The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-07-09
BIS sToHY.

heavily upon tbs people Of this nl-fatsd
town, where for so long fever and dis
ease, bred Of foul smells and bad Fenti-
lafion and drainage. aggravated BY pri-
vation-for nearly all the mills have
stopped work on account of a strike
among the employes-haye held sway.
l write hopefully; and well / may for.
together with the Joy of knowing that
the woe about me is abating, into my
own life has dawned an overwhelming
and unlocked for radiance. i Will tell
how it has enme about.
As one morning, q month ago, i went
my rounds. in one Of the hospital wards,
bending over . patient, saw a new
nurse.
/ watched her a moment unseen, when
suddenly, as she slightly turned her
head, l recognized one whom l had not
seen for five years. Notwithstanding
the stiff regulation dress. and the close
cap which confined the hair. / knew her
Tor WIS il not a face which the more
/ Lad tried TO forget. the more it had
remained engraved Oh the Utmost tab
lets II my heart. l had seer it first
wien a dear friend had persuaded me
to give myself a short rest to recruit, at
his country home. the health which my
arduous duties had impaired. / went.
promising to remain q month. II moth
ing urgent recalled me. l found an
ideal home, such as one reads of in
books. situated in q spot nature must
have created with q smile upon her
face.
The hostess, a gentle. gray-haired
lady. made me cordially welcome-"A'
friend of her sorfs was as her own."'
she said. There was another inmate
Of my friends home-his young cousin.
A gay. radiant creature, with a mu-
sic as Of ripping brooklets in her mer-
ry voice, and a face full of fun and
laughter. but without a particle of earn
estness underlying its varied express
sions. Icould see she shrank from me
at Jul first meeting, and l learned the
reason. l was a cripple, and she was
n TO whose exuberant health. and
beauty-loying nature, any deformity or
pulsion. But as we grew better ac-
quainted, as the passing days opened
out to us each others characters, her
manner towards me changed. Though
she suspected 1t not, the change was a
dangerous one TO me. l had thought
her incapable Of any seriousness OF
feeling; now / found my mistake. |
had thought her specifically fair, but |
soon came to find beauty in her girlish
face. surprising that Of any other l hal
ever seen.
The time few by until the day camo
on which / had decided to go, and il
was well that 1t was SO; for I knew then
that, almost unconsciously, an all-ab.
eorbing love had been growing up in
my heart for the beautiful girl who was
no more q fitting mate for one like me.
than q dainty humming-bird would he
for a grim, sombre raven
Not for such as she was q work-day
life like mine-even had / not been Us
I was-different from my fellows
cripple.
So I went away, thanking my kind
entertainers and binding with cords OF
iron. my heart, which throbbed like .
wild thing. when at parting she laid her
little hand In mine and said she was
sorry I was going.
Sorry-and /. who was more than
sorry. could only utter the merest com.
~monplaces.
To return to where I broke away into
reminiscences-
As l stood watching her. she turned
and came towards me. i was not mis-
taken-enough graver and paler than
Of old, before me stood she who was al
ways in my thoughts. So ! addressed
her now.
'Miss Carleton. how can it be posi-
BILE that you are here. risking your life
In this fevered atmospheric
She gave me her hand quietly. as 81
It had been but yesterday that we
parted.
~ have been in the midst Of the
worst Of It." she said. '.for I came 70
D." (nnming . town o few miller
distant)-"six months ago. There /
have been since. until yesterday. ! was
sent here to take the place of a nurse
who has been taken sick"
But your aunt, where is she?" l
asked, land my friend, your cousinp
| have had no word from him for q lon5
limo.'
An expression of sadness clouded her
face.
Ibid you not know" shc exclaimed,
THAT both my dear aunt and my noble
young cousin-all l had in the world to
love and be loved by-were taken from
mo within one short month? On, it
was hard! l was almost beside myself
with grief. Then 1 read of tho suffer-
ing here, and the need of nurses. l
was alone in tho wcrld-no circle would
be broken by my loss-an / thought,
perhaps, in hard work l could be ablo
to drown my sorrows. So | came"
AS she spoke l gazed with amaze
ment ut tho brave woman before me
(or. though young in years. .girl' she
could be called no longer).
"The first month l took the fever
she continued, ''but my perfect health
brought me through quickly"
Truly the ways of Providence arc
mysterious! How little l ever thought
that l should meet Vera Carleton in
such q manner and place.
After that l saw her daily; SAW her
kneeling in prayer by the dying, or
Willing away the weary hours of CON
valescence by her beautiful, cheering
presence.
A month passed. 1t was cooler wealth.
er now. and the fever was ut an end.
The time had come when my services
were no longer indispensable, and l
could return to my home in London. I
called to bid Miss Carleton goodbye.
/ found her alone. We talked awhile.
md suddenly, although my reason told
me it was madness, impelled by an in
ward prompting l could not resist, ]
disclosed to my listener the love which
had been hidden in my heart all tho
long years which had passed since WI
last met, As my passionate words fell
on her ear n faint rose. drift tingcd tho
snow of her exquisite face. All, I saw
only too clearly by the difference that
existed between her great loveliness
md my poor, MANNED body. how fool
ish l was even to dare to hope, and yet
I kept on.
Then bowling my head. I awaited my
answer. 1t came not in words. Soft,