The Red Cloud chief., 1881-11-03
THE EDDIN MARCH.
An Artists story.


THE WEDDING MARCH.
An Artist,s story.
mo. 329-A Wedding March"
Such was the number and name of a
picture in the Academy Of a certain
wear which shall. for polite and per-
sonal reasons, be left undesignatcd.
The picture was one of my painting;
and /. Reginald Tracey. had been for
tunatc enough 10 attain three very inn
portant ends by its production. First
ly. il was deemed excellent enough by
the Hanging Committee to be placed
on the line. and il faced you in a very
prominent as you entered Room
No. V. Secondly, this prominent po-
sition secured for my picture a large
share Of attention which resulted in its
finding a purchaser almost rs soon As
the Exhibition doors opened. But
thirdly. il served the actual purpose for
which / painted il, and which led me
10 choose my subject. That purpose
involved Just the least bit of omanc
and although the clever critics praised
the picture. and even limited that MIR.
Tracey had been ~singularly fortunate
in his treatment of a somewhat unusual
and difficult theme etc, not one of
them SO much as guessed that it was n
picture with a purpose. As the sequel
may serve to show, that purpose sprang
from and ended in what / am pleased
60 call my little romance.
1t WAS a charming day, that on which
j went To Rockhampton TO sketch the
water-meadows, and TO see my old
friend, Dr. James Brooke-Jim. | gen.
orally called him-who had settled as a
practitioner in that town. The whole
place was stepped in sunlight, and the
deep shadows cast by the old houses in
the narrow streets by the waterside re-
minded one of nothing so much as the
blackness of the shades in some old
kDutch town. where Rembrandt must
have learned the special art that bears
the impress of his genius to-day. The
old church OF Rochhamptonis a fine bit
of Norman architecture. Rising archi-
tcctS declare that there are no purcr
pillars of that style. or better preserved
arches, with their queer faces
squeezed into the corners thereof. and
(which seems to impress the Rockhamp-
ton juveniles on Sundays quite rs much
a the service. Passing through the
churchvard, 1 found myself ut last at
the church. With little hope of finding
the door open | lifted the latch, when
nj once it yielded TO my touch. As |
passed within the green baiZe doors with
in the porch, i heard the sound of the
organ; so. stealing quietly into the CRATE
full shade and GOODNESS of the church
] ensconced myself in the biggest pew
i could find and listened. How sooth-
ing was the effect of the music and sur
roandings on that glorious day! lcould
not see The player, who was concealed
bv the curtains in front of the organ
4 loft. but intuitively | guessed it was a
lady who played. i imagined that only
a woman's delicate touch could have
made that ..Kyrie" speak in these
tones; and there was more gentleneSS
than power in the ..Stahat Mater" into
which the player glided. Then | re-
member the wedding March" sue
cecded; and. after half an hour private
hearing of the masters, lquietly slipped
out of church, once again into the glad
sunlight that played around the grave
stones, and made the world so fair TO
see.
After lunching at my hotel, the Red
Lion, | went 10 see DIR. Jim. Ii ap-
pearcd that the fair PLAYER of the church
was a Miss Spalding, and the only
daughter of a well-to-do and retired
~,slerchant who had settled at Rock
hampton ONE eighteen months before;
add Jim, l found. had been paying his
addresses to the Young lady. Her
father had married for the second time
and had thuS given Miss Spalding a
step-mothcr. The old gentleman, as
Jim called him, was an eaSy-going man.
kind hearted in every way, generous to
a fault. and looked kindly enough on
DIR. Jim's suit. But as I o Mrs. Spald-
ing. jim pronounced a decidedly unfa-
vorable opinion. She was an ambitious,
and, As he expressed it, scheming wom-
an, who thought that Nelly should
look somewhat higher than DIR.
Brooke, of Rockampton and that she
should at least marry money with
which latter commodity Jim was. as q
young doctor. of course, by no means
overburdened. Without actually dis
: couraCing JIM attentions, Mrs. Spald-
ing made things decidedly unpleasant
for the lovers. Mr.. Spalding, good
easy man, was completely under the
dominion of his wife. Hence Jim con-
fessed he was in a somewhat unsettled
state of mind.
You sec. Regy," said Jim, Nelly
will not disobey her parents in any way.
That she cares for me she has con-
feSsed to me more than onc But when
\ j press her 10 consent to be married at
Nonce, and to make me happy, she won't
hear of it"
My dear Jim," 1 responded. in my
new-found capacity of guide, counselor
and friend, '.she is not the first girl who
has had to struggle between love and
duty; or at least what she concelves to
bS her duty"
s..She is so thoroughly conscientious"
replied Jim, {" that 1 fear even to press
her TO take the step which would make
me a happy man for life. When 1 ask
her in my despair whether she will ever
choose between her Step-mother's
wishes and my love, she implores me
not to tempt her; AMI So" added Jim,
..here / am; miserable as need be-"
All this interested me exceedingly.
She was evidently a girl of sterling
worth and with a high sense of the duty
she believed she owed to her parents
wishes. Thought over Master Jim's
>love affair as / lay in bed that night,
and came to the conclusion that the
case was q difficult one. You cannot
always mold human minds to your own
/. bent and purpose by simply speaking.
y Hence / came to the tohclusion that
Miss Spalding's love for my old friend
ought to be tested and tried in some
other way. As my experience of
1tuman nature goes, there seems moth
3Ag like putting love, of all human
emotions, to some rigid test. But how
the test couid be applied to the case in
which / had thus beer led to feel q spe-
cial interest 1 knew not.
confessed as I rolled over to sleep
that ] did not see NV way clear to help
fham. Little did ] think that the moi.