The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1904-10-20
LOVED A PICTURE.

| 1t was Jermyn's first love affair
hence a very desperate thing and
one to be long remembered.
| Rest" commanded the physician
81 cannot" answered Jermyn.
! "When cannot is opposed to must
then cannot will have to yield. Either
| you must have complete rest or yoE
will have a complete mental break.
| down that may land you in your grave
| or in an insane asylum" said the ply
sician. with. a directness that would
have been brutal had il not been SO
kindly meant
| He had long been regarded as a ris.
| ing young man in the financial world.
and sage old heads had predicted that
he would some day be a power in ths
street"
This had been his own ambition
ana lI hurt TO give II up, but he
found some consolation In the fact
that he would have at least a million
10 settle down on-not a bad amount
| after all, he concluded.
So he bought the old Dinwiddis
mansion on the James River. in Vir-
ginia. and prepared to settle down as
planter, fairly well content, but
chahng still little for the excite
ment of the old life, the daring of
master minds of finance. the exulta.
tion OF victory and even the quick
pang or momentary defeat.
Then came the love affair. and with
the love affair the discovery that he
was poet, either circumstance being
sufhcienuy disturbing to even n
healthy mind.
with the mansion went the Dinwid.
die family portraits. hung in a long
gallery.
Exploring this, Jermyn came across
one portrait before which he paused
OF young girl, slender and beautiful
as May morning. Her costume was.
that OF the 18th century. and its col.
ors were still almost as bright as,
when first painted.
A few Of the old servants of the
.Dinwiddie family still lived on the
place, but Jermyn could gain no in
formation from them as to the ilcn.
tity OF the portraits original. None
or the family had lived on the mace
since the civil war. and Jermyn grad,
ually gave up the hope Of naming the
picture.
Instead he began calling il MY
Lady's Portrait" and took to standing
in front of 1t for hours at time and
making up all sorts OF romance about
1t.
Now, Jermyn had never been ac-
cused OF being sentimentalist. and
1t came on him with a distinct shock
that this romancing about the nor.
trait was sign OF the mental weak.
ness which he had come so to dread
His doctor was his old friend. and 70
him Jermyn wrote a full account OF
his case.
In reply he received a letter from
the doctor, giving him laughing advice
TO find the original OF the picture ana
TO marry her. ending with sufficient
seriousness to recommend him To-
seek out his neighbors and indulge
In human companionship instead Of
lonely imaginings.
Acting on thls recommendation
Jermyn bega1 10 cultivate his neigh.
oors, among whom he soon made
many friendr More than one OF the
girls whom hs- -~-.t attracted him. and
The Deao mEn's rr.-
Returning home recently. a woman,
who had taken out a summons against
her husband, Thomas Henry Roulley.
a painters laborer. on account of his
saw by the light Of tho
moon her husband standing, as she
thought, behind the door ready 10
strike her.
She ran away, but 1t was afterward
a1scovered that the man was hanging
from a rentIlator over the
fee. alpast touching