The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1900-03-22
THE TEST OF LOVE
Barbara Merriden Came Near Civ
ing Up a Brave Man For
Coward.
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| OF all the noble rivers that go bound
| ing to the sea none is more splendid
than the Columbia. Its pine clad banks
| give a majestic setting for its silver
| stream. But why should 1t be called
| silver? At times it is the deepest green,
| deeper and more luminous than the
| heart of a jewel There are hours
| when its cascades have thousand col
ors. like mother of pearl. There are
| daw WINS, after the mist has lifted, when
| the broad surface of the river above
| the cascades is actually saffron or bur-
| nished gold
Barbara Merriden knew it in every
mood and loved it whether it was SOM
| Der with storm or sullen in the harsh
| autumn days or scintllant under the
| July sunshine. She was as much at
| home upon the river as on the land,
| and the firm earth, with all its comfort
and beauty, could never give her the
| joy that she felt when the current took
| her boat in its strong embrace.
| She went to the river in her sorrow
full moments as well as in her happy
| ones. She fled to 1t as to a friend.
| When George CaXton told her that he
| loved her she ran to The river to tell 1t
| of the blessing that had come into her
| life. But some way she did not feel
| the ecstasy she had expected to- The
| pleasure in her heart did not rise to
| meet the splendor of water and sky
| and shore. She had often looked for
| ward to this hour as the browning Joy
| of her life. But with grief she discov-
cred that the song of nature had O
| higher note than the love lyric of her
| heart.
Perhaps it was because the hour had
been too long expected. George CaX-
| ton and Barbara Merriden had gone TO
school together. They knew every
event of each others lives. They had
always been attached to each other.
George had never thought of any other
girl with emotion, and Barbara had
long felt that she was destined to be
his wife. She had said yes to his ear
nest question with gratitude and hap
piness, yet now in the mystic hour by
the river. with the sun shedding its
last exquisite glow upon an unreal
world. she felt WEAKNESS of spirit at
the moderat ton of her JOY.
She was turning from her beautiful
river. humiliated at the inadequacy of
her own emotions, when she saw walk
Ing among the pines. with eyes fixed
upon the distant glory of the sky, a
young man whom she had never seen
before. He did not see her till she was
close by him, and then he looked with
start at the face of the girl, spiritual
and exquisite with its deep emotional
experience. He stopped and looked at
her. rapt. as If she had been some re-
Gently embodied soul created for this
wondrous hour, and she stopped, too,
enchanted by the eloquence of his face.
When he spoke. it was to say some
thing remarkable:
lis II always mysterious and fear
fry beautiful In these woods?" he
as.cd.
at is always beautiful here" she
said. speaking as If in a dream. And
sometimes II seems unreal and like
like u phantom world as it does to-
night"
Never before in her life had she spo
ken in the way that she desired 1t
was her habit to frame her speech IN
com monplace words.
Il should like to walk out on that
golden water" he went on. ut seems
as If it might bear one up, does it not|'
Barbara had fancy and INDUCED
herself in IT,
at will bear up any one whose heart
is light" she smiled. But, mind you
II must have no care at all. 1t must be
as light as ether"
Would II bear you upT he asked
She shook her head mournfully and
he said In n voice that moved her.
"And | should sink like stone" It
seemed impossible for them to part
while that witch light LEANED upon
their enchanted wood, and when the
shadows grew gray they became a
part of them-like shadows they faded
from each others sight.
That night when Barbara went about
her duties and afterward when she lay
In her bed she found herself happy
with the elate and triumphant happi
ness Of which she had dreamed
George Caxton. her promised lover
semed a part Of the workaday world.
Her thoughts turned away from him
In spite OF her efforts to he loyal
SEc felt sure she would meet the
stranger again IN the woods. and she
did many times. He was a writer by
vocation. He even confessed to being
poet He was not well, he said The
city had worn on him, so he had come
for long rest there among the pines
His name was Cecil Underwood
Barbara found 1t Impossible to resist
the charm Of his personality He seem
ed to make the whole world over for
her. In vain she struggled to remeln-
Der the truth and patience and strength
of her betrothed. He was too we'll
known to her to be seen through n
glamour. With austere serenity he in
sisted upon an early marriage day. He
refused apparently to feel ana jeai-
ousy at the constant companionship OF
his sweetheart and Cecil Underwood.
And Barbara was angry at him for
this too.
He has no sensibility," she said to
herself
One wild day when the wind cried
Il. II.