St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-15
LOVE FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.
Written for the Globe.

heroine or love StOry-a genuine, true
love story, in which the course of true love
did run smooth. He fell in love with her
photograph at sight. and there in my album
Is the Identical picture which caused his
heart to beat quicker-which for months
was Mecca to him between the hard work
ing hours of his student days. And beside
IL Is his face, secured afterward and placed
there as the most appropriate companion
Tor her. She was Southerner by birth,
out was early left an orphan, and somehow
FOUND her way to that town in Maine to
i've with an uncle or some other relative,
ana there she attended the seminary where
l. met her. At 19-her graduating age
She was as fine looking lady as one could
ma IN That country. noted for its beautiful
women. A trtle above the medium hight,
her plump, well-rounded form always sci
OFT with an elegant simplicity of dress,
ner delicately cut features, flashing
black eyes and erect vivacious carriage
made her one of the noticeable figures at the
| school. L always suspected there was some
thing of the Spanish blood in her veins.
those black eyes were so meaning. Al
times they were mild and half swimming
with tenderness and one could apparently
see far into their poetic, passionate depths.
Again they flashed forked lightning, and
woe to the one stricken by the bolt for &:
keen tongue had their owner. Mentally,
Laura was everything that could be desired
we'll educated, possessed of great desire
for learning simply as such, fine must
clan. charming converSationalist, quick
and ready witted. although slightly inclinee
| to argument especially where her own seq
was concerned. She was an admirable cor
respondent too, writing freely on intellec
tual subjects and very little of that senti
mental, trashy, wiSh-wash so common
among girls. Socially she was the life OF
her class and her circle of friends. No one
could laugh heartier or waltz better than she
No one had more enthusiasm in ANYTHING
undertaken. And yet she was a daJ
dreamer, sometimes lapsing away into
| imaginary words of poetry and fancy. II
is unnecessary to say that she was a natural
leader of her companions, and we, her class.
mates, were inclined to picture for her
great future as an authoress, both in pros,
and poetry, in each of which she had trie(
her hand.
But look at the other photographs re
minds me that l have wandered from tn,
thread of the story. After leaving th,
school [ entered distant college, ant
among my classmates was Henry. HI
came from the mountains of North Caro-.
lima, and as he had had little experience O.
the world, his ungainly and awkward atti
tudes, as we'll as his odd speech, made hin
the target of much ridicule at the hands O.
the students. We had made each other
acquaintance in car accidentally before
reaching college, and naturally | took hi
part at first out of pure sympathy. II,
felt the ridicule OF the boys keenly and oul
acquaintance ripened into friendship. HI
paid frequent visits to my room, and in on,
nf4b I ,l,o Il
among them LauraS. He fell in love with
it at sight. There seemed to be an affinity
between these two SOutherners. At am
rate, in this case, blood had told. He in
quired her name and address, and modestl,
asked If she would take it as an insult il
he should write to her. He was given LITTLE
encouragement about her answering, but al
the same time was told that she had de
cided liking for the romantic. He wrot
her a letter, and came around daily t1
anXiOusly inquire after his chances of get
ting an answer. A full week had passed
| yet no answer came, and h,
was beginning to despair, but cam,
| in daily to get look at the
photograph. ] had occasion to visit HON,
at this time and met Lanra at school re-
union. Never will 1 forget the earnest bu
half cOquettish inquiries she made afte
l.
to him for her benefit His height, weight
complexion were all explained, and tn,
thousand and one questions which only al
actively interested young lady could devise
were answered as truthfully as possible
But his unpublished manner was agains
him, and this seemed to be an insurmount
able barrier for proud cultured lady
Somehow or other the interview was salts
| factory to her, for few days after return
ing to college he rushed into my room on
day with the joyful exclamation that sh,
had answered his letter. The correspond
ence thus begun was continued regularl,
for two years before they met each other
Meantime [ spent several vacations
home and frequently met Laura. Sht
always had something new to ask about
Henry and grew quite anxious about him
pumping me numerically on all conceiva
BILE topics in connection with him. Will,
at college Henry did the same. For tive
years, l say. | enjoyed, or rather endured
the harassings of these two people, eacl
growing more and more interested
in the other and as vel
they had never seen each others faces
The correspondence was kept up faithfully
and have no doubt would prove interest
ing reading apart from its personalities,
for both had well developed minds and
both had tendency to literary work.
But what of Henry during these two
years? He had not been long in college
before somehow the boys found out that
under his rough exterior he carried a big
heart, and beneath that struggling head of
hair was good portion of brains that had
been we'll filled before coming north. 1t
soon became known that he was an inmit-
able story teller and could bray like a.
donkey or preach the full sermon of the
negro campmeeting orator, SO perfect were
his powers OF mlmckry. More than this
he achieved an enveable reputation for
writing verses that were not made fun of,
but when published attracted attention.
The result was that in two years from the
time he entered college he was one of the
most popular fellows in the college when
he capped the climax by acting as poet at a
class banquet and convulsed us all with
laughter for a whole half hour. thereby
rescuing the overloaded digestive organs OF
his classmates he had as many friends az
anybody, He had as many fine
traits of character as it was
surprising how his personal appearance
changed in those two years. The rough
edges had worn off, his awkward gait was
improved, and, instead of his nervous, hest
tating manner, he was calm and self-pos.
sessed when i'll company. But he had al.
ways leaned toward theology. and now de.
terlnined to bring his regular course to an
end and enter the divinity department of
neignbOring institution. The transfer was
made at the end of the college year. and
now, that he had progressed far enough to
have his profession chosen. he yearned fol
look at the original of the photograph
which he carried and which had long since
been substituted for mine. Meantime
I ha1
school marin. an occupation for which she
had no particular taste and which would
have been CALLING indeed to her high-strung
nature but for the beauties of the seaside
hamlet in which she was located. Domi-
ciIed under the roof of an aged and retired