Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-09-21


complexion so fair; and then that plain
white, ,ownecked dress, and that jockey
hat and blue ribbons; and she wes 30
oueenly, so maiestic-she was Just my
| ideal And then when she sawme she
blushed so prettily, and ceasing her low
warbling turned away into the grove
beyond so proudly, so defantly, that l
dropped my book in the water in my
eager gaze after her.
The following evening found me on
! The same spot, but my coat was brushed,
my boots polished, my hair oiled, my
beard close shaven, for was no smooth
| faced bov, and altogether / doubt
whether one of my own scholars would
have known me. ] had been reading
quite diligently, as | thought, for a half
! hour. when, suddenly possessed of ra-
tional thought, | gave rational glance
at my book and found it upside down.
But discovered l could comprehend
and appreciate the page SO as weleas any
way, for my mind was not there; it was
off yonder among the trees and pretty
decidedly intoxicated.
As often in storm at sea there sud-
! denly comes a still, dead calm for a mo-
ment, and then the wind and waves
Contended again, so frequently calm
thought displaCcs the contention of the
mind and then is gone. For moment
| looked upon m,self with rational,
mortal eye and had not an ever beneti-
cent Providence made it n physical i'm
possibility, | should have been sorely
tempted to kick myself. | had ever con-
! sidered myself, and boon so considered
! by others, pious hater of that wildcat
nature which induces young ladies to
marry their fathers coachman, and
young men to shoot themselves, or i'm
merse their precious bodies deep in some
unfathomable abyss.
And now that l should change my
nature for this unnamable nature flashed
upon me as go strangely maniacal or
| idiotic that l shut my book a little Sc
verelv and hastily turned away. But |
had not taken three steps when by some
mysterious fatality | saw that same
white dress, jockey cap and blue rib
bons stealing along this side the stream
Strangel Whom the gods wish to de-
stroy they first make mad" 1t is ven
cradle saying and must be true, for no
sooner did my eyes reach that white
dress and blue ribbon than my legs bore
me back to the rock, and l began to
read most laboriously.
To record how infinitely each DAYS
progress in the road Ooh, rosy roadD of
love, to repeat our wild conversations, to
( 81 ba I fo1
within me, how she fed the fire of my
ambition. how / stood for hours like Il
lovesick Egyptian mummy and gazed and
gazed at her tall, queenly figure-to re-
cord all this, say, would but cause on
Your part cOntemptuous smile at an
old mans weakness, and on mine a
twinge of too retentive memory. Let
it suffice, then, to know that before a
week was gone we spoke; before month
we loved and We're plighted, and now
after three months, each passing day
giving increase to our love, came the
evening when we must part.
suppose all loves, especially printed
ones, must endure partings, and any one
possessed Of sufficient patience to read a
thousandth part Of the love stories
written, will find a parting an essential
ingredient in each. 1t would be there
fore thrice told tale. and to YOU, per-
haps stoical or platonic, nausea Were
J to record infinitely the event | so we'll
remember. Besides the memory of it is
to me a sacred memory But we were
not boy and girl; our attachment was
not ftful outbreak Of passion, the fruit
of love for romance-no, it was a
strong, deep river running from heart to
heart, whose current never rolled and
dashed headlong over precipices TO sink
again into a sluggish, muddy stream 1t
ever flowed in that steady, unwavering
course, disturbed by no fears or jealous
les, and overshadowed by no clouds of
doubt and suspicion.
And at the parting interview, as |
gazed upon her seated on that old rock
her hands lying listlessly in her lap, her
eyes fixed on the ground, and ever and
anon a single truant teardrop stealing
down her cheek; as, standing by her side
and looking down upon her, | could
hardly believe that she was really NOR
tai, and more than all, that she was
mine, all mine. Then as if at that mo
ment dark angel had swept by us. |
started at my temerity, For second
the beauty, the wealth, the bliss of love
fled away, and | was startled to see nv
self-me, Il starving, threadbare stu
dent, vagabond; no home, no family,
no friends-I was alarmed to see such a
being stand by the proud, wealthy Lima
Spencer, and claim her as his bride.
But then the cloud passed, my thread
bare coat, my well worn shoes, my unpre-
possessing, not to say uncOuth appear
ance, all We're forgotten, and | was
pressing this child of rank and wealth
to my poverty begotten bosom.
How all this came about how "a city
BELLE already arrived at womanhood,
whose life had been passed in gay saloons
and fashionable watering places; who
had been the pet Of an indulgent father
and silly mother till she had grown
almost naughty; how this person, the