The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1873-03-28
FREMONT sANDUsKY COUNTY OHIO FRIDAY MARCH @. 1873

! A1Idn WAS TlcO, anu Dy nature ant
birth equally noble; but he was utter
| ly devoid as yet of any experience:
but such as his college and his
mountain home had brought him.
Nevertheless, he was not destitute
Iof the traditional business capacity
OF his house, as some late transae-
tlons in cotton aud sugar in New
Orleans had proven to Mr.. Rae.
>And partly because he liked the
young man, and partly as a matter
of interest, he invited him to his
home among the woods and lagoons
of the Evergreen bayou. Mabel, in
this transaction, had scarcely been
properly considered; but to her ia
ther she was yet a child. True he
recognized her wonderful beauty,
and was very proud of it; he knew
too that she possessed an exquisite
voice and great skill in music, and
the passing idea ofshoWing his pearl
of price to the foreigner, rather fat
tered his vanity than aroused his
fears. He did not dream that he
was Introducing a new claimant for
its possession.
Yet so it proved. Allan fingered
as if in an enchanted castle, till he
had no life, no hope but those which
centered in Mabel Rae. And she,
innocent and impressible, soon re-
turned his passion with q love even
more absorbing and far less selfish
than her lovers.
Oh, the sweet, warm, love-laden
days in these solemnly shaded
woods! Oh the blissful hours in the
cool evenings, when the perfume of
the tuberoses and jasmine and ole
anders filed the air! when the soft,
calm moonlight glorifed every love-
ly and every common thing. 1t was
like dream of those days when the
old rustic gods reigned, and to live
was to love, and to love was to be
happy.
With the fall, however, there came
imperative letters from Scotland, and
Allan could no longer delay. Love
had its business as well as its ro-
nance, and this side was not so sat
isfactory. Mr.. Rae would hear of
no engagement for two years, by
which time he said he hoped to be
able to give Mabel such fortune as
would make her acceptable in the
eyes Of Allan's father. But for the
present he absolutely declined to-
look upon the young peoples at
tachment as binding on either side.
SIN less than two years, when the
first tuberoses bloom, l will be here
again, Mabel, darling~ were AIan's
last whispered words, as he held her
tenderly in his arms, and kissed
again and again the face dearer than
all the world to him. And Mabel
smiled through her tears, and held
the last tuberose Of the Summer to
his lips for a parting pledge.
But the two years brought many
and unexpected changes. That very
Winter the first war cloud gathered,
and long before Allen could redeem
his promise, the little island planta-
ton was desolate and deserted. Mr..
Rae had gone to the war, and Mabel
boarded in a ladies' school in New
Orleans. These were but the begin
ming of sorrows. Another year
found her an orphan, and cruelty
embarrassed in money affairs.
Claimants without number appeared
against the Rae estate, and creditors
forced the plantation into the mark
ct at the most unfavOrable time.
She was driven from her home, in
strict accordance with the letter of
law, but she felt and knew, though
poWerless to prevent it, that she had |
been shamefully wronged.
Poverty is a grand teacher, how
ever, and has many learned disci-
pies; and now for the first time in
her life, Mabel thought for herself,
and dared to look the future in the
face. She had promised her father
never to write to Allan without his
permission, but she considered that
death annuls all contracts, and sure
y now, if ever, it was Alsn's duty
to befriend and care for her. So she
sent him word, in a few shy, timid
Of her sorrows and lonli-
ness. But it was doubtful if ever
she letter would reach him; mails in
hose days were not certainties; and
syen if it did reach Allan, it was
still more uncertain whether he
could reach her.
And in the meantime she must
work or starve-a blessed alterna-
i've in great sorrows. People who
nave to fight "sea Of troubles" do
lot go work, the oldest Of all
preached evangels, is the consoler,
md brings them out. And though
Mabel Rae could command no high
er position than that of a nursery
yoYerness, yet she found in it
higher life than ever the dreamy,
luxurious; selfshness of her fathers
nome had given her.
Her employers were of the ordin
Try class. l can weave no romance
lbout them. They felt no special
interest in Mabel, neither did they
II use her. She was useful and un-
and asked neither for sym
)athy nor attention. No letter came
rom Allan Monteith, though she
waited and hoped with failing heart
and paling cheeks for more than a
year. She had not the courage to
write again, and her anxiety and
distress began to tell very percepti-
bly, on q naturally frail constitution.
Thea a physician advised her to try
It once a more invigorating climate,
md she not unwillingly agreed to
accompany the invalid wife of an Of
icer returning to her home in New
York.
This was the dawn of a brighter
lay for Mabel. She found friends
wen if she did not find health, and
ler rare beauty and wonderful mus
cal talents, soon procured her the
admiration of large and influential
circle. BY the advice of her friends,
she established herself in a fashion
able locality, and commenced the
,eaching of music. think few wo-
men could have more successful.
Part of this was undoubtedly due .
% the social power of her friends; \
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