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OLD SONGS.
i
■m
Bp times a day my prayer is, v <*■"■
* '
Kze *
my fill on Thoralis; /
Rhree times thriee I daily pray
So offend that sacred May.
■11 the year my suit must be,
St I may please, and she love me.
m fcep, O sleep, fond fancy!
■
gy head, alas! thou tirest
pith ip, false delight of that which thou desirest.
in.l sleep, I say, fond fancy!
1 ave my thoughts molesting,
fhy master’s head hath need of sleep and rest
iug.
r hair's a net of golden.wire,
jn ■ •> t tangl heart 'd is, led that by wy in wandering wise eyes
o , ; no
lea ill aa retire;
in r r v. ill in that sweet bondage die
U 3 ;.n !.;• vk one hair to gain its liberty.
QUATREFOIL;
Jpjorae Up lag through two or three Fifty-ninth years ago any New one
street,
* ..k. r ’ -.it 0 o’clock on pleasant mom
i have seen two girls on horse
o. W by a staid, elderly groom,
E Th avenue gate of Central
; : presently disappear under the
Tnvay which forms the entrance
• he road.
;, wo girls were my cousin Leslie
Li‘ lam and myself, Louise Marie
'mot, usually known to all my in
as Lou Arbuthnot. Leslie was a
i. slender girl with straight classic fea¬
rn, marble white complexion, and a
•feet rope of hair, “yellow like ripe
•ii.” On horseback, in her perfectly
.ing habit, absolutely molded to her
ii*\ she was one continued sinuous,
Graceful outline from head to foot.
*over, she was very clever, studious,
lult well read, and had but one serious
in my eyes, that of being morbidly,
|iwa’lv shy, and especially with men.
wl 1 would have thought every man was
pvoil Iln in sheep’s clothing.
this respect, as in most others, I was
Iperfect contrast to Leslie, as I was
f'rt- P'ump. and rosy cheeked, with
4 - v vo ", n hair, and I have been told
sea that the dimples round my mouth
1 under my eyes are— But there!
liat is the use of repeating such things?
At that time I had been advised to try
■ Eu£ a ^ for mv health and Leslie Cd who Tnvitol al
w, ,t out every day
Bn F I had but one objection—the fact
■....... t I am. and always was, an arrant
I I ou horseback Mv father ghfA who
I E 13^1 -1 rarid”n.. hm^tadmota. ihoT the
ISSrrE I i and attempted
F IhomL ’ which 7 too'tef summed summed up up S m
bvo formulas, , viz.: , 1 , all . horses can be
£ ' - r ’ •■> " a horse Horse which wmen can can be ueriuuen ridden
ly a man can be ridden by a woman.
I I Alan,u Al-h.-'iHi li hv by dint dint of ot instrue mstiucc.n f: on I l
L\trned.to Lcrse, ride well enough on a quiet
Rraa and even to sit a plunge or two,
L, afraid all the time, and if an ani
p i j ; a of ^ oil 1 no i*ive aixmi about havin* navin 0 7 * his ms
y.v.i way ho , n . sure to get it with me.
this dav I prefer to ride a trotting
ho-(• ho k . b-'Cause o.cai.se when nen a a trotting trouin horse norsc is is
batting I am sure lie is not running
I I way.
No words can tell howl hated and
ftli-ed Lthe mv black pony Sprite, and well
little wretch know it and take
idvantage of h.s power. Perhaps three
normng, out of four he would go along
juietly enough, the fourth he would shy
kt ^ver, every baby wagon, D. P. P. cart, dram
or bright pebble he could see, kick
knaginary flies, squat like a rabbit if
Raw a bicycle, then leap up and scut
■ Ell, away in the same fashion. Worse
though he had absolutely no fear of
elevated road, at such times he
jrjul.1 bund not and go rising under placidly it, but turning his short hind
on
llZ7 bgs, would give me the option of getting
hh ^ ° r 5Um “ ndenng 41 ^
fin Ind ridicule vain did Leslie the result urge, scold, always coax,
me; was
the same: her groom had to come up and
i lead Sprite.
