Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-06-04
Written for the Belmont Chronicle.
INCOMPLETE
BYLAURA OAKWOOD.

casionally to the muddy streets, and
the dark impenetraL,e clouds above
which looked as an eternal wall be-
meath the sun. Her spirits were in the
same mood as the elements of nature
without, and portrayed the discomfort
she felt in the sad. troubled Counte-
nance, and tine tes. which fell occa-
sionally over her c..aek. She was
thinking-thinking of the time when
a happy girl of eighteen summers, Har
ry Romand had told her how dear she
was to him, and asked her to be his
wife. For brief period she dreamed
her dream, then she awoke to find that
him she believed so true and gifted,
so lifted above the common sins of the
world, was false to every high and no
BILE aim of manhood. That he bowed
to the power which had spread such
untold agonies, such heart-crushins
woes all over our beautiful earth. He
refused tC turn from this habit, and
che, after using every effort of which
she was capable, and seeing nothing in
the future for the wife of a drunkard
but starless darkness, turned away with
a breaking heart, and locked this one
sweet dream in the secret chambers OF
memory. Then for her the sunshine
had gone from the verdure of spring,
the song from the woodland bird, the
fragrance from the rose. Week after
week rolled its sad burden of lOneii-
ness and longings away, and gossip
ping tongue told her he was married.
Then plide sustained her, and she
would not give any token that she
suffered. She forced herself to say and
believe, "the affections which can be
transferred in so short time to anoth-
er, perhaps prettier face, are treas
ures not worth possessing" She la
bored to be useful and good, and thus
created for herself the only true happi-
ness. In few years she could say, 81
have lived and made others happy, and
I am content despite my thirty years,
and the few gray hairs showing among
my dark tresses. 1 am an old maid,
bat had accepted any other position
might not have realized how grand
a thing it is to live"
But fair, sweet Alice Lee was only
human, and hours of dependency
would sometimes come. This mcrn-
ing she had entered the darkened
chamber where the hopes of years ago
went out, and gazed upon the dust
covered pictures there. She found
these treasures not bright and shining
as when she banished them in forget
fufness, and wearily she put them
aside; but they left traces of their re-
cent resurrection in tne shadow over
her gentle face.
She had been thinking of the great
crusade which came like a white
winged dove from heaven, and plunled
itself on many hearth, re-burnished
the fires there, and re-kindled the
hopes OF many fainting, crushed hearts.
Had it came a few years ago. what
might it not have done for her happi-
ness?
All along she has been one of the
foremost workers in the great reform,
and many times has her sweet voice
been heard pleading and praying for
the rum-seller, and its earnest tones |
sank Gown into many hardened hearts,
pierced the crust of sin, and entered !
into the chambers of feeling, awaken
ing the good which had long slumber-
ed there. Earnestly and eloquently
she appealed, and feelingly worked
that tte lives of others might not be
darkened by the shadow which had
fallen over her own, and in Il way she |
had not dared to hope, the bread cast
upon the waters came back to her.
Harry Romand did not marry, as she
believed, but recklessly went on iu his /
needless career until life and health
were well nigh spent. One morning
rs he sat idly in his room his attention
was arrested by the earnest words and
sweet voice pleading with rum-seller
beneath his window. Those well-re-
tones struck chord in his
heart, whose vibrations shook his very
frame, and, pale and trembling he
could only listen. Then, when those
noble women bowed themselves, and
Alice Lee poured forth the overcharged
soul in prayer for the SHINING saloon
keeper before her, Harry Romand,
alone in his chamber above, wept as
ne had never wept before. He would
nave given half his life for one glance
1t the face of the lovely woman who
,hus proved herself the angel of this
ife; but he could only sit and listen,
while every quiver of that beloved
voice pierced his very soul. And the
nan for whom she prayed shed tears
'f repentance, and blessed her that she
lad saved him. All day long Harry
Romano sat alone in that chamber
With the earnest, blending tones and
,isions of the sweet, pale face, such as
he thought of Alice Lees then was,
'efore him. Then a strength beyond
lis own, seemed given him, and with
mighty effort he strove, as he had
ever striven before, to conquer the
lehd which had so long chained him
n slavery. His was no easy task.
3ody and mind were so long accustom-
d to the riotous ruling of appetite, that
he struggle prostrated him. After a
weary battle for life, he arose, weak ]
nd feeble, but firmly resolved on rs- s
nrm and to rc.craafa for hinnsalf @ | Z