Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1877-01-04


new bleak country there were none
to compare with him in my eyes and
50 l loved him. And he stayed in
Salem and saw him day after day !;
and none knew it ut first, for we stray.
ed far away into these green woods
that were just putting out their leaves
and looked for May flowers, and, later
on, for the blue violets that crept up
through the rustling dead foliage of
the past year. And at last he came to
my fathers house: but Able Chilling.
worth was old and stern, and / feared
him, and, l had no mother and so we
kept or secret-Roger and l. l fear.
ed nothing, asked nothing, in my love
drained the cup of each day dry, and
was content with its full draught of
Joy, and never dreamed, with summer
and the roses around me, of winter and
decay, and dust and ashes, until one
day when we met in the same woods
to part.
':'No tears, my little MayAower,
said Roger Vane, softly, as he held mo
with his strong, kindly arms. Il have
never seen the drops in those sweet
eyes Of thine before, and I would not
have my last sight Of them SO married.
1t is only for little space, sweetheart.
l shall come back to steal away my lit
tie Puritan maiden before the first
leaf has turned red by her fathers
door,
i" 'Why-why will you go, Roger I! I
cried, as l chung round him and ask.
ed only to hear over again what knew
quite we'll before; how Gov. Winthrop,
whose blood relation he was, had sent
him here, and now recalled him on
business of the commonwealth and
how he must obey, leaving ME only 4
little while--'a very little while,' |
made him whisper over and over and
over with my arms around his neck,
and then he pulled from his finger that
ring with its dark yellow stone and the
little bright pearls, and Slipped it
over mine.
IS 'See,' he said you shall wear this
as my pledge of love and loyalty there
is Il lock of my own hair under the
stone, and you shall give me one Of
those precious dark locks to keep and
kiss when we are parted and in two
short months l vow to exchange our
love gifts back again, here in this very
wood. my sweetest
s:He took the lock Of hair that curled
by my forehead, and took his ring,
and his own kiss sealed it on my finger.
So we turned away from each other
and started on the long paths that led
our lives apart, and never drew them
together again,--never any more
Roger Vane rode back into Boston town
and l stole sadly to my fathers house,
to mourn and wait for him, with his
ring hung round my neck, low down
by my heart.
1.-The summer crept on, and the hot
days shortened their fierce fires, and
the August haze WAS i'll the sky; the
golden rod shook out it's plumes all
along the dry, dusty road, and the rag
ged white thistle.dOwn blew here and
there. I watched for the first change
along the dark borders of the woods
for the red leaves, and for Roger; but,
one morning, woke mp and saw the
white frost gllttering on some black.
ened. dropping vines around my win
dow, and 4 broad flash Of scarlet, like
blood, dashed across the maple-trees,
and no lover came riding down the
road, or straying through the Salem
wood to find me.
"Never, never more! [ had tho
last kiss on my lips forever, for none
touched them after Roger Vane. The
leaves turned crimson, and COLDER, land
russet.brown. and withered and
dropped from the bare trees the dark
November days glowed over the land
and my lover never came. No word
had from him,-nO sign; knew not
| if he were among the living or dead
until Gideon Giles, coming home il
the early winter from weeks jour
ney to Boston, told me, as he set II
the elbow.chair of our hearth, that hi
had seen gay young Roger Vane.
"'You remember him, Mistress Els
Their! A well.favored youth, but
something light.mlnded; and yet
saw him among goodly company, com
ing out of the South church after
meeting, and with fair young lady
on his arm. lie had no eyes for any
of the worshlpers but her, and I got
no speech with him, else might have
brought back a kindly message for his
friends in Salem, and for you, Mjstres,
Esther
"lIe looked ut ME with keen, crue
glance, and remember how once hi
had crossed our path as we loitered il
the woods, Roger and l. If he search
ed for any tell tale sign in my face, Il
was in vain. I had the pride of thu
evil one who fell through pride from
heaven, and I only laughed under hi:
keen old eye.
$50 l knew that Roger Vane wa
living, and had forgotten me. l coult
have borne his death, I could hot bea
his scorn. The bitterness Of hel
crept into my soul, and taught me ha
tired Of all mankind. l shrank away
from the sight of human faces, and il
gloom and solitude ate my own hear
away with broodings upon its despair
0 my vain beauty 20 cruel dowry
that brought my falll Two soft
months of early hummer, against thu
long, dreary winters cold-th.
warmth of kisses in green, glancin1
woods, and the ice walls IF Salem Jail
the crowd on Witch's hill. thu
strangling rope, the darkness of the
death.struggle, and the trackless abys:
of eternity these things my fair face
brought me,--me, old Chillingworth'
proud daughter!''
What cry she gave! In the deaf
silence of the night 1t Glove sharp ahG
shuddering, and seemed to freeze m,
senses within me,--turn me cold ant
dumb with fear. The ghost.girl wrun}
her white hands, and flung them higl
above her head, and her shadowy fig
ure swayed and waved in the arch be
tween the curtains, as the woe almost
two centuries old shook her with tht
strength of yesterday. 49,.
II had no fear of God or man, muir
INJURED on the voice again 'and my
mouth was full Of bitter words, and
defied both in my heart and on my lips
In the glass / saw my beauty wither
ing away, as if ten years had spec
since Roger and l picked the earlier
flowers together; and yet the May
flowers bloomed only once since then
l wandered out to find them, one Apri
day, in the old place where he and
had walked; and, rs swept away thu