[CWtobet sa, 188*.] ■
ALL THE YEAB BOUm>.
deetoKtiTe modelling in d&j, stamped
■ established them as something dearer to each other tiian mere friends can ever b&
leather work (cnir-bonilli), and moiaic
■
Maurice had once or twice in hla lif e
setting; bat it ii needless to go thtongh them here.
■ been mildly "spooney," but never abio-
Other advantages, besides that of giving
lately in love before. Consequently, he
employment to the onemployed, would
was not an adept at love-makin||, and he remained quite silent while Eveline knelt
proceed irom the practice of each arts as these; for there is a moral education in
at bis side, and, drawing his bead upon her shoulder, smoothed his fair hair,
each eystematic labour, and the faculties are sharpened in the vork. The eye is tanght to observe, and the hand is that of
caressing uid comforting him as thoi^ he had been a tired child. For each was
a good handiciaftsmaa Every piece of
innocently deceiving the other.
work, it most not be foi^tten, is no
■
She thought that he was a boy of
phenomenon, bat the embodiment of an
seventeen; he thought that he was to
idea, the result of a train of thought ; and,
risk his life the next morning ; and these delusions made them both more tender
if the fingeni are trained in producing it, the mind also is strengthened and rendered
and more demonstrative than they would otherwise have been.
sdf-reliant by the exercise, and by witnewing the visible creation of the shapes it
■
At length Eveline, with a pang of self- reproach, remembered poor Miss McIntyre waiting for her supper, and, slipping her arm in Maurice's, she took him to the
has conceived. If, then, we can picture
to ourselves a state of rural society in
which co-operative guilds, established by
the peasantry throoghont the country,
dining-room, to find the worthy little Udy
•honld encourage locaJ talent, should de-
asleep over the £ra She woke to see the
velop the resonrces of districts, and create
two standing before her arm-in-arm, a
arts and trades springing naturally from
handsome pair snrely : he, with hit bwi-
the capabilities and prodacta of the soil,
ttfiil boyish face ; she, with her delicate
we ahul see what a large part such in-
loveliness set off by the richnees of her
dustries may have in the village economy
dress. Both were m a smiling, ecstatic
of the future. They would give a great
state, which puzzled Miss Mclntyre at first
idace to the work of women ; they would be an occupation to the labourer entirely different from the continued round of land
■
Then they all had snpper. Maurioe was in general extremely particular as to
tilling, and, therefore, a healthful change, which would relieve him from the preesnre
the quality of hie meals; to-night, however, ambrosia would have been wasted
of absolttte ot occasional want ; and they
upon him, as bread and batter woold have
woold help to knit together the interests
tasted ombrosiat He found himself always
of the roru community. Thns Village In-
with his eyes fixed on Eveline, in those rest-
dnxtries may be commended to the conside-
ful, protracted looks which only a lover can
ration of social economists and political
give, and years forwards he remembered
reformers as a healthy and natural soluticn
her as he saw her then, seeing her, as it ■ appeared to him, for the first time, with
of a growing difBcult^.
the creamy tints of her fair face flushed, and her brown eyes shining with a won■ derful faappineBB. She sat in a high-
LOST IN THE VALLEY.
backed carved oak chair, the dark frame of which, and the sombre tapestry beyond, dimly lighted by the pink candles, formed OHAFTKS VIII.
■
a periect background for her shimmering gown of sea-green damask, and for the
That was the happiest evening of Maurice's life. EUs natural reserve and
diamonds sparklmg in her red-brown hur.
diffidence were so strong that, but for the
again, and for the first time in his life he
fact that he believed this to be probably
felt an unaccountable longing to throw
hii last meeting with her, and that in
down his knif a and fork and, r^rdless of
truth he was not thinking of Eveline
Miss Mclntyre and HSUue, to fling himself at Eveline's feet, and cover her delicate white hands with kisses. But the
Douglaa at all, but of his mother, he would never have indulged in the sudden ontbnrst of affection that broke down the barrier of friendship between them, and
■
Maurice looked at her, and looked
only outward effect this feeling produced ■ was to reduce him to absolute sDence,
■
