DIVIDED CLARA E. LAUGHLIN , v^li 'II // \' t^-'fl I ^ » \k^. Cornell University Library PS 3523.A91D6 Divided 3 1924 021 756 378 ■?=#?r^- r^~H?^ ^Iss: ' W^-^' m ^3i% '^%^_^^^ _^ ^,^ ' J . \ )JM 4sm iite. "_.'Jiri,&ji'i'2S«=^" Jl:;r|c|?|§pg;2^-^^^^ ^ ^--^^^^'^^ -=:7t ,.;oR?;S52Sis;^ .•■■:^rf^fv;a:v.^rTr;' ^_— „, ■-■;><.;! ^W f C c /■->s^ A r ^^. "^fe V "x~=- \ i (f r )r^-3?u y Jjt ■y'A'c^'-Xl ^WTTTTTED-^^ — ..--.?/£^i^;i,;;;^__^ ■VSSC4^ r Jtf .S t '-V--. . , ;i;/r - ^:«^f t'' S'i l!'r t 'II :;--^jj,^^ '■'An .,' 0, r ''•!''i',K''!\' -;«J,-j,^^fet^-> -staa/ §;;:!■• k-1-^^°\h% COPYRIGHT, 1904 g^ji, CHARLES SOBIBmEB'S SONS .. ^'»-v»*li^5§|''^"; . "t"" FLEMING H. BISVELL OOMPANT mF"'''" ^---j-g; -> r ^k •' -ar^f^ •^~^f^^\' 3&^ 1 3 •^,.*s.i.^„^ei' To THOSE TOILERS WHO HAVE NEVER LOOSED THE CLASP OF LoVE TO FOLLOW THE WINDING WAY TO FaME e3p r?s«C ,>- --^ "'ik \--^~- "'%:-€$ r'X «?r.4^^\^si:i*.. ) "^^ 3 i')r .^.^ > l^SB^j^'-^JS'i— ■■ ■■ -^J^ «"* WBcA, hut Love if more ! """"^^^^ --^.^^ Art ^mbolizes heaven, hut Love is God - — --'• And makes heaven. djjj^u "'-'-— '^'""•"'""~ Aurora Leigh. v?^''5s?---'..,.^^ »#' ■"' ■2;^p^^:^^^ 'A.i.,- ^ Mm ' -'&//I' -o Yx^r -^^ v-iiy^t fe--^^* .'^^.^ /J, .^J: W ( ^;-i'( ^-' -"iv- >'^- miJ ^''^^'^ "i:''. ^^ i>^ Im silii C " " ^^ r h ^ -^ ':iy ■'i. 'V- f S)'- l)'-^ -^^u^. _ TRE STORY OF-^^^O^W^ 1 ^HE was a lonely little girl in it [ ^-^ bleak farmhouse. Years ago * her mother had come hither, flushed^ with romantic sacrifice, from the teaching of literature in a semi-rural Tn:<,/>^ -academy to the practical facts of ^7 '"J ~-:::5^" help-meeting " on a farm that only y^^^ix grudgingly yielded its stout-hearted < ^^v^ young owner a bare sustenance. From the eminence of being ap- pealed to from three counties to say who wrote " Beautiful Snow," and who was the greatest American poel^i and wliy, the little girl's mother had edrne to take up the loye-life ^-^^m^ '-i^J.^ \' >? \ !.-y, -ally, for the broken-spirited woman„, had given no companionship and^^' little even of supervision to her child. But the child had an in-^ herited sentimentality; she knew it was a pathetic thing to be mother- less, every one said so, — the poetry books, the neighbors, even her big,^^^^^^ kind, quiet father, who indulged her i more than ever because she had no -^ mother, now. And so the little girl, whom her ;,!^,?apother had named Aurora, for love of Aurora Leigh, went her lonely way across the fields to school when the weather permitted (a question which she alone decided), and when it did n't, sat curled up for long hours :^^^«jfiiii some quiet corner absorbed with^-i~^: ""'her dead mother's Family Editions of Longfellow and Whittier and Burns, and her well-worn copies of Felicia Hemans, Owen Meredith, M. % V iX and Jean Ingelow, whereoutof Jj.er_ untrained fancy read marvels \^ foir literalnegs and— ^instructions that-; _^^t_^;elLiave wrought consterna- -tion in the authors. Many of the poems mystified -^i.^ unpleasantly, many of them she liked'^'' not at all ; but of her many favorites ^'one~gave her, above all, the supreme satisfaction of continually piquing her interest. It answered all the purposes of the Sphinx to the lonely child, who was forever questioning triahd never getting any answer. ,.,It was the opening poem in a red bound book by Jean Ingelow, and i^flBl^-'' was called " Divided." Perhaps its'l^^ illustrations were its chief charm ; th IjlliPi,. first of them represented a boy an(i girl, of about Aurora's age, playing in a meadow starred with flowers, — for all the world like the south meadow of Aurora's fathp;t"- ,Th€! boy chased jy>JiiJ;*^'- !i-'j iu ^ik^t. lu ^^aittei^ffes, his Mt kiiahd poised ,,^^^ ioy/ capture, aad the gidllgathered^-- ^J;^^B|g5 In th^ nest pictiiE^riihey Ifeneh:, xuMlant,. beside a-tinj— srk^ ,, , jEhread of water trickling through -^^ ttie grass. Parting the grasses to determine its course, the laughing" children, in picture three, held each other's hands across the baby brook, and started to run with it. In pic- ture four, the brooklet had become* a brook, and the children, following their new treasure towards its mouth, ^^ liad to loose their mutual clasp as'^"^ they ran, one on either bank. In th^,,. picture following, the brook had wid- ened still more, and the boy and girl, now larger grown, waved gayly at || i each other from their opposite sides.^.iiil(| By and hyLi|; tecame a river, and the flower-starre(^ fields led the way to(;le[^ town of ma^ts and spires ; tJ^fjj/J/jeoi no longer c^ll across, but ,2, ff i' ■ i ■ iik ../. -~:iK J ^^ 'VpT^ 18 divideb yet they kept on, and on, and on. At last the river, passing the town widened to a great estuary, and on a shore whose opposite was not even;^^; dimly discernible, the girl, a woman JT^ grown, and weary, stood and waved ;~ a signal to the companion she could " '''*'**- not see, and from whom no answer- ing signal came to her. ^ii\,>V|'i/i Aurora agonized over the story. What did it all mean? Why did \ .j«j. they let go hands? Or why, if after letting go they found the stream sep- arating them, did they not go back a little space, and either abandon the trail or follow it together? The joys of their companionship looked so beatific to the lonely child, she mar- velled herself heartsick over their separation. Why, When they found themselves divided, did not one cross to the other side? And it was sig- nificant, deeply significant^ of Aijrora '^-~~^^ - J j^-w— I. ,Mi ^.^-/-^ Bt^IDliD 19 y^i^^^^ that she never questioned who that "'^""""^]6iie should be, but always, while, so^'^ .i^owing unto anguish with the woman at thies^sdy' blamed the little girl in 2^S3g^-=the begihhing for letting go. --=;:^^f;^ There was a brook in her father's ^Itt- "-^iouth meadow, — a full-grown, trout- yielding brook, to be sure, and not SB- incipient trickle playing hide and seek among the grasses; but there were flowers just as in the picture; and Aurora looked to that meadow to yield her, some day, a )oy companion who should chase ^iLsc^utterflies, cap in hand, just as the i' ^ ^1m ^^y ^^ ^^® book chased them. And "~ ' most determined was Aurora, if that boy were ever found, never to adventure with him where they ^ jsould not hold hands across, never/, -lose him for lack of going over to /'his side, as a womanv If should. , '\.'l ).M^ ■•"^JS^ ■|y;:.j. wtm -.r'i.pj>j^*ct|S^ '^■i^0^--::x:^:^. '^■<. (''i S ti*--'T-" wis-**---- ■» — vy/v^ r^ ■ wfr 20 A|i ^U•J' One day, — such is, some times, Hie power of faitk, — one warm, bright June day in the summer, when Aurora was ten, she wandered lone- somely down into the south meadow to think about the boy and all that_^ he typij&ed of companionship, and, f^ lo! there he was, fishing in her ,,fL^ father's brook. TfiiftT''"-^^^'^^ The very white bare feet that ix&Wk dangled in the clear water were all "Ay ' ' ^( that was needed to denote a being '^'S'=^jy from remote parts, — in other words, "^"^^^ The Boy ! Wrapped in delicious de- i j.^ ductions of her own, Aurora stood so - " long silently contemplating the boy.'^y that he grew restive. " Well," he snapped finally, with a,' suddenness and a testiness that nearly! precipitated Auror^^jn|;o the brook,| n ^^ ii|ggSg|if;})^^)what you gawking/^ijlS ^^^igg^^'^J^Gvei evaded the qitesM.. tkCz ^ -©5;-^- n. ' "^EQ^Kliv, ^^/ ,Io^liinteered,',^fter^^nj^ei^kwii?^^^ ^ss^''^'^?"