The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-11-23
The Governors Story.

TNTE were very poor, said the
! EX governor, my mother and /
<N2SI1 We lived in a little cabin on
SsSSS Gen. Unions farm, and saw
a hard time. My father had died
when 1 was 16 years old, leaving US
nothing but an honest reputation,
and, although 1 was stout and
hearty, my wages were very low,
and / had to toll late and early to
provide the necessaries of life. But
suppose 1 would have been happy
and contented enough; that is, as
much as we unsatisfied mortals
usually are, if it hadn't been for a
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 OPP
posite sex. On the contrary, she
was proud, arrogant and oYerbear-
ing, and l was confident 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 1
was rough and uncultivated, and
my hands were hard with excessive
toll, and my face Drowned by ex-
posure to the sun, still l had
wonderful strength aad great asili-
ty, and my hair and eyes were as
dark as midnight, and many said
that 1 was handsome. But 1 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, anda form tall, and
majestic, and stately. But, how
ever it might have been, 1 am GER
tain of one thing, and that is, that
l learned to love her with a madden
ing, painful, consuming passion that
seemed about to devour my whole
being. tried very hard to smother
it and to drive her image from my
heart. 1 knew 1 might as well 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 1 struggled the more became
entangled. In the morning, noon
and night there was but one face
that 1 saw, and but one voice that
1 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, l
had scarcely ever spoken to her on
any subject. 1t is true that some
times she would give me instructions
in regard to the flower garden, which
Gen. Linton had selected me to
having, as he said, more
opinion of my taste in such matters
than any of the best of his workmen,
but she never condescended further. |
1 worshiped her like star from afar
off, and knew the distance between
us to be as wide and as impossible.
One day she came into the gar
AoT 4 10 I of ri nd
by some unknown power,
as it were, l gathered and presented
to her a 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 1 was presump-
tious, l know not, but certain it is
she never spoke to me after that.
She had been in the habit of giving
me nod of recognition whenever
she met me before this, but after
this she passed me by without even
a glance, disdain within her naughty
eye and contempt upon her scorn-
full lip. You may know that my life
was as wretched as it could well be.
l 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 1 considered the distinc-
tions he made in the human race,
but 1 little knew then what the Sc
quel 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 Arthur
st. John. He was reported to be
wealthy, and handsome he certainly
was, and it was not very long be-
fore 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 cot
tage- on the bright summer evenings,
on the Forest road, as it was called,
on their prancing horses, he bend
ing fondly above her, whispering
words of love and tenderness, and
she listening to them with a flush
on her cheek and a smile upon her
lip. l remember one evening that
1 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 of wild flowers,
blew back her massive hair from
her queenly brow, until the scene
seemed to me celestial, and she an
inhabitant of celestial regions
Just then she caught sight of me,
as / looked at her almost entranced,
and spoke something in low tone
to her companion. What it was |
never knew, but they both looked
at me an instant, and then the air
rang with their laughter, and l
heard him say something about pre-
sumption and impudence, and l
guessed what it was. 1t was hard
to be thus tortured simply for no
other reason than because I had a
heart and could not control its i'm
,.,,1sae ap1 xvbon Inolr hanL IN