The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-08-24

nature, | think, ever counterfeits al
emotion upon which the happiness of 1
whole life may depend. The fair Yam
kee girls Of our native town did no
suit me. objected to their peremp
tory manners, the strength of their re
lisious prejudices, and the awful pro
| fundity Of their learning. Pleasant a.
companion, any oRe~of them would
bave been intolerable as a sweetheart
8n vain | looked among them for the
eetyoung life chat, absorbed into my
own, should give it a purpose and an
inspiratioR, and lift me above the ener.
Yating influence of the fortune l had
chanced to inherit. Finally, absolute
WEAKNESS drove me abroad. 1t
is considered proper thing
for feunesse dore to travel and
cordially as L detested the business of
rushing over the face of the earth in
rstil-car and steamboat, I did make my
way to England. Butno further. That
agitated mass of liquid iniquity known
as the English Channel was too much
for me. declined to cross it. Not to
behold the land of Claude Lorraine
would l again trust my stomach to the
mercy of the waves. But | had not told
you that it was my intention to become
an artist. Nevertheless, such was the
case. The fancy, so natural to a
dreamy youth with a delicate constitu-
ton, had full possession of me. l loved
fair Mother Nature, and lOnged to re-
produce som thing of her beauty upon
canvas So | sketched many beauti-
ful spot on the shores of 'peridIous AL
bion, determined not to leave her until
a bridge should be built to somewhere
to protect me from the 'perils of the
sea- Occasionally l went into society;
but the prim English maidens | found
on acquaintance even more intOlerable
than the Yankee girls.
Gone morning wandered through a
small forest and enseonsed myself under
a glorious old oak tree, bent upon
sketching one of those strange relics of
a lost faith, a heap of rocks, supposed
to have been, in times past, Druid al
tar. The Druids did not inspire me,
however, for | went TO sleep, leaving
my canvas to retain its pristine purity.
Suddenly was awakened by violent
Just behind nay luxurious
leafy couch. The contestants might
have been Jews, Turks, heretics, or
any other species of heather, for not a
single word of it could understand; !;
but man must need have very dull
ears who does not comprehend the cry
of a woman who is being hurt. l
sprang up and plunged in among the
trees. Before me stood a man and a
girl, startled into silence by my un-
expected appearance. In later years,
Dalton, have travled in many climes
and among many peoples, but never
have | seen two more beautiful speci-
mems of our race than the two that con-
frOnted me. The man did not give me
much time to study his swarthy, hand
some face, for on catching sight of me
be suddenly turned and strobe in among
tRe thieket. 7-Tkegirl, however, remain
at me with her great lustrOus
eyes, not in the least disposed to
look upon me as a rescuer, but appar-
emily doubtful whether the man just ar
rived were not more dangerous than
The man just departed. l addressed
her in English, and saw at a glance that,
however ignorant might be of her Ian
guage, she at least was partially fami-
Jar with mine. Reassured by my quiet
voice, her face lost its expression of tsr-
ror, and we glided insensibly into a con-
I exerting myself to the utter
most to detain her. So bewildered was
| with her extraordinary beauty that |
felt the light would go ont of the heav-
ems if she left me. When at last she
did 90, | had won from her a promise
to meet me there again.
80 BY this time you have probably di-
vined who my wild bird of the forest.
was: a stray little waif from one of
those wandering tribes OF Ishmaelites
that civilization is so rapidly eXtermin-
ating; a dusky little fairy, if fairies
ever have jet-black hair, delicate and
graceful as a sapling, wonderfully, eX-
quisitely beautiful. The quarrel which
1 had interrupted was nothing more, it
than the violent arguments
OF q azgypsy dover who endeavored TO for
ward his suit by crushing the hand he
desired possess. Y 4 I And
- sol course I fell in love with her.
For thisyit appears, / had passed by
some of the fairest women in England
and America. All my hopes Of happi-
ness and every longing of my soul cen
tered in the little woodland nymph |
had found by the old Druid stone. And
had no doubt that [ had won her to
love me. In my besotted, idiotic infat-
uati0n | could not remember that
great impulse had been given to our ac-
quaintance by the surrender on my
part of a large sapphire that hung from
my watch-chain. That cursed cotton
mill in Massachusetts furnished such
things too literally for me to value
them, and | could not suppose that she
did. II took some time for my imagi-
nation to grasp the fact that the little
hand that passed carressingly over my
bosom was attracted thither by my
shirt studs. And yet l dare say that |
am misrepresenting her. She was so
Young and childish, and the passion for
was but the instinct of her
race.
"In my case the course of true love
ran, or appeared to run, with remarka-
bile smoothness. The sight of the
golden circlet that was to be her we'd
ding ring did not alarm her as a similar
had done on the part of her
last lover; and one day a romantic Gu
rate of the neighboring parish, whose
l had made, pronounced
us 'man and wife in the very shadow
of the old Druid oak Then, in a shoot
ing-boX amid the Scottish heather,
whittier took my bride for three short
indulged in all the luxury of
loves Young dream. Aud she too was
happy. 1t takes fully three months for
a woman. to explore all the miracles Of
finery and furniture with which the
fashion of the present day surrounds a
bride; for although / had married her
in her wild gypsy garb, London milli-
ners andupholsterers had prepared her
home. 6
alt was knowledge that broke the
charm in Eden. Well, the first cloud
overus upon the day-that l
gave up wandering over the hills with
nv gypsy bride, and having unpacked
a case of books, ventured to appear be-
fore her in the, character of a .peda-
roc,a ras INST exnlaiDiDp 10 hpr the