The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1882-10-05

y tins persistent sui,or
/ year passed when one day John ro'
a up TO the old mans. sprey TO some etcii
Is ment which changed his whole feature
II His faiher-in.law looked At him with amaz
4 ment
. John. he said. what is the mat,ery VIII
D aileih theeY
k Matter. he hissed. matter-iake ih
Q daughter back. want no man's mistre,
for my wife
D But he had not learned the temper ,
the man he was talking to, With bio
| that would have done credit TO an arm {
thirty his father in.law felled him TO ih
. ground.
Take that, thou foul speaker, and ma
} the Lord forgive me my anger. But non
shall speak hes Of my children.
lie, is it9 said John. slowly rising
greatly cooled by this most incousisten
action OF the old Friend. Then what doe
this mean? and he spread crumples
piece of paper before his father.in-law'
eyes.
II was with difficulty the old man could
read 1t, although IL WIS written in clerkly
italian hand. 1t read
Will thee not meet me, dear Elizabeth
by the spring in the woods after sunset TO-
morrow? AS We have pledged each other
our true love, let us keep onr pledge in
spite of the one man who stands in the
way, no matter how near he is TO thee.
Thine own THOMAS.
1t was not dated. The old man saw
what it referred to and said
This was written years before thy mar
riage, when l drove Thomas Ellsworth
from the house. But she never met him,
as watched her hourly afterwards.
Perhaps SO, said John, but it may have
been written within month. As he
spoke he backed off to- safe distance as he
saw dangerous light in the old mans
eyes.
John, said he, anger me not. Thou art
a fool, and thy wife is my daughter. /
shall speak to Friend Rachel Wilson and
she shall adjnst this matter between us.
But never speak to me again about it.
Friend Rachel was local preacher of
great force of character and discretion.
She reported that Elizabeth had re.
ceived this note from Thomas Ellsworth
the day he was driven away, but her con-
science was too much under sense of
duty to heed it. Unfortunately she did
not destroy it
This explanation--undoubtedly the true
one-did not satisfy John Hatton, but he
dare not openly defy it. He grew more
and more surly, soon took to drinking and
after few years of domestic unhappiness,
he fell off his horse one day when strong
liquor had weakened his brain, and broke
his neck.
My great-aunt never married again, and
for fifty years after his death led that
placid existence which is nowhere found
in snch perfection as in the society OF
Friends.
And Thomas Ellsworth, what of him?
Able and ambitious, he falsifed the pre-
lictions of my ancestor and illustrated |
again how foolish is the wisdom which |
would fence passion with prudence and
oye with calculation. He removed to
married late in life, and became
prominent figure in early political his
ory of our Union.
Once only did the lovers meet.
My greM-aunt, left with straightened
means and several small children,
ived after her husbands death near the
Baltimore road, the main highway which
hose days led from Baltimore to Philadel-
'hia. One summer afternoon she took her
york to seat under great oak tree by
he roadside. She was still comely wo-
lan with q fresh sweet face and brown
air untouched by gray. Her youngest ,
aughter, a girl Of eleven, was with her
ccount of what happened that shall ,
i've
Looking down the road the child spied +,
elightfnl sight-a real private coach
18th shining lamps and driven by liver ,
ID coachman in the majesty OF cockade
nd buttons I
As the coach reached the shade of the '
ak, the coachman drew up to rest his |
orses Suddenly the door was thrown (
pen and gentleman. dressed in the elab- '
rate costume of the day, sprang out and '
olding ont both hands cried: $
Elizabeth! Elizabeth S
When mother heard him, said my infor-
ant, saw her turn white and lean back
yainst the tree; her lips moved but she i
ade no reply. Elizabeth? he repeated, 0
ave no place in thy memory? have 9
ever forgotten, never can forget. d
What mother said do not know. Some. v
ling she said in low voice. an3 for some
inutes they talked together in an under.
ne. Then mother began to cry. she made d
motion to him with her hand, as she r
ID to us when she wished us to leave /
ar. heard the words Thomas thee has Il
wife Width this the gentleman put his Il
to his eyes, entered his coach n
ID was driven away. 81
Mother sat crying for a long time under g
Ie oak, and ] was sa frightened did no, p
are to speak, nor did ! say word about l.
for several years, Then one day ask.
L /,
Mother will thee tell me who that gen. n
eman was who spoke to thee under the "
TX freeP o
That. Anna, she replied in her usual
I'm tone, was Governor Ellsworth, Of c.
aryland. knew him when / was girl. 81
ut as be was associated with much that II
as painful in my early life, should pre- u
a. At a