The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-07-08
THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER.

ENtINItC was ONtl III lI1c lltlIc NIIdp6
church of Waldorf, and the people lin
gered about the door, in their simple
kindly fashion greeting one another and
exchanging the news of the week.
did you know that the Herr Count
has come to live in his castle over yon-
derg'' asked one, pointing to the stately
tower that rose above the tree-tops on
the neigh boring hillside.
lis it 'so?' was the reply. "And does
he bring his bride?"
THE count has no BRIDE" said an
other speaker. They say he cares only
for the chase. That is why he has come,
for hunting and
''And for the good of his people, IN
terrupted Pastor Dohrman, who came
ont to the church-porch in time to hear
the last remark. 'Be not quick to Judge
harShly, friends. Count friedrich
knows that his coming, with so many
guests and followers, brings prosperity
to Waldorf; and that he can see and re-
ieve all the wants of his people while
here. And his hunting is only of the
fierce wild boars which ravage the
forests; he does not strike weaker game"
The next Sabbath the young Count
Friedrich came, unattended, to the lit
tie church. Pretty Lisa Van Alten, who
led the choir, saw the handsome stran-
ger, and felt, more than once, that his
eyes sought her face as her voice, pure,
sweet, and bird-like, rose above all the
others, seeming TO soar almost to heav-
ems gates with the worship of her pure
soul.
'Who is the fair-haired maiden who
sings like an angelo" Count Friedrich
asked Pastor Dohrman, when service
was over.
Her father is thy miller, Hans Van
Alien, and Lisa is as good as she is
fair. replied the worthy pastor, who
loved Lisa like daughter, and had
taught her to read, and write, and sing
(for the good old man had been a Won
derful musician in his younger days.
far better than many a high-born maid
en-.
1t did not seem so very strange to
Lisa when, one day. the count rode up
to the miller's cottage. Had he not
cause perhaps, for business there? But
while he spoke to the father, he looked
at Lisa, with q glance so full of respect
ful admiration that little wonder if it
turned her pretty head, and sent all
kinds of wild improbable dreams rush
ing through her mind.
She thought so much of the splendid
young count as he rode away on his
fiery coal-blacl horse. that she was an
CRY when Karl Hol1ner 0he farmers
son from Wildeman), who had brought
some flour to the mill. came while it
was grinding to see if Lisa's heart had
softened towards him.
For Karl had been Lisa 5 faithful lover
since ever he could remember, loving
her with a love which grew and
strengthened with each year of his life
Faithful, though she only laughed at
him, and would not be kind.
He was tall, straight manly fellow,
handsome as Count Friedrich himself,
and noble, too, with that true nobility
of soul which is above the accident of
birth rank. But Lisa eyes were blind
to all that, and she turned away impa-
tiently from the story of his love.
Karl was wise, and did not urge her
to listen. There is an ancient Greek
saying that "All things come to him
who knows how to wait;o and he ''knew
how" to wait. And as the DAYS went
by, and Count FRIEDRICH again and
again sought Esa's humble home, the
faithful lover sighed, but only SAID:
II viii wait. 1t viii all come right
Meanwhile Lisa was living in kind
of wildly sweet dream. She permitted
herself to think of the possibility of
Count Friedrich loving her, forgetting
the barriers so sharply defined in Ger
many between mobiles and peasants,
which renders marriage out OF ones
own rank almost impossible. And for
getting, too, that while the count plain
ly admired her beauty he had given
neither word nor look of love to light
her hopes.
To his five-and-twenty years Lisa
seemed but a child, and he told her
stories of the wonderful world beyond
Waldorf, where her voice might win her
fame and gold; of the world where men
did grand brave deeds for their fellow
men. And she would look shyly up at
think they must be men such as he who
would do such noble acts.
One day, moved TO speak by the rela-
ton of some thrilling story, she cried.
artlessly, while yet her eyes gave force
and meaning to her words:
How | could love such a man as
THAR
why, what do you know of love, lit
tie ore?" asked Count Friedrich laugh
ingly. But her words made him think.
Could 1t be that, perhaps, she was
learning to love him? Was ii wise or
right, that in all honor he had sought
her so often, just because her bright
winsome, natural ways rested him after
the forms and ceremonies of the fash
ionable world in which he lived?
He was thinking so intently as he
walked through the woods to the castle.
that he did not hear low, muttering,