Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-09-02

BY ringing bells that tolled the hour of seven,
And with their tones we gave good night
kiss.
Minneapolis Tribune.
WITHOUT A HEART.
There is really very little in this
story. Indeed, it would never have been
written but for the woman's dearest
friend. who, dying alone and uncared
for, with heart full of bitterness to-
ward the whole world, begged that a
pile of yellow letters be opened and read
after her death. ''She would have had
me burn them," she said in trem-
bling voice, but that I will not grant
her. All else granted her. Neverthe-
less there was only one other woman
whom she wronged more deeply. Let us
both be avenged in the reading of these. !"
She whom her friend at SO late an
hour go severely condemned was the
wonder of her day and generation.
Women have sometimes been heard to
say that they have no hearts, but they
do not mean its This woman did.
Friendship, humanity, religion" she
said over and over again, as girls have
said before, "these I care for. these
understand, for these I will make sacri-
fees, but not. your idle talk Of love,
which wrecks mems lives and ills
women's hearts with unrest. for one
render thanksgiving that have DO
heart" Then those who were Older said
toher. as elders have said before: wait
awhile. You are young yet. We shall
see your heart yield some day"
NE she answered, "you shall not
zee it yield. because it will not; and the
IL OF yield is because have
10 no,.v. ia. &c. moro mercifuI to ne
IAN to my sisters, put I. little hard
Vice of ice in its place which keeps ms
cold to the most passionate pleading
which was ever uttered in the name Of
love-"
People predicted that she would be-
come a soured old maid and regret her
lot. She did not She grew more beau
tiful and brilliant and scornful every
day. Lovers came, and she Knocked them
one and all; she Knocked them to the
end, and to the end they came. She kept
their Licensees, though not for love, for
often to her confidential friends she
would allude to them with the intensest
bitterness as the men she hated most in
the world. And when they inquired
with surprise, knowing that the reject
ed suitors had most cause to hate her,
''But wherein have they offended" she
would only laugh in reply, and her
laugh had hard, cold ring in it like
the tinkle of some icebound waterfall
She did incalculable harm. There was
q sweet, shy girl to whom she was an
oracle, who took timid counsel with her
when man came and told her that he
worshiped Lsr and wished to have her
for his wife. This girl the woman with
out a heart earnestly advised not to
marry.
"But I love him, too" said the girl
"Would you persuade me that my affec-
tion at least will not last? There is
something in loving. even if there is nc
answer to the cry of ones heart"
At this the tinkling laugh Of the wo-
man without heart sounded clearer
than ever "Then, dear child, ''she said
more grayeiy, let me tell you positive
~, it will not last. It will not last, be-
cause it is only dream-the madness
of day or an hour born of youth and
beauty and feeting with them. Look
GROUND you and see women by the thou
sands, dragged down into the mire.
crowned with crown Of thorns, cruel
fed on their. own affections, because
they had hearts and believed in love.
Then look at me-free, tranquil and
happy-and choose"
So conyincingly did she speak that
the young girl, to whom her words were
very gospel Of authority, believed her
and would not listen to her Lover,
Thereupon he grieved inconsolately for
q space of time, then married some one
else, both of whom were very bitter to
the woman who had loved him. This
woman afterward became the dearest
friend of her with whom this story
deals and lived with her until death
smote one of them.
But the woman without heart lived
to see them grow old and sad and
stricken with care and other burdens
who had prophesied eorrow for her, and
she pitied them pnfeigned)y for the
hearts they carried in their bosens, and
when they said. "What, has no man
ever found yours for you YETI" she
laughed exnl.antly and said; "No, and
he never will. ! will give munificent
reward to him who finds the man who
Fan find my he art." And age made no
perceptihle inroads upon her, for beauty
and wealth and health and happiness
were hers to the end, and even glory.
for she had talent, which wins worship
ana friendship and success and not the
bitter sweet gift of genius. But though
everything which life could offer was
swept to her on the tide of the succeed
Ing years, the hour came when she must
part with them and with life and with
the body in which, so she asserted, she
Udu ApI 81 AAduy JC0AS OesAAAVeA - t~SSS "
ice in place Of heart She lay very
still, with eyes that did not see. On the
bed where they had laid her, while her
woman friend and distant kinswcs1 an
who had been called in to nurseAer
knelt by her and held her hands tightly.
"How peacefully she seems to look
on DEATH" whispered the kinswoman.
'tShe was good woman" answered
the friend brokenly.
But the sick woman opened her eyes,
and they seemed to look eagerly over
the heads OF the watchers. "What dc
you see?" they asked her, thinking it
delirium. Nothing but shadows, !" she
sighed. IT thought hoped And
her voice sank until it was inaudible
When the doctor came, she gazed at
MIN piercingly. then closed her eyes and
murmured, II thought you might be-
!. I was looking for him."
"She means the death angel" said
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