Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-08-14
For the CHRox1cLE.
WILLIS WATERS.
BY HILDA.
CHAPTER XVII.

| There is q prone anu SpeecnleSS dialect,
Such as moves men, besides, she hath pros
When she win play with reason and dis
course, ~
IT'S said, success comes with the
end" Nous veTons. IF in this case
the fattering God gains the ascend
ency, scathing opposition is impotent
to harm. Success and rightare synony-
nous, and the rejection of the latter
in this story has been palpable, and
obvious. Now the question is, if we
spend life of error, and in the end
adopt right, does it constitute success?
If we let the sunny years of prime
glide by in unarrested evil, and then
give the fragment Of wasted life to
good, can it be termed saccesss Will
the good gifts of youth, opportunity
and freedom, if thrown aside and ruin
ed in needless revelry, weigh as moth
ing against thatpotent colossus? Noas
verrons. Our story like every thing
else is about to find an end. The first
brief effort of young aspirant will
soon meet with one oftwo things-ab-
solute rejection from carping critics
or gilded success. Rejection, which
will in the future doom clambering
thoughts to darkness in the chambers
of the unexpressed; or acceptance
that will open sunny vista for life
long labor. The mandate ofthe critics
is an inevitable decree. and exquisite
thoughts and chaste Productions are
valueless without the sanction Of the
public. One cannot hope for success
without readers. The glittering tide
ofliterature is already flledwith proud,
noble barges. freighted with wealth
and merit. In its horizon are stars
whose light will live for ages, and still
there is room for more. s.'.iS
They are all at the little hotel, lie
Reaux." They had left the sunny
shores of America and sailed away to
balmy European climes to bring
health's hue to pallid cheek, and
the sparkle of life to the languid eye
They had borne her away from the
hustle of cities and. from the revel of
the giddy world down to the little old
fashioned inn on the sea-coast. Still
the fresh breeze did not kiss the pallor
from the cheek, did not bring to the j
painting lips new life. or give to the
suffering form relief. They had brought
her across the salt sea waves, had
treated her to varied and beautiful
travels to give tone and yigor to the
failing constitution, and now when the
tired head drooped listlessly, and call
ed for rest, they nestled down in this
little sea-girt haven where the lime
trees rustled in the strong, sweet wind
and the scarlet beans and hollys grew
in gorgeous profusion. lHa
Willis Waters is the victim. Natur-
ally frail, the constitution had given
away under continual exhaustion.
During Mr.. Clifford's illness she had
drawn upon her strength daily, hourly,
to yield to him acts of devotion. She
gave herself no rest until death had
chilled his heart and put at rest the
quivering mouth. She had spent the
lonely night-hours in vigils by his side,
had bent over his couch when the
brain would reel and the trembling
limbs would almost sink. Excitement
and anxiety had braced the wasting
form, and her engrossing fear for his
life had silenced all hints of her de-
clining health. After his death the
frail woman sank into rapid decline
and all remedies seemed impotent to
probe the depths of her disease. So
they had borne her away from home
scenes, into the balmy Old World
where the classic child of wisdom had
longed to roam and feast her eyes on
crumbling antiquities of the past-had
taken the feeble woman to the home
of her father, to the home of her aunt,
that she had pined and sighed for in
the yearning days of the long ago. But
it did not give to the weary creature
repose.
Ralph Ray and his fair, mourning
young bride are with her. True to
her promise, Ruth had married him
had rejected Willis warning and taken
upon her life mocking VOW She had
married Ralph without one thob oflove
in her heart for him, and already the
dainty little creature had wearied of
her bonds, and sighed to be again sun
ny Ruth Clifford. Willis had always
bitterly opposed it, and now the knowl-
edge of Ruth's unhappiness haunted
her suffering hours and made her deep
ly wretched. She had not gone to the
bridal. She would not witness such
an unhallowed sacrifice. The thought
to her ofwoman's immolating freedom
upon an unloyed altar was forbidding
and repulsive, and she exclaimed as
she saw them nestle the sweet orange
buds on the fair young brow, and saw
the cheek pale and the lips quiver in
underlined dread, such will never be
my bridal" They married and start
ed across the ocean with her, health
seeking, and she saw daily the es-
arrangement widening between them
saw that the fair young bride hid be-
meath a smiling mask utter desola-
tion,' and that the heart once so joy
Gus and hopeful was now reaping bitter
repentance. Ruth was loving and
genial, but Willis we'll knew in the
shadowed light of unrequited love she
would grow cynical and sad. That
the affection (which cultivated would
have been rich and rare) now in chill
nonchalance would at last develope
into ironical harshness. Willis pitied
her destiny. She would have saved
her, but now her case was awfully
hopeless. They had left Carter at