Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1875-01-14
mean by Te1sla? Whsss did lie GO toa's
aEUpard0n mo xvoytl,II, q; !, is s,os;d Jlr;oIt

IaFuon me, worthy Sue, said Er1ck7
sen. with q certain degree of constrairt {:
81 have done the work and gpide for q
good dtmany Englishmen, and you are
the first American, but you see strang-
ers might k:aa af, ,laaghiat the, SyYayFyf 5Es5i
feeling or thinking Of our oorcoantfy-
folks, and that. young fellows story
might seem to be foolish to you"
"Bnt, what did he want2' I asked.
"Thst poor Dahl boy saw y9u when
5ou passed through his village. The
coming and going of a,stranger there IN
summer is an event in winter it would
not3haYe had the same effect. Hearing,
after yop had left; that you were an
American, he packed up everything he
had in the. vol Ia hid clothes aud his
tools, for he is q blacksmith, and has
been on foot for the last three days md
nights following US. and he wanted to
join you and go across with you to
America, wherever That may BE. 6.''''',s-r'+a
",Why? what for ?" T inquired.
i "Ohsit is quite a story. eEeStoid it,
all to me, last night, and ,nioat tsnapped
his heart-strinas in the Yelling Of it.
He waited until you were asleep /; for
though he had : pluoked' up courage
enough to follow me, SO far, he was
afraid TO tell it all TO mo. NTelsla was
the freshest, rosiest maiden in the
village. I remember her we'll three
years ego. She was 16 thep. How
pretty she was i'm her sheepbkin jacket
shnd her blue petticoat Modest and
pure minded was sho, and no one could
say word against her. She was the
daughter of the inn-keeper, and her
condition was "a good one. It was a
merry house, and in winter constant
round Of feastings took place. sTel@la
had a good bit of. learning shut swhat
was better,she was a tidy housewife,
and. made, fine cheese, and had a sweet
voice, and sang we'll, and had good
heart. I think she must have loved
our friend Of last night, though nobody
could ever. say TINT she told her 81
thoughts. 81: .4s. 1, 49,. 49, ~
Two years ago, that girls father mar
ried as@ohnn from sthe AIoraa 'd6uhtfy.,
I have nothing to say against the Mora
people, only they are apt to try and
hold their heads away up, like geese,
and lord it over the simpler Dahl folk !;
and 80 Telsla and her step mother did
not agree very we'll. Then trouble
came when Telsla's old father died, and
the Mora women claimed most ofthepfop-
perty, and a lawsuit, which is a,scandal
amongsthe Dahl folk, was likely to set
in. All I could make out of the story
was, that, one fine day, Telsla sold ont
to her step mother all her right in her
fathers estate, and in desperation-like
walked all alone to the coRst and got on
board q cattle boat at Gsae, and.went to
Stockholm, whence she took ship to
America. There amt much that is
strange about that, for lots Of our peoss
pie have been going to America.
Either because the Dahl black
smith had not been quick enough in
telling his love, being moderate kind
of fellow, or whether they had quar-
rel over bit of ribbon, certain it is
that while her lover was absent Telsla
went away and left tho country. All
could learn was what he told me, and
he has been eating his own heart ever
since and living in the dark, though it
happened most year,agc. He wanted
to go to America in search of her, and
thought, perchance, that you might have
some tidings of Telsla, belike seen her.
Now. ! mn only guide, and not one of
those stuck-up fellows, like the Mora
people, who think they can learn moth.
ing. So when he told me his long
story, I opened tho pack and took out
that book You carry with the maps in
it. It took me m kour to explain to
the poor simple fellow that in this
world Sweden is but q tiny speck, and
that America is most MI the rest OF the
earth. I took him right off to that Cliff
there, where there is n clear fall of a
thousand feet to the jagged rocks be.
low, and I bid him toss n pebble into
the depths, and said to him, "That lit.
tie stone is Telsla; America is. that
waste of stones and splinteredrocks and
gravel below there. Do you think yon
conld over find that little round, white,
shining pebble again, you have inst
thrown down? The stone ia lost. !.
"This seemed TO strike him, and that
Mother he, nor I, nor you2 sir, nor any