The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-05-12
COUSIN ELIHU.

,- ,-- COUSlN ELIHU.
All her life long Sara Holmes had had
n romance. It began and ended with
these words: When Elihu comes
home" Aud though she was nineteen
years old at the time of which I write, it
seemed to her ON that burning July
day, as she sat in her bedroom and look
ed out upon the moonlit fields, that she
had been living one or two centuries in
this world, at the very least, and all the
time dreaming golden dreams of Elihu
only to find them shivered into atoms at
the last. <#-r#
For Elihu had come. And the time
and manner of his coming were SO un-
looked for and so unexpected to her as
well rs every one else, that no wonder
the girl sat there in the moonlight, say
ing to herself: "He is here. need
never watch or wait for him again. In
the next chamber TO mine he is sleep
ing-that is, if he can sleep. Poor
Elihu."
The earliest stories she could remem-
Der had been told to her by her mother,
about "Cousin Elihu" and the enor-
nous fortune he had made ssdown
South, at time when fortunes could
yet be made in that unhappy land. She
winch he Lived, of the negro slaves who
flew to do his bidding, of the beautiful
.carriagesand horses that boro him from
place to place, and of the Jewels, the
silks, satins and velvets that fortunate
6 woman would possess who would one
day become Elihu's bride.
Other girls had heard these stories
also, and the belle of the school at
. Holmesdane often said that, when she
was sixteen, she should "go q travel
ing" and find her way "down South"
and t'set her cap" for Elihu Holmes.
That the result would follow for which
she looked, no girl among them doubted,
for even the masters stern face softened
and smiled upon Rosanna Meadows,
when she shook back her golden curls
and lifted her large blue eyes with q
blush to his.
Poor Rosannal Sara leaned her cheek
on her hand, and looked over the hilltop
toward tho village graveyard, where the
village beauty was now lying, with her
blue eyes closed, her golden ringlets
smoothed back from her white brow,
and her hands clasped in an unearthly
quiet on her breast. Elihu had never
known how her girlish fancy went out
towards him. And now Elihu had come
home
AS Sara Holmes grew up, and de-
veloped from the tall, angular girl, into
the queenly and self-possessed young
woman, the thought would sometimes
occur to her, as she stood before the
mirror braiding her dark hair, I" If he
should come back, would he think me
pretty, now that Rosanna is gone 2"
The broad low brow, the oval cheeks
and dimpled chin answered her; the
healthful color, the deep dark eyes, the
sudden, bright, bewildering said, "Yes."
For hers was now q higher beauty than
-Rosanna's pink and white 1oveliness had
ever been, and the treasures of her mind
and heart might we'll have won an older
and wiser man to love her, long before
Ehhu came home. 'f"S
now she drew long breath; and
set herself to recall all the incidents of
that sudden and startling return.
- Tea was over-the milk was strained
and they Were all sitting on the front
piazza, under the shade of the naples
and the locusts, while her father read
bits from the weekly village paper aloud.
Hor stcp-mother was knitting; her sister
Grace was lining hat, and her brother
Ben was whiting out toy boat from a
bit OF wood, while she, Sara, sat beside
him and held his tools as he needed
them, and lost herself in reverie about
her hero in the South.
A carriage drove up the village road
and halted at their gate. The driver
descended from his seat and 'beckoned to
her father, who hurried down 10 the gate
to meet him. After talking some time
together, small trunk was lifted down
and left beside the gate. Then the
carriage door was opened and a tall
figure descended, and directly after,
Ben, who had followed his father in q
dt of boyish curiosity, galloped back
with distended eyes, whispering loudly:
"Mother-girls Cousin Elihu has
comel And he has lost every cent of
his property down South I heard the
driver tell father sol And they have.
sent him OF up here, because they
thought he was going to be sick; and
there he is, You sec, leaning on father
and Gthe driver and he can't but lust
walk. Isn't it blamed shame of those
Southerners2 g
"Mercyt' exclaimed Ben's step
mother, rising as they all rose, when the
tall, slender figure approached.
Sara looked up with her heart In her
eyes, to greet her hero-no less o hero
to her for the pitiful history Of loss and
ruin that she had Just heard.