Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1876-11-16
AGIRL.s FTRsT Low


Others may eome-~after 4 re-
usually do come after him, Tclnay
it that girl ever marries heI'not
but to none does she ever
strange intangibIe interest. aiee
never expressed sDath0s, wshStl,H
to her first sweetheart. Herslan-
him is like the faint, deliecon-
,which stiu clings about thFfble
rose Of sumner tt at he gaTelark
the first tete-o-tete walk thaa tel
took together in the woods
she remembers It Ill 1t w and
summer after she left sehoolw.
little out Of the way summer two
she was staying With a parts sta
and where he chaueed to goulit g
after meeting her, fingered. qind
She was little fluttered to ew,
walking alone " It'll him, qusr
dent, OF course, and the
lively and natlr ttYou
consequence st-rate to prac-
somewhat cons 3 o chance in the
fragmentary. bundled carriagess
Then he saw dark-lantern and
bush full Ofele, and l can spin
mOss-grown e
over the sousn't spin away the
that wound maids on the prone
out amona he other. tsYou lock
gave it tok some goblin from the
ing look-i1th your dark-lantern
its endeaYa those noiseless wheels
remark iIand arms spread out
And she toind.''
smile, with
were busily plal fast asleep long
the becoming shp' he returned ir-
She tucked it IL ack, the match
her dress, Just as g TO be put on
any other rose, but !, hayean aFT-
not by anv sudden moY1nd sighs
it of its simple circle of'rs. Of the
He does not llnow-he frld ike
that as soon as she was snd ITS
room, with the door locked aat
carefully from her belt and,s,
daintily, though with repressed
before she exalted it to the positIoas
honor in her pet vase, bit of bJO1tte1t
Just big enough to hold this ole fiOwe.
fitlv, and in honor of it filed carefully
with clear cool water by her own pretty
fresh fingers, as rosily tipped as those OF
Aurora in the act of drawing aside the
curtains of the dawn.
What was the unspoken compact be
tween them that caused her, standing De-
fore her glass in her simple white dress
that same evening, to pose the flower shy
ly among the FURNISHED waves of her
hair?
viii she ever forget how his eyes thank
ed her? VIII she ever forget the night
on which she wore it? Was there ever
another night like that? VIII there eV-
er be again?
For her, no. For every other girl who
has yet to meet her first lover, yes. There
will be just one such for each girl, but
never another.
Was it the earth she trod on! How
| beautiful everything wasi As If the
world were just new made! 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 to-
| gether in the cool, fragrant, dewy dark
/ ness outside: and to be together, arm in
arm, 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
a swift flowing tide of deep but unspOken
delight. Unspoken, because young atfec-
ton is too sacred for words First love
is born dumb, and learns speech bat
slowly. Deep down in each heart was
the rapturous consciousness of loving and
being loved by the other which is worth
a lifetime of 81 love yous. -
| 1t brimmed each heart with a sufficing
delight, even as a flower cup is brimmed
/ with dew. The sun will drink the dew
| up by and by, even as the world will dry
But the dew has been in the flower cup
and in the girls hearb-FirstL Love, whose
memory never departs.
The wild rose in her hair was Withered
when she again stood before her glass,
with flushed cheeks and a new brightness
in her eyes. But she laid it--as carefully
as young mother might lay her first
born in its cradle-between two pages OF
Tennyson, upon poem that he had read
to her the day before. Itrests there still
: To a careless observer, what matters {
worn copy of Tennyson with 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 {
girls life: it is the first gift of her frs
Iover