The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-11-10


"thrilling,n this present writer cal
: only say in plainest prose and with
= out a single startling epithet that thi
? incident made the young Marquis tn,
| everlasting friend of his deliverer
r Henry Stevens, who happened to b,
? a Jealous Methodist, and about hi
= own age.
: The effort of the two friends to hole
( intercourse was curious spectacle
Not only did they speak difieren
: languages, but they lived in differen
! worlds. Not only did d' 'Entremon
speak a very limited English while
Stevens spoke no French, but d En-
tremsnt's life and thought had moth
: ing in common with the life o
Stevens, except the one thing thai
made friendship possible. They
were both generous, manly men
and each felt a strong drawing to the
other. SO it came about that when
they tired of the Marquis's English
and of the gulf between their ideas
they nsed to call on Priscilla at heI
home with her mother in the out
skirts of the village. She was an in
terpreter indeed, For with the keen
est sympathy she entered into the
world i'm which the Marquis lived,
which had always been a sort of intel
lectual paradise to her. 1t seemed
strange indeed to meet a living deni-
zen of n world that seemed 10 her
impossible except in books. And rs
for the sphere in which Stevens
moved il was her own. He and she
had been schOolmates from child
hood, had looked on the same green
hills, known the same people, been
moulded of the same strong religi-
Gus feeling. Nothing was more de
lightful to 'EutremOnt than TO be
able To talk To Stevens, unless it was
To have so good an excuse for con-
VersatiOn with Priscilla; and nothing
was so pleasant to Henry Stevens a.
to he able To understand the Marquis,
unless il was to talk with Priscilla;
while to Priscilla those were golden
moments, in which she passed like a
quick winged messenger between her
own native world and the world that
she knew only in books, between the
soul of one friend and that of another.
And thus grew up triple friendship,
friendship afterward sOrely tried.
For how strange it is that what
brings together at one time may be a
wall of division at another.
/ am not writing an essay on Chris
tian experience. | cannot pretend
to explain Just how it came about.
Doubtless Henry Stevens's influence
had something 10 do with it, though
feel sure PTiscilla's had more.
Doubtless the Marquis was naturally
susceptible to religious influences,
and | cannot but feel that after all he
was led by the gentle drawings of
| the Divine Oracle in his own breast.
But the erratic opinions, never very
! deeply rooted. and at most but reac-
ton from a religion of "pOstu:es and
impOsturcs," disappeared, and there
came a sense of unwOrthiness and a
sense of trust. They came stimuli
| taneously, I think; certainly d Entire
mont could never give any chrOnolO-
! gical order 10 the two experiences.
| At any rate, he was drawn to the lit
| tie class meeting, which seemed to
| him so simple a confessional that all
! his former notions OF 'liberty, fratcr-
| nifty, and equality were satisfied byit.
| | believe he became "prOhatiOner,n
| but his creed was never quite settled
enough for him TO accept of full
| membership
Some of the old folks could not re-
| frain from expressions of triumph
| tina: "the Lord had got a hold of that
! French infidel;n and old Sister Good
| enough seized his hand, and, with
many sighs and much upturning Of
! the eyes, eXhOrted him: Brother
| Markus, Give up everything, and
| come out from the world and be sepa-
rated" Which led d'EntremOnt TO
! remark to Stevens as they walked
| away that Madame GoodenOugh
| was ware Gurus iudeed,' And Broth
er Bereas, the cXhortor, who had the
| misfortune not TO have a business
reputation without blemish, but who
| made up for il by rigid scruplcs in re-
| gard TO a melOdeOn i'll the church,
| and by vicariOus conscience which
was kindly kept at eVeTybody's ser
| vice but his Own,-Old Brother Bo-
reas always remarked in regard to
| the Marquis, that las for his part he
| liked deeper repentance and a
sOunder conversion But the gray
| haired old Scotch class leader. whose
| piety was at a premium everywhere,
would take 'EntremOnt's hand and
talk of Indifferent subjects while he
| beamed on him his affection and
| Christian fellowship.
To the Marquis, Priscilla was a per-
petual marvel. More brilliant wO-
men he had known i'm Paris, more de
vOut women he had seen there, but
a woman so gifted and so dcvOut. and
| above all woman 50 true, so modest,
and of such perfect delicacy of feel
ing he had never known. And how
| poorly these words describe her.
| For she was Priscilla; and all who
knew her will understand how much
more that means than any adiectives
of mine. Certainly Henry Stevens
did, for he had known her always.
and would have loved her ALWAYS had
he dared. 1t was only now, as she
| lnterprctc his to the Marquis and
the Marquis to him, idealizing and
| elevating the thoughts of both, that
he surrendered himself to hope. And
so, toward the close of the summer.
| affairs came To this awkward posture
that these two sworn friends loved the
same woman.
D'EntrcmOnt discovered this first.
| More a man of the world than Henry
Stevens, he read the others face and
voice. He was perturbed. Had il
| occurred two years before he might
have settled the matter easily by a
| duel, for instance. And even now
his passion got the better for while
Ofall his good feelings and Christian
resolutions. When he got back TO
| tho | a Wort HnuSn N-ith hi
ant discovery, he was burning like a
furnace. In spite of a rain storm just
beginning and dark night, he strode
co and walked he knew not whittier.
He found himself, he knew not how,
on the bank of the river. Selling an
| old board for paddle, he unloosed
| skitf and pushed out into the river
How To advance himself over his
rival was his first thought. But this
| darkness and this beating rain and
| this fierce loneliness reminded him of
that night when he had clung despe-
rately to the abutment of the bridge
that spanned Indian Creek, and
when the courage and self-pOssessiOn
of Henry SteveU- had rescued him.
| Could he be the rival of IA man who
| had gone down into that flood that he
might save the exhausted Marquis?
Then he hated himself. Why had
he not drowned that night on Indian
Creek? And with this feeling of self
disgust added to his general mental
misery and the physical misery that
the rain brought tO him, there came
the great temptation TO write Fin"
in French fashion, by jumping into
the water. But something in the in
tluence of Priscilla and that class
meeting caused him to take better
resolution, and he returned to the
hotel.
The next day he sent for Henry
Stevens to come to his room.
Henry, am going to leave to-
night on the mail-boat. | am going
kooIy to No,,, nrloop, opI thoToc 10