Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1870-08-12
sELECTEn STORY
UNLOCKING A HEART.
A LIFE SKETCH.
BY sYLVANUs COBB, JR.

At the age of thirty Allan Moore mar
ried, taking for his wife pretty Mary Ger
shom. He had been waiting until he could
own. a house, SO that he might commence
the new life fairly and independently and
when he said Independently, he meant that
he would not be dependent upon others for
hope He did not hope to be indepen-
dent of toll and fatigue; but he had planned
that he and Mary would work together, and j,
perhaps, in the coming years, find a Compel
ence upon which to enjoy healthful repose.
Allan was a lawyer, with a fair practice,
and with docket growing larger with each
succeeding term and he had promised him
self that when Mary had become his wife
she would help him in his labor not that
she would dclye for him into the mysteries
of law, OF do the drudgery Of copying :
but he looked for sympathy and loye-for a
love that should make his labors light. aud
and for a sympathy upon which he could
re,this confidence.
sa, Tt is said that 'Love is blind ;" but True
Love is not SO blind as it is often represent
ed, The good qualities which have awaken
ed the heart to love are not wanting /; and
even the iinperfections were seen and noted
in the outset The good seed was in the
soil, and 50 we're the tares. Ehe trouble is,
that Love is apt to be over hopeful It is
not blind, but it looks through sunny glass;
and the future, thus viewed, presents only
n pleasant prospect. Love is not SO hind
that it cannot see faults but it is so kind
and forbearing that it overloolss them and
thus it often happens that the tares are suf-
fered to thrive, and finally to outgrow the
better seed.
Allan Moore had known that Mary had
F! her faults but he had also known that her
heart was good and true, in his great love
he found the assurance Of peace and joy
But season Of disappointment was to come
They had been married three years, and
a cloud was upon the household. And whose
was the fault ? Allan examined himself very
closely, but he could not discover that he
had done wrong And yet Mary was nei-
Their happy herself nor did she try to make
him happy His business had increased
until he had as much upon his hands as he
could possibly attend to he ]abored early
and late he toilcd without ceasing but
the sympathy which he had expected at
home was not his The result was, that he
often wore cloud upon his brow. Expect
ing GOODNESS when he entered bis home, he
came with compressed lips; and fearing that
he should fine no sympathy, he did not seek
it. y "a. 1.
Allan Moore wondered had he been mis-
taken in his estimate of Mary~-had he given
her credit for good which she did no, pos
sess Certainly there was little Of the good
now to bless him but evil continually In
short, his home was very far from being a
happy one. and open rupture was frequent.
Mary had become fretful and fault finding,
and instead of sympathizing with her hus-
band in his engrossing and oftimes perplex
ing business, she would not permit him to
mention his business in the house
Mary was growing to have sharper features,
and the old look of beauty was disappear
ing Bu+ upon Allan the change was
working with deeper effect He was grow
ing thin and pale, and there were shoots Of
pain and mysterious throbbing at the heart;
and the sky was growing darker, and The
pain was growing deeper.
Why was it? Was the good all gone, or
had the tares only come up and outgrown
the good-tares that might have been rooted
! out long ago, if the hand Of prudence and
skill had been applied ? Had the heart been
locked up, and all its good hidden from the
fructifying light? If, so why could not some
kind power unlock the close heart, and set
the blessings free
The good genius was at hand
DR.. Ralph Gershom, Mary's uncle had
seen the gathering cloud, and had marked
the progress of the deepening gloom. He
had known both the husband and the wife
from their infancy and he had loved them
both and when he saw hem thus unhappy,
. he wondered if he coulG not help them. He
knew that the greater fault was Mary's 3
and he knew, too, that she yet had a pre-
ponderance of good in her heart, He knew
that she had in that heart the l6eencst Of
sympathics the noblest Of impulses and
| the iount Of true and endearing love. He
knew because, in the other years, he had
seen them and he knew that the good Of
the human heart cannot wholly die. 1t may
be choked up; it may wither and shrink ;
and it may be crushed down beneath the +,
superintendent weight of evil but while
the human heart has pulsation Of life it may
be probed to the fountain of good, and IN its
darkest night it shall yield flashes of gencr-
our impulse.
DR.. Gershom-or Uncle Ralph as
IL II,