The Southern herald., 1899-04-21

lege life my fathers extreme illness
called me home and took charge Of
his mercantile business Three years
before, when | went TO college. left
behind me a sweet little hazel-eyed,
blaek-haired brunette who was a
schoolgirl in short dresses and panta-
lettes. Soon after my departure she
heightened out her dresses and was
sent by her father to Augusta, there
10 finish her education. We both re-
turned home about the same time and
l was surprised and delighted TO find
her full blown rose, brunette maid
en- as dark as Pocahontas and as shy
as fawn. She wore humber ? shoes
and stepped like deer. She was then
just sweet l6 and ! had reason to be
lieve had never had full grown lover.
Her father was a wealthy aud dis
tinguished lawyer. Her mother was
Holt with strain Of Indian blood in
her veins that same straight down
from Pocahontas through the Ran.
dOlphs of Virginia. That Indian maid,
en- had loved Capt. John Smith, and as
l had a strain of Smith blood in my
veins ! saw no reason why this maiden
should not love me and | determined
to play the spider myself.
The village graveyard was near the
big gate that stood at the end of the
avenue that led to her fathers house.
smart young lawyer of the town
had begun his visitations at the pa
ternal mansion with serious intent, but
one dark night he became frightened
near the graveyard and declared that
somebody shot at him. / had be-
gun my visits, too, and il was whis-
pered around that il was l who haunted
the young lawyer and scared him of
the track. OF course there was no
truth in this, for did not banker after
any close communion with ghosts Or
gnveyards myself and it took me a
long time to overcome my superstition
and to feel calm and serene on the way.
But / did, and sometimes would get
within the inelosure and sit upon a
tombstone and ruminate and wait for
the spirits to come.
But this little narrative is becoming
tedious. To me it is heightened sweet
ness long drawn out, for it did not
take me long TO fall deeply, desperately,
devotedly in love, and my opinion was
then and still is, that Cupid shot us
both at once with the same arrow. A
girl of 16 who has never had lover
is easily captured by a smart, hand
some, promising young man, and my
wife will tell you that was adj of that
and more, too.
remember, oh, yes, remember, how
one moonlight night, when we were
taking a walk with a party of young
people and | had ventured to take her
hand in mine as I recited some pretty
verses from Goldsmith's Hermit"
said: "And now, my dear girl. why
shouldn't we love each other and mate
and marry like the birls?" The gentle
pressure Of her hand was answer
enough and
"I drew her closer to me and kissed her,
She wept with pity and delight,
She blushed with love and virgin shame.
And like the murmur Of dream
heard her breathe my name"
"She half inclosed me in her arms
She pressed me with a meek embrace,
And bending back her head looked up
And gazed into my face"
That is the way that Colerldge won
his Geneyieve-his bright and beau
teous bride; and on the same line did
win mine. She was not my first love,
but was hers, bless her heart.
Oh love, delicious, angelic love, the
boon from Heaven, the comfort of the
soul! When l was young my father
made me commit to memory the "Hcr-
nit and "Genevieve," "The Song Of the
Shirt, ""Gray's Elegy," "Marco Bozaris'
and many other pathetic pieces, and |
love to- recall them, for there is nc
such poetry written now. They help
to mold and establish the emotional
character of the young and fix their
moral principles, He had a fear Of
Byron and kept it from me until | was
older--Byron. of whom Macaulay sGiG;
Ills ethics were compounded Of missn-
thropy and yoluptuousness and whose
two commandments were to hate your
neighbor and love your neighbor's
wife" cannot write poetry, but ] love
to recite it. Sometimes when have
been long absent, l would slip in at
night and surpF3e my wife and chill
dren as they were gathered around the
heartbstOne, and gently opening the
door. exclaim:
Turn, Angelina, ever dear
My charmer, turn to see
Thine own thy long lost William here,
Restored to heaven and thee"
Such sweet courtesies help to restore
the equilibrium between the joys and
sorrows, the ups and downs Of married
life. We can make it happy if we
choose, but one cannot make it so alone.
1t takes two-for happiness was born
twin.-Bill Arp, in Atlanta Constltu-
tion.
All About Tortoise shells.
The finest tortoise shell comes from
the Indian archipelago and it Is
Skinned from Sinpanore. and much OF il