The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-10-06
Green Rushes, o!

41&(hct4tCI- a 80 muCn mercury
in their veins. gravitation is so funda-
mental a law OF nature. The difficulty
is to keep them apart. not to bring them
together.
But human nature Is capricious. There
Is no ~hard-and-fast rule with that. What
ever general law may be thought TO gov
ern IL. exceptions will be found. and
among these phenomena-these devia-
tions from the norm-were Tom and
Jenny.
These were just the two who would
not and could not be brought together.
Their natural instincts. not inclinations.
drove them apart. and not all the efforts
OF well-meaning friends and relatives.
not all the thrusting and nudging in
the world appeared likely to give the
impulse to these two to make them come
together as they ought n as they
wished.
There was the oddness of the situa~
ion-it lay in the last words of my last
sentence. AS they wished. Tom had the
greatest admiration for Jenny. but it
was so excessive that he was shy Of be-
ing with her. He adored her, but from
- 0AA4 Gill COuOluCICu lldL
there was no young man IN the universe
30 far as she knew it-and she knew no
more OF It than is comprised within the
bounds Of the forest OF Dartmoor-no
young man at all worthy Of being de-
sired like unto Tom, but then so great
was her respect for him that-she ran
away from him If the two passed on
the high road an awkward salutation
was all they accorded each other, a grunt
and a SLOUGH of one shoulder from Tom,
a movement OF the lips TO form the words
How do y do now, Tom?" from Jenny,
but not the words themselves. II it
should so happen that Tom saw Jenny
ahead OF him, walking along in the same
direction, then not all the kings horses
nor all the kings men could draw on
Tom to hasten his steps and catch her
up On the contrary. he Immediately
Jumped a wall, ran over a field, jumped
another, made a vast loop Of at least a
mile. always at the run. and came out
on the oad again half a mile ahead of
Jenny.
Now il happens that on Dartmoor
there is a little church near the Dart,
newly constructed. in which a curate
ministers once a nday Precisely be-
cause Jenny went there for her devo-
lions. not moved by any theological
differences and doctrinal scruples, Tom
~frequented the Bible Christian chapel.
He had on one occasion been played a
trick OF leaving the little church. The
congregation. seeing him issue from the
sacred door alongside OF Jenny, imme-
dfately fell apart; some hurried forward,
some hung back, with the kindest SYM
pathy possible, to allow OF Tom offering
his arm-at all events his c~ompany-to
Jenny IN their way back to the farms
where they severally dwelt, and which
were close to each other. But this con-
sideratton on the part OF the fellow
worsh.ppers In the church so agitated
Jenny and so alarmed Tom h a she ran
and chung TO the side Of a farmers wife
going her way. and Tom turned tail al
together and walked to Holne in a direc-
ton diametrioaHy- opposite to that which
ne must ultimately pursue.
There a be no question but that, as
q general rule. we are all inclined TO be-
neye to be true that which. we hope to
be true. But there are exceptions to
this rule also, and precisely Tom and
Jenny proved exceptions. What was OBJ
vious 10 every one else. wha- was GER
tain to every one else was precisely that
on which each was skeptical. All the
~neighbors knew that Tom was madly in
love with Jenny, and that Jenny could
fancy no other lad than Tom; that, not
20 put too fine a point on Ii, they were
cut out for each other, and for no one
else. But this was what neither could
be induced to believe.
There was absolutely no impediment
why these two should not be joined to-
gether IN holy matrimony. The bans
might have been proclaimed from the
tots or every tower and no one would
have forbidden them. On the contrary.
they would have been hailed with ac-
clamati0n. The only impeachment ex-
listed in themselves; they would not come
together.
Tom was an active. industrious man,
. miner at Vitifer. who came up out OF
the shaft, red and rosy, in garb as well
as in face, from the tin ore. He earned
his sixteen shillings a week, and had a
little cabin of his fathers construction
IN which he lived with his sister near
the Kings Oven. where in ancient days
the tin was run into blocks and stamped
with the royal mark.
Jenny was the last remaining maiden
In a wooden barrack erected by the pro-
prietor OF the vitifer mine, about which
barrack a word must be said. When a
new lease had been taken OF the tin
rights at the head Of the Wibburn then
q long 5hanty OF wood, tarred black,
had been erected by the manager, who
ConSiuefeu tudl girls miSnI very we'll De
employed in sorting ore. He had en-
gagged a dozen and a half, and had
lodged them in this shanty under the
supervision of a respectable matron.
But the scheme broke down, because
human blood is of the nature of quick
silver; the miners and the maids ran
together and made pairs, and there were
marriages one after another till, within
q twelvemonth, the shanty was cleared
or all the lasses except Jenny; and the
matron had nc other work to do than
look after Jenny, who OF all girls least
needed looking after, for she ran away
from the only man for whom she cared,
yet not half so fast as he did from her.
Now. Toms sister was impatient to
set away. She did not love the life on
the moor. she desired above all things
to take a situation in Torquay, which is
as lively a place as invalids can make
It., and consumptive people have more
craving for excitemen. and amusement
Of every kind than those who ought to
be kept from 1t. Such is human nature
The frolicsome invalids who frequent
Torquay nave made IL a very elysium
for house and parlor maid, and Toms
sister had before her the golden dream
OF a lively winter at Torouay and a
sleepy summer there. when the invalids