Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-04-12
Eiise,s Vanity.

port of this theory there is the old quaint
story OF the German maiden; history
which is so tender and pretty that it is
worth rescuing from the forgotten legends
" A maiden loved on the banks Of the
Rhine with her father, the miller. Now
the maiden, whose name was Elise, was
not pretty, and she was cross and fretful
for she grieved her own lack of beauty and
thought that none would ever care for her
on account of the few graces Nature had
! given to her; so she did not even try to
1 please, and yet her heart was very large
and very kindly. She spent half her time
in front of her looking-glass, lamenting
her plainness and thinking how impossible
it was that Carl would ever learn to love
her, while Gretchen, who was so fair and
| pretty that she was called 1.-THE Daughter
of Spring" dwelt near her. Elise was not
loved, for she had never tried to gain love.
She always fancied that it would be in vain
| to endeavor to please, in vain to be kind,
and thoughtful and loving. When Nature
had so sighted her, who could care for her
or think of her, or be interested in her I?
! 'Ah! she sighed one day, "if / could but
| have Gretchen's beauty, should be the
| happiest girl in the Fatherland, for then
| should not fear any rival; and Carl sun
ny-haired Carl, might love me.n But Carl
never came near her now, and only thought
of her as cross and fretful Elise, and wished
Gretchen had less vanity with her
pretty face, and a rather large heart in her
slim body.
One day-it was the time of the vintage
Elise went down to the Rhine to bring
| in water, and as she dipped her pals in the
clear ripples she saw her own face reflected,
and turned away wretched and discon-
tented. She sat down on Il rocky stone
and watched the sunlight playing on the
castle-crowned hills and listened to the far
off song of the workers in the whey ards :;
and she thought of Carl, who was there,
and of Gretchen, who was there also.
"Ah, me-" she sighed, what gift is
beauty"
ELISE" said voice, and looking up she
saw an old woman-a very old, deformed
Notwithstanding near to her. "Elise,u
she said, II will tell you the secret of
beauty, and you shall obtain all that you
long for so much. Go home and never
look in glass, never see the reflection of
your own face in the water, never once
again gaze on your own features, and you
will grow pretty-so pretty that all will
wonder ut the change, and Carl-Cdrl will
learn to love you.n
"Oh, will never see my face again as
long as | live-never, never said Elise.
but are you sure, quite sure ?'
quite sure, y replied the dame "but,
remember if you once see your own face
your uglness will return. Now, go home
and be light of heart, and every day your
| lack of beauty will grow less, and every
day more love will hover around YOU
but how shall / know that it is true if
/ may not see my face ?n asked Elise.
Can you not tell by the altered manner
of those around you?" said the dame.
"Oh, yes, ~ said Elise; chow / will watch
them!'
Elise went home with new and strange
happiness at her heart-a happiness that
changed her nature and influenced every
day of her life, and made her amable, and
soft, and loving, and kind, and consider
ate, and anxious to please and ready to
serve and help others.
Presently people began to remark the
alteration in the miller's daughter, and to
tell her how different she was from for
merly, and the maidens sought her out and
talked to her about their loveas, and the
youths declared that Elise, the mller's
daughter, was the incest girl that side of
the Rhine, and Carl learned to think how
different she was from Gretchen, and he
learned to love her, and through the
Fatherland, there was not so happy girl
as Elise. And all this time she never once
saw her face, but turned away her head
when she dipped her pals in the stream,
and through all the miller's house there
was not to be found looking glass. She
longed (ah, how much = to see herself in
her new garb of beauty but she remem-
bered the old womanis warning and con-
quered her desire.
In the spring time came her wedding
day, and early in the sweet fresh morning
she was married to Carl and young flowers
peeped out to see he- face as she passed by,
and the tender grass kissed her feet as she
went along, and the birds sang out greet
ing, and even the light feathery clouds
seemed to stoOp over her head, az If with
their shadowy hands they blessed her on
her bridal day. Ah happy Elise!
"Thou art so changed ~ said Carl "Thy
face is so different from what it formerly
was. 1t does not seem to me that it is pos
sible thou art the same Elise. / used to
| pass without even looking back 10 gaze on
thee but to-day in thy bridal veil thou
art a sweet picture, which memory will
| paint on my heart for ever
/ Elise felt herself thrilled with happiness.
! but never once told the secret of that
change, though she herself did not know
that the real secret lay in her own changed
/ nature
! Now presently they were all feasting /;
and Elise, longing TO be alone for a few
minutes with her wonderful happiness
crept down 10 the side of the Rhine, and
thought over the past.
! "Ah, and he said am so altered too
| Happy Elise, thou art indeed altered
And he saw how pretty i looked i'm my
bridal veil. Do !, I wonder What would
| not give TO see myselfpp
Elise was forgetting, as she longed TO see
herself, how strict had been the old wo-
mans warning. She stood on the edge of
the water with her face turned away but