Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-04-21

The story of Ellen Crawford and her
two lovers may serve as an illustration
of the Sims philosophy. She's just a
woman, pretty. tender, loving and good.
But Ellen Crawford was not exempt
from the little weakness of her sex. She
did not know her own mind. She yield
ed to the mistaken impulse of an undis-
ciplined beast and wrecked her own life
and those of the two men who loved
her to their own destruction.
A husband seeking solace in drink
curses the waywardness of woman; a
sullen, angry man bereft of her who
would have made his happiness stalks
gun in hand, over the mountain side,
uursing all humanity, and the authoress
of the mischief sits by her fathers fire.
side. sad eyed and weeping, brooding
over the fragments of wrecked life.
Martin Dome was a strapping boy of
10 and the pride of the little village
of Hayesville, N. c., when one day he
heard that DR.. Hardin, physician IA
nous in that part of the country, had
retired from practice and was about to
pass the rest of his days in that beauti-
full spot. The doctor came, bearing with
him pretty baby of 8 years, whom all
those around him knew as Nellie. Her
black eyes. curly hair and dimpled,
rosy cheeks soon became one of the most
attractive sights of the village.
HcuA;,, no.,,< %oI,ol <,~,o-n hos. N e,t, :.
grew up, and in his big, numbering,
awkward way he loved her-loved her
as baby, as girl, as woman. But he
had never dared to mention the matter.
At IS he could thrash any man twice
his size in those parts; he could stshoot
straight" even for Carolina, where
shooting straight" is part of the edu-
cation. and he sat his horse like an
Apache.
But in the presence of the divinity
who held his fate in the hollow of her
hand he was ever the big, awkward boy
his knees seemed always in the way,
his fingers twice as numbering and thick
and heavy, and he could only stand
stock still and turn red and blush like a
schoolgirl and stammer, sLor, Miss
Ellen'' whenever she touched on the
question of the weather.
She knew that he loved her-had
known it as soon as she was old enough
to know anything. Somehow at last she
found a way of making him tell her So
When her father, in pursuance of his
long cherished plan, sent her to Nash
vile for the completion of her educa-
tion, it was known all over the coun-
tryside that the young farmer and the
Doctors daughter were to be man and
wife some time.
She left Hayesville a specimen of
dainty, unsophisticated rusticity. She
came back a clever, cultivated, witty
woman-somewhat masterful, some
what impetuous, changeable as the
winds, but all sweet and womanly.
The change in her most striking and
ominous of all was the change in the
expression of her eyes as they rested on
Martin Dome. The light that had once
been there was gone, and Martin Dome
knew why, when presently there came
to Hayesville John Crawford, young
man she had met in Nashville. He had
the ways and manners of the city; he
wore city clothes as no country bred
man could wear them. He had the SUI
perfcial veneer polish that comes Of a
three years course in western college.
He was Of her caste.
1t has all been mistake, :" she said
to Martin one day. II love him. The
man marry must have my heart. =
And in the heart of them whose
doom she spoke there stirred the deep,
fathomless well of passion that had been
hidden under the placid surface of his
rustic life.
"Who is the man?'' he cursed. is it
that white livered puppy from the city
who has taken You away from me2"
ST won't answer you. You've no
right to ask, " she cried. He's gem
tleman, which you never were. 1t is
Mr.. Crawford, if you will know"
Then I hope | may never kill
him. !"
Those were his last words. The next
moment he was gone. On the day Of
the marriage all Hayesville and many
people who had known the doctor in the
world outside were assembled in the
village church. One great gasp of sur
prise and horror burst from the crowd
as Crawford, the happy bridegroom, en-
tered the church. limping ON crutch,
his head swathed in bandages, his face
battered out of all recognition.
"Thrown from his carriage while
driving, he said. And only DIR. Hardin
knew that Martin Dome had waylaid
him in the woods and beaten him al
most to death.
In the city Of Knoxville the young
couple were living happily, but it was
noticed that Mrs. Crawford was always
tired and i'll, that her step dragged and
that the light had gone ont Of her eyes.
Of Martin Dome only one thing was
certain--that be wax somewhere in the
mountains and thai he had joined the