The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-09-06
"TILL DEATH Us Do PART. /"

"Till death lis do part" rang out the
low, clear voice of the officiating minis
ter throughout the quiet church. And
It'll death us do part spoke the man
who knelt before him; and Till death
us do part in her turn repeated the
woman.
Thus they plighted their troth in the
face of the world and before Heaven,
that man and woman, Humphrey Car
bonel and Emma Crane. They had
promised to love and cherish and honor
each other, and he to comfort her and
she to obey him in sickness and in
health, for better for worse, for richer
for poorer, a11tI death did them part!
May breezes stole softly in through
the open porch; May violets filled the
air with perfume; May birds were sing
ing; May dews vet sparkled on the
jeweled grass. 1t was true bridal
morning; and, amid the almost Sabbath
stiffness and the spring-tide loneliness.
the vows were exchanged that made
them one.
Until death! The lover-husband
whose hand lay in his, feeling suddenly
HOW WAS III IL hOTu-tIEuGL.
Why should the thought have come to
him? He clasped the trembling hand
closer, as if he felt already the chilling
of those warm pulses. Even in the
midst of the solemn service, his imagin-
alton travelled forward to a day when
those solemn promises would have been
fulfilled, and death had ended all-her
death. 1t did not occur to Captain
Carbonel to think that it might be his
own.
The young girl, happy and smiling in
her bridal robes. never once thought of
death at all How should she? And
how still less, hOw-could either of
them call up picture of something
worse than death to break the marriage
VOW?
A young couple they, supremely
happy on that May morning. Sun
shine, and glistening dew, And opening
flowers, and the joyous song of birds
then do not put forth notions of winter
chill and gloom. No, nor portend it.
"What God hath joined together, let
not man put aSunder!''
The tremulous voice of the clergy
man, for he was agitated, pronounced
those words very solemnly. The smile
upon the bridegroom lip echoed but
that of his heart. Who should have
power to put asunder two who loved so
well? And Emma? She thought only
of the strong, manly form by her side.
1t was the old, old story of the oak and
the vine. The present happiness was
perfect, and the future would be like
unto it; nay. much more abundant.
So reason we in our blindness, in the
inexperienced youth of our early morn
ING, when the glamour of hope is upon
us, and all looks radiant. Later, stand
ing before the calm-faced teacher,
whose name is Life, we learn that no
earthly existence is perfect; that the
.sunniest life hath shadows, and that
the sweet spring-time, the brightest
summer, must give place to faded
flowers, to dying leaves.
You cannot have Emma unless you
retire altogether from the army, or get
put upon half-pay," had said Emma
Cranes stern old guardian to Captain
=Carbonel; for she had neither father
nor mother, brother nor sister. And
Humphrey Carbonel. tired perhaps of
a soldiers idle life, for all the world
seemed to have been at peace for ages
and likely to remain so, got put upon
half-pay.
Sure never did couple begin life un-
der more promising auspices! They
had pretty homestead of their own
it was Emma's, not his-amid a small
colony of other pretty homesteads, and
thev had between them a handsome
competency, and there was pleasant So