National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1874-02-20
"Paris has fallen. They are firing the
salute in celebration OF the great event. y

"Paris has fallen. They are firing tn
salute in celebration Of the great event.
Another roar from the guns.
"Come in" said Frederick, quietly
as though in answer to some one light,
tapping at the door.
"She hears T. Dried Herr Schnellen
with a gratiaed air. You perceive
that Frederick is not so deaf as people
have said."
"Deaf?"
"You have forgotten, mein her.
Frederica was held to be almost stone
deaf in her youth"
No wonder that in addition to hel
other charms she had possessed that ol
siio.aVo--tliat her rapose OF manner haC
been SO supreme-that she had shrunh
from being troubled with speeches, oi
which she could not hear one word
4" 1t makes her very quiet" said Herr
Schnellen. But that is not, in wife,
such drawback as you may think"
There wss slate before her, which
was employed, it appeared, as means
of conversation. She was informed, by
it's means, concerning me. But it was
clear that she did not entertain the
slightest recollection OF me. There
were SO many students under the Herr
Professor, her father, she explained.
And SO many of them were named
Hans. And they were all young ;
whereas but this she did not add
was middle-aged, to say the least of it.
Little more than this passed at our
interview.
I took my leave, depressed and dis
turbed as to the present, but not as to
the past that could not be. I did not
love the wife of Herr Schnellen. I am
moral character. But still Iloved the
Frederick who, though lost, was yet
contained in the stout form Of that mat
ron lady, Frau Schnellen, like SOW
ereign secreted in loaf of bread, or
the needle in the bottle of hay of the
English proverb. It was true that my
Frederick could not now be parted from
the envelope which so substantialized
and magnifed her. That was misfor-
tune had to endure as best could.
Altogether, I bore it pretty we'll.
Mine was still the ethereal Frederick.
Herr Schnellen's the more material-I
may even say the very material-Fred-
erica, from whom all ethereal properties
had completely evaporated. Mine had
been the spell the disenchantment,
possibly, Her Schnellen's.
She never knew of my love. I am not
sure that she was ever thoroughly aware
of my existence. But what did it mat
ter The genuineness of my passion
was not thereby affected. Tho votary's
offerings may not be received; his
alteration may be unrequited. Still,
his sincerity remains unquestionable-
it may even be the more sublime.
My love was dream, almost folly
but not entirely so, for, remember, it
sustained me in an hour of sore trouble,
it was attended with solid advantages.
To it I owed such success as [ have OBJ
tanned and, moreover, it colored and
Influenced my life, weaving into its tex
ture a thread of gold. 1t was romance
1T was poetry, to my thinking and
have not these value, however seeming
ly fond and futile, vague of purpose,
and vain of result? ....
I should have sought her sooner !? II
may be so. Perhaps things happened
for the best. I still call her my Fred
erica, thinking of her ever as she was
in my Burschen days-as she appeared
in that vision in my studio, when she
like an angel released me from despair
and destitution, and led me back to life
and well.being.
I returned to London to my art and
to my pipe. Art, at any rate, is always |
faithful; and, perhaps, to one of my
years, pipe is the best of wives. 1t is
silent as Frederick but what comfort
it exhales how it bears with one how
It even encourages ones dreamings, and
hopes, and flights of fancy! How COM
how enduring how con-
'oling And it never disagrees with
one unless, of course, it is very much
abused.