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JKERWttRS BUiCllOi'l
fcjj
VOL IV.
J. H. & W B. SEALS, {“aopKiKTORs
ATLANTA, GA„ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8.1878.
i? t”'
TFPAfSIJ *3 PER ANNUM
ILllJlO) IN advance.
JNO. 188.
LEAVES.
BY ANNIE H, SMITH.
Some autumn leaves are strewn around,
Like deeds of ours.
Many decaying on the ground.
Life's wasted hours.
A few go whirling with the breeze.
Like cherished toys—
Some firmly cling to naked trees,
As we to joys—
Still one bright golden sheaf is eauvlit
By childish hands, and gently taught
To grace a tomb—or wake a thought
As sweet as tlowers.
MABEL CLAIRE;
—0R-
A Romance of the Sea Shore.
Oh. sweet days of youth and i ope—can I write
of you? Oh, silver-stranded islands, crowned
with palm aDd pine, and lying in the deep em
erald seas of the South; I see you now with your
gallant ships, your quaint fishing smacks, your
weather-beaten schooners rocking at anchor in
that blue bay by whose shores I loved to walk
with the fair sister and the young teacher whom
I idolized. It was in April, and the orange and
the oleander were in bloom when shecime to
ns. Lively, brilliant, almost beautiful, she won
all hearts, especially those of the oldt nd weary,
for she was both strong and tender. Whatever
shadows had fallen across her path she seldom
wore them on her brow, bnt faced the present
bravely. Ytt her pisthad leen shadowed. I,
who loved her se dearly, who watched over her
with such jealous devotion and was seldom
absent from her side. I knew that some hidden
grief was heis.
She loved me best, I think, of all our house
hold, though I was not fair like my sister, beau
tiful Mabel, a bud the*, w££_*.-s.per»: 'jc ' ' '
"■--— uxr ,\aL -
..romlue v <. iarc urr-.-uiii; . ' ' . , father looked stern.
The Summer went by uneventfully, 8 t 0 od and told me not to speak of Dr. Lennox’s
visit that afternooD.
A week went by and Mabel’s b ; rthday came
and we had a little fele in honor of if. Mabel
wrote Dr. L'mnox a special invitation, lie
came, but she hardly spoke to him. She seemed
wrapt up in Hugo, for a time at leas’; she danced
with him several times in succession, but pres
ently she went out on the balcony with Dr.
Lennox and I saw him bending over her. Hugo
seemed restless and left Miss Swartz and fol
lowed them. My sweet teacher! I remember
how pale she was that night ; how lovely and
girlish she looked in her simple dress, and how
hard she tried to be gay and to entertain our
little handful of guests.
The dancing ceased, several pairs of the
young folks strolled down to the beach. Mabel
and her two lovers were missing from the bal
cony. I thought they too had walked down to
the water side, but as the time passed, and the
others returned and some of them said good
night and went away. I grew uneasy and hunted
for Miss Swarz A few moments before I had
hi ard her playing in the library while my
father and mother and some of the elder and
quieter guests listened to the sweet Beethoveo
sonata. But she wa3 not playing now. I peep
ed in. There sat my father reading, while
my mother played chess with our old friend,
Capt. Derby, of the steamship ‘Magnolia.’
But where was Helen ?
1 stole around to the side window of the libra
ry that opened on the back piazza. It com
manded a view of the interior of a little recess
curtained off from the main library apartment.
The blinds were closed but I turned it and
looked in. Miss Swartz was there alone. She
was kneeling by a large stone vase of flowers ;
her lips were moving in prayer, a look of deep
anguish was upon her beautiful face. I longed
to go to her, to comiort her, but I shrank from
intruding on her * rief.
‘It is all the doing of that miserable Dr.
Lennox, and that flirt of a sister of mine.’ I
thought, ‘I would box her ears, or at least tell
both of them what I thought of them, if I could
only find them.’
I was down to the beach impulsively, but all
there was silent. The promenading couples
were gone. I came back and we-nt through the
shrnbberied yard, the garden, calling my sister’s
name, not loudly but distinctly enough for her
to hear. Then I came back to the house and
went all over it. I conld not And her. Had
she run away with Dr. Lennox ? Had that great,
dark man carriad e ff ruy sister? And what would
become of her, and what would my father and
mother say ?
