The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1903-05-15
ON THE HILLTOPS.
BY JUL1ETrE b. M,oEARLEY.

Charline sat on the hilltops and looked
down on the town. There was not much to
see there-crooked, muddy streets, about a
half dozen small stores, "a few pretty cot
tages, and a great many more ugly ones, a
tumble-down church, and a new, white
schoolhouse that looked altogether too mod
ern for its surroundings; it seemed waste
of time to the uninitiated to climb the hills,
and look down at this town, when one
could stay so much more comfortably In
J ones house and look up on the hills.
But when one looked over the town-ah.
then there was feeling of freedom from
! the ugly everyday things of life, for the
hills were tall and green and mysterious
! huge heaps thrown up by some mighty con-
vulsion of nature long ago. Here and there
groups of stately cedars, spiked with am
Der tips or laden with bluish-green berries,
! delighted the weary eyes, and far away be-
! yond the low, muddy bar, where the cot
/ ton stalks stood, brown and ugly and lop-
sided, the river lay, broad CLEAN of pur-
| pie water now sparkling in golden sunlight
| sometimes only marked by wall Of sill
very white mist.
! Charline loved to look at the river and the
hills. In all her young life they had taught
her more than she had learned in the rickety
old church which perched high and forlorn-
| ly on the side of caving bank, with yellow
! splotched walls, on which generations OF
bad boys had scrubbed, and where minis
! ter, the man she had promised to marry,
came once month to rant about the flames
of hell which were always ready to swallow
up the ungodly who danced and laughed
and made merry
! Charline shuddered as she thought of him,
but he was only a man, and what were men
after all? Men had built the little town
yonder, and God had made the hills-the
beautiful, useless hills, and the beautiful,
useless daisies, which grew in patches on
the hillsides and smiled up at one like baby
eyes. Yet, the preacher had said only last
Sunday that useless beauty and outward
| adOrnment were marks of the beast" and
bade the women cast off their rings and
! trinkets No rings shone on Charline's
brown hands One would be there soon
enough, she thought, which would mean al
most servitude to her, and yet when she
| looked at it, it would also whisper to her of
sacrifice for love which would help her to
bear it, for she could never hope then to sail
away on the broad river to the world of
: which she had dreamed She could never
again close her eyes beneath the cedars in
the rapture of loves embrace.
1t had been autumn then, and the valley
between the hills had lain like a yellow
ribbon and the grass was soft and dead,
and the hills had risen north and south,
mantled with purpling grapes and
wreathed with the soft mist of Indian
summer. Only at sunset the mist had
cleared away, and there had been roses in
| the sky, and roses on her soft brown
cheeks, as he had come lightly over the dead
grass, and wakened her soul with his kiss.
She knew now it was only an idle dream,
and that he had kissed her-not because he
loved her, but because he held her lightly,
and that the pastime of an idle hour had
separated him from the woman he loved
the rich, fair, kindly girl who had always
seemed like some princess to Charline. But
she would show them how cruel the gossips
had been; it should not cost him dear, even
though now he sought her side no more
All her womanhood in pride cried out to
her to show him that she did not care
All the woman's tenderness pleaded to
protect him from the consequences of his
own folly. As she sat in the shade of the
cedars, and looked down at the town she
saw woman, tall and slender, going along
the path his feet had once touched so light
ly when he had seen her on the hillside
She drew her breath little hard as she
caught the sheen of the pale blonde hair
The blonde woman started as she saw her
sitting there, and would have passed with
dignifed bow, but the girl called her name,
and with innate courtesy she paused.
ga beautiful evening, is it not?" she said,
in her soft, clear voice. II came up to see
the sunset on the river, and you seem to be
enjoying it, too. Do you come often?"
The next moment, as she remembered
what the village gossips had said of her
lover and Charline TRUSTING here, she could
have bitten her tongue for the question.
eyes," she said, with little catch in her
voice, 81 have come often during the past
few weeks 1 am to be married soon-to
the minister-perhaps you may not have
heard-and after that [ shall not be here
often, for I shall be out behind the hills,
where I cannot even hear boat whistle.
I think l will miss that"
The two women-the small brown girl
in the grass, with the rich, velvety eyes, and
the blonde woman who had grace rather
than beauty-looked in each others faces,
and she of the blonde hair drew deep
breath.
Then she spoke with cold, slow smile
"But you will have your husband" she
said sit will be great thing for you to
be married to clergyman. Young girls al
ways make heroes of them, believe"
eyes," said Charline, and a bright red
spot burned on her cheeks and crimsoned
the lips that spoke so bravely and falsely,
'I always admired him. and shall read his
sermons, and hear him preach, and l am
sure-oh, quite sure-that l shall be happy.
No one else ever cared for me or kissed
me or told me he loved me, and should hate
to be an old maid. My aunt says every girl
should have husband-that even the un-
pleasant ones are useful to keep off unde-
sirable men from poor girl"
The blondes face softened as it had not
done before for a long while; her eyes
seemed to grow deeper, and she laughed a
low, merry laugh. 'Your aunt has queer
4 ideas of matrimony," she said, "but am
not sure she is altogether wrong Then
she looked away to where the sun was set
ting in a saffron cloud. The river was
golden, and on the side of the hill the blue
daisies bloomed on the graves of the forgot
ten dead who Derhaps on Some bvoone