The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-05-31

In colors soft, and bright, and free.
How few who to such paths have brought
The hopes and dreams Of early thoughtl
For God, through ways they have not
known,
viii lead his own"
A knock at the door interrupts her
seyerie,. To Mollie,s aCome in,". enters
Dinah,s comely black visage with,
HPlease, Miss, there's a gentleman in the
parlor to see you"
"That Mr.. Boody, I suppose" says
Mollie to herself with sigh. To Dinah,
every well, Dinah, I will be down
presently"
Mr.. Boody was missionary recently
arrived from India, in pursuit Of sue
cessor to the second Mrs. Boody. To
facilitate such praiseworthy designs, he
had been introduced to the whole senior
class, had become, ina measure, domes-
ticated at the Institute. From the frat;
moment Of seeing Miss Brown, however,
he had felt a strong leading of the spirit
in her direction. This leading had man
fested itself in desires for frequent con-
versations with Sister Brown on her
spiritual condition, in prolonged deten-
ton of Sister Browns hand on all occa-
sions Of arrival and departure, and in
various other ways equally disagTeeable
to the recipient. This offering of love
that was not love, seemed to Mollie q
cruel mockery in the fates. At least,
she might have had peace, when that Was
all she asked now. So her descent to the
parlor was marked by anything but fiery
impatience. -
She opened the door with an air of
weary indifference, lifted her eyes Ian
guidly to meet the oyster-like orbs of Mr..
Boody, gave great start, flushed Grim.
son, turned pale, gasped, "Why, Dick y
For this tall, manly man, with the big
tawny beard and brown face, holding her
two hands in his as if he would never let
them go again, and gazing down at her
with the old glow in his eyes was really
Dick, the veritable Dick. Coming on to
Washington on territorial business, he
had stopped at Elinor's, in Chicago.
Elinor, after some judicious sounding Of
Dicks feelings, had given him 8 sufi-
cient hint as to the probable state Of
Mollie's mind, to encourage his calling
at Wilmington.
But MolIie, of course, knew nothing Of
this. Besides, after the first surprise was
over, all the possibility of change in those
Ave years Of separation loomed up be-
tween them, casting certain .constraint
over both. And, by the perversity of
the fates, Miss Smith, another of the
teachers, was also receiving a visitor in
the parlor.
So Mollie fell to calling him Mr.. Be-
man, and talking about the weather. A
listener might have supposed the one ab-
sorbing interest in the life of each had
been the state, of the thermometer, and
that Dick had travelled two thousand
miles principally to startle Miss Brown
with this striking observation. cal
though the summer had been cool, !
| think we shall have mild, open win
| ter.D
To which Miss Brown sparklingly re-
sponded:
"We are certainly having delightful
September
Then dead pause.
Finally Dick, feeling that although
Miss Smith might; be the Worthiest OF
young women, yet his was one of the oc-
casions when he could bear to deprive
himself of her society for while, was
suddenly seized with desire to see the
beauties of Wilmington, and proposed a
walk.
The walk of walks in Wilmington is up
1.-THE Brandywine. a broad, level path,
raised up between the red waters ofthe
Brandywine or, n,one side, and on the
other a deep, dark, -fern-fringed moat
that prosaic; people wonld scaa g canal,
I suppose, follows the rivers -windings 9
mile esor two. Over It meet. large, 5old
| trees, whose interlaced branches make it
one cuntinucd7aIcove. It looks Ike pic
tpres Of wallis in Oxford, England, only
wider, and noreretired. :
| Thh mellow afternoon, when the sky
Elooked all the ,bluer, perhaps, because
| the trees were beginning to be slightly
Etinged with yellow, and when the z-1ng
Ecrickets were singing the dirge Of sum:
Emer gone, down this path slowly strolled
La couple, deep: in tender converse utterly
Fobliyi0us of ali the beauties around them.
/ orDick had managed to blunder out
ISOmetuluR aDOUt ulb lOuR lOfe loI muiiiey
and how he thought she was engaged to
Dawless, and hoW he tried to get over it,
and couldn't, and could Ehe care for a
rough cid fellow like himH
And Mollie had cried little. After
one has made up their mind to bleak
life of self denial and single blessedness,
to stumble right into bliss, is bewiidering
to say the least. But then she had cried
on Dicks shoulder, with his arm, the
strong arm that would shelter her forever
more, around her, which made it rather
comfortable distress, after all. So the
misunderstanding and perplexities were
Fall over, and two hearts formed for each
l5other had found their own at last.
L About Thanksgiving time, there was q
quiet wedding at Elinor's; and then Dick
and Mollie went out to add one more to
the New England homes in the far West.
Perhaps they we're all the happier that
time and hard experience had natured
and developed their characters, that ab-
sence had tried and strengthened their
love, had taught them how to value each
other. Perhaps things always are "for
the best" after all.
o.