The Potter journal and news item. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1872-1874, 1873-02-07

hlde. 1 see 1t as You do; but | also see
beyond it, as YOU do not. You are
wrong, and l am right. He is not a
beast, but a gallant and noble prince. "
I There is nothing like it in the world,
this simple and defiant devotion. At
this very moment of writing-and it is
| don't know how much o'clock at night
i reflect that have been calling upon
Mrs. LOveall, from whose house I came
only an hour or two since We had a
very interesting talk of thousand
things. She is most thoughtful. most
cultivated, and, above all, a woman of
the steadieSt character, and a most
efficient head of the family. 1t was
nearly midnight when left her. and
doubt If she has gone to bed yet. Dur
ing the time that | sat with her | knew
that she heard the least sound in the
hall. and once when theouter doorcloScd
she went ont of the room. Her whole
soul seemed to be intent upon those
sounds; yet she calmly talked with me.
1t was a man she was aWaiting-not
her husband, for he is dead long ago.
but her son, her oldest child. the bright
eyed boy, the pride and hope Of her
young married life-a man Of forty now.
and nobody's pride or hope for ever
more.
| know how it will be. Some time
after midnight there will be a fumbling
at the door, and Mrs. Loycall will de-
SCend and open it. She will clOS. it
quietly, and then she will help him up
stairs to his room. You can imagine
how he looks, the sound of his voice.
the terrible fumes that cnvclop him.
Can YOU see that sweet, matronly face
beside him, fun Of tenderness and pity?
Can YOU look into that mothers heart.
i'll which is no censWe, no reproach, no
conscious, withering disappointment
even, but only love, love depthlcss and
mSpeakable? Is that her son, that
stupetied. reeling, inarticulate SOt? He
has ceased to be himself: how can she
NV iIIIII' liV 4" - -. - ,.,-,,.
4 man is. Does She see the prince i'm
him? Certainly she does; for what else
could support her? That heart. 50
steady and true, is full of excuses and
and cXtcnuations. Even if she thinks
his condition is the consequence of mere
weakness Of will, she does not blame
him, but some circumstance. some an
ccstor. My poor boy" She thinks,
remembering that his grcat-grmd-
mothers uncle by marriage was tco
fond Of punch, ''the sins of the fathers
are visited upon the children"
Is il otherwise with Fiamma? One.
at least, of that name | knew. who mar
ried OrSon; and She went Oh believing
and believing in the prince, expecting
ard expecting him to dissolve the en-
chantmcnt and come forth: and lo. at
length he came. lie gradually grew to
be- interested, sympathetic. industrious.
He left card clubs and their companions,
and cock fighting and aimlcss loWuging.
lit VI ''l' i II ANit'A
" companion. And if we saw that,
what must not she have seen, If WE
thought him good-humorcd. how fasci-
mating must he not have been to Fiam-
ma? No. We live in different worlds
While we inhabit the same. Those gen
tie eyes do not see what we are, but
what we might be. They do not hear
our wretched talk; and if they hear of
it they do not believe, or they softly eN
tenuate. My dear Gerald, Your happy
day draws near. 1t is the beginning of
the year Your heart is eager for all
kinds of VOWS. Wei, there is 4 trivial
gift more precious than diamonds, more
useful than porcelain and silver that
. You can give her 1t is the resolution
not to he broken, you rascal but surely
kept-to Try to be the man that she be
lieves you to be. Your friend,
AN OLD BACHELOR.