Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-10-11
A CONNECTICUT PRISCILLA.
How She Rebuked Her John Alden.
BY G.. Il.


If anyone had limited to pretty Mat
tie Woolston that she would ever tig
ure Us heroine in story she would
have opened her brown eyes wide in
amazement. She was the only child
of good old Dr.. Woolston of Greyport,
o thriving village in. Connecticut, and
in the circle of village society was con-
sidered at once belle and m heiress.
Hair aud eyes the color of chestnut
when first the burr uncloses, COM
plexion as soft as satin and white as
milk, with the prettiest rose tint of
color on the round cheeks; white, even
teeth set in pretty, smiling mouth,
and figure tall, slight and graceful,
were the attractions in appearance of
the village beauty.
But those who knew Matte Wool
ston we'll were wont to say that ber
pretty face and figure were the least
of her charms. She had low, musi-
cal voice, manner graceful and easy,
high-bred by intuition of what was
dignifed and maideuly; she was the
neatest housekeeper in Greyport, and
all her tasteful dresses and hats were
the work of her own deft fingers. She
had read intelligeutly and could con-
verse we'll.
So it is no matter for
Matte had many lovers;
upon the list, to al app
handsome Ned Gordon,
lego taught" and whose
the aristocratic honors
with the doctor and m
the only lawyer in the vi
The minister was bac
W ,Ao years of age, who
sly to- Greypors te
+ sbe cndrci hIIefe the
fEe Cord had each
a grave, reserved ma
bore the impress of sorrt
conquered, and succeed
rene peace that is far nj
less content that has ne,
terruption. He was not
man, but had large, tende
d UlOdu W lltG UIOh, uuu
irradiate his comely face o..
almost divine when he preached with
an eloQuence and simplicity rarely
combined. His earnest simplicity
was the deepest, highest eloquence,
and men went from his church slowly
and thoughtfally, pondering upon
truths that were but homely, every
day facts, but suddenly had been illu-
minated by earnest eloquence into
God-ordained paths to salvation or
perdition.
One of these men, young, wealthy
and full of talent, was Ned Gordon,
Mattie's ardent admirer from boyhood.
He had left her in sobbing pain of
leve to go to boarding school, had felt
his heart torn when college took him
again from Matte and had become
more devoted than ever when he came
home 'for good," to find her grown
to womanhood, fairer than ever.
" The minister had been wont to say
OF Ned Gordon, when he considered
the subject at all, that he "was not
bad fellow, us fellows CO." being SIM
ply an idle hanger-on to his fathers
wealth, desultory student OF musty
law books when the mood seized him,
floating carelessly down lifes stream,
doing no especial harm by the way,
but assuredly doing no good, either.
Of his personal responsibility in the
scheme of creation he had never
thought until Harvey Stillman came
to preside over the white church at
Greyport, where Ned's fine tenor was
quite feature in the choir. It must
be confessed that, under the dull,
prosy teaching of Harvey Stillmau's
predecessor, the choir seat had been
q gathering place for much Irritation
and misunderstanding among the bellies
and beaux of the village, and Ned's
chief magnet was the certainty of sit
ting near Matte and hearing her clear,
sweet soprano join his own voice.
But before Harvey Stillman had
been month at Greyport Ned was un-
easily conscious that many of his
words were as dagger thrusts at his
own aimless life, and, waking to this
consciousness, he also wakened to
another disagreeable fact, namely, that
Matte was also realizing that life was
o more earnest, real thing than she had
before pictured it to herself.
She had never been drone in the
hive, but she had become more active
ly useful outside of her little home
world, visiting, in quiet, unostenta-
tious way, amongst the poorest of her
fathers patients, doing good in an
humble spirit, but with sincere de-
sire to help, as far MS possible, those
who needed her gentle ministrations.
Ned loved her more than ever for
the gentle self-denials she practised so
quietly that only those who were bene-
fitted knew of them; but, to his great
dismay, there came little gulf be-
tween himself and his love, widening
so gradually he could not tell where
it had commenced or would end.
For the first time since he was
mere boy he saw that Matte gave him
only the warm friendship of years of
brotherly and sisterly intercourse,
where lie had given the first and only
love of his life. She seemed drifting
from him, absorbed in her new duties
and leaving him but little margin of
time for the recreations they had
shared for years. He was appalled, by |
The fear of losing her, and yet she |