Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-11-25
Alice Cary's Love.

l.. nj. G. FURNISHES the New York
Euening Post with some "reminiscences of
the life of Alice Cary, whose fame as
poet stands high in the annals Of American
letters, and among the rest sketches this
story of Alice's early but blighted love:
Clovernook graveyard is a small in
closure near the road, shaded by tall
Iocusts and wild-cherry trees. 1t has an
air Of abandonment and neglect, but
nature has taken it kindly to her heart
The graves are overgrown with ivy and
long grass, and blackberry vines twist
about the messy headstones. The tallest
monument is in memory of John Lewis, a
native of Denmark His farm adjoined
that Of the Carys, and his widow became
| the second wife Of Robert Cary, the first
Mrs. Gary having died when Alice was
about fourteen years old. She-OIrs
Lewis-sold the greater part OF her farm
to d gentleman from the East This was
Charles Cheney, brother to the silk manu-
facturers Of that name. He had previous
" been engaged in business at Providence,
+. l., but an unfortunate speCula-
ton had swept away his property, and it
was by the aid Of his brothers that he was
enabled to buy the farm near ClOvernook
He purposed here to engage in the culture
Of the mulberry tree and feed s1lkworms.
He was accompanied by his wife, who
was an invalid and did not long survive
her removal to the West.
Alice Gary was a shy. awkward school
| girl when she first knew Mir. Cheney, and
had never before seen any person so re-
fined, SO gentlemanly and well-bred He
was greatly superior to the people among
! whom he took up his residence; not that
! his mental endOwments were very gre 1t
or better, perhaps, than those of some of
! his neighbOrs, but his had been bro 1gLt
out by education, and found expIessi IN in
graceful manners and polished phrases,
| while theirs were imbedded in the clown
ish letters from which their position and
| circumstances Of life had in no way tend
ed to free them. Chiefly through his in
| suUmentality in the course of Il few years
| the neighbOrhood of ClovernOok was
changed from thinly-inhabited and i'll
cultivated district to one Astounding with
vineyards and orchards, and dotted with
! public ediflces and private residences,
surrounded by green lawns fringed with
clipped hedges.
AS years passed on the shy, rustic
school girl grew to wOmanhood, and the
proud and cultured neighbor of whom she
had stood in such awe, learning of her
thirst for knowledge, lent her books from
his library and encouraged her efforts
toward self-improvement. Their appre
citation of the same authors formed a bond
of kindred tastes between them, and was
the beginning of a more intimate &C
quaintance and interchange of thought
and feeling. For him it was intellectual
companionship and the charm of contact
with fresh, growing mind, filed with
beautiful thoughts and earnest aspirations.
For her it was an education of mind and
heart, the revelation Of new life, the
"Opening Of a sealed fountain in her
BOSOM What wonder if he who was her
ideal realized, the highest type of manhood
she had ever known, should WIN her
heart? He did win it, and in the highest
sense of the phrase she never loved an
other. In every case Ofheart- history there
is much that is sacred to those Immediate
ly concerned, and should never pass be-
yond them into the cold and curious
world.
It all happened many years ago, and
the particulars of the story are known to
few. Suffice it to say that this was the
first and only love of Alice Cary's life, and
it ended there. Mr.. Cheney went East
and married, and she read the announce
ment in a newspaper. Later she left
ClOveTnOok, around which chung so many
bitter-sweet memories, and went to New
York, where she made her home during
the remainder of her life, and gathered
around her circle Of appreciative friends,
many of them gifted and great Though F!
many priced her worth and sought her |
hand, she never forgot the love-dream Of
her early womanhood. Around it clustered !
all the bright and tender associations OF
youth, and as she receded from it and her
hair grew gray it gathered pathos
from the years and graves between"
Her life, though blessed with the COM
panionship of noble minds and loving |
hearts, was in one sense solitary and in
complete, for she missed the browning |
blessing of womanhood, the love that !
would have been at once her inspiration |
and reward, and have satisfied the long |
ings Of her nature as no personal achieve. |
=, I
Buy of and sell to men whom you
know personally, or who are engaged in
regular, permanent business, whenever
this can be done. Other things being |