Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-07-06

And sea, 49,. .s--.a
Goes youth in earnest strife,
For gold;
Till old
There cometh manhood's later lie
Ofcare -
And wear,
With hair
All white, and full Of ripened years /;
He signs, e,} '.1
Or cries, .,.
Then dies.
So ends lite's tolls and tears.
WAITING FOR AN ANSWER.
From Cassells Magazine.
My story! My life! oh. it has
been uneventful ;, too simple in its in
cidents. could tell you the sorrows
of others, but my own-wcll, well!' as
you will. You shall hear The wound
has never healed, and if put my hand
above it, the place still throbs, even as
it will beat and ache till kindly nature
says to me, ''Sleep, poor weary one.
and rest And then peacefully, trust
ingly, and with simple hope of for
giveness, may sleep that long sleep
which they say SO tiippantly has no
waking, but which has a waking, as
every lesson which we learn in life
persists in teaching us.
You will smile, perhaps, when | tell
you that was once whatpeople called
pretty--that this pale.hued face was
once plumpy and rosy, these sad eyes
bright, and this gray scant hair golden
brown, long, and flowing. But why
should think you would smile! Do
not know that you must have seen the
gay young plant putting out its tender
leaves in spring. growing green and
luxuriant Of foliage in summer. ripe
and ruddy in autumn, and gray. bent,
and withered in age! And should be
pitied because have but followed in
the way of nature! Surely not. 1t is
for that ask your sympathy, but for
the blight that fell upon the young
plant. and scared and scratched it so
that it seemed for months that it would
die; but it lived. us I have fixed to tell
iou this.
Do YOU know that wondrous feeling
which comes in the early year. and
that strange sense of keen delight.
that elasticity of spirit, when, full of
youth and hope, the very tears of JOY.
Gus sensibility start to the eyes us you
wander amidst the trees and flowers in
spring l remember how felt, oh, SO
well-even though it is now forty
yeas ago, and l was twenty.
Jack and were engaged. 1t was all
such Il simple, homely affair. We had
known one another for years-the
children of eighboring farmers. Jack
Il still call him by the simple old pet
name of those days-Jack had been
away ut good school. and being
bright and shrewd and clever. he had
won his way on, taking to engineering
instead of his fathers farm life and
now it had come to this that he had
been staying at home for 4 month pre-.
vious to going out to good appointment
in Melbourne.
That month in spring, how it pass
ed! We had met again and again, and
in his honest. manly way. he had ask
ed me to be his wife.
.:You know, Grace. that I have al
ways loved you,'' he said; land, now
have hopes and prospects, it cannot
be wrong to ask you for your promise. y
We were walking by the riverside
rs he said this, and how we'll can pic
ture it all-the soft gliding water
mirroring the trees on the opposite
bank. the young green buds just break
ing from their cases, and, above all.
the soft, tender blue of the spring sky
the blue, he had told me, that was
like my eyes.
':DO you want me to promise,
Jack 90 l said, simply, rs l looked up
in his face.
':No, darling am satisfied" he
cried, as his strong arms held me to
his broad breast, and that was all. No
oaths could have bound me more tight
ly to him. felt that was his wife
when he should come to claim me.
We were late that evening, and en-
tered the house shyly. for there had
been so much to talk of and plan. In
Il months time Jack was to sail for
Melbourne then he WAS to work very
hard for three years, and come and
fetch me to be his wife. 5
That month glfded by and the last
day had come. 1t was, us told. spring
time-joyous spring.time, with the
hawthOrn's snowy blossoms. the apple
trees pink, and the pear trees pearly
with their myriads of flowers, Every
meadow l passed was starred with
golden buttercups, and from every
spray the birds trilled or jerked forth
their merry songs Of hope and love.
could not feel sad even though I
was going to meet Jack for the last
walk before he went away but as l
said, mingled with feelings of ecstacy
there was tearfulness of eye, and my
breath would come at times with a sob.
He was by the stile, waiting for me
the stile down by the long mead, half
way between the two farms,-a and as
he took my hands in his, we neither
of us spoke, but stood gazing away
over woodlawn and meadow, all clad
in their wondrous beauty, and listened
to the birds. Now it was the soft,
tender COO of the stock dove from the
wood, now the jerked out twittering
song of the linnetsl; them soft and
mellow, from the thick Indigenous
floated toward us the tluty notes of the
blackbird. while far on high trilled
away the larks, singing one against
another to t1ieir mates sitting on the
tall grass of the golden meads.
We could not talk, our hearts were
too full, for Jack was to be off at day.
break next morning. But there was
no need for Words We loved each
other in the simple. nature-taught
way that has been since the world be.
gan, and we knew that every joyous
song around that thrilled upon our
ears meant love, and even in our sor.
row we were happy.
"Only three years, darling Jack
whispered to me, "and then
The tears rose to my eyes as I tried
TO answer him, but I could not speak a
word,
''And you will let me find long let
ter when I get there?'' he said ten
derby. a. 1E z
eyes, Jack, Ifpromise, . l. said, and
then it was time to return for the
hours had glided by how, we could
no tell
Jack spent the evening with us al
IN 1nEk h,,,., sof1