Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-05-11

| trust there are few such moments
of surprise and modification, in life
or in eternity.
He only smiled, as if about to tease
me; then, seeing the change npon my
face, he said, rcpentantly, 81 have
brought you too far. Pray, take my
arm. ought to have known YOU
were not strong enough to bear it"
and we went back to the house.
Indeed, convalescence was far
more dangerous thing to me than a
little knowledge could ever be, and the
tears I shed that night would have
been a ludicrous proof, had they not
been so bitter, of the Scotch poets ig,
norance of human nature.
A year passed by, as years do pass,
even when, Ike holidays away from
home, the hours Of youths glad time
drag heavily. Six months had sulliced
to exhaust the capital which Lottie and
Mr.. Halsey had borrowed from time
on a security of an undeveloped mine
of supposed congeniality. Lottie
wrote with an air of relief after the
matter was ended. saying that she
thought she hardly came up to Mr..
Halsey's expectations, and she was
sure he fell far below hers; but they
were good friends and all that. He
sent her bouquet now and then, and
she had embroidered him a toilet cush-
ion, in memory of their agreeable
acquaintance and, altogether, they
were jogging on comfortably in the
ordinary tame manner of such friend
ships. l folded the letter and, like Mr..
! Houghton, few months before, wish
ed might put on their magic boots Of
adaptation and contentment.
AS the late summer came on, we ar
ranged family excursion down the St
Lawrence, and | preceded the party to
visit a favorite cousin in Toronto.
The provincial city, with its absurd pre-
jndices (absurd, because a child set
tied so far away from home ought to
have dropped parental bigotries, and
developed to broader Judgments, }, and
it's stately hospitalities, interested me.
The people, who we're always talking
of cover 'ome,' or about ''runnin o
over to England" as one would speak
of going across the street; who eX-
pressed their superlative admiration
for any person, place, or thing, by the
declaration that it was $50 English
never doubling for mSment that the
phrase denoted ackno owledged superi-
ority to every other modification OF
go" were constant entertainment.
One perfect afternoon, we drove
down to the Government grounds to
hear the military band, which, every
week, played for a couple of hours on
the lawn 1t was, in fact, more like a
deep, broad dell, surrounded on al
sides by tarraces, upon which gay
groups sat or promenaded, while great
forest trees sifted the sunlight over the
plumes and airy costumes of the ladies
and the handsome figures of the Off
GERS, every where present.
[ was watching the musicians il
their white and gilt .jstel<ets, just pre-
pairing to play the overture from 'NIar
tha," thinking how like fairy land the
whole scene was, when far across tho
green, on the opposite terrace, saw
with a desperate pain at my heart, VIII
liam Houghton approaching; the mar
with whom, Of all others, least desir
ed to meet.
He also saw me, and with quick
I glad look of recognition, hurried tt
my place. He had improved as to the
point wherein l had first found hin
| lacking, for he was more demoDstra
tive One caught at once glimpse o
the cordiality and kindness which wa
: really at the foundation of his charac
f ter. | was proud to introduce him a:
my friend.
After the usual remarks eXplanin!
our presence so far away from our &C
2 customed haunts, 1, on visiting, an'
5 he on business tour, my cousin said
/ with the pretty Canadian accent sh
I had fallen into:
3, Take your friend about the grounds
| Jennie, and meet US on the oppOsit
terrace ! must walk over and spea
to Mrs Chandler, clever America
e lady, who is stopping in town."
e We turned down a broad, elm shade
1 path, as the band dashed off the chord
i and changes of a finale to the over
D ture.
''There is a mound out here; / sal
+ in lieu Of something better, ''wheI
It you can look beyond the enclosure
past the old Parliament buildings, ia
l over the lake. 1t is not q bad view o
r a fine day" He did not answer. I'll
It silence became awkward | endeavOre
r to break it by frivolous comments o
# the day, the trees, anything; but IL
e words died at my lips. A subtle sens
q of earnestness seemed filling the al
[, and ared not utter surface thong
W but was mute as one in a great cath
d dral, where a loudly uttered word HI
lie sound of sacrilege.
l At last. Mr.. Hpughton said: 81
re have seen you, Miss Jennie, next wee
if we had not met here 1t will be Il
IN anniversary of our parting, and
10 thought we might celebrate it,
a. My heart had stood still as he b
" gan, but the end proved it was only
at pleasantly.
as Il should have been glad to WELDON
e. you. We could have had an CRATIC
Y and poem, and proposed toastov
lemonade, hoping disasters might ne
ht er end more disastrously."
e cit is for you to say how disa
Id trouslv ours mag have ended," he r
is sponded quickly, ''for my arm may
a slight hurt in comparison with 9th
a wounds. To tell the TRUTH" he we
e, on in his rapid, firm. straight -forwa
he way, ''the conviction has been grown
upon me all the year, that 1 cannot {
ar without you. Every day and eve
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