Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-03
A HIDDEN LOVE.
Romance and PathOs PrettIly Blended
at the Grave.
From the Macon tGa) Telegraph.

From the Macon (Gd) Telegraph.
The room is quiet, the faithful watch
ers mufIle their steps and talk in whisp-
cred monotones. The patient sufferer on
the bed is dying. A gasp, slight strug-
gle, then oul and clay dissolve. A bit
of Grape on the door, the bell tolls, the
casket is lowered into the grave, the
sections spade fashions the new earth into
mound, and all is over.
AS turn away from the last resting
place OF a woman who had lived for sixty
years or more and died with her name un-
changed, memory is busy peering through
the wells that had fallen like so many
NANTES of snow upon her fOndest hopes.
Forty wears agol How nlmble-footed is
memory Back into the past it swiftly
travels, quick as the flash of lightning,
and yet [ read every milestone in that
long journey.
Forty years ago she was one among the
most beautiful of MaOon's fairest women.
The chivalry of that time worshiped at
her shrine. and many gallant knight
sued for her smiles. But though she was
the toast of the city, she never married,
and the gosslps wondered and won
dered.
The year flew by, the roses in tho fair
cheeks went away, and frost fell upon the
once glorious wealth of hair. But the
gOssips never knew why, at the age of so,
the silver tablet upon the coffin bore her
maiden name. That romance was inter
woven in her life, there was no doubt, but
her lips never revealed the secrets Of the
minated heart. ...I 4l.y
sD There is no tenderness about the hand
Of the Jaw Its grasp is firm, and il han-
dies the poor gentlewOman as roughly as
it does the rufiian. II dives as
deep into the lOve-letters, the trasses
OF hair, and the faded Violets az it
does into the captured booty OF the
burglar! Itis the law, the law must be
Obeyed, and the footsteps of the admins
traitor resouud thrugh the cold, tenantless
roQms Of the old maids home, ari 81
The veil has been torn away. Out from
an old trunk filed with bundles and LETT
ters, tied with blue ribbon and stained
with a maidep's tears, the sacred secrets
tqrn9le. What banquet for the Cos
sips, a Sun. 5..' o,,'al' 81
aa The administrator unties arihhon, and
the loye-letters of the girls golden long
ago fail in a heap upon the floor as the
white petals fell one by one out Of the
roses Of her life. He picks one up and
reads. Then another. And yet another.
re ID rea4ipg the heart history, the sweet
loves, the bitter griefs, the blghted hopes
, OF woman whose hand once white and
soft, and sued for by the flower OF
Georgla's chivalry forty years ago, now
rests hard, cold and wrinkled IN peace
across her breast.
The administrator stOops and picks up
another paper. 1t is marriage license!
Coupled with her name is that of man
whom Macon honOred as a good and
worthy citizen, but whose grave has been
kept green by his children for many
years. What turn of fate left a blank
untitled IN that marriage license issued
forty years ago? What strange fantastic
shapes doth destiny assume!
am on good terms with the admins
TRAITOR. He has closed the doors Of the
tenantless bouse. and l walk by his side,
as he tells me what l have just related to
you.
''Wha. came between her and her first
love will never be known. He won her
hand, and the license was procured; but
why they were never married is secret
that was buried with her. Afterward
she had three other sweethearts, and they
were in the army. Each WAS killed in
battle, one after the other. There is no evil
dence that hhe ever loved again."
There are many people in Macon who
will recognize in the above lady whose
fault was that she was Just the least bit
eccentric.