The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-12-16
MISS EULALIE'S ELM.TREE.


MISS EULALIE'S ELM.TREE.
1t was q magnificent work of nature,
Miss Eulalie's elm-tree; so tall and grace
full, overhanging the street with its
green banner, lending charming shade
to her little parlor, which gave it the air
of dim, cool recess in the woods on q
Summers day. Miss Eulalie loved it,
and, except for her gay young ward. it
would seem as If she had little else to
love. Her grandfather had planted it;
it was sort of heirloom. She had pas
sed her youth beneath its boughs; her
name was carved on its stem. She
never looked at the tree without think
ing of the one who had carved it there;
of the still, moonlight nights they had
spent together in its shadow. 1t gave
her both pain and pleasure-pleasure,
because it reminded her that he had loved
her once; pain. that he loved her no lon
ger. She could not guess why he had
never returned to her; what had es-
tranged him was still as great a mystery to
her as in those early days Of her bereave-
ment, when sorrow and suspense had
been her daily companions, rising up
and sitting down with her. Perhaps
some fairer woman had enslayed him,
perhaps he had never really loved her
at all, and she experienced pang of
mortified pride when she reflected that
she had possibly been vain enough to
make the mistake, Year by, year she
watched the tender green of the elm
thicken into dark masses of leaves; year
by year she watched them fading and
falling, like her own hopes and illusions;
it was poem to her; and yet. after all;
it was only Miss Eulalie's elm-tree by
permission. The home Of her ancestors
had fallen into other hands; she had only
returned to it by happy chance, not as
its owner. Mrs. Vaughn, the purchaser.
had daughter to be educated, and Miss
Eulalie had taken the situation. When
Mrs. Vaughn died, she devised that Miss
Eulalie should make home with Isabel;
be mother, sister, and teacher, all in
one, to that wayward young person, till
she should margin short, stand in the
gap. Miss Eulalie had been used to
standing in gaps all her life; this was
nothing new. And it was a home-her
old home where she had dreamed
dreams. When she walked at twilight
beneath the old elm its leaves seemed to
whisper. "Just here he kissed you first"
and "Here you said good-by." No
wonder she loved the old tree!
Dangerous thing" said Captain VAL
entine, tapping its trunk with his cane
as he walked by; hollow-hearted as a
jilt. Miss Eulalie.'
You are mistaken" she rejoined;
" it is rs sound as q NUT
:. But it must come down." he added,
as if his word were law.
' Never, while live, Captain valen-
tine"
g You forget that am a man of prop
erty; that l pay more taxes than any one
in Ettlef0rd; that can buy ever tree in
the place, and cut it down if / choose
% Then it is only from pure good
nature that you beg my consent to cut
down this exquisite tree? Do you know
! have loved it from child; my grand
father planted It."
IL know that Miss Isabel owns the
whole estate, and know that this bone
of contention, this tree, obstructs the
view from my windows, Miss Eulalie,
which is more to the point-that its
boughs leap INTO the air so high and
spread their branches 80 wide that IL
blots out the view of the sea, the open
sea-" and he passed on up the long
green lawn to his new home, with its
marble steps and broad balconies, which
made its humble neighbor seem forlorn
and shabby. Miss Eulalie looked at the
imposing structure. at the parterres of
brilliant flowers. at the fountain tossing
its jets into the sunlight, the velvet ter.
races and lawn, and smiled. Why had
Captain Valentine chosen to build his
palace so near her homer Why had he
built at all, at his time of life, with no
family to inherit, and no wife to do it's
honorse How lonely he must be, she
thought. in the spacious mansion, with
nobody but the servants to speak with.
Why had he never married? In the hu-
mility of her heart Miss Euialie never
dreamed th.s :. was because she would
not marry him. That had happened so
many years ago. before he and Arson
Andrews had sailed together in the Water
Witch. How angry he had been then!
how jealous Of Anson! How bitterly he
had sworn that the day should come when
phe would give her hearts blood to re-