Little Falls transcript., 1886-07-23

there was, Was pure and true, and
she made up for it's scarcity with the
overfiowings of her sympathetic ma
ture. She idealized rather than con
doned. She gave in such measure
that she could not perceive how little
she was receiving in return; or if she
noticed it, her consciousness of it's
worth seemed to her a full equivalent.
He was an artist; and circumstances
orced the lovers to wait, and at the
ame time kept them apart. A coup
OF days once g. month, and week.
wand again, was the limit Of the
they could spend together. This,
curse, prevented them getting that
nate knowledge OF each others
onality which both recognized as
'sential adjunct to the happiness
srried life, though they did their
obviate it by long letters, CIV
details of daily events and OF
ciety in which they moved. The
was an imperfect one. Strive
y might. The sketches were
md the letters had a tendency
"estereotyped. Weonly men,
details to show that they
perfectly honest with each
'irl's life, in her quiet
,.~,- was one that held lit
tie VII. lsr, t, it was q part of+the
mans stock i'll, made to mix with So
ciety ard observe closely. Whether he
liked it or not, he WIS compelled to
make friends to such an extent as to
afford him sen opportunity OF gauging
character. Unfortunately for the pur-
poses of my study. he had no sympa-
thy with pessimlsrn or pessimists. He
loved the good and the beautiful for
their own sakes, and i'll his art loved
to dwell On the bright side OF human
nature, a side which the writer has
found so much easier to meet than
the moro sombre coloring we are con-
stanily told is the predominating one
in life. Like most artists, he was some
what susceptible, but his susceptible.
ty was on the surface; the inward
depths of his soul had never been
stirred save by the gentle girl who
held his heart, and she was such as to
inspire constant and growing aztec.
tlon rather than demonstrative
passion.
At one Of the many houses at which
ne was q welcome guest, the lover
found a young girl, bright, sensuous.
beautiful. Unwittingly he compar'
her with the one whose heart he hel i,
and the comparison was unsatisfac-
tory to him; do what he would, the
honesty of his nature compelled him
to allow that this beautiful girl was
the superior III a. number of ways to
her whom he had pledged his life. He
was caught in the. Circe's chains of
golden hair, and iancied-almost.
hoped-yet feared lest, like bonds OF
cobwebs in the fairy tale, the tolls
were too strong for him to break. He
could see, too, that the girl regarded
him with a feeling so warm that q
chance spark would rouse it into a
fame OF love; and this gave her an In
terest as dangerous as It was asfascinat-.
ing. His fancy swerved. Day after
day he strove with himself, and by ef-
forts, too violent, to be wise, he kept
away from the siren till his inf1amed
fancy forced him back to her side. J
70 the maiden in tine country he
was partially honest. In his letters
he faithfully told her OF his visits and
tss far as he could, recorded his opin-
lons OF the girl who had captivated
his fancy. Too keen an artist to be
blind to her faults, he dwelt on them
III his frequent letters at unnecessary
length. When the lovers met, the girl
questioned him closely about her
rival, but only from the interest she
felt in all his friends known and un.
known, for her love for him was too
pure and strong TO admit Of jealousy,
and he, with what honesty he could,
answered her questions unresorvedly.
Little by little he began to examine
himself. Which girl did he really lover
Should he not be doing q wrong to
both by not deciding? The ex-l
animation was dangerous, because
it was not thorough. The pre-
misses were true, but incom-
plete. Yet we should wrong 3, him.
it we implied that he for moment
thought seriously about breaking q 81 81
his engagement. 4 Even had he wished.
his almost mistaken feelings of honor
would have forbidden it, This con.
: !
stant surface introsp ction-- Kind 81
examination which, had not the sub
lect been himself he would have de-