The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1877-01-27
Essie Danton's Choice.
BY LtzzIti NJ, MULhERN.
"Marty | Marty ! Marty 70

Holmesby laid down his rake and turn
ed in the direction of the farmhouse.
Essie was standing at the door, pret-
ty, blue-eyed Essie, whom the stalwari
young farmer loved better than his own
life.
Marty" she said, running down
the path to meet him. "my mother is
here, my own mother, Marty, aud / am
going to the city with her. Oh, Marty,
wait till you see her; she is so beautl-
ful, that you will wonder she could be
my mother or anybody's mother. Come
into the sitting-room; she is there"
Before he had time to speak, Marty
found himself in the sittlng-room, and
heard Esse's voice saying, "Mother,
this is Marty Marty, this is my moth
eT," and then he became conscious of a
tiny white hand being laid in his, and
Of cold yet sweet voice, saying:
"You are another friend of my little
girls; let me thank you for tie kindLess
l know you have shewn her."
AS her low, cultivated tones fell on
his ears, he knew that Essie's mother
was u lady--a lady by birth and educa,
tiOn.
Essie was like her and unlike her
like her in face and form, in her deep
blue eyes and wavy nut-bfown hair, but
their expressions were very different,
for Essie's face was sweetly, softly in
nOcent, while her mother was simply a
cold, fashionable woman, with proud,
determined air, and slight hauteur in
her manner, though then she tried to
be gracious.
Twelve years before stranger had
brought little Essie to the farm house.
He said he was her father and that
her mother was dead, that he was going
abroad, and he asked them to take care
of his little one till his return; aud the
farmer being very fond of children, and
having none but Martin, then boy of
ten, gladly took the little girl to bis
heart and home.
So the years went on, and Essie lived
in her country home till she grew to be
a slender maiden Of seventeen, and
then they received letter telling that
her mother was not dead, but that SHE
and her husband had been estranged, -,
and that he had left her, and in his an.
ger took her baby girl with hin, leav-
ing her completely alone.
The letter was not from him, for he
was dead, but from friend to whom he
had told the story; he alsO said that he
had written to Essie's mother, and that
he had no doubt she would claim her.
There was a deep pain at Martins
heart as he stood in the little sitting
room, and saw with what evident de-
light Essie spoke Of going with her
mother.
'She longs 20 be away from us, now
that brighter life opens before her,
she will soon forget us, and all the love
we have given her;" he thought bitter
ly, and then looking at her sweet, girl.
lsh face again, he felt he had wroDged
her.
"No, she would never forget the
friends of her chi!dhood; it was simply
innocent gladness at the thought of
change "
Essie raising her eyes, caught his
glance, and read it Alright.
"You think l should not show so
much joy at going, Marty ?" she said /:
"but think, 1t is only for awhile. / will
surely come back, Marty, you know l
will; do you think love you all the
less, because l wish to go with my
mother, wish to see the world she lives
in. Do you blame me for this, Martyr"
"Pardon me, Essle, l ought to have
known our little girl better than to
think that new friends would make
forget the old ones"
That evening Essie and Marty stood
beneath the silvery moonlight, the last
time, perhaps, for many years.
Pretty Essie looked sad enough now,
and Marty, well, Martyrs boyish heart
seemed breaking.
"You will not forget us entirely?" he
said; 'you will not forget me?"
"What a question. Marty / will
never forget any of you, and will al
ways remember you in particular. Mar
ty, do you think l could ever forget
yOu?"
Words of love were trembling on
Martin Holmeby's lips, but he firmly
repIessed them.
Trammel that childish heart with
'o"o oNO h'lBut ANBASbt biuu hNi WIN
promises she might weep for having
made, never, never.
She would go forth to her new life
free, and then let her make her choice.
If the old love were the strongest,
she would return to them; If nearer
love, deeper and dearer, came into her
life, no memory of the past would pre-
vent her from welcoming II gladly.
So ESsie went away, aud entered her
new life as an heiress and a beauty,
and before she had been one season in
society, she was known to be one OF
BOstOn's fairest bellies.
Oh, what a beautiful life 1t was to
Essie; nothing she had ever dreamed of
equaled this.
Lovers, such as she had read Of, WOO
ed her, men so different from those she
had known in her country home; but
the handsOmest, as we'll as most eligible
among them was Victor Dana.
Victor Dana was certainly hand
some man, and 1t was scarcely to be
wondered at, that Essie's heal was
turned by his attentions; scarcely to be
wondered at that she mlsto0k fascina-
tion for love, and never awoke TO the