Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-08-16

eubsido to gentle zephyrs, and the tu-
multuous ocean, seemingly entranced,
rests from it's labors and lovingly laps
the shore.
In one Of the broad channels be.
tween the thousand rocky isles which
grid the main large brig lay be-
Gained. Her sails hung idly from the
yellow yards, and the helmsman 10
longer maintained pretenso of direct
ing her.
In the vessels waist tho Captain, O.
bachelor of forty years, promenaded
back and forth with young woman,
who lightly rested gloved hand on
his arm.
$50 you have never seen his photo.
graph?" he asked.
"No; not even that" she answered
absently.
"You know more of him than mere
ly this: That he is yetin his novitiatc,
acting Ms keeper of the Mission store
that he is twentyfour and wants a
wife, aud Is willing to accept the
Bishops choice. Yet you come across
tho sea to share his lot; to sacrifice
your inclinations and desires; to bury
yourself for life in this wild land"
"a sacrifice it mny be, sir" she
said. "How great did not foel when
VIC set sail"
~ wave of hope and passionate long,
ing flooded the Captains heart. It
shone from his clear brown eyes Us he
turned to face her.
st is too great n sacrifice, he said
with warmth; "rhe pity of it and
there is ono would give"
Sho looked at him strangely. and
withdrew her hand.
"You forget, sir !" she interrupted.
'It is the Bishops will. He holds nv
promise made before tho church. I
did not know thon oil it moant to me,
but had time for thought and was
not urged. 1t is my duty and my
work in life.
"Tho sense of such duty is alb
surd-''
"No, mol" she broke in hurriedly.
'You are valued servant OF our
church; your Christian duty is to
help me.
"My duty rs man"
But she disappeared within the COM
pnnion way, and, vex 81, he turned i'm
patiently to the lounging helmsman,
severely recalling him to his neglected
post
In tho solitude of her cabin she
flung herself upon the cushioned
locker, the Captains words still ring
ing in her ears. He loved her! or
that she felt assured. And she-?
Bnt no ! She must not, daro not think
of TINT
Could it be mistaken sense of
duty? Sho was the daughter of mis-
sionnries, generation upon generation,
and following in the very footsteps
her mother traced score of years be-
fore. Although sho had lived at home
but till the age of seven, she remem-
bered as though it wero but yestor-
day, the story OF her mothers curly
life, as she herself had told it; and
narrowly tho girl compared that life
with whit her own had been, seeking
to find some jot of difference.
She knew the harmony of her
parents lives, each kind and thought
full of the others veal; their only sor-
row the parting from their child, and
this they both agreed was wise and
best. How else could children of the
wilderness be fitted for useful lives?
1t was rulo dictated by tho church,
to which they owed obedience as sal
yation's price.
Those mission-born children were
educated by the church in tho belief
that duty to it was paramount; tho
wishes of it's clergy wore commands,
the Bishops will an e,lict from on
high. The boys were trained to fill
their fathers place; the girls to mako
tue missionaries wives; the men to
tako what wives the church bestowed /;
the women to marry without choice
such husbands rs tho Bishop might
award.
And that tho church had wisdom ON
its side was proved by tho universal
happiness to which those thus united
testified.
And yet she could not reconcile her
self. Her innate modesty revolted at
tho gross idea of surrendering to q
perfect strangers will. Ho could she
fail to hate him. to despise this man,