Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1884 — TINSEL AND GOLD. [ARTICLE]

TINSEL AND GOLD.

BY SABA B. ROSE.

The -wide, large kitchen of the .Brevoort farmhouse was adorned with a profusion of pink-tinted apple blos-,-soms, pearly cherry blooms, and the bright pink flowers of the peach, while .a large bine pitcher stood on the mantel filled with rose-scented peonies, jrellow daffodils, and all the garden Bowers of that loveliest of all seasons, perfect May. Myrtle Brevoort had been busy for more than an hour at the work of .adornmeut, and new that she had finished and the 5 o’clock supper was •being discussed, every one must have a word to say about the handiwork of the 16-year-old maiden. “There is a bushel of my Genesee .Flower apples, the same amount of •cher-ries, and at least a crate of Early "York peaches sacrificed to the caprices <of this wasteful damsel,” said Farmer Brevoort, ” stroking fondly the golden •curls of his much-loved only daughter. “Harley Martine is expected, I laughed the 13-year-old son of the house. “Mert is always prinked up when he is coming.” Myrtle colored slightly and glanced islyly across the table, where sat a joung exquisite from Lockhart, the young city near. He . was her aunt's •stepson, Alvin Audly, and, although Almost affianced to Harley Martine, .-she wished to see how Tommy’s words ■affected him. They did not seem to move him so much as they did her Aunt Augusta, who sat near him. She smiled a little ssuperciliously, and said, half scornfully: “So Myrtle is about to take up with a farmer. I had higher aims for her.” “I only hope she may do as well as to -take up wi'.h Harley Martine,” replied Mr. Brevoort, bluntly. “There is not a finer young man in the State.” “And there is nothing in the world Between them to warrant such silly jests as yours, Tommy,” said Mrs. Brevoort, sharply, to her hopeful son, for she secretly sympathized with what •she believed her sister’s higher aims for ier daughter. The kind farmer smiled at his ruffled espouse, and then said, laughing*: “There, there, Sarah, don’t look so “vexed, Harley will not trouble you. He •started for New York this morning, upon some business for his father, and will not be back in some time.” Myrtle looked up quickly. She felt a little guilty, for she had allowed herself to be a little dazzled by the glitter and tinsel of her stylish aunt and her «dainty cousin. Mr. Brevoort noticed his daughter’s glance, and said, in answer to the •question in her eyes: “He stopped at the field where I was working and told me about it, and he also sent his respects to Mrs. and Miss Brevoort. ” “Ah,” replied Mrs. Brevoort, but her •daughter turned whiter than the dress she wore. Myrtle did not imagine how deeply .Hartley Martine had been hurt by "the change in his little sweetheart since ■the advent of the stylish Alvin Audly; while she thought he could not care much for her, since he could leave the neighborhood without even bidding her ■“good:by. ” A mist dimmed the deep, blue eyes jfor a few minutes, and then she turned a more attentive ear to the blandishments of her aunt and the attentions of the carefully attired Alvin. Harley Martine little thought what f;hat little act of omission was to cost Bim, or the fearful sorrow he might Bave spared sweet, confiding little Myrtle by remaining by her side. When they returned to the parlor Myrtle sat down on a low stool at her aunt’s feet, and listened, as she told her of the grandeur of her home in the ■the city, where Myrtle had never been, until her childish brain was almost fas•oinated by the tale. “Sarah, why may not Myrtle accompany us home ? We should dearly love to have her, and I assure you Alvin would •do everything to make her visit pleasant, for he thinks the world of her.” Mrs. Brevoort, to whom the words were addressed, did not reply for a moment, but then she said: “It would please me much to have

