The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-12-06
LOVE CONQUERS.
~ HE AUTHOR OF "DoRA THoRNE,"
"a ROSE IN THoRNs,' ETC.
CHAPTER ii.

I SHAGlt IL
| In many parts of England one may find
pretty picturesque farms uncovered in
| trees like the Meadow Farm; but in every
farmhouse one cannot find genius
"born, not made" Nature had been law
| ish in her gifts to this son Of the people.
She had given him handsome face, with
a broad open brow, rounded at the tenn
pies, and large, frank, clear blue eyes,
with sweetness all their own. 1t was u
singular face, although handsome one
The upper part-the open brow, the clear
eloquent eyes-was the face OF poet
The lower part-the firm wel-closed lips,
the determined chin betOkened great APP
titude for business. Nature had also CIV
en- him musical voice, CHEEKY genial
laugh, a manly well-knit figure, with broad
chest and broad shoulders. Yet these
were the least Of her gifts. He had poets
soul, and a quick, keen, loving apprecia-
ton of all that was beautiful. Nane
Fraser had ambition, which upheld his
genius, and made it of use TO him. he
was out of place at the farm, where every
one worked from sunrise to sunset, where
ambition and enterprise were dead letters,
and the quality most valued was stolid in.
dustry.
The household at the farm was limited
The father, stephen Fraser, was simple
honest man who had not an idea outside
his farm--to whom the rain and the sun.
shine, the frost and the warmth, made up
the sum total of life. He loved his wife
and his children in PLAIN unaffected fash
ion. He was perfect type Of the Eng.
lish tenant farmer-learned in all matters
| hat hn
and cattle, but utterly ignorant Of life or
the world outside the farm. His younger
son Vane he did not understand-indeed
he had something like contempt for the
boy who poured over books while every
one else slept, and yet did not care to put
his hand to the plow. But, when he found
that his son, by a simple invention OF his
own, lessened to some extent the labor Of
blowing, his contempt was absorbed in adj
miratiOn.
| CHE is not like the rest of u.s." he would
say, abiding to Vane.
With wondering eyes he followed the
boys movements. Vane invented fast
ening for the gates, which the farmer new
or wearied of showing to his friends and
praising; in fact, the little farm was full
of his inventions. There was not a wall,
gate, door, or q window, that Nane
had not in some way improved, altered or
repaired. He had made the pretty path
of stones over the brook; he had designed
a rough bridge that would save people
walking a distance Of two miles; and the
good hOmely father, plodding along con-
tentedly at his pillow, wondered how IL
was that he had so clever son, and
| whence the Doy rot his talent.
The mistress of the Meadow Farm,
Catherine Fraser, was superior TO her hus-
band. she was woman Of great natural
talent, but Of little education; and IT was
from her that Nane inherited his genius
The farmer had a great respect for his
wife. Her dairy was perfection, her house
famous for its neatness; her butter was
the richest and the milk the sweetest, for
miles round. Had any one told the farmer
that his wife had in her soul longings that
were never gratiied, wishes that found no
utterance, thoughts that knew no words,
he would have refused to believe 1t or
| thought the person who told him so, mad
| Catherine Fraser had one idol on earth,
and it was the gifted son in whom her soul
found voice.
The third important member OF the
/ household was bonnie bright Kate, the
only daughter, whom both parents wor-
shipped-the farmer, after stolid fashion
of his own; the mother, with an uneX-
pressed WISH that the poetry and romance
which had so completely failed III her own
life might brighten that OF her daughter.
Mrs. Fraser hoped great things from the
genius of her son Nane; but she hoped
still greater from the fresh bright beauty
of her daughter Kate. Kate was village
beauty, with creamy clear brown SKIN,
having the vivid hue of a damask rose,
mouth like a cloven rose, ripping black
hair, and strong, wel-formed, symmetri-
cal figure.
"Kate ought to do WE'LL" sighed the
anxious mother. "She ought TO marry one
of the richest farmers in the neighborhood.
Even young squire might do worse than
to marry one of the prettiest, brightest
girls in the county, and one who under
stands dairy thoroughly WE'LL
| The remaining members of the family
was the eldest son, Dcsford. He was
boy after his fathers own heart. lie
would plod patiently at the plow or the
harrow, content to run in the same groove
from years END to years end, all the
| beauty of the green earth and all the mys-
teries of life being sealed books TO him.
1t was a curious household, yet COM
mon one; and the day came when Sir Rave
! Wharf gathered this little group around
him and made a proposition to them.
None of them ever forgot the scene or
the hour. Behind the farmhouse stood
magnificent clump of ime-trees, the great
green branches of which formed beauti-
full shade and one evening, when the
farmer was unusually pleasant he ordered
supper to be brought out and eaten there.
The evening air was fragrant with the
new-mown hay which lay in the meadows.
at is SO sweet" said the farmer, that
it seems pity to lose even one breath OF
it,"
So the brown bread, the golden butter,
and the foamng jug OF cider were brought
out; and Sir Raye, looking from dis
lance, thought he had never seen more
picturesque group--the honest, simple
farmer, with his sunburnt face and rugged
figure, the cOmely bright-eyed wife, the
beautiful Young daughter. the gifted son,