Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-03-31

Here Willie was going to quote Carlyle at
length, but the recollected that he was
talking to girl, and modified the grand
sentences of the philosopher ending in,
Know what thou canst work at" into,
And you should do, Redolette, what
you can do best. Now if you can really
do nothing better than stitch and cook,
then that is your work But in this age
of the world you are not forced; you can
have your choice; and you must remember
that We are living in the time Of sewing
machines and scientific cooks. There is
no need of immo]ation in these depart
ments of labor. We are living in time
-" Willie hesitated in the midst OF his
eloquence, furried by little thing, very
little thing: just the touch ofhis hand by
Redolette San action softly, shyly done,
but causing him to descend from his
speech to look into her face. He paused
for moment, enchanted by the serious,
sweet gaze Of her dark eyes fixed upon
his. But he recovered himself and went
on:
"Do you know what age Of the world
you belong to, Redolette? Do you know
that you are a citizen Of Christendom?
You have no right to 60 back to an age
that you were not born in; you have no
right to marry man who belongs ex-
clusively to that age, and avail yourself
OF nothing that has occurred since in the
great march of Progress. You can. go
back if you desire it. You are free; you
live in free land. But if you do not
desire it, if you feel that there is some
thing higher in you than a life Of
drudgery, unlighted by liberty that
makes drugery divine, unlighted by love
and, oh! RedolCtte, you do not know
what you are relinquishing when you re-
linquish the possibility Of love-if you
feel stir in your pulse that beats with
what is highest and nearest true in the
time we live in,darling Redolette" (this
time the emphasis was laid with sufficient
stress to compensate for the former re-
straint,) ''then I would die thousand
deaths rather than see you met in these
woods by selfish soul, like Red Riding
hood by the wolf, and lured into thatch-
ed hut and eaten up with no ear to hear
your poor innocent cry of, oh, what big
eyes you've gotr and. 'Oh, what sharp
teeth you've gotn"
Willie was excited now. He tr1ghten-
ed Redolette. She sprang up before him
with low cry-a genuine cry of pain,
like hurt child. A sudden pallor swept
her face; the paleness as OF a woman's
pang swept her childish face.
Then Willie took her in his arms, and
called her his precious love, and soothed
her with his tenderness, as he had aroused
her with his wrath. And then and there
in the mountain solitude, witnessed only
by lonely height, and lonely wood and
lonely earth and sky, he made her make
one solemn promise.
Not the promise that his heart burned
to have her make. For what he wished
SO ardently. that nothing "before or after"
could compare in ardor with that hours
wish, was to make her promise to be his
wife. He reminded himself that lie had
no right to do this. He was young fell
low not yet graduated from college; and
after his Senior year, just commenced,
there lay before HIM course of rrofes-
sional study, and then thesestablishing Of
his professions practice, for his patri-
mony was Ivy no means commensurate
with his wants. He bad no right to ask
her yet.
He only made her make a promise
formed disinterestedly and exclusively
for her good.
By this time the sun had set. Shadows
mingled with shadows. The air gathered
that strange pure cool which seems to
| blend and at the same instant define the
precious woodland scents. The soft rustic
Of leaves, the twitter of sleepy birds, the
faint crashing sough Of ''the long rank
bent" as they entered the fields, the intin-
itesimal fine yet clear sounds Of the sum
mer night rasped not unmusically by the
tiny sharp cries and beating hum of the
insect world-these were the vocal accom-
paniments Of the homeward way, fo1
Redolette and Willie hardly spoke. Clasp
ing each others hands they went down
the rocky sleeps, and across the meadows
home.
And at the garden gate he kissed hel
goodnight" and kissed her 'good by
for on the morrow he was to leave the
mountain farm, and she would not see
him again.
Redolette fingered in the porch some
time before she entered the house. She
watched Willies figure pass down the
road, and disappear at the river turn ;the1
she thought and thought. And when she
went into the lighted room where Judge
Hunt sat in his arm chair reading thu
evening news, Aunt Rhoda, looking up from
her needle-work to greet the child will
somereproef for staying so late, let re
proachdie on her lips Such strange new
look was on Rodelette's face!
"She never was the same girl he
aunt SAID, long afterward, when this even
ing was remembered as part of the stor,
of life" never the same girl after tn,
walk to Clock Height. But I never Sc,
herr (Aunt Rhoda's grammer had grow
rusty with her druid cling life)--"I neve
see her look SO beautiful and so proud
like as she did when the judge got VI
from the chair and was agoin' to give he
a kiss. She drew back her head like
queen, and just put out her hand for hi
lips; and he stared at her, astonished
a moment, and then kissed her finger
tips. Redolette,' said he, you've beel
imprudent; you've been imprudent ayou'v
got chilled through; your hand is as col,
as ice That was just all he though
about it, but women is more keen; and