The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-09-14
Captives of Fate
b. wINIFRED BLACK.

Iapuves or rate
II b. wINIFRED BLACK.
We saw her up there on the mesa
the other day--Lorna Doone. the
sweet maiden poplar tree--etanains
light and graceful in the great gather
| Ing circle Of gloomy pines stolen.
dear thing. from a quiet valley ps
sorne wondering breeze of mischief,
and set there In the woods with the
dark evergrsens soughing around ner
like some fair maid carried on by
! robber chteftains and kept captive In
their mountain fastness.
| How light she was, how graceful,
how modest and timid, and yet she
stood her ground, too, and would not
let any of the rough, burly pines or
the melancholy brooding cedars come
too close. Even the tall spruce with
his silver tipped fingers she kept at
4 distance, like some modest princess
or royal blood keeping up the tradf-s
ton of proud aloofness even In her
captivity.
Flutter. fiutter, all her graceful
LEAVES seemed sending signals TO her
tall brothsrs down there in The val
Yiey. ~. 2-'-'=ss
| Come up. she seemed to cry to
them, come up and take me home,
| l want to DO by the water. / do not
] like this high mesa l am afraid OF
all these dark trees crowding around
me. Come, brothers. march up the
hill tonight when the moon Is gone
and take me home again.
r Blu. the brothers down there by the
stream in the green valley do not
even take the trouble to wave back
/ to the captive princess, and 80 there
she stands ,oday--Lorna Doone we
have named her--a captive among the
dark robber trees. there on the wind
swept hill.
/ Lorna Doones I have friend /
call by that name when she does not
hear me She married when she was
seventeen. married n man she scarce
liy knew. carried away. with his dark,
handsome face and his fine manner
which made all the men she knew
seem dull and commonplace.
i And now poor Lorna is marooned
with the man she married, marooned
on q queer little island where the
4 man lives with his strange family.
and the uncanny friends he gathers
! about him.
i she tn gay. is Lorna, and pretty.
i and soft voiced. and gentle hearted.
/ and the man who carried her away
with him Is saturnine and sarcastic
and cynical.
i He doesn't believe in anybody. he
thinks people who laugh are all fools.
!, He never reads anything but some
book which proves that everything is
4 all wrong everywhere, and when poor
Lorna forgets for minute her mel
ancholy fate and tries 70 sing little
simple song Of love and laughter. the
robber chieftain frowns and the song
d3as In moor I<orDa'a throat
Captive, poor little girl. a captive
bowed down with iron chains. though
the world thinks they are nothing bu,
pretty bracelets
wonder how long she VIII live in
prison
They arc not always women. this
captfyes Of fate. knew man whe'+
q captive, too. He's big-hearted
j asnarnns saul. with a laugh like, q
burst OF primal joy. ne has a brain
too. a quick, keen. active brain, He
Hikes to eat and to drink, and to
laugh, and to talk, and he Is never
, really happy without lot of friends
around him. and he married a wife
!. who lives to save.
. She haunts the shops looking fol-
; -bargains'' she screws down the
cooks wages: she hAggles over a
quarter on tue EAH Dill
il She wears a dress till she's tired
of it. and then what? Does she give
il TO a poor relation and he glad
she has It to give? Not she. She
, sells that dress to the maid or some
! friend less we'll eff HAN shn.
= Her husband is prnned. and cut. and
! trimmed down to suit her little sordid
/ narrow schemes. Poor fellow. am
! always wondering when ne wiil ,'nd
) the courage and the chance to escape
: down the hill. of the wind-swept mess
land go home to his own folk.
: I've seen children captives In then
: own family, haven't your Clever chill
> | dren in family OF doits. and the dolt.
? all feel SO superior, because poor
Mary IL 20 queer"
Dull children In a clever family
poor things. my heart aches for them
I but they are not 70 much to be pitlet
# as the clever prisoners of dullness
! Clever people have warm hearts. as 4
! truie. and quick sympathies. and there.
I no one 10 cruel on earth as dul'ard
An honest boy in q family OF crooks
good woman In a bevy OF. selfish
z mercenary, worldly sisters. stolen. ey,
: | cry one OF them. stolen away from tbs
. sorrow among aliens.
q NV heart goes out to them, ana FOL
: their sakes am going to climb thu
. wind -swept mesa tomorrow and talk,
with me q little nprig of qliiyerins
+ I aspen. or 4 branch uf poplar. ana SCI
/: Il in the ground beside the. lonely
: pale captive poplar who waves he
|. slender arms In such pathetic appea
9 10 her brethren down thera In the val,
4 ley 10 come and rescue her. She shall
have company Of her own sort II
S-ys