Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-10-26
TWO EVENTS.


It was the Sd of December and the
4th was fixed for the wedding day.
For some weeks the weather had been
bitterly cold; we had had one heavy
fall of snow, then few days Of hard
frost, and now the air was again filled
with large feathery flakes. At 4
o'clock, when I went to my own room,
wearied out both in mind and body, it
was nearly dark.
My uncle's house, of which 1 had
been an inmate for some years-for /
was an orphan-was in remote part
of the country, five miles from town,
and it may easily be imagined what an
event wedding was in such a quiet
village. Every one, including myself,
the bride-elect, had to work hard for
days beforehand, and my aunt had
little sympathy for the weak or the
fale. #
Two or three guests had arrived, and
as there now seemed nothing more to
be done but entertain them, was sent
upstairs to rest until z o'clock, when
my intended husband and groomsman
were expected. The dog-cart was to
be sent to meet them at the railroad
station, about three miles off.
I found the unusual luxury Of a
bright fire burning in my CRATE, with
an easy-chafr cozily drawn up to it.
For moment or two / warmed my
frozen fingers, and then I went to the
window, and leaning my cold forehead
against the colder pane looked out
upon the dreary landscape. Now the
moment was come in which to realize
my position.
For weeks I had been in a dream
a passive, hopeless creature, carried
along as it seemed by the will of others
to a certain end-now on the eve Of
my wedding day I felt miserably
awake. Could there then be no re-
spite-nothing to hope for?
"Ah, Harry Harry r I exclaimed,
where are you now? Why this long,
long time without line, without a
Eord2 Have I not, in spite Of taunts
and entreaties, waited the seven years
promised, and more? Was it not
only when the bread of charity grew
too bitter, and no means permitted me
for earning my livelihood when no
hape remained of seeing you again
that gave way?
"Twice / have refused Mr.. Denton's
hand. What could do when he offered
it the third time? 1 mean, Heaven
knows I mean to make him a good
wife. ] am grateful to him, for why
should he choose me-a girl without a
penny and no heart worth having?
They say I have a pretty face; I sup
pose it was that. Harry used to like
my blue eyes and wavy hair years ago.
"This is the last night / may think
Of you, Harry, the bonny lad / love so
well Where are you now? Still be-
yond the wide Atlantic, striving for
the money to enable us to marry or,
as they would wish me believe, dead !?
I am in sore distress, Harry. Surely
bound up as we were in one another,
my spirit can hardly thus be moved
without stirring some chord in yours,
wherever you may whether in far
distant lands or in that still stranger
and more unknown country from
whence no traveller returns.
God help me-p' I cried in my
anguish God help me, sorely need
it.
Then I opened the window, and
looked out over the fiat country lying
so still In its white shroud and gazed
up into the gray, stony sky, but it was
obscured by the flakes Of snow, which
came down thicker and thicker until at
last nothing else was to be seen in
earth or heaven.