The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 18, 1900, Page 4

1er at sharg browr too delicate for a rope 1 " o true prophet When I sa at Mer s a natural woman I mean wh or g r evil. See her leaning her 1 g s from Sir Walter’s cor people i £ of e ers—a guess at once the salient ze . capable of great seli es, but not iplace oi ng mez s has i all that the best worst among ized men have developed separ- —except one th an tise to e depths what he ndid heig ©f crueity and shame; but all is momentary; ned feel for good or otion, sw can she can or persistently any- ge name she is not a gipsy. At unknown nieys live 1ssociated with gypsies d poachers om her childhood upward. She can even “patter Rommany” a little, though only as an outsider; but her people have long been settled in this district. and if ever they were members of the Stanley clan, have forgotten it long ago in all save their surname. As to her fantastic Christian ne, Meriel, that came to her from an aunt, who inherited it in turn from five genera female ancestors. Meriel was christened by that name, though 1e clergyman who baptized her tried hard to modernize Igarize it into Muriel; but the mother stood up t gainst such new-fangled nonsen ““Twas al- ways Meriel with the Stanleys and the Tibbalds,” she t pride of race, “ever since I heard tell of maid shall be Meriel, passon will it or passon nill it.” And Meriel she was from that day onward. It may surprise you to learn that Meriel was ever ck ed at all; for whe he was a bairn the nearest church to Greydown was at Upton Parva, seven long miles across the moor as the crow flies; and the people of Greydown in those days recked little in most ways of churches and T “They were a barbarous folk up here, zur,” Meriel’s father said to me one day, in a rare burst of loquaciousness, for he is a silent man. “I de suppose vou'd 'a found a more barbarous fol anywheres in England, go forty years back, than the Greydown people And he was quite right. The hill itself stands mainly in Dorset, but it lies at the upper d of three river valleys, and at the junction of three shires: so for ages it was the refuge of all the gypsies. the horse-copers, the sheep-stealers, the poachers, the cellaneous riff-raff and outlaws of the neighborhood. Nowadays their descendants for the most part are hon- estly occupied in broom-making and basket-weaving: but they do not take readily to steady labor, preferring to be free and to be their own masters—a natural taste which T confess T share with them. Nevertheless, even in their worst days of barbarism, the Grevdowners al- ways christened their children in church, and were mar- ried by parson—not that they attached much religious h e iel has true importance to the rite In either case, but they liked the uncensured with a mere policeman. And the young po- importance of it; that was the regular authorized way liceman himself was not likely to care for so disreput- graceful country awkwardness. Still, he ght of doing things, and they would wish the settled folk able a connection. In the essence of things, it is true, "a knowing c " and told her so sometimes el's ™9 down yonder at Upton to know that the Greydowners Meriel was as far above him as a poetess is above an brown cheek ‘l:Q;ed rv:d‘:nmz:sz\.l the russet at s praise from hero's lips. Any ordinary young city man; but the essence of things, I fear, counts for little or nothing in matrimonial matters Meriel had to give up her stalwart policeman and con- sole herself later on with Ted Vaughan himself, when that noble young savage came ga: out of prison. But every man and every woman has one great love were every bit as good Christians any day as they were. Because you are a broomsquire, that is no valid reason f'l you shouldn’t behave like other civilized gentle- olk. “Then you really were christened, Meriel?” I said to her once, interrogatively. And she answered, would have known as they nall rabbits laughing, “Yes, I was christened all right, z ind after many lesser trial trips Meriel ) don’t suppose it took.” And I think she was' right. for h t in Joe Arundel, the po: p a verier pagan than Meriel Stanley it would be hard to h; but I can tell you an affection e 2 light upon. As a girl she grew up on this high moor s is no laughing matter; the fact that sh ed land, running about shoeless and stockingless among could ide: great hulking rowdy and bully like Jo I the gorse and heather, and trapping leverets, and is in