Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-06-15
THE RIVALS.
A Story of the Times of Aaron Burr and
Alexander Hamilton.
BY JERE CLEMENS.


on his brow disappeared. He had sur
rendered the reins to fancy, and. ir
the buoyant hopefulness Of youth, hao
given form and substance to the din
and shadowy events which peopled the
future. Distinctly, as on a mariners
chart, he traced out his own career
and robed it with a glory that never
comes to bless the imagination of any
but the young and the inexperienced
He. heard upon a hundred battlefelds
the stirring war-cry, Give me liberty
or give me DEATH" and sent back from
his own lips an answering echo
Through scenes like these-in the
midst Of honors fairly won-he rose
from rank to rank. until he saw him.
self the chosen leader Of band OF
patriot heroes, whose strong arms had
shivered the chains Of tyranny, and
whose bold hearts had led them un-
f1inching through fire and blood to the
loftiest triumph mortal courage may
achieve Then a sweet change came
over his dream. The stern shouts of
contending hosts the clashing steel
and the deep-toned thunder of the ar
tillery are hushed, and in their stead
swell the triumphal anthems which
hail a peoples champion and proclaim
nations birth. The ground where
lately the life-blood of the oppressor
and the oppressed was mingled in a
crimson current, is strewed with flow
ers ;the serried ranks of armed men are
swept away; old men and children
throng around their deliverer, and
more highly priced than ALL
From every easement comes the light
OF women's eyes, so soft and bright!
Peering through the latticed bars,
A nearer, dearer, heaven of stars
Farther, farther still, beyond the final
triumph and it's glad rejoicings, did the
visions of the young enthusiast travel.
He became the lawgiver of ransomed
continent, and under his encourage
ment the lake, the stream, the noun
tain and the plain were peopled by the
mighty creations of science. Art add
ed it's brilliant decorations; music and
poetry poured their melodies into en-
raptured ears; and, over all, genius
spread its radiant wings, gliding that
favored spot of earth with the hues of
heaven.
Oh, wisely has an impenetrable cur
1ray hof nc
road our footsteps are doomed
to pass! Oh. wisely has 1t been de-
creed that no craft. no skill, no exertion
can tear 1t away! Moving as we move,
receding as we advance, forever near,
yet forever beyond our reach, it hides
alike the level greensward and the
quicksand, the triumph and the fall,
which await us tomorrow. No aveag-
ing demon stood by the side of Aaron
Burr to reveal the destiny to come,
and to strike from fancy's grasp its
and he could dream. 1t has been so
ordered that all of us, at that age, may
dream if we will, and he Is a poor,
weak fool, who cherishes not the good
gift that Providence has bestowed.
The narrow minded devotee of man.
mon may say, and truly, that the
brightest vision never purchased loaf
of bread or clothed a naked foot; but
what would King David have said If
he had been told to still the swell of
grandeur that almost shivered his
harpstrings in the cave of Adul!am
when the bright dream of his future
greatness and glory flashed upon him
Or what would old John Milton have
answered, if he had been told to chase
off his visions of Lucifer's rebellion in
heaven-descend from his kindred
home beyond the stars, and grabble in
the mire of earth for sixpence? Tell
the soldier that he must not dream Of
victories won in his country's cause;
the lawyer, of friendless innocence
vindicated by his eloquence; the gos-
pei preacher, of lost souls restored to
a bleeding Savior's bosom,-and the
soldier becomes a mercenary, the law
yer a pettifogging swindler, and the
preacher heartless hypOcrite. Dreams
however wild, however eXtravagant,
are the gift of God himself, sent in in
finite mercy TO cheer the darkest hours
of the Responding, and in infinite wis
dom to stimulate the mind of man to
the grandest and the loftiest of its eX-
ertions. Nothing great. nothing good,
was ever yet accomplished by him
whose aspirations were bounded by the
actual-whoSe efforts were limited by
the probable.
Aaron Burr was still building castles
i'm the air, when Raoul, accompanied by
the father superior entered the room
to announce that the storm had set
i'm. and the hour for their departure had
arrived. For the first ten miles or
more, their progress was slow. The
snow, falling in flakes as big as a
mans hand, shut out all objects at the
distance of a few feet from the travel
ers, and rendered the exercise of con-
siderable caution necessary in picking
their road. The dreary night gave lit
tie uragement to conversation, and
the silence was only broken by brisi
question now and then, and an equally
brief reply. No indication of pursul,
had bt en- observed. and Burr was be-
ginning to fiatter himself with the be-
lief that the danger was over, when
shortly after crossing a little stream
spanned by covered bridge, his at
tention was attracted by a numbering
noise behind them.
What is that" he asked quickly.
Raoul turned his head backward fol
a moment, and then replied in a voice
indicative neither of alarm nor excite
ment,-
1T is the sound of horses feet on the
bridge. We are followed, monsieur"
AT the same time he applied the lasf
smartly to the spirited ponies, who
dashed off at a greatly accelerated
pace. Holding them steadily to theil
work, RaOul continued
IF they have followed us from Three
Rivers they must be skillful riders ol
their horses will be blown before the!
overtake u.s. Ours are as strong n!
when we left the convent, and vii