~^^Ience. It was aH;=3P#ggiiinra^^^^^^^^5^ ~- - - ' fikughtily. ^'^'i-Sjj,.. ^4i55^>. - " The way you 're doin'," rejoine ^=rr' Aurora, losing her first awe and wax- '•:^::SS^g bold with the consciousness of- superior knowledge. "You dassent to put your feet in'®' ,.' . /' the water when you're fishin' fer '^ trout! Why, you dassent even to w^^^-"^ leave your shadow be on the water, ■— wi they're that timid and smart! You ' ""*' ' )^^C , ,^ got to git out o' sight, an' not- leav«^-^4ii^ 'em see your line even, and bait with a grasshopper, and be awfuf quiet." It cost the boy a struggle to know how to receive this gratuitous advice, f but two hours ,^ flff patient dangli: |i and flicking life 'yater with his gaudjij^i I patent fly, had prepared ,|,li[^^ i(^. hearken to -Aurora's wisdom) wiffi %"- ')r^(! 22 DTTiflED inner, but not outer, meekness. That slie was rigM, he more than mis- trusted, but how to avoid saying so, that was the question. The white feet, therefore, remained defiantly in the water, and the gaudy fly continued to keep wary trout at a distance, while between the two on opposite banks of the wee brook a rather ominous silence rested. "Where do you live! " asked the boy at length, with as superior an air as he could manage. _,=«=>'--4*- Aurora indicated, with a backward jerk of her thumb, the farmhouse^ whose paintless estate she did not know enough by comparison to deplore. " ~--^sK< ■ "I live in New York," *said the r< boy, without waiting to be asked. Aurora gasped, — so audibly that the boy almost forgave her for her advice about the trout4),,r~^"'"''*i^'rii'js im-^ ^^ m&l^^ r \ V- ^VC ,^ /' "-^Ci t) -i^vWi D 23 -* '■^ ^;>:4 lfv->i'. \k: *l^ti , vJEver been there? " he asked, and the meekness of her f alteringj," No^:=r oh, no! " put the boy again in good favor with himself and in a proper masculine, position of superiority. He was Garrett Levering, he in- ivformed her, visiting his uncle, Amos Levering, for the school holidays. His uncle lived on the best farm in the vicinity, and owned the best farmhouse for miles around; but this gave him no particular aristoc- in Aurora's mind, there being small notion of caste among the hard-working farmers of those parts where the best-off and the poorest alike tilled their own land and gar- nered their own yields. In New York, however, Garrett went on to i};/ explain, he lp0d in a brownstone front, f()ur 'Stories high, — and see- ing that four stories conveyed little meanin: -'^ vH D^^ll)^: r^^^ ^ 'Mm seen a kouse of moife than otie storv .^]i%)Tit-= and a half, lie elucidated by saying "'*'"^'n|* that it was as high as the giant elm^^Ss^^;,^ Itgainst whose lofty bole Aurora's^^^'f little home-cot leaned, small asl a ■^'•Sisg toddling child against a great TadiD.\&:^iz^=^ knees. This comparison was some-^^S^'^l";:!;^ thing of an exaggeration; but the ,^- boy knew it no more than the girl, — ■"^p^'^'fm^ so really sky-high did his home loom ™ ,in his proud memory, alongside the jf low-roofed cottages of the country. '^^;^7^^' The first impression of that great "" *""' stone house reaching far into the" sky, stayed with Aurora for many years and lent its majesty to the boy who emanated therefrom for her companionship. ^%si That summer Aurora read no more*' pb'etry books ; she h£id never divulged=^ tb) Grarrett her form,er intei^est inl-| m^ Nt|©^ng a little sentimentally was'l '7'ihr'" '"se*" ">--?ii .^•"■-^v;5=^ i^-^ '^^ V '^•^^^^'^P^^^ "s^^- K^ JMB 25 \^ ^ in paxt realizing J6r )iM^ ajx&yio^liie rest, feeling that " A PsalnP«fLifeii^ ir=r- " Snowbouma," "Miles Standish," ^^prven " Bingen on the Rhine " were ^ ?^ "ill worth mentioning after the tales"' :i: ™6arrett fold her about Richard and _rift.:^'-^%aladin, the "Scottish Chiefs," and 't5^2?p^ "Robinson Crusoe." 7*^1.^.' '"^^ When, however, the first of Sep^""^^§'i.i«*- ^'■~ (\< *^'tember was at hand, and G-arrett was 1/7 about to go, with only a possibility,-^^^ '' '^'' Vj?^^^I3^r^^^™ the following June, the "all of separation, the shadow of 'dread of her former loneliness, lay eavy on the spirit of Aurora. "■v«#2i?)f.fi?i|^p:ii0;e left on a Sunday afternoon, f^^lid after the early dinner at his uncle's, Garrett obtained permission i\W^^ rio trudge, in his Sunday suit of black MMlimffm f^^-and his_shining/,Mack shoes, the tw^^^^{|^mi| Mr:.:: f mife®^f:hot,' (Jwsty road to Auror^?§!''|||^^Kp h6i!is^,;:;'to" '^y good-bye. .^^te^|^\';;';i||M™'^^ by,his"uiicfekfamij^, |;e jsfe~. reefetved by Aurora's father with a good-natured but insmuating grin, he was bidden to " set out in the yard where it's cooler," and to take off his coat for comfort. This latter Garrett, with chilling dignity, de- clined to do, and Aurora's father was reminded how averse her mother had been to the practice, — which sent him ruminating into the house where, in the shelter of the kitchen porch, he weighed the chances of Aurora's getting " mixed up with a city feller, some day," and suffering the rebuffs for her country rudeness that he had suffered for his in day^. Left to themselves, the children /i'||:^^^ were a little constrained at first. G-ar* |Y|^|j|-^^';| rett was not specially depressed by r mmi the impending separation. He had the world-old masculine advantage 6f ne'w activities ahead to fir' anticipate, Mfe i I I!, r '^'n -J -_^ ►A*- m 'Mkai^S(Ci;'£M:r=i minimizing the reluetane^^i^^g have felt at leaving ~a^>lScsSbS#Mm^ mer behind, .j^jiTO^raT" ho wevSEy wo- man-like, enJQjTied no such-advaniageS Change, for her, meant simply a stay- ~ ing behind in scenes long irksome through familiarity, and now to be more bare of charm than ever by rea-,, ^, son of the passing of companionship. , The colorlessness of the seasons be- fore he came, ranged in Aurora's <^ mind alongside the delights of this ., ,, summer, and the future looked drear- ,„; ler than ever to her without him. ' G-arrett was typical male enough to realize this dimly, and to chafe under it, as a man-creature chafes under parting, — half sympathy for the wo- man, half impatience to be gone The shadow/of the sky-high houi waiting to receive him, added to th( tragedy of his leaving, made the con versational riehann|!|lj^j jof ^ :.cu -4, seem qmte inadequate to Aurora, aiid_,^ji^c^^ siie stiK»Ee^::5EitErTeal 3?voman bravejpy, to tuMr the taH^ ia- the direction,:^^- bis future JnterestSj— when Eis school began, what he was going to study, and if he should be glad to see ^^^ "the fellows," — and to keep it off '^^jj, the subject of her own distress. At length the afternoon began to « wane, and Garrett must go. After!'^"!"^^ -:-;M ' ■ , ) '• '."-;■-: V.'i'.v *'/;:/ tea his uncle was to drive him to the , ,,;,.;, . . ;J depot, and put him on the train, and 'I*v,.^^e^^^ late that night his father would be aC=rl- the station in Jersey City to take' him home. To-morrow school would ,^ .^-,,.,„,^^^ begin. >^|)5|p lli(,Hji)S /(-(Q)} -^^t until the moment came to say '*^ (/*^t vi'^^n'lj the actual good-bye, did Aurora sum- ili^^'i' mon courage enough to ask him if he |] \tiiought he would 6ome again next Ji'n duinmer. He didn't khbw nlaybe not. But if she o$me to f i'iV|i'fl,7#)^N'ew^ York, she^i^ust oct: ^i: ^M^ ( J( DT TIDED "~^ ^?^' 29^, 1 f^-^£. him. Aurora thanked him, and voiced nothing oi^the-hitter^disSeK^' ^^J^^^^^^ her own heart-ihat sher-should ever go to New York. __She. w^j^ ^ likely, she thought, to go to the moon. -"^^ When Grarrett was actually gone,^ — out of sight down the dusty road^ — Aurora went up to her little rooltF"*^; in the half-story of her paintless home, and threw herself on her bed,, and cried and cried. Grosh ! " said her father, who tip- Itoed to her door, and tip-toed away 'gain. When she got up it was six o'clock, e time Grarrett was to take his train. And, going to the little hang- ing shelf where she kept her neglected itli^i poetry books, she took down favorite, and for the first time in hei^ starved little life, full of harsh prac- ticalities j.M^ ies, a symbolisjn flashed^ ^^^^ <^^«^; 1 6_. 