Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-12-04
SELECT READING.
HAND AND EEAET.

| ONE oNSuiHSo III tHS Sfal I0IV q VIZ
man, enveloped in long, black mantle,
was walking toward the bridge of tie
Rialto, in Venice. Her steps were
weak and uneven, and at times she
looked around with hurried, frighten-
ed glance. She paused on the center
of the bridge and looked down with a
shudder Oh the clear. blue waters OF
the Adriatic; then closing her eyes and
murmuring. ";tntonio my Antonio
Adieu!" she prepared TO throw herself
over the parspet. Just as she was
falling, man rushed forward, seized
her with powerful grasp, and draw
ing her back, said, "Girl, destroy not
thy life which Providence has given
thee. you are unhappy, enter your
church, kneei Oh its hollow pavement,
pour out your sorrow, and thank your
Maker that YOU have been preserved
from crime-from rushing uncalled into
bis prescnce!'
The girl impatiently tried to shake
off the strong, kind hand, that held
her, and said, Let me go! l must
die!'
In another moment she tottercd and
fell to the ground, where she lay with
out sense or motion. Her preseryer
raised her head, and, in order to give
air, drew back the vail which conceal
ed her features. They were very love-
ly, and the man gazed on her with
wonder and admiration, as she was
gradually restored.
By degrees she told him who she
was and where she lived. Her history
might be summed up in few words;
an avancious father, apoor lover, a mu-
tual but unhappy love.
Vainly did Maria plead with her
father, rich innkeeper of Venice. the
cause of her lover, Antonio Barbarigo,
the handsome gondolier plying beneath
the Bridge of Signs. AT length, this
evening, her father, Gianettini, forgot
himself SO far as to strike his daughter
with some violence; and she, with a
far more culpable neglect of her duty,
ran wildly from home, and, as we have
seen, was on the verge of committing
suicide.
The person who had saved her led
her gently to her house, and, having
given her to her father, seated himself
in an obscure corner of the hosterly
Gianettini received his child with rude
reproaches, and bidding her retire to
her own apartment and betake herself
to her spinning, he cast suspicious
glance at the person who had brought,
her home, whose stout, manly figure,
and firm countenance, however, deter
ed the inn keeper from addressing him
in hostile manner.
As Maria turned to depart. young
gondolier appeared at the door, and
furtively approaching her, said, Dear
est! Dearest!"
Giannettini rushed forward, shouting
"Out of this! Out Of my house, fel
low!"
The young man did not stir.
"Have you finiAhed9" lie said in a
good humored tone. "Wherefore these
hard wordss Have you never loved
Signor Giannetinia Have you totally
forgotten the days ofyour youth! Know
you not that since l was ten years old,
and Maria FIVE, we have loved each 9th
er fondly? Will you not, then, allow
us to hallow your old age with our
tears.
Il don't want to have parcel of
beggars for my children, said Gianne
TIM, roughly.
| 'sBeggars!" replied the young man.
s'You surely forget yourself"
ssNot, indeed" returned the father.
Il refuse my consent. Therefore get
you gone"
"But bear me for one moment" re
pliedthe gondolier.
"'Tis useless. I again repeat that