The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1890-07-09


It meant nothing at all to him, and ev.
erything in the world to Lispeth. She
was very happy while the fortnight
lasted, because she had found a man tc
love.
Being a savage by birth, she took nc
trouble to hide her feelings, and the
Englishman was amused. When he
went away Lispeth walked with him UP
the hill as far as Narkunda, very trou.
bled and very miserable The chaplain's
wife, being good Christian and dislik-
ing anything in the shape of fuss OF
scandal-Lispeth was beyond her man.
agement entirely-had told the English
man to tell Lispeth that he was coming
back tomarry her. ''She is but a child
| you know, and, 1 fear, at heart heath
en-" said the chaplains wife. So all
the twelve miles up the hill the English.
man, with his arm around Lispeth's
waist, was assuring the girl that he
would come back and marry her; and
Lispeth made him promise over and over
again. She wept on the Narkunda ridge
till no had passed out Of sight along the
Muttiani path.
Then she dried her tears and went in
to Kotgarh again, and said to the chap
lain's wife: HE will come beck and
marry me. He has gone to his own PEG.
pie to tell them So" And the chaplain's
wife soothed Lispeth and said: HE will
come back" At the end Of two months
Lispeth grew impatient, and was told
that the Englishman had gone over the
seas to England. She knew where Eng.
land was, because she had read little
geography primers; but, of course, she
had no conception of the nature of the
sea, being Hill girl There was an old
puzzle map Of the world in the house.
Lispeth had played with it when she was
child. She unearthed it again, and put
it together of evenings, and cried to her.
self, and tried to imagine where her Eng
hshman was. AS she had no ideas Of
distance or steamboats,, her notions
were somewhat erroneous. 1t would moi
have made the least difference had she
been perfectly correct; for the English
man had no intention of coming back te
marry Fill girl. He forgot all about
her by the time he was butterfly hunting
in Assam He wrote book on the east
afterwards. Lispeth's name did not ap
| pear.
At tho end of three months Lispeth
made daily pilgrimages to Narkunda tc
see il her Englishman was coming along
the road, 1t gave her comfort, and the
chaplains wife, finding her happier,
| thought that she was getting over her
"barbarous and most indicate folly
| A little later the walks ceased to help
Lispeth and her temper grew very bad.
The chaplains wife thought this profit.
able time to let her know the real STATE
of affairs-that the Englishman had only
promised his love to keep her quiet; that
he had never meant anything, and that
it was wrong and improper" of Lispeth
to think of marriage with an English
man, who was Of a superior clay, besides
being promised in marriage to girl OF
his own people, Lispeth said that all
this was clearly impossible, because he
had said he loved her, and the chaplains
wife had with her own lips, asserted
that the Engiizhislars as coming back.
''How can what he and you said be
untruegp asked Lispeth.
eve said it as an excuse to keep you
quiet, child, said the chaplains wife.
''Then you have lied to me- said Lis
peth, ''you and her"
Tho chaplain's wife bowed her head
and said nothing. Lispeth was silent,
too, for little time. Then she went out
down the valley and returned in the
dress Of Hill girl-infamously dirty,
but without the nose and ear rings. She
had her hair braided into the long pig
tail, helped out with black thread, that
Hill women wear.
81 am going back to my own people"
said she. "You have killed Lspeth
There is only left old Jadeh's daughter
| the daughter of a pahari and the ser.
want of Tarlra Devi. You are all liars,
you English"
By the time that the chaplain's wife
had recovered from the shock of the an.
nouncement that Lispeth had 'verted to
her mothers gods, the girl had gone
and she never came back.
She took to her own unclean people
! savagely, rs if to make up tho arrears OF
the life she had stepped out of, and, in
little time, she married wood cutter
who beat her, utter the manner Of paha.
ris, and her beauty faded soon.
''There is no law whereby you can &C.
count for the vagaries of the heathen,"
said the chaplain's wife, "and believe
that Lispeth was always at heart an in.
fidel." Seeing she had been taken into
the church of England at the mature age
of FIVE weeks, this statement does not dc
| credit to the chaplain's wife.
Lispeth was very old woman when
she died. She always had perfect com
mand Of English and when she was suf-
ticiently drunk, could sometimes be in.
duced to tell the story of her first love
| affair.
1t was hard then to realize that the
bleared, wrinkled creature, SO like wisp
Of charred rag, could ever have been
"Lispeth of the Kotgarh Mission"
| Rlldvnrd Kinnlinn