30 D IT ID ED ^^. f^ ^' her inner sight. The literalness of -<:jii^^:;ife^ her former renderings became foolish- }-C' ness to her in the twinkling of a tear- *!2ri^ii^g wet eye, and "I know," she said, :^^^^S shutting the book with a sob, " it ""^^:''?^s^ wasn't a brook; he had to go away." '^5,^^ #35 f-^VCiS? ,' ^ >-> .^ ',1 / ul \'i*> w '^.'i^^ ft jO r i:;t^^;^^i without enthusiasm. But ambitioiiI.l^rN_,^v had laid hold on him; he was looking •' >^: forward to his college career with::^'')^*^^; boundless enthusiasm, and when he ;:''iJi;Si|;^ thought of the long summer days ^^^^ with absolutely nothing to divert him P^? from his books, he decided to go, and '.^^y^ ^^^T^^*^^iie June afternoon was set down on ^'^ yj'lyt the blistering board platform of the ^ station at Overbrook with a bicycle, ~S out- „ . m ^I'sL m a tennis set, an up-to-date fishing ^-,./i'.'ii=:-ej^- -r — wpm--^ =:?* ->- -^:.^ 35 ^ , ,A> fit, a guitar, a collie dog, a camiera, a trunk of large dimensions, and a very ~ n^l>lby v«iise,.^rrJurnishiii^ the station iGnngers with food for-ar- month's conversation at least. "This here's Mr. P. T. Barnum," said Uncle Amos, facetiously, to Aunt Leila, as they drove up to the porch ; "and these," indicating Garrett's par- aphernalia with his whip, " is his \ /;/ menagerie; he's brought the hull j„^~;>3^ ' of it along." ^^Y^lM ^ ^ In this jovially tolerant spirit Uncle | sj.-:^,| i^A'mos and Aunt Leila accepted the-^ lank Grarrett, shooting up toward six feet, and all his " f angle-dangles," as Uncle Amos termed the tennis, the hand camera (then a great novelty), the high- wheel bicycle, the guitar, and the "Sportsman's Standard""^ fishing outfit. M "I'm afraid," said Aunt Leila, in [^''"'confidence to Uncle Amos, ap he %'s^. jC^JZ = — .i:^:. , _-2^. t:,., . ; ^:— ^ ff \ '"''^j 'i^ f 36 ©f yiijib ;V smoked his pipe in the kitchen. dGorv/i!^/*;^^.!.; ,_ii>=--- ^u^-uJ^^^ way wMle slie cleared away the sup- per, dishes, "that (Barrett's goin' to"""!, he:kindo' lonely; I mistrust how our country boys '11 take them fal-lals. I hope they won't hurt his feelin's." "Don't you worry, Ma," soothed -^ ^i Uncle Amos, a shrewd, kindly twinkle ^f§^ in his keen blue eyes; " I would n'tjij wonder if Garrett 'd find out some ^? things this summer that they don't teach in college ; but they won't hurt him none." The object of their solicitude seemed fairly content, sitting on front porch and smoking the little "bull-dog" brier pipe, familiarity with which had been his first idea^ol,,, ,, ^ preparing himself for college. Mil H'llF^ The next morning, -hawever, after I'lilLV't-an hour of Horace, he was more at- f^i''!li| \!ton^d-'-(i5a spirit to "green fields and -^K: 2,1 \ V! 1 2 -^ -,-a^.-:-'-3^ J.ag" iand syntax^ so,' putting away_ his books, he got up, thinking to hun1i?^^:§52^ a favorable place ta lay out his tennis court, and, while he was looking, he might be doing something with the 'Juli^ .E'i^C"'- -—camera. '^^ m ^^'■^■';;^ f^^ It was hot, very hot, when he left the shade of Aunt Leila's garden and ''set foot on the dusty road ; and som6-'^^'^^-^i|||^#^i^- thiug in the heat and the dust brought » J^^ back to mind prim little, perspiringj:;^5^^:,jKj^ " Aurora, as she had looked that Sunday afternoon in her stif&y starched white 'dress and vivid pink bows. He had almost, if not altogether, forgotten _ Aiirora of late. After those statistical . , ,„„ letters from Paris and London, he ,((m^^ had written once or twice, but half- i(|)^*^i| heartedly, and at long intervals, and .u!j||^||' Aurora's last. letter he had answer^ not at all. ; Me, jcould remember, novt^l'''? when it (ia^e to him, in the flush, o^; '■>'Simm ^-r---^ , — -"-"T""""^'' -^-^-^ lil .r V- 38 DIVIDED their own home by the sea, and how ^44^^ its stilted little sentences about the brook in the south meadow being swollen by the spring rains, andxs^SS Daisy, the gray mare, having a colt. %m\^. struck him as unworthy of him and — ^^=="''^^ reminiscent of an acquaintance that ■^^■'^^t^a..^ progress bade him forget. Now, as the recollection of h^rTlFZ^ flashed over him, it was not unpleas- ant to contemplate the effect of his great stature, his threatening mus- tache, his bull-dog pipe, his bicycle, his guitar, his camera, his tennis set, and " Sportsman's Standard " on the gawky country girl. Garrett quitei|||i;j liked the idea of her surprise andifjf awe. Perhaps he would take hei? picture, he promised himself, recall- ing sundry novels he Ijad read, in lazy hammocks on summer days, of i artists who went sketching and paint- ^mO ing in, ^ rural parts, and stirred upi'^R^* ,i)») ■--J-c ^'k'', »'-?iv;^4~-:l . 39 " tumult of emotions " in the breasts of their nut-brown models. With alr^ his holy zeal for books, Garrett was at the age when stirring up a tumult of emotions in the breast of anything young and feminine was no ill-favored thought. Accordingly, he faced him in the direction of Aurora's home, and the two miles thereto seemed but a stride, so lightly buoyant were the thoughts, of conquest that carried him along. How surprised she would be to see liim ! She would remember him," of sourse ! Doubtless, it being early in the morning (early by city notions of time), she would be unprepared for company, — more than probably con- fused at being caught about her ii' ' homely tasks sure her, Ga^i;,9tt promised himself. He would tell her how picturesque A;: ,;;tli© peasant women .of Ijurope werQ, „,, .',^i- -A ,fBlit he would reasr ^H'Sli" '; ' A. jW ''-'i/ '4a, ^^ ■Wi^ti N. . ^, ,jy ,e^i- in their field dress, how infinitely ^v^j-i- -i pref erablBj to the artist eye, to the '^ modish "women^ of -the citieSy (Gar- -^C =^«5ett had just-read thisjn a .monthly g~j^5_«;|^^ magazine.) "__ ' — ""- How would she look, he wondered '■ His recollection of her was limited to her brown feet, decorated with stone bruises, her slender brown legs used to wade in the brook, and the .<2^^? comical incongruity of her stiff whit6i^.Av ,.,/:■ i?^i^li' .. dress on the one occasion when he^^^A-v- had seen her in her best 'attire. H^;-^' could not even remember if her eyes ,;-.vv;were blue or brown, if her hair wai dark or light, — having been, wheffi he knew her, at an age when th^|t masculine eye takes least note of the uality of feminine charm. Arrived before thel|i^|]:e^ lowxroofeij use, Garrett hardly "knew it. Hi« ,^,,^,3olle*«?"|tpn of it was thi^t'ii'Vas very -^.Ji^;-:-r- "Z-^^^^ terry I ior&D 41! .'^^|tl--r^ -it suggested (tliotigli this is not quite ^^'"' "'tlie way he ptititio hiniaelf )^^apx)verty '^n^^Ij^^'^^Gt of means alone, but of spirit. f^S^'- Now it was freshly painted, white, ^:;5s"3^- with green blinds, — and there were ;,r~^--iizi=j^lyjiocks growing in the yard where «.^->^'^'*-^'"'''"^li6 ' long grass made no pretence of being a lawn, but shot up into flower :d seed as it listed, nor refu rboni to many a delicate four-o'clock swaying on slender, supple stems. would be at her house ^ork, Grarrett thought, — churning, perhaps, or feeding the chickensf .those were his sole ideas of country. 