The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-10-28

NE. Look in my face, Paul, and tell me
what that is. I want one last proof of
how completely you understand me.
"That is leaving me-"
Yes; the thought has stabbed me
through all the serenity of this hour.
And yet, what more could 1 ask 1 have
lived to realize all my dreams, and it is
sweet, very sweet to die on a day like
this, looking iutO your eyes. And you
know, Paul, God never meant me to live
long, because he gave that fatal, sensitive
temperament-
She stopped, the tears in her eyes, and
he knew that it was because of some
memory OqhOw much she had suffered
on account of that same temperament; !;
and he thanked God that though the
fneness of her nature untitled her for
earth, it fitted her for heaven.
Later, when she seemed to sleep, the
door opened, and in her perfect silence
man entered aud knelt down by the
low couch, reading with wistful eyes
the mournful annunciation of coming
death 10 the beautiful face. A sudden
radiance flashed into the room from the
setting sun, and Hope awoke, smiling,
when she saw the face bent down in
grieved tenderness above her own.
Philip my friend, you have come p
Eyes" he returned, calmly and
should have been here earlier, but l
waited for Floyd. She sent me word at
the last moment that she could not come.
Her father is dangerously i'll; nothing
less could have kept her from you
Philip" she said, after time, &
pathetic ring in the clear, sweet voiser
81 am very near the infinite of which
used to talk so much in the old days,
and am not afraid"
He had no words with which to-an
swer her, this man held great as an ora
tor and statesman in the world. Proud
and self-disciplined as he was, his an,
guish mastered him.
"Ah why should you grieve ?' and
while his heart aehed under the soft re.
buke of her voice, she held up to his
glance the white rose which Paul had
gwen her as a symbol of her own soil
less existence on earth, aud then eontin
ued, calmly "Jn the blushless voutt
of this flower there is a secret as inviola-
BILE az there is any phase of that some.
thing we call life: to-day cannot fa
thom it-to-morrow, what shall l no
understand of all the mysteries of whicl
time is so pathetically full Oh! be
lieve me, it is not sad, my friend, to Iii
and find out all the meaning there is il
eternity for a SOUL
The two men exchanged glances,
hint of their pride in her flashing acros
each powerful face. The translation Q
the look was, the mind to the last a,
serts its rule.
"And, Philip, don't you remember,
, the silver tones faltered little, and the
= went on, "wheu we used to study Il
gether, how often we have paused Whe
troubled by the abstruseness of a thougt
: or theory, and looking into each otl
er's eyes, have said, 'Ah if we onl
3 knewY My brother, there will be L
need that should say it ever again aftC
q tonight"
e He took her hands in his at her word
the reverence of a great regard in b
! eyes, and he answered her with a gel
E tleness as supreme and sweet as "
L mans.
3 Little sister, the memory of tho'
a days shall be my inspiration in the Fl
> ture that l must live without you, an
+ wheth er go down in the battle of Ii
e crowned or crOwDIess, shall always ?
: member to do my duty because"-h
d voice almost tailed him in the confessiC
/ 81 have known you"
d An expression of intense gladne
came into her face at his words, ar
n with a look he never forgot she lifted OF
20 white hand towards the sunset and sal
p with pleading earnes tness:
/ Promise, then, that you will meet L
'e beyond earth"
" HIS creed was very different from be
Of and she knew it; but the naughty he
lt went down at last in acquiescence
Is her wish. For her sake he would try
r 60 back to the faith of his youth. Z
fe friendship was too great for her to all
him to fai her now in any sense, howe
/ er small and there was that in
= pure, platonic regard which any WON
of might have found sweet, since he "
n what he was,- a kingly gentleman vi
of held the flower of blameless life I
7. challenged before the world.
OF The end was nearer now, and in &
Id luminous sunset silence that filled t
As room, the two watchers sat by the i
S, couch and waited for it in unspeakaI
anguish, seeing the dew of death gath
Id on the fair, fine face, its dark gloom
the lUstrous eyes, the sensitive moU
IT quiVering now and then with the pa
is would not utter. That proud a
z. quiet endurance of suffering was p
l OF the noble development of her woma
hood-one Of the less ons she had taug
1g herself in her lonely youth. Hope 6
as ham had been denied the beautiful DO
US that is the birthright of all, parental 10y
al Her father was a memory, her mother
de dream; and the slight, all-eloquent SIC
IT of her childhood was orphanage
Z