Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-02-27

have companions among their equals;
the inmates Of orphan asylumS are
herded together in great numbers; the
cloisetered nuns form large communi-
ties among themselves; even the con
Wet prisoners work together in great
gangs. In a word. the most wretchcd
in this world were, in many respects.
happier than Alma Elverton. the young
and beautiful heiress-apparent of
Edenlawn, Torg Castle. and the Bar.
Ony of Elverton: for they ut leftst en-
joyed human sympathy and a compau-
ionship, while she had no friend mot
one-not a single creature of - W
I ind to speak with.
Ii is true there were laborers on
estate and servants in the house; b..
what society could the young girl fad
i'm them?
And there was her mother, retired
Within the citadel of her own mysteri-
Gus and selfish sorrows; but what com
partnership could Alma find in her?
All young girls. as they develop into
womanTrood, yearn from their secret
souls for n more perfect sympathy
than they usually meet from their w
family circles. This is the real AUS
of romantic schoolgirl friendships,
and. alas! too frequently OF other less
harmless attachments
In large and busy households of
many sisters and brothers. this aspirin
ton is very much modified and rem
dered quite endurable. But the more
lonely and idle the life of a young
girl is doomed to be. the more intense
is this secret yearning for sympathy
And if she happens to be of IA poetic,
temperament also, the longing of her
heart becomes the mOnomania of her
mind.
Alma, with no n to converse with.
no work TO do. and no visits 70 receive
or to pay Became an aspiring dreamer
of beautiful dreams. impossible TO be
realized in this world of stern realities:
for love. still love- was the burden
of those dreams. And even rs il takes
n feast to satisfy the hungry, so il
would have required the whole
circle OF human love-father's,
mothers, sisters, brothers.. friends.
and lover's-to have satisfied the
craving Of Alma's starving heart. And
she had none. not atom of love. to
keep that heart from perishlng.
What do physicians mean by I'm
atrophy OF the heart? We all know
simply starvation for want of food. IL
what an arrophy of the stomach is
not an atlophy of the heart also star
walton for the lack of love? He who
said, "Feed my lambs" said also.
love one another" And perhaps rs
many are perishing in this world for
lack of love rs for the want of food.
tlra2f- x-nS an n~trr,,a na,a a ~.
sort of starvation. And small as her
experience was she had seen. heard
ard read enough to discover that her
own life was very different from all
other lives around her. At church.
every Sunday, she saw happy family
parties gathered together in their fam
lily pews. After the service. i'm the
~churchyard, she saw friends and
~neighbors greeting each other with
affection and delight. She. knew that.
as the granddaughter Of the ccle-
brated Baron Elverton. and as the
heiress apparent Of his titles and es-
tates. she was entitled 10 fully as
much consideration as any other young
lady in the county. Why did she not
receive it?
From casual words and chance al
%lusions, rather than from any detailed
narrative or voluntary communica-
ton from the servants, Alma had
cleaned as much of the domestic his.
tory as was known to the servants
themselves. And she dreamed. won.
dered and speculated upon the subject
Of the mystery that enveloped her fam
lily.
Her father! What was II that. OF
the night before her birth. had driven
him In an agony of horror from his
home forever
Her mother! What was ID that. from
the hour of Alma's birth, had frozer
that beautiful and ardent woman into
the cold, hard statue that she nov
seemed?
Herself! What was 1t that set he,
apart, lonely and unloved, from all tn,
human race?
Alma could have loved her mother
and been happy In her mothers love
but the cold and repellant atmospher,
that surrounded the lady chilled ant
repulsed the maiden.