6men's industry. Ought he to ■^iijck at thfi seldom-used front door, ) .k ,-i«!fcV; give her time to " primp " ere she came to open? Or should he ^walk roiffid toi'^e side or back, and surprise S(feir*f, .Politeness dictated tij^^ brmer eou^se ; dramatic ipstinct :^tter, g^dt'ij&amatimM^to^ ^rZ, -c' r42 D ITI I> E D ^^-4x N,^ To the side-door, therefore, Garrett ^-/j^^ proceeded. Although he had not -^""^g^ come a-whee], he had worn his hicycle >^r^-^;j^^. suit of gray " knickers " and hose, with Oxford ties. It was too hot for -£i.m ... w 4 - his natty Norfolk jacket, but he wore. Jii^z:^^^ ^ it bravely; also, in the stead of a'''5";.:i,"„ straw hat, his peaked woollen cap to match his suit. If anything one-half so splendid had ever been at Aurora's # • side-door before, Garrett knew little 's ' about the probabilities in a one-horse , ,!'!^^^% country town. Before he had rounded the corner*^ of the house the pungent smell of ^ suds smote his nostrils. Aurora ■^as'^i^pl washing ! A jutting angle of the \m^*^ house hid the side-door from vie-v^- -liMl^^^ until one was quite upon it, and there,''' I » 1t>^^^ on a sort of platform made by the widening of the board walk;, a lusty country girl stood rubbing coarse (' \ ■A- 1 "EE^ 43 v^^Jblei'of felling ail ox.;-:.Gr^rett gave ^-i^^^^r^ ^"^a gasp of surprise, bntJiliel^feaepiiig ^^^^Sp^l^ iif^;*^ hired help:" in these parts was, he -^5==-^-' r^^ knew, extremely exceptional ; there- „ _ '__ -_^ r fore the young lady of the house -^^"~I^ ^ --this must be. ^^.&5>.-c.^-' e, -j^jfj-jj^g j^jg gg^p -yyjth a courtly ''^^5'i&> deference, he inquired if he had ^7^ -"''-'' the honor of addressing Miss Aurora '^i^'d-e;* %«;»Bussell. "La!" said the lady addressedjc-ji^ij; and, after an interval of frank ex- iminatioh, "No; she ain't to hum." "She still lives here, does she?" r^^^arrett inquired, replacing his cap. '''^' Yes, she lived there, but she had gone out nearly an hour ago; no, the lady addressed could not say where |1 ; she might be. t Thanking hei?,' Grarrett took him ' vvay down the plank walk, past the well and the barn, in the direction, qI C' '44 DIVIDED x-^- house was' the orchard, a scraggly , !.;.,;j/x i^ittle patek: of poor-pedigreed apples ^^-'^'^^'^S? and "ipjoklin' peais^^ wlii&li never ^s=,=,«ssa grew luscious and golden. In spite;^pSg.- of its poverty, however, it was June-^'-'isss _„_ _ beautiful to-day, but Aurora was not iflH: '^^^^^"iiiere. -~-;; •«-'.;„. W^ f. ^^® "^^s by the brook-side in the --»'««K|;Jt%^i''- '-- sbilth meadow, book in hand, and her: ^Jif^'/S&i^ book was Jean Ingelow's poems,v||||\ '4. ::bound in red. ;, '^^■'■■^'^^ She wore a pink frock of a nicei' "'"^^^iiiila^^ material hideously denominatedTseel' ■ 'i^^:^^^^^^^^ J' 3^!$-^°^ ®^*^^®-''' and a pink sunbonnet to'^<^ ezi'sai- i match, while her slim brown feet,^-r55sX"|;^'; were most circumspectly encased in^^i^ white cotton stockings and ■neatM^ WMll ^1^<^^ slippers. ■■-^■:»^: flW'tlli^---- -^l^^o^g^ s^6 ^^^ ^ \>oo\ in he# llffi^'^^^Qtjfiand, Aurora was not, reading, — that -|4 ^|||'|'ife,:not until she became aware, out ;M;'.!;'Of the corner of her eye, oJ:;,ah'Un-,„| f "n m!;3te?iPoetess=-r3^ SiJ^'^r: l»ecame prodigious ; not ^¥#11 the Wli^fr^ shskdow that fell across her bookr:- :— 5«Es^ roused her until a gentle " Ahem ! ' made her start as if stung. Then she '- ■ir-irJj4U"kji'2ftiraiiVtf^t..'.^ fl''",*. "'"Why, it's Garrett Levering!" she exclaimed, as if she could hardly 3^-"helieve her senses. "^ - ---vi t^^m-^^^r. Yes, he assured her, it was Grar- ^^ T*'ett, and, if he was not mistaken, she looked up, 'way up, and Garrett-^""ili^K^^ grinned. J^^ ^.v,,;^ fe" I guess you don't know me,^' M''*'^'^'^^'^l^J.-»;«>~- i;v ' said. Aurora looked puzzled for a ,1/?' j.V» ■'*•*■■'%.- JJlQj][JQ^t ^3:^ r *'JjM| *'.' iw^ltil^i was Aurora _Russell, who had once t>lss>' . given him a lesson in fishing for trout. Having said so much, Garrett [jjj |,MjiJwas at a^ loss, , for a few seconds^ ;• for further 'Speech; he had forgot)^l"i ten jpretty l^HiM ^-.-'' -".^^V,^/ 46 v.. i ■>~5. in'W ■^,cy illf' , Aurora Was better prepared; she. had pictured -him so much, andvso idealizingly, that it would scarcely have surprised her to find his head three feet farther into the clouds than it was, or his distinguished bear- ing three times augmented (if that could have been possible). Also Aurora had her due complement of feminine finesse. Garrett had come there to find her, had found her, and was no more able to dissimulate the fact than any man of eighteen, op-^^- twice eighteen. Aurora had come here to be found, had realized her expectations, but was woman-child enough to appear dumfounded by the unheralded apparition. And as :\ guile is readier of tongue than simple honesty, Aurora advanced to com- mand of the situation long before Garrett's frankly astonished gaze had m,T-Mm:4 3)^ -r/^/r^'^'*""*'' she did, he made request that she|i|| ,,:;-:,i||( read him some passages, and then threw himself down alongside her, as the painters in the novels always di(d by their nut-brown heroines. < Aurora considered her poem for a brief moment, then turned shyly to- ward the back of the volume, as far away from it as possible, and read, n^^jli'''^ sedately, "Seven Times" conscien- tiously through, from: " Seven Times t)iie " to " Seven Times Seven." Sympathy lent modulation to her clear young voice, and Garrett, listen- ■.«',i,V-, '~:A \ai^^ rJi^l^^D 49 ■^:c^^^^; ^ ■W].^^ c JQg, caught far less of Miss Ingelow's,. intent than of the more salient fact^- that the girl who read was a-^etry- lover, -rrS-a- kindred sonly^rjib^siheE? .j/^ords. :T' One poem from the book sufficed, for when the heart beats young it has recourse to poetry only to stimu- „„ „„^ a- la,te itself; old hearts read to forget,,. ^.,,..^"*'f' — young hearts read to be reminded that the world is theirs. Talking of poetry, Garrett asked Aurora if she liked Shelley, — that dear idol of youth! — and Aurora ■^pleading ignorance of his poems,. Garrett recited to her snatches of " The Skylark," " The Cloud," " To Jane, With a Guitar," " Constantia, Singing," and " The Sensitive Plant " Aurora's face flushed with delight in their beauty, but the poems that moved her to her young soul's depth,' Garrett soon learned, were poems " "If VI • ( *; --) ,-• •"^aLi (^0 DIVIDED •^^ttr; f^T ■ like " Evaiigelme," "Enoch Arden," and " ThSi Idylls of a King." Her perception of beauty was good, con- sidering that it had been so wholly " uneducated ; but passionate appre- ciation of the human drama requires ho preparation save a nature tuned •.,|^^; ,-,, ^ to sympathy. In her starved little '*|^§&V:'"' ^1^6 Aurora had not turned, as so many lonely souls do, to Nature for mlj) «T,v fe^f^fr- companionship, but had sat through ^MW"''''^"% #ii^.;.;fc^f:;l.,,., the procession of the years, — bud . ,-.^"*=^^' and blossom and fruit and seed, .l^I-~ requiem and resurrection, bird-song and soughing wind, — indifferent to- the drama of earth, and wistful to be close to the human drama ; unre- f'^A^in^.'' gardful, of course, of the human drama as it played itself at Over- brook, — but that was to be expected PH^iher youth , ^J)\\f Nii = JflJif^yE'rom- Shelley and her confession '^V. ?^": --4f fealty to Longfellow and Tenny- i\si ([' { n vAJr/:.;:'",,' ,f 51 -^Mv .'irto-^^- ,»?» J«-'i ■^^ { M% -'-'■^ SOU, it seemed but a step, to Garrett, to the declaration of his own poetic^ _S5i2^ri ]ptirposes, — a confidential murmur of some of his achievements, even.:=^--ri^ Aurora was entranced, though the "^ poems recited to her by their author were so crammed with mythological allusions that she could scarcely catch their meaning. It was high noon ere it seemed to the young people by the brook that ,; they had fairly exchanged civilities, i^^^^-^ap-d Garrett, getting up to go, remem- ered his camera and posed slim, weet Aurora for a " snap-shot." They made no tryst for further meet- ings, but each knew, as if the words had been spoken, that the little brook would witness many. ..