The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-12-14
MISS EULALIE'S ELM.TREE.

1t was magnificent work of nature.
Miss Eulalle's elm-tree; so tall and grace
ful, overhanging the street with its
green banner, lending a charming shade
TO her little parlor, which gave it the air
| OF dim, cool recess in the woods ON a
SINNERS 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.;
at 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-pleasur
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 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 enslaved 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
thlcken into dark masses of leaves; year
by year she watched them fading and
falling, like her own hopes and Illusions;
II was poem to her; and vet. after all:
1t was only Miss Eulalie's elm-tree bv
permission. The home of her ancestors
mad fallen into other hands; she had only
returned to it by happy chance, not as
It's owner. Mrs Vaughn, the purchaser,
had daughter to be educated, and Miss
Enlale had taken the situation. When
Mrs. Vaughn died, she devised that Miss
Eulalle should make home with Isabel;
DC mother, sister, and teacher, all in
one, to that wayward young person, till
she should marry-in 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,n
and Here you said good-by." No
wonder she loved the old tree!
dangerous thing" said Captain Val |
ehtlne, tapping its trunk with his cane
as he walked by; " hollow-hearted as a |
lllt, Miss Eulalie"
You are mistaken" she reioined:
ut is as sound as NUT
=" But it must come down." he added. |
as If his word We're law.
" Necer, while live, Captain Valen
tine.''
" You forget that am man of prop
erty; that pay mare taxes than any one
IN Littleford; that | can buy ever tree in
the place, and cut it down if | choose"
lhen 1T is only from pure good
naeofe That you beg my consent to cut
a9Wn this exquisite tree9 Do you know
: nave loved it from a child; my grand
iather planted it,
know that Miss Isabel owns the
mhoie estate, and know that this bone
oi contention, this tree, obstructs the
view from my windows, Miss Eulalie,
"hicn Is more to the point-that its
ooughs leap into the air so high and
spread their branches so wide that it
oiots out the view of the sea. the open
sea' and he passed on up the long
green lawn to his new home, with its
,laroie steps and broad balconies, which
alaae Its humble neighbor seem forlorn
sad shabby. Miss Eulalie looked at the
am!pE.ooslng al!pE. structure, at the parterres of
u aailinant flowers. at the fountain tossing
@ jets into the sunlight, the velvet ter
"a aces and lawn, and smiled Why had
saptaln Valentine chosen to build his
paace S.,s' SO near her home? Why had he
oullt at all, at his time of life, with no ,
,,H.hiiy to inherit, and no wife to do its
a aonors! How lonely he must be, she
sa ss.ought, IN the spacious mansion, with !
sVooay but the servants to speak with. ,