The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-06-11

W ~ ~ WtptOhta Nv qy ~ 7
not do ii that very night Law, ueye |
knowG, but i decided upon the follow
ing night.
I'm tbis frcnzied condition, stand |
ing YEARLY behind my counter, / WA
reused by q lady speaking u me, III
turned fOr the article she wished aud
as l faced her again the sweet voice
said, i am afraid you arc very tired,
this holiday shopping is hard ON YOU
1t was the middle of December and
the Christmas iush was beginning. i
was SO touched by the Unexpected
sympathy that / felt the tears gather
ing in my eyes and ashamed TO lift
them to the iady's face. / happened to
fix them on q bunch of LaFrance roses
pinned on her coat. / answered as
quietly as l could that l was very tired,
adding to myself, Yes, and 1 shall
soon rest q long, sweet, motiopiess,
dreamless rest y
Those roses, how they brought
back my pain. In the dear, dead days
Grace had loved Them and painted
them and worn them, and | had longed
with such a vain and bitter longing
for just n bud to place In the white
fingers when her hand had closed on
things earthly forever.
The girl, by this time l had seen
she was only % girl. noticed that my
gaze was fixed on her roses, 30 she
separated the loveliest bud from the
rest and offered 1t to me. | hesitated
just u moment for my confused brain
made every thought and act slow, and
she said brightly, These are not hot
at my home way down in Carolina only
two days ago, we'll knowing the fresh
charm this would impart to them in a
New Workers. eyes,.
Then having completed her pur-
chase she stopped to say, Good morn
ing. | hope you will feel better to-
morrow and then went away little
dreaming hat she had literally saved
a soul from death.
"The shop girls were always kind to
me. They knew of my grief and had
seemed anxious to help me if they
could. The girl x To me had seer
the gift of the rose 80 she said Don't
you want to put your flower in water
I'll mind your counter while you do it..
~ went, got some cotton, dampened
IL and wrapping my treasure carefully
hid 1t away under my shabby hat and
jacket. Carolina the name seemed
TO bring back another world and an
other life! A life which must have
been lived a thousand years Ago..
81 do not want to die, l want to
1.-Two W gu odSh hDulC, l. Sdiu " HySSll
over and over again through the hours
of that long day, and the thou lit OF
my rose conforted me and kept alive
in me this longing for home. That
night, sad and lonely, but no longer
maddened, | sObbed myself to sleep,
but-,ot till after my beautiful rose had
been laid above my sleeping sister.
That day wes the darkest of my
life. The next brought a letter from
Mrs. Raymond, the mother of my
pupils who had gone South. She had
always been kind to me and she wrote
now To tell me that the warmer climate
was bringing back health and strength
to her invalid daughter, and knowing
of Grace's illness she urged me TO
bring her to the same place. She told
how cheaply one could live in the
village and offered me the post OF
governess to her younger children.
This thoughtful kindness came toe
late to save Grace, but needless to say
New York had become hateful to me
and | went at once and gladly.
1.-Two years was Mrs. Raymond's
governess, giving up my duties only
when | became the wife of her oldes,
son. Two happy years those were, and
my life since has been S o free from
care and sorrow that il it we're not for
the memory Of what ] nave suffered,
| might forget hat life Is not all sun.
shine"
She paused, Elizabeth with eyes
still wet, took the hand holding the
roses and gave it a gentle, loving pres.
sure. a silence fell between them,
and then it was Elizabeth who broke it.
"One day a happy girl walked down
Broadway. Besides being happy she
was young and her friends said beauti.
full, and all the blessings which love
and wealth could bring, had been this
girls all her life. She had just come
from the South for her first gay winter
as Il debutante, n to her the world
seemed brighter now than it had ever
looked. before. Can you guess why !
1t was only that the rosy light of love
was now shining in her eyes and
glorifying and beautifying even com
monplace things. Before she left her
home she had given a sweet promise
to the man she had chosen out of all
the world and when she returned In
the spring the engagement was to be
announced.
1t was the one love of her life and
truer love given anyone. On the
morning Of which l spoke she had re-
ceived u letter from her lover and in
her girlish, loyal heart she said with
happy bushes, Nobody else, nobody
else IN all the wide world could have
written SO perfect a letter. IL YOU
are inclined to smile at her remember
that she WAS very young, that she
loved much and That she knew little of
love Letters. Though | do not think
her enthusiasm was too great. [ am
far older than she was then and [ have
never seen, nor will oversee, another
man to compare with that lover of
hers. With the letter came u box of
her favOrite flowers, LaFrance roses.
Wear these, little one, and shink of
me- was the message they brought.
Very joyfully were they worn, and as
the girl walked hat day she bent her
head and kissed her flowers at her
throat.
81 am SD happy that / want to share
my gladness with others was the
thought in her heart. Just then she
saw a girl looking at her roses. Such
a sweet, weary face the girl had. Act
ing on the impulse Of the
born perhaps of that wish to make
some one else happy, she gave this
girl one of her precious roses.