The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-11-10

the gravity in the world. But she
was disappointed, though she was SC
glad. There ought not to have been
any one in the world who had the
preference over John! She carried
herself with great dignity for some
time afterwards, and with the air of a
person superior to the foolish and par
tial judgments Of the world; and yet
in her heart how thankful she was
from what an abyss Of blank loneli-
ness and weary exertion was her life
saved! For now that / knew it lit
tie better I could see how little that
was happy was in her home. Her
mother insisted that she should have
that hours leisure in the evening.
That was all that any one thought of
doing for her. It was enough to keep
her happy, to keep her hopeful. But
without that, how long would Ellen's
brave spirit have kept up? Perhaps
had she never known John, and that
life of infinite tender communion, her
natural happy temperament would
have struggled on for a long time
against all the depressing effects of
circumstance, unaided. But to lose
is worse than never to have had. If
it is
better to have loved and lost,
yet it is at the same time harder to
lose that bloom of existence out of
your lot, than to have struggled on
by mere help Of nature without it.
She had been so happy-making so
little go such long way!-that the
loss of her little happiness would have
been appalling to her. And yet she
was dissatisfied that this heartbreak
did not come. She had strung her.
self up to it. It would have been ad-
vancement, progress, all that a woman
desires for those belonging to her, for
John. Sacrificing him for the others,
she was half angry not to have it in
her power to sacrifice herself to his
''rise in life" l think I understood
her, though we never talked on the
subject. She was dissatisfied, although
she was relieved. We have all known
these mingled feelings.
This happened at the beginning of
summer; but all it's agitations were
over before the long, sweet days and
endless twilights Of the happy season
had fully expanded upon US. Tt seems
to me as | grow older that great deal
Of the comfort Of our lives depends
upon summer-upon the weather, let
us say, taking it in it's most prosaic
form. Sometimes, indeed, to the sor-
rowful the brightness is oppressive;
but to all the masses Of ordinary NOR
tails who are neither glad nor sad, it
is wonderful matter not to be chilled
to the bone; to be able to do their
work without thinking of fire; with
out having sensation of cold always
in their lives never to be got rid of.
Ellen and her lover enjoyed that sum-
mer as people who have been under
sentence Of banishment enjoy their
native country and their home.
You may think there is not much
beauty in a London suburb to tempt
any one: and there is not for those
who can retire to the beautiful fresh
country when they will, and surround
themselves with waving woods and
green lawns, or taste the freshness Of
the mountains or the saltness Of the
sea. We, who go away every iyear in
July, pined and longed for the mo-
ment Of our removal; and my neigh
Dor in the great house which shut out
the air from Pleasant Place, painted
in her great garden (which she was
proud to think was almost unparal-
leled for growth and shade in London),
and declared herself incapable Of
breathing any longer in such close
and shut-up locality. But the dwell
ers in Pleasant Place were less exact
ing. They thought the long suburb
an road very pleasant. Where it
streamed off into little dusty houses
covered with brown ivy and dismal
trellis work, and where every unfortu-
nate flower was thick with dust, they
gazed with a touch Of envy at the
gardens" and felt it to be rural.
When my pair Of lovers went out for
their walk they had no time to go fur
ther than to the Green Man, a little
tavern upon the roadside, where one
big old elm-tree, which had braved the
dust and the frost for more years than
any one could recollect, stood out at a
corner at the junction of two roads
with bench round it, where the pass
ing carriers and cabmen drank thei1
beer, and a trough for the horses
which made it look "quite in the coun-
try to all the inhabitants Of our dis
trict. Generally they got as far as
that, passing the dusty cottages and
the little terrace of new houses. A
great and prolonged and most enter
tanning controversy went on between
them as they walked, as to the kline
of house in which they should event
ually settle down. Ellen, who wa:
not without bit Of romance in her
of the only kind practicable with hel
up-bringing, entertained a longing
for one of the dusty little cottages
She thought, like all inexperienced
persons, that in her hands it would
not be dusty. She would find means
of keeping the ivy green. She would
see that the flowers grew sweet and
clean, and set blacks and dust alike al
defiance. John, for his part, whose
lodging was in one Of those little
houses, preferred the new terrace
1t was very new-very like row OF
gingerbread houses-but it was very
clean, and for the moment bright, not
as yet penetrated by the dust. Some.
times was made the confdante o1
these interminable, always delightful
discussions. '"They are not dusty
vet" Ellen would say, "but how lons
will it be before they are dusty
Whereas with the villas" (they had {
great variety of names-Montpelie
Villas, Funchal Villas, Mentone Man