I was beginning to seb in my terror and per
plexity when 1 met M’ss Swartz. Her own eyes
showed she bad been shedding tears, but she
took me by the hand and asked soothingly
what my trouble was.
•Mabel*’ I stammered. ‘I believe she has run
away.’ *
1 saw by her face, that the same fear had
entered her mind.
I have been looking for her ‘she said’ Let us
go to the grove, she may possibly be there.
•Have you seen Dr. Lennox and your cousin
Hugo, Miss Helen?
•No, not since they were in the veranda with
Mabel. Dr. Lennox told mo though, that he had
business that would oblige him to leave
early. It wi s the reason he assigned for asking
me to sing his favorite song.’
‘And Hugo?’
‘He gave no excuse.’
Her lips were set, her face white in the moon*
light, I felt she was suffering the pain of
slighted love, perhaps ot betrayed faith, for I
felt sure now that Dr. Lennox had been her
lover, that something had separated them, but
that he had followed her here, only to prove
fickle and desert her for my sister’s whitc-roBe
face.
Miss Swartz was kneeling by a large stone vase of ft'/]* -«■: her lips w
L.-t ■ ^7Ir <„
orSi
ere moving in prayer.
place when every one br.t me vas gone on o-,
Hei came over to where I
ened by Miss Swartz s presence —her songs,
her stories and her versatile talk. In October
came the usual influx of visitors to our sunny
coast-people from colder and less genial o im< s.
Among them were two who soon made an addi
tion to our society at home. One was a faxr-hair-
ed cousin of onr teacher s^Hugo Evan-whom
she met with a blnsh of pleasure, the other
was Dr. Lennox, a singular bnt mscinating
man, with keen bnt kindly dark eyes, that had
vet a lurking sadness, and a dark, pale face
and a tall, bioad-shouldered figure. There
was a mystery about him I conld not fath
om He looked like a man with a history, and
somehow I connected that history with Miss
Swartz I immagined that ihey had met before
and been lovers. Bnt I was a romantic child, so
thev all said. Too much reading of old-time
novels had made me a dreamer. Yet it was no
dream that my lovely teacher was more given to
those secret fits of passionate grief than she was
before the comiDg of these visitors to tL e pleasant
hotel of our little village. Oiten she wept in
her sleep, and once she said:
•Yes, it is all over, it is all over; he lcves an-
0t Did she mean Dr. Lennox, and was Mabel the
one she meant, when she said, he loves another?
Dr Lennox evidently admired my beautiful
sister. Once I heard him fay to Miss Swartz,
‘She is so lovely* it would be a sin not to love
her,’ and she looked at him gravely and said,
*B6WBr6»
I pnzz’ed over that look and word in vain.
But I became more and more convinced that
Miss Swartz loved the dark, grand looking,
Dcctor. I was savagely resentful and jealous
at first, but when 1 saw the continued fitful
unrest of my teacher, I became willing she
should be happy even if I lost her ; and then
my resentment turned against Doctoi Lennox
becarse I thought he was proving recreant to
Helen and suffering himself to be drawn to the
sweet fresh beauty of my sister. Sbe is too
y ’UDg for him, I said to myself. ‘Hugo would
make a far better match for her—proud, fair
sensitive but gifted and handseme Hugo, who
wrote and drew ske'chts lor the Northern
magazines and was the only son of a wealthy
and aristrcratic mother, handsome ss a princes^
in spite of her forty-five years and proud ot
nothing so much is of her sod. Miss Swartz
had told ns this. Hugo’s father, who was dead,
had been Miss Swartz cousin, and 1 gathered
that the rich lady had not cared to acknowledge
her kinship to the young teacher, for I did not
think she ever sent Helen a message in the
frequent long letters that Hugo received from
her Bnt well I knew, my peerless teacher
was the equal of any lady in the land though
she might wear a tiara of diamonds as did Mrs.
