River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-06-16
THE IISHER'S DAUGHTER.

WdIcIEs
fisherman busilY mending their nets
and smoking their pipes after their
midday meal.
One Of the Oldest and most respected
of them all is Matthew GOlding, whose
genial countenance and cheerful good
humor renders him a general ia
vorite among his comrades, and he
was looked up To and esteemed by one
and all. He had been a widower for
many years-his wife slept in the
churchyard on the top of the hill, and
within its sacred walls Matthew Golding
worshiped every Sunday, his honest face
Lighting up at the good old rector's
words, that told him of the home of
peace and rest after his earthly toll was
done.
A girl is standing near the break
water and looking out at sea, her eyes
shaded with her hand A girl with
pretty, graceful figure. and simply yet
tastefully clad; her hair, worn III two
thick plaits, reaches below her waist,
and her whole appearance IS worthy an
artists study
She is Matthew Golding's daughter
the pride of her fathers heart and the
belle Of the little fishing village.
Her father as he sits mending his net,
lifts up his eyes ever and anon to gaze
at his pretty daughter, and with the
glance a shade falls across his usually
pleasant face.
Seated near him, busted in the same
occupation as himself, is young man,
dressed also in the garb of a fisher
man, and to him Matthew turns and
speaks of her who IS leaning on the
breakwater.
"She is as love-sick as she can be, |
tell YOU Mark, and | don't like it at all,
for l don't believe as Mr.. Carleton
means any good to her"
''She is certainly very much chang
ed, replies the younger fisherman,
with a sigh. Il know she cared for me
once, but it don't seem to make much
difference to her now whether / am
ashore or not"
ever since last spring he's been
dangling at her heels" continues old
Matthews, "and | don't see what's to
come of it. She has never been
willful lass, or acted contrary to my
wishes; but it seems as if she had lost
her head as well as her heart too
There, don't be dOWn-hearted, lad
she'll come to her senses by-and-bye,
and see her folly; rest well assured of
that"
Mark Fenton made no answer.
but his fingers trembled once or twice
as he went on with his work; and a
drop of salt water, to which he had
long been a stranger, fell upon his
hand.
From his earliest childhood he had
learned to love his pretty playfellow,
Hetty Golding, and for nearly two
years now she had been his promised
wife. But in the early spring of the
year of which we are writing, Dudley
Carleton-a youth with more money
than brains-had come to spend a few
months in the little fishing town. where
the sweet, graceful figure of Hetty
Golding had enchanted him.
Nothing was pleasanter to young
Carleton than to flatter this simple
maiden, and whisper love-wOrds in her
ear, rs meaningless as they were
subtle.
Too ready listener proved Hetty
Golding, and she, inflated with the no.
ton of soon becoming "a lady and
Dudley Careltons wife, turned her
Ddck upon nGE ldltlllNlA lONtlJ VI 81 n
Fenton. and for the last few weeks had
hardly given him a word. 1t was a
great trouble to her honest father, for
of all men of his acquaintance there
was not one so worthy of her as Marx,
nor one to whom he would so readily
have given her in marriage. In vain
he had advised and counseled her
Hetty, formerly so gentle, so ready to
comply with her fathers wishes, hung
her head in Sullen silence, and sought,
more persistently than ever, the society
of Dudley Carleton. On this particular
morning on which our story opens he,
with party of friends, had gone forth
ona boating excursion, and Hetty, as
she knew the time was drawing near
for their returning, had taken up her
station at the breakW2ter where the
pleasure boats were usually drawn
ashore. Carleton was not alone IN the
village; some cousins of his own age
had accompanied him thither with
their sisters, and Hetty had observed
that on one, young and prettier than
the rest. Dudley had begun, within the
last few days, TO bestow more than or
binary attention, and her young heart
was hot within her as she stood shad-
ing her eyes and watching for the re,
turning boat.
"You seem out of sorts to-day, lass. .
She recognized Marks voice, and II
brought the crimson blood i'll a torrent
to her checks.
She gave her shoulders an impatient
twist, while her pretty forehead wrinE
led into a frown.
"Oh. do go away; you are the plague
OF my life. she said, angrily.
With her eyes fixed on the ocean
she did not see the look of pain thai
came over the swarthy face of the fish
erman.
Presently she felt her little white
hand-fair and delicate enough for q
duchess-seized somewhat roughly il
his own, and she struggled in vain t
draw it away.
You shan't tell me that twice
Hettv." he said, in tones of sorrow
rather than anger. Il will go away
hut before go I'll have it out with thu
Young gentleman that's changed yo'
so. and ask him whether he means t
act honorably toward you or whethe
he's only fooling you, as suspec
he IS.
"YOu dare to say one word to MI
Carleton - exclaimed the girl. indlg
nantly. 1T Is no business of yours
He"
'On, no business of mine. eh?" in
terrupted Mark. Il should like t
know what is my business then, cor
sidering that your father gave you t
me months and months afore this cha
came here We might have bee
married now if it hadn't been that yo
are so changed. If it hadn't bee
that
'Oh. don't preach, Mark; l hate it,
cried Hetty, impatiently. Il am yer
sorry if YOU care for me, because real
II don't think | care for you quite 8
1 ought-and as l once thought
did"
aHnw long have Won found that out