The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-04-18
to the recitation bench. "I shall be
sixteen the fifth of next month"

"Sixteenl And what do you know ?"
Redolette laughed. "I know that. Z"
Willie knew that too. "Sweet sixteen
sweetest sixteen !" he said in his
heart.
He asked her, gravely, "Where have
you been at school?"
"I went for some time to DR.. ks
class at z, but have not been the
last three terms. Judge Hunt does not
believe in schooling for girls. Just now
am taking lessons in housekeeping of
my aunt. stitch shirt bosoms every
day-four threads OF linen forward and
two threads back, the regular old. fash
ioned way. I sew and cook and bake. +"
"Bake |" repeated Willie, Indignantly.
"Or sometimes I fry. 1t depends
upon whether tits doughnuts or bread. 1
would rather fry than bake; it is more
exciting"
II should think 80, indeed. Why,
Redolette, these are the tortures of the
Inquisition for you. Fry and bake |!
They might as well roast you Mt the
stake. Of course these things have to
be done. We must have shirt bosoms
and bread, and it is right that you should
learn how to do them, or how to have
them done; but-spend your life at such
tasks The idea is absurd. We might
as we'll harness doves to drays, or burn
rose-buds in our CRATES. Every work
has it's own workers. My dear child,
there are two rules for practical life
| first the greater must not be sacrificed
to the less, and second" Here Willie
was going to quote Carlyle at length,
but he recollected that he was talking to
girl, and he modified the grand SEN
tences 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 cook, then that is
your work. But in this age of the world
you are not forced; you can have choice;
and you must remember that we are liv-
ing in the time of sewing machines and
scientific cooks. There is no need of
immolation in those departments of Ia
Dor. We are living in time" Willie
hesitated in the midst of his eloquence,
hurried by a little thing, very little
thing; just the touch of his hand by
Redolette's-an action softly, shyly
one, but causing him to descend from
bis 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 him.
self and went on: "Do you know what
age of the world you belong to. Redo
lette? You have no right to go back to
an age that you were not born in; you
have no right to marry man who be-
longs exclusively 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 something in you higher than q
life of drudgery, unighted by liberty
that makes drudgery divine unlighted
by love-and oh Redolette, you do not
know what you are relinqrlishing when
you relinquish the possibility of Love
with what is highest and nearest true in
the time we live in, darling Redolette u
(this time the emphasis was lald with
sufficient stress to compensate for the
former restraint), then would die a
thousand deaths rather than see you
met in these woods by selfish soul,
like Red Riding-hood by the wolf, and
lured into a thatched hut, and eaten
up, with no ear to hear your poor inno-
cent cry of Oh. what big eyes you've
got and, 'Oh, what sharp teeth you've
got j"
Willie was excited now. He fright
ened 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
w0man'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 OF
after could compare in ardor with that
hours wish, was to make her promise to
be his wife. He reminded himself that
he had no right to do this. He was a
young fellow not yet graduated from
college; and after his senior year, Just
commenced, there lay before him a
course of professional study, and then
the establishing of his profession s prac-
tice, for his patrimony was by no means
commensurate with his wants. He had
no right to ask her yet.
He only made her grant 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 infnitesimal fine yet clear
sounds of the summer night rasped not
unmusically by the tiny sharp cries and
beating hum of the insect world-these
were the vocal accompaniments of the
homeward way, for Redolette and Willie
hardly spoke. Clasping each others
hands they went down the rocky sleeps,
and across the meadows home.
And at the garden gate he kissed hei
goodnight " and kissed her "good
by" for on the morrow he was to leave
the mountain farm, and she would moi
see him again.
Redolette fingered in the porch some
time before she entered the house. She
watched Willie's figure pass down the
road, and disappear at the river turn
then she thought and thought. Ant
when she went into the lighted room
where Judge Hunt sat in his armchair
reading the evening news, Aunt Rhoda
looking up from her needle-work to gree