The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-08-05

OllC huCW III uCE llttiIu Iudl
it was the last summer he would be
With her. Alas! what a pitifui shadow
of their first onei 1t was hard to con.
trast the ardent, handsome lover of ten
years ago with the white, silently
happy man who, when October came,
had only strength to sit and hold her
hand. and gaze with eager, loving eyes
into her face.
One day his physician met Louis on
Broadway. "Mr. CURTIN" he said.
"your friend Muller is very i'll. con.
slider his life measured by days, perhaps
hours. He has long had organic disease
of the heart. 1t is near the last"
"Does he know itp"
Eyes, he has known it long. Better
see him at once"
So Louis went at once. He found
Franz calmly making his last prepara-
tions for the great event. 81 am glad
you are come, Louis" he said; 81 was
going to send for you. See this cabinet
full of letters. l have not strength lett
to destroy them; burn them for me
when-when l am gone. This small
packet is Christine's dear little notes
bury them with me; there are ten OF
them, every one ten years old"
els that all, dear FranzP"
eyes; my will has long been made.
Except legacy to yourself all goes to
Christire-dear, dear Christine!"
"You love her yet, then, Franz?"
"W hat do you meanP / have loved
her for ages. shall love her forever.
She is the other half of my soul. In
some lives have missed her altogether
let me be thankful that she has come SO
near to me in this one."
"Do you know what you are saying,
FranzP"
"Very clearly, Louis. 1 have always
believed with the oldest philosophers
that souls were created in nairs, and
that it is permitted them in their toll
som journey to purity and heaven some.
times to meet and comfort each other.
Do you think 1 saw Christine for the
first time in your uncle's parlorP Louis,
I have fairer and grander memories OF
her than any linked to this life. l must
leave her now for little. God knows
when and where we meet again; but
He does. know; that is my hope and
consolation"
Whatever were Louis's private opin-
ions about Franz's theology, it was i'm
possible to dissent at that hour, and he
took his friends last instructions and
farewell with such gentle, solemn feel
lngs as had long been strange to his
heart.
In the afternoon Franz was driven
out to Christine's. 1t was the last
physical effort he was capable of. No
one saw the parting of those two souls.
He went with Christine's arms around
him, and her lips whispering tender,
hopeful farewells. 1t was noticed, how
ever, that after Franz's death a strange
change came over Christine-a beautiful
nobility and calmness character, and
a gentle setting of her life to the loftiest
aims.
Louis said she had been wonderfully
moved by the papers Franz left. The
ten letters she had written during the
spring-time of their love went to the
grave with him, but the rest were OF
such an extraordinary nature that Louis
could not refrain from showing them TO
his cousin, and then at her request leav-
ing them for her to dispose of. They
were indeed letters written to herself
under every circumstance of life, and
directed to every place in which she
had sojourned. In all of them she was
addressed as Beloved Wife of my
Soul" and in this way the poor fellow
had consoled his breaking, longing
heart.
To some of them he had written i'm
aSinary answers, but as these all re-
ferred to finane ial secret known only
to the parties concerned in Christine s
and his own sacrifice, 1T was proof posi-
tive that he had written only for his
own comfort. But it was perhaps well
they fell into Christinc's hands; she
could not but be better woman for
reading the simple records of strife
which set perfect unselfishness and
childlike submission as the goal OF its
duties.
Seven years after Franz's death Chris.
tine and her daughter died together
of the Roman fever, and James Barker
Clarke junior was left sole inheritor ol
Franz's wealth.
"a German dreamerw
All, well, there are dreamers, and
dreamerS. And perchance he that seeks
fame, and he that seeks gold, and he
that seeks power, may all alike, when
this shadowy existence is over, look
back upon life "as a dream when one
awaketh. ."-Harper'S Weekly.