The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-02-08
BLOOMSBURY, PA, FRIDAY. FEBRUARY g. 1S7S

Hearts do not so easily break Women's
hearts seem oftenest made to suffer, and Mu-
riel Wallace learned to the deepest fullness,
to the highest, widest extent, what it meant
to endure that bitterness Of heart that only
sufferers know.
1t wa. only letter--a long, passionate
letter, blurred with many tear drop-a let
ter in Florienne Holm's handwriting, In
which she.poured out her agony, because
her husband was i'll unto death in which
she vaguely talked Of the sin she had done
to Muriel, and that this awful promise of
eternal separation was her punishment in
which she pleaded her great love for Carroll;
in which she piteousiy begged Muriel to
| come to her--alone in her woe, in her
| fright, in her ignorance.
And Muriel some hours afterwards stood
| by the bedside of the raving man, to learn
! from Floriennes ashen lips that it was small
pox that Carroll had.
| And | am frightened frightened to
death I've never had it, and know I'll
get it and die--I know it 7
|
her.
| Hush, you see how your cries madden
him. For his sake, be sensible. You may
not take it. l run the same risk. | have
never had it either.
Her calm voice, shaken little by the
hidden emotions she could not entire
ly control at the sight of the man she had
loved, was not entirely lost on Florenne and
she became less hysterical and better able to
give some necessary instructions to Murel /;
who at once seeing the emergency, consti-
tuted herself chief nurse.
Then came days and nights of unremitting
care and attention, when Florienne in her
hysterical fear was only less hard to man.
age than Carroll tossing in fever delirium-
days and nights, when she fought back the
grim shadow of death by her ceaseless watch
ing care and prompt, punctual ministra-
tions when every minutest instruction of
the physician was carried out in perfect de-
tail-until one winter morning her reward
came and Carroll Holm returned to reason
again. And then when Muriel went to tell
Florienne the blessed news it was to find
her hot and parched with fever so as not to
appreciate her husbands condition. Then
Muriel sat down by Florence's bed and
cried
Then she rose to the occasion. Somebody
must nurse this child and it must be her
self, and, with prayer for strength, she
went ON with her duty, to tell Carroll Holm
how it all stood-Carroll Holm, who the
last time they parted, had been her low
er.
She was calm and cheerfully smiling
when she walked up to his bedside.
"How thankful we all are, Carroll, that
you will get well now.
And he gasped her name in a tone of be-
wilderment.
y 'Mure Muriel, is it your
q Yes. l came to nurse little Florienne
e who has caught the infection. Don't talk
!, Carroll. You want quiet and rest now
And she positively forbade a furthe
d word. And then began the days of conval
of the end in the other room tor, despit
IL the double care--the desperate struggle 70
!. ife-Florienne died and was carried away
and Murel's duty was done. Brave, nobl
:, Muriol. AS truly-brave and courageous a
though she had deliberately faced can
n mons mouth.
-, All on the warm, lapguorous mild jan
II air hoated the fragrance of waxen syring
10 blossoms, for the third time since that sum
mer night, when Florienne Willis had com
,e with her enchanting beauty between Murie
Wallace and happiness.
Muriel stood in her favorite place, agains
q. a wasteria trellis, one thin hand toying wit
m the dropping purple clusters-a thin, del
10 cate woman, with no trace left of her ono
40 royal beauty with her blooming compiler
50 ion lost, and hundred deep scars on he
ne tranquil, patient face scars of the despel
,d ate battle she had waged to save two huma
r. lives and in which she so nearly died he
10 self
So changed outwardly. A homely, angu
st lar woman, yet instinct with refined graz
if which nothing could disguise and inward
n. ly, even purer, sweeter, nobler than b
st fore.
u Tonight the syringa blossoms were fairl
rioting with fragrance, and with crownir
e. thoughts in her heart, olden memories throi
,y ged around her, conjured by the magic
ed that fragrance-with all these around al
re about her, came to her, for the first time
an all those years, Carroll Holm, handsome
II. the hour he had last kissed her with
ht eager light in his eyes that deepened to pi
so as be looked on her face, ruined for his SAX
ed with a rupture in his voice as he called
her.
r. 'Muriel, Muriel Don't send me away.
We have come to go on my knees to beg you
he let me stay with you, my love, my love, Il
wife,
Is not our story done2 Think she spur
ed him ! Think you any foolish pride re
- nt up between her and happiness at least?
-, And, before the fragrance of the swC
syringas was faded, Muriel Holm had t
" fullness of her reward.
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
in MILITARY RECORD.
Draft-June Sd, 1864.
| n 'ia ligt ,F a. I