Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1871-1872, 1872-05-25
Little Emily. -

The purely told and iouchingly beautiful
story Of honest, mAnful Ham Peggotty and
Little Emily" in the novel of "DAvid COP.
perheld, is not more eEquisitsin It's humau-
iiy than in ito illustration Of the power of q
great and clean genius to depict weakness
and sin 10 such style as 20 evoke feelings Of
pity aud love only, and without either NAV.
kish or sensuous appeal to any unhealthy
emotion. Something like its reflex in real
life IS given by 'he Salem Press, Of Wash
ington County, n. Y, in q sketch Of the
career Of former supplemented village
belle, the daughter Of an honest mechanic,
whose Imaginative ambition 10 become a
LADY led her through az experience very
muoh like that Of the Inflated little Emily
o. the old boat q. Yarmouth. In the better
days OF her innocent youth, this heroine Of
fact disregarded many sutton who might
have given her a far better home than she
hAd,to encourage the shy addresses Of a ster-
ling heart in her own poor rank Of life, aud
might have married true man and been
happy forever after 10 the best love that
can be given and received, but for the 10
Judicious kindness Of would-be friendly
patrons Her refined beauty and sprightly
intelligence Of manner caused some Of the
most preleutious families Of the place to
seek her for their social gstherin zs; and
thus, a. ball in one of the great houses"
one night she met her "Steerforth" in
polished man Of the world from the city,
who, finding her temporarily giddy with
the disslpaIlons Of "a station into which she
was not born" improved the fatal opportun-
iiy TO make her believe that humber scenes
were a wrong 10 what nature had fitted her
90 grace. She never loved nor pretended to
love this tempter as she really did her hum
Bile wOoer; buI the continued arlFu Attsn-
tions Of the former, aud his prsclised
sophisIries about her "throWing herself
away told at last upon the vanity from
which no human being is entirely free
Ashamed Of the hsarIlsss psriidy she was
committing, yet too weak to withstand the
infAIustion leading her on, shs consented at
last to elops with him who promised TO
make her fine lady. To elope, because in
all her miserable self deception she dared
not trust herself to break formally with the
man she really loved, or ooudde 80 her
parents the fslsshood she was consum.
mating. Victor aud victim repaired TO
Albany, where they we're married clandes.
timely, and went thence ~ the great CITY.
where their first home was to be in fash |
iOnSbls hotel. Writing from there to her
grieVing parents she tried to make them and |
herself believe that she had found perfect |
happiness 10 attaining = position enabling /
her TO raise them from poverty; but she |
dared not send a word either for par ion or
10 the poor village lad from |
whom she aRd sold her heart without power |
of delivering il, and in this silence was the .
osrsain future re,ribution Of self upon self
Her husband mad told her that his family
we're 10 Europe on q tour, and that their
ho'el-lite would end with the return Of his
relatives. IL did end thus; for coming
nome from foreign travel was one whose
nBn, 70 osar bis name was prior to and bet
Yer than ihs village girls; and one day the
poor young TOOL Of ambitious vanity fonnd
note upon her dressing table telling her that
nsr Term OF lAdIship was over aud she had
better 90 home Like little Emil - 49,
novel, the hapless, dsssrtad cra,;,,o 'ne
happier thus than abe ba6 -.
weeks for the fevered, restless d,s"ra ~
over at last, and she could vAndar go
alone and die, as she had long bson ~
ing TO without knowing i'll A Wild po,s or
dsapAiring ssli-contsmpt and farewell to ,Sa
only true home she had ever known. ana
thea she went out aimlsss and frsndless IN
the great city, TO lose herself and be- a,
peace het parents, broken hearted and
mourning her as dead, removed from salem !
to the Tar West aud only her betrayed and
aPurnsd village lover thought upon the i'm.