Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-12-04

YET more SO Dy DOluS q lew SlLdOcS OdI n
er than her rippled hair and
and hands that were white wonders Of
warm fexibility and tapering softnesS
when this exquisite young American
girl, in short-type of the most charm
ing and most intelligent womanhood il
the World-cams daWning like Aurora
OUT or the room in which she had bee
dreaming visions only less lovely thar
herself, it did seem as. if the Golden Agt
were now about to begin, and as If moth,
ing false or impure were henceforward
possible She explained, without utter
ing a word, why the grass in spring
is so deliciously green, the sky
of so tender a blue, why birds
sing and water is transparent, why
violets have perfume, and the sun
warmth. She was the spoken secret OF
the universe-the Interpretation of its
fairest elements. By what mishap, then
was such a creature confined las she was
to few square miles of village land in
the center of the state Of New York.
Was such pearl created only to be cast
before cattle, and the village grocer's
son, and the hollow chested yoTng
Unitarian minister, and the lnnkeeler's
daughters? The world could not afford
it, and yet there she was, and just at the
time this story begins there seemed to be
rather less probability than usual of her
ever getting anywhere else.
She lived with her father in roomy
broad beamed, brown old house, en-
vironed by elm trees taller, bat less an
! tique, than itself 1t was an American
Eighteenth century house. Some hero
of the Revolution had passed night in
| it. 1t stood on the side Of low, gradual
hill, and was four miles away from the
nearest railway station Altogether the
region was sufficiently remote, though
New York city was hardly more than
three hours distant by rail The mail
arrived twice a day, and Mr.. Alexander
Randolph, the owner of the house and
estate, received yesterdays World every
forenoon, and read it during the hour
preceding dinner. which always took
place at o'clock. 1t was an eminently
conservative household; at all events
its master was a conservative and a
democrat, as his fathers had been before
him.
These forefathers were of VirgiEian
descent, and two generations ago had
owned large plantations in the south.
But the young Randolph of that epoch
had fallen in love with northern lady.
and ended by marrying her and settling
down on this estate. which was his
brides dowry.
He was originally quite wealthy, but
lost money by speculations during the
war. With intent to compel a better
fortune he soon after ran for an Office,
but was defeated, as foregone conclu-
sion, by crushing majority. To crown
ali he lost his wife, to whom he was de-
votedly attached. She died of typhoid
fever in 1868. He was left with two
children, a boy of 10 and a girl Of g.
Mr.. Randolph. though of a naughty and
headstrong character, was not what is
called thorough. He was tall and of
slender build. with high shoulders, a
gray mustache and imperial, and thick,
wavy hair, growing rather long. His
eyebrows were bushy and overhanging.
and gave to his eyes fercer expression
than might otherwise have belonged to
them; he had habit of twisting them
between his thumb and finger when in
thought, which looked ominous to stran-
gers, but really amounted to nothing.
His fingers were very long, and so were
his arguments and discussions; almost
the only short thing about him, in fact,
being his temper His general aspect
was that of retired southern brigadier
whose slaves had been unrighteously
made contraband. His expression was,
ordinarily, profoundly serious, and he
smiled rarely; but it was not difficult to
make him break into shrill, giggling
laugh, which absurdly mmred the severe
contour of his visage and betrayed the
underlying weakness.
He was fond of phrases, and had a
fancy for calling himself ''the most in
dulgent of fathers" but whenever his
children transgressed the moral law Of
their fathers good humor or Incidence
and this was not seldom the case with
Ed, who was as restless and independent
as hawk-he fell upon them with
sweeping broadsides of rebuke, culuina-
ting, if they answered him back, in VIC
lent assertions of their total deprawity.
Ed was sent to school, but the stud y of
books had no part in his scheme of exist
ence. In the boys seventeenth year
Hamilton Jocelyn, friend of the fam
lily, being on visit of few days to the
Randolphs, was tickled by Eds bearing
and the story of his exploits, and offered
to take him back with him to New York |
city for month or SO, to give him in
struction in the laws and amenities of |
polite society.
He went off accordingly, and the |
month had prolonged itself to six before I
ne came back His father thought that
he had been improved by his sojourn
there. He had brought back with him
certainly a great deal of entertaining
talk, and gave Beatrix endless accounts
OF the great city, its streets, its houses.
Its horses, its theatres: above all, of its
operas and its concerts. Both she and
I'D had always been paSsionately devot-
ed to music. They had understood it
by the light of nature, as it were, from
very early age, and had constantly
ever since. Eds voice was not
OF much use, but he was an admirable
performer on the violin Beatrix, on
the other hand, was above all things q
singer, and her voice developed into a
soprano OF remarkable range and power.
her studies We're not confined to church
music She knew by heart all the great
operas and oratorios, and in pursuance
or the marked dramatic ability which
she possessed she had, with Eds assist
ance, acted out scenes from many of the
former $50 far as two performers rniohtA