, 1890-04-17
Nashville American.
TY candor has always been more


N Of II vanity thana virtue with
me, so say freely, in the very
beginning, that deserve no especial
credit for frankly telling you that l
am an old maid; how old is of minor
importance, and the fact thus plain
ly stated, | do not deem 1t necessary
to inform you whether or not de-
serve any credit for the existence ol
such fact, that being purely II pri-
vate and personal matter.
Being, as l have said, n woman
with no family ties, is 1t strange, do
you think, that have always felt
such deep interest in others l do
not mean in an offensive sense.
should scorn to pry into
any ones affairs and make
anything discovered, either In
that way or by any confidence
reposed in me, matter for gossip. l
do not think | am inclined to be
Observation-Disclosures that may
be--but one has to be something,
and / am--well, perhaps as imag'
inative as anything else. IL was
always II pleasure to weave little
romances about the people 1 met
II travelling 1t Is n constant Thought,
"r'rom whence come all these
particles that make up the hurry
Ing, jostling crowd, and to what Is
each one going?"
Thirty years ago, though ! could
scarcely have spoken of myself IA
now have done, / had the same
disposition. NY home was on
one of the ouaint suburban
s,rao,s of Anont, The sane
o.'ee,s ,' IT. i.' a. an,a houso.
peop.e -, nav - na,,,d ran,emher
,.,,,,d. al
NY .''e,ue n'' - -, a +, wo.
'''oa' a,iioe iis o".n' - NJ
so'''e,.,ne s,,.' n' V, du III. hs;do ,n nretty q
,7"VoS "iousn' ~, - -, 81, ~
',u,"u ~ I.s ,-.,. -" ss than, ,,,s that h,
2>i We NJ" - eli, .,
n,s.''i Taa ,ne ',.,,a,, So,vonar wo,
i.'oniu ' w." -, ,,ra,
,u,''''o w .,,.t
nv .''s, ~" &c. ~,
u'S'o',"ls " ,.,.l 80
"e,e ou,e's av'iu"nv 49, ,,or, ,,oos
"o We" ,sii2,p, III ,In,oi so Of
an o." 7.I1 D., an,
'"o'sh, s o,h"r ,,u,,
oo''',',Vn's ,. ne, .aeh h I % d,,i,,ad H., ,,or,
'l,sns n y. u't. ,r,1 dur;n ,b,
", p"9 ,on M a., ~ ,'.. ,,s,aa
"i'"'i vi Wv 90 - =.
Mas ~ go ,oriSia,tva hill tn tb,
tiresides Would the cloud of wa
hovering over the land burst? Ant
I If il did, what?
! / (
Then came sumter, then Ma
nossaa o,d Tho consao,,ent horrors n
nat;oni. s,r,fo Tie sons of TN
:, -. IN, csi, ,,,,,, liz, o,,d "a,
9ou'h i"P'u's "t, NV" ''.'o' - ".
failure Oh MI STACEY I" uo so' "
length began TO cause some com
ment. Now and then | heard
,ybisnered that Mrs, STACEY, in ad
d,tion IN heiny Northern woman
ua. . y,nl,co md thot one wor,
iii
"uNe' "n',,' uH''Ne ,.,.y N'y
revealed Instead OF ma Il muititud
of sins, in some indeflnable wa,
slowly hedged the woman in with
sort Of socjnl odlum. until AT Iengtl
:, ,voa th. ra,nst thing Tn meet be
~ " ~ ,a,hn,.;,a
III any s"''"' s".'ioi A's'
vi all this' II any ia'r youh'
neighbor was conscious, she wa
seemingly indifferent. i saw he
daily among her flowers, fitting il
and ant chirning tn the birds In In
~ ~ .'nI , ~ e,o,,inoa no,I 4 haa
W'huo" '"' VI ''''"so to'" ,'u'
her at 'he piano. ,he voices oi IN
two blended In song. But tn
songs became less requeht, and
wondered u the shtiuoW drawing =
near 10 u- all was iallinS over tina
cosy home.
80 the monts wore away, and on
morning IN the spring oil ~ ! wa
almost surprised To- see Mr.. STAGE
como out IN u confederate uniform
mount his horse ana ride away. I'll
paused Tor u moment, looking regre
iully toward an upper WINDOW bu
lhe curtains rising ana iail'ng wit
the breeze Were impaired ana no on
save hiinseil was visible; just as
was thihklhg now uliierentiy
, should nave done whnt i knew
would never pe caliei upon TO do
= how diiierentiy ! should have ser
| my soldier out TO hSlt ms country
Datlies-the iiutterlhg curtains {
, that window blew open wide, di
closing i9r a hioiueht somethih
whitc against the DARK background
II may nave been ohiy heap
White drnperles thrown carelessl
over chair, nut which looked mo-