WOOING AND WEDDING.
Harry's vacation had been very pleasant. Miss Delany, with her fine
conversational powers and ready wit, had added much to his enjoyment.
Robert had given his mother the pleasantest room in the house, and in
the evening the family would gather around her, tell her the news of the
day, read to her from the Bible, join with her in thanksgiving for
mercies received and in prayer for protection through the night. Harry
was very grateful to Dr. Latimer for the kindly interest he had shown in
accompanying Miss Delany and himself to places of interest and
amusement. He was grateful, too, that in the city of P---- doors were
open to them which were barred against them in the South.
The bright, beautiful days of summer were gliding into autumn, with its
glorious wealth of foliage, and the time was approaching for the
departure of Harry and Miss Delany to their respective schools, when Dr.
Latimer received several letters from North Carolina, urging him to come
South, as physicians were greatly needed there. Although his practice
was lucrative in the city of P----, he resolved he would go where his
services were most needed.
A few evenings before he started he called at the house, and made an
engagement to drive Iola to the park.
At the time appointed he drove up to the door in his fine equipage.
Iola stepped gracefully in and sat quietly by his side to enjoy the
loveliness of the scenery and the gorgeous grandeur of the setting sun.
"I expect to go South," said Dr. Latimer, as he drove slowly along.
"Ah, indeed," said Iola, assuming an air of interest, while a shadow
flitted over her face. "Where do you expect to pitch your tent?"
"In the city of C----, North Carolina," he answered.
"Oh, I wish," she exclaimed, "that you were going to Georgia, where you
could take care of that high-spirited brother of mine."
"I suppose if he were to hear you he would laugh, and say that he could
take care of himself. But I know a better plan than that."
"What is it?" asked Iola, innocently.
"That you will commit yourself, instead of your brother, to my care."
"Oh, dear," replied Iola, drawing a long breath. "What would mamma say?"
"That she would willingly resign you, I hope."
"And what would grandma and Uncle Robert say?" again asked Iola.
"That they would cheerfully acquiesce. Now, what would I say if they all
consent?"
"I don't know," modestly responded Iola.
"Well," replied Dr. Latimer, "I would say:--
"Could deeds my love discover,
Could valor gain thy charms,
To prove myself thy lover
I'd face a world in arms."
"And prove a good soldier," added Iola, smiling, "when there is no
battle to fight."
"Iola, I am in earnest," said Dr. Latimer, passionately. "In the work to
which I am devoted every burden will be lighter, every path smoother, if
brightened and blessed with your companionship."
A sober expression swept over Iola's face, and, dropping her eyes, she
said: "I must have time to think."
Quietly they rode along the river bank until Dr. Latimer broke the
silence by saying:--
"Miss Iola, I think that you brood too much over the condition of our
people."
"Perhaps I do," she replied, "but they never burn a man in the South
that they do not kindle a fire around my soul."
"I am afraid," replied Dr. Latimer, "that you will grow morbid and
nervous. Most of our people take life easily--why shouldn't you?"
"Because," she answered, "I can see breakers ahead which they do not."
"Oh, give yourself no uneasiness. They will catch the fret and fever of
the nineteenth century soon enough. I have heard several of our
ministers say that it is chiefly men of disreputable characters who are
made the subjects of violence and lynch-law."
"Suppose it is so," responded Iola, feelingly. "If these men believe in
eternal punishment they ought to feel a greater concern for the wretched
sinner who is hurried out of time with all his sins upon his head, than
for the godly man who passes through violence to endless rest."
"That is true; and I am not counseling you to be selfish; but, Miss
Iola, had you not better look out for yourself?"
"Thank you, Doctor, I am feeling quite well."
"I know it, but your devotion to study and work is too intense," he
replied.
"I am preparing to teach, and must spend my leisure time in study. Mr.
Cloten is an excellent employer, and treats his employés as if they had
hearts as well as hands. But to be an expert accountant is not the best
use to which I can put my life."
"As a teacher you will need strong health and calm nerves. You had
better let me prescribe for you. You need," he added, with a merry
twinkle in his eyes, "change of air, change of scene, and change of
name."
"Well, Doctor," said Iola, laughing, "that is the newest nostrum out.
Had you not better apply for a patent?"
"Oh," replied Dr. Latimer, with affected gravity, "you know you must
have unlimited faith in your physician."
"So you wish me to try the faith cure?" asked Iola, laughing.
"Yes, faith in me," responded Dr. Latimer, seriously.
"Oh, here we are at home!" exclaimed Iola. "This has been a glorious
evening, Doctor. I am indebted to you for a great pleasure. I am
extremely grateful."
"You are perfectly welcome," replied Dr. Latimer. "The pleasure has been
mutual, I assure you."
"Will you not come in?" asked Iola.
Tying his horse, he accompanied Iola into the parlor. Seating himself
near her, he poured into her ears words eloquent with love and
tenderness.
