The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-06-05

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GIRL OF GOOD ADnRrs
and fine appearance. She is OF course
somewhat Sunburnt. with rough hands
and large feet, having been accustomed
10 labor in the fields for her daily
bread. She is very iliiterate. never
having attended school a day in her
life. She a neither read nor write.
Her ncighbors ali say she is a clever,
Nlrtuous girl, which is no doubt very
gratifying 70 her father Her brother.
two years her senior, of whom she saws
she has a faint recollection. is a Young
man of fair education. and is now en-
gagged IN teaching school in Georgia.
Ter father, Mr. Holland, is "A practi-
eng lawyer and a man of education
ami refinement. He has been legally
divorced from his first wife, and is
now married and bias d family.
~
No. In Ndd}emarch, George Eliot
says: Marriage, which has been the
bourne OF 50 many narratives, is still
"a great beginning, as It was to Adam
land Eve, who kept their honeymoon
''in Eden, hut bad their first little n
"among the thorns and thistles of the
wilderness. 1t is still the beginning
"of the home epic-the gradual con
"luest, or irremediabie loss. of that
complete union which makes the adj
"yancing years a climax. aud 9 the
harvest Of sweet memories in COM
mon. Some set out, like crusaders Of
'o.i, with a glorious equipment of
hope and enthusiasm, and GET broken
ny the way. wanting patience with
each other anu the world = There
cannot be two such beginnings. There
was more than one Crusade. but Meth
er Knight nor Paynim was killed twice.
Had Adam found it practicable to mar
ry again, Eve would still have been his
No l. There is one first born. as
there is 4 first marriage. Even
Adam, however, could not marry a
second time. unless he had married the
first time. In this happy sense, No. /,
as regards No. 2, is a means to an end.
This proud distinction must No. 1 en-
JOY. None "a precede those who
have no predecessor. There is moth
ing earlier than the beginning. What
ever the number OF her successors, No.
l has the satisfaction Of knowing that
she IS what no other woman has been.
and no other woman can be. This is
not the only gain, or loss.
In the case of No. | there are no
comparisons. She is the standard by
urI,Inl ~ Jn,o. cIoII 10 ,,noo..aJ rrJ.
are no ghosts OF darker eyes. or roster
cheeks, or statelier forms to rise up in
the silent watches of the night. There
is no suspicion that loving words or
acts have done duty before, and are
now warmed over as a fresh dish for a
love-feast. OF course both No.
| and He have had their little likings,
and have worn Dan Cupid's 1owery
letters: but not as husband and wife.
For him, as for her, there has been but
one experience of the eager anticipa-
ton Of the betrothal, the anxious plan
for the future, the gathering of
kinsfolk and friends, the merry peal
Of the bells, the mellow gladness
Of the organ, the walking along the
aisle as IN a dream, the sur
pliced priest, the emblematic ring, the
~plighting OF troth and the
benediction. Once only have
hey known what it is, the honeymoon
oeing over, t find themselves. like
David Copperfeld and Dora, s'out of
employment in respect of the deli
'cious old occupation of making
while he thinks how unaccount-
.ble it is not to be obliged to 90 out
0 see her. nor to have n occasion to
orment himself about her, nor to have
Q write 10 her, nor to be scheming and
opportunities Of being alone
With her; and both think how queer it
that they are together as q matter of
curse, nobody's business any more, no
ne to please but one another, one
to please for life. Once alone
it permitted to experience, in this
Tay, the strangeness and novelty of
larriage. 1t cannot come again, in
he same way, any more han one can =
e born twice, or have the bliss more :
IAN once Ct putting on a long frock :
)r the first time, or Of going to the :
party, or Of receiving the first of :
r of a hand, with CT without a heart.
No. l has no reasan to be en- :
of her possible sequents. They {
be more or less, but they cannot :
. precisely what she is.