The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-09-07
A Strip of
SeaWeed
II Was Given az a Token at
the Time Of q Betrothal.
BY F. A. Mitchell

In the oluen Time newport, II. 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 battle, one
moonlight night a young man and
girl sat looking out upon the gllded 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 young man to tell his story to a
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
whose lives seemed so much to them.
In a few days they were to part for
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 Dew
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 land where you
will meet many persons Of rank and
fashion. 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
England. and I shall never see you
again."
Looking at him through her earnest
eyes, she replied:
"Give me some token by which
shall remember these words of yours.
If am tempted by fortune to remain
In England I promise you will look
! at 1t and am sure it will bring up be-
fore me the happiness of this evening,
and l shall choose you and the life Of
simple Rhode Island woman in pref
erence to that Of a lady Of rank"
"Alas, l have nothing suitable.
should give you ring orr
II 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 1t and, spreading 1t out on her
lap, said:
II, Evalina, promise you, Edmond,
that in case / am tempted to place
rank and fortune before my love for
you l will think Of you with this plant
Of the sea before me. And l assure
you that when have finished my
education l will bring the token to
you as evidence that l 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 a 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
we will again see this beautiful sight
and that we shall then be one"
"If l live you will have your wish"
replied Evalina
The next day the ship that was to
carry her to England sailed from the
little town on Narragansett bay, the
lovers waving until they could distin-
guish each others forms no longer.
During the first year of their separa-
ton Evalina wrote regularly. to her
lover. The second year abroad was
for an education In social life. As her
lover had predicted, she became a
belle. She wrote Edmond Of the fine
people she met, of the amusements