The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-03-07
A Sad Story.


young man of the place, but her parents,
particularly her father, opposed the
match. The reasons are supposed 10
have been good ones, but certain il il
they assumed a fearful responsibility,
and brought upon themselves n dire af-
Fiction.
The young lady was forbidden to see
her lover, and he was told not to visit
her house, but they managed, as is often
the case, clandestine meetings, and in
terchanged assurances of their undying
affection for each other. Busy village
gossip soon informed the father of the
of affairs. Though naturally
a kind father, he was greatly irritated,
and Immediately adopted measures to
the lovers.
This course on the part of the father
was the conscientious action of Il parent
concerned for the welfare of his child, so
he went about it deliberately, and with
a determination that was not likely to
meet with defeat. But alas! alasI what
was he doing? These two young hearts
were already so intertwined-sO grown
together, so reborn as one-that to sep
arate them was like cutting asunder
vital parts of the human organization.
The father, stern and resOlute to do his
duty, thought not of this, but passed
forward in his purpose. The tale of
love, the fond prayer of an agoniZed and
breaking heart for him TO listen to argu-
ment and reason-these were of no avail.
\ parents duty must be done. His first
plan was TO lock his daughter in her
room. He put on extra bolts and pad
lock, for he remembered that Glove
laughs at lOcksmiths." When he was
about to leave her after all this prepara-
tion for her safekeeping had been made,
he remarked:
al do all this because / love you, my
child. You cannot escape, and no one
can obtain access to you. Reflect on all
have said TO you. Forget this man,
and save me the pain of making you Il
prisoner"
His voice faltered, and he looked at
her with imploring eyes. She was sit
ting, weeping, pale and troubling. In
an instant she sprang to her feet, and,
standing proudly before her father, ex-
claimed:
'Father, do your worst! Imprison
me, starve me, drive me to madness;
but never, never will / forget or cease
to love the man to whom, before God, /
stand this hour betrOthedui
She stood looking heavenward for n
moment, then she reeled and fell eX-
hausted 10 the floor.
The father looked at his child as if his
pity was abOut to overcome him, but in
a moment he recovered himself, and ad-
vaneed toward the door.
"Undutiful, wicked child" were his
words as he closed the door, and, draw
ing first one bolt and then another,
finally made all secure with the paddock
AS he went away, he said: "AIay God
give me the firmness to do my parental
duty.u
The sad village tale, as now told by
all, relates to that imprisonment, con-
tinued for some ten days. After a day
or two, additional severity was added by
making bread and water the only food
offered to- the poor prisoner No one
except the father ever approached the
room. He found his daughter growing
paler and paler, and weaker and weaker.
Most of the time she was in bed. Re-
peatedly he attempted to talk with her,
but her only answer was:
"Tou may kill my poor body, but my
love is undying."
"What nonsense" replied the father.
"Pray to God to fill your heart with
love and obedience TO parental author
tality."
But this sickly sentimentality was
passion as strong as life and reason.
Already it was doing its work. Health
was falling, and hour by hour the mind
itself was yielding. There were whis-
pers i'm the village of what was going
on, but the full facts were not known.
One morning the father went to the
room, bearing, as was his custom, her
food and drink, which still consisted of
the portion of bread and water. To his
surprise he heard her singing. He lis
tened and heard the words of a song
which had always been n favorite one
with his daughter. The verses she was
singing were the following:
II love thee as the glad bird loves
The freedom of it, wing,
On which delightedly IL moves
In widest wandering.
Il love thee, as love the swell
And hush OF some low strain,
Which bringcth, by its gentle spell.
The past Of life again.
Then all became still for moment or
two, then there waSra moaning and
weeping, followed suddenly by laughing
and talking. The father made haste to
enter, feeling 10 little alarm for the
strange proceedings. When he entered
he found his daughter sitting up in bed,
with wild look about her eyes which
he had never noticed before.
"Ha, ha, ha, dearest, l will meet you.
I will come OH the wings of love.
Father, cruel father, has forgotten the
keyhole. Ha, ha, hap
The father fled from therOOm without
seeing or hearing more. y terrible fear.
for the first time, took possession of him.
He ran with the greatest speed for the
family physician, who came almost as
speedily to see the poor sufferer. When
he saw her face he looked serious enough,
and was not long in informing the par
ents that their daughter was insane.
The father was shocked and over
whelmed. He frankly told of all that
he had done, and blamed himself.
though he declared he thought he was
doing no more than was his duty. Sad
ness fell more gloomy than ever uDon
that house, and the whole village was
stirred by the circumstances as related
from mouth to mouth.
The young lady grew worse and worse
At length her actions were such that il
was decided TO be necessary to remove
her TO an ASYLUM. She is now an in
mate of the institution at Utica. A
very touching scene occurred in the
cars, when she suddenly broke forth in
the hearing of the passengers, many of
whom had been told of her condition
and history, with q verse from her
favorite song. She sung in a voice of
particular sweetness and pathos these
words:
Il love thee, As love the last
Rich smile of fading day,
Which lingereth, ike the look We east
On rapture passed away"
The preacher who boasted that he