Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-10-30
A GIRL WIFE.
The Old Bachelor Citrate Of Am
berly.

berly.
II was a beautiful young American
girl. Lettice Lee by name, who sojourn-
nig among her English friends for
awhilc, crossed their fair garden,
bright with the tender greens of Spring
and all abloom with hawthorn, and,
tempted by the shadows of the lane be-
yond. strolled slowly down it, until,
coming to an ord church set about with
trees and thanked by an ancient grave
yard, she entered there and wandered
among the messy stones, reading their
quaint inscriptions and thinking such
thoughts as youth and beauty do of
graves and death-thinking pityingly
and with a certain sad tenderness, but
not as of anything with which she had
to do, or even would.
The willows were very old. The
shade was very deep. The gray church
dlang its own dark shadows on the
spot. The ivy of centuries draped its
wells.
Ia was so different from anything the
yirl-who had come from the land
where all the fine buildings have a
brand new look, and even the ivy that
Z, trained against church-walls speaks
of Il ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS gardener
had seen, that it fascinated her. She
vas romantic and poetical; and it is
very hard to be romantic in America.
She leaned against q great tree, and
looked down upon the gray grave
stones. Most Of them were so old that
no one lived to deck them any more.
And yet the ages written on them
were often less than her own was that
day. One at her very feet bore this
inscription:
''Here lieth Lucy-aged sixteen"
A tear came into the girls eyes as
she read it. Perhaps more would have
followed, but at that moment a voice
close beside her broke the silence.
"You are looking at the graves, my
dear. These are only humble stones.
Inside the church there are some very
fine tombs. If you would like to see
them l can tell you all that is known
If them. [ have been curate of Amber
Iy for thirty years."
The girl turned toward the speaker.
Thirty years! That was nearly twice
her whole life. A very old man this
must be to speak of thirty years as a
mere portion OF his.
She looked up into his face and an
swered back the kind smile that shone
nPon il, and felt a thrill of wonder at
the sweetness in the eyes and on the
hip, for in her short experience old
men were generally either harsh or
.csty. or at least cold or unsympathiz-
ing.
She had no father, or grandfather, OF
sny aged relatives. A little woman,
something Of an h%eiress, and very beau
siful. she had always been petted by
her friends. and had never been unhap-
py; bat of strong home ties that en-
dear even the old and the ugly, she
knew nothing. An old gentleman was
some who did not like noise and
Has rather averse to music. whom it
YVES not unpleasant to see 90 out of
the room. and who generally paid the
bills for somebody.
She gave the curate another smile,
and said: eyes, she would like much
10 see the church and the tombs. Her
name was Lettice Lee, and she was
visiting Mrs. Holden, at the mansion
yonder, and she was Just from America
for the first time. Perhaps he knew"
and the curate signiiied that he did
know, aud that Mrs. Holden was his
dear old friend, and they went into the
church together.
There are old faces that are more
beautiful than any young ones can be.
Not many, it is true; for the eyi! pas
sions OF u race-anger and greed,
and malice and jealousy-are strong
within too many breasts, and mark
themselves outwardly upon the features,
through the long, slow years of a long
life. too deeply. Griefs also line them:
Sclyes upon the brow, and hollow out
the cheeks and dim the eyes, but now
and then some one, alike strong and
sweet, putting by the sin and bearing
the sorrow patiently, comes to the
autumns of existence with such a
eountenance as, it seems to me, God
meant tnat an old man should have.
The curate Of Amberly had done this.
The old bachelor curate had no re.
niniscences to make of:youth sweet, nc
ncmoryof a young head pillowed on
his breast. or fond hands that had
elasped his.
Somehow. he thought of this as he
sshered the young girl into the old
church. She was so fair. and delicate
and sweet-her movements were SO
gentle! A daughter like this now-a
$500. He checked the fancy. put il
away with a smile, and walked on
among the tombs.
On the tomb of Lady Margaret a
sculptured form lay with clasped hands
and closed eyes. On that of Sir Per
eiyal Percy knelt a mailed warrior at
prayer. Not more cold and silent and
at rest were these than had been the
inye that should have warmed that
Ev,d Life; and still, with closed eyes,