Evan in the picture of her that Hugo showed
US T did not think that even that proud lady
however would olject to her son marrying Ma-
lel for onr family though not so wealthy now,
was the first in the land, and our circumstan
ces were not narrow. Our Mabel had refine-
ment and culture and she and Hugo were well
matched in beauty- both tair and stately with
brown curling locks. They made a splendid
r air in the dance or the gay Spanish waltzes tha
le sometimes improvised on the moonlit
b T C he course of their love would run smooth I
tRnmrht if it were not tor that Dr. Lennox. Why
wonld ie so often stalk in upon. their inter-
Tews and claim my sister’s attention and carry
her away, for she would leave Hugo often to
walk with this grave man so much older than
she. There seemed, a singular, unaccountable
fascination in those sad, dark eyes ot his. ADd
Miss Swartz often looked after them with a sad
ness in her own eyes that made me feel bitter
against Dr. LenLox and wish he would
come again- He did absent himself for a
a week It was after a long interview he had
had with my father-an interview that took
■ t r
enin.tv W
bayon or armlet oi t’aoftay ii>*which was built
onr boat house. I tna! to it aud cried out. ‘It
is as I thought ‘Lajly Golightiy, (which was onr
pretty painted boat) is not here. They Lave
pone in her ; they have run away sure enough.
Oh ! what shall we do ?’
•Be calm,’ said Miss Swartz, speaking quietly
though 1 felt her hand tremble.
‘They are gone to the town, or to the
steamer yonder at anchor to be married. He
will marry her I am sure, he loves her and your
father cannot object to him. He only carried
her c ff to be married in this clandestine way,
because because he shrank from facing one
he had wroDged’ she added under her breath,
but I teard the murmured words that wore halt
a sob.
“Let us tell my father at once, wns all I said.
We went to the house, but my father had retired
for the night. Before he could be aroused, and
had drei sod and come to an understanding of
what had happened, a half an hour more had
passed. The run a ways had been given three
honrs at lbast. But my father determined to
follow them, and he called up and ordered a ser
vant to get ready a boat, while he had ns hunt
ing around in a high state of excitement for his
hat and cane. They had just been found and
he elapped one upon his head and with the
other clutched fiercely in his fist, was geing to
wards the door, when it suddenly opened, and
there stood the object of our worry and distress.
Mabel herself, with Hugo and Dr. Lennox beside
her.
Mabel cried, “Oh ! father,” and threw her
self before him. clasping his knees and looking
beseechingly into his fa^e. “Oh ! father, ! dis
obeyed you: I could not help it, I loved him so,
and* I Knew he is noble and worthy. Forgive
me; forgive us dear father: I will be miserable if
you do not."
My father never could stand any woman's
pleadiDg, much less his parents daughter? He
held out some time and looked fearfully grim
and stern, but finally he consented to over look
his objections to Dr. Leancx that he was so
much older than Mabel, and been a “filiibus-
ter,” as he irreverently called the brave bnt un
fortunate helpers in the Cuban eanse-and ac
cept him as a son. There we bad embraces,
handshakings and congrataJa'ions. In the midst
of them, Hugo asked.
“Where is Helen?”
I looked around and then remembered that
Miss Swartz bad disappearod in the early part of
Mabel’s plea for forgiveness. I went in search
of her, followed by Mabel, and found her in
that same certain recess ot the library, standing
there like a statue of Kksr'.ess dispair. Mabel
wont up to her and put her arms around her, I
thought I saw her shiver, but my sister said
softb.
Dear Miss Swartz, you are not angry with me
are yon? All the others have forgiven me, and
I thought you liked Dr. Lennox.”
“Dr. Lennox? Have you manied, Dr. Len
nox?” ,, „
“Yes, dear Miss Swartz, did you not know.
“But I saw Hugo ”
“Oh ! yes, he went with us. He was our best
man. He has been our good friend and confi
dant a 1 along. And we would have told you dear
Miss Swartz, but we did Dot want to be blamed
in the matter. You were my teacher and I was
under your charge; it would have embarrassed
you to knoV it. You would,have felt it your
duty to tell papa, and so I practiced ever so
much self denial and kept our secret from you.
But Hugo came very near betraying us, He
seemed to think you must be told; did you not
Hugo ?”
