The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-03-22

y one ciasped her hands together. and
. % euer Ihe poor, pale face looked like a
angels 1t looked so then.
He was true! He did not fersako ~,
7 | Oh, thank GodIn '0'aAe m'
ana then she remembered all that fol
toWeo, and how it had all ended in he
banks wife. 'i" no"er
Inc dead man had told lie-or nerbon
NOT not dlrect lie, but q misstatementNn
ahS forward what he believed and bonef
in, mmat Iealiy existed. He had eyidentl,
Ter no longer considered herself enoo sat
@ 10 MN, and was on the point of masr;s OF
win John Bowerbauk. Suob fabr;cat;"Ss
afe o1ten given as facts by even good noo
PIE, who hope them until hey really befiev
tnem. Inc faisehoods Of the wicked can
toI,in ieI'ne misstatements Of the respeo-
| 'aDle and worthy cannot. 'p'o-
And a, lie that ir half truth is ever tho basko,,
30 Emily's lover must have h.,;.s :.
S S#eSAcs-celv unnatural But-tbo fotha'
another, it u ~ be o small tnIng W 1"sMe.; uus
him his house and suppress his letters; and
such may be, by some people. counted by
no means an unwarrantable proceeding on
the part OF any father who wishes to pre-
won't his daughters making an imprudent
marriage. little unoandid, perhaps; o
1ittle like treating her as Q child: but then.
many young women are little better than
children; and parents have, or are supposed
to have, all the wisdom, the justice, the
prudence on their side, and may take the
law into their own hands, and use any
means which they think advisable for the
ultimate good of their offspring. How can
they-the children-just entering on life,
and with little or no experience of its
countless pitfalls, know what is best for
their own happiness? Blind obedience is
safest and best.
So would argue many excellent people
30 doubtless would have argued the dead
lawyer, could he have como back from his
new-flled grave, or from the place, wher-
ever it was, that his soul had fled to, and
stood before his daughter in the dead of
night. as she sat with that fatal letter
still clutched in her hands, staring at va
cancy.
She was usually good deal given to
;weeplng-too much SO, indeed-she was
such a thorough woman in oil her weak
nesses, poor little Emily. But now she did
not weep ut all; neither did she rave, nor
think any unholy, wicked thoughts, nor
curse her fathers memory. He was dead,
and she must not allow herself to dwell up
on what he had dono against her, or judge
whether his act were right or wrong. She
only felt that it had killed her.
Yes, he had killed her, this respectable
and respected father-bad killed. his own
daughter, his natural flesh and blood, as
completely rs il he had slain her with his
hand. 1t might be worth connting-as Der
haps the good God may send His angels to
count some time, whom the secrets OF all
lives shall be revealed-how many fathers,
perhaps some mothers; but women being
less selfish than men, these are rarer-
with the very best intentions, have done the
same.
yotRhtai, yotRhai, had aaek killf6 Ipf1uklla9 the spring of
lawful, open opposition - though that
would have been cruel euough-but by a
mean, underhand. cowardiy blow, 2 Si1o-
thrust which there was no parrying. BY
him, worldly man rs he was, probably the
thing was not realized in its full enormity.
How could he, or such as he, understand
the loss of love-the one blessing which
makes life sacred and beautiful? Or per-
haps he thought, like other worldly people,
that worldly blessings are all i'll all, and
that he was actually doing his daughter a
kindness in keeping her i'll the sphere she
was born to; saving her from sacrificing
herself TO II man OF no wealth and no po-
sition, decidedly her inferior in the mar
riage barter, who, while she gave him ev-
erything, had nothing on earth to offer her
except love, which was commodity of nc
weight at all with MIR. Kendall.
Va
course, there is this to be said, why had
she the weakness to let herself DO killedi
WHY did she take her lovers loss SO pass
lively, and so unresistingly allow herself to
be married to another? Why, in short, suffer
herself to be made n mere victim to cir
cumstances when she should have risen
above them, as n strong, bravo human be-
ing, whether woman or man, ought 10 do
fight her own battle. and assert her right to
live out her own life in her own way
whether she married John Stenhouse OF
not?
Alas, the question is answered by hun
dreds of victims--men and women, bu
especially women-to whose weak help
lessness might has become right, and cow.
ardice appeared like dutiful submission
Pass on, pale ghosts, sad shadows Of lives
that might have been made 80 happy and
so fair; God will remember you, poor suf-
| fering ones! But how as to those who
have caused you to suffer?
think, if there ought to be Gehennt
upon earth--for mortal justice must no
presume to create Gehennas afterward-i
should be opened for the punishment o
| tyrants-domestic tyrauts.
Emily Bowerbank sat till daydawn with
! out attempting SO much as to stir. Bewil
dering, delirious thoughts swept throug
| her poor brain-she who was not muc
given to think, but only to feel Whethe
| she fully realized her own position-a
she was and all she had lost; whether, j
those long still hours, she went over an
over again, i'll maddened fancy, the con
'trast between her calm, cold, respectabl
marriage with honest John Bowerbank-
thank heaven, she felt he was not to blame
he never could nave known anything--an
marriage with every pulse of her heal
happy and ut rest; every aspiration OF lie
soul satisfied; her nature developed, an
her mind enethened fitted for veal c
woe, labor or case, peace or DerDleXity, O
she would have been had she become th
wife of John Stenhouse-all this wa
never revealed.
She said nothing and did nothing; wht
was there TO do or say? She blamed II
one, not even herself; it was too late nov
Everything was too late. She felt in
, vague, childish sort of way, like one
the foolish virgins" whom she had alwa,
been so sorry for rs child; her lamp, to-
g had gono out, and could never be relighte,
Q The door of life was shut, not TO |
D opened moro.
, | Till day dawned-the dreary drizZ