Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1881-12-01

no more.
He turned to look more closely at
me; the western sunbeams played on
my face and blinded nae so that I could
not see him plainly.
"You are too yourg yet, Miss Thorn
ley, to be quite proof against all the
destinations Of art; but no voice ever
spoke to you with a thousand charms
as does the voice of nature. Now you
can hear it in the breeze that seems to
WOO each leaf upon the tree with a
different tale in the ripple of those
tiny rivulets breaking on the grass and
rushes in the music of the birds +; in
the very summer stiffness itself that,
when we are silent, falls around US"
Hooked at him in utter amazement,
wondering whether he was quoting
from a book. People generally talked
to me about my beauty or prospects or
something of that kind: no one had ever
so spoken to me before, and a new,
strange feeling stirred the depths of my
heart within me.
81 have a peculiar love for trees" he
was saying. leach tree seems to me to
have a story of its own, an individual
life. [ could fancy at times that it had
hopes and loves and fears"
81 like flowers better than trees y
said my cousin.
Because you have never studied
them-and they are wonderful study
in themselves. They are kind friends
to us. their broad arms shelter us, their
green laeves shade US; the life of tree
is poem. See how the wind waves it;
the rain falls upon; summer clothes it
and winter lays it bare. This tree
shivers and shudderS; the strong wind
bends it, the sweet south wind makes
music among its branches, and the day
must come when this king of forest, on
whose green top the light of summer
and the snow of winter have descend
ed, will be wrecked and fall at last
should like to be the chosen poet OF
the trees"
II think you are," said Kate, "but
to me that white water lily sleeping
in the sunshine, with the blue water for
It's beo, is more beautiful than the finest
tree"
"Ah, here you are, Ernestine, u
chimed in another voice. 81 have been
looking everywhere for you; will you
come to the garden?"
There was nothing for it but TO take
L 9rd Fitz Johns arm and go with him,
as he wished.
could not define my thoughts, but
[ had a vague feeling that there was
some terrible want in him. Like a
sharp knife, the contrast between my
,,y.o,>,I1oJ L,,cbo,,J o,oJ Ebo wan no n
just left struck me. | would not think
of it. Yet my mind was SO full Of what
Mr.. Vivian had said about trees in then
beauty and their mysterious lives, that
| could not forget it.
described my state truly when
said that my heart was asleep; waking
was gradual, sweet, and yet bitterly
painful. There among the quiet sum-
mer lakes, free from all artificial life
surrounded by simple, clever and in
tellectual people, [ began to perceive
that there was a deeper meaning il
life than had yet learned.
During the hours that my lover was
absorbed in his sporting intelligence
I entered new world. Eustace Vivi-
an read to my cousin and me and talk
ed with us. For the first time great
and noble thoughts were unrolled be
ore me. found that the things had
valued most-beauty, wealth and fash,
ion-were actually Of the least account
Virtue, genius, intel, ect, all before them
l deemed that my life was useless and
selfish, without aim or object, a pleas
ure of which [ soon tired.
One evening when [ had been in the
garden for two long, dreary hours with
Lord Fitz-John, went back into the
drawipg-roOm, worn out and exhaust
ed, and, like a dreadful fear looming
oven me, the question came into my
mind
eff [ can hardly endure his society
for two hours now, how shall [ bear il
for life p
| often saw Eustace Vivian's eyes
dwelling on my face with much mourn
full pity in them. [ felt tempted al
times to ask him why he appeared sor-
ry for me. Was not rather a subject
for envy? Young, rich and about to
marry "peer of the realm" what
more, 1 asked myself, could heart de-
sire?
One day it was proposed that we
should all go together to visit celc,
brated waterfall about three miles
from Duronmere. The road lay through
the cool green woodlands, where the
trees, meeting overhead, formed an
arch solemn and mysterious in the dim
| light as a cathedral aisle. At every
step we crushed the wild flowers under
our feet; their odor filled the sweet
summer air. I was enraptured with
this long green glade; had never seen
anything like it in my life before. Mr.
Vivian proposed that we should rest
there before emerging again upon the
high road.
shall never forget the hour that fol
| lowed; how we watched the checkered
sunlight falling through the leaves;
how we listeded to the music that rose
| like one grand chat from the happy
| forest birds. Mr.. Vivian read to us
of Lancelot and Guinevere, and told
Us how the knight had vowed to love
the queen in glades, such as we saw
| before US. 1t was all a new world to
me, a world of magical beauty, where
poetry and nature combined to pro-
duce their most exquisite effect. /
did not know that the glamour which
had fallen upon and changed the
whole world for me was love. For all
l knew I loved the man I had promised
to marry, although [ could not bear
his society for long together. But that
June m orning there came to me rele-
walton.
What NOS the fnnlinor of thnt rnndo