He had followed us, unnotiaed by me. Now,
he came to our teacher’s side and took her little
hand in his, saying :j
•Nevei mind, I have some news of my own
to tell her that may not be altogether indiffer
ent Helen, my sweet cousin, my betrothed. I
have at last a^lelter from my mother, containing
TK LirdiiV,
a r iiri cartel u • t
fortune have acte'i as a rennke to her pr’de
She en losed a letter to yon in which she
tells me sbe entreats you for past nnkindness
and begs you to accept to her wayward boy. I reed
no longer make a secret of our love Helen. I,
am proud to acknowledge it before the wrrld-
and to renew the engagement, broken off be
cause your self respect would not brook my
mother’s haughty and ill-founded objections.’
And so this was onr young teacher's secret.
And it was Hugo and not the dark, keen eyed
Doctor whom she had loved, bnt refnsed to
listen to, becanse her pride forbade. But she
had loved him well, and had suffered keenly
when she thought he had forsaken her for
Mabel.
In the spring, she was married at our house
and left us in tears at losing one f lovable.
Both she and Mabel are happy wives, while I
well, I sit here this rainy, sad-colored
evening, and old memories are m” only com
panions, and I seem to hear the sound of the
sunny waves that are so far off and the sweet
laughter and pleasant voices of dear ones who
are yet farther away irom me to-night.
A TRIP TO SOUTH
FLORIDA,
Whatistobe Span in Manatee-It’s
Orange Tree*, ami perennial growth.
SILVIA. SUNSHINE.
Manatee, January 30th, 1879.
Many imagine that a trip to Stuth Florida is
an enterprise which would require the forti
tude of a Stanley to undertake. It is true the
inaccessible position of some localities in this
porition of the State would be rather impracti
cal for feeble invalids. But a climate where the
thermometer never rises ever ninety and rarely
descends lower than sixty, what more could
craving humanity demand?
By taking a creditable Steamer at Cedar Keys
we can reach Manatee, the point of onr destina
tion. Somet'mes the gulf is a little rough, bnt
very often, smooth as a mill pond, when we
glide along gently as a sail over a summer sea.
The view of Manatee as we approach the town
situated about ten miles from the gulf on a riv
er by the same name, is Dot particularly impo
sing, the houses being scattered in every direc
tion like the forces of a retreating army, while
each settler appears to have taken poss ssion of
what land re could cultivate as he ca ne here.
The dwellings are embowered in orange trees,
which in March freight the air with a perfume
that permeates our very existence, producing a
kind of luxurious rest, when time aud all ob
jects around ns move dreamily on.
Perennial spring time keep3 vegetation grow
ing all winter. The Palma Christa in this local
ity attains to a large tree, which yields its beans
perfectly every year, while tomato vines grow to
an immense size, twining into shady bowers,
fruiting without cessation until three yesrs old,
when the fruit has a strong taste resemb’-iug the
vice. The Guava grows spontaneously, audit
is said the daddy of all in South Florida, is
growing at this place.
The lands in this vicinity are pine, hammock
and prairie. The pine land requires fertilizing.
The hammock clearing and ditching, when two
hogsheads of sugar and seventy-five gallons of
syrup are the average product of an acre, which
to those who never had as much sugar as they
could eat, is a sweet item.
The prairie lands furnish sustenance for the
lowing herds, which are wild as deer. They are
captured by a song the ‘cow boys’ sing resembl
ing nothing in the world. Where it orignated
none can tell; but the cattle gather from afar
whenever it is Bang, when they are driven at
will, by those long rawhide lashes that pop like
pistols, cutting nut pieces of quivering flesh at
the sight of which humanity would shrink.
The luscionsness of oranges produced here is
incomparable, particularly when contrasted
with those sour, stringy products of commerce.
Wo have tasted this trnit from everv clime, but
never have the Alar atee oranges been excelled.
Hew ripe and delicious they grow on those tall
trees, where they hang constantly exposed to
the bright beams of a tropical sun, until March.
Messrs. Gates, Whittaker aDd Lee have old
bearing groves while hundreds of others are
coming on.
