Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-08-08
IN LOVE WITH 4 WIG.

have sometimes felt that l was con-
slant by the mert~s chance, and rs my
marriage has turned out happily l am
grateful for the interpretation, though tax
ing no credit to myself. l ought to say
that l have never told this story to my
wife, and she would be scarcely likely to
appreciate it il did, but l mean to set the
truth down hero, though l shall not give
the real names.
will call myself George Grey, and my
wife l will call Amy-nce Fcrrcrs. Well,
was engaged to Miss FcrrcrS and loved
her passionatcly, the moro passionatcly
perhaps because my position held out no
prospect of my making her Mrs. George
Grey for years.
She was the second daughter of u rector
in the Shircs, and had met her when
was in the nrighhorhood fishing. An ac-
quaintanco took mo to the house, and il
was a very pleasant one The rector WAS u
charming man, his daughters were worthy
of him. and, as to Amy. she was the love
lest and sweetest girl had ever seen in
my life.
stad down in Thrccgatcs, fishing, for
nearly amonth, though | had originally in
tended to limit my visit To week, and
told her had decided to go
II shall never forget this holiday of
mine " said, "hut now must bring it
to an end and get back to the dust and
Crime of the Temple. Slowing in cham.
bcrs, shall often think of Thrccgates and
the trout stream and-and my friends.
UnconSciously | adopted the tono of a
O. c. ut least Ispokca as if were returning
|
couple Of briefs u year | held myself OK
trcmcly fortunate.
We were In tho rcctory garden, and she
was wearing broad trimmed hat of straw
and held u bunch of datrodils in her hands.
Was ii my fancy, or when she bent over
them did She tit to hide the regret in her
face? ." | am glad You have found it en-
joyahlc," sho murmurcd. 1T is pretty
place think.
She had mover looked 50 beautiful, l
was saying "Goodby' to her, and l was 20.
The result might have been forcseen! |
took her hands in minc, datTodils and all,
and told her that loved her; that l had
never loved before, could never love again.
cried to her that il had not the right to
ask any girl to be my wife, but my pas
sion was stronger than my self restraint.
She was my world, my all adorcd her.
Life without her was an agony too awful
to contemplate Would she, could she,
reconcile herself to waiting for beggar
who today could offer her nothing but he
widest devotion that had ever been laid
at u woman's frrtp
Words altogether unprecedented broke
from me in II torrent of fcrVor. My heart
pounded furtnusly; my excitement seemed
, a..
among the boughs overhead who cawcd
so violently that they appeared to be
drowning my speech When ceased, her
head dropped, and my darling was al
smiles and tears at once, The daifodils
lay scattered ON the lawn, and ! was en-
gagged
We'll, postponed my departure for three
days, and those days were delightful. Her
fathcr-lcast mrrccnnry Of mcn--conscnt-
ed cordially. We were both young enough
to be ablo to afford to wait, he said, and |
was adopted as one Of the family without
dcmur. The girls We're warm in COngratu-
lations-no fellow ever had nicer sisters
in-luw-and Amy was the divincst little
fianceo that it was possible for n human
imagination to conceive Yes, those three
days were cCStatic, and so were the weeks
that followed when | wrote and received a
love letter per diem, and it was only as
the weeks merged into months and the
months into u year that began to ask
myself when and how ] expected to be
able to marry.
was depressed by degrees. My pros
poets, as havo said, were Of the vaguest.
was still doing nothing to speak Of ut
the bar. and even when ] ran down to sec
Amy, and she did her best to cheer me up,
the futility of her encouragement was not
to be blinded by o man possessed Of "a tol.
erably dear sight.
We must be patient, George she
would say. Everything will come right
at the cad Lam sure of it, and when the
briefs are rolling in we shall look back at
all this time and laugh.
thoaght it very possible that | should
laugh under those conditions, but there
was gulf between tho present and that
opulent future which her words did moth.
ing to bridge.
At leugth / decided to do what many
another young fellow has done similarly
circums7anced. / resolved To consign my
profession to the deuce and To seek pas
lures new and America. What | proposed
should be my plan Of campaign in Amer
lea Is at this date not very clear to me, but
! remember that 1t seemed 10 me then a
most desirable and practical step 10 :ake,
and not even Micawber departing for Aus
tralia felt more confident If something
turning up on the foreign shores than l.
Of course Amy wept and was desolate,
but we had been engaged now for nearly
three years, and firmly and with the busi-
ncsslike lucidity on which prided myself
Il remind myself most strongly Of the
Micawbcrs in retrospection-I showed her
that 1t was the only course for Us. said
that England--I called ii "the old coUn
try" already-was played out In the
United states, | observed, energy and
youth had chance II coming to the front.
To cling TO a sinking ship-the sinking
ship was the bar--was a cpwardly and
disastrous thing ! declared, and finally
painted a picture Of my rising to dizzy
heights in the United states and her com.
ing across to me In IL months time to I've
my wife.
The pictures u making her home In the