^ij^^lfl At dinner. Uncle Amos inquirin^^|:|^(| if he had spent a pleasant morning, Garrett replied that he had, and went so much further as to add that mm I '• ,1'iRW JlfV. L.. III??"' Wwm -'ii' 52 D IV I D E D Ke had been looking for a good, level place to set up his tennis. But^fter Uncle Amos had gonesa^ ,<-t^ ' ^ back to his haying, Garrett followed 5ss=^=^ Aunt Leila into the kitchen and took v;S^^^ np his station, with her permission, £^- -- in the vine-shaded back porch, with ' ' his bull-dog pipe and an air of lazy- content, but an inward burning tO'j, - find out all he could about Aurora '^J'";^ Russell. After some desultory remarks about -j^ i,,^ the state of the weather for haying, -'-^''''" '" and answers to Aunt Leila's in--^'^'''^v>>*^ quiries about members of his family, he observed: ^' ^ " While I was looking for a place to lay out my tennis court, this morning, I stumbled on that little "Aurora Russell I used to play with, ' years ago when I was here." vJ^,,r-= H ' "She's a real nice little thing," said his aunt; "but I mistrust how > I ^---^ x r '%i-V>:^j) 53, ^[iBs0f^-^^i&^ father brings her u^,^^- -.r )w ,AJ= ^_^,,s* On Garrett's inquiry "whaF thaF "rr^ay might be, practical, hard-work- ing Aunt Leila shook her head ■^^: ominously. ^ " You know her ma was a school- teacher," she began, " and had a lot of high-falutin' notions. Not ^(hsk mk^i^g^^^ poetry and all that ain't all right for them that have time for it, but you can't- run- a farm and moon over*" "^y poetry books at the same time, and "'^- Aurora's ma wa'n't never no help-;'^-;v! meet to her pa; it 's kind of a good thing she died, poor body, though'"" it does seem hard to say it. Now this little gal's got her ma's ways, ^r-^^^ all over ; and her pa, Jake Russell, is ]y);Ki that soft over the child, and tha^T^^ foolish about thinkin' mebbe farm lif ^ ij'/i;|(*ili was too hard for her ma, and, wore llfsMp ■" "Miiii 7,="-^"' KJ- 54 D I V IDE D mt don't make Aurora do a thing, — hires help to keep the house, and lets that young gal do as she pleases. Fortu- nately she 's a good child, and never does no harm. But that ain't the point, I say ! What is the point is what's goin' to become of that gal when her pa 's dead and gone, or when she 's married to some hard- -., ■•.; /I' ^sm^^Wi :- "'■ --S^,^:.?i^- 56 Diirii)M ^r AX. 1^ -^iM ?s44ag strung for the playing of plaintive little melodies out under the trees ^=^''S^'>*%I on warm, moonlit July nights; the^^,,^^}^ ^:' Sportsman's Standard" came into ^SS use, because, while one may not talk and catch trout, one may talk and fish for them, and, moreover, in circum- stances like these, one may be very still and yet very happy. The tennis got little use, however, and the dizzy high bicycle still less. And it wasll to be feared that those of Grarrett's ■*''^^^'J4^:, books to which he was giving most '-''*=^"-°'""° attention were not those familiarity with which makes for highest marks in a college examination. But there was none to chide, and few but the brook itself and the cows in the south meadow knew what was going ^,j„™, on under the shade of sycamores and ^S)'lilil''1^'{jfillow bushes by the, brook's brink. In August the inevitable hap]pened ; 7 #:■; ^llliltam^y had ^a;^ quarrel. I4ke paost serfc, -/v^i-Syi wi^ma^^ *^^r^- J, ( .--.i-V^" 57^ ''^'^A^, ji^iu-t"'-^ ' fe;,„ ous quarrels, it began in some abso- lutely unimportant trifle. They ha^^r£ agreed to meet by the brook on an August afternoon at three o'clock. - It was a torrid day, a day of sullen llillieat, — overhead a brazen sky, under- shot a baked, dry earth. At noon ' Aurora's father came in from the fields exhausted, seeing through a red mist and dizzy unto nausea. In A..M v^ W^i> Mit their seldom-used parlor, a northr^<;;:^v^j| room, the green shutters were tight- ' ' closed, only a faint ray of light strug- gling in through their crevices, and there Jake Russell laid him down on the horsehair sofa, with a cool, clean pillow under his giddy head, and cloths wrung out of cold well-water , ,, . ^,, laid on his forehead and at the base (t{l'n;\; 'rJmk 1=01 his brain.,, ,y,^i/:/' fiS To Auirora^ who came to him in alarm, he said there was nothing t9 p.,...h0',iaccoi .J^ .-...j_\:i,rz. |,'\'f)T?i h)i I must she venture out of the house ^_^^j''>;4jife. before sundown. Aurora had been an indulged child, but she had never learned disobedience therefrom, and three o'clock came and went, and she kept no tryst by the brook. — ^ The sun was no sooner dowh^ however, than she sped to the meet- ing place, hopeful that Garrett might have been detained at home by his uncle's counsel, and perchance be at the brook now. But he wasn't; nor was he there next morning, nor thaf^ afternoon, and poor little Au- rora's heart grew sicker and sicker ^ as the hours dragged by and he did not come. Perhaps he had been sunstruck, was her agonized thought. But a moment's reflection showed her that i| anything had happened to Garrett, t\u the fact would have been neighbor- ' hoo^ p,e-^js Jong ere this. ^^'mIM -^=^.>- ■«^-> i-^ir-nX.^'-'hx* I'll Another day, and another went by, and the girl went faithfully=t© ?ss jSjjj/a'i- ^m^ the brook twice ea«h day, and waited and waited, going home each tima throw herself on her bed and cry,'^^;^p lantil a whole week went by and the misery in her face smote even' her unobservant father with alarm. Questioned, she said there was noth-^'"'**^ ing the matter, but her father watched her eating with an anxious eye, ordered chicken broth for her, ^nd saw that she ate it, resting as content, when she did, as those^i*'' kindly souls ever do who act on the belief that there can be no real ill if eating be possible. Meanwhile, over at the Levering ^'Hlparm, a haughty boy nursed a griev- hadbeen hot that afterr |^|^%o(^t»^iMii^^ertaii:^ly ! "Who knew i^l% "■"^ •' ^!MM '^iiaii :he, who had toiled tWoil ^!§>^?' c ^%?- \f 4- ( ^ >^-7v-^ (m DIVIDE Jy^A sun to keep Ms tryst? She had but -^^1^: a few steps to come, down through W^ the shady orchard^and-^et she had^^^^^^^l^ ^Ig: kept -hint-there waiting, ^-.jwllole #^l^ liour and a half of oven heat, aug- " -rr---— — mented by his impatience to read to ^H-^:^~" her a sonnet he had composed to her "^""^--^ that morning. He considered it the ^^, finest thing he had ever done in ao'lk "■■''«; poetic way. Using a poet's Ucense tO;j|K|.„,,;;;;iii cover the anachronism, he acclaimed |^- Aurora as her : '.'Whose name the Dawn hath borrowed to express- Acme of dewy freshness." Hot, hurt, and very angry, Garre returned home. His first impulse, to'^' destroy the sonnet, was succeeded byf the sober second thought that a fine poem was worth all the girls in exist- ' ence. Suppose Keat^ had tortLthings^ up when Fanny Brawne irritated him ! Perish the thought ! But no. '^^!^'n-^- _^, ^^- E> it ID ED 61;} 2>-*£., . — it was not such a bad thought after^ all, for did it not lead to fte rBflectiofiF ow poets, in all times, ha"v^© suffered at the caprice of vain, -silly wQmeife| and thus, "cradled into poetry by ~ wrong," have "learned in suffering what they teach in song." This enduring indignities in grea|;^^ „ ^--^.