The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-12-10

this fact in Natural History, the OLD man
snd hssd .s nnssfS u" to
pause an instant in his rapid walk, until he
f"und himself within the seosusaon otnU OWE
room. - "a %a,- IA.
81 thought her every thing that was good,
nnselfish, noble She was the Ideal OF my
brightest hopes, the vision of my purest ian.
ii not nown il be closed this exclamation
by quotation from Cowper, Moore, Addison
or Byron, for he flung himself into chair and
buried his head and the rest of the sentence
within tho. arms he dropped upon the table,
Leonora was his first love! The ALMOST
| fauitfess character of his mother, shining sscc-
I from becoming enamOured, as too many Young
men do, of every pretty face he saw. Virtue,
Intelligence and beauty were the -attrihntes
with which he had invested the ideal OF his
warm imagination, and he priced them too IN
the order he assigned them. He had loved
Leonora for her tiIial devotion, he knew she
had high and gifted mind, while he felt that
her graceful beauty was but the natural ac-
! companiment of her other charms:
| His belief in this undivided trinity had now
been shaken, and hencefo tn no must look 20,
upon beauty with dstrHst and upon lntelii-
gence with suspicion.
The thought never crossed his mind thai
! Uncle Pete could have misunderstood his
question, and he we'll knew that the old ser
| want was familiar with every detail OF MS
masters household. Beside had not the same
| bought suggested itself to his sisters mind
| PsSo'1S'S
| that Emma, the mothers idol, could be less
| noble than she, who never hatbeen favorite
with the weak and partial widow 1t was
| late that night before Willie sought his bed !;
but when he did, kind sleep brought oblivion
of his trouble and he dreamed of Leonora still
as the fair "Una' of his heart
That same evening, Leonora stood by the
open window of her room and looked out with
tear-dimmed eyes upon the gloom and silence
of the night. 1t was to be her Hast beneath
| bnr fat 1ar,c
her mother, hand in hand, must begin their
lonely way; must commence their struggles
for daily bread must bear, as best they
could, all lifes trials, and tempests: No won
der, then, her heart was sad and heavy, and the
gloom of the sky seemed to weigh upon her
| spirits.
thought, 'but it is better as it is. must not
indulge in such bright visions now. Poor,
friendless, homeless, what have to do with
him And yet he said he loved me - She only
whispered tho last words as though afraid
the dewy air would hear them and thus learn
the precious secret of her heart
She heard the slamming of the front door,
and the low, sweet negro melody Uncle Pete
was humming to himself but her thoughts
were SO far away that she needed not u whis-
pered conversation going on below and did
from the door if she did, she fancied it
was only an answering sound to the tender
recollectious she had evoked, echo of the low
aside, ~
"Snrely if his heart went with his words
he would lhive come again. Astonished and
ashamed of her own repinins, selfish thoughts,
she closed the window hastily, and returned
to her post of duty beside her mother.
The next afternoon, faithful to her promise,
Ellen came to accompany Mrs. Latrobe and
her daughter to the residence OF Mrs. Stanton.
Leonora tied her mother'sfaded bonnet on
her head, kissed away the tears that rolled
down her bloodless cheek, and bade her be
cheerful for her sake-then taking her passive
hand in hers, she led her out of the old famil-
lar room, only pausins to gaze for an instant,
upon spot sacred to her as the scene of her
fathers sutferings and death.
That look robbed her of part of her won't
ed tirmness; for her voice faltered when upon
meeting her grandfather in the hall, she tried
to say goodbye.
You would have it sou was his cruel an
swer as he turned his head away from the
touching sight before him. There was no in
what were her plans for the future and she
realized the entire indifference which he was
henceforth to manifest TO her welfare.
Indifference! All, what q remorseiess weapon
it is F.! Anger NAV cut and bruise the quiverins
heart; brt this probes deeper and leaves
numbing sting which is more painful than
blow.
Emma, in her flowing, ample robe, with her
fair hair cxquisitively arranged in curls, and
exhaling with every motion of her figure, the
rare and delicate perfume that had assisted at
her toilet, drew her mothers scant shawl
around her neck with an appearance-o of inter
est, kissed the tear-stained face and turned
to her sister with the words: i
"Take good care of her, Leouora. / do hope
you will get along nicely, and as soon as am
rch-you know"
"Inj uries and wrongs will waste riches"
was Leonora's answer, as she hurried her poor,
weeping mother away from the inhospitable
roof and the heartless girl, whose vanity had
swallowed up all filial love or pride.
AS they LETT the house, the hall door swung
to after them with sharp noise that startled
the poor widow but Leonora knew it was her
grandfathers hand that had flung it thus as
his farewell token.
They reached their place of destination just
in time for tea and Mrs. Stanton was exactly
the kind of person to give home-feeling and
hearty welcome with the first word of greet
spend the evening with her friends, regret |
ting that she was losing her as her daushters
iustructress: but thanking her in her own
mothery way, for procuring Leonora as "a sub.
stitute Ellen. however, deemed it best that
night be the recipients of Mrs stantons hos
pitality and kindness, SO she left them. Leo
nora looking hopeful and the mother calm,
hurried off to the dear, little
home Mrs. Brown always made SO bright for