The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1872-03-13
PUBLISHER
NUMBER 81.


could forget the agony of that bitter
moment! To my hurried explanation
and my earnest appeal she listeneds as
to the rawlings of a mailman. She had
lost all memory of our former union;
anger and terror wcrc the only emo
htions I could now excite. Her father.
fearful of the effect of such agitation
on both of us, drew me into another
room and informed me that Alice had
been very i'll soon after my departure,
and that she had recovered from a Sc
we're attack of fever perfectly sane and
quiet. But she was like one awakened
from deep and dreamless sleep. The
past had no remembrances, she was
creature only of the present, and in her
calm, cold collectedness of manner, and
her almost stern Ieason, no trace re-
manned of her tender and erratic fan
cies. He entreated me to let it depart
like q dream, and to suffer her to be
guided by woman's phantasy in her
affections. l promised and tried to
keep my word. Alice was induced to
believe that my recent alteration of
mind could account for my strange ia
miliarity when we met, and as her ia
Tiers friend she forgave me. But she
evidently regarded me as a perfect
stranger. Ny task was done. She was
fully awakened to intellectual life, bnt
she was no longer portion of myself.
l sought to make Alice love me, but tho
hope was futile. Her intellectual had
overmastered her womanly nature, and
in winning the firm reason and decided
will of man she had lost the gentle
weakness of her sex. 1 asked her to DO
my wife; she refused my suit gently.
but firmly. Maddened By the excite
ment of the moment, 1 poured forth the
full tide of long emotion. I told her
of our former communion;. I described
the gradual development of her dawn
ing intellect; I depicted the slow 60
ings of my spirit as it was transfused
into hers; | prayed her, as l would pray
high heaven, to recall some memory of
the past. 1t was all in vain; the past
was gone forever. She looked on me
as a mailman, and shrunk from me in
terror. l never saw her again.
After this a torpor fell npon me.
which rendered me insensible to out
ward impressions. Ny mind became
clouded like a mirror, over which tho
damp and mildew of long years have
gathered; images were reflected there,
but they were dim and indistinct in
their outline. The present and tho
past were blended most confusedly
and painfully. l had no power to con-
troll my thoughts. My soul was dying
put with exhaustion.
They told me that Alice was married
but the tidings scarcely moved me, for
could no longer be reused to fierce
Two years have passed since
last looked on her sweet face; two
years of anguish such as whitens the
ocks and withers the heart of youth.
am dying; shall soon be numbered
With the forgotten dead, for there Is
zone to shed one tear above my grave.
am wasting away with the hamilton
If my spirit. But I am not dying of
love.
-
In the city of Athens, amid all tho
umult and discomfort of Greek hostel
y, died the writer of this tale. The
Incidents he relates are true; he did
awaken to intellectual life the imbecil
pind of a beautiful girl, who in tho
curse of her recovery entirely forgot
i'm. He sought in vain to win her
owe, and upon the tidings other mar
iage with another lie fell into a decline
Which resulted in his death in the sum-
ner of IS, whether of an exhausted
pirit or a broken heart, let those judge
Who know the fearful strength of Lu-
nan affection. A more practical ac-
cunt than is here given may be found
u Emerson's Letters from the Egean.