Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-08-06
Che Pastors Daughter
u. Feimburg

put her arms round me and tried 10
speak, but her grief was too much for
her. She only cried quietly, and so
We sat there, while out there in the
church-yard they lowered him into the,
cold, frozen earth-he who was my
happiness, my all!
Then I started up; the ringing
notes of a gay march struck On r.
ear; they were returning from the
grave, and the quick, merry notes
sounded every moment louder and
nearer. All, it had been his favorite
march; those notes had been sound
ing that time when he first came to
Bendeleben, and he had looked into
my eyes so gayly when the band Of
the regiment was playing On the great
lawn before the castle. oh, youth, life
is wonderfully SWEET he had said
then, and l had agreed and rejoiced
with him. The very last time | saw
him he had been whistling that air,
rocking his child upon his knee.
ooh, these memories! How they
seized upon me, showing me what
happiness I had lost! But what the
frightful present had not been able
to effect was accomplished by these
thoughts Of a blissful past. l threw
my arms around the neck Of the good
old friend, and wept out of the depths
of my tortured heart.
Thank God, she is crying at
Iast!' was all the old lady said.
And. now, my dear young friend,
have little more to say. All that
made my life valuable was sunk with
him in the grave, what followed was
no longer life, it was only a yegct2t-
ing, without interest Of any kind.
q have had many heavy blows TO
bear since then; but JOY, that well
come guest, has never taken up her
abode with me. Many persons have
been friendly to me, and after the
first terrible years I learned to return
their friendship and affection; but
for me, l could not rejoice again.
had forgotten howh in those frightfuI
hours.
Soon after that I had stood quite
alone by Katharine's lowIy grave,
while I was stin young and unable 10
do without a chaperone, though ever
so feeble a one. They had offered me
a home at BendeIeben, as Eberhard's
child had long pinned after ne. l
could teach him and train him, Frau
Won Bendeleben said. | felt a little
pride about it; | would not be the
gOverness, where l had expected to be
the mother, of the child. Then l feared
too. my own weakness, and that |
might not be able to endure the part
ing, if his mother should take it into
her head to send for him to go to vi
emma And l was right. Ruth married,
for the third time, young Prince
Bodresky and, as the marriage was
a childless one, the prince afterWard
adopted his step-son. He was brought
up in the Catholic faith, to which
Ruth also was converted, and seems,
with his mothers beauty, to have in
herited her shallow nature. He was
married long ago, and it is only
thanks to his princely fortune and the
enormous dover of his wife that ne
has not yet succeeded in running him
self. All, sometimes think that if God
had only permitted his father to live,
and if we two had brought him up, he
might have been made into something
Of a man after all But as it was, made
effeminate by the extravagant luxury
with which his mother surrounded
him, put into the care OF a tutor with
out conscience, brought UP in the
dangerous principles of the Jesuits,
could it be otherwise?
80 I remained firm and would
not go to BendeIeben, although Han
ma was very much hurt. | went to
Frau Renner, the simple little soul,
who kindly offered me an asylum in
her house. How tenderly and pro
tectingly I was treated there by
her, as we'll as by the young pastor!
[ owe it to his words, also, that
bowed submissiveIy to Gods will, in
stead of 1ebeIling against him. l grew
calm by degrees, but the wound never
healed, and even now it still bleeds as
soon as the old memories come back.
of all the persons whom I knew
in my youth no one Is now alive eX-
cept Pastor Renner, in Weltzendorf,
who, now an old man and my friend,
will end his days in the house that
was once my home. The first to go
home, and whose death filed me with
the deepest grief, was my sweet Han
nah; she died quite suddenly OF an
epidemic disease before she had
reached her twenty-siXth year, leaving
her husband and three children. We
we're both the same age, and could
not but ask again why God had not
suffered me to go, instead Of taking
one who was so much needed, and for
whom would have so gladly died.
THAT same year I had a life Ques-
ton to decide-Pastor Renner had
offered me his hand. He had long
loved me. even that time when was
still the pretty, merry girl, who could
ride so furiously and laugh so heart
lily. I had a hard struggle between my
gratitude and the never-dying mem
DRY Of the only person l had ever
loved. The eyes of his Old mother fol-
lowed NE anxiousIy and searchingly,
and vet I could not make up my mind
to become his wife. He had right to
heart which could belong fully and
entirely TO him. and / had no heart TO
give. I entreated him with many
tears not to think ME ungrateful, but
l could not be his. He yielded; l saw
it gave him pain, but in spite OF all ne
has been a true friend to me his whole
life long.
Two years later he brought home
IN his mother a Young bride, fresh and