Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-12-23
/ L,
LovE-CHAPrER IN THE LIFE OF MAsTEl


A LovE-CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF MASTER
FINK.
The village in which l was born lies fifty miles
from this spot and is cne of those places hidden in
! some odd nook and corner which the busy world
seems either to have forgotten to regard as Of too
slight Importance to take any notice cf 1t moves
neither backward forward it is the came to-day
it was hundred years ago Its houses, It's roads
its little shops its bits of garden its church. are the
same now as then, and unless something startling
occurs, will be the same at the end of another
hundred years.
There are families living there whose great great.
great grandfsthers lived there in the self same cot
tages grown old that their walls are rotting and
crumbhDg away. The people with scarcely an ex-
ception all OF them poor and live life of con-
tentment. As / should have DONE perhaps-my
, family for five generations having done so before
me-had it not happened that 1 fell in love with
Louisa Wagner.
| have spoken of the beauty Of Katrine Loebee
Louisa Wagner even more beautiful Do not
think say so because loved her it was univsrs.
ally acknowledged; and jus. in the manner Katrine
was sought after here, so was Louisa Wagner sought
after in the village in which was born NAV saw
without running the risk of being thought vain,
| that I was welooking lad. 1t is fact that
was industrious and not given to tippling. From
my father learnt the mysteries of the art of watch
| makirg Our family had been the village watch
and clock members for generations. There was net
enough business in that line to be picked up among
! the scanry and poor population to support u.s. so
my grandfather, and my father after him, took to
! cobbling boots and shoes to exc out living.
learnt, also, to cobble and no mean hand at it
We were therefore the village watchmakers and cob
bers, ard managed to live chiefly it must be owned
by the patching Of leather which is degree lower
in the scale Of life than regulating the delicate
works Of watch.
Louisa Wagner was the only child of laborer on
the private estate OF the of the village land
and in falling in love with her fell in love with
! girl in my own station in life.
Heavens, how beautiful she was Her cheeks
were handsomer than the handsomest peach her
eyes were as bright the brightest stars her skin
as soft as the so!test velvet. To me what vision
of brightness Where on earth was to be found her
equal?
In my estimation, nowhere above or upon the
habitabie globe. That is the way Of lovers for
time. No feeling so potent IS that which agitates
the heart Of lover as he contemplates the being
uppu WHoti hc scto iDs sueCblODS. OrSGualIy the
change comes, as all live to learn The heavenly
light fades slowly away, and liies hard lessons no
less than the strange workings of the human heart
recall US to sterrer reality. Happy those who find
themselves cast upon peaceful shore, where they
can taste and enjoy the calmer and more enduring
affection which sometimes follows the subsidence Of
loves delIrium and fever.
For weeks and weeks rursed my Iassion, fed on
it. was made happy by it. For Louisa Wagner did
not seem Indifferent to il. Nay, she seemed fiat
tered, and, as it appeared to me, had some slight
feeling for me stronger than ordinary friendship.
That she should love zee with such intensity as l
loved her was not to be thought Of. This love of
young man, when 1t Is pure, as mine was, ennobles
brightens, beauties all surrounding things sang
AT my work, though it was even so mean as the
PATCHING OF boots. / soled and heeled them, one
after another, and my very heart went into the
stitches. held them in my hands and kissed them
yes am not ashamed to confess it,
kissed them in a kind of rapture. took them
to bed with me. By the SIDE of my bed hung a cage
with linnet in it. told the bird in whisper that
the boots belonged to Louisa-ah, what foolish,
foolish things we do when the fever is upon US =
and the fnnet trilled out in joyfulest notes /
laughed chirruped shed tears, and when knelt
at my bedside and repeated my prayers / pressed
Louisss boots to my heart. Upon the so.eing and
heeling OF those boots would have liked to chal.
, lenge the world. Surely such excellent workman.
ship could not elsewhere have been produced.
Louisa Wagner thought so, and said 80, as she
turned them over and over in her hands.
"You will see,' l said, "they will last for
years"
They are beautifully DONE" she said such
fine stitches ! You are really clever"
al can earn a living said, proudly.
"But you viii have to wait" she said {" cannot
pay you for them for long, long WHILE
In money you can never pay me-"
80, yes, can, Gustaye Fink"
"No,' insisted, in trembling voice "indee5,
you never can"
"why p she asked.
81 did not do them for money. wish you to
accept them from me-"
She thanked me quite readily, saying We'll, il
you will have it sor' and gave me the sweetest
smile.