her go, for it is hardly the place for a young lady here; but I do not know what her father would say, and, besides, her wardrobe would need replenishing. ” “What of that!” exclaimed Mrs. Audly. “Town is the place to purchase new frocks, and it would but be pastime for me to go shopping for her. ” “I know,” replied her sister. “But I will have to see what Mr. Brevoort says; and surely you are not thinking of drawing your visit to a close?” “I do not know; it will be altogether as Alvin decides. He may wish to return any day.” “I will Bpeak to Mr. Brevoort this evening, then, Augusta.” “That is a sensible woman,” ejaculated Mrs. Audly. “You can not wish your modest and lovely Myrtle to marry a common farmer.” Sarah Brevoort knew exactly what was in her sister’s mind, and she herself would not objeot to an alliance for her daughter with one so seemingly influential and rich as Alvin Audly. But Farrqpr Brevoort was of a different stamp, and had frequently expressed a very unflattering opinion of Alvin Audly, which, however, Mrs. Brevoort carefully kept to herself; and, if the truth must be told, he had a much truer insight into the character of his visitors than did his wife, although a sister of the wealthy Mrs. Audly. Did you ever meet a person who, if he became possessed of a thing, believed that article instantly doubled in value ? Did you ever know a woman who, if she had a 6-cent calico wash dress, would always speak of it as her “navy-blue suit?” If you ever did, then you have witnessed one of the most innocent traits of Augusta Audly’s character. And it never entered into the simple head of Sarah Brevoort that there might be an object hidden somewhere under all this sweetness. Myrtle and her mother had to plead a long time before Mr. Brevoort would give his consent to a visit to the city; but, unfortunately, he did give it, and Myrtle went to spend some months in the city of Lockhart with her aunt. Her aunt also had the privilege of making any additions to Myrtle’s wardrobe she thought necessary, and Mr. Brevoort was to foot the bills. It must be confessed Myrtle did not find everything quite as she had fancied it. Her annt’s elegant house upon the avenue turned into a parlor and two bedrooms in a boarding-house. “We rented our house, you know, dear; for when we went down to your place we intended to stay the summer.” Mrs. Audly did not add that the reason for her change of plan was owing to Mr. Brevoort’s sharp eye, which she feared would spy out and frustrate her designs ere they could be accomplished. Myrtle, however, did not question her aunt’s sincerity, and entered with all the zest of girlhood into the flutter of dressmaking which Mrs. Audly inaugurated. “I believe I shall make your dresses myself, ” she said. “I used to cut and fit when I was a girl.” Myrtle made no reply, and from thin and glossy satins, and rusty cotton velvets, with the cheapest of cheap lace, sprang dresses which Mrs. Audly described on the bill to be sent to Mr. Brevoort: To one velvet dress trimmed with point lace $150.00 To one wine-colored satin and laces.... 100.00 And so on throughout the lengthy bill until the sum total would have horrified unsophisticated Myrtle, had her eye rested upon that document. But it did not, and she simple soul thought how kind it was of her aunt to get her such high-named dresses so cheaply, and to make them herself so that her father might be spared the Co3t. In the meanwhile Alvin pressed his suit with vigor, and thinking that Harley had left her forever she gave at last a reluctant consent, provided her parents were willing. To be sure, she could not quite convince herself that she loved Alvin, but her aunt told her that was an exploded notion, and pictured to her in brilliant colors the life she would lead when she was mistress of the mansion upon the avenue. Frequent walks were made past this brown stone palace, with Alvin by her side, and at length, when her new frocks were all completed, her aunt proposed an immediate marriage. Myrtle started back in dismay, saying: “Oh, no, Aunt Angusta; papa would never forgive me. ” “What a child you are,” laughed Mrs. Audly. “Of course he would forgive you, and it would be such a romantic surprise for them, you could take them in on your wedding trip; how pleased they would be.” Myrtle had not thought of it in that light, and her aunt continued Jier flowery description until she gave a reluctant consent, all the while thinking how she would like to see her father, and tell him of her happiness. “What an elegant bridal dress your white tulle will make, and you must have some orange blossoms for your hair. ” The white tulle was only the coarsest of tarltan and the soiled orange blossoms came from an old bonnet of Mrs. Audly’s. Nevertheless they were put on the bill at $6 ? but what mattered it as long as the happy bride knew nothing of all that ? And so Farmer Brevoort’s little sunshine, as he so fondly called her,was privately married one morning, and set off wjth a feeling of uneasiness upon her bridal trip to her father’s house. As it happened, Mr. Brevoort was away when they arrived, but the mother took it much as her sister had prophesied, and with a feeling of relief Myrtle whispered: “I’m afraid papa will be angry.” “Oh, no, he will not,” returned the proud mother. “I never saw him angry but once in my life.” But fate willed it that she was to see him angry the second time. Mr. Brevoort drove around to the Postoffice on his way home, and there received a letter from his affectionate sister-in-law, which informed him that she had prepared Myrtle’s bridal trousseau at the least possible expense consistent with Alvin’s position in society, together with the to him exorbitant bill of SI,OOO.

