The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1874-04-29


friend" Guernsey. They made
party to San Frrncisco, overland
Guernsey was a base New Yorke
who loved himself with all his sou
Rosa was a dainty, darling littl
thing, modest as moss bud. Ha,
You seen her babe-Eke face. the ear
" heartache in her eyes, you woul,
have gathered it between your hand
and loved her. She was in complet
subsection to her father; the nor,
she despised him at heart. the nor,
she bent herself to him outwardly.
Guernsey felt that his lines hat
fallen to him in pleasant places. H,
made love by sunlight and starlight
Remember, Rosa was an uninformet
woman. whom no mother had quick
ened in delicacy or skilled in tn,
-
ways OF society. Guernsey half faS
cinatel her, and she probed him Will
seeking eyes, but with sure instinct
she turned herself away and curlel
from him like a sensitive plant. She
was spared persecution by her faith
er, who suddenly saw the star of for.
tune in another direction.
But now father was dead. He had
gone gracefully out Of the world from
the best hotel the place afforded, had
commanded a genteel burial, and left
his blessing on his child. Ever
body sympathized with and-stared
at her. Those nearest, being, famil-
lar, asked "What she intended to
do?'
Rosa locked her door upon them
all. 1t was a moonless night. She
went out on her balcony and closed
the blinds after her; there she was.
alone, near the upper air. Her soul
felt smothered in her body. She fell
down under the sky and looked up,
laying her face against the iron rail
ing.
Rosa was not woman who shed
tears easily. She, made no sound,
but her whole being cried to the
Some one who has said, 'sHe can give
power to the faint and to them that
have no might he can increase
strength Who has promised that
though youths faint and be weary
and Young men utterly fall, they that
wait upon him shall renew their
strength; shall mount UP with wings
as eagles, shall run and not be weary,
shall walk and never faint"
It would be impossible to imagine
a more helpless creature than this
black draped girl. All her inherit
ance was one bill in her portmon-
maize. Her fathers effects were seized.
She was slightly made and unfit for
hard work. There were no tender
friends to shelter her. Relatives she
had, but so distant and so insensible
to ID. hummer and daughter that she
turned no thought towards them in
her distress.
Bitterly alone and faint she Law
before her God, seeming to grasp his
starry skirts. Rosa was not senti-
mental. She took not up the young
woman's refrain of ''Let me dep
Young, healthy life was in her limbs,
and her body was made for a long
and beautiful life of womanly uses,
but circumstances choked her like
the wells of a vault. She didn't see
how to live. She lay passive on the
balcony, waiting to be lifted in ever
lasting arms and set upon her feet
And presently she felt them closing
around her. Her loss was lifted
some influence came over her like a
rush of air; some one was with her:
she saw his thorn set face; she was
against his bosom. 1t was all well
it would ever be well with her. No
body knew it, but she had found one
who comforted. "a
Afterward she went in and staked
out her position and immediate plans.
She would leave the hotel next morn
ing and find cheap lodgings and some
work. ''We're not afraid of work.
said Rosa hummer, still communing
with the Invisible Presence. She
spread out her pink palms and look
I'd up for approval, nothing honest
viii degrade me. Perhaps somebody
will take me for chamber,haid or nur-
'ery governess.' She paused to
mentally cut up her white gowns in
o serviceable aprons and exc suita.
lie raiment out Of her scant lady
wardrobe.
1t occurred to her, just here, to