The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1884-04-24

k"SS0yA O0WSOUs
THE GOVERNORS STORY.
I'VE were very poor" said the COVER.
nor, "my mother and I. We lived in a
little cabin on General Unions farm.
and saw hard time. My father had
died when / was sixteen years old.
leaving us nothing but an homes reputa.
ton, and although I was stout and
healthy, my wages were very low, and l
had to toll late and early to provide the
necessaries of life. But suppose /
would have been happy and contentel
enough, that is, as much as we unsatis-
tied mortals usually are, if it hadn't been
Tor a woman. don't know why it was
that Helen Linton made such an impress
sion on me. for she had by no me ans
those great and noble qualities bv
which men as general thing are at
tracted toward ths opposite sex. On
the contrary, she was proud, arrogant
and overbearing, and Was confident if
she thought of me ut all, it was with
feelings Of contempt and disdain alone
Not on account Of my personal az pear
ance, it is true, fQy though was rough
ard uncultivated, and my hands were
hard with excessive toll, and my face
Drowned by exposure to the sun, still |
had wonderful strength and great ayil.
ity, and my hair and eyes were as dark
as midnight, and many said that was
handsome: But was poor and she was
wealthy. / was General Linton's hired
hand, and she was General Lintor's
daughter, and it was the same old, old
story. 1t must have tlpen her be wilder-
ing beauty that drew me more and more
toward her, tor Sue Was Il Queeuly.look-
ing girl. with flashing eyes and niayniti-
cent dark brown hair, and q form ta,l
and magnificent and stately. But What.
ever it might have been am certain or
one thing, and that is that learned to
love her with nla'ldening, painful con-
Stunning passion that seemed about to
devour my whole being. i ,rIel very
hard to smother it, and to drive her inn
we'll think OF plucking down the moon.
or the stars rs to have dared to aspire
to her hand.
But it was all of no avail; the more
struggled the more became entanyled.
In the morning, noon and night there
was but one face that saw, and but one
voice that heard, and that was the
voice of Helen Linton. What was worst
OF all to me, in some way she discovered
my secret. How, I can hardly tell.
They say murder will out, and the same
can most assuredly he said about love. I.
had never spoken about it to any one,
not even to my mother, and as to Hell
en-, had scarcely ever spoken to her
on any subject. 1t js true that sometimes
she would give me instructions in regard
to the tl3wer-garden, which General
Linton had selected me to manage, hav-
ing, as he said, more opinion of my taste
III such matters than any OF the rest of
his workmen, but she never condescen-
ded further. l worshipped her like a
star from afar off, and knew the distance
between US to be as wide and as impass.
able.
One day she came into the garden
when l was at work there, and, impelled
by some unknown power, as it were, 1
gathered and presented to her a choi,e
boquet of flowers; and whether it was
from my guilty looks that she then dis
covered all, and determined to check
me Ia the beginning, or whether she had
already probed to the depth s ofmy heart
and thought was presumptuous, l know
not, but certain is it that 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
glance, disda,n within her naughty eye,
and contempt upon her scorn'ul lip.
You may know that my life Was as
wretched US it could we'll he. used to
sit down by the fire in our little cabin,
after my hard days work was done, and
curse my wretched fate, aud call God
unjust in what considered the dis
tiuctions he made, in the human race,
but little knew then what the sequel
would he.
CroWds OF company, cay ladies' and
gentlemen came every summer from the
city to spend the season at Linton hall,
and it 60 happened that one summer
came among the rest young gentleman
named Arthur St. John. He was repor
ted to 10 wealthy, and handsome he
certainly was, and it Was not very long
before he commenced paying devo Ell
attention to General Unions daughter;
and it was easy enough to see that she
was infatuated as he was. They used to
ride by our little cottage on the bright
snmmer evenings. ON the Forest road
asst was called OH their prancing horses,
he bending fondly above her, whis-
pering words Of love and tenderness.
and she listening to Tim with flush on
her cheek and a smile upon her lip. l
remember one evening that l stood
watching them as they rode down from
the Wild Glen. bathed in the golden
halo that the golden fires of sunset threw
upon the scene, while tie summer
zephyr, loaded with he perfume of wild
flowers, blew ba,k her massive hair
from her queenly brow, until the scene
seemed to me celestial, and an inlabi-
tant OF celestial regions. Just then she
caught sight of HE, as / looked ut her
almost entranced, and spoke something
IN low tone to her companion. What
it vas l never knew, but they both look
ed at me an Instant, and then the al r
rang with their laughter, and heard
him say something about presumption
and impudence, and guessed what it
was. It was hard to be thus tortured
simply for no other reason than because
had heart and could not control Its
impulses, and when l look back on that
time it seems to me like some terrible
dream.
Misfortunes, they say, never come
singly, and they always come, too, wnen
we least expect them. NY mother sud
denly sickened and died, and was thus
left alone q wretc! ,ed outcast on the earth
AS stood over her grave it seemed to
me that l had buried every hope
l d termined to leave that spot
where l had seen so much misery,
cared very little where l went. Any:
vrhopo ca from, thoro ConoruI
n3n1 n aai a me What bs4 little he owed me-
and struck out for the lar west. Rail-
roads and steamboats, were not half SC
numerous ar they are now, and even i
they had been l was too poor to avail
myself Of their advantages: walked
therefore, many weary mile, until az
ter several days of travel l found my
self at the outskirts of q growing city
Here stopped, because had gone fal