When we reflect upon the superabundance cf
natnral produces which flourish in this locality
with wh’ch to supply the necessaries of life,
can we wonder why only the wrecks of odcb
powerful tribes, so long resisted the encroach
ments of white settlers, contesting for territory,
until nealy extinct, many of them suffering with
the calmness of Christian martyrs, or the bravery
of Roman heroes, thus regarding death with a
lofty disdain. 1 he Indians like the wild beasts
in whose skins they were clad, have been driven
by the march of civilization farther and farther
into the grass water country, where like a lion
deprived of his c’aws, resentment has died for
want of strength to assert its prowess, while by
contact with an enlightened race, their original
independence has been brought into a state of
subjugation,
Ibe inducements here for immigration are
equal to »Dy in the state. Adventurers do not
flourish cn this soil, no locality has a better class
of settlers.
Schools of a high order ar9 in operation, also
•veil attended church services. Dr. Bobir son a
Methodist presiding elder, and his estimable
wife Rebecca are old residents.
Here, as in other localities, settlers have to sow
before they can reap, but the natural growth in
the hammocks evidences great fertility of soil.
Tte Manatee hoarding houses are sani'ari-
ums, where more trouble is taken to please
visiiors, at less expense, than almost any other
place in the state. The tables are supplied with
what visitors want to eat, and will agree with
dined on lemonade. There was'a quantity cf
provision to gladden the hungry. Almost an
entire wild roasted turkey, stuffed quarter of
venison, fresh baked fish, home made light bread
and biscuit, pound cake, fruit cake, rich lemon
pies all of which would tempt an epicurean
taste. ‘You are eating nothing hardly,’ said
she. ‘Now whenever yon wish, come and help
yourself.’
The remoteness of this place from the princi
pal resorts i3 the only objection to it, everyone
who comes, says the climate is perfect. The
streams ana gulf swarm with fish. Visitors sit
on the wharf and recreate in catching twenty
pound snapptrs; while ot low tide,the rheumatic
old men wade about in the warm salt water,
happy as boys just entering their teens.
Let all those who dream of sand hills and star
vation staring them in the face while in Florida,
come to Manatee.
Society Gossip.
An exchange, speaking of youDg ladies, says
it wants “more kitchen and less parler; more
pudding and less pianos.” More sass is what
that chap wants, with a broomstick thrown in.
A yonng man too bashful to tell the girl how
sweet she was in her presence, sent her a jar of
honey with a note accompanying, which stated
she was ten times more “sacchariner” than the
honey.
Miss Preston, daughter of General John Pres
ton, of Senth Carolina, was married to Henry
Frost, of Charleston’ S C.,atthe Church of St.
Ignatius in New York last week. The reception
was held at the residence of Mrs. Dr. Darby, a
sister ot Miss Preston.
At a recent New York “Kettle Drum,” the
house was profusely decorated with flowers,
ferns aud ropical plants, whilea’arge tea-kettle,
composed of red and white roses was suspended
ov<-r the en'rance to the dining-room, a band of
music was stationed in the hall behind a screen
of palms and evergreens.
Any one, says the Baltimorean, who supposes
that the time for Baltimore people “marrying
'aud being given in marriage” is over, aro most
egregiously in error. We hoar of over one hun
dred weddings that are to take place before the
song of the birds shall be heard in the beautiful
month of May,
At the reception and ball given on the open
ing of the new Capitol at Albany, a convenient
plan was adopted for callin' the sleighs as the
guests departed. From tiie telegraph station
in the vestibule a telepbono was connected with
a post near the curbstone without. The de
parting guest sent his order through the tele
phone, and waited comfortibly within doors
uutil tho answer came that tae sleigh was at the
door.
A delightful private letter and a glowing no
tice in the Montezuma Weekly tells us ef the
marriage of Miss Rosa Jessup, of Garden
Valley, Ga., to George Gostin, of Oglethorpe.
Miss Jessup, under the nom de ou'erre of Rosa
Rilston, was one of the Sunny Souths earliest
friends and a frequent and esteemed contribu
tor to its columns. She also writes regularly
for the popular “Happy Home” monthly. Dr.
Goston is a gentleman, worthy of the lovely and
accomplished wife he has won. He is a young
physician in fine practice, a winner of the first
prize at the Mobile Medical College where he
graduated.
The marriage took place in Pine Level church,
M con county, and was witnessed by a large
concourse of friends and acquaintances, and
followed by an elegant collation at the home of
the bride, after whioh, the bridal party set out
for their home in Oglethorpe. They have onr
heartiest wishes for their continued happiness
and prosperity.