The Press., 1916-06-14
A Strip of ,SeaWeed
  It Was Given as a Token at the Time of a Betrothal.
By F. A. MITCHELL

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 In the olden time Newport, R. l., was an important shipping port. Indeed, until the period of the Revolution a number of points on the Atlantic coast were about equally prominent in this respect. As the years rolled on all ex- cept New York, Boston and Philadel- phia dropped out, the latter finally leaving the first the supremacy.
 In that early day on the beach where now in the summer season hundreds, at times thousands, of fashionable per sons drive and lounge and bathe, one moonlight night young man and a girl sat looking out upon the gilded wa ter. They were Edmond Roscoe and Evalina Blair, the young man son of prominent shipowner, the girl the daughter of a merchant There were no sounds of revelry in the little town back of them, as there are now at that season, and, as for the beach, not sound was to be heard except the plash of the sluggish waves as they broke and rolled in on the sand.
 There could be no more fitting place for a young man to tell his story to maiden, and Edmond Roscoe was tell ing Evalina Blair his love for her. Then and there their trOth was plight ed under the yellow light of the moon, the lovers voices accompanied by the effervescing sound of the waves as they slid up in foam on the smooth sands.
 There were both happiness and sad ness for these two young creatures whose lives seemed so much to them. In a few days they were to part Tor several years. Evalina was to go to England that her education might be finished under the supervision Of an aunt. for she was of the Blairs of Dev- onshire, a family of country gentlemen and ladies of blue blood, and must needs be given accomplishments suit able to her rank. Edmond was to enter Brown university. which was then in its babyhood and soon to give up its as yet only dormitory to quarter sol diers of the Revolution.
 The transports of betrothal were scarcely over when Edmond said:
 You are going to a land where you will meet many persons of rank and fashion. I know that you will be belle among them. Some man, possibly a noble, will fall in love with you. You will dread to return to this un- cultivated land. You will remain in ,l, again"
 Looking at him through her earnest eyes, she replied:
 "Give me some token by which l shall remember these words of yours. If l am tempted by fortune to remain in England l promise you l will look at it and am sure it will bring up be | fore me the happiness of this evening. and 1 shall choose you and the life of simple Rhode Island woman in pref erence to that of a lady of rank"
 Alas, I have nothing suitable. I should give you ring or"-
 "I wish no bauble," replied Evalina. "Give me something to remind me of these sands, the ocean, the plash of the waves"
 Looking about him, Edmond saw a seaweed lying within his reach. Tax ing it up, he handed it to Evalina. She took it and, spreading it out on her lap, said:
 "I, Evalina, promise you, Edmond, that in case I am tempted to place rank and fortune before my love for you 1 will think of you with this plant of the sea before me. And l assure education I will bring the token to you as evidence that I have been true to you and my heart has been always yours.'
 After this assurance there was a long embrace. Then they arose and, taking a path which is now a broad avenue, returned to the town. Every day. or, rather, every evening, till Evalina's departure the lovers went to the beach. They were not troubled even in the daytime with persons to | disturb their meetings. There were | no bathers in fantastic suits, no car ! riages, no loungers. The last evening before Evalina's departure they passed there. The moon rose, as it were, out | of the ocean, the first spark appearing like far distant bonfire, then gliding the shore over the crests of the waves. and finally the great round disk rested | on the horizon of water
 "Heaven grant," said Edmond. "that