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T. L. MITCHELL, Proprietor.
Vol. 3.—No. 5.]
For Woman’s Work.
“A NEW BIRTH TO POESY ’.”
BY M. M. E. M.
Oh Milton! England’s bard! thou Heav’n in
spired king!
How much we need thy stirring voice to day!
Men have grown cold and hard; ’twould be a
glorious thing
For thee to rouse them from their slow decay.
No more, no more, alas! doth Poesy’s flame
inspire—
The fire of Genius on our hearth burns low,
Thro’ feeble sparks of light from some reflected
fire,
The leaden ashes wake to seeming glow.
The poets of to-day sing with their eyes down
cast
Where only things of earth can meet their gaze;
Or, lost in idle dreams and visions of the past,
To useless repetitions tune their lays.
Oh poets, lift thine eyes! look up! the dawn is
clear!
The shadows that o’er gloomed thee, passed
away.
Leave clogging earth behind, the pearly gates
draw near!
And revel in the glorious light of day !
For Woman’s Work.
A LIFE STORY.
BY SHKLAH.
T N AN upper chamber of a house,
(®) lookingtoward the ruins of Holyrood
X Abbey, could be seen three persons. A
white-haired man lying on abed; at
his head a young girl smoothing bis hair
with her delicate hand; and at his s'de,
a young man was sitting, clasping the old
man’s hand.
The face lying among the pillows, though
crowned with snow-white hair, and furrow
ed with deep lines, was that of a man in
the prime of life—as the piercing blue eyes
showed. A man, who had not lived his
three score and ten years; but was fast
nearing the other shore, and who knew it,
and was glad.
There had been an accident, in which he
had received internal injuries; and his
place would soon know him no more.
It was a warm June afternoon; the
windows were opened wide, and the cur
tains looped back, to let in as much of the
sweet scented air as could find entrance.
A bird flew in at the window, and light
ing on an easel, which held a picture of a
dark-eyed girl, it trilled its song of love;
then flew out into the air, and soaring
upward, was soon lost to sight in the bright
blue of the heavens.
“Elsie, Rob, see! that is my summons
to join her in the spirit land.”
“No, no, uncle! we can’t spare you from
us.”
“Listen to me for a little while, my dear
children, and I will tell you the story of
my life, and of the dark-eyed girl, over
whom the bird trilled its lay of love. Aly
father and her’s attended the same college,
and were great chums; when they gradu
ated, my father settled hero, while her
father, James Graham, sailed across the
ocean to America, and settled in Pennsyl
vania.
“The lady e afterward married, was of
French desee and their one child, Elsie,
inherited, froi ner mother, great beauty.
“She had L.ge black eyes, which were
full of laughter when I saw them first;
but when I saw them last, were closing in
death.
“Mother died when I was a, child, and
father and I were more like two loving
brothers, than father and son.
“When I was twenty-four, father propos
ed that we go over to America and visit the
Grahams.
“Mr. Graham met us with his carriage—as
he lived some six miles from the station.
We drove through some beautiful country,
and then up an avenue which led to the
front of the mansion.
“Just as I sprang from the carriage, I
heard a girl’s laugh; and looking up to see
where it came from, I saw a picture framed
ATHENS, GEORGIA, MAY, 1890.
in by the window, which has never grown
dim. It was a warm September day, and
she was dressed in some thin black goods
with scarlet and white flowers fastened in
the bosom of her dress; and above them was
the loveliest face I ever saw. Aly heart
went out from me, that minute, never to
return again.”
Then the blue eyes gazed straight out of
the window for the space of a few minutes—
with the look in them of one who is trav
eling backward over life’s pathway toward
some distant oasis-while the lips murmured,
“Out of the window she leaned and laughed,
A girl’s laugh, idle, and foolish, and sweet —
Foolish, and idle, it dropped like a call,
Into the crowded, noisy street.
Up he glanced, at the laughing face.
Who had caught the laugh as it fluttered and fell.
And eye to eye for a moment there
They held each other, as by a spell.”
And in the silence that followed, the one
at the head and the one at the side, stole
their hands into each other’s, and sat wait-
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ing, with tears in their eyes, till he should
commence again.
“Rob, set the picture where I can see it.
and then it will seem as though she is
with us.”
Rob did as he was requested, and then
seated himself again.
How lovingly the dim eyes rested on
the picture of fresh, young loveliness.
“We loved each other from the first; and
you could as soon stop the wind blowing,
as our showing that love in every action.
Each of our parents was overjoyed at the
turn events had taken, and no happier
mortals eter lived than we two were for
the next three months. Nevcrany thought
of trouble came to us, and so we made no
preparations for storms—simply lived in
WE LIVE BY ADMIRATION, HOPE AND LOVE.
“WHEN ALL NAT
our love for each other. And when the
storm burst, it fairly swept us before it.”
