The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-09-21
HEPHZTBAB.
a STORY OF AN oLD-FAsHroNED LOVER.


4 STORY OF AN oLD-FAsHIoNED LOVER.
| She was an old maid and her name was
! Hephzibab.
Hephzibab! Tie parent who can be fe-
rociOuS enough to infiIct such a name on
| their offspring, ought to be spiked on the
| ragged edge of Iemorse, ground To d Jwder
in mill OF self condemnation and blown
to the four WINDS of heaven by an outraged
| progeny.
If, in the a:lier period of blasted life,
! our Hephzibab had ever been the delight
| of any male crea ure's heart there were no
| traces left on her face to record the effect
| of having been tue object of such an emo
| zion. But appearances are deceptive you
! know for there was a time i'll HaphZibadS S
! life, when the lilies bowed sweetly at her
| approach aud The roses hurriedly hid their
thorns beneath their trembling foliage. for
| ve;y shame at having such cruel ornaments
| ABOUT them, i'll her presence. Her spright-
| iy step and flashing eyes gave evidence that
| nature was not singing n lullaby to the
| pulses that gave the blush to her cheek and
lent the rapture of love to her heart !; the
tendrils of her being were budding with
vigor and beauty, warmed by the glow of
youth aud murscd by the dew of dawning
womanhood. \ nieasureless depth of love
was in her heart, but fate had yielded her
only the stingiest half measure iii which to
garner her abundance. SO the rest part of
1T to waste, and the rest-Well, the rest
! part of it disappeared somehow, and left us
Il cross old maid, whose name was Heph-
zibab, whose dimples had turned to Will
kles, and whose beauty spots had be-
come ugly warts, bristlng with coarse
hairs.
OF course their was a man at the bottom
of it.
lie was not a bad man, either; he was
one OF those phlegmatic souls who piod
along, content with little to give, aud If
more fell To linn than lIe asked for, why
surely lie couldn't help it. lie was at
tlactcd to the bright HephZibab-perhaps
hel name had something to do with it
and she, poor dear, thought he WAS the
pri ace of men. In her shy way she gaZed
up at him, aud colored his dull stoiclsm
wi h the marvellous charm of imagination.
She imagined that beneath this calm there
ragged grand, passionate soul-in chaius
the cha ius of naulinesS and honor con-
trolling wardneSs.
She had no smile of encouragement for
Others: lie was all she wanted, and lie
liked her. Oh, yes, he liked her SO well
that he sought no other girls company.
Aud So a couple of years passed and people
began TO wonder, as people will, why that
pair; did not marry. But Hephzibab
was So happy She lived and thiived upon
the memory of one little kiss and the ex-
pectation of many more somo time.
The little episode of that kiss was the
only digressiJn In their otherwise bumGrum
, intercourse and it was really an accident.
They had been to church, and were
walking home by the light of the moon, he
stupid as usual, and she, wearing glory
from his silence, con;ented to know herself
ciinging to his arm. Arriving 1T her door,
in the act of leaving her, his matter oi-iact
eye espicd that the fastening had become
uudune. AS he called her attention to it,
. the pin fell, and both stopped to recover
it their heads aud hands met, and the
next momcut they were staitled by the re-
alization that their lips had met somehow.
"How very sweet you ate, Hephzibab y
and that was all.
The next time he came she quivcred and
trembled and felt very nervous. There
was occasion for 1T. When the old
couple began to yawn aud stretch, previous
to toddhng oft to bed, he took mis- hat and
: totlt.lcd oft home, merely stopping long
enough, after they were gone, To hold her
hand and say good night y The follow
ing evening he came as usual, and this
was repeated for another season, until one
night lie said ::
''Hephzibab, good bye"
"Why, Are going to leave town p
''Ges. Eve invested i'll some land i'll the
territories. 1t is MOI probable that | shall
ever come back"
lie put on his hat and was gone. Heph
ZIbab's heart gave one awful throb and
taeu shIivcled up with its lovely luxury of
asuduess.
Aud the years passed away. taking away
father, mother. and friends, hut left Dab,
that hateful, dried up old maid" AID all
her memories EN- b itttred 5y the humiliatin
Consciousness that She haa given tie i,iu
measure of woman's love to one who had
not asked for il.
She was standing in the door Of her cot
tage one evening" the bush of twilight soft
~ falling upon the landscape. when she
suddenly found herself facing her lover of
long ago.
''HephZibab.'
s.You - she exclaimed with gasp and
snap.
YES, it's NC, Hephzibab.'
"What do you waut?'
ssIou. Hephzibab The kiss you once
gave me has haunted me through all these
Years, aud fingered near me like a sweet
strain of music. But OH woman, | want
another
Involuntarily his arms wen: ont TO her
he spoke. And not withs antiins her name,
HephziOab was ouiy a woman. Amen.
the consistency of au absent husband ia
the presence oi his slowing uife. Yes yes -
she assemed, '.he writes letters full of
the agony OF affection, but he never RENTS
me any moaey." Il can c,'nceIye OF Thai,
replied the other, ''for L know his love to
be unremittiEg."