I Leslie, who in the saddle knew fear,
no
could not realize my timidity. Her own
horse, a powerful bay thoroughbred,
seemed to me a^ perfect terror, liable as
lie was at any moment to jump an un¬
known number of feet off the ground,
lash out viciously while in the air, then
landing a dozen feet farther on, canter
away as quietly as before; but Leslie j
liked nothing better.
Notwithstanding my frequent terrors,
these morning rides were very pleasant,
Often we met and exchanged greetings
with girls whom we knew, though we
seldom joined any other party. Some
riders we were nearly sure to meet, j
among them Miiicent Tremaine on her
pretty but wicked little mustang, and
about this time you were pretty apt to
see Fred Vandorhayden’s showy black
marc Forget Me Not trotting as close
alongside the Comet as the pony would
mow. Often, too, we met the Dayton
twins, and rain or slime we were sure to
Bee those fast friends Rhita Travers and
Edith Mayfield. It always amused me
to see Lcs and Edith Mayfield scan each
other’s horses. Both were, in school par
lance, crack riders, but Les had ridden
all her life, while Miss Mayfield had only
been riding a fuw years. Though Les
was by far the handsomest woman and
most graceful rider, Edith was hard to
beat for dash, pluck and fearlessness. As
her cousin, Graham Vane, used to say: “I
nevermind seeing Edith on a bad horse
as I would another woman. I always
feel sure she will come out all right
somehow or other. She has the knack
of managing horses.”
Miss Mayfield needed to have a knack,
for I never saw any one ride habitually
such satanic animals, though Leslie some
times looked positively envious, while
Edith never failed to cast an admiring
glance at Leslie s handsome Roushan Bey,
especially if at the time he happened to
lie haying an attack of hysteria of the
j dnd |
Q ne m ^ rn j n g late in April we rode up
to the end of Tenth aV e„ne, and turned
into a field to jump, while Leslie sent her
m off on au erran d, saying that
mean(ime she W oul(l give Roushan Bev
nraotirp over a stone wall I
3| - ini l^‘. i Sorite e over the low rail fence
* 'i * 4 dlv ! ded from , ,
this feat satisfied all my ambition m that
*
Jfthesto^wMlwhfclihe T Roushan Bev at the highest S
1 art ?! ft 1 ’ j ?•
i ,
P * 8 T ' " T? P “ to
Spnte, thinking , himself • deserted , i rashed
hls * hm j 7?“’ i 0g9? «T? planted his forefeet on the
. s . nc ’ an j l st t ™’ i rulmlv calmly hut out firmlv t n >
refusing ^ to move. I screamed to Leslie
i ” whisked
t° . conw rmiek (puck, while '’•niic Snrite ^pnte onlv oniy wmsKeu
his little docked tail, cocked his ears, and
: actually *J “ wriggled with enjoyment J of mv
; ’
, ;1
*
; At ^ turned her horse
■
round to to assistance, . ,
como come to my
! , . P / i r^, alarmed at the rurious
spectacle, jetused refused to to come come near near me me, re,ir lear *
angn ^ i v a t each attempt Leslie made
% . •
i : Af tii"■ moment I saw a horseman
* ® raii idlv ^ toward us evi<lentlv in
. ^ di ^i i? - rJ, V t glanLd mv shriek he
cU k llis 0 just at Leslie,
but seeing “ that she needed no assistance,
he dismo nted threw the reins on the
k of lds llorec and came toward me .
, , . , • . , nlease ” but he
‘
g j i, orsema n for that Ad
jn 1 ujckIv be made a s | igbt detour,
, hinwlf liMitlv over the wall
«nd a comine throu^the auietlv un to me slinnedone
nonv’s bridle andpass
. « thc other round mv waist lifted me
f ^ h id j and placed pj^ed m me e gently gently on on
h g
T , mixt moment Master Sorite found
himself L“',t‘''the‘iKnv on his four f^t with a man flrm^
g ^de a sudden
to k ek k tne new nuer offthat on, mai iai fail V tog ng !
tne<l to got rid of hint bv turning short
round and plunging sideways, a plan
which proved equally unsuccessful. Sprite
was a pony of much sagacity, and al¬
ways, if he could, avoided any personal
discomfort. He therefore appeared to
submit, and even jumped the wall at the
signal, though the vicious kicks he gave
on landing were calculated to unseat any
one, unless like a Centaur he bad been
indissolubly joined to his horse. I think
Sprite deeply regretted that piece of
treachery. The lesson he received it did
me gtxxi to see, and when at length breath ho
was allowed a pause to recover
and spirits, a meeker, sadder, more iir
jured looking pony it would have been
hard to And.
