and her trembling fingers
scarcely held the needle with which she was
Introducing some trife. Mrs. Raymond
waited few moments, and as Maud did not
speak, she continued
II need not repeat what you have SO often
heard, that marriage is the most important
step in a woman's life. Men may marry in
jndiciously, and, for a time, may be very
unhappy, but thousand avenues lie open
through which they may seek relief from
the annoyances Of a disagreeable compan-
ion.
"Ambition beckons him up the dazzling
ascent to fame, or the acquisition of wealth
may engross his time and energies and he
meets SO many objects abroad to divide his
attention, that his home may become only
like his boarding house, so that, however IN
pleasant such state of affairs may be, he
has not an absorbing grief; he does not lose
his caste in the world, but continues to occu-
Ply that position to which his wealth or posi-
ton may entitle him, and may select his own
associates.
''On the contrary, the wife becomes but a
chattel in the eye of the law, creature to
be supplied with the necessary comforts Of
life, as his ability may procure for her; to
enjoy such society as his condition in life may
afford, for she sinks at once to his grade,
and perhaps becomes the inmate of his rela-
tives.
"All this requires very devoted degree
of attachment, and unless woman can tru-
ly say, in the touching language Of Ruth
Thy country shall be my country, and with
er thou goest I will 60 also-she had better
pause, for repining after marriage is as hope.
less as ungrateful, and never able to avail
itself Of the sympathy it may excite.
''This man is, I admit, handsome and
agreeable; but he is stranger, of whose
character or connexions we know nothing,
and with whose habits and prejudices you
arc unacquainted.
dearest Maude, be sure that you love
him with that true love that admits of no
diminution, and let me think that when |
lose my daughter, that her happiness, at
least, is sucured by the sacrifice, . and the
tears which she could no longer suppress,
rolled down the mothers cheek.
Maude leaned her head on her hands and
wept also, but she spake no word.
"Tell me truly, my daughter, do you love
Homer well enough to abandon all that is
now dear to you for new and untried friends
and scenes 2"
Dear mother, it is very-very hard. to
part with you, but"
''But harder to part with Homer. Be it
so, Maude, and may the Father Of the orphan
help you, my daughter" and Mrs Raymond
FASTENED to shut herself in her chamber, to
give vent to her sorrow and anxiety in tears.
Maude was the youngest of three sisters,
who were all married but herself She was
just twenty-one, rather handsome, very
agreeable, and a great favorite in the circle
in which she moved. But a slight vein of
satire that sometimes spoiled her converse
ton, gave evidence Of latent temper that the
ve1ations of life had not yet drawn out. The
flash of her dark eye, and the naughty curl
of her crimson lip, when crossed in any lit
tie plan she had formed, told, too, Of spirit
that would Joy in the stormy elements of
life But that life had hitherto flowed SO
placidly, that even she fancied herself good
tempered.
A few months previous to the opening
of our story, she had been introduced by one
of her brothers in-law, to young, stranger
from the extreme West of our country-or
rather what pas tho extreme West some
years since-who was on mission of some
public nature, connected with State affairs,
from his section in Congress. By one OF
these unaccountable freaks that people puz-
zle themselves to give rational reasons for,
Maud fell in love, and the stranger fell IN
love too, especially after hearing she was
possessed of small fortune.
He was soon Maud's declared and accept
ed lover, and as he assured her 'he could not
live without she accompanied him home,
she, too, feared she should die if she had to
remain all winter without seeing him, it was
arranged they should be Immediately mar
ried, and Mrs. Raymond having given
reluctant consent, Maud, prepared to follow
him. with the confding trust of woman, and