Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1897-07-23
ts~--f.-----'

MlT y true lovers torn
asunder by cruel
sate, a parting and VOWS of constancy
and faithful love.
The man, Rodney Kirke, was a fine
looking young fellow of twenty-eight
who had been from infancy the ward
and darling of his uncle. James Kirke
believing himself always to be the Ger
tain heir of that gentleman and ever
his dutiful nephew from true, earnest
love and gratitude. His life Tad been
= Swallowed one, having little bright
ness, for his uncle for thirty years had
been an sometimes Well
enough to move about in his own eX-
1ensiYe grounds, but often, for months
together, confined to his room and bed
suffering intensely
When Rodney left school and would
nave studied a profession or entered
upon some business career his uncle
kept him bound to his chair. letting ali
The management of his large estate fall
gradually into his hands. and taking
infinite comfort from his gentle care
when he was suffering
1t was a strange, gray life for youth.
and Rodney fretted sometimes at merg-
ing his own existence into that of the
invalid, but the argument his uncle
used at such times was Il powerful
one
When l die this whole property will
'be yours, and you must care for it and
control it. 1t will never be necessary
for you to undertake any other bust
ness"
He was content, therefore. to let his
life narrow to the limits his uncle die
tated, until, about two years before the
date when this story opens. Mr. Kirke
being ordered to the seaside. there met
Mrs. Olney, a widow with one son very
nearly Rodney's age Looking back,
it was all like whirling dream to the
young man to recall how the handsome
widow took possession of his uncle.
flattered him, petted him, coaxed him
and married him.
The return to Ferndale, James
Kirke's home, was a wedding trip. and
from that hour every effort was made
by the bride to thrust Rodney out of
his place in his uncle's heart and
home. Misrepresentation were made
at first in vain; afterward with more
effect. Keeping him out of his uncles
room, Mrs. Kirke made the old gentle
in believe his absence was from vol
Bntary neglect. At last tangible
cause of complaint was found, when
Rodney, lonely and miserable. fell in
love with Bella Green, whose father
horror of horrors! kept a small drink
ing saloon, and whose mother was Vul-
garity personified. The girl herself
had been educated in a good seminary,
and came home to find all her sur
roundings revolving to a delicate, SEN
sitive nature. refined by study and as
sociations with companions above her
in the social scale.
She was wonderfully pretty, consid-
ering what her parents were, and
Rodney's deepest sympathies were
reused by her miserable home life
That he met her in the shady lanes
and woods was from no desire for con-
cealment, but simply because her home
was so noisy, ill-ordered and vulgar
that there was no place for quiet or
conversation.
The story of this "low association"
was so told to James Kirke that he
was furious with anger, and this, add
ed to the other sins attributed to Rod
ney, so reused him that the young man
had put before him the choice of Civ
ing up his love at once and forever or
leaving his home. All the chivalTy of
a sensitive heart which a life of seclu-
sion had made still more romantic, was
aroused, and Rodney refused obedience
10 his uncle for the first time
And so, under the great tree in Sam
Green's garden he was taking leave OF
the girl for whose sake he was leaving
luxury and hope, to face world whose
bitterness ne had never tasted.
you will be true to me. Bella?' he
said, as he pressed final kiss upon
her tear-stained face.
81 Will wait for you If it is for TWEEN
ty years." she said, clinging to him.
And. keeping that promise for COM
fort. Rodney Kirke left Ferndale to try
to find employment in l., large
manufacturing town ten miles distant
where his uncle owned property. And
every face that had smiled upon him
for years was turned away; every door
that had opened to him was closed.
His uncles influence, welded by his
wife. kept him from even the lowest
position, and he suffered from positive
hunger more than once in the first
three months of his exile. The bitter
regrets for the easy obedience to his
uncle which had made him neglect all