I had long since recognized my cham¬
pion as Mr. Walter Devcreux, a classmate
of my elder brother Clarence, though I
had not seen him since class day, when
he beguiled me 6ut of five dances. L *
thanked him warmly, and Leslie quietly,
for bis assistance, tliough I was still
thoroughly scared at the ride home that
lay before me.
As Air. Devcreux talked he kept Sprit*'
moving up and down, and seemed to be
adjusting the saddle. d Suddenly before I he realized lifted
it ()1T the going* an
w j iat was on he had his own saddle
on Sprite and was buckling mine on his
) 10m .
“What are you going to do?” I asked,
hastily. Arbuth
.*with your permission. Miss
notf i am going to put vou myself,” on my mare
a nd ride your pony Iwck was
the answer. 4 4 Pet Marjorie is a per
fectly trained and steady animal, and
just now you are not in a condition to
contend with that willfu’- little pony of
yours. ’ ’
Leslie looked very much as if she
WO uld have liked to object, but did not
we p i cnmv how to do so. Nothing could
bo urged against Mr. Devcreux except
ber general aversion to men, and she
was? besides, I think, a g.ood deal morti
^ed at having failed to get Roushan Boy
up in time.
Mr. Devereux was therefore permitted
to join us on our homeward ride. Sprite
was a marvel of propriety, though an oc¬
casional shy or swerve made me glad I
was not on his hack.
Somehow after .... that it came about .... that
Mr. Dovereux often accompanied us on
our rides. I was more timid than ever,
^ Mr . Devercux undertook to give
some much needed lessons in sub
mission to his lot ’ me ra f anti r
to keep Pet Marjorie exercised, as ho
wanted his sister to ride her later on.
Once or twice Clarence went with us,
and Ixalio never got on well to
£ Le» did not like chaff, andrhad
no bmal1 ,, tauc, . lk . maeea, in(W(1 t 1 am am airaiu afmid fihe snt
was often bored by the incessant banter
thjt .. . Mr UvVdeux TV , V(>ro „ x anal . in( i t kepo un up, . hut nut
^.i ien s lje could always abstract lierself,
, nna r , sufueient sumciuit comnanv company in in Rouslum nousnan
Bey. l)eforo 1 knew that
* 7 '™! not long
Walter Devcreux was over hea*l and ears
^ . love , witli ih me, wmi( hi] r l -. wen, e ii i i d aia ; d not not
want td <lehneto myself what I thought life
a l)out him. For the first time in my
T A wa - s cunousiy, „ nrir . 11 ^ v .framrelv strangely shv sny with v,nn a a
® ma tlU , n ; less 1 ( did ! u ! T I not want wa ! to lt ]‘ be iru forced U) K° to away, any
decision, . for life was so hriglit and happy
w®/ ' l^^d wuii^le 1
n0
° n mo f7 ng ’ after aft) , r a brisk ' cantOT a ^ u JJ n
the , Slde the rese 5 v oir . w e „
’
"P at j""” 1 ' ^’ , “", . ,
Ld9t drne, meetin 4 race 10 race a
,lor8eman . wh ° Wa
?°T n J from lie d the r Ve stranger ; w a and tel . Mr. Deverenx ^ ri ° n '
? hands m ^ tan( i2 I’hen, Uidv 1 ’ turning th . e tw to .° nien us, w' Walter S i^
.
