The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-11-26

Oh, tremble young heart, tremDle
Young soul, when out of too deep mis-
cry there suddenly springs up too much
happiness Enjoy it to the utmost IN
your power; clasp the present moment
to yorr bosom even as ! clasped and was
clasped by him, my first, my only love!
During one of my ambles l found my
self entering lovely wood full OF trees
of exquisite foliage, and among which
there were many flowers and fruit trees
that seemed to have planted themselves,
and were growing as wild as wild as they
were beautiful. Seating myself at the
foot of one of the most outrageous trees
and opening q book, tried for long
| time to read, but la vain. Vague appre-
tensions, an / thoughts as vague, and an
inward futtering, prevented me. Mis-
givings | had, and knew not about what.
Presentiments, yet without form orsense
of their purport and direction. The same
page was read and read again. so unable
was / to fix my attention upon the mean
ing of the words. Still preserved, with
many sighs at my own strange foolish
ness, when gradually the page became
obscured by moving shade. l looked
up, and young man evidently an ltal-
ian, passed close by me with noiseless
tread. He had a sweet and earnest
countenance, and when our eyes met he
fingered on his way. | could not. | had
no power to withdraw my eyes, and after
he had loitered onward few PAGES, he
slowly returned, and paused before me.
All, what tears what tears | am she'd
ding, dear, dear 0tty, while my hand
writes of this Flow on, sweet fountain.
for while anguish mingles with your wa
ters, sweet emotions of loves divine pas
sion predominant over all. And yet |
can not continue to writ5 this-tO de-
scribe-indeed, il is not possible, much
as | wish to linger, even as ne fingered
and to relate; or to....
He could not speak English, but my
Italian seemed better than usual, and,
indeed he evidently understood what |
was about to say almost at the first word;
nor was | slow to apprehend his mean
ing. We sat on green bank side by
side looking into each others ewes |
know not how long. No expression, no
one word of love passed our lips, but
there waf little need of words. When
he gently took my hand at parting, the
touch ran through my veins. No agree
ment was made as to our meeting again.
He murmured something to that effect,
but my voice was lost to me- BY what
means | got home have no idea, as |
neither saw my way nor iet the ground
beneath me. As for my dinner or my
supper, not one morsel could | touch
Remember, my dear Octayia, and who
ever may read this narrative when am
no more, that | was not yet in my twen-
tieth year, and this was my first affection
Not that was conscious at this moment
of the state of my heart, though its con-
slant heaving and tluttering might have
told me, one would think. Andrengo
and the woman of the house seemed to
scrutinize my face more closely than usu-
al, it seemed to me, but perhaps this was
fancy.
Next day l dressed myself with more
than usual care in order to take a long
walk but the looks Of these people
alarmed me, and went no further than
the garden boundaries. 1t was the same
next day and the day after, Something
of what was going on within me must
have been written on my face. l began
to feel that it was So and shrank from
their gaze.
On the fourth day, when | had made
up my mind to go out at all hazards,
letter arrived from the marchese, inform
ing me that his return to Naples was in
definitely protracted, and that in the
mean time he desired to have my por-
tr i. This much surprised me, but |
s,;r cqtently discovered that it was to
paclfy LOru and Lady A, who were
astonished at receiving no letters from
me. Moreover, was instructed that the
marchese desired to have me painted in
classical character, and chose for his
subject a full-ength figure of Venus, on
first seeing Adonis, who was to be in the
background. He gave sort of descrip-
ton of how he wished the figure of Ado
mis- to be painted, which showed that he
was thinking of himself; and yet there
was an under-tone of irony in his ex-
pressions that both disgusted and puzzled
me. He mentioned young painter in
Naples who had been highly recommen-
de- to him, named Sebastiano del Piom-
bO. was to go to his studio forthwith,
being always accompanied by dau hter
of the woman of the house. | was very
little disposed to the sort of painting in
dicated, but glad of the opportunity of
seeing Naples.
Accordingly / went next morning, at
tended by Simona, to the studio of Sc
bastiano. The recognition-need l say
1t was immediate ?-made tie whole floor
shake beneath my feet, as it seemed.
though no doubt it was my shaking
knees. He at once saw my dilemma,and
hastened to relieve my embarrassment
by informing me that he had expected
my arrival, having received a visit from
a noble friend of the marchese, who had
fully explained his wishes. / was quite
unable to reply, and excused myself on
the ground of my imperfect knowledge
of the Italian language. With regard to
the composition and general treatment of
the picture, left it entirely to So accom-
plished an artist. Something to that ef-
feet | stammered out. All, my dear,
| had no wish to be hattered into We
nus, even though saw living Adonis
stand before me
We had preliminary difficulty about
the arrangement of the drapery, and l
refused to listen to the girl Simona, who
assured me that whatever might be
thought of such matters in England, it
was common enough in Italy, and that
she herself had been several times paint
ed as an unchristian goddess without in
juring her religion (spaaezzaSil, and was
once modelled in terra Gotta and exhibit
ed. This girl was of a far more amiable
nature than her mother, and seemed to
have taken kind of regard for me. She
was a curious mixture of innocence and
immodesty. She would laugh at the
most improper things.
As for the number of visits the picture
required, they could not be calculated
beforehand, any more than they could
easily be counted afterward. How happy
| was!