Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1889 — LOVE'S TEST. [ARTICLE]

LOVE'S TEST.

“And. above all, Amy, send and keep Howard away, i remember you are pale ind faded, while she is young and fair; sou are frank and guileless,. she is the host consummate flirt I ever saw. For* dve me If I speak too plainly. But a fear ago I saw a heart broken, a lover *alse for thin same siren’s sake; and saw, too, the false wooer punished by her scorn ater. so my heart fears and trembles when I know your quiet dove-cot is to be nvaded, and I risk even your frown to irarn you.” I pondered over the sentence for nearly in hour, till every word seemed burned nto uij heart. I knew that it was not rue affection that dictated the harsh lines; •hat my cousin Mabel, soured by disappointment, would have denied me the me ray of light in my cheerless life if she tould have done so, and, failing in this, was only too ready to dash the poison of ioubt into my cup of hope. Send Howtrd away I Where, on what pretext? Was I afraid to trust his love when he lad so proved it ? Mine had been a strange, dreary life, and well might my cousin Mabel call me pale »nd faded. My parents were rigidly reigicua, training me, their only child, to ibhor all levity as sin, all cheerful pleasires as temptations, and to view life as a period of harsh, stern training for eternity. Prom a mere babe my heart had rebelled igainst this creed. I loved light, flowers, nusic, and would sing, dance, and laugh whenever the frown or rebuke was beyond reach. "Yet, as I grew older, my lesires were cramped to the iron rule, ind I scarcely dared to lift my eyes lest l should see some temptation to draw me from my narrow path of duty. My mothsr died when I had just completed my 16th year, and sorrow broke my father’s aeart and destroyed his mind. In their item, grave fashion they had loved too truly for him to endure separation. At first be was only sad and silent, but his business was neglected; he grew more and more reserved, till a melancholy madness •educed him to a state of entire idiocy. 50, at 17, I found myself poor, and with i helpless father dependent on me for support. 1 began a teacher’s life, having a large circle of friends, and drilled babies through their A B C’B oil day, to ut beside my poor father and try to win me smile in the long evenings. Then Howard came ! He was a distant relative >f my dead mother, and came to reside sear us to study medicine. It was openng a new life for me. His teaching drew ne nearer to true religion than I had oeeu in my old dreary 'tfe, I grew to iove (lod, instead of fearing Him; to ace In the gorgeous sunset, the tiny flower, the melody of the bird’s carol, the evidences of Ills power and goodness, not temptations to idleness: and he showed me how the talents, sent from heaven, are not snares to our feet, if we bring their fiuits humbly and offer them in the ser* rice of the Giver. I can never write what I owe Howard ! His frank, sunny •mile repaid me for my exertion; his voice, •inging music far down in my heart, enjouraged me to every new effort. And f my pen began, by degrees, to win the oread I bad gained so hardly before; if :he music in my heart, bursting into poet, •y, won for me name and gold, it was Howard who found out the hidden springs, Howard who waked the song to life. Two years passed in a dream of delight, .hen Howard asked me to be his wife. Ho was going to India, with a missionary friend, to practice his profession and win i fortune for his bride, who was to await nis return. I dared not bid him come! I dared not promise to leave my father, nor to burden him with such a heavy care; to, with a breaking heart I bade him go free. And now, alter twelve years, he had come to me again. My father lay in the church yard, and Howard had come home, rich and courted, to seek again his pale, plain cousin, and toll her of his counant love. My cousin Mabel knew the story, and when she wrote to me of Kate Harrington’s visit she knew how cruelly she was wounding me. This same Kate was a niece of my father, born in England, educated by turns in every large city in Europe, and now coming home on a visit to her kin rfoik. Mabel had met her in Paris, and she was with her when Kate took it Into her wayward head to see the “old maid cousin” in B , and wrote me her self-invited proposal I could scarcely decline the visit, and my answer had drawn forth Mabel s letter.

It was useless to ponder over it, so I put It aside and tried to forget it. Yet, when in the evening I stood, circled by Howard's arms, by the mirror in my wee parlor, I felt the words stinging me, I was pale and faded. Fourteen years of toil and care bad wasted my form, thinned my cheeks, and driven the luster from my eyes, while Howard had grown handsomer, broader, more manly, and graceful. I had let sorrow and hopelessness crush me, till, beside his vigorous manhood, i was a faded, worthless flower. He saw that I was sad, and was tmrt than usually bright and cheerful, till I found myself talking of books and papers with my old time relish. Kate came the next day, and I laughed at my fears. I had fancied her a tall brunette, with dashing manners and marvelous beauty; sbe was a fair, pretty girl, with large, gray eyes, soft brown hair, and quiet, almost shy manners. As for flirting with Howard, she hardly noticed him. With her phy, graceful manners, her gentle touch, her soft, beseeching eyes, shelftfrly magnetized me, and when she had jailed usury doubt, driven back each suspicion, she began her game. I knew Opw how she lost her heart to Howard, we Mhrappreciated hiatalanta, beauty, •ai fraf .sirtl. aWrf all, wealth. .JBraupfct up to vonkip poid. she bowed

uown in spirit Dtrore ms bank account and determined to win him. I understand now, though I did not then, the soft cooing voice In which she invariably addressed Howard; the deference to his opinions; the gentle feminine ways she affected for him. Every art of dress, too, was brought into play. Then walks were planned at hours when she knew I was engaged, she would watch for him, ana, at last, painfully and slowly, I awoke to the truth. 1 saw how her voice in song held Howard en thralled; I marked how deferential n tone was to her; and 1 clasped my miser} closer into my heart and drew aside fron the unequal oontesl What was I, to bat tie for my love with her ? No; hotter U let my crushed heart die silently that to give him pita by showing its blcedinj agony. I remember well one evening with no light but the rays the full moot poured into the room, Kate sat down t< the piano. Softly, like a far off echo ot dreamland, the notes trickled from tht pliant fingers; dreamily, with the CO dences melting into one another, she playef one of Beetheven’s symphonies, the heav] bass chords softened and mellowed, thd no harsh burst should break the soothing spelt. I, who could never master the in t.ricacies of instrumental music, and win considered it a feat to play the accom paniments of a song, listened wondering ly to the marvelous command she ha 4 won over the keys, till the soothing spel held me quiet, lost, wrapt in the deliciou. harmonies. A long sigh from howard roused me He, too, loved music, and I could see bj the moonlight how he was drinking ii these sweet sounds. Softly I stole away After a time the music ceased, and still i was long before I heard him go out Then,—flushed and triumphant, Kah came to my side. Her goodnight kis was given hurriedly, and, as she left tin room I could hear her whisjxjr: “He love, me 1 He loves me!” softly, as if no meant for my ears. Ah !my blind folly ! I let the days slic by without one effort to regain the hear that was sheet-anchor for this life; droop ing in my loneliness, trying to make hi. happiness my reward, and never watet ing the dear face to see if it Cashed it: old look of love upon me. One hot day, when the twilight wat gathering, I lay on the parlor sofa, tired and languid, sick with suffering. As 1 lay, musing sadly, somebody bent ovet me, kissing me fondly, and the voici that made ray heart’s music spoke. “Amy. darling, you are ill, and keeping it from me. I have watched you, day after day, trying to conceal yom pain, growing pale and sad with somt hidden suffering. You creep from mt till I fear we are drifting far away from each other. Oh !my love my, my wife, why is this? Tell me, Amy, why you arc so white and sad ? I had hoped tc let my love so circle your life that the sorrow should be forgotten, the long win ter of your youth be gladdened by tht coming summer. Amy,” and his tom melted into a pathos that stirred my very soul, “have I been mistaken ? Have you ceased to love me ? Tell me the truth, Amy. if you break my heart.”

Ami wKh bitter, repentant tears, I told him all the truth, sparing none of tht degrading suspicions, none of the bittei doubts, humbling myst-’f to his very fee. to be lifted to his heart again, to cast email fear and doubt, to know truly hov. Kate's witcheries had but ruffled the sur face of his heart while I lay buried in ih inmost recesses. Hark! As I write the dear step is com ing toward me, the clear voice ring’ on* my name, the loved music sinks dowr into my soul, and I throw aside my par to greet my husband.

All desiring to move South are invited to investigate FLORENCE, ALABAMA. in the selection of a business location, a pleasant home is also desirable, and m no place will the intending settler meet with a more cordial welcome than is offered by the enterprising citizens of Florence, Alabama, and Lauderdale county. The soil is diversified and yields readily, as is shown by the variety and quick growth of crops, consisting of cotton, corn, tobacco, wheat, oats, sugar cane, Iso apples, peaches and grapes. Florence excels iu beauty of location, being situated on the gently rolling plateau banks of the Tennessee River —navigable for the largest class of steamboats. The records show singular exemption from malarial diseases,and the mild temperature, pure air and water make it a desirable resort, both summer and winter, Lorn the extreme heat of the South oud the rigorous cold of the Not tli. Aside from this it is on the basal line of the new .ron and coal discoveries, and with abundant water-power supply, fa vorable transportation facilities, by rail and packet, and by virtue of close oroximity to valuable ores not found mother localities, Florence is destined to become the metropolis of the State, and will n> - cessarily concentrate the bulk of industries in this region. The country north of is covered with a primeval gro vtli of immense poplar, white oaks, maple, hickory, pine, and walnut trees, and within a few miles laaue quarries of beautiful Building stone and limestone abound all over tlie county. The erection of the finest college building ir the South was commenced Mry 13th, and at this time there are over 250 houses i j course of erection. For excursion rates and full particulars address,

E. [?]. McCormick,

Gen’l Pass’r Ag’tMoncm Route, 185 Dearborn St.. Chicug, 111.