"Iola," he said, "I am not an adept in courtly phrases. I am a plain
man, who believes in love and truth. In asking you to share my lot, I am
not inviting you to a life of ease and luxury, for year after year I may
have to struggle to keep the wolf from the door, but your presence would
make my home one of the brightest spots on earth, and one of the fairest
types of heaven. Am I presumptuous in hoping that your love will become
the crowning joy of my life?"
His words were more than a tender strain wooing her to love and
happiness, they were a clarion call to a life of high and holy worth, a
call which found a response in her heart. Her hand lay limp in his. She
did not withdraw it, but, raising her lustrous eyes to his, she softly
answered: "Frank, I love you."
After he had gone, Iola sat by the window, gazing at the splendid stars,
her heart quietly throbbing with a delicious sense of joy and love. She
had admired Dr. Gresham and, had there been no barrier in her way, she
might have learned to love him; but Dr. Latimer had grown irresistibly
upon her heart. There were depths in her nature that Dr. Gresham had
never fathomed; aspirations in her soul with which he had never mingled.
But as the waves leap up to the strand, so her soul went out to Dr.
Latimer. Between their lives were no impeding barriers, no inclination
impelling one way and duty compelling another. Kindred hopes and tastes
had knit their hearts; grand and noble purposes were lighting up their
lives; and they esteemed it a blessed privilege to stand on the
threshold of a new era and labor for those who had passed from the old
oligarchy of slavery into the new commonwealth of freedom.
On the next evening, Dr. Latimer rang the bell and was answered by
Harry, who ushered him into the parlor, and then came back to the
sitting-room, saying, "Iola, Dr. Latimer has called to see you."
"Has he?" answered Iola, a glad light coming into her eyes. "Come,
Lucille, let us go into the parlor."
"Oh, no," interposed Harry, shrugging his shoulders and catching
Lucille's hand. "He didn't ask for you. When we went to the concert we
were told three's a crowd. And I say one good turn deserves another."
"Oh, Harry, you are so full of nonsense. Let Lucille go!" said Iola.
"Indeed I will not. I want to have a good time as well as you," said
Harry.
"Oh, you're the most nonsensical man I know," interposed Miss Delany.
Yet she stayed with Harry.
"You're looking very bright and happy," said Dr. Latimer to Iola, as she
entered.
"My ride in the park was so refreshing! I enjoyed it so much! The day
was so lovely, the air delicious, the birds sang so sweetly, and the
sunset was so magnificent."
"I am glad of it. Why, Iola, your home is so happy your heart should be
as light as a school-girl's."
"Doctor," she replied, "I must be prematurely old. I have scarcely known
what it is to be light-hearted since my father's death."
"I know it, darling," he answered, seating himself beside her, and
drawing her to him. "You have been tried in the fire, but are you not
better for the crucial test?"
"Doctor," she replied, "as we rode along yesterday, mingling with the
sunshine of the present came the shadows of the past. I was thinking of
the bright, joyous days of my girlhood, when I defended slavery, and of
how the cup that I would have pressed to the lips of others was forced
to my own. Yet, in looking over the mournful past, I would not change
the Iola of then for the Iola of now."
"Yes," responded Dr. Latimer, musingly,
"'Darkness shows us worlds of light
We never saw by day.'"
"Oh, Doctor, you cannot conceive what it must have been to be hurled
from a home of love and light into the dark abyss of slavery; to be
compelled to take your place among a people you have learned to look
upon as inferiors and social outcasts; to be in the power of men whose
presence would fill you with horror and loathing, and to know that there
is no earthly power to protect you from the highest insults which brutal
cowardice could shower upon you. I am so glad that no other woman of my
race will suffer as I have done."
The flush deepened on her face, a mournful splendor beamed from her
beautiful eyes, into which the tears had slowly gathered.
"Darling," he said, his voice vibrating with mingled feelings of
tenderness and resentment, "you must forget the sad past. You are like a
tender lamb snatched from the jaws of a hungry wolf, but who still needs
protecting, loving care. But it must have been terrible," he added, in a
painful tone.
"It was indeed! For awhile I was like one dazed. I tried to pray, but
the heavens seemed brass over my head. I was wild with agony, and had I
not been placed under conditions which roused all the resistance of my
soul, I would have lost my reason."
"Was it not a mistake to have kept you ignorant of your colored blood?"
"It was the great mistake of my father's life, but dear papa knew
something of the cruel, crushing power of caste; and he tried to shield
us from it."
"Yes, yes," replied Dr. Latimer, thoughtfully, "in trying to shield you
from pain he plunged you into deeper suffering."
"I never blame him, because I know he did it for the best. Had he lived
he would have taken us to France, where I should have had a life of
careless ease and pleasure. But now my life has a much grander
significance than it would have had under such conditions. Fearful as
the awakening was, it was better than to have slept through life."
"Best for you and best for me," said Dr. Latimer. "There are souls that
never awaken; but if they miss the deepest pain they also lose the
highest joy."
Dr. Latimer went South, after his engagement, and through his medical
skill and agreeable manners became very successful in his practice. In
the following summer, he built a cosy home for the reception of his
bride, and came North, where, with Harry and Miss Delany as attendants,
he was married to Iola, amid a pleasant gathering of friends, by Rev.
Carmicle.