And the weak hands were flung up, and
clinched above the head, as a wave of the
old agony swept over him again.
“We were making big preparations for
this, Elsie’s last Christmas at home; as I
was to take my bride back to bonny Scot
land’s shores the next June. Elsie had as
great a love for Wallace’s land as I, and
A’e would plan, by the hour, what we would
do when we reached there, and the
places we would visit. This old house I
described so often that she knew every
nook; and this room she loved as well as I
did, because my mother died in it.
“Just a week before Christmas I ran up
to New York, to attend to some business
for father, as he was not well.
“While I was gone, I received my one
love letter from Elsie. I keep it always
with me, and I want it buried with me,
I over my heart. I did not think I could
URE REJOICES.”
get back till Christmas morning; but fin
ished my business, and started back in time
to reach home the evening before. Owing
to a snow-storm, our train was delayed,
and it was midnight ere I turned up the
avenue leading to the house.
“As I raised the old knocker, I heard a
shriek from inside, and without any further
ceremony I opened the door and walked in.
Some instinct led me straight to the library,
and as I opened the door, one glance photo
graphed the scene indelibly on my
brain.
“There lay ray bonny Elsie, on the floor,
in a dead faint; her father with his clinched
hand raised toward a man; behind him
stood a tall, dark, clerical looking man;
while grouped Ground, were father, Elsie’s
KATE GARLAND, Editress.
[SO Cts. per Year.
mother, and several guests, all wearing a
surprised, horrified look on their faces.
“I flew to Elsie, and raising her in my
arms, fell to kissing her, and calling her by
endearing names. She opened her eyes,
and seeing me, raised her arms as though
to clasp them around my neck, then, with
a look of terror on her face, she moaned.
“ ‘Oh Rob, my lover, too late, too late!’
“Raising her to her feet, and standing
beside her, with my arm around her, I
turned on them, and demanded what it
meant ? Mr. Graham, with a white, drawn
face, turned away; while the man, who
was the cause of all the trouble, strode for
ward and demanded that I should hand
over to him his bride.
“His bride! the room swam roundme; I
saw nothing clearly, but Elsie clinging to
me, and crying:
‘No, I do not belong to you; I am Rob’s
and you cannot tear me from him.’
“ ‘l’ll show you yet to whom you belong.’
“•Rob save me from him.’
“Be calm Elsie; and tell mewhat he
means?’
“Then Mr. Graham stepped forward,
and throwing the mantoone side as though
he had been a child, he said:
“‘Rob, this is my nephew, a man whom I
have loved; but when he leaves this house
to-night, there goes with him, resting for
ever on his head, a father’s curse for ruin
ing the happiness of an only child. fa,
“•Elsie wrote and invited him
spend Christmas with us
him of her approaching x.' “ w/e
came, and brought with him
whom he now claims is a preacher.
“‘This evening, during the charades, ne
suggested a mock wedding; he and Elsie
acting as bride and groom—to get her in
trim for the grand occasion, he said.
“‘When we met to say good night, know
ing that you would be here in the morning,
he claimed her as his wife ; saying he had
come with that intention.
“‘By the laws of this state,a license is not
needed, and he claims that his friend is a
preacher, and that the marriage is legal.
But she shall never go to him.
“‘Hugh Kinnie,there is the door, you and
your friend go out of it now', and never
darken its portals again with your shadows.
You shall never have Elsie.
“ -Goodbye my dear uncle, and still dearer
wife. If I can’t have you, neither shall
our friend.’
“With abow to all, he left the room; and
though I never saw his face again' he in
fluenced my whole after life.
“The events of the evening proved such a
shock to Elsie, it was only with the
best of nursing and care that brain fever
was averted. When she had recovered I
announced my intention to consult a Phil
adelphia lawyer.
“Elsie insisted on all going, and if
we succeeded, we would be married there,
and not come back at all. So, as they
would have said in Bible times, we journeyed
up to the city of brotherly love. Father
and I stopped at a hotel, while the Gra
hams stopped with friends.
“We had been there two days, and I had
seen the lawyer, who had told me that un
doubtedly the marriage could be set aside.
“Making an appointment for the next
day, I rushed away to tell Elsie the good
news. I sent up my card, and in a few
minutes she came down.
“The room was darkened, but, it seemed
to me, she was very much agitated, and
that there were traces of tears on her face.
I asked her the cause of this, but she put
me off.
“She acted queerly all through the inter
view, and when I took my leave, clung to
me with sobs and kisses; begging me, what
ever happened, to always believe in her
love.
“At the time, I thought nothing more of •
it than that she was not well.
“1 called the next day to see her for a few
minutes, and,to go with Mr. Graham to
the lawyer’s. When I entered the parlor,
their hostess came to meet me; from the
(Concluded on Fourth Page.)