The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-10-10
By HERO STRONG.

and alone. All my children have
gone before me, and it is not long
before shall follow, and the thought
gives me great comfort. On this side
of the river I have nothing; on the
other side everything! Why should
/ fear to cross to those who love me
and whom I love?
= am going to unfold for you leaf
OF my early life. Perhaps the skep-
teal among you will not believe what
/ am about to write, but If so, pray
ascribe whatever is improbable and
unreal about it to the wandering
vagaries Of poor old woman, and
think no more of it.
r was the daughter of an English
country curate. OF course my father
was poor-curates always are. / had
one brother, older than myself, a
wild, reckless, unprincipled fellow,
whose conduct broke my fathers
heart at last.
Gerald, that was my brothers
= name, was continually getting him.
self into trouble, from which only
money could extricate him, and there
was on one to help him but my poor
father, and the consequence was that
the family purse was always at the
lowest ebb, and my mother and my
self were put to all sorts of shifts to
keep the family wardrobe in a state
OF shabby decency,. Until my mother
died, don't think ever had a new
dress. All my dresses were made out
OF hers, for she had been the child
of wealthy father, and at the time
OF her marriage her outfit had been
lavish and costly.
When she died. was sixteen then
Il had suit of mourning. They
were my very first new clothes, and
dating from that time onward there
has always been to me a sort of
funeral significance about new
clothes. / always shudder when 7
put them on, so wildly do I remem-
Der the dismal stiffness and GOODNESS
OF that mourning bombazine, with its
heavy folds of charnel-house smelling
Grape.
A year after my mothers death.
Richard Earle came to the rectory to
board for few weeks. He had come
down from London for his health,
and meeting my father in the village,
had asked for rooms in our little
house. He made no trouble, and old
Bess, our one servant, declared it was
pleasure to wait on him-he was
such handsome and sweet-spoken
young gentleman.
1t is not hard for you to guess how
1t terminated. I was young, simple
natured country girl, with lonely,
desolate heart, and he was a new rev.
citation Of love and life. I loved him
there was no other way for me, and
he loved me in return.
1t will not seem vain for me to
speak OF it, now that I am gray and
wrinkled, but in my youth I was very
beautiful, and almost every young
man met told me so with his eyes.
If not with his lips.
In all my life I had never know
what happiness was until, looking
into my eyes, Richard Earle told me
that he loved me. All, then for me
rose the new heaven and the new
earth created, and all the hours ran
In golden sands; for, no matter how
tenderly she may have been shielded
and cared for, woman never knows
what JOY is till she loves and is be-
loved; neither does she know the
meaning of pain until love has made
her heart soft enough to feel 1t.
There was cny,,o x,,ue&o~xv
Richard, which he could not then
make clear to me. He trusted the
time would soon come when he could
claim me as his own, and until then
ne asked me would I wait? Would
i! l would have waited for him until
the grave covered me, and never have
thought it long if had constantly the
assurance of his love.
So he went away, and for many
weeks his letters came-oh. so ten
der, so gentle, and loving! Then they
ceased.
A month of anguish, and my father
brought me London paper. In it
read a notice of the marriage OF
Robert Earle and Lady Arethusa
Cleares.
After that felt like a stone
cold, passionless and apathetic.
1t was at this time that Lord New
bury pressed his suit. He had long
loved and admired me, and my poor
rather was very earnestly bent on
the marriage; for Lord Newbury was
very rich and generous, and my poor
father had faced poverty an his life.
and no wonder, now that old age was
approaching, he coveted little rest,
and home where privation was not
q constant guest.
Lord Newberry was three times
my age, but he was true. loyal
hearted English gentleman, and I re-
spected him highly. When Richard
was lost to me, what mattered It what
became of me? As well one thing
as anotheri
To hurry matters on, Gerald be.
came involved in daring forgery
and the prison stared him in the face