The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-12-28
NO. 40.
A GIRLS First Lover.

| ly do come after him. Tor seldom Is it chat 4
| girl inarries her first loye-but to none does
| she ever attach that strange intangible inter.
| est. sacred with never expressed pathos.
| which attaches to her first sweetheart. Her
| memory Of him is like the faint delicate per-
| ftme which still clings about that first Wild
rose Of summer that he gave her during the
| first tete-a tete walk that they + yer took to-
gether in the woods, How well she remefn-
bers II all 1t was the first summed" aztec
she left school. 1t was title out-of the
way summer resort where she was staying
with pa rty OF friends. and where ne chane-
ed to come, too, AMI after meeting her, llag-
cred,
| She was Il little huttered 10 lind herself
walking alone with HIM, quite by accident.
Of course; both tried TO keep up lively ana
natural conversation, and, rs cohsequ encs'
it was perfectly absurd, some what co4lstfa'n'
ed and altogether fragmentary.
Then he saw this rose, the only one npon
bush full OF buds that grew close to tae
moss-arown trunk of fallen tree Just over
the source OF tiny stream OF water tnat
wound. like tang led thread, III and OUT
among the trees. He gathered and gavo
| to her with half.sl,y, hali-laughing look
SO transparcntly conscious in its endeavos to
be unconscious: and with n remark Intended
| to be sprishtiE.
And she took it. between blush and
! smile, with swift up-looS FROM her eyes
that were busly playing hide-and-sees under
the becoming shelter OF long lsshes.
She tucked it in at the waistband Of hsf
dress, Just rs she would have dons any other
| rose.
He does not kuow-he never will an0w--
that as soon as she was aloIc III her room,
with the door locked, she drew it carefully
| from her belt and kissed it daintly, though
| with repressed passion, before she exalted 1t
! TO the position OF honor i'll her ct vase, = bit
Of pretty china, just big enough TO hold this
| one flower fifty, and in LonOr OF It filled
carefully with clear coo. watei by lier owR
| pretty fresh tngera, as rosily tipped rs those
| of Aurora in the act OF drawing aside the
curtains Of the dawn.
| What was the unspoken compact betEvesn
them that caused her, standiag before hea
glass in her simple white dress that evening.
to pose her flower shyly among the bur-
| nished waves Of her hair:
| will she ever forget how his eyes thanked
| herr Will she ever forget the night on which
| she wore it, Was there ever another night
| like that? Will there ever be again:
| For her, no. For every girl who has to
| meet her first love, yes. There will be just
one such for each girl, but never another.
| Was it the earth SHE trod onS How beau
/ tiful everything was! As if the world wa.
| Just new-matlc! The lights, the music, the
gay chatter, bright smiles, ringing laughter!
And when she danced with him she seemed
| to have wings to her feet. Then at last they
| were alone together In the cool, fragrant,
dewy darkness outside; and to be together,
| to be arm-in-arn, to hear each others voices,
| that was all they cared for. There was no
other world for them that night. They were
separated from our common earth by such
swift flowing tide of deep but unspoken de-
light. Unspoken, because young affection
| is too sacred for words. First love 10 born
| dumb. and learns speech but slowly. Deep
down i'll each heart was the rapturous con-
| seriousness OF loving and OF being beloved BY
| the other, which is worth lifetime OF III
love you'so ,s,.s.. ,.;s
! It brim.ned each heart with suftelng de-
| light. even as q fiower-cup is brimmed with
dew. The sur viii drink the dew up by
and-by, even as the World drinks up this
fountain OF innocent gladness. But the dew
has been in the flower-cup and In the girls
heart. First love. whose memory never de-
parts.
The Wild rose in her hair was withered
when she again stood before her glass, VITA
flushed cheeks and a new brightness in her
eyes. But she laid it-as carefully as
young mother might lay her tirst-born in lts
cradle-between two pages Of Tennyson,
upon poem that he had read to her the day
before. 1t rests there still. ,.,,-r
70 a careless observer, what matters
worn copy of 'rennyson, with a withered
wild rose pressed between its leaves?
But to her it is all that Is left, may be, Of
the purest and tenderest romance OF sirt's
liie-it is the first gift Of her first lover.
A SAD DE ATII By DROWNING - Charles
Bell, a young man aged about 20 years, sonof
the late Joseph Bell. dec, was drowned on
last Tuesday morning about sunrise IN cue
Hawksbill, near this place. Leaving home
' at the early hour mentioned Ii, company with
younger brother, on a hunt, theyh d gone
but few hundred yards down tue stream.
when Charles. leaving his brother on the
bank, attempted to cross on the ice, which
} broke near the middle of the stream, ptua.
cling him into the water about nine feet deep.
All efforts TO rescue himself were intlrely fu-
tile. as when he would rise and grasp the bro
| ken Ice. its strength was not sufficient to
hold his weight, bat would break off, and
again and again he struggled for the bank
only a few feet distant, till the last time when
he rose and sunk lifeless corpse. His bro
ther gave the alarm, but no assistance could
be reached till too late to save the unfortunate
+ boy. He was found few hours afterwards
by dragging the stream only few feet from
= the spot where he drowned. He was industry
: Gus and generally respected, and, we learn,
tile principal supper. of a widowed mother.
His funeral was preached yesterday By Rev.
NJ. F. Balthis, of the Methodist church.
. Page Carrier. Dec. 10th.
J, The New SUPREME COURT JUDGE OF
l. VJRGINIA.-The Virginia Legislature Friday
d elected Mr.. Edward C. Burks, Of Bedford
e county, judge OF the Supreme cour
e to fill the vacancy caused BY the death
3 of Judge Wood Bouldin. Mr.. Burks was borr
j. in the county Of Bedford on the Goth Of May
x 1921. He graduated at Washington College
q and subsequently attended the University 0
,s Virginia and graduated In the law school
le Immediately afterward he commenced tn,
II practice OF his profession In his native cour