The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-09-25
Where the Blackberries
Grow.
by EsniA HOWARD WRIGHT.


The girl stands looking at the pic
turei the man who painted it stands
looking at the girl. What sweet face
it has, so girlish, so untouched by the
sorrows aud passions Of life The look
Pf pleased admiration in the soft eyes
gives him an odd sensation of pleas
IRE. He is glad that his work pleases
her.
The girl is presently joined by a
tall, graceful woman. Shirley gives
a slight start
"Eleanorl" he murmurs.
"Oh, mamma" the girl is saying,
isn't this a sweet picture? like it
better than anything / have seen
here.
Some Of tho faint, delicate color
fades out Of Eleanor Seaton's beauti-
full tired face as she looks at the can
vas that has aroused her daughters
enthusiasm.
Y "Yes," she murmurs mechanically,
sit is beautiful picture"
And then with hands which are a
little tremulous, she opens her cata-
logue and seeks the number of the pic
ture.
VI Where the Blackberries Grow
John Shirley. I was sure of it, )" she
murmurs, and looks again at the pic
ture.
A field, in which there are quanti-
ties of wild flowers, tall, beautifully
colored grasses, and bushes laden with
berries. In the midst of the black
berry bushes stand a boy and a girl.
'The former is busily picking berries,
and his face is averted; the latter is a
charming little figure in a calico slip
and a small pink sun bonnet pushed
back from fair baby face, the pout-
ing lips deeply stained with blackberry
juice. A mass of gold colored curls
falls over the childish brow.
A fellow artist has joined Shirley.
I "Mrs. Seaton and her daughter
appear to be admiring your picture,
Shirley" he says. "Come, let me
introduce you. Mrs. Seaton is a
charming woman"
''And the young girl is her daugh-
ter?" says Shirley, as they move
away.
eyes, but she will never be the
lovely woman that her mother is, 4" i:
the reply, and Shirley smiles.
Some hours later Mrs. Seaton sit.
before her dressing room fire. There
is an unusual quickening Of her Ian.
guild pulses. In the leaping heart o.
the fire she sees mirrored all the years
since she and Shirley gathered black
berries in the acre field, one summer
, day long ago. How faithfully he hat
N reproduced the scene in his painting
The picture in the fire shifts a lit
tie still the field with its wild flower
and its laden bushes, but young mar
and maiden replace the boy anC
baby girl. Back from the long pas
there comes to Eleanor Seaton the &c
stacy Of that unforgotten day. Sh
seems to feel again upon her lips tn
Kisses of her young lover, and start
up with flushing cheek and throbbin
heart
But the picture has faded from til
FIRE and another replaces it. A wed
ding party; the bride-young and fai
of face, and white as her bridal robes
and the bridegroom-not the boyis
young lover, but middle aged, Gym
cal looking man. Her youth aud be
innocence had caught bis fancy, an
she had bartered herself for his gold
sacrificed truth and honor, and, as sh
but too soon realized, happiness alst
But she soon learned the lesson many
woman haslearned before her-to bic
her aching heart beneath a smiling fac
dirlhood, happiness-her own han
bad slain them With the coming