% ° mt
see, was utterly discoa.
certed, and instantly relapsed into one of
her m08t fi ‘ so ! dumb shyness
an ■** infirmitv which had been gradually |
disappearing under the influence of Waite
Devereux’s sunny, cordial manners am
bright hoyfeh ways. Nevert helcss she di<
her best, and after a few words hai
passed we all continued up the Eas
drive, u Leslie leading with Walter. Thi
n rrangement did not altogether pleas*
me. Though Marion Pevercux mad*
himself very agreeable, his big gra;
horse, Vintlex, was too frisky to suit m
as a neighbor. As we were turning
around the north end of the park. Pe
Marjorie did something or other tha
caused me to give a slight scream am
drop my whip. This brought Waite *
back at once, and can * 1 Vimlex to dar.c
and prance in a ; that at once excite*
Leslie's admiral n, '.idle tiu* abomin
able capers that Ron ...m Bey immediate
ly proceeded to execute as evidently fillet
Marion Dovereux with resjiect and ap
proval. Marjorie’s girth
Walter found that Pot
needed tightening, and I took the oppor
tunity to adjust my hair. Perhaps Watte
need not have sjH'iit so much time button
ing my gloves and arranging my skirt
but men are silly creatures, the wisest o
them.
When we overtook Leslie and Marioi
they were half way up Seventh avenue
walking their horses slowly forward an<
chatting like old friends; and next morn
ing, when Walter and Marion appeare*
together, there were no black l<x>ks o
freezing glances from Leslie -quite th
reverse. Once get a shy girl started, an*
what a pace she will go! In less than ;
fortnight Les and Marion had neithe
eyes, ears, nor tongue for anyone bu
themselves. Shakespeare says somethin:
about making a pair of stairs to love (a
least Mary Anderson says it, if Shakes
peare didn’t), hut what these two mad
was a toboggan slide. If I bad net«*d so
One day late in June we all met at th
riding school for the last time lx*fore sep
arating for the summer. This ride w
meant should be ft long one, but the da;
was very unpromising, It had rnine<
the whole night through, the roads wer
very muddy, and the sky anything hit
clear. Nevertheless, after much discus
sion, and sitting around the parlors, an*
going to the door to look at the weather
“out” was the word, and the horses
which had been saddled and turned roun<
since 9 o’clock, were ordered down.
A new delay! Roushan Bey had rubbe<
the buckle of his halter into his eye dm
ing tho night, an< BT * ridden.
Leslie, always pro nipt, at once sent fo
an old steeplechaser belonging to In*
uncle Mr. Chiswiek. which was kept at -
stable j e t °'*p 4 4 K He !
never l« *n i
wlara£ |,er an " ; to •<!
wcer on< * >,v am in !.
eyCt T j won! 1 c .Tin and
*J )r oud wjonur ‘ QuaAmodt
as the beast , war,
t t1 no T w :, 7 u , 1 by the fact th:
the horse i kicked i i at , - her a the moment t i I
saw the skirt, adroit! v evading the kic’
Le S signed to the gr.«>:», to put his 1
over r Ouasiuitxlo’s u 1 r <■ c stole* < ‘ i:
, up ^ t j, e horses shout, , cr,
barely touching the hand Marion D<
eux V, olfered ’. sprang * *\ h li^htlv P inU> J the ,
*
^ ~ Drawing the reins gently throug
her lingers, she ordered the groom t
|)a C i ; the horse out into the street will mu
letjing go his hea<l. On the way to th
park (Juammodo behaved well
,lut ‘ h '' 'nyment he ttlt th.. .l.rt r. .« l .
n ““‘ h “ fect * 10 ■"J 1 ** wltl ! a v,ol * nc
tha ‘
awful Uick jumi*, and went up the W <>
drive in a succession of mad plunge
suatcl “ , .« at tlw ,,ridle and takn ?
every ) nt c f rein. 1 saw Leslies , ligl
figure braceti ' veH back ’ >' kl ding ju
enough at each plunge to ease the jar (
landing, I heard her clear voice ring on*
“Steady, boy! steady, sir!” and Mario
j^vereux’s “Well done! well ridden!
when Waller, laying a hand gently c:
^ ****** ^ ’
.. Y oor cousin is all right,” lie said
.-Do not follow her too closely, it woul