The result of this masterly stroke of Mrs. Audly’s was that, after immediately sending her a check, the farmer drove home in a white heat of anger. The first person he met was his promising aon-in-law, idling upon the piazza, and Mr. Brevoort strode up to him with lightning flashing from his eyes. “Is it true, you infernal hoond, that yon have married my daughter?” Alvin stammered out something, but the enraged father waited for no lengthy reply. “Take your wife and baggage, sir, and begone from my house in ten minutes, or I will thrash the ground with your cowardly carcass.” Alvin turned as white aJ a sheet, but he made -no reply, and Mr. Brevoort walked into the parlor where sat his trembling daughter, who had heard all that had been Baid. He picked her up iu his arms as if she had been a child, and the strong man wept aloud. “My precious sunshine," he sobbed, “How could you be married without your father’s consent ? But I will say no more. I was more to blame than yourself; but I never, never dreamed of this.” And then thoughts of Mrs. Audly’s course came to his mind, and he burst out again. “Myrtle,” said he, “yon always have a home in your father’s house, but I will never have the son erf that woman under my roof, and you must now decide whether you will stay with me or go with him. ” He put her into the chair once more, and, through her tears, Myrtle at last gasped out: “I will go with my husband.” At this moment Mrs. Brevoort and Alvin appeared at the door. “Well, are you going, or will you stay?” asked Alvin, who was all prepared to depart. “Spoken like the villain I believe yon to be,” said Mr. Brevoort. “Myrtle, my child, when that man deserts you, come home to your father.” There was another scene when they returned to Mrs. Audly. “What! turned you into the street and never gave you a single cent?” she screamed. “That little idiot will not live upon me.” “That’s what I thought,” said Alvin, turning half-angrily upon Myrtle. “You had better have stayed at home than to have come back here.” “She sha’n’t stay here,” shrieked Mrs. Audly, vehemently. “ Where will she stay, then ? I haven’t got a cent, and you coaxed me into this scrape. I never wanted to marry her.” Myrtle sank down upon the floor at these cruel words, sobbing wildly. “Oh, father and mother, if I had never left you!” And then she sank into a deep unconsciousness. When she awakened, Mrs. Audly sat by the bedside, and spoke a little more decently to poor Myrtle, who was half stunned. “Your father will probably relent after a time, and I can get you a place to work until he sends for you to come home. ” “But I thought Alvin owned that magnificent place on the avenue, and was so very wealthy.” “You must not believe everything you hear. Why, that is Gov. Munroe’s house. ” Myrtle spoke no more; but r s the shades of night fell over the city on this, her bridal day, Alvin rushed in, saying, “A lot of us fellows are going down the river in the tug; don’t look for me before morning. ” But he came before morning, brought home, four men carrying him, cold in death. It seems that he had been drinking heavily, and in some manner had fallen overboard, and when he was taken from the water he was dead. ' Mr. Brevoort came at his widowed daughter’s summons, and he took her back to her old home as soon as decency would permit. The shock had been a terrible one, and it was a long time before she rallied; but youth was upon her side, and at length she was as blithesome and merry as before. Three years later she was again a bride, this time with the full consent of her parents. Harley Martine was the bridegroom, and Myrtle had learned to distinguish between tinsel and gold.