Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-03-30

bye"
"when do you return T. ! asked,
but no answer came, The farewell
was farewell indeed IN vain Gale,
my Damon | In vain | listened fo
his summosa. But 10 June the law
suit wa. finally seltledi aud ] wal
beiress to five thousand year aud q
lovely country seat on the Hudson, ]
lett Denve,s and Aunt Mllicent ac
companied NC to my home. Pros
perily smiled upon me, My home wa'
beautiful beyond description In III
summer dress friends gave me cor
dial welcome Aunt Milicent tool
every household care of my hand, ant
] had but 10 wish to have my wisl
gratidcd.
And yet vas restlcs. and dissatls
fed. | tried to resume my studies,
my consolation after my fathers death
and found books had lost their in'
terest. | found no beauty in Dante
or Goethe, and my pen recorded nc
work OF any interest ] devoted
some time to music, and the sweeles,
melodies fell fiat and dead under my
spiritless touch.
Then l took myself to task, and ]
said to my own heart
"You are frctling for Damon, You
are longing for the click that told You
he was was waiting message from
YOU. You are in love with an ideal
How do you know that the keen wit
the thinking brain, the tender heart,
are not shrincd in a man OF fifty OF
sixty, married years ago to woman
he Lowest Does he not think you are
a mani Shame upon your maiden
modes,y to fling away your heart I'M
asked"
After this mental scourglng l felt
better, and I said to Aunt Milicent:
81 miss the excitement Of travel.
You know my dear father and I roved
about great deal, and Uncle Ran
dolph took me several journeys. sup
pose we try Europe for n change
Aun. Milicent put down her knit
ting, gasped little aud said meekly ;
"Certainly my dear. IT you wish to
60 to Europe We will CO."
We did 60. I looked upon Paris
and wondered what Damon would say
to the hustle and life there. wand.
cred about Italy, and thought how
grandly Damon would describe its
beauties we "did" Germany and
came back, Aunt Milicent and I, in the
heat of summer, and we determined to
spend a few weeks at Saratoga before
going home. AT Saratoga, met
Weston Graves, nephew of an old
friend of my fathers, who introduced
him to me, aud said kind words of my
dead parent, that made me give hls
nephew a cordial greeting.
Weston Graves was not avery young
man = thirty-fve or six years OF age
1 Judge. He was not very hand
some man-tall, strong and large-fea.
tured, with face that invited conf
dence at once, it was so frank and
true.
But when he talked you foundyour-
self carried away by the earnestness
of purpose in his words, or fascinated
by the bril1iancy Of his thoughts. tic
sympathized with me as no one but
my father had ever done. He knew
that my love for study, my craving
for knowledge, did not unsex me tho
inspid girls did say was $50 mascu-
line." He never seemed 10 think
I was an utterly useless member OF 3d.
clety because I.could not interest my
self for hours by thrusting alittle ivory
needle into colored wool, or punching
holes in white cambric tor the pleasure
of sewing them up again. He did not
consider it afecta,ion whom in some
argument admitted that the manu-
facture of pudding was to ME an un-
known art. On the contrary he seemed
to find a pleasure in making me talk,
in stimulating me by contradiction into
defence Of all my favorite theories. tie
followed my lead in many a discus
sion, or lead me into warm argu-
ment, and little by little Damon faded
from my heart as the strong
good face. and tender. true voice
of Weston Graves filled it.
Twice in love unasked Space is
here allowed fol all delicate girls to
faint.
Twice in love, for if l had loved
Damon, I was more IN love with Wes'
ton Graves. who had never sought to
win my heart. Frank, courteous
and friendly, never loverlike ; that was