The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-03-29
POOR LITTLE EMILY.
The History of a Prudent
Marriage.
BY MISS NIULOCK.
CHAPTER V.

ClIAPj ER "
People do Lrenk their hearts sometimes.
Not very often, for largo proportion have
really no hearts to break; aud few who
have them have also that stern power of
endurance, which, if they ouly have
strength to live through the first shock,
will enable them still to live on-iiye no.
bly,, heroically, until they como to expert
cnce the mysterious internal force Of repu-
ration which heaven, has mercifully im-
parted to every sound body and h"althIIy
constituted mind; which turns evil into
good, and transmutes dull misery into that
active battling with sorrow which in time
produces n deeper peace than even hap
pinosS.
Bat here and there are others, like poor
Emily Bowerbank, gifted with strong per-
sistcncy of loving. and almost no other
strenetil-no other pcrsistency in anything;
sweet, gentle, sensitive souls; climbing
plants, who, if they find prop to cling to,
bloom bountcously all their days; but,
finding no pop, or being rudesy torn FROM
it, slip silently to the Garth, where they
soon witbcr away, and have no use nor
beauty i'll their lives ever after. This may
not be noticeable outside; the result may
be attributed 10 many accidental external
causes worldly misfortune, con ,titutional
fcebloness, and so on, but the real cause
is-thcir hearts arc broken. Why it
should o--why, above all, Providence
weak ones to succumb to the bad strong
ones, and the vrtuous to be sacrificed to
tho vicious - the unselfsh and much
enduring to those who have neither tender
ness nor generosiiy-is mystery that
never will be unravoled. Wo can only
leave it with Him who. dying, prayed to
His Father, rs Emily BowerOank tried to
pray TO the Father in heaven, whenever
Che thought of her own father, Forgive
them, they know not what they do"
Nevertheless, her heart was broken, and
she know it. She recovered from her
fever, and by degrees resumed almost her
former place in her husbands household,
though not in general society; she was
quito incapable of that, and, besides, dur
ing her tedious convalescence, Sir John
had got into habit of going to his dinner
parties alone. She was, to all appearance,
quite we'll; still she never again took firm
hold on life, never was heard to talk OF the
future, or to mako any plans beyond tho
month, or the week, and then gradually -
so gradually that no one perceived it-not
even beyond the day.
She was not i'll q consumption, for the
doctor found no disease in the lungs: II
was moro what the country people call "a
waste that is, gradual sinking or all
the powers of the body, and sometimes
even of the mind; until mental griefs
cease to wound, and Of bo lily suffering
absolutely none. Not painful death tt
die, especially when surrounded by all the
luXurics that wealth or kindly care coult
everything, i'll short, except th'
one thing one amulet of life. whicl
had been taken away from hSr.
People do rot recognize half clearly
enough the truth that God would no. have
created such thing as mutual love. end
ing in marriage, had he not meant 1T to b
the one thing ncedful-not absolutely t
the salvation of human soul, though 1t /
that, or the contrary, oftcner than we su|
pcct. but to it's perfect development, and
above all, to it happiness. Those VII
interfere with what Is called n love al
fair" are doing what thoy never can undo
DESTROYING what is impossible TO Icbuil,
taking away from human beings th'
which no substitute, be it family affection
wealth, worldly honor, or success, ca
avail to restore. All are valueless whe
love is not there.
The sod lay green over Mr.. Kendall
bones; his life was over; but he ha
pncnted TWO other lives - lives whic
might have blossomed into beauty and ca'
ried their porfectnesS down into comm
generations, when his poor. selfish eXis
enco was forgotten iu the dust. lie hG
done il, and 1t never could be undone.
What had become of John Stenhou
was a question that Mrs. knowie oft,
asked herself. Only to herself, howe'e
Constantly, AZ she visited Lady Bowe
bank, and moro especially since the 81
illness which followed the sudden dea
of Mr.. Kendall, his name had, since tn
first night, mover once been brcathed
tween them. IL was Impossible 1t cOu
be, between any two honorable wome
Nevertheless, the elder matrOn thought
him deal more than she would ha