Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-10-26

years old.
Up to this time my affections had
never been placed upon anyone. l /
delighted in ladies' society, and had
known for years that the more /
associated with woman the better
and purer of heart would | be, but
rs soon as 1 slipped my beaver" to
Miss Hart / knew that | was gone
'scoon skin" During the remainder
of that year / paid several delight
full visits to Miss Lou and Mr..
Banks family. Upon more than
one occasion did think that / de-
tected a jealous pang lurking in
Jared's bosom, when snugly en-
sconced in the parlOr with Lou, but
of this thought little and cared less,
until / heard incidentally in the
that Jared and Lou
were betrOthed. This report / did
not believe, simply because did
not want to believe it. l reasoned /
thusly: Although Miss Lou. is not |
only worthy of Jared's affection, yet |
having been raised almost from |
their infancy together, ] thought |
they regarded each other in the |
light of brother and sister and, of |
course, would not and could not en-
terrain for each other a passion
foreign to this assumed relationship.
Oh, with what bitter twang was /
undeceiVed a few short months
afterwards, at least so far as Jared
was concerned, aided by his mother,
a weak and vacillating old woman,
though kind of heart, who would
have sacraticed the brightest hopes
of immortality, if necessary, in
order to secure to Jared the gratifi-
cation of his wishes and desires.
IT'S true she had been a kind god
mother to Lou, yet in the face of all
this she would dare all things, and
battle all things, which would likely
cast a thorn in Jared's pathway. 1t
had been planned by Jared and his
mother, years before this, that Lou
should be his wife, but whether at
this time they had ever consulted
her, had no means of ascertaining
at that time. AS stated, had been
"a constant visitor at Mr.. Banks for
several months, and had been
treated with marked and uniform
kindness by Lou. and Mr.. Banks,
but Enthusiastically saw that Jared
and his mother did not appreciate
my visits as formerly. They APP
peared decidedly more reserved, but
of this / cared but little. AS long
as Miss Lou. would smile at my
coming and grow, as l thought,
shade paler at my departure, felt
happy, though l had not yet told
| her of the sweet prOmptingS of an
aching heart. l loved her ardently
and devOtedly, and had several
reasons for thus loving her. The
first reason was that she was every
way worthy of being loved, the sec
Ond reason was that loved her be-
cause l wanted to, and the third one
was because 1 could not help my
self. The main question now comes
up, or rather as politicians would
say, "the previous question:" Did
she love me? A certain unerring
secret monitor within whispered,
! Yes, yes; Lou. loves you with that
unfading, unyielding, eVer-cOnstant
love which only belongs to pure
wOmanhoOd, and which has never
yet been furnished, stained and pol
| luted by its entry into mans ruder
/ form.
| | do not know that there are two
| kinds of love, neither do ] assert
| the point, yet there is as much diff
ference in the love manifested be-
! tween man and woman as there is
| between day and night, be-
tween heat and cold, between truth
and falsehOOd. Mans love is change
full and fleeting, lasting so long as
the sun shines, but fades away upon
| the first breath of suspicion. But
wOman's love, on the contrary,
clings to its choice like the tender
vine to the dishonOred oak. When
! the WOodman's axe fells the tree, as
acumberer of the ground, the tender
vine will yet Irvine its tendrils
about its fallen body, and shed its
fragrance around in proper
ton to the vehemence and
bitterness of the attack just so it is
| with woman when an attack is
made upon him upon whom she
( has cast her love. Her love and af-
| lection will follow him to the work
house, to the Jail, to the penitentia-
nv, and even to the gallOWs; and
will yet cling to the bright sheen
and golden shreds which reach far
! out into eternity itself. Isn't it so?
1t is so, and | challenge the world
to gainsay its tTuthfulness. But /
| did not intend to mOralize, | only
intended to state actual occurreces.
On Friday morning, November
18th, 1852, my mother, or rather my
step-mOther, (fOr be it known that
| ten years prior to this time, my
own, true mother had passed to a
| higher life), asked me if | would
| not like for her to bear me cOmpa-
ny up to Mr.. Banks, for, said she,
Blanks and l, are old friends, and
has often solicited me to visit him,
and if you have no objection, we
| will drive up there this evening""
| | readily consented to this arrange
ment, for in truth, l wanted to see
| Miss Lou, myself, not having had
! that pleasure for over six weeks, on
account of severe illness of a recent
date. In fact, l was hardly able to
/ sit up when my Step-mOther made
| the above proposal. On the way to
/ Mr.. Banks / was taken again very
/ i'll, and upon our arrival, / was car
ried to a comfortable room, almost
in a state of delirium. | remained
! in this semi-uncOnsciOuS state until
| late in next evening, at which time
/ felt considerably better, though
| yet unable to sit up. When awoke
! to full consciousness, | found my
ever true and faithful step-mother
watching by my bedside like
guardian angel. l turned to her
and asked the whereabouts of Miss
/ Lou. She said that the dear girl
/ had been untiring in her devotion
| to my wants ever since our arrival.
Oh, how l longed to see the "dear
girl" as my mother called her, and
/ thank her in person for all of her
| kindness and solicitude in my be-
half, and when the thanks were to
be bestowed, | much preferred the
presence of no one, not even that of
my kind step-mother. cautiously
limited my whistles to her, and she
arose promptly and said that she
would go down stairs and send the
"dear grip up to my room, where
l should have an opportunity to re-
turn all my thanks to one so emf
nently worthy to receive them as
Lou. On the landing my mother
met Lou with a pitcher of water in
her hands, when she asked my
mother if / were awake, and if SO,