^ company kept Garrett interested ancT^ "" " "^ busy, poetically busy, for a week, at the end of which time he was con-^^ fronted with an old, old need, — the need of some one to read his pas- sionate verses to. He considered Aunt Leila for the honor, but recalled what she thought of poetry for all but the strictly leisure class; he thought of Uncle \^ Amos, but knew him to be out of the ~t' ' question. Finally he thought of Aurora ! To tell the truth, the idiea of what posterity might think of his heart-broken verses did not move hinj. . ^| .2 # liiii -<<5»^7r if:x> 'I ri .<^i JJ'- CnAi^ 62 ^- ;■/-=■' I.MU to half the curiosity he felt to know what she would think of them whose light eagrice had_jcalied them into beingi. After -Sr-fiti-sJ^ "i.i.i.to eight interminable ctays;- therefore, he repaired to the brook, .^ and there, as he had confidently ex--- pected, he found Aurora, pale and red-eyed, and so very, very humble ' that he forgave her at once, though he had not meant to. Also, when she cried, he kissed her, which he had not meant to do either, and which, " . „ when it was done, so surprised and „v ^_'Ai' -i^ C^ ■ '^^^^~iZ. '"^W^v, __J cr r- ~^^-?;:-7— m DIVIDED "^•Mfe 63 A. ! -^ l^^feiier here in June, and on his speak- ! _^(^ mg of it, Aurora opened up her heart —-^==%r;^ ; "g^~ff^^about her poem. ----^iiiw- ^-^C [^ f^^^^^^^ \"I never could understand it," sl^^^^gSSfs ' ^~'=~r::_ ga,id, the tears shining in her brown "-"^"^ ^- '^^^ '^" eyes, "but now I do. It was a mis- ^-^.,,,^ ~-^t^ sAlu-i." understanding, — a little, little thing, at first, but neither of them would /»,, ,*s 'cross over' until it had grown so big *ii:^4-«*^ i|Emhey couldn't, and it was too late." sl;^,- -^'^i;'*#''" ^■•KiW. ■Mj^m^' V'ii 1 ,^^i 1 ^ .v c mi > hjM %. i? i c --si. -i;/ '"'^)"" "1 ..-^^^^ _^; v#^' ) is W'o^SiiL _.^ #WC]^«e0 ^ VFTER Garrett left that summer, ~^ " a divine discontent stirred the spirit of Aurora. " Pa," she had said to Jake Russell in May, "I wish we could have our ^^k l;:;-^ # house painted. I 'm ashamed to live if 'ff'' |; in such a shabby house." b^^f: And, " Well now, 'Rory," her father ;,.2^^.had replied, thoughtfully, "I dunno !;but we kin. What color would y' Sjfeylike it?" :«?j^»^' When Garrett was coming, her anxieties were all directed toward a better material showing. She had felt the defiant pride of the brown- stone house that towered into the,: sky.-- ■ ' , , ;:^ii Wheh he left, Aurora had well-nigh, Jvl')||ii % ~y- :.. k. 'v 68 \ DIVIDED 1>- plied, for Garrett's boastfulness had evolved from the prowess of his father and the height of his dwelling to things worlds-removed from the ma- terial. He confided to Aurora how little likely his people were to appre- ciate his determination to be a poet, and there came a noble dignity into his bearing when he spoke of the slings and arrows of outrageous fort- une that he expected to suffer in his ardent spirit, and the path of anguish that would doubtless be his path to fame. "^'^ "You must be my Mary Shelley, '1^^; Aurora," he had told her. And, #ith ''^' "''•''; eyes very round with awe and sym- pathy, Aurora promised that she j *illiSB?-- " Pa." she said to' Jake Russell, m Luifa_ '^^ |A^SM|K!''(iay after Garrett left, '^'"X' want to'go ""\ ^"-:^^ ^-^/-^ 'D m TWT 'yi h,, i ^C;^, through the school !" ^^==^=^="-^i --^^H^ ■!^ j£^^J^ " Oh, if^af: school [-"retorted Au- ^-^^Z ^i^iiil^J^ contemptuously, ' ' ^)^a^ ' s noth-^- - ":^-^^ .^_™^_^. . -J- ^gg^^ |.Q g^ ^^^ school, -' " JS ''"^■w..!^?^-'^®^® you get education. I want to _._^-^.<.£^ ^^^.^^'^"'''-'''-go to a Young Ladies' Seminary, Pa," ' '"^'"^cQ^^- i«^. and learn about gods and goddesses, , /v,,^.,..-''^ s^^ and somethmg called mythology. ' j^ss^r " Well, now, 'Rory, I dunno but ye kin," said Jake Russell ; " where 'd--.;^^^^ y' like to go?" > And Aurora never knew what that , >•,• |*';V;] drawling assent that seemed to come so easy cost the man whose idol she, . ;^;^C was. It was n't dismay of the physi- cal separation that laid so cold a clutch on Jake Russell's heart. It i||,irK'iiW//ii"' wasn't the silence of the old house^M )' he dreaded,rtj|l0 'efehoing emptiness '^^^ the little room under the eaves. He'^^ '^ could have borne that cheerfully, if x 1 •■^-<5^^( -x-=-^-- ^^i$^^" ^^ ~i 70 D I V it) tD '^*i-iiifa_ threatened him was the renewal of an old tragedy; yet it never occurred to him to fight fox his heart's de- mands ; it never occurred to him that there was anything for him to do but acquiesce. -~ To a Young Ladies' Seminary -® in Elmira, therefore, Aurora went, and there she learned a great deal ||}™^^ about gods and goddesses and some- thing called mythology, for she took what was called the classical course.. And if the teachers wondered at her avidity for Latin verbs and Greek fables, it was because they did not know of a boy in his freshman year at a great New England college, — a boy who wrote Odes and Elegiacs so full of classical allusions that it required the most downright " plug- ging ' ' to interpret them. Letters that year fluttered thick as leaves m Vallombrosa, but m June ^^lVm1'^/ 'A^]^k ^~ >} I, ^ r --^fe=;. n 71 ^. Garrett's oft-reiterated promise to summer at Overbrook was rescinded? He had fallen behind his class in mathematics (hatefulj unpoetic things ! ) and must summer where he ij^ r~J -i^^ould do " some tall tutoring," if he ^^^.«ijji.2r-^%buld enter on his sophomore year V j,.k .■■"''U.>- ' with his class. ^»---. n? Aurora cried herself to sleep every ..... (fv night for a week after the heart- p.,;:.. ,j,. breaking letter came. She thought ^ii^^,?:^ the long, weary weeks of the lonely ^ *'^''''^' "'^ '' of a great wistfulness and a &ym- -^^ pathy that was half brooding, wholly^-" :r<(^<, worshipful. Other girls exacled ■ Aurora paid tribute. So Aurora had^ no rival. :•; ' '^o-^^ ^:,^,^, In his junior vacation GarrettiCTwj? MnwI^^Jii';'!' went abroad, but he ran up to Overrl p1w/#M --virook at Easter-, and spent three ^) lays " seeing Unclei AiaaG%^L-Jt wagt'; jlfflMMfeM^ they became ehgagedj'^'"'':'' -' :|Si|f»,^ in mid- April that ^■^i^' BTi?1r;^€) 73^ ) A: ^ ~^!#' 'i-~ exceptionally warm weather whicli : \. '3^ April oftentinaes bringslto that part - - • '^fTt:;~."^r':":of the^ ^c^^ Bads unfolded al- ^ "^^^^piost as one watched them, and the r^:|^ ^"^"-'!!:;1" bushes along the brook in the south ->'^" ii-.!i ' jj..„^ »,,,"., And Aurora looked up into ms*^ Lit.!Ci."iT'ifa(Gie "with the serene look of one €1^ ' s^-who has never been gainsaid, and, replied: ' ' ' " I 'm going to marry Garrett as M j^(i|Soon as he gets a start in his Icareer." :^MM(ih&;->-^ake Russell was hot surprised, — j S77K>",v,llk . ^^^ not greatly, file had ex-':^ iiiiiiM;feim=aif w.fjf ., , \^r: ■''mm''''- IW P^imsemi9i^iJ^.,j.,,, M. '"^^jm L^i: •j-t-^'^T^i^ f 'f-^. r -jf A ^^4 ''%L ^. „_,^ri/i^^ilat is his career? " lie asked "^" "^"^Aurora, politely. -:;_^^::^Er=:=^^-^= I It ED ■^ir'--^v=::;^- 75 )..M^ ,''_ answered Aurora, ier- Jake Russell said nothing for „,^^^^^^^^-^^^^ seconds. Then, laying a ^^fe»>-i^^— --rough, brown hand on Aurora's slim white one, he crushed it in an elo- ""^^^quent pressure. " I hope you '11 be almighty happy. ,j. little gal," was all he said. '^■■i^- Garrett kept silence touching his ^jiomantic hopes much longer than 'Aurora. He graduated with some ?.6clat, for he was class poet, and the ^p|(fS|)pofessors said encouraging things about his prospects in a literary way. Presumably they never impressed it on him that man cannot live by verse alone, and that poesy is not properly a profession, but a state of mind that need not be inimical to honest — -^ -— . .;=?i:=^ ^"^^S:-. '76 f ^■■^ - -.^..:::-_.— ^.i^-/- -^^^^' M" 'r^^~:^.Y' v-^. "'"',-- -'^^—^ -. -'■ \? ^ ' ■ ) DiTti >EI> «-"- ,;^ - -~iu>X Garrett had his starvation-in-an- ,, ^^ "^fjitie -Lperk)dj: K Balzac and the"""^"^^^''!