Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-12-09
The GOVERNORS STORY.

We were very poor, said the gov
ernor, nv mother and /. We lived
in a little cabin on Gen. Linton's
farm. and saw a hard time. My
father had died when 1 was 16 years
old, leaving us nothing but an hon.
est reputation, and, although l was
stout and hearty, my wages were
very low, and / had to toll late and
early to provide the necessaries Of
life. But Isuppose would have
been happy and cOntented enough
that is, as much as we unSatisfied
mortals usually are, if it hadn't
been for woman. | don't know
why it was that Helen Linton
made such an impression on me,
for she had by no means those great
and noble qualities by which men
as a general thing are attracted
toward the opposite sex. On the
contrary, she was proud, arrogant
and overbearing, and / was conf
dent if she thought of me at all, it
was with feelings of contempt and
disdain alone. -
Not on account of my personal
appearance, it is true, for though l
was rough and uncultivated, and
my hands were hard with excessive
toll, and my face Drowned by ex=
posure to the sun, still / had Won
derful strength and great agility,
and my hair and eyes were as dark
as midnight, and many said that l
was handsome. But was poor
and she was wealthy was Gen.
Linton's hired hand and she was
Gen Linton's daughter, and it was
the old, old story. 1t must have
been her beWildering beauty that
drew me irresistibly toward her, for
she was queenly looking girl, with
flashing eyes and magnificent dark
brown hair, and a form tall, and
majestic, and stately. But, how
ever, it might have been, l am GER
tain of one thing, and that is, that
L learned to love her with a mad
dening, painful, consuming passion
that seemed about to devour my
whole being. I tried very hard to
smother it and to drive her image
from my heart. l knew l might as
we'll think of plucking down the
moon or the stars as to have dared |
to aspire to her hand.
But it was all of no avail; the |
more I struggled the more became |
entangled. In the morning, noon |
and night there was but one face
that saw, and but one voice that l |
heard, and that was the face and |
voice of Helen Linton. What was |
worst of all, to me, in some way she |
discovered my secret. How l can
hardly tell. They say murder will
out, and the same can most assured
ly be said about love. / had never
spoken about it to any one, not even
my mother, and as to Helen, had
scarcely ever spoken to her on any |
subject. 1t is true that sometimes |
she would give me instructions in
regard to the fiower-garden, which
Gen, Linton had selected me to |
manage, having, as he had said,
more opinion of my taste in such
matters than any of the best of his
workmen, but she never condescen-
ded further. worshipped her like
a star from afar off, and knew the
distance between us to be as wide
and as impossible.
One day she came into the gar
den while / was at work there, and
impelled by some unknown power,
as it were, / gathered and presented |
to her choice bouquet of flowers |
and whether it was from my guilty |
looks that she then discovered all,
and determined to check me in the |
or whether she had al |
ready probed to the depths of my |
heart and thought was presump- |
tious, I know not, but certain it is |
she never spoke to me after that. |
She had been in the habit of giving
me a nod of recognition whenever |
she met me before this, but after
this she passed me by without even |
a glance, disdain within her haugh- |
ty eye and contempt upon her scorn-
ful lip. You may know that my life
was as wretched as it could well be.
I used to sit down by the fire in our
little cabin, after my hard days |
work was done, and curse my
wretched fate, and call God unjust |
in what considered the distinctions |
he made in the human race, but 1
little knew then what the sequel |
would be.
Crowds of company, gay ladies |
and gentlemen, came every summer |
from the city to spend the season at |
Linton hall, and it so happened that |
when summer came, among the |
rest a young gentleman named Ar
thur st. John. He was reported |
to be wealthy, and handsome he |
certainly was, and it was not very |
long before he commenced paying |
devoted attention to Gen. Linton's |
daughter and it was easy enough |
to see that she was as infatuated as |
he was. They used to ride by our |
little cottage on the bright summer |
evenings, on the Forest road, as it |
was called, on their prancing horses,
he bending fondly above her, whis- |
pering words of love and tender
ness, and she listening to them with
a flush on her cheek aud a smile on
her lip. / remember one evening
that i stood watching them as they
rode down from the wild glen,
bathed in the golden halo that the
gorgeous fires of sunset threw upon
the scene, while the summer
zephyrs, loaded with the perfume
81 u III