The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-09-21
A ROMANCE OF Il EFLOOD.
How Parted Lovers Met Above the
Raging Waters at Johnstown.


ing that to myself-"We had been so
happyl' And now it was all over
everything was over for me. He would
take what he had chosen instead; but
l.
/ burst into tears as l sat on the rock
by the spring where we had met SO
often-where / was waiting for him
now-but / never faltered in saying to
myself, 1--WE must part. He is neither
true to me nor to ~heaven-we must
part"
And what was he? Only the village
doctor-Benjamin Rue. And what was 1?
Only a little school teacher. Our united
incomes were far less than anything
that the wiseacres of society papers de-
clare it possible to marry on" But we
had no fear. He was winning his way,
and we loved each other; and as l began
by saying, we had been very happy.
But there had come to Johnstown,
where we lived, a lady of wealth, who
gathered about her a certain little clique
of scornful, stylish people. They were
openly infidel in opinion; all that | had
been brought up to believe right and
good they Knocked at. All this would
have been nothing to me in my school
house or my own little room. / might
never have done more than notice the
handsome dresses of the ladies when
they walked out or rode with their at
tendant cavaliers, and never have asked
what their opinions were, but that soon
after their arrival Mrs. Norland was
taken i'll and sent for Dr.. Rue. Ben
was handsome, well read, full of bright
f~ancies, and ready to enjoy himself at
any time. He relieved the lady of the
pain she suffered, and became the FAM.
lily doctor at once. 1t was a step toward
success. Naturally, he did not turn a
cold shoulder to his patrons when they
offered him social invitations.
From the first he was fascinated by
the freedom from restraint in thought
and action that prevailed in the house.
No doubt I was strait laced, but what
he thought delightful / thought wrong.
It seemed to me, from what he said, that
Mrs. Norland was a very immoral wom-
an Certainly she had no religion what
ever. When l saw Ben gradually for
saking all | SO chung to, when he refused
to go to church with me, and began to
beg me not to go; when he said, openly,
that when we were married / must give
all that up; when, at last, he began to
deny the existence Of a Deity, and say,
as they did at the Norlands', that man
had no soul, that all ended here, and
that to be happy while we lived should
be our only object, my heart sunk with
in me. Iloved him so dearly that l was
quite willing to marry him if he would
let me go on in my W way. l believed
that my influence and perhaps my pray
ers might win him back to heaven.
A young man with good principles
would surely do what was right at last.
But when he began to talk of forbidding
me to listen to the good words / heard in
church, or even to kneel in prayer at
home, l felt that / should do wrong to
promise to obey him, and that there
could be nc hope for a home divided
against itself.
l shall not tell you what particular
sect I belonged to-that does not mat
ter. All Christians worship God and
try to follow Jesus; and still hoping that
he might, out of love for me, give me
my own way, I could hardly have broken
with him-such is the weakness of
woman's heart-but that tales reached
me that made me feel that he was not
true to me.
1t was hard for a girl to speak of such
q thing as the beguiling Of her lovers
heart by a wicked married woman; but
Ihad no n to speak for me, and with
my first words we quarreled. He called
me an old fashioned little Pharisee, and
said that my husband would be q slave
if I had my way--a slave to supersti-
tons of all sorts; that he was q man,
and knew what was right and best; that
I need not think that he should never
look at a pretty face or take q glass of
wine with q friend.
At the moment he was flushed with
what he had been drinking at the Nor
lands. He said more than he meant, no
doubt, but it spurred me on to do what
had resolved to do, and at last I said:
Benjamin Rue, just here where we
now sit / promised to marry you; here l
take back that promise. We should only
make each other wretched for life"
All he answered was:
"No doubt you are right"
And then 1 took my ring from my fin
| ger and gave 1t to him. He turned away,
aid I heard his feet amongst the rustling
autumn leaves long after I could see him.
And it was all overall over! And
then indeed I wept and wished that I
could die just there where I had been SO
happy.
Time passed, and I grew used to it. AS
for Ben, hegot on well. Fashionable peo-
pie ''called him in" In fact, he was
the fashionable doctor of the place, and
had an office in the handsomest portion
of the town. For my part, l kept my
school, and boarded with the motherly
old widow who had been kind to me
when / first came to the place stranger.
My happiest day was the Sabbath.
which / spent III church, teaching my
little ones and attending all the services;
and then i tried to think only Of heaven
and its joys, and to do what good could.
But I cannot say / was yer more than
quietly c~heerful-the brightness had gone
out of my life.
1t is natural for young people to look
forward TO something and to enjoy their