Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-07-05
HER FIRST LOVE.

kitchen garden %abounded.
At Adele's exclamation Amy Earle sank
upon the doorstep, her pretty pink and
white face growing colorless.
"And-so-he--is married., she muir
INJURED, every word dropping from her lips
like a deathknell.
"What. Do you know him!' asked
Adele, facing around in establishment.
"Y-e $, yes. You remember | met him
at the seaside.
"Oh, but / had no idea he was the Cax-
ton all the girls were raving about. But l
must finish my letter" And the merry
girl threw herself upon the grass, with
Lucy beside her.
Any's face was partly in the shadow,
but l could see she was neither thinking
of nor looking at Adele. Her thoughts
were far away.
Amy was to be married in a few weeks
to Mr.. Thurston, a young lawyer of great
promise. She often seemed sad and silent,
but I set it all down as a natural conse-
quence of the step she was about to take.
amy" said l, laying aside my sewing
and stroking back her thick, golden hair,
"let's walk toward the village and meet
Uncle John. Who knows but there may
come something to cheer your heart in
the form of II letter."
ooh, no, no! l have a headache. Please
excuse me!' And she bent her dropping
head lower and lower.
"Well, you little oddity, / hope no mas
culine darling is in store for me if love
has the same effect on me it has on some
people not a thousand miles away. But
come, come" And drawing her arm with
in my own / moved toward the gate.
1 always loved Amy Earle. At Mime
D. pensionaire the girls all had a "dar-
ling and Amy was mine-my ideal of
goodness and amiability. The last year
she had spent away from me, and since
her return there seemed a sadness brood
ing over her young heart-a something l
could not understand-and her quiet, re-
served air forbade all inquiries.
We seated ourselves in an old summer
house, completely shaded by hanging
vines, and, schoolgirl fashion, l placed my
arm around her waist and her little gold
Ell head dropped upon my shoulder.
"Amy, love, what grieves you? have
long wanted to know. Tell me, darling"
She blushed scarlet and looked at me
beseechingly.
"What, Mile, have you noticed in my
conductp'
"Oh, a thousand times / have watched
you until my heart aohed for you"
ooh, Mile, l have been SO miserable,
SO wretched, so despairing, you can never
know. Last year l first met Charley Cax-
ton. To know him was to love him. In
my heart I said involuntarily, oh, if he
could only love mel He was a rich man,
I a poor orphan girl. Afar off l adored-
nay, worshiped-him, and, oh, Mile, what
a thrill Of thankfulness entered my soul
when I found that love returned. All,
can never forget that night. We were
promenading the beach, and the moon,
just rising above the waters edge, threw
a flood of light over land and sea. The
dreamy music the wind made and the
fresh, sweet smell of the violets / wore
seemed just the influence needed to'blend
our souls together. In his quiet, manly
way he told me his story. His life has
been spent in foreign lands. He told me
of his restless ambition-how he had
toiled up Parnassus heights and of his
longing for quiet and home, and l was his
souls idol. l was to be his own little
wife. A blessed sense of peace and secur-
ity came over me-, and was happy. Time
flew by on golden wings, and we parted,
as l thought, for a brief time, with every
renewed promise of affection. Day after
day passed, and he neither came nor sent.
l grew restless, miserable, sick. Perhaps
he was i'll; perhaps-and my heart almost
ceased to beat-perhaps he was dead.
There never came one thought of his faith
lessness. My heart alternated between
hope and fear. Three weeks went away
and October came down silently upon us.
1 grew thinner and paler every day and
moved like q shadow about the house. AT
last, forgetting woman's pride, l wrote to
him, pleading for him to come for me,
and"- For a few moments not a word
escaped her lips; then, raising her face to
mine, she bitterly exclaimed, "Would you
believe, Mollie Bryson, that these lines OH
this scrap of paper were the bitter end of
all l had dreamed Of happiness?"
She drew from her bosom a small note,
carelessly written, and l read:
MY DEAR Miss EARLE-You surely did not
attach any serious thoughts to our recent
little Irritation. If SO. l deeply regret it, as l
am shortly to be married. With respect, etc,
CHARLEs CAxToN.
"Amy Earle, surely you could not grieve
for the author of that letter, who at once
proves himself wanting in those qualities
that render his sex worthy the attention
of ours? He is not worth a tear from those
blue eyes"
ooh, Mile, it came so sudden 1t was
such a bitter awakening. Oh, Mile,
know you will despise me wheD 1 tell you
in spite of all that l could not realize it
until l wrote again! Then for a long time
I forgot everything
"That was when you were SO i'll, love. "
l drew the tiny form closer to me. "You
have forgotten it all now"
Eyes, Mile, If woman can entirely for
get her first love-"
"But Mr.. Thurston, Amy?"
"Ah, yes. Noble and true, he has re-
deemed the falseness of his sex. Harry
Thurston knows all, and says, Although
the heart may thrill and throb with first
love, yet that heart can love again
A year passed happily away and again
w are at Ingleside.
1t was the sweet twilight Of an August
eve, the last echo of Cousin Lucy's melo-
lious voice had died and the closing word
of her song ceased to vibrate upon the ear.
Amy Thurston, lovely as ever, sat beside
her husband, whose eyes were fixed upon
her with that intensity and fOndness that
spoke at once the language of his soul.
Adele interrupted the silence by reading a
paragraph from an evening newspaper.
Died.-At his residence in B street Charles
Caxton, Of wounds received in a drunken af-
fray.
l ~involuntarily glanced at Amy, who,
pressing her lips to her husbands fore.
head, murmured, peace to his ashes. -
Cincinnati Post.
Whistles of Amusement.
"Does my whistling disturb your"
not in the least. Pm uSed tn hear.