The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-06-10

cradle Of her slesping child. &c Was no
sight OF sound, though the birds were
singing their noon lullabiss.
It was q perfume, strong, penetrating
and familiar how more familiar than.
anything else there even while unrecog-
nized She stood and breathed it q mo-.
ment, then bent and looked seaIchingly
in the grass. Itswas gay with flowers
Of every hue, and set. thickly among
them, and looking over their heads, were
stalks Of pennyroyal, the dear old New
England herb, studded all along the
branching stems with tiny blue bios
SONS. III 81: f. s. IS !.
Picture after picture started up. The
large, old fashioned mansion house, with
its pleasant verandas, its fields and gar
dens and woods, appeared, all its twit-
tering swallows circling round; the boil
ing spring bubbling up under a birch
tree in the field; the we'll, with its curb,
pole aud bucket, messy and dank, in the
midst of the chips trewn backyard shin
| ing tin milk cans drying on sunny
bench outside the back door; lace cur
tains waving in the drawing room win
dows,and transparent muslin curtains flut-
tering and putting out from the chambers
above. A blue smoke curled up from
the chimney Of the kitchen, where the
floor was SO white, and the bird s.eye
maple ironing table turned back on hing
es and left great chair for ell but IRON
ing days. The town, but mile distant,
looked over an intervening hill, and the
primeval forest hung dark as a thunder
cloud close at the other hand. It was the
best Of the city with the best Of the
country. 49,. ,'1a.3t'a ;8t.sE'5
She had gone into the woods with her
brother jamie. She had coaxed him to
take her, and Jamie never refused her
anything. How good he was to her that
day, lifting her over the wet places,
giving her all the little yellow vio1ets he
found, holding her up to look into BIRDS
nest while the mother bird chirped dis
tressfully from near tree, and telling
her such wonderful things of birds and
trees and flowers that he had learned
from books. fsa Pas
Picture followed picture of some
bright, Others mournful, many of them
interviewer with the simple herb which
she held clasped to her breast with un-
conscious hands.
There was John. With dreamy smile
on her lips and her unseeing eyes fixed,
her fancy saw him grow up through ali
her rememberances Of HIM: first, Jamie's
dearest friend and playfellow; later,
friend, too and forever her friend, An
earnest, good boy, and an earnest good
man-as firm as q rock in principles and
character, and with something that might
remind one OF the rock in his form and
face, in the square broad shoulders, the
wide forehead, and the firm mouth that
was never to ready to smile and never had
too much to say. He was gentle, too.
From the time when, in her seventh year,
he lifted her, all wet and trembling, out
Of the brook into which she had fallen.
and carried her home in his arms, to their
interview, when she had laughinglv
turned aside the declaration of love that
for the hundredth time he had attempted
to make, and left him with that hurt vet
patient look which she had SO often
caused his face to assume, in all that
time not a hasty or unkind word had he
spoken to her, and never once had he
Neglected a wish of hers orfseemed to re-
sent, even in his own heart her careless
coquetry. This love had begun on the
day when, halt drowned and wholly ter
r1fied, she had chung round his neck and
sobbed out her gratitude to him fg
aOh, John how I do love you for COM
ing up just now The water was choking
me. Iwish you would always stay close
to me just as long as live.' And John
had responded, with his cheek blushing
warm against her chilly wet one: ssI'll
never fail you when you want me, Pansey.' 2
And he never had failed her. "A bell
rang. Was it the bell of the school,
house hidden behind the trees, or of one
Of the many churches in town beyond
the hllls It rang 30 loudly and sounded
80 near that 1t broke, through her reverie.
Her mind came back to her eyes, and
looked about, receiving q shock that al
most blinded her. For all the landscape
seemed in q whlrl, and her visions reeled
and fell like city over an earthquake.
The slim birch trees thickened to dense
chestnuts; the branches Of the pines ran
up the trunks as an umbrella runs up In
opening, and set themselves in, q tuft
high in the AIR: the wooden house with
its long verandas changed to palace
with sculptured stone balconies and
crowned with the airy arches ola grand
loggi0; and where moment before the
savage woods had climbed the hillside
white food Of water came falling down
in f0amy plunges, sprinkling the leaning
flowers and the masks and the cupids as
it fell. 81. .s s. .,.5 s. &. 81
She saw the splendor Of it all, and re-
membered . century old temptation. 20
clearly that it seemed to be newly whis-
pered IN her ear: All this will I give
thee i, falling down, thou wilt worship
me-" is.+ss s.s.i3s 81 49, .s, /. 35#s3
One bright, sweeping glance over the
whole; then gathering up her long skirts,
she went swiftly toward the house. The
first breakfast bell had ceased ringing,
and the other, would ring in fifteen min
utes. Reaching the house, she was told
that . gentleman was waiting In the sason
for her. 5, so 81 $500
"What an hour for 8 visit I" abe thought,
Internationally, as she went trailing thro'
the empty rooms to the last, where 9 tall
broad should man stood at q window