^ lameiited^ Chatterton and others ^...-=*g.^;^^ ::;T!diose:_ names and sufferings "^ereyf-^jj^^i^^ "In those days, constantly on his "^^ 'S^^^ tongue. He had, too, his fateful,:!; t--'-^ — period of compromise when he con^ '■ -:;r.I^^^^^ sented .*5i-. »K5P' ^°'^^'*- ■ ~ "ForlifCj -. To work with one hand for the booksellersj^^ ■ ; .;4j|||>j While working with the other for himself^";'»|R.,...i;sii ^'* . ... And, contrary to his direful fore- "''"" boding, could find neither himseljF^^'* nor his art any whit the worse.-::s=:^i therefor. -'- ■'^fralSMiiJ During these days it may well hlSiSMK?^ believed, however, that, except in his W impassioned letters to Aurora (im- ff- jfe' piassioned with his sense of thei^i^^^i^ UtliQ complete, fundamental " wrohgness 4|-^)fe:i *'"|: ; ' of things " ) , he said little enough i|, ^e^""'"^' -V ,vi*-i= m ^"^n- "cS 77 ^ J) u fe^ia'tft'.-. _liAji,-i">- , — f — ""V?^ so little about the material as to be , c^^^ almost abnormal, yearned -tO;^sbia®^-!§i^^!Zr^ tbe attic and tbe crust (wbicli were ^^^^ fairly figurative, however), but de-r^- gs^^^- f erred to Garrett's assurance that it~^^^"°^ would be impossible. ; With her whole soul she longed- for him, — for the sound of his voice, the touches of his hands, the thrill ' of his presence. But if she was different from Jake Russell in many ,^ respects, she was like him in others, and she accepted what seemed to her the inevitable with quiet uncom- '-. plainingness. There were times when her great wistfulness for her boy lover was almost more than she could bear, and she would creep out to the south meadow and sit in the shade of the bushes by the brooksid^ #=-- ^ 78 ^^ri. V Dm WD "V- '^^jsj. 'l-- to (^oor chiM!)j she would lay her head on the grass and cry, — silently, not bitterly nor rebelliously, but::!'^^ ^_^with a piteous loneliness. T^^^p She read Keats and Shelley more "^Jf^~ in those days than Jean Ingelow and Longfellow, but the poem about the brook was always, for its associ- ations, very dear to her, and its sytH'^l holism was rich in satisfyingness ; ifi" ;/ ■-■^-/^ f'h'^^iSi'- li^-d something in it for almost every .-js,....: /^;>^' lonely mood. ^.^i-^.-, ^"^ 'r^|^4.«''T| : V Sometimes she thought it was the:^ ^Vi5*5-|~ necessity of bread- winning, — the^ ^ii'^mi^' curse imposed at Eden's barred and'" 'w^WaL guarded gate, — that tore men away from the women whose hands they had clasped in the flower-starred^ meadows of youth. And sometimes she told herself th^^t the dividingf stream was a stream of caste, of small account in childhood, but im- %^'i.fc 79 .a Mik ^l^r-^^* always love overcame fear, and she returned to her belief tliat across - rsii^'^^" tlie spaces of conntry and caste and f^A^}-^^ the "world-old separation of the Curse, 'Z. she had tight hold of his hand, and, M4ius^^"; so holding it in all despite, would ^ ,^»fe^^~ live and die. ;^^p, ^ She taught the country school at ^' '■ rt<^"*^®^^^o^^ i^ those years of waiting, ||,;'-;, (1;; and it was their plan that Garrett %;}-:y-i^f should spend his fortnight's vacation ^):« ■%>] li^^5^ at his Uncle Amos' s each year. But l^i:^^ it is easier to plan, God knows, than ;»i^t^/)v> ^Q accomplish. The summer after his j«^|^pf graduation Grarrett was left father- ifc)/' : 1^ it was out of the question '>'■,,, r that he should desert his mother in iti; the poignancy of her fresh grief to idle away the bright, sad days at Overbroo-k5^-,/;^,-/-i;:^ <^. He ran "up the following ^^"^ Miii\iM% :,, Year's and spent the day with her, |Ali«it •m iC ST Q 80 BIVlBEb jealize that he had really been with-2;#'li^ ^Eef safe^^^t&he always was, in her dreams.-— ^, . -.-After various efforts to dispose of poetic dramas and narratives in blank verse to the magazines, Garrett„j^ had adjusted himself, though not '""'""^- without bitterness, to the demands of a prosaic time and race, and whittled ^)i>, industriously at articles on social ' reform and kindred topics. The adjustment hurt Aurora more I than it had hurt him. She resented, both for herself and for him, the^ world's refusal to receive him, on his own terms, with open arms. But social reform was in the air (as it usually is, in one shape or another). iiliiPli^. and if Garrett could not get the ■public to hearken to his reform Utterances when h6 spoke in verse, as Shelley had spoken, he could gather hearers a-plenty, he found, ■=^'--%s-^,_ when he set forth the same ideas in story iovm..^^^^?s=^~'':i:z=£E^^^^^^^^^'^ It would seem as if the very best youth that can go into the making of a potent maturity must be com- ,^^^^ -pounded of wild flights of fancy, un- fi^i-'-j--'- "^ammelled desire, and the unabashed 5 \> ^^^^r^ -""i::^*? fw-f:^!"'! bombast of expectation that tran- scends the bounds of mere hope. One must, while the soaring power is strong, go up very, very high, in order that when one "settles down" the settling may not reach too low a level. ^ . Grarrett had been an absurdly natural, ingenuous youth, and he be- came, in due process of shaking up and settling down, something more than a dull, feebly-aspiring man. He "li'/ll i ^ ■'''"' succeeded. He had enthusiasm, and the world loves enthusiasm, — if it can understand it. And he had self-confidence, and the t^oyJ^ love?^ 'mi— C"82 i>iti -r-^ri^ f -i| it be tactful]^ ■^.'MJA^i^r ^::^ ^v'i^s! ,^'-' ^■-OiJ,.' self -confidences ^^n^ealedc-:^^ Garret's first feook gained him ^-^^'^-"^ ^recognition among the few who dis- cern keenly ; his second gained him a fame among the many who acclaim loudly. His third book made him a full-fledged celebrity. Aurora, teaching and longing at Overbrook, received from him bundles •}!)) of newspaper clippings in which his l\ work was extolled, and gloried in ^.'^3^5; them so that she tried not to re- ,~^ member that the letters enclosing ^'^^ them were oftentimes hurried and ^j?f^^=) scant. 5)j'!''^k There was nothing niggardly in the " ' "*'"^ letters she wrote Q-arrett. She never k r«^ ^, M«u£g. -.dreamed it, and he was not aware of kXl ' -f!^^^^(so gradually had Ai;rpra developed, ^/j in his knowledge of her), but they were really wonderful letters, — the o^ripg pi a woman's,, heart such W^^mm^ ^W' y-^iS^ ^^. _Ji r\^' > -^-= "SF jr ^tiXwkTi 1 83]) '-^^^ - r as it is seldom, a BQyas's^griYi^^^^ receive. ,A.iif ■= _^"rLir°;:^ Poetry had never- tilted fetilely ^jj^ against practicality in Aurora's lifef -^^«^ Such practicality as she knew was ij _ ^uite mechanical, and no more inter- ^- fered with her poetry than breathing mterferes with love. She lived in a, ,_ .^, :-'-|,...i - world of the spirit, and her feet''' '!';f:J- touched the homely, familiar earth 5^. unconsciously. She read, not widely ^^^^^^ but searchingly, not so much with , intelligence ^« with passion, and she dreamed exceedingly, without' bounds. mim: mm >,,'^,In G-arrett's presence, on the few '^fecasions when he was able to be with her for a hurried visit, she was ^J} constrained in the greatness of her ,!-ffli(.>L'('}/| joy. It was when he was away fxom?^^0ll^j{ =;^Mk^ her and she sat in her schoolroom, fl after the children were gone, or in; |,,„ ,^ ity, her little room , at flhome under the Vf ji'- ISPiMi '>IiS: .^. fW 84 DIVIDED eaves, and poured out her heart tq him on paper, that she came neari^sf to satisfying him. ~ ""^^-^^^C:^^ r He would have missed her letters sorely; her bodily presence he had learned to do without. Thus it came about that, dependent as he was on her in a way, Grarrett had never been impelled to make sacrifices to have her constantly by him. .5, It was sweet to think of the girl up in the country who loved him and. revered him and followed his every- move toward his goal with burning, eager interest. It was sweet to get ','.'