Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-05-22
SUE LYLE'S SORROW.

- mil For twenty years she had
b. never been outside her own gate
but twice, and those two times were
when she followed her old father and
mother TO their last resting place among
their kindred dead Once she had been
the village belle. and no more light-heart-
ed, sunny-faced girl could have been
fenn1 in MI the country side than just
pretty Sue Lyle. the w0od-carver's only
daughter.
In these bright, halycon days she had
many sHitors; but Sue was no coquette.
and she smiled only ON one handsome
Luke Hamilton. the young artist. Luke
was poor orphan hoy, aud had his way
to make in the world. but Sue loved
him. ami he morning before be went to
the army he pH1 the engagement ring
on her finger.
II was a fun year before she locked
into his dear face again. and then his
furiough lasted only three days. But
Luke was good correspondent, and
every week brugrght her a CHEEKY letter.
There came tipe-a Saturday morn
ing i'm the month of May. lS63-when
Susan turned away from the little c0un-
try pestofiice without her accustomed let
learned that there had been a great bat
tie on the Charlottesville ground, and
that her noble lover had been left dead
upon the bloody field
The hlow almost killed her. For days
an weeks she went about the house like
one IN dream. She could not shed
tear, and no complaint escaped her lips,
but her heart was broken. and her pair
face and hollow eyes appealed most elo-
Quently to the hearts of all who came
to express their sympathy.
After the first keen edge of her sorrow
were away she arose from her stony
grief, put ont of sight all the sweet to.
kens OF the precious dead. and without
word went back to her daily house
hold duties. Bun she was never the same
girl again. Her loss seemed to embitter
her life. to make her hard and exactng
even with those she hest loved, and after
n while her Young friends, hurt by her
Indifference. ceased their efforts to keep
a hold on r.. heart She never went
outside of the gate. not even to church.
ana after her parents died, weeks and
weeks would pass without her even ex-
changing words with a single soul, except
the grocer's hoy who came every Satur-
day morning to deliver her week supply
of groceries. Sometimes the neighbor
women would run in with their knitting
and budget of news. and sit an hour or
so with the poor lone woman, but the
welcome they received was not cordial
enough to invite speedy return.
So the years rolled away, and Susan
Lyle drifted further and further away
from human love and sympathy, and
the villagers, when they spoke of her,
at all. sighed over the wreck of life
which had once been SO full of fragrance
ana beauty. Though the little cottage
WIS kept as neat and trim as hands
touid make 1T. and the fence around the
lot in the best of repair. the severe plain
ness Of the home, outside and in, was so
marked as to be positively painful
From the morning when with aching
heart the disappointed woman had
locked her piano and banished from her
sight all the pretty adornments which had
rig en- such bewitching charm and grace
to the home, it had been her studied care
to see that not Il trace of beauty should
ever creep in 10 brighten the gloom she
considered SO fitting TO her shattered life.
There was enc thing, howewer-the
rose bush which Luke had brought her
from the Sunny South-that she had not
the heart to banlsh from her sight. lie
had been at great pains to procure it,
and had carried it all the way home in
his pocket. Then, too. it was his hands
that had planted it. and she could not
pluck ii up by the roots. although il
grieved her to the heart to see it grow
ing so strong and thrifty. right at her
very door. While poor Luke was lying in
an unknown grave. with not even rose
bush to mark where he was buried. She
had promised him that he should have
the very first rose that bloomed. But
before that time came round he had
sealed his patriotism with his life.
The bush grew and twined all over the
side of the little cottage, and every year
its weaIin Of blossoms made the whole
neigi Dorhooa fragrant; but the roses all
w;.hered and dropped off when they had
given out their sweetness, for Susan
never had the heart TO pick single one,
after the promise she had made to Luke.
Though at first it panied her to look
at this last gift of one SO dearly beloved,
as the years came and went she learned
te love that bush as if it had been a liv
ing thing. and to look forward eagerly
to the coming of the summer months
when she could feast her eyes on the