Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-07-16
ONLY ONE FAULT.


grow about her tomb, and the tar
J lies softly over it. You W0ull
scarcely guess her life and its sac
end as you stood there. Rarthel
would you fancy that love and ten
derneSs surrounded one over whom
such piles of sculptured marble rear:
itself from her birth until her death
1t is a story such as l seldom write
S this life of hers-one that can not
be ended by happy reunions and
the sweet sound of marriage bells
but there are too many such stories
in the world to be quietly passed
over, haply there beany warning in
them. The lives of others are, if we
read them rightly, the best sermons
ever preached, and this of Ruth
H0lIy's is only too true. Yet it be-
gan very sweetly, like some old pas.
toral poem. She loved and was be-
loved again, and the man she loved
had only one fault. He was young,
he was brave, he was witty, he was
handsome, he was generous; his
love was devotion, his friendship no
lukewarm thing of words; he had
great talent and great power. His
elOquence had thrilled many an au-
dience worth the thrilling. What
he wrote touched the soul to the
very quick. He was an amateur
painter and musician and every
/ where was loved and honOred
! and admired. He had only one
fault in the world-he drank too
much wine at times. When he did
SO he turned. sOSaid cOnViVal friends,
1 ~ xIr1rr NIya
but not so bad as might have been,
1 and he would SOW his wild oats some
day, they said, loving him as his
friends all loved him and SO Ruth
thought. Sweet, loving, beautiful
Ruth, to whom he had plighted his
trOth and wooed in verse and song
and with his most eloquent eyes
long before he put his passion into
words but so did not think Ruth
HolIy's father. This one fault of
Edward Holly's overshadowed his
virtue in his eyes aud he refused
him his daughters hand, giving
him the reason why plainly and not
kindly.
"YOu'Il be drunkard yet, Ned
Holly" said the old man, shaking
his head earnestly. "Pve seen men
of genius 90 the same road before.
I've often said .I'd rather have no
talent in my family, since it seems
to lead sosurely to dissipation. My
sons are not too brilliant to be sober
men, thank heaven, and as for my
daughter, only a sober man shall
have her for a wife; you would
break her heart Ned Holly"
So the dashing man of letters felt
himself insulted apd retorted holly,
and the two were enemies.
Ruth suffered bitterly. She loved
father, and she loved Edward. To
disobey her parent, or to break her
lovers heart, seemed the only choice
offered her. She had other lovers,
she had seen much society, and had
been introduced to the highest circles
in France as we'll as in England, but
amongst all the men she had
known none pleased her as Edward
Holly did. Not what one styles an
intellectual woman herself, she re-
verenced intellect, and her atfec-
tions were intense. The struggle in
her heart was terrible.
She met with her lover by stealth,
against her fathers will, but for a
long while she resented his entreat-
les to marry him in defiance of her
fathers refusal. AT last angered |
by her persistence in obedience, Ed
ward accused her of fearing to share |
the fortunes of one comparatively |
poor-One who must carve his own |
way up Iife's steep hill without as
sistance. The unmerited reproach
sunk deeply into her warm heart. |
and in a sudden impulse of tender
ness and sympathy she gave him
the promise he had SO long sought /
in vain. They were married that
evening, and before morning were
upon their way to a far-otf city,
where Edward, sanguine and con-
scious of power, believed that he
should make for himself name
and position of which any woman
might be proud. To her father
Ruth wrote long letter, implor-
ing his forgiveness, but the answer
crushed all hope within her bosom.
stAs you now sow, so must you
reap" were the words her father
wrote. 81 have no longer daugh
ter,n and Ruth knew that hence
forth (for she had been motherless
for years. she had in all the world
only the husband for whom she had
sacrificed fortune, and what is worth
far more, the tender protection OF
father.
In those early days Edward did
his best to make amends for all, and
she was so proud of him and so fond
of him, that she soon forgot 10
grieve.
She heard his name uttered in h
praise by all. She knew that he
had but to keep steadily on, to
mount to the proudest seat in fame'S
high temple, and for a year she had
no fear of his faltering. Now and
then feverish something in his
voice and manner, strange light
in his eyes, a greater flow of elO-
quence in his talk, a more passion
ate demonstration of love for her
than usual. told that, he was under
The influence. of wine, but the fact on
Iy seemed to enhance his power of |
fascination. Never was heso. bril-
liant never so handsome. Almost
could Ruth have laughed at the
sermons preached. by the the tenn
perance folks of the harm sure to
follow wine-drinking
If the story could end rhere, the +
rue story of Ruth Holly's life, it !
would be almost a happy one, but !
slas, the sunny slope adOwn which
t seemed SO easy to slide, daily
grew darker as the years flew on.
How they began to tell her the fate
before her, Ruth hardly Knew, +
A little flush of shame. came first g
when his step was unsteady and his i
voice too loud. Then a grieved
ear or two when he was unreason- +
lble. Then a sorrow that kept her 8
leart aching night and day, for the 3
nan who first won inspiration from t
he glass now lost it in its depths +
ectures to be delivered owere not T
.iven to the expeetant public be-
ause "of the illness of the lect- i
Irer.' +
Ruth knew what that illness .
meant, and tried TO hide it. Liter 8
lry work was neglected also. Mon q
v was lost that might have been
asily won. Debts grew and credits r
essened, the handsome suite of i,
ooms was exchanged for one quite r
habby. Ruth's dress became pow q
her husband was out
t the elbows and at the toes-he r
vas intoxicated from morning until b
.inhf oD6 xyof ch1. loved him aud | q