The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-08-28

Valley UdUpiiHB Win all us iillio
might 1t was joined, before it had
gone many feet, by other rivulets, and
from a point midway in the descent,
where the cliffs were steepest, came up
the shout OF a waterfall. This, and the
tireless murmur of the evergreens,
made up the music of this upper sane
tuary until Constance's voice rose from
the rocky table, sweet, full, exultant:
THE wild streams leap with headlong
sweep
In their curbless course DER the noun
tain steep;
All fresh and strong they foam along.
Waking the rocks with their cataract
song.
My eye bears a glance like the beam on
lance
AS l watch the waters dash and dance
l burn with glee, for love to see
The path Of anything that's free.
l love-I love-oh, love the free!
l love-I love-I love the free!
''The skylark springs with dew On his
| wings,
And up in the arch of heaven he
sings
'Tra-la-tra-la!' Oh, sweeter far
Than the notes that come through a
golden bar.
The thrall and the state of the palace
gate
Are what my spirit has learned to
hate"
The strain ceased abruptly, and, in
place Of the rapt musician, borne above
the power of earthly woes to crush and
petty vexations to sting, a woman grow
elled upon the messy cushion, weeping
hot fast tears and beating against the
rough rock with child's folly OF des-
peration the white hand that wore the
badge Of her servitude.
What was she but Gagged bird, bid
den to preen it's feathers and MARBLE
the notes its master dictated between
golden bars? A slave to whom state
and thrall meant one and the same
abhorrent thing? What had she to do
henceforward with dreams of beauty
and freedom-she, who had signed
away her liberty of spirit and person,
voluntarily accepting in their stead
the most foul captivity a pure and up
right woman can know? She felt her
self to be utterly vile-plague-spottcd
in soul and flesh in the lonely sublim-
ity of this mountain temple-a leper
condemned and incurable, constrained
to cry out at the approach of every
? passer-by, "Unclean! unclean" II
would have been better for her to beg
: wealthy, and, failing that, to die by the
l., wayside with starvation and cold, than
to live the life of nominal respectable
ity and abundance, Of real degradation
= and poverty, which were now hers.
e The tears were dried. but she still sa
: on the gray carpet clutching angrily
e at 1t and the wild flowers peepins
Q through the crevices of the rock, rend
/ ing them as passion had torn her; he
d bosom heaving with the unspent waves
Of excitement and q mutinous pou
j upon her lips, when a cracking anon:
|
;. comfortable sensation Of alarm.
5 Before she could regain her feet O
: concert her scheme of defense O
S flight, the nearest cedar boughs wer
S pushed aside, and man stepped int
q the area fenced in by the hardy noun
tain evergreens. With subsiding fears
Y as her quick eye inventoried the vari
g Gus particulars Of his neat travelin
e suit, gentlemanly bearing, pleasan
= countenance and deferential aspec
e toward herself, Constance arose, visibl
e embarrassed, but dignified, and await
d cd his pleasure. The stranger betraye
Ie neither surprise nor confusion. Walk
II ing directly UP to her. he removed hi
Is hat, bowling low, with bright, cordia
IS smile. UNLESS l am greatly mistake
e, I have the pleasure of seeing my broth
ID er's wife. And you are more familia
lie with my name and my handwritin
'g than with my face. l am Edward Will
N crs!'
~ ITO BE coSrINuEDI