Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Nev. County, Ark.) 1885-1???, 1891-04-16
MISS ESTHER'S OAK TREE.

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II was a magnificent work of ma
! ture, Miss Esther's oak tree-so tall
and gracefal--oycrhanging the street
with its green banner, lending a
charming shade to her little parlor,
which gave it the air of dim, cool
recess, in the woods on q summer
day. Miss Esther loved it, and eX-
cept for her gay young ward, it
would seem as if she had little else
to love. Her grandfather had planted
it; il was a sort of heirloom. She
had passed her youth beneath its
boughs; her name was carved on its
stem. She never looked at the tree
without thinking of the one who had
carved it-of the moonlight nights
they had spent together in its shad-
ow. 1t gave her both pain and pleas
ure: pleasure, because it reminded
her that he had loved her once; pain,
that he loved her no longer. She
could not guess why he had never
returned to her. What had estranged
him was still as great mystery to
her Is in those early days of her be-
reayement, when sorrow and suspense
had been her daily companions, ris
ing up and sitting down with her.
Perhaps some fairer woman had en-
slayed him; perhaps he had never
really loved her at all; and she cX-
perienced pang of mortified pride
when she reflected that she had pos
sibly been vain enough to make the
mistake, Year by year, she watched
the tender green of the oak thicken
into dark masses of leaves; year by
year, she watched them fading and
falling, like her own hopes and illu
sioas. 1t was a poem, to her; and
yet, after all, it was only Miss Es-
TIERS oak tree by permission. The
home of her ancestors had fallen in
to other hands; she had only re-
turned 10y 4 happ chance, and not as
ills owner.
Mrs Earle, the purchaser, had q
daughter to be educated. When
Mrs Earle died. she devised that
Miss Esther should make a home
with Ina-the mother, sister, and
teacher, all in one, to her child-till
she should marry in short, stand in
the gap. Miss Esther had been
used to standing in gaps all her life;
this was nothing new. And it was a
homc-her own home where she had
dreamed dreams. When she walked,
at twilight, beneath the old oak, its
leaves seemed to whisper: "Just
here he kissed You first, and there
you said goodbye" No wonder
she loved the old tree,
dangerous thing" said Captain
Vaughn, tapping its trunk with his
cane, as he walked by; hollow
hearted as a iilt, Miss Esther
"You are mistaken" she rcjoined,
lit is as sound as a nut,
But it must come down" he
added, as if his words were law.
"Neycr, while live, Captain
Naughn,'
'You forget that | am man of
property; that l pay more taxes
than anyone in town; that can
bug every tree in the place, and up
root it if choose"
"Ihen it is only from pure good
nature that YOU ask my consent 10
cut down this tree? DO You know
that have loved it from a child, and
my grandfather planted it"
II know that Miss india owns the
whole estate; and | know that this
bone of contention--this trec-ob-
strucrs the view from my windows,
Miss Esther: it hlots out all sights
of the sea. -
And he passed proudly on up the
long green lawn to his new home,
with its marble steps and broad bal
comics, which made its humble ueighr
bor seem forlorn and shabby.
Miss Esther looked at the impos-
ing structure, at the parterres of
flowers, at the fountain tossing its
lets into the sunlight, the velvety