River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-06-25

feeling herself attracted, and sne
turned her scarcely dried eyes toward
the outside.
Nicolas was therel Alone in boat
that he was managing himself.
Seeing Jaequine he smiled sadly, but
in a satisfied way. For a long time,
doubtless, he had waited for her APP
pearance.
lie placed a finger upon his lips as a
sign for prudence. showed a very small
package which he held in the hollow of
his hand, and tried to make his loved
one understand that he desired 70 send
il to her.
Jacquine. with the quickness of
thought, opened the easement and
threw TO the young man a ball of silk
of which she held the end of the thread.
Nicolas seized it flying, attached the
object firmly TO it, then, after touch
ing gesture of farewell. moved rapidly
away.
Jacquine all this time was drawing
to herself the mysterious packet
a strong paper enveloped letter and
little silver trinket which the girl
looked at without guessing its use.
She abandoned it very shortly in
order TO read the dear writing that ac-
companied il:
'-JACQUINE:-Be obedient TO your father
| Forget me. I do not desire you 20 weep longer.
/ / bid you adieu for this world. Permit me 10
offer YOU a very humble souvenir-a thing that
I have invented FOR yOu-a little instrument
which you must put upon you finger when you
work Il will preserve You from the wounds
which have seen you suffer from so often. A.asi
| / had dreamed thus to carve our wedding rings
Adieu. Jacquine / leave Amsterdam. hope
/ your father viii not forbid your using the mod
est gift which he, who will never see you again,
begs you to accept
NICOLAS VAN BENsHA-IN."
Upon finishing the reading Of these
words, so simple, so unstudied, but
which came from the heart, Jaequine
burst into sobs.
Always. always yours she ex-
claimed through her tears. Nothing
shall absolve me from my promise.
Thou mayst depart, but for mel shall
always await thy coming
Three years later Jacquine van der
| Hassen married rich manufacturer of
/ Sheffield man whose trade extended
over the entire world, even to China,
/ where they eXcrted themselves to copy
| the valuable articles of his manufac-
/ ture.
When he asked the privatecr for the
hand of his daughter. it had been
/ warmly accepted. and il was with
pride. triumphant and happy, that JAG
/ quine pretticr than ever, appeared on
his arm. before all their friends gath
/ cred together for the marriage fete.
/ This was because in taking for a hus-
! band the great merchant, She did not
break the dear promise of her youth.
II was with Nicolas van Benshatin
/ that She walked To the church-Nico-
las-of whom his pretty invention, for
| loves sake, so simple, 50 homely, had
made a millionaire.
Having gone over to England, he had
shown the thimble-a little implement
without narle-to some one intelli.
gent enough to foresee the success of Sc
useful an object. A partnership, then
/ an immediate success, complete, inn
mense. had made of the Holland arti-
san, in few months, glorious success
"a success of labor and courageous
/ perseverance.
\ long time afterward, when Nicolas
and Jacquine had celebrated their dia-
mond wedding a thing that frequently
! happens in Holland, the land of longev-
/ ity par ercolence-they ~heard antique
cities talked of, formerly buried be.
meath the ashes of Nesuvius that had
been discovered, Herculaneum anG
| Pompeii. In the curious excavations
which were made they discovered, to-
gether with many other things that one
might believe to be of modern inven-
ton, the thimble, open at the top, sucf
/ as our tailOrs use.
And those good old men, grown &c
be patriarchs, pleased themselves 10y
relating to their great-grandchildrer
this pretty story of their youth-nov
named The Legend of the Thimble"-
of which the moral must have been;
There is nothing new under the
sun, and Zone need never despair -
From the French by a. NJ. Mosher, n
/ y. Y. Independent.