Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-06-26
CHAPTER vi.


Which makes 1t fatal to be loved!
All! why
With cypress branches hast thou
wreathed thy bowers,
And made thy best interpreter sigh
AS those who doat on odors pluck the
flowers
And place them in their breast-but
place to die
Thus, the frail beings we would fondly
cherish.
Are laid within our bosoms but to
perish"
BY one of those chances common In
civil wars. Margaret Moncrieffe, the
daughter of a major in the British
army, had been separated from her
father, and was detained as a kind OF
hostage within the American lines.
The proud, spirited girl, irritated by
the surveillance to which she was sub
jected, annoyed by a suspicion, that
had somehow gained currency, that
she was engaged in communications
with the enemy, and mortified by the
want of pecuniary means, determined
to appeal directly to General Putnam.
The kind hearted old soldier, appre-
ciating her situation, and sympathizing
with her feelings. promptly forwarded
an invitation to take up her residence
in his family until he could procure her
permission to return to her fathers
protection. At this period she was not
more than fourteen years Of age, al
though a woman in physical, and more
than a woman in intellectual develop
ment. Divinely beautiful, witty, and
vivacious, she at once became the
charm Of the generals family circle,
and attracted crowds Of admirers to
his doors. Domesticated in the same
family, her intercourse with Aaron
Burr was necessarily frequent; and, as
day by day each discovered some new
charm in the others society, 1t rapidly
grew into intimacy. and then as rapidly
ripened into love,-a love as yet un-
spoken, and, perhaps, unacknowledged
by either. 1t was her practice, as she
writes in her memoirs, to ascend, In
the evening, to the gallery on the top
Of the house, for the purpose OF watch
ing, through a telescope, the wooden
walls of Old England" whose frown-
ing batteries threatened the republican
city. After awhile, that secluded spot
was invested with other attractions.
II had become a trysting place. The
floating bulwarks that rose and fell
with the briny waves, and the white
tents that dotted Staten Island, were
unheeded A new and absorbing pas
sion had subdued her natural pride,
and abated her natural confidence in
British prowess. She had learned to
listen for the coming of a rebel step,
and hang with rapture upon rebers
voice. It was impossible that such an
intercourse could long continue with
out finding words to syllable the emo
tions that filled the heart of each,
Suddenly and Unexpectedly to both,
the avowal came. For many minutes
there had been silence; for many min
utes they had been holding communion
with each other in the sacred stiffness
Of thought. Turning his gaze from the
white waves of the Sound, 1t rested on
the heavenly beauty of the sweet
creature at his side. At the same mo-
ment her soft eyes were raised loving
ly to his. In that one glance was con-
veyed all the burning passions teach;
and the young lover, forgetting that he
belonged to his country-forgetting
that a wall Of adamant grew broad and
strong between them-forgetting all
the dictates of prudence-threw him.
self madly at her feet and uttered
words which, like the poetry of David,
were "spangled with Goals Of fire"
The deep blush which spread over her
cheeks, rich and rosy as the glorious
painting of the sun upon the morning
sky, was a whole world of bliss to him;
and the soft hand she laid in his, thrill
ed through every fiber with electric
force, and sent wild currents back up
on the heart loaded with joy. No word
was uttered. No word was needed to
the full fruition of his hopes. One
one encircling her voluptuous waist
drew her toward him until their lips
met and grew together. Oh, happy
had it been for both if in that hour the
thunderbolt had fallen! Happy had II
been If, linked in each others arms
their souls had taken flight while yet
the bloom of innocence was upon them
and neither guilt, nor care nor tor
turing sorrow stained the open
ing bud or the springing tree!
Better would the grave have been tol
her, far better than the guilty pleas
ures, succeeded by the vain regrets
that checkered her after days! Anc
better would it have been for him tc
have passed away with his young laur-
els fresh upon his brow, than to have
run a career splendid indeed at IT.
noon, but, like the hot sun of the trop-
les, scorching and blasting in its bril-
liancy, and going down at last behind
clouds, and storms, and falling tears!
But what did they care for tomor'
row? What warning could break the
spell of that ungovernable transport
They were riding in frail and leakN
boat, upon the foamy crests of tenn
pest shaken sea; but the angry voice o.
the great deep was unheeded, and th'
shrieking breakers, as they rushed
madly to the iron bound shore, sound
ed low and soft as a mothers lullaby
over her first-born infants sweet re-
pose. And who could blame them fol
the mental abandon of that deliriou:
hour? Such moments come but once
and not always once, in our pilgrim
age below. Aaron Burr and Margare
Moncrieffe caught the nectar as i
rose. and if death should follow th'
potent draught, it was death tina
came on balmy wings, and pointed hi
destroying dart with rapturous joys
Side by side they sat upon the rougl
bench that ran along the gallery-thei
hands clasped, their eyes bent dow
until the dropping lashes rested ol
their cheeks, their lips mute and mo
tionless, their hearts full and eloquen
of unutterable joy. Who shall say tina
days of sorrow, nights of mourning, o