Litchfield enquirer., 1875-11-04

ready divined was likely to happen, she exclaimed:J 4le'i sst s.s
 [" why, are you not the Rev. Mr. Dra- "? am Miss Smith. My friend Mrs. Jones has gone over to her husband's . drug store to take his place while he conaea to dinner ss2oD KCft-5 sFa44 8atf-AA @ f3@
 'And with this she seated herself in q remote corner of the room. ma
 My dear sir, you cannot conceive the agony of that moment. It was only after 6 spiritual struggle that well-nigh over whelmed my still feeble frame, that was able to cruelty self. hope it is not pre- sumptuous for me to say that then and there performed an act of surrender to Gods will such as my consciousness had never known before How long time elapsed can only guess; partially re- covered myself on hearing my companion say in a magisterial manner:
 !" At Dr. --'s earnest request al- lowed myself to enter into correspon- dence with you. Mir. Drury, with view to further acquaintance
 | "Hero fallnwad a sil0noe which felt in my honor as a man and Christian must be broken by myself, and but in one way; so said:
 "'Yes, Miss Smith, and having recov- cred from an illness which interrupted our correspondence. I have come in per- son to thank you for the honor and the Christian kindliness you have thereby l shown me, and to -ao
 "I stopped here to consider how far strict trnthfulness would allow me to go beyond this point, when Miss Smith in her turn took up the conversation, but in a new tone, hesitating, and so much more gentle, that involuntarily looked at her, and found her face quite softened with a womanly blush, and her eyes suffused with teais. was overcome with remorse at the thought that my cold calculating manner had wounded her sensibilities; and after wrestling again ~ith my inner self, was about to urge the desirableness of more intimate acquaintance, when she faltered out: s4
 "'Mr. Drury, I owe you most humble apology for suffering this to go so far. I had not heard from you for some time, and had no thought of your leaving Andover at this season, and-and, in short, had really forgot how far was committed to you, and-and the truth is Il have made other arrangements. The Principal of our Academy has persuaded me that his motherless family offers q field for all my missionary fervor, and we are to be married during the summer ya- | cation s.1
 My dear Dr. Draper, am not asham- ed to say that burst into tears. could hardly command myself sufficiently to make re-assuring replies to Miss Smiths apologies and regrets, add the moment the Academy bell had called her from me, I threw myself on my knees even in that public room, and thanked God with all my heart. .sl "Now, can you honestly comfort me with the assurance that I am not sinfuliy self indulgent and stiff.necked in determ-. ming that I willnever run such as risk again after this miracnlous interposition?
 'Tn short. to what degree has Christ ian missionary the right to consult his own natural tastes and inclinations in the choice of his wife?
 "Pardon my long letter on matters so personal. l throw myself upon your com passions. JOr reproof Jor coTvectiOsa,. tor instruction in righteousness, as you shalh sec my nsed tn he < = = = l---
 'I am, yours respectfully.
 SAMUEL DRURY."
 Fanny and read this letter but laid it aside, of course to be answered by papa's own pen. As l Iremember, we said little about it to each other; but it seems that it made very different impression upon my sister than received from it. Fanny was much younger than and full of fun, seeing the ludicrous side of thing first; and besides, she had not heard Mir. Charles's pathetic story of Mir. Drury's life of singular isolation and heroic self development, and the candid simplicity and sublime, if mistaken, self-saerifice of the letter quite escaped her. Without my knowledge, and with no thought of possible harm. she rehearsed the epistle to Leslie, with sundry unconscious inter- polations and hourishes of her own, and thereby hangs tale.
 As have said. Leslie, during the first weeks of her life in the parsonage, had identified herself so thoroughly with us that we often forgot entirely that she had been so recently grafted in, and nothing grleved her more than any recognition on our part of the fact that she could not be expected to be intensely interested in mil mute details of our past and present fami- ly history and parochial affairs. <
 Papa's"sweet reasonableness" of speech, which, I regret to say, was oftener admir- ed than initiated by his daughters, car- ried Leslie captive, ,and wrought nOticea- ble change in her demurely sancy tongue, until we. that had begun with fearing lest her keen sense of the ridiculous might work us woe in the occasional exhibitions of patronage, harmless absurdity, and mischievous meddiing, which are among the perquisites of a ministeris' family. all the world over, ended with admiring her self restraint and nll-conquering tact un- der trying circumstances. l.
 But, as the summer came on, Leslie's spirit Jagged ,and strange symptoms man. ifested themselves. She went out alone at twilight for slong walks, refusing all companionship, and aS last could scarcely be coaxed outside the gate at all. Her nerves seemed painfully sensitive; the mere ringing of the door-bell, which, in the house of city pastor (who is at the same time chairman of the school commit tee, trustee of two or three seminaries, and secretary of various benevolent socie. ties). must be frequent, invariably startled her. so that she would at last even fly up to her room at the mere click of the gate. more than once found her in tears, and her appetite became slight and Ackle. Her brothers letters were not too ire. quent; and, indeed, he lad already inti- mated that his travels might be indefinite ly extended, and she had best make as agreeable arrangements as were possible in her own behalf; but she had learned long before to lean lightly upon him, and, when we had charged her with homesick- | ness, had protested so earnestly, that we | could not doubt that never. in all her lonely life, had she felt so blessedly at home as with us. s.s -ts -
 Fortunately. paps's vacation was at hand. and when I was suddenly inspired, probably by letter or two from Dr. Todd, to exclaim: q 90 oa-fishing to the Adiron- dacks," Leslie, even more eagerly than the others. cried: 'I go with thee.p and We went. sr-. ... epr-x |. An, you may we'll believe it something worth to have seen that now overthronged and world-bedusted paradise in it's dewy bloom. undespoiled by the fatal trail of the Saratoga trunk. .t.f But it is enough for our present purpose to say that early in August, after sundry | axxX L~~AE "