The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-08-28
MATTIE'S CHOICE.

If any one had limited to pretty Matte
Woolston that she would ever figure as
heroine in story she would have opened
her brown eyes wide in amazement. She
was the only child of good old DR.. Wool
ston, OF Greyport, a thriving town in
Yorkshire, and in the circle of local So
ciety was considered at once a belle and
an heiress. Hair and eyes the color of a
chestnut when first the burr uncloses. a
complexion as soft as satin and white as
milk, with the prettiest rose tint of color
ON the round checks, white, even teeth
set in pretty, smiling mouth, figure
tall, slight and graceful, were the attrac-
tlons in appearance of the village beauty.
But those who knew Matte Woolston
well were wont to say that her pretty
face and figure were the least of her
charms. She had low, musical voice,
manner graceful and easy, high bred by
intuition of what was dignified and maid
emily; she was the neatest housekeeper in
Greyport, and all her taste, full dresses
and hats were the work of her own deft
fingers. She had read intelligently, and
could converse we'll.
SO 1t is no matter for wonder that
Matte had many lovers. But foremost
upon the list, to all appearance, was
handsome Ned Gordon, who had been to
the University, and whose father shared
the aristocratic honors of Greyport with
the doctor and clergyman, being the only
lawyer in the town.
The clergyman was a bachelor of nearly
forty years of age, who had come but
recently to Greyport to preside over the
church where the Woolstons and the
Gordons had each a pew. He was a
grave, reserved man, whose face bore the
impress Of sorrows and cares conquered,
and succeeded by the serene peace that is
far above the careless content that has
never known interruption. He was not
a handsome man, but had large, tender
eyes under a broad white brow; and these
would irradiate his homely face with a
light almost divine, when he preached
with an eloquence and simplicity rarely
combined; so that men went from his
church, slowly and thoughtfully ponder
ing upon truths that were but homely,
everyday facts, but suddenly had been
illumined' by earnest eloquence into paths
to salvation.
One OF these men, young, wealthy and
full of talent, was Ned Gordon, Mattie's
ardent admirer from boyhood. He had
left her in sobbing pain of love to go to
a boarding school, had felt his heart
torn when college took him again from
Matte, and had become more devoted
than ever when he came home ''for
good, " to find her grown to womanhood,
faiTer than ever.
He had been wont to say of himself,
when he considered the subject at all,
that he ''was not bad fellow, as fellows
go" being simply an idle hanger-on to
his fathers wealth, desultory student
of musty law-bOoks when the mood
seized him, floating carelessly down life's
stream doing no especial harm by the
way, but assuredly doing no good either.
OF his personal responsibility in the
scheme Of creation, he had never thought
until the Rev. Harvey Stillman was APP
pointed vicar of the fine old church at
Greyport, where Ned's fine tenor was
quite feature in the choir. 1t must be
confessed that, under the dull prosy
preaching Of Harvey Stillman's prede-
eessor, the choir seats had been a gather
ing place for much quiet Irritation