The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-08-01

| AASo''ooio ooCyCus II uuGllul girl she
was; for in doing her fathers will she
did it knowing that there was more than
light reason in mis- direction. He told
her plainly of other plans arranged for
her; plans which sacrificed all of her
own future to that parent whom she
worshipped. Politics was at the bottom.
This was before the historic contest in
Congress between Jefferson and Burr for
| the Presidency. Aaron Burr needed
friends, close aud influential. Through
the gift of daughters hand he would
win what strategy might otherwise take
from him. He would marry her to a
connection of powerful political family
of the Senate; and influences at Albany
hitherto lacking might be depended
upon. There was willingness with the
lover-more willingness than PERCEPTION.
A slighing word was spoken of John
Vanderlyn-''a pauper" was the phra Sc
the counting lover used He used it but
once. The blood of Aaron Burr mounted
to the cheek Of the daughter, and with
an air that was bitter as bitter might be
she dismissed him. A scene between
father and daughter, storm with all
the flaming pyrotechnics that the Burr
spirit could muster, came quickly. A
lieutenant of the discarded lovers fam
lily showed speedy resentment of the
slight. Even had the spirited girl re-
Tented it had been too late. Love had
given away to warfare. Aaron Burr
smiled another of his biting smiles ard
from upbraiding came to f1attery for the
honest part which she had played. But
no word would he hear of Vanderlyn as
sutton. The painter, still working
hard. not vet recognized, had heard from
his swsetheart's pen the story of faith
| er's interference, and the motive for it.:
and he had heard, too, that above all
things on earth she treasured the penni-
less painters love.
A sharp letter came from Paris to
Burr; but the cool-headed politician es-
| sayed no answer. The next letter that
John Vanderlyn had from the Burr
household was brief and free from any
ardor; it was but a formal announce
ment of the betrothal of Theodosia Burr
to the brilliaht young California, Joseph
Allston. She welded in order to secure
Southern influence for her father. Ais
| ton was an honorable man; and perhaps
| before the sea had swallowed them up in
| 1916, she had learned to love him. He
was worthy of her affections; to him
there was no knowledge that wife
| came lii barter and by sale. He never
suspected that it was for votes to aggran.
| die Aaron Burr that Aaron Burr's
| daughter said him Yea when he asked
her to his home. And there was no fur
Their knowledge given to Vanderlyn
either. Theodosia Burr was too loyal to
herself to declare love that was wrong
in the worlds rating.
So came it that John Vanderlyn fell
into cynicism. So it was that he chose
to believe ere long that the hand had
gone where the heart had led; and he ex-
onerated Aaron Burr of all part in his
fate. When Burr, accused of high trea-
son, needed friend and protector, Van
| derlyn stretched out his whole fortune as
free-will offering. He won fame and
lived in all the glory of it for years, try
| ing to forget what richer thing he had
hoped for and lost. Giving no thought
of to morrow, he drifted on, painting now
and then, as the within dictated or his
purse demanded. And when the end
came it found him penniless, friendless
forlorn. When in the mean room of a
hotel in his native town, they found him
one morning, in 1852, clutched by death,
there were whispers that by his own will
had the period been put upon his career.
And now out in the bleak cemetery on
Wiltwyck Heights, little unmarked
mound, overgrowu by briars, faces us as
the worlds tribute to man whose gen.
ius would have dazzled mankind had the
| shadows of a hopeless love not fell upon
it. When the story of John Vanderlyn's
life is fully told, American history will
have been strengthened. Had he never
loved Theodosia Burr, Aaron Burr might
have been President of the United
States.