/ i^^ 1)1,4' her impassioned letters, full of unJ)£.,|^^iilte conscious beauty. It was sweet to ^.^ despatch her the first copy obtain- able of each of his books ; to inscribe them, "To her who lias helped me most of all," and to i'nbw that she 1 gloriecl inore in that inscription than i|n any other the world could have !J^#J5lw^ 3 written over agaiiist lier name. tliese were sweet/Tbut Ms life wa^ ^ very full. On« cannot serve two gUiT^-^^^asters at any time, but least of -all ^^sss:.- if one of them be Success. " '"tt^. .tt^Ja^jt ■\^^p^y^^»^tlr^^ia.\ "K^-'-i' ~.-^' -^Z- '"^'^S^ :;t" Tbere was never any hint of re- ^i^roach in Aurora's letters, nor in- her manner when he saw her, — never any hint that the waiting waS' weary to her, that she felt her youth slipping by, — the years when she should have come into her kingdom of home and wifehood and mother- hood. She never upbraided him -when he broke his engagements with her to keep others that seemed more demanding to a man whose face was set determinedly toward success. And so the y^ars went by, — wit incredible swi:f1^ness to the man iji the hurly-burly of tens^,. vnerva-'^illlife ^^WiSSIPPSiS^^ "K: JL V 86 DIVIDED -^4 ^^^x^ Wi t Ae&s to the woman in the farmhouse ^^^jiisii^x at Overbrook. "=!sSa^x-_ ^^-■^~ ,,.-,-y^'- For two years Garrett Levering "!:^!-^,^ had not been to Overbrook. He ^^^^^3" was working as no slave ever worked, ''''^^^^^ he told her, — working on a book ^-^^"'^g^ that was to be far and away superior '^''"^"tfa..^^ to anything he had yet done. Every hour he could get from bread-win- ning went into the book. When it was finished, they would celebrate in long days by the brook in the south meadow, he told her. When ' Jj^ it was finished, he would give him- self a real vacation, would rest on his oars awhile, and see how far the momentum of these straining strokes would carry him. She must excuse his hurried letters, — he felt that every pen-stroke of which he was capable should go into the book. She must forgive him for forgetting to send her a birthday remembrance, 4 h mi^ =:s An. r ^%?- -=1^ bT^¥tl5l]D 8T /''^^^ — h©<^adn't tojfn a p^ge off Ms calendar pad in weeksr^^-^i^iii-^^ss^^^ She excused, she forgave, she con- doned neglect and overlooked the grinning grimaces of the monster, Self-Absorption. And she counted 4he weeks until the approximate time he had set for the book's completion. ^^^. - "In six weeks I'll come," he wrote her; and then, "You majf^ expect me in about three weeks;" and thgDrr — "I don't know what you 'ir think ^ .of me, Aurora dear, but I 've con- tacted for another book to be de- livered not later than six months from now. I did n't mean to do it, — IP^didn't want to, really; but the :4|=offer ca,me„uns,oiIicited, and it was so flattering Ii4i''.i),.,-,»».-mr-*'''' Later, when the lights in all'lhe' •?! „,;: houses in Overbrook had gone out, a -/ t ' " lamp burned in the little room that *j^i|^ had seen so much of the travail, as-' ""'^ child and woman, of a loving heart. , ,, Still there was no reproach in the letter, — only sorrow. "You may remember," she wrote, ''mwf^^l''f'(| " ^^® poem of Jean Ingelow's I have ,^ffifeS&.often spoken of to you. I can't get out of my mind '|]q*night. I used II' to' think it was a quajrel tha.t divided IM'; them', t ij^ia^ I don't think So 'now; the ^ V f c> ■■-■-3 Di^YlET 3) js^&iiv-:^^^^-^^^^^ I us^d to think it might ^' / D 89 .-Cl "Be caste, social differencBs, an eve^rij •?Ss^^-f^ y idsning inequality of means or mind; but I don't think so now, for if the books, which are all my world," ^^^^^^-cittapeak the truth, love is greater than '^"""*'%iese: I think it was a career, dear. I think she helped him find it, when lliey were both young and light- miiiearted and thought only of how "''"" phey would journey into the greats .world by its winding flow, and never breamed how, presently, it would divide them, and how, always, it would widen the breach between ihero, from thenceforth. I don't l,]Q;^, now, why they don't go back ^lien they see that they must let go 'each other's hands to follow farther, or why; one ,o|//them does not cross ^^rv^r. Bl^f t'g^ there's no goiii?.g ack alqiigpthe way we 've ,(?pme ;^ I ess it'p ||jB law, pf,. IMS il^^t , W^, . n^ y/ ^vtipS ~~r' DITI D have to keep dn in the way our feet _^^jM/^^_ are set, and there 's no crossing over, ""^"^^ip" '"^^',^^ — eaolt^o his xnwa. side, with the , \;^^^f^=^; - stream between ; first, kisses thrown SJzT "'""^^'- across, then calls of mutual reassur- __ ' ance, then only signals of remeni- i:i!;ii-==-^'^, '^jX^oS>^'~i)rance, then nothing, — void, silence^ '"Sw^^, '"- r ,(N ^^® sunshine on the broad bosom of *f€^ --*«^!|J|i'5^'^^ the river, cowslips giving place to V"^-''^^'*' i .1 cities on its brim, the current thread- 'Hfft , i .^ ^^ ing the mazes of commerce instead of the long, sweet grasses of the meadows, and by and by the ocea,n, the illimitable, the end, — and not even the faint flutter of a far, white ^ handkerchief discernible when toeip^^psk' puts out to sea. To-night, dear, as|^^ I knelt by the window of my little^: room and looked out, out, out ini lancy over the broad earth, andy th,en up at the kindly Stars, above, it I ,^,|i seemed t9 me that the> w mustvlf :;:||iii|:::]be'fuiiQf i^^ aM woi%.who h^e^^iiJM '1^ v^' "^T^'iMb 91 ^, ^^suffered this great, universal anguish, _ ^j- = "tliis letting-go of hands^-Cirifiand^ oh^ ^^^-;; ^dearest, your signals are -already growing faint. I ■ can no longe^g^^^^g touch your ihand across the little ^^"^^ Stream. I can hardly hear your old familiar voice. The cowslips are far, far behind, the masts and spires of the city loom in the near pros- pect; beyond them is the ocean! I know you'll be angry, I know<^ you '11 call me blind, foolish, selfish; nut, oh, I wish we 'd never left the meadows; I wish we 'd never let go hands; I wish there were no river, > city of masts and spires ! " . . . Shortly after noon the next day, ake Russell walked into the little ©ffice where Qai-rett Levering di^gg£4| his writing, ^nd laid a letter on the '.jj desk where sheets of Garrptt'ii nemi/ book ' •-^ -•^^^ f t \J 92 DTvi D^ETD — i v- ■^s!» ^:':.. " 'Rory 's sick," said the older man, abruptly f "she was took in the night, and I found that letter, ad- "rsri^i . -. dressed to you, in her room. I'vel^ read it," he finished and waited. 'l"^ Garrett read the letter, then laid -^ his head in his arms, folded on his ■ desk, and wept. The hard lines about Jake Russell's mouth broke, and his lips twitched as he laid a rough hand T7> *^S--^- ^^ ^^® youiig man's shoulder. *P$>^;vfc " Thank God fer givin' you this 1fM-''''tf:'" ' ^^^^ notice," he said; "not many of S^ us git it." "^ t|jpi>r:Lv And late that night Garrett crept ||)|ll(i(,/,,'>' up to the little room under the eaves ra|'llf'iy^Xj^^ where Aurora lay, spent with the ''J^k\^^MII< spirit's weariness, and bent over her and whispered, " Give me your hand to hold, my dear, — till death do us part." firs^^t? ■f^i. k^¥lu iV'ghj, — - -IS j^^^^j::!^: "1-7 ' , - - / ) )M \ I :5i ^ p^j^i ■Jf^" 4 .'..--, ^ ^^W -^ ^i K. '1 ^^^ ->k/ J 1 ^*^'/ ^^>^V]I/ 4!. ,^™__ r r^^-->fe^ J .-^'*. / -' lor." '^S^^ f: D .1 yM/ fif ' V/i' r I 1 ^".^-fe^-;.- '^:r:.rt ■> ^ L^. \ 'IS m.^ >^^'. 4/-}^ ^^ -- ^«;^ ~r ^ ^*^''^SiI^i.i 4f ^"^ '' '■l''^^, ■' w ^. r ^'X *^,.-*i', ^ l.^ Pi ~>t ,^%>-S:-::r .// w4- !)" ^ V ) ^ 4^^ .^^^''