The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-02-02
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60, uhot copld Love do beyond thatf
men, ao children with dirty faces,
S Somsebold bills, and a wife who
auu nerhaps, always darn the stock
IN pand be sometimes cross. Was |
I.oye to bend only to this,-a dull life,
vith a woman who had lost the sheen
from her cheeks, and the gloss from her
hair, and the music from her voice, and
the fire frem her eye, and the grace
from her step, and whose waist an arm
should no longer be able to span Did
the Love of the poets lead to that, and
that onlyf Then, through the cloud of
smoke, there came upon him some dim
idea Of self-abnegation,-that the mys-
FERROUS valley among the mountains,
the far-off prospect of which was so
charming to him,-whieh made the poe.
try of his life, was, in fact, the capacity OF
caring more for other human beings
than for himself. The beauty of it all
was not SO much in the thing loved as in
the loving. "Were she cripple,
hunchbacked, eyeless," he said to him
self, sit might be the same. "Only,
she must be woman" Then he blew
off great cloud of smoke, and went In
to bed lost amidst poetry, philosophy,
love and tobacco.
1t had been arranged over night that
he was to start the next morning at
half past seven, and Priscilla had prom
ised to give him his breakfast before he
went. Priscilla, of course, kept her
word. She was one of those women
who would take grim pleasure in COM
ing DOH to make the tea at any posi-
BILE hour,-at five, at four, If 1t were
needed and who would never want TO
90 to bed again when the ceremony was
performed But when Nora made her
appearance,-Nora, who had been called
dainty,-both Priscilla and Hugh were
surprised. They could not say why she
was there,-nor could Nora tell herself.
She had not forgiven him. She bad no
thought Of being gentle and loving TO
him. She declared to herself that she
had no wish of saying goodbye to him
once again. Bat yet she was In the
room. waiting for him, when he came
down to his breakfast. She had been
unable to sleep, and had reasoned with
herself as to the absurdity of lying IN
bed awake, when she preferred to be mp
and out of the house. 1t was tr1e that
she had not been out of bed at seven any
morning since she had been ut Man.
combe Putney; but that was no reason
why she should not be more active on
this special morning. There was noise
in the house, and she never could sleep
when there was q noise. She was quite
sure that she was not going down be-
cause she wished to see Hugh Stanbu,
~, but she was equally sure that III
would be a disgrace to her to be deter
red from going down simply because the
man was there So she descended to the
parlor, and was standing near the open
window when Stanbury hustled into the
room, some quarter OF an hour after the
proper time. Priscilla was there, also,
guessing something of the truth, and
specializing whether these two young
people, should they love each other,
would be better or the worse tor such
love. There must be marriages,-it on
~ that the world might go on in ac-
cordance with the Creators purpose.
But, as far as Priscilla could see, blessed
were they who were not called upon to
assist in the scheme. To her eyes
all days seemed to be days OF wrath,
il WAS all mere vanity and vexatiou of
spirit. To go on and bear it till one
was dead,-helping others to bear it, if
such help might be of avail,-that was
her theory of life. To make it pleasant
by eating and drinking, aud dancing, or
even by falling in love, was. to her
mind vain crunching of ashes between
the teeth. Not to have i'll things SAID
of her aud OF hers, not to be disgraced,
not to he rendered incapable of some hu-
man effort, not to have actually TO-
starve,-such was the extent of her am
bitiOn in this world. Aud for the next,
she felt so assured of the goodness of
God that she could not bring herself TO
doubt of happiness in world that was
to be eternal. Her doubt was TINS,
whether it was really the next world
which would be eternal. OF eternity
she did not doubt; but might there not
be many worldsi These things, how
ever. she kept almost entirely to her
self.
II, La TonT.nua1 l