The weekly clarion., 1879-01-08
TOO MUCH LOVE.
A CGrfOns story fr"sa Maryia d.
The Results of Reading byron

Oiuohe lily, MI. showing Wnat frddlbi
Byron may lead to. Miss L ly Duer va
young lady Of Is, and lie Of Pocc
moke City. She had only lately ''grau
uate1 with honors," which may meal
much or little, according to circumstan
ces. Young ladies from 16 to 20 gener
ally affect one style or another, accord n.
to the novels they have read most. Ms
Lily Duer adopted the stroog minded
slam bang role. She chopped her hai
off short, and parted it boy fashion Be
ing pretty girl, with large, dark eyes
this was rather becoming. She studied
! medicine aud hated men Whether she
studied medicine because she hated men,
or hated men because she studied medi
cine, is not quite clear. She took long
walks in the woods. Perhaps TO keeT
off the ahominable masculine sex, she
! fell into the pleasant little habit OF car.
rying loaded pistol with her, More
/ over, this pop gun had a cheerful way OF
/ sometimes gong off accidental like.
/ AT least that was what she claimed.
Miss Lily was overwhelmingly intel
lectual She used to sit up every night
reading books. She was passionateLy
fond of reading, her mother testified.
The sequel shows that she was passion
ate sort Of female anyhow. Her favo
rite author was Byron, whose nature is
similar to my own" she said. She was
honest 10 own it, at any rate.
She foreswore matrimonv. Most girls
do. But it was unfortunate i'll Miss L. Y
Duer's case III she had had nic,
Young man to waste her affections and
her powder on, Miss Ella Hearn might
have been alive to-day. Owing 20 the
fact that she hated men, Lily conceived
an ardent fancy for Ella. All history
testifes that the human heart must have
something to lean upon, as 1t were.
When women won't fal, in love with men.
as nature intended they tall in love with
each other At length after Lily bad
stuiied med cine, sat up nights reading
Byron, and taler, lonely walks with her
loadt pistol 10y her side for Il sufficient
period, she was in that frame of mind to
do anything romantic j Is said she put
on---in short, that she donned suit Of
masculine clothes, and cavorted about
the country at times in trousers. Her
strong mindedness seems to have de
veloped.
Her love for Miss Hearn assumed the
violent phase, 50 violent that at last 1t
annoyed Ella seriously. Lily was a
persistent III her attentions as the WId
NV Butler is in wooiug the people OF
Massachusetts,. Miss Heafn seems to
have been a natural minded young wo
man who did not lake kindly to this
sort of nonsense. Lily used to visit her
every day with queer aud extravagan.
demonstrations of affection, although she
told her again an az in to go home and
never come back. Unrequted love is
apt to become nuisance, in male or fe-
male In October the two young ladie,
took "A walk together in the woods. They
gathered tea berries. After a while they
started home, the she lover, with her little
pistol walking IN the rear.
"Ntopl" she cried suddenly to Ella.
Mis-, Hearn did not heed, but walked
on. Suddenly she heard Il report, anl
then another and another, which caused
her to stop very quickly and look behind
ner. LILY had deliberately fired at her
three times, narrowly missing her. Ella
ran to her, and knocked the pistol out of
her hand.
Did you intend to shoot me?" she
asked.
Il only intended to frighten you and
make you stop" said Lily.
After that Ella never walked in the
woods with her any more. Miss He+rn
had another young lady friend, Miss
Foster. and this fact seems to have
aroused the ungovernable jealousy of the
female lover, who would brook no rival
From sitting up nights reading Byron
she had learned what was the proper
thing to do. November 4th she sent a
note to Ella, asking her to call at her
(Lily's) house ION important business"
Ella called and the weighty concern was
a pressing request to take walk in the
woods. Next day, November 9th, the
Byronic girl marched into Miss Hearn's
house with her tiny pop-gun. She in
sisted that Ella should walk with her in
the WOO Is, declaring before Almighty
God that if she didn't go this time, she
(Lilv) would never ask her to do any
thing else as long as she lived. Still
Ella refused.
Say that you love me-" exclaimed the
tragic female. Say that you love me
better than anybody else"
Miss Hearn would not say it. Lily
turned to 60 away, in great excitement
but came blck. threw her arms around
Ella, and tried to kiss her. Ella pushed
her off, and she slipped aud fell, but she
arose again Immediately
DO YOU love me?' she asked.
No" said Ella.
Then Lily stepped back pace or two,
pointed her pistol at Elias eyes and fired,
The wounded girl fingered a month in a
state Of painful suffering, and then died.
The Coroner's jury rendered verdict
that she had died from nervous depres-
SION with a bullet in her brain. That
fact of itself was tolerably depressing
Ella at first declined to say whether
or not the shooting was intentional. Her
father asked her several times, but she
would not answer One day he put the
same question, when she turned over AMI
began to weep bitterly. A few day,
afterwards she told her father she b.
Iiev-d she was going to die, and she
wished the truth to be known. The |
she SAID, was not accidental, |
but intentional. She then narrated the |
strange story as above.
A New York Herald reporter called
On NJ IS Duer To the question whether |
the shooting was accidental, she an
swered in toploftical mannor:
81 am not a murderess, sir. Do look |
ike one?"
Her appearance was as tragic as might
have been expected in young lady whose
nature was similar to Byron's. She had |
4 striking countenance, overcast with /
sadness and melancholy" and said ''sir,
when she made remark to the reporter. |
She was an injured woman, she said. |
Sac had been misunderstood from her |
childhood up. Every trifing thing she
had done in her life had been exagger
ated.