Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-08-24
aeokEN HEART HEALED.
e;. Whose Romance Was Shattered
Learns to Love Again.

man in Gloucester, N. J.. three years
ago. But she was mistaken.
Five years ago Miss Lee met
Thomas Smith of Camden. N j., and
he at once fell madly in love with her
With all the ardor born of southern
temperament, which was his by inheri-
tance, he pressed his suit. But Miss
Lee was not willing to leave the old
home for the new, in the first place,
and besides was quite confident she
vas not rapturously in love with him.
In addition she had for some reason
known only to herself an inherent dis
trust of all men, an opinion which she
often expressed to her girl friends.
Smith, however, finding her hand
was pledged to no one and her heart
was free, started in to remove her
prejudice against mankind in general
and to establish himself in prime fav-
or in particular. To this plan she
had no objections to Offer since he
was more pleasing in her eyes than
others of the young men of the set in
which she moved. And after two
years of ardent courtship and devoted
attention Smith had attained success,
but not exactly according to the orig
inal plans and specifications. For the
result showed that she had first devel-
oped an affection for him and later
became more lenient in her opinion
of mankind in general
So completely had her former theor-
les been undermined that Oct. %.
1901. was set as the day for her we'd
cling to Thomas Smith. Bridesmaids
had been selected, trousseau ordered.
and all arrangements for the cere-
mony completed when rumor so start
ling was brought to her ears that all
her forgotten fear of man was brought
back with a rush. One of her brides
maids heard that Smith was already
a married man with family, and
straightway brought the news to her
friend, Almost frantic at the decep-
ton to which she had been subjected,
when Smith called at the house the
night previous to the day SGT fer the
wedding Miss Lee asked him about
the dread rumor.
Smith, she said afterward, got On
his knees and took an cath he was
single man, saying he would kill him.
self if she refused to believe him. De-
spite this emphatic denial the early
doubt was so thoroughly aroused she
insisted she must first meet face to
face the woman who was said to be
his wife before she would consent to
the performance Of the ceremony.
Smith asked for drink of water, and
as she turned her back to get it he
SHOT himself Then. several days
later, when Mis- Lee met the wife and
children of the wounded man at the
hospital to which he was taken, it was
that she vowed Sc would never again
believe man.
But time and woman's inalienable
right to change her mind work wond-
ers, especially when affairs of the
feminine heart are concerned. A per-
iod of seclusion followed the tragic
end of her first engagement, but grad
ually she began to move again in the
circle which had known her of old.
The church had greater attraction
for her than ever before, and here it
was that she first became imbued
with the idea that possibly there were
exceptions to even the rule which had
been so vividly impressed upon her
memory. And, whether as the cause
of the exception she was willing to
concede or in consequence of it. it
came to her with the certainty of up
right honesty.
Mr.. Brennan had not been backward
in cultivating this impression in her
mind in fact, all summer he was most
attentive in his wooing. Then, most op-
portunely for his courtship, came a
sermon by the rector of the church
which both had learned to love as
their trysting place. The reverend
father urged the young members of
his congregation to cut long wooings
short and get married, and now, as
Mrs. Walter Brennan, the former Miss
Lee is positive there are exceptions
to all rules.
And, in view of the aforesaid in
allenable woman's right, none can
deny her right to her opinion.