Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-02-23

ClOhO oAAAs anu NAPCo NaC
from her brow.
We've run a risk" she said; IF we'd
fingered another half hour 'twould
ha' been the last o. us. No one ever lives
once sets eyes upon the bride. One
man was foolhardy enough to try it long
ago; he waited and watched to see the
bride come, and he was never heard OF
"She must be a terrible bride, then"
I answered, sitting down beside her;
won't you tell me about her? Tell me
the story from beginning to end. There
is a story, isn't there?"
'Oh, yes, I've told it hundreds O times
in my day. Listen, and you shall hear it.
1t all happened centuries ago, when the
old church yonder was just a building.
"a great gentleman come across the
sea from England-Lord Stewart by
name. He lived in a great house down
among the hills below there, and had no
end O. servants, and dishes O. gold and
silver to eat out of, and fine carriages to
ride in, and his daughter was the grand
est lady in the whole country, and the
handsomest. She had a skin like the
snow, and cheeks like p~rimroses, and
eyes like stars, and she wore gowns o
the finest silk eve woye.
"Well Lord Stewart meant to marry
her to some great man who was to come
across from England; but the Lady
Beatrice, that was her name, what
| should she do but fall in love with the
head architect, who was building the old
church down yonder.
"He was a fine young fellow, but he
come O. the people, and wasn't over rich,
and he daren't show himself at Lord
Stewards great house; SO every evening
at twilight the Lady Beatrice she comes
down to the church to meet him, and
they walks up and down, a talking O
their love, till the midnight stars were
a shining overhead.
Lord Stewart he knows nothing
about it, and he sends to England for the
fine gentleman to come over and marry
his daughter. And he comes, and puts
a glittering ring on Lady Beatrice's fin
ger, and the wedding day is fixed, and the
wedding finery a making up-white silks
and satins, and laces, such as never was
seen afore under the sun.
"And Lady Beatrice is afraid to say a
word, but she goes on meeting her lover,
Every evening at twilight she goes down
to the church, and if he isn't there she
falls to singing in her soft, sweet voice,
and he hears her, and comes, and they
walk up and down together.
But at last the wedding day comes,
and the wedding feast is cooked, and all
the grand wedding guests invited. And
the wedding finery is all in readiness,
and Lord Stewart commands his daugh-
ter to get ready for the marriage. And
she dare not disobey, or open her mouth
to tell him a word about the man she
loves. So she sits white and still like
ghost, while they robe her in the white
silks and laces, and jewels, and then
they lead her-down the great stairway
and put her in the waiting carriage, anc
the grand wedding party drives down tt
the new church. They are to be married
there, the very first marriage before thu
new altar.
"a groom gallops ahead, to bid thu
head architect have the bells in readi
l ness to ring for the wedding, and he goe'
up on the dizzy steeple, in a great hurry
: to see for himself that all is right. Fl
has heard nothing of the marriage, an,
/ has no dream that Lady Beatrice is to b
t the bride.
But presently he looks down, just a
the grand party comes dashing up, an
he sees Lady Beatrice come walking III
t the steps, all in her white silks and laces
b with her white veil flowing to her feet
D and she a leaning on the arm of the fin
t English gentleman. All in a minute i
/ flashes through his mind, what is a goini
e to be--that Lady Beatrice has playe,
: him false, and has come to church to b
g made another mans bride.
HE grows blind and sick, and reel
" where he stands, and presently he fall
headlong down from the dizzy steeplt
f He strikes the ~flagstones in the court
r yard, right at Lady Beatrice's feet, as sh
comes sweeping up on her bridegroom
e arm.
"She sees him, and knows him, an
s falls on her knees beside him, with a
n awful cry. The blood stains her whit
marriage robes, and the white roses i
! her hair fall out, and lay dabbled in
o pool of red blood,
"They raise her up, and carry her of
but the wedding does not go on, for tn
d pool lady lies in a swoon, and that Nigh
s she dies, a calling on her dead lover
s name.
e THE next day, when the men came t
wash away the bloodstains from til
# flagstones where the poor architect fel
.e they find that Lady Beatrice's brids
II roses have taken root, and are CROWN
t betwixt the tlagstones in the courtyar'
and instead Of being white, they al
d blood red.
d That's the story of the brides roses
t. And for hundreds and hundreds of yea
n they have grown and bloomed in tn;
1t same spot; and every night, as surely {
Re the dark falls, the poor, broken-hearte
lady m a singing, with her viii
r laces, and her long marriage veil a trai
ing and rustling, and she stoops dow
ID and gathers the red roses; but when tt
le next morning ONE they are bloomir
/ again as fresh as ever. Winter or sun
mer tie brides roses never fail."--Pet
pies Home Journal,
. because ny eyes are nearer to the han