The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-03-28
Pastoral Love
Affair
Combination Of the Natural and
the Artificial.
BY ARTHUR BEAVERTON
Copyright by American Press Asso-
alton, 1911.

4
Bessie and / fell in love natural
ly-in fact, too naturally. / have of
ten thought how pleasant 1t must be
for the animals and birds to mate
without having to look into each
others record A tiger may not only
kill man, but eat him and mate with
a most respectable tigress without any
questions being asked. Two birds
may meet on the branch Of a tree and
without the slightest knowledge Of
each other become mates. But mar
and woman must not only know al
about each other, but be Of the same
grade and each have Il clean record Of
there comes a lot of trouble.
And the most singular thing about
it all is that either Of them will muir
der any animal. except their own kind
and eat the carcass.
l, being an artist, when the buds
were beginning to open went into
the country to catch that first delicate
shade Of pale green which appears on
the trees at that season. ! was sitting
on my tripod in wood working In the
colors when l heard the bark of IA dog
and a moment later little terrier
stood growing at me- girl. budding
like the trees. not into leaves. but into
womanhood, hurried up. calling In a
soft voice:
"Frisk! Come away. Frisk! What
do you mean?"
paid no attention to the dog, and
there was no need for the girl to call
him of. for he had no idea of attack
ing me. but he gave me an excuse for
addressing the girl.
And yet | question If any excuse
was required People who meet in
crowds are constrained by cOnyeEltion-
alities. We two. meeting In wood.
with not sound about us-whell the
dog had ceased barking an oc-
casional twitter of birds engaged in
nest building, felt constrained in an
other way. We were impelled to be
companionable. began by telling her
not to mind the dog, that he wouldn't
disturb me, and she sided around
where she could catch view Of my
sketch. One thing led to another until
we felt quite well acquainted. / had
chosen delightful spot to transfer to
canvas. 1t was on a decliyfty An
opening in the trees below revealed q
patch of landscape, while at my feet
gurgled a stream. at this season well
supplied with water from SHOWS re-
Gently melted at higher attitudes. The
air was balmy and laden with per-
fumes.
One has but to mention this outline
picture TO indicate the result Given
an opening spring in a wood. buds, wild
flowers. twitterlng birds, vista, a
brook, dog and lastly a young man
and young woman. both In the first
freshness Of youth. what follows
Why, exactly what the poet says--the
young mans land the young woman'sl
fancy turns to thoughts Of love.
The result of this meeting was an
other meeting and another and another
didn't count them; was too preoc-
cupied to do so. | painted SO long on
my picture that before finished 1t the
delicate shade had come to the coun-
try for had grown into dark green
and the full grown leaves had bloeted
out the vista which gave the work
more than half Its beauty. But while
this beauty was disappearing the bud
Of love was opening.
So much for the natural features OF
this story Now come the artificial
viz, girls confession to her father
that she had met her fate. but had not
met with any knowledge Of that fate's
antecedents: then a command from
the father, tears from the girl and a
triangular condition between the IA
Their, the girl and the artist such as
has taken place ever since the first
primeval girl planned to give her IA.
ther the slip and climb tree with the
first primeval youth, the tree being toe
high 70. the old gentleman to follow
Bess,s's father was really as reason
able rs we considered him. unreason-
able. He merely wished to know who
was. Since / had lived In South
America from the time was two unti
twenty-five years of age I must send
there for my credentials. involving a
delay Of month or more. What cruel
ty to force a pair of lovers to wait all
that time In state Of suspensel
Sweetheart" said to her one day
suppose the reply should come that
am an escaped defaulter. jailbird, muir
derer''
II would not believe the story"
But your father would" l added
sententiously.
One day, after having painted alone
in the wood, on leaving 1t saw some
thing half covered with shriyeled
branches and dead leaves. exam
ined 1t and found the dead body of a
man. Mortified lest | might be i'm
plicated in a murder, threw back
what l had removed and was about
to hurry away when l saw two men
coming for me. Within five minutes
was on my way to the nearest po-
lice station.
My antecedents were now not NO
much needed to enable me to possess
my love as to preserve my neck. The
status had changed a second time
The case was not now one of father,
a girl and an unknown man, but a
father, girl and an unknown man ac-
cused Of murder. I sent at once a
note to Bessie, informing her Of my
trouble, encouraging her to keep up q
good heart and assuring her OF my In.
nocence. Receiving no reply, con.
cluded that her father would not pes
NIT her to send a reply.
Brooding III my cell, ! could not but
revert to the good old primeval times
/ have cited before when sutton
might kill as many Of his fellow be
ings as he pleased without being OBJ
jected to on that score for a son-in-
law | had killed no one. was mere
ly suspected of killing man. And
II Bessie's father did not XIII men be
killed the next grade of animal below
men-or other men did the work fol
him. which is just as criminal-and
devoured the flesh. It seemed to me
that the only logical beings are the
beasts and the birds. They kill and
eat each other without inquirinl
whether or no they are eating the
same species, while maxwell, this d
what man does.
He kills and eats every animal be
low himself. To kill even one Of his
own kind he considers the greatest o.
crimes unless he kills them In battle
where the more men he kills the big
ger man he is, which is exactly what
made the chiefs among his savage an
cestors.
was so impressed with this reason
ing that asked my jatler for writing
materials and wrote 1t down. or. rather
elaborated the bare skeleton had