The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-04-15

ana the lOve-llXnC IN 00r eyes
And every wintry cloud away
From Aprirs soft blue skies.
Many Aprils have come and gone
Since won my little wife;
As was fooled that happy morn,
She has fooled me all my life.
But, oh! such folly is wisdom,
April or May, as rule;
HaPpy's the man whom all his life
good little wife can fool.
ANTOINE, THE BLACKSMITH.
We have grand names in the Arden
mes; old Roman names. modified into
patois, toned down, as it were, to q so
Der tint, suited to the grimy trades to
which Cesar, Augustus, Antony and
Galba have betaken themselves.
Antoine, the blacksmith, was sturdy
fellow, and in spite of stoop in the
shoulders he was handsome, too, and
well made. Yet there was stiffness
in his eye that made that stoop, at
times look wicked. He had hazel
eye--light hazel, the tickle color-the
most tickle eye that shines; the eye ever
changing, ever seeking something new,
ever weary ing of what it hath, ever
greedy of enjoyment in the present,
ever ungrateful for the past, unmindful
of the future. All! and when such an
eye hath soft brown lashes round it, tits
the most dangerous eye to a woman's
peace that ever lighted up the head of
tickle man.
Poor Eulalie! She was the prettiest
girl in all the commune, but not hardy
and brown like the Ardennaises. No
touch of coarseness in her; too frail and
delicate for the rough climate and the
rough people, she looked like some pale
exotic plant brought harshly from q
greenhouse to die in the cold wind.
was very sorry when I saw her
dancing with Antoine at the village
fete; sorrier still when I met her next
day coming home from vespers, walk
ing shily BY his side.
''Now, hang the man, I said, within
myself. care there not hardy maidens
enough in the village-maidens who
would bear his fckleness as calmly as
they will next winters frost; why, then,
should he fix on this frail flowerf If he
breaths overit one frosty breath it will
die.
"Good evening, Eulalie," said,
aloud. ''It is rather late for you to be
out; the wind is fresh, the dew is falling
fast. You should 60 in, my child. You
know the doctor said you should avoid
night air."
II have my shawl, sir. thank you,"
she said, sweetly.
II can take care Of Ma amselle Eu-
lalie," said Antoine, with curious fire
in his light eyes. "Monsieur's solicit
tude is ill-placed. Bonsoir, monsieur.
We 60 to take turn by the river"
Hooked after them and sighed. Then
1 turned resolutely away.
"A plague take my dreaming fam
cies!' thought 1! "Why must always
be meddling? And a thousand of my
poor warnings would be of no avail.
tide?"
l had house near that pretty ham,
let-a sort of summer rest-whither
resorted in the fishing months, when
the river near was brimful of trout and
grayling and teeming with other fish
less dainty. And so it happened every
day, as l shouldered my basket and rod
and went forth solitary to my sport. l
saw Antoine, the blacksmith, buster at
his wooing than at his work. In the
morning met him coming to his forge,
and knew he had had speech with
Eulalie in her little garden, for the
saucy man bore flower in his hand, or
pinned daintily in his wide-awake, and
his light hazel eyes smiled mockingly
as he babe me good-morrow. Then, in
the evening, when l came home weary,
well laden with fish, saw his forge fire.
dead, and his tools flung down with q
hasty hand.
He is away in the summer woods
with Eulalie." said. and my basket
and rod grew strangely heavy.
When l met Eulalie she was all smiles
and brig Illness a roster hue on her del
icate face, softer light in her loving
blue eyes. and in her elastic step a
newer grace. Looking at her happi-
ness grew to have softer thoughts of
Antoine.
"Ihave mistaken his character" I
said; ''or else this poor girls singular
beauty can chain even his tickle fancy"
Then l schooled and chided myself
right well for my own sore thoughts.
Come now, silly one," said, '.own
to thyself that this rare beauty Of hers
SO delicate, so patrician-stirred within
thy solitary fancy some strange dream
ings. Not girl made for a peasant to
love- ran thy musings, but intended
by nature for lady. Nay, more,
Princess of the woods; too delicate, too
refined, to give her heart toone of these
clowns. If, now, mana gentleman
knowing his own mind, could have
the courage to fling aside worldly tram
All me! how the threads of q thin pur-
pose snap even at a slight touch.
Antoine, the blacksmith, danced next
night with Eulalie at the village fete.
walked home with her from vespers.
and, in the morning, went fishing!
:.All things are for the best" said.
"She is q peasant girl-the Princess
was in my fancy-and she loves
peasant. How much better and hap
pier for her than the sneers of Brussels,
or the cold contempt of an English pro-
vincial town."
So hooked trout and grayling in
glens and valleys, where q painters
soul would faint with ecstasy, and An
tome, the blacksmith, went into Loves
garden and picked nv fairest rose.
what mattered it? Philosophy and
the worlds customs deemed MS both
right: Therefore. it was better for me
to fish and take my pastime and leave
Antoine, the blacksmith, to his work
and his wooing. The last was sport to
him--crueller sport than mine: for. ike
q wicked fowler, he snared my little
bird and slew it.
When Invent back to Brussels in the
autumn I left the pair betrothed. Twas
in haste to 20; / resisted the great
Baron's entreaty to stay week with
him, tO hunt the wild boar and shoot
foxes and wildcats in the forest, and I
rejected the more noble offer Of an i'd
venturous cantab. who had brought .
paper boat upon his shoulders, and pro-
posed to row me and himself down the
rivers Lessee and Meuse, and on TO the
worlds end Il would.