The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-03-25

mesa TO the terraces and plateaus. th,
valleys and hllsidcs | wonder how
these terrace formatons-so notccabl,
on this coast--occurred. Glacial action
doubtless, away back in the gloomy an,
mysterious past, when the great ice shee
that clothed our continent, and the grea
| lce-belt that locked our ocean shores i'm III
embrace, moved downward to the SC;
and Southwark, impeled by the irresis
table forces, sculpturing the rocky coas
barrierand planning off the irregular hill
to lovel mcsas."
Lillian had suspended her work. anc
looked down upon the splendid manly
form that lay at her feet. lie was looking
out upon the wide sea-drcaming, but
dreaming an intellectual dreams look
ing back, back TO when the cont
nent was more than primcval-whcr
II was chaos--before il was clothed in
the grand old forests, glimpses of which
he caught upon the Coast Range, before
grassy lawns came down TO be kissed with
the warm sea waves.
81 wonder how this lone rock escaped
the embrace OF the glacial monstcr-I
beg your pardon, Miss; is there any ser
vice can render you? Think your moth
or is sleeping"
Accident | suppose" she answered.
81 sometimes wonder, Miss Mercer if
there is any such thing as accident in
the world. wonder if every thing is
not ordained from the beginning. There
can be no accident allowed in the mater
ial universe. Everything must move in
accordance with some plan If one of
the heavenly bodies should, by accident
slip out OF It's place, it would play havoc
with the balance of creation do not
believe in accidents. 1t is said marriages
even, are made in heaven"
And interrupted Lillian. "if such
slight and unimportant events are prcar-
ranged by n divine method,you think all
more serious ones should be likewise Fro
vided for?'
81 did not say so. I do not think so.
regard marriage as mans most serious
act. When we marry our destiny is cast,
out fate is fiNed-for cvcr-for life--for
eternity
Lillian turned her great, luminous eyes
upon the now erect form and said,with a
laugh--a hollow, mocl<ing, taunting
laugh: "You dream of some frauein, at
work in a vineyard on the Rhine"
81 dream, Miss Mcrcer,of a proud and
beautiful girl | love, gifted, well-born
and proud, rich and arrogant because
she is well-born. She was my neighbor
when we were children and if we are not
friends, companions and child lovers, it
was because we were separated by cru
el barrier. She would love me if she
dared. She knows / am her equal in
everything but name. She knows, that
in my love for her, l would fling myself
into the sea from apex of yonder rock.
She knows that | am poorbut she Is not
and would not care for that.
1t is this devilish pride of family; and
yet her family was,some generations ago
no better than mine. A great business
glacier might have wounded my auces-
tors, and the family bears the sears and
seams; while she, like the Moro, escaped
and now stands up so proudly; and so
she would scornme. Yes, all ycs-I be
lieve in accidents
"And have you told her you love herr"
Il never dared.
''Then you are coward, and perhaps
well-as this does not concern me, | think
we had better call mamma and return.
Will you be kind enough to attach the
horses, Mr.. Won DAM"
'Iou will excuse me, Miss Mercer; |
was presumptuos to tell you my story. |
will drive the carriage here and take in
yourself and easelas soon as | have my
team ready"
While he was gone our Lillian solilo-
quized,al alone with the sea and its sob
bng waves, as they broke against the
rock of the Moro, and then came rip
ping to her feet: "Oh! what fool am!
what an arrant, laundering fool am |
And so he loves another; and I-oh /
could whip myself Il thought he loved
me,and thought him presumptuous, and
was fighting himinmy heart! IIadIi been
me, and he had proposed to me, how |
would have wounded him-the servant.
And now | see his presumption. Why
does he tell me his stupid love tale? Some
fat fraulein of n German baroness in
ruined castle, | suppose; some family
with name-some proud, d,unprounceable
name. And yet he has not been reiec-
ted by this German woman-that's not
in the way at least.
Now this girl knew that away down
in her heart she loved this man servant
of her mothers. She knew that in every
intellectual quality he was her superior.
He was to her more handsome than any
other man. The acquaintance of camp,
travel and daily intercourse, like theirs
had been, discloscs more of real charac-
ter than years of conventional life. She
knew that he was the equal of any man.
And yet, when she thought he loved her
and was planning how TO capture her, she
had determined to mortify and humilate
him, reject him, teach him lesson. How
dare he? Now it turns out that he loved
another. She felt the humiliation and
determined that she was angry because
he had told her. What was it to her
whom he loved, or how his wooing thri-
we'd? And then there came across her
J"S' WV SlHilihti VI ltSitb-SIlt hlSutNi
he had not told her, and she began to
pity him. When he drove up with the
carriage, ,and-so strong and firm-lifted
her mother and herself into the carriage,
arranged the wraps so gently,and looked
so sad, poor fellow, she pitied him the
more,and found in her heart a soft place
for poor Nick Won Dam.
They rode back to the hotel at San
LUIS Obispo in silence. But when moth
er and daughter had entered their rooms
and closed the door, Lillians anger burst
forth. Like all persons who are angry
with themselves, she found it necessary
to pour forth her tide of passion upon
some one else, This time it was her good
and patient, simple minded, unobscrvant
mother, who caught the hurricane of hel
wrath. In the whirlwlnd of her inco
herent words, her poor, in locent mother
caught the idea that, somehow, Nicholas
had offended her proud daughterby pro
posing love to her, and the good lad,