Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-06-01
AREALLOvE ANDAFALSE
By. e. Ashton.


Many IL lovers heart i had lacerated
by refusing his offer of marriage after
had .nrcd him on to a declaration"
My i.>ss victims name was Jame.
Frazer. He was a tall. awkward
ilonlely n ungainly man, but his heart.
was as true as steel. l respected him
highly. and I felt panied when l wit
messed his anguish at my rejection of
him.
Blu the fact was, i had myself fallen
in love with Elliott Tracy. a smar city
man. who had been unremitting in his
devotion to me. James Fraze warned
the against Elliott. but l charged him;
(yith %jealously, and took his warnings
is an insult. A few days later Elliott
nd l were engaged, and my dream OF
Romantic low seemed to be in a fair
Evay toward realization. l had a week
IT happiness. Many have not had so
much in q lifeti1ne. Many awake from
she bright, short dream to find them
selves in lifelong darkness, n bond
age from which there is no escape.
THANK God I was not to be SO miserable
rs they.
There was a party on horse back
binding through u grand old woods
nd quiet country roads,. Elliott and
led the cavalcade. ! rode my beauti-
tul Brown Bess. Elliott was mounted
n the handsome black horse that had
been given to ma by a rich uncle. Fol-
lowing us were u HeYy Of merry girls
and their cavaliers, n among them,
tall, awkward James Frazer. His pres
ence had marred all the pleasure Of my
Hide. II l was glad to be In advance
IT them all, that 1 might not see him..
And so we rode on through h lovely
country n l listened, we'll pleased. to
:he low but animated words OF Elliott
Tracy. who wished himself a knight
md me a fair ladye of the olden time,
hat he might go forth to do battle
Tor me and compel all men to recognize
he claims Of his peerless love.
Very e%loquently he spoke Of the in
ipiration Of love, of the brave deeds
nd erilous exploits 1t had prompted.
Wishing again and again that he might
shus proclaim and maintain his love
before the world. 1t pleased me to
listen to this. and to believe 1t sincere,
.hough l surely had no wish to put my
over to such a test.
Suddenly a shot n through the
till woods. and a wounded bird, darting
asst. f'uttered n fell at the feet of
Brown Bess. With a bound and q
.pring that nearly unseated me, she
vas off.
Struggling to regain my seat, I had
10 power to restrain her, n eve as
the flew the fear and madness Of the
nOment grew upon her. I could only
sAAAo w h0AA ltA 1AA0
md wonder helplessly where this mad
Tallop was to end. She swerved from
/ passing wagon, and turned into a cart
rack that led to the river. In the sud-
len movement the reins had been torn,
from my hands and I could not regain
them.
l chung to he name, and closed my
eyes that I might not behold the fate
that awaited me. How sweet was life
IN those precious moments which I
thought my last! How all It's joys. its
affections, its last browning love rose.
u before me! / thought of the pans
that would reno Elliott's heart as he
saw me lying mangled and dead, and
then the thought would come that he
was pursuing and trying to save me,
even. as he had said, at the risk Of life
and limb.
remembered no more. I felt a sud-
den shock. a fearful rushing through
the air, n knew nothing until days
afterward. I woke to a faint, weak SEM
blance of life in my room at home.
l never saw Elliott Tracy again. The
last words 1 aver heard from his lips
were those Of knightly daring. The
last act OF his life, in connection with
mine, was to follow in the train Of
frightened youths who rod after me, to
contemplate h disaster from afar, and
as o as he saw me lifted from
the shallow bed OF the river into which
| had been thrown when my frightened
horse stopped suddenly on its bank. to
ride hastily back to the village. That
evening he sent to make inquiries. and
learning that l was severity. but 1t was
hoped. not fatally injured. he thence
forth contented himself with such It'd
ings of my condition and improvements
as could be gathered from village
rumors
AT last it was known that l would
never entirely recover from the effects
Of my injury. and that very day Elliott
Tracy departed suddenly from the vile
lage.
He made no attempt to see me, nor
sent me any farewell. When was
cnce more about again. and beginning
to learn the lesson Of patience and res
isnation that awaited me, I received q
letter from him, in which he merely
said that he presumed my own judg-
ment a taught me that, in my altered
circumstances, our engagement must
be at an end; but to satisfy his own
n Of honor CHS honor!) he wrote
to say that while entertaining the high
est respect for me, he desired a formal
remuneration Of my claim.
Writing at the bottom Of this letter.
Let 1t be as you WISH" I returned It
to him at once. n thus ended my brief
dream of a romantic love.
l had heard ere this of Elliott Tracy's
co"arIly conduct on that day, and
now I first bethought me to inquire who
had rescued me from imminent death.
hen I learned that James Frazer.
his arm already broken by the Jerk
with which Brown Bess tore away from
him as he caught at her bride, had
riden after me, and was the first to
lift me from the water.
Many times daily he made inquiries
for me. His had been the hand mai
sent the rare flowers that decked my