itself g prooi of the woman’s deep poetic na browning her shapely legs with paddling in the ponds ture. ( of d d t after newts and tadpoles. To this day she can ti brood a pre ch as Greydow trout against any man in Dorsetshire. Her father’ 1ys feels for the r urag e w tage lay among tall bracken in a valley of bot Do you r r Homer’s in the g below the gibbet—that gibbet on which the m e true tyy oned Meri of the warfaring w ere hung in chair ver grades —the years ago, 1d which lor remained terror ar A W yve and enc . to whom crime re but of the hero she mbol of civilization, re warning to evildoers, the pressive civilization, in these lonely up You can tor liad tell the cottage from others about by t} imbing red ad roses and by the great s of dry hea piled out € v irmhot 1 for rou; in yards ar 10 years old she knew side the door and wa brooms such as are stables. Before Meri her Not a bit of it much about jays and weasels and hawks and foxes episodes t of the es r evade . though Sir Walter's gamekeeper. She show you th to I tor and 1 heart was won long mottled brown cggs of the night-jar, lying loose on t 1 wo s s Joe An had bare grou hout nest or shelter; she could find 't} Hector { ! wren’s callow young and the baby stoats in the cop ich has ‘vrrm! the Hhe: “but, Hector ou to me thou she had obser ved at what age the soit little hedgehogs begin to get their prickles hardened. ere the woodcock probed with their long: s f grubs and worms in the soft, spongy moss of the logged hollows. At 18 she Il and beautiful wild unkempt hair; hair long ar k and straight wi without a [ 1 haps, the remote Indian blood once Jats of the Punja cast the man wl parents with deal suspicion « wayward peasant type I have to describe her. Meriel’s ead is s ape at times of the portraits it may sound odd to compare this land girl with the proud, sar cver recognize in essence certa ommunity of type be tween the two. Her eyes k and shy. bt sudden flashes in them. The eyebrows and eve low nd black and at on her shoulde is gathered up into Her long, sf s when d defied the the head, with folds covering the cars. wh 2 : 2 Charlotte Bronte. For, bar unessentials, Meri = country, and exposed unsportsmanlike Charlotte Bronte. un eloped. Her features are s last portio Her * time made it clearly unde what lar but soft in outli r chin stror ils dug into the to let his mew state seriously mouth has sensuous, thick lips 1 by Joe talked in of living. ha s keepers, 1 Once rious tremu woman Rosetti portr Qe have a ¢ of the like ; the fi the whole emotio some nts them at es, as 1t mn ving | 0 pHcas expr ¢ 3 tur. harrv g for sc known class and ack o rev o o You must know ] ¢ SR you begin to suspect thers it s 10st people of inter natures, she is not given to speech; her 1 fe 1 ne suc deep for words; de of heaver 7 : < her from saying at what she ¢ Joe for his part did not readily discover that Merie lack of vocabulary . 16 oes s in love him: Joe is ; uble self-revelation. Nor by T e can read far more e: strative. It an_error to suppo. R Fodr tures are nec rily given to expres emotion ¢ li .“[v human passion either in words or gestures. The exact opposite wou g1r ! erself at 3 is true. ¢; nd rapidly be truer. imotion hides quiet and reserved ot fi cannot often see how profoundly she is this ing; only at rare moments does son the real depth of her nature. ( sunset by the two-step stile that lead into the lammas fields. S did no me co I crept up behind her, ad her lithe form st the red sk leaned on the st ric qui: “I love » hersel 1c¢ 2 it the crimson Clouds Defote ekt e e D I o ) 2 When I drew quite near she turnéd round with a short 0 WY 18 the proper. part of woma : : e ar sigh. To my su . T <aw she had tears in her eyes {¥om an early point in this growing p n erie vere too de e “That's a beautiful sky, Meriel,” I said. =She clasped’ a3 letting her love for Joe swall her entire na a her hands and answered, “Oh. beautiful. beautiful! A Ure. ohe would sit on the logs by her father's house ; 5 she had let herself go too much, she turned and fled, ROISEC.ON fer open hand, an e talked te e for like the wayward, forest-haunting thing she is. For 3 pePteris Stanley as rapt as i Joc s s g o inonth aller, whenever she saw me, she scemed to slink 3¢ Sentences were the purest flower ¢ BTNy € ] e Did ever man talk like Di auence. oe? ever man loox on one side, as if ashamed of having let herself be dis covered in the act of admiring nature ike him p s s Shao