River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-03-25
ELSIE'S DREAM.

Many years ago in the village of Ro-
iandseck, on the beautiful river Rhine,
here lived a little German maiden
named Elsie. There she had dwelt
with her grandparents best loved
old couple in all Rolandseck- ever since
her own parents died, when she was but
three years old.
Little Elsie was as pretty as the wild
roschen which grew so luNriantly on
the hills bohind the village. Her frank
blue eyes aud winsome laugh won her
many friends, but better than blue eyes
or rosy cheeks was her warm and low
ing heart, for this it was which made all
love her more ana more the longer they
knew her.
So Elsie's life was all sunshine until
her sixteenth birthday-one fair June
day, when just rs the neighbors had all
gathered for her birthday feast, the
dear old grandfather suddenly leaned
back in his chair at the head OF
the table and breathed his last. Within
4 month he was followed by his beloved
companion, who could not survive the
shock, and so it was that in that short
time Elsie's bright life was darkened by
its first great cloud. In losing her
grandparents she also lost her dear
home at Bolandseck. for by the terms
Of her fathers will she must, at their
death, live with her uncle Heinrich,
whom She had never seen, in the town
OF Mannheim, where she had never
been.
Within five weeks from that memoir
able birthday party Elsie was quietly
settled at her uncle's home, a large
mansion in the suburbs of Mannheim,
surrounded by the cottages of the poor.
Elsie found her uncle a grave, sad
man, whose family consisted only of
himself and Rupert, a poor crippled
son, whose bedridden life was one of
inceSsart pain.
To be shutup in the sombrc old house
with these two sad companions was a
great change from the bright, gay life
at Rolandseck, where Elsie had many
young friends.
Though she was well-nigh overcome
with her own grief. it seemed to Elsie
as she often sat By Rupert's bedside as
if her heart would break to see him suf-
fer so.
IN the evenings She and her uncle
sat by the fireside, in the great dining
hall, and rs he rarely talked she often
could DO nothing but furtively watch
his moody face as. leaning it upon his
hand. he gazed with troubled memories
into the bright flames. for their very
brightness seemed to him as unlike his
own disappointed life az the gray ash
IS beneath them Tesembled his crum-
0led hopes. Elsie, with her quick,
sympathetic heart, saw all this, and
while she longed to Try to comfort him.
which he would never let her do in
words, she felt as if she could never
again be Joyous. since there was so
much sorrow i'm the world. She felt it
all most keenly. and shared the troubles
of both her uncle and Rupert in way
surprising in one so young.
After a few days of this life Elsie be-
gan to go among the cottagers who
dwelt outside her uncle's wall. Soon
they learned to look for her coming as
that of ray of sunshine; the children
crowded around her and the mothers
loved to stop their work a while and
pour into her sympathetic ear the story
Of their hardships and troubles. The
aged and sick looked eagerly for her
visits. and as they confided to her the
burden Of their sad aud wearied lives,
never thought they might be over
taxing the cXquisitely sensitive nature
of which Elsie was the rare possessor.
So from her cottage work she returned
each day to the sad cOmpanionship of
her uncle and Rupert, whose griefS
wore on her even more deeply.
One day n great atlliction came to
the people of Mannheim. A man was
taken with a sudden sickness which
mad been epidemic in the surrounding
country. In few weeks scores of the
people, especially the poor, were
stricken down with 40 dangerous
symptoms. OF the few who were will
ING to nurse the sufferers, Elsie was
the most devoted, but as she went
from cottage to cottage amid groans
and weeping she felt as if she could
hardly bear up under the burden of
sympathy with which her own heart
was laden.
One warm summer afternoon Elsie
returned to her uncle's house somewhat
earlier than usual, for she was very
weary in both body and mind. Before
entering she sat down to rest under a
great oak tree which shaded the stone
gateway. Elsie had often heard from
/ the people of Mannheim the ancient
I legend of the ''Eichen Geist, the spir-
/ it who dwelt in the.oak and whose rare
appearance 10 mortal light was always
accompanied by the granting of that
mortal's most earnest wish. As she
reclined on the soft moss at the base of
/ the tree she thought of the legend and
/ involuntarily exclaimed:
.'Oh, wish that some power would
turn nv heart into stone as unfeeling
as wonder gatei How much more cas-
\ ilv then could | witness all this sor-
row. How much better could / care
/ for these suffering ones, for now i am
almost incapable of nursing them on
account of the weight of sympathy
which unnerves me.
Soon after she said these words, be-
ing overcome with WEAKNESS and find
ING the moss so comfortable, she fell