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CONSTANCY MISPLACED. 81
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
•The Pastor Replied: " Dear Elise, I Wil...
was correct , that two honest hearts "who pursue the same path must live happily togethertime must show . It is always a hazardous
, experiment to effect a union in the confidence that love will come afterwards ; it has failed many a time .
Stern had not a very bright courtship ; Elise had too often to struggle against her _repentingsag-ainst what she called the
unfaithfulness of her heart . The , fine heroic form of the ideal of her youth arose beside the earnestsimple figure of the Pastor ;
, a dead rival is always more dangerous than a living one ; for the female heart easily forgets the faults and frailties of the absent
one . The contrast in outward appearance quieted Elise a little . A friend , coming after her lover ; there was less unfaithfulness
in that . Stern bore her changing humours patiently ; he was often absent in his new parish , and in written correspondence
their intercourse went on more smoothly . It is often easy in youthwhen the heart is self-confidentand but little acquainted
with , itselfto express the feelings in , letters and diaries under the most beautiful , and noble garb . In this way the resignation
of Elise , the pure esteem , the steady friendship which she intended to bestow upon her future husband , looked very attractive
upon paper , and was all honestly intended . Out of her own strength , out of the depths of her own soul , she expected to form
the quiet harmonious life which she pictured to herself . Joyless herselfshe intended to pass patiently through life , a beneficent ,
joy-dispensing , angel , until at the door of Heaven she should be welcomed by the glorified young hero , who alone possessed her heart .
Such was the belief which she had brought herself to : it was the bargain she had made with Providence ; since the destruction of the
dearest hopes of her heart , she fancied herself entitled to demand a lorious Eternity as the recompense of her impoverished life on
g earth ; she thought not of the words , " From him who hath not shall be taken even that which he hath . "
Elise had not entered upon married life the stony Niobe who now chilled the happiness of her household . She had then a
sincere desire to make her husband happy , so far as she could ; and when he led her into the rooms of her new home , where the
hand of her mother had arranged everything for them , when he implored her to confide in his love , and to believe in the possibility
of a happy future , she looked at him with inward confidence in her lanceand said out of a full heart" All will go well . "
g Stern , and Elise had wished that , her mother should share their homebut the good old lady thought it better to leave the young
, people to themselves , and retained her former dwelling , which was not distant from them . The liberty of ordering and
arranging in very her own household , the as yet light cares of housekeeping , the child-like interest of her husband in all the family arrangements ,
his _apxDrobation and admiration of everything that his wife did ,
Constancy Misplaced. 81
CONSTANCY _MISPLACED . 81
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1863, page 81, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041863/page/9/
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