The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1870-10-21
MistEllamg.
Ethel STANLEY.
BY MARY H. p. HUMPHREY.

1
| Although it was not yet Mid-Sum-
mer, the hotel was already crowded
/ with gay company of pleasuTe-seekers,
| when Ethel Stanley came to the Beach.
The advent of the pretty heiress,
| fresh from Madame Aries finishing,
| and just entered on her handsome pro-
/ perty, might have created a temporary
| ripple on the surface Of the vapid, arti-
| ficial life about her, even had her own
personality been, as often happens, alb
| sOrbed in the general current.
| But EthePs sparkling originality was
like the flight of the swallow which
/ circles above the stream, cutting it with
! wild, graceful wing, but having its true
| place andhOne in the upper air.
| IL was scarcely possible to account
l fer the fresh, unSpOiled nature which
| she brought from her lonely orphan
hood and long boarding school nurture
on any other than the old, fanciful theo-
1 ry of an angel-guardianship over those
who need it most.
All this play of shadows, which we
y call life, was real to her, wit the
strange vividness of a dream, out Of
which the sleeper has not yet awakens
i ed. -
The great world, which she had seen
afar from the narrow limits of her
| schUol-life, was still beautiful to her
with the render glamour of youth and
hope. The free world a soil in which
/ to grow all innocent mirths and pleas
j ures; place above all others in which
to love and be lOYed!
A slender, WillOWy brunette, with
| the warm tints Of the South on her
! cheeks and lips; with sensitive, clear
cut features, Fet in heavy bands of pur-
ple-black hair, and eyes that had no
| surface-1ash, but shOne from within
| Outward-that was Ethel. Fitting
| from room to room Of the hotel, or
roaming along the beach, as her way
| ward fancy pleased, the quiet cOlOrs of
her dress relieved always by a dash of
scarlet someWhere-tO-da day the ribbon
at her throat, or the knot of geTaniums
in her hair; tomorrow the scarf wrap
ped about her in some picturesque fash
ion of her OWn-she seemed, in her
unconscious naturalness, like some bird
of an uninhabited island, tame to the
approach Of the explorer, in happy ig-
nOrance of the stern lore of the fOw1ing
piece and snare.
Her overflow Of spirits was something
wonderful. In the breezy morning,
while half the inmates of the house
were in their beds, Ethel would be
wandering along the snoTe watching
the. sun rise from the waves, and send
ling her thought far out in the pathway
of light which narrowed to her feet; or
gallOping along the hard, sandy floor,
the quick beat of her horses hOOfs
keeping time to her merry round of talk
with some early cavalier. Upon the
sea shewa always cOntent-as if it had
been some great living creature which
she loved and trusted-equally eager
and happy, whether, shadOwed by the
white wings of Fred Alban's elegant
yacht, or taking patient lessons at the
J 81
Meanwhile, the little hotel world
thought and talked of her more than
she knew. One party ardently admir-
ed her careless ease, and the delicious
abandon with which she threw herself
into every project of pleasure, making
that an end in itself, which, to so many
others, was only a means for the ac-
complishment of a subtleF purpose.
Others, mainly women whose rush
light paled before her steady. star, re-
Venged themselves by malicious cons
ment on disFegaFded rules and cOnven-
tionalities, calling her "Odd," with all
the terrible weight of meaning which
/ that harmless -mOnysyllable may be
made to carry.
Some of the many streams of gossip
converged into the ear of Mrs. FitZ
| Warren, who, as an old friend of Eth
els dead mother, had claimed the priv
the childless old lady loved the bright
I | girl (whO petted and caressed her as a
| daughter might have done) too well to
! grieve her by a single disappearing
word.
"One can never be young but once
so let there be no snow in Juneu' she
| said softly to herself and Ethel went
her careless way, unsuspeeting the crue
wound that awaited her. 1t happened
: | thus: ~ a.sar-
She sat one evening at the open win
: dow of her little room, preieTring hel
| mOOn-Et solitude to the cav company
= below. The sound of voices made he
3 / look down. and. ia the dim zllalf-ligll
: she saw three girls step out upon tht
5 veranda, and sit down in the shadow O
: the climbing vines. ...-..#
: What lovely evening"" Tha
!, was Sara Sutton's voice.
E "You think ?" said Blanche Dare
S thetall blonde, drawing her light shaw
f about her shoulders, with little shiy
: er breaking through the languid digni
s ty which suited her so we'll. .
1 "Oh, Blanche does not light up wei
r by mOon-beams y' laughed Annie Vim
Y cent, the third speaker. " If she wer
e only dark beauty ~
= 'tSIike Id belle Stanley" said Sara
e with something like a sneer, "WhO,
e suppose, is wearing her scarlet favor
It on the bay tO-night.n
d ''She went with the sailing part
o then ?" asked Blanche, with Sigh
IS glow of interest.
d "Need you ask, knowing that VIII
e Steele was to go? Though what b
?. can fancy in that girl is beyond m
d understanding. 4 s.....
70 -ts His bad taste is scarcely solitary,
I. said Annie, " if, one may judge by fh
je attention she receives y
y "AttentiOnF' answered Sara sharI
" lY. 'sNhyzIa aIl@9Eg 9Egan-gFiadeF ma
draw a crowd ~
ct You speak warmly y ----.--F-s -.
De .'EWell, and if do 2. 1t is her artfu
Id | ness that eXasperates me. Such chile
III ish innocence; such unaffected enthl
G. siasm! That style should be worn ol
1 think. Then; too, how plainly 81
dresses, when to my certain knowleds
e. she might, if she would, spend as muC
for gloves, as 1 can extract for M
u whole WARDROBE 90 sssssod sE-zl .s .s
IS. " An example of primitive simpIici
y, ! in degenerate age !''-=aF7 -fa-..-71s-. Il
3 "Of course it is for effect what. els
e. Why Mrs. FitZ Warren does not chez
n; her forward ways, / cannot divin
Al But the girl fawns around her like
no pet spanielssI is easy to see why
al If one fortune were not enough ~ =
TO Poor Ethel she had sat at first, {
slr much astOnished to move, but now S
ca sprung up, indignant pain mingl
as with a halfguilty consciousness
ed / having listened to words not intend
ad for her ears. She threw herself on
pol couch and buried her hot cheek in
es- pillow, trying to think coIlectedly;
,uG the hateful nlurmur Of voices s.
sounding indistinctly from below, S
wound light wrap about her, aud /
'he down the stairway, and out by the n
to entrance, to one of her favOrite haul
upon the shore.