The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-03-08
TIE WHITE ROSE.

nave al Old. brown. carved box-the
no Is broken and tied with n string. In
II keep Iltt4e squares of paper. with hair
INSIDE, and a little picture which hung
over my brothers. bed when we were chill
dren, and other things as small. have
III 1t 4 rose. Other women also have such
boxes, Int 10 one has my rose.
When my eye is dim, and nv heart
grows faint, and my faith in woman flick
ers, and her presence is an agony to me.
aIiG her future n despair, the scent of
that dead rose, withered for II wears.
comes back TO me. | know there Will be
spring as surely a the birds know it when
'hey see above the snow two tiny quiveIing
green leaves. Spring cannot fail US.
There were other flowers in the box
once-a bunch of white acacia flowers.
gathered by the strong hand Of a man as
we passed down a village street on a sui
try afternoon, when it had rained, and the
drops fell on Us from the leaves of the AGA
Ga trees. The flowers were damp. They
MADE mlidtW marks on the paper | folded
them IN. After many years / threw them
away. There IS nothing of them left, but
the rose is in the box still.
1t IS many years z now. was a girl
Of -, and | went to visit in a small up
country town. 1t was y0ung in those DAYS
and two days journey from the nearest
village. The population consisted mainly
II men. \ few were married and had their
wives and children, but most were single.
There was only one young girl there when
came. She was about Il, fair and rath-
er fully feshed. She had large dreamy
blue eyes and wavy light hair, full, rather
heavy lips, until she smiled; then her face
brlf-. irt1 l;r,~1x- - I - - =
shOne, The hotel keeper may have had a
daughter, and the farmer in the outskirts
had two, but we never saw them. She
rcigncd alone. All the men worshiped her.
She was the only woman they had to
think Of. They talked of her on the stOop,
At tie market, at the hotel; they watched
tor her at street corners they hated the
man she bowed TO or walked with down
the street. They brought flowers to the
front door; they offered her their horses;
they begged her to marry them when they
dared. Partly, there was something noble
and heroic III this devotion of men to the
best woman they knew. Partly, there
was something natural in it, that these
men. shut off from the world, should pour
at the feet Of one woman the worship that
otherwise W0uld have been given to 20,
and partly there was something mean in
their envy.
Then | came. | DO not think I was
pretlicr; / do not think | was 50 pretty as
She was. | was certainly not as handsome.
Bat | was vital, and | was new, and she
was old-thcy all fOrsOOk her and follow
Cd me, They W0rshiped me. 1t was to
my door that the flowers came; it was |
had - horses offered me when | could
only ride one: it was for me they waited
at street corners; it was what | said and
did that they talked of. Partly | liked it.
/ had lived alone all my life; no one had
ever old me was beautiful and q wOm-
an. | believed them. | did not know it
WAS simply a fashion which one ma
had set and the rest followed unreaSOning-
ly. | liked them to ask me to marry them
and - say "N0." ! GcspiSed them. The
mother heart had not sweIIed in me yet
| did not know all men were my children,
as the large woman knows when her heart
is crown. was like a child with Il new
Whip-it goes about cracking everywhere,
not caring against what. Only one thing
took from my pleasure. | could not bear
that they had deserted her for me. | liked
her great dreamy blue eyes. | liked her
slow walk and drawl. When | saw her sit
ting among men, she seemed to me much
too good to he among them. | would
nave given all their compliments If she
vyon1f nnD. Ioyn l,,iIal st non .La .n,iI.
al 49, +Ll-, ,,,th ~ 3D., f,oa Lnoalina
;,+o n,1;,aln ,-:.h Iar I;,,r Inr orlI aa"lf9
;,m, t..,L I,,t L,av - ,.,.r rn,II W.
: f,14 s,ra .Ln Lo+nI n,.. tL,+ .Lo wi'II1
| was dead; that she wished | had never
come to the village. She did not know,
When we went out riding and 4 man who
had always ridden beside her came to ride
beside me, that | sent him away; that
- ~. riI;r,,Ijra Lar 2In,~ 3r"uI L'ftra
,,a ,,,nad an him 90 farcIr ,h,+ Ia
..II oa,1a 1lraua, n1n;| Tl,lu.
: ,,,, tta+ - ~. hatnI ,a7I ia n,aIo
L .I..t; aL' WV, unl 49,, 49, ',|L "l,.
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