The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-10-05
a SLAVE TO Art.


A SLAVE TO ART.
As a child and as a girl Lettice
Templemore was emotional to a
fault, for at times both her anger
and her JOY became half hysterical.
On some occasions she almost faint
ed with excess of passion
st ive-I really ivel" she used to
say. And it is lovely, even if !
suffer. Most people seem SO cold.
They do not really care for any,
thing. God help them to be, to live,
to feel as I do, as I always shallI"
And as a young girl she loved
tempestuously without understand
ing. But her passions were for
ideals. She adored heaven and a
white purity, and then asceticism
called her and renunciation laid
hold upon her eager soul After
ward humanity and work for the
poor touched her, and she wept over
the sorrows Of the sad world, giving
her days to its fancied needs, her
nights to dreams of a time to be.
But she ended curiously, neither
becoming nun nor q social work
&er nor a hysterical patient; for it
was the emotions only which were
reused in her. Her intellect was
steady, and at last she found her
place. She went on the stage and
succeeded beyond expectation,
though not without work. Into that
she threw herself as eagerly as she
had done as child when believing
remuneration the end Of life. Then
she had distributed her dolls among
her little friends, and, going away,
had wept bitterly. Now she gave
away Ler old ideals and threw her.
self into the task of teaching others
to feel, Of touching their hearts.
And, being clever and beautiful,
.rshe made many feel, for lovers who
made her suffer came about her in
scores.
IT don't love any one now. I on
" want to work." she cried, and
she sent them away. But she was
so genuinely sorry that they hard
.ly lost hope
you Will love some day. A ma
ture like yours must, :" said one man
to her. Perhaps you may love me.
I shall always keep you in sight.
Perhaps perhaps Who knowsa''
The love he prophesied came, and
it was a wild passion for a man
much older than herself, who never
even suspected the existence of her
love for him. At times she was al
most ready to avow it, to tell him, to
write to him, careless of conven-
ton, careless of the world. But in
the very height of her misery she
was offered strong part in play.
She took it and made an unqualified
success in it. She melted the house
to tears, and, fearless herself, rose
to the heights of passion.
II am better, (" she said to herself,
much better. must work. 1t is
work I need now.''
But it was not the work itself that
relieved an overcharged mind. The
cause lay deeper which made her
gradually overcome her desire for
returned love.
In her summer holiday, though
that passion had. as she said, burned
itself out, she was curiously un-
equal in her moods. She sang till
she burst into tears. She cried till
she laughed. Her friends were get
ting concerned for her health when
work again gave her peace. In the
late winter she broke down. Her
voice gave way, and then the old
lover who had told her she would
some day learn to love came back
to her.
IT don't understand myself" she
said. ST can't tell whether I love
you or like you or hate you or am
Indifferent, for it may be all four. !"
"That is love, then," said he.
"But you are far in advance of the
due time. It is the love, the endur-
ing love Of real marriage.
He lost no opportunities, for ne
knew a little of women.
She was idle, and he filled her
mind. His suppressed passion gave
MIN an emotional nature that caught
hecs in net
"Yes, do love you-I do love
you,'' she said at Last, and as he
took her in his arms,she threw hers
about his neck. She was white and
--.------. --..-----.--s-----