Morris tribune., 1901-08-24
THE TEST OF LOVE
Barbara M0rriden Came Near Civ
ing Up Brave Man For
Q Coward.
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OF all the noble rivers that go bound
ing to the sea none b more splendit
than the Columbia. IT'S pine clad banks
give a majestic setting for its silve
stream. But why should It be callee
silver? At times it is the deepest green
deeper and more luminous than thu
heart of jewel. There are hours
when its cascades have thousand col
ors, like mother Of pearl There are
daWns, 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 1t in every
mood and loved 1t whether it was SOM
Der with storm or sullen in the harsh
autumn days or scintillant 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
1 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 fed to it as to a friend
! When George Caxton told her that he
| loved her, she ran to the river to tell it
| 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 spIepdor 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 q
higher note than the love lyric Of her
heart.
Perhaps it was because the hour had
been too long expected. George Cax7
ton and Barbara MerTiden 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 moderation Of her JOY.
She was turning from her beautiful
river, Inundated 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:
sis it always mysterious and fear
fuzzy beautiful in these woodsY he
asked. IL
''It is always beautiful here" she
said, speaking as IL in dream. "And
sometimes it seems unreal and like
like a phantom world, as it. does to
night"
Never before in her life had she spo-
ken in the way that she desired, It
was her habit to frame her speech in
commonplace words.
81 should like to walk out on that
golden water" he went on. TT seems
as If It might bear one up, does It not?'
Barbara had fancy and INDUCED
herself in it.
'sIt viii bear up any one whose heart
is light" she smiled. "But, mind you,
it must have no care at all. It must be
as light as ether"
''Would 1t bear you upY he asked.
She shook her head mournfully, and
he said IN a voice that moved her,
"And should sink like stone" It
seemed impossible for them to part
while that witch light cleaned upon
their enchanted wood, and when the
shadows grew gray they became
part of 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
seemed part OF the workaday world.
Her thoughts turned away from him
IA spite of her efforts to be loyal.
She 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
q poet. He was not well, he said The
city had worn on him, so he had come
Tor long rest there among the pines
ais name was Cecil Underwood.
Barbara found It impossible to resist
the charm Of his personality. He seem