Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1876-03-18


He read eagerly on The afternoon
waned slowly, and the cabin n-boy lit the
swinging lamp that hung by its brass
chains Just beyond lIm, but his master
neither moved nOrzaffred. Late at night
the book was finisheA lie turned once
more 70 the dedicatIoas and read slowly,
and lloud,-
"TO Ny HUsBAND--sar BEST COUNSEL
LOE, Ny TRUE44 GUIDE, AND
BY DEAREsz FRIEND,
/ offer this. the fruil9f the happy hours
spent by his side"
"And this Is the wdnan once said |
could never lOVe.'' ne said musinsly.-
'.This Is her whose ffst fancy FOR me ]
smiled at and cruslled. s-jh Katiel you
are well avenged, fG Il snow, too late,
how happy we two Aight have been to-
Sether. am lonely, Katie darling, and
you are far away and eare nothing more
for me o. ~ tLa- sd bless you, tho
-. =. s,s,Fsye 8 Z, ~,
him on that last night, from small lock-
ct at his watch chain, pressed il to his
lips, 9nd after gazing long and earnestly
at the noble portrait of Katharine, which
formed the frOntispiece TO her book, kiss
ed the high forehead and sweet lips, as
he had done a thousand times before, and
burying his face in his hands, listened TO
the low swelling of the waves that came
up against the ships side, till quiet tears
came stealing down upon the withered
flowers.
How strangely are the events of life
ordered, On that same night Katharine
knelt i'm bitter anguish by the death Of
her young husband. Not a thought of
that early love was in her heart-all was
swallowed up in the one bitter thought
that the sacred tie which had bound them
together was to be so suddenly broken.
''Oh, let me die too!' she exclaimed,
as her tears fell fast upon his dark hair.
81 looked forward to long and happy
life with you. l cannot let you gOi | can
not stay here without you.'
1--WE shall meet again, my wife, my
Katharine was the faint reply. Then
the cold lips met her own for the last
time, and when that long, silent embrace
ended, the three years blessed compan-
iOnship with a congenial soul were over,
and Katie was a widow.
Chapter III.
Within her study katharine sat and
wrote. The last page of her book Was
finished, with few rapid words, and
flinging down her Isn with 4 smile of
triumph, she turned 4 to receive the
con ngratulatiOn of a dear friend. The
room was empty and silent; only the no
bic face of her dead husband looked down
upon her from the walls, with a glance
of tenderness. The ready tears came to
her eyes as she gaZed upon it. for two
long years that had passed since that un-
happy night, had not caused her to for
get him. She leaned from the easement,
plucked a few roses and twined them
careleSsly in her curls, and then slipping
out on the lawn, strOlled slowly towards
the garden.
Five minutes after, an eager caller fol-
lowed her servants directions, and came
rapidly on her track. She was leaning
over broken Michigan rose, busily en-
gagged in tying it again to its supporting
frame, when he stood by her side, and
exclaimed
''Katie!''
She started nervously, dropped the
plant, and stood up beside him. One
quick glance assured her; it was the same
beautiful face thathad been the star of
her young life-the same face that had
haunted so many of her waking and
sleeping dreams. But no longer cold or
careless. The deep blue eyes beamed up
on her with an expression not to be mis-
understood, and, fdlteflpg and biushing,
the young widow GO sIsIs izcr s4slIlli, and
murmured some conflFseu words of well
come to her early lover. lie took the lit
tie hand, and seeing the brilliant there,
which had never left her finger in all
those long years, raised it to his lips, and
then gathering her tenderly TO his breast.
''katie," he said, in deep, rich voice,
''dO not shrink away from me now. God
knows l have suffered enough for my fol-
ly. 1 never knew L loved you, till it was
too late-till You were the wife of an
other. l know how you loved him. l
have seen it in every thing from your
pen, and L do not ask you to forget him,
but 10 love me, Katie darling,-tO let me
brighten your life as he did. Katie, Will
you be my wife?''
She hid her blushing face upon his
shoulder.
HDo you love me, Katie ?'' he whispered.
''Ah - she answered, uncOnsciOusiy
using the very words that had moved him
so in the pages Of her first book, ''an
early love, though vain, can never, never
be forgotten"
They were married ere long and the
last days of Katharine are happy rs her
first. The captain has not vet relinquish-
ed the command OF the ship, Snow Flake,
for Katharine is with him wherever he
goes, and in the pleasant cabin she sits
and writes hour after hour, while the
vessel slides along. Her sweet voice and
gentle hands bring relief 10 every sick
weary sailor, and there is not one of those
''hearts of OAK" who would not lay down
his life in her defence. She comes upon
the deck, ''to take" as she laughingly
says, cher lesson in the mysteries Of star
boIrd, larbOard," :" aud every manly face
brightens. She stands like an angel by
the deathbed of the sick and dying, and
cheats the weary hours of their pain.
She wins the unfailing applause of the
public by the earnest words she pens,
and the heart of her husband rejOices in
her, his best and dearest treasure.
\ happy life is hers upon the wide
ocean. o noble sailors, to whom l have
penued this story, give one round of hear
" cheers for Katharine, the star of the
good ship Snow Flake, and pray that
your own true wives may be like her.
Am AND PrRPosE.-It is sad to con-
an aimless and purpOseless eXis-
youth gliding by, wasting
precious opportunities, no aim, no object