J .V 11 ' ttfMttl I OCTit.-fJiKil l I 01 H II II II II II II II II "iJiSS' AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. jST Vol. V. New Bloomilcia, !?-., Tuesday, July -4, 1871. INo. 27. Is Fubllshed Weekly, At New Bloomneld, Tenn'a. BT FRANK MORTIMER. SUBSCRIPTION TERMS. ONE DOLL Alt l'Ell YEAR t CO Cents for 6 Months; 40 Cents for 3 Months, IN ADVANCE. Remembsr, Boy3 Make Lien. BT MART B. TUCKBR. HEN jou Bee a ragged urchin Standing wistful in the street, With torn bat and kneelcst trowscrs, Dirty face and bare red feet, Pass not by the child unheeding i 8mlle upon him. Mark mo, when lie's grown he'll not forget It ; For remember, boys make men. When the buoyant youthfulsplrlts Overflow in boyish freak, Chide your child in gentle accents ; Do not in your anger speak. Ton must sow in youthful bosoms Seeds of tender niercey; then Plants will grow and bear good fruitage When the erring boys are men. Have yoa never seen a grandslre, With his eyes aglow with joy, Bring to mind some act of kindness Something said to him, a boy 7 Or relate some slight or coldness, With a brow all clouded, when lie said they were too thoughtloss To remember boys made men. Let ns try to add some pleasure To the life of every boy , For each child needs tender interest In its sorrow and its Joy. Call your boys home by its brightness; They avoid a gloomy den, And seek for comfort elsewhere) And, remember, boys make men. Chester Vale's Housekeeper. TIE RED ROOM, as they always called the south parlor at Roxeter Hall, had not been lighted yet, save by the blaze that leaped crackled, and sent up ruby jots of splendor from the doep, open grate sunk in one side of its crimson-draped walls. Upon a low seat before the fire sat the only occupant of the apartment Syra Lo- dell, the adopted heiress, peoplo said, of Lionel Masterton, the owner or Itoxoter Hall. The firelight showed a graceful, un dulent shapo, a dark wreath of braids brought low on the pearly check, the clasp of white fingors on her knee, and the slow tapping of a very little foot on the hearth. Lip and eye were thoughtful in their ex pression ; the one curled and the other flashed briefly as a step soundud on the out side, and presently a stately-looking gentle man came in with the remark : "I was looking for you, Syra." "Were you, sir?" "I thought I should find you here ; you always like this room, and it suits you. You look like a picture set in a crimson frame to-night, Syra." Syra's white lids drooped so that he could not see the expression that darkened again undor them. Syra was not accustom ed to such speeches, and they suited her ess from him than from most people ; but she did not speak. " I trust you have by this time reconsld red your hasty decision of last nightSyra," he salt, after a pause ; " that you have con cluded to become mistress where you have hitherto been only " Allow me to supply the word at which you hesitate, Mr. Masterton. A dependent you would say," Syra said, with such quiet self-possession as almost to divost tho shaft of its sarcasm. " My dear child, not that, certainly not ; the woman a man means to marry can never stand to him in tho relation of a dupendent. I have never looked upon you in that light. I always meant to marry you, Syra." The girl gave a start of Involuntary hauteur, and frowned slightly. "There are rights which no state) of de pendency can alienate from a woman. The right of choosing whom she will marry is one of them," she said, trying to speak quietly, but a passionate red suffusing hor cheek. Mr. Masterton laughed. " And you do net choose to marry me ?" " Precisely," she said, growing pale again. " What will you do then ? Foolish child, who have you ever seen that you would chooso in preference to me ? I am older than you ; but that disparity is more than balanced by the advantages. What do you find in mo to object to, my dear?" ' I object to nothing, sir, saving tho in tentions you say you have always had toward mo. It was not generous to load mo with benefits, and then to try to make of them chains to force my Inclinations." Ho laughed again as at the pretty play ful humors of a petted child. "Don't bo foolish, Syra ; no one wishes to force your inclinations. It would indeed be rather late in tho day for mo to begin, since-1 never in my life denied you any thing, did I, Syra?" Syra showed how much she had been in dulged by hor noxt words. " It was because you felt too much above me to do so," she said, .with temper. " You would not oppose your might to such weak ness as mino. Even now you laugh at me in your strength, and think that I mean nothing when I say I would not bo your wife if you wore a king." His straight black brows contracted slightly as tho daring girl spoke ; but he only laughed in his provoking way. "Well, well," ho said, "you must have still another day to meditate upon the ad vantages of being mistress of Roxeter nail. I can afford to wait for your answer, child, because I know what it must bo in tho end; and I acknowledge that all these pretty, haughty airs of yours amuso me vastly. They will become Mrs. Lionol Masterton quite as well as they do my little Syra." She made a passionate gesture. " Do you not understand, sir, that I have not for you such love as a man desires in a wife ? I never thought of marrying till you asked mo a week ago the question you have repeated with such pertinacity every day since. I have been taught to look up to you as a parent. I tell you it is impossible to chango the nature of that regard." " I take upon myself the possibility of changing it to the most proper wifely affec tion," he said, lightly. "As my wife, you shall forgot that you were ever anything elso." " I shall never bo your wifo, sir. Oh, I am very sure of that. I love you and am grateful to you for your kindness to an otherwise friendless child, but every in stinct of my nature revolts from becoming your wife." His brow knit again. "You are talking supreme nonsense, Syra ; and, child as you are, you ought to know it," he said, with more impatience than he had yot displayed. " But come to the drawing-room, will you not ? Olivia is there alone, and may think we neglect her," he added, with sudden change of manner. Silently Syra followed him, and, the draw ing-room reached, sat thoro untalkative, in spite of the efforts of the others to draw her into conversation. But her air was thoughtful and troubled nothing more. Syra never poutod, spoiled child though she was. "Olivia," said Lionel Masterton to his sister, desisting at last from his efforts to entertain Syra, " I haven't answered Choi ter Vale yot. I've been waiting for you to ascertain Mrs. Wharton's address. Have you obtained it?" " Oil, yes, and the situation will be just the thing for hor. She writes to inquire for such a position as the one at Chester's would be, and I think you cannot do better than write to him and hor by the same mail. Mrs. Wharton would be a treasure in any man's house, and I am sure she will like Chester. It s curious what an incor rigible old bachelor he is." Syra lifted her eyes during this speech, and once or twice wis about to mention that she had heard from Mrs. , Wharton since Olivia, but some thought restrained her ; and as Lionel Masterton loft tho room, saying he would go to tho library and attend to that mattor at once, hor glance followed hiin to the door with an ex prossion of aroused and eager attention. Mrs. Wharton was an old family friend of the Mastortons, now in Impoverished circumstances, who had written to Miss Olivia to inquire for a situation as house keeper in some gentleman's family, where she would be likely to receive the considera tion due to her former circumstances, and be treated more as an equal than a servant. Miss Olivia did not know that Syra had re ceived a letter since she bad, in which Mrs, Wharton announced the fact of her having secured already such a placo as she wish ed. Syra quietly resolved to keep that infor mation to herself for reasons that had sud denly suggested themsolves to hor, and went away early to hor own apartment to ponder upon some scheme, the details of which sho had yet to arrange Near midnight, when all had retired, as sho supposed, sho descended, and noiseless ly sought tho library. A smilo, half do fiance, half roguory, curving ber red lips as she espied the letters on tho tablo, wait ing for the morning to be dispatched to their destination. Just glancing at the superscription of Chester Vale's letter, sho laid it down again and took up Mrs. Wharton's. Sho smiled as she discovered that, with his usual care lessness, Mr. Masterton had so negligently soaled this letter that sho could easily open it, which she proceeded to do, removing the contents and depositing in their place a blank piece of paper, and rescaling it moro effectually than Mr. Masterton had done. This done sho effected her escape to her own apartmont again without attracting at tention. " Mr. Masterton has often asked me of lato what I should do if I did not marry him," sho murmured to herself as sho moved actively about her chamber. " I will show him. Of course I know that Roxeter Hall cannot be my homo after I have refused to become the wife of its mas ter. That is the alternative he means to force upon me in the end, and ho shall find that child, as ho persists in considering me, capable of Anticipating even him." When Lionel Masterton went down to a lato breakfast the following morning, for he was not an early riser, he found his sis- ter, who was of an indolont habit likewise but had been waiting some time in the dining-room this morning, fretting becauso Syra had not yet come down Syra, who was usually up with tho lark. Breakfast waited yet a little longer, and then Lionel sent a servant to see if Miss Syra had risen, and to tell hor the breakfast waited. The servant returned immediately to say that the young lady's couch did not soem to have been occupied the night before, and that she herself was not in the room then, though it bore a somewhat littered appear ance, as though she had but just loft it. In short, Syra had vanished in a most inex plicable mannor from Roxeter Hall, leaving behind her only the briofest of good-byes in the shapo of the following note, over which Lionel Mastorton bont his black brows grimly : " Deab Gcajidy I'm off, hoping that whon we next meet we may both be in full possession of those senses which one of us seems bereft of at present (I do not say which). Have no anxiety regarding me. If I find I cannot take care of myself I will let you know. Affectionately, Syha. Lodell." "The reckless child 1 1 wonder what she has taken into her head now," he mutter ed in mingled angor and anxiety. " I have a mind to wait and see who will find their senses first, she or I. It will not be long before she will be ready enough to con confess that she oannot take care of her self; the lesson may do ber good, and save mo future trouble in taming this modern Katharine." He waited outwardly careless, but in wardly anxious, for no news came of Syra ; and when, finally, too uneasy concerning hor to wait longer, he instituted such in vestigations as were at his command, ho still was unablo to hear anything of her, and he and Olivia full at last into a half- sulky despair at being so baffled by such a slip of a girl as that. Chester Valo wrote toward the end of tho month to express his complete satisfaction with Mrs. Wharton, the new housekeeper they had sent him, and who had been with him already long enough to convince him that her equal could not be found. Both Olivia and Lionel read amazodly, Mrs. Wharton haviug .written within a wock only to regret that she hod already "engaged hor sorvicos elsewhere, before learning of Chester Vale s desire to obtain thorn. Could there be two Mrs. Whar- tons? Curious to solve this puzzle, Olivia wrote to Mrs. Wharton's address as her letter bad given it, and Mr. Masterton to Chester Vale. Roplios came swiftly ; Olivia's cor respondent in high Indignation at hor name sake, and Chester Valo vastly amused and contented with the Mrs. Wharton whose services he had been so fortunate as to se cure. She suited him quite as well as the others Mrs. Wharton could possibly have done, probably bettor, Boyond that he expressed no interest, but he felt some, or else he ' would not have sent for Mi's. Wharton to his parlor the evening he received the letter, questioning hor about her knowledge of the Mastortons, for, having brought a letter from Lionel himself, she must of course know them. Mrs. Wharton this Mrs. Wharton de clared distinctly, and with some emphasis, that sho did know the Mastortons well, and that the letter sho brought had been writ ton by Mr. Masterton, of course. Who else could it have been written by ? She expressed herself plainly enough, but Chester Vale did not feel altogether satis fied that she had told the whole truth, though he could not for the life of him con ceive why she should withhold any part of it. Mrs. Wharton, Chester Vale's house keeper, would have looked much younger and prettier if it had not been for the dis figuring caps she wore which come quite over hor face and covered hor hair com pletely. Sho had an unusually young, fresh face, and really a fine figure for a woman of her years and sorrows. Her dross was of tho most sombre description, and her mannor quiet, her eyes noarly al ways downcast. These were enough of themselves to establish the fact that she must at some period of her life have been a remarkably beautiful woman. They wore largo, dark and lustrous still, beyond any that Chester Vale had ever seen, and if by chance he encountered them which rarely happened he was vaguoly conscious of a curious thrill all through him that he could in no way account for. Mrs. Wharton was not talkative, but what she said, she said well, and in a voice that effected Chester Valo very much as her eyes did. She was retiring and sedate, wore glasses most of tho time, and did not seem to be very anx ious to sit with Mr. Vale whon he request ed her of an evening to do so. Chester Valo was a good-looking though somewhat elderly bachelor rich, too and thoro were plenty of pretty girls in tho vil lage who would have gladly entertained him to the best of thoir ability as many evenings in the week as he chose. But he did not choose. He soomed to like a book better at his own bachelor fireside, or even a fragmen tary chat with Mrs. Wharton, who spoke mostly in monosyllables, and evidently felt ill at easo in conversation with him. She kept his house, though as it had novor been kept since the lifetime of his mother. Such order neatness and decorum had not reigned thoro for some time. The servants, who had proved refractory beyond measure under all other rule, fell gently into their places now, and tho whole domestio machinery moved smoothly. "Mrs. Wharton," said Chester Valo, one evening, as he finished tho perusal of a letter he had just received, "will you be good enough to see that a room is put in entire readiness for a guest whom I expoct to-morrow ? and, you must pardon me for reminding you of a matter which I dare Bay you have heard enough about already. It is Mr. Mastorton whom I am expec ting to-morrow, and ho declares quite em phatically in his letter that he knows but one Mrs. Wharton, and that you cannot be that one. I suspect that he is coming more to see you, indoed, than me. Ho is of an inquisitive turn, and it is the first visit he ever vouchsafed me." Mrs. Wharton had certainly grown palo while he talked, and hor knitting lay idly upon hor knee, as though her fingers were too tremulous to display their usual swift ness in its management. Mr. Chester looked puzzled. " I beg to assure you," he went on, "my dear madam, that I have done or suid noth ing whatever to encourage this inquisitorial trip of Mr. Mastorton's. I don't care whether you're Mrs. Wharton or not, you're my house keeper, and I am sure I never had so good a one in my lifo, and, though I confess to somo natural curiosity as to what Mr. Mastorton will say, I don't care a straw beyond that. As I said before, you're a good housekeeper, that's enough for me." Mrs. Wharton gathered up her knitting, and rose to leave the room. She had not spoken before, but now she said, quietly : " Mr. Masterton will scarcely deny to my face that he knows mo well." Chester Vale looked after her as she quitted the room, with ft more puzzled ex pression than ever, saying to himself: " It'i ft queer affair any way. She's not ft woman any one would easily forget and Mastorton least of all. Hallo, what's this I" He stooped and took from the floor near where Mrs. Wharton had been sitting, a portmonnaie. A dainty little thing it was mother-of-pearl with gold mountings, and a name traced on a golden scroll ; just as he was reading which the door re-opened and Mrs. Wharton came hurriedly in to ward him. Her eyes sought tho floor first, then were lifted to his hand. With a low cry she snatched the portmonnaie from him, and was hurrying away again, but he caught her hand and hold it witfc a grasp there was no escaping. With hor face from him, she murmured some confused apology for her abruptness, but ho, still holding her hand in that firm unyielding pressure, led hor across the room to tho tall pier-glass, and, without speaking, pointed to tho .vision its dopths revealed. A vision, indoed? After leaving him tho housekeeper had gone to her chamber and removed the neckerchief she usually wore, and untied the strings of her cap before she missed the portmonnaie, and came running back frantio with haste. The cap had fallen back in her hurry, the absence of the muffling neckerchief exposod a round and snow-white neck, over which flowed long, dark ringlets escaping from tho untied cap. The housekeeper looked and began to tremblo. The very earth seemed to shake under hor, and tears swelling under her white eyelids rolled slowly down her cheeks. Chester Vale seemed as agitated as she. His breath came short and quick, and his eyes shono luminously. He dropped hor hand when ho saw she was trembling, but she did not go at once. Turning'partly toward him, without lift ing her eyes, she said : "I have nothing to say in self-justiflca. tion. I was going away before Mr. Mas torton should arrive. I do not ask you to pardon tho seeming un womanliness of what I have done, but I am not entirely so cul pable as you may perhaps think. Don't blame me too severely." " How do you know that I blame you at all?" he asked. "You cannot help it. I saw what a rash and unmaidenly stop I had taken very soon after my arrival here ; but I trusted to tho impenetrability of my disguise, and I wish ed to stay. The excitement and novelty of my position fascinated me, and so I kept putting off going away. But I should have gone in the morning, sir, and you would never have known " "That I had been entertaining an angol unawares," ho said, abruptly. " Well, as you say, you have taken a very rash and unmaidenly stop. You have wronged yourself in coming here as you have ; but you will have wronged me more if you go away now." "You, sir?" lifting her lustrious eyes an instant and dropping them before the glance of his. "Me, because you deprive me of a house keeper whose equal I shall never find again. How do you expect to compensate me for such a loss?" She looked puzzled, his manner was so serious and earnest. "Is there any way, sir?" she asked, smiling. "One." IIo extended his arras, saying, "Make it unnecessary for mo to procure another housekoeper by remaining as my wife." 8ho understood him sudH and eluded his clasp, whilo the rich coil mantled her beautiful faco. It .was Syra herself who stood poised an instant on the threshold with bashful backward glances, and then fled away to her room. When Lionol Masterton came the next day, and asked almost as soon as he was in tho bouse to see Mrs. Wharton, Chester Valo went out of the room and ennio back with Syra. " You I" Lionel said, receding a stop, and growing pale with sudden angor. " Speak to him," pleaded Syra ot Mr. Chester. " Don't lot him be so angry with me." ," Don't blamo her too much Masterton,". Mr. Chester said approaching hiin. "She would never have consented to bo your wifo, and she will not now consent to be mine without your approval. You won'lj refuso us that, old friend ?" ;r ' He certainly would havo refused if ha had soon any prospect of winning her him solf. But he did not It was sufliotcntly evident that sho loved Mr. Chester, and sho had given such evidence of firmness already that he clearly saw that he must consent, and did so with as good a grace as ho could. He never quite forgave Syra, however, for disappointing his pet scheme with re. gard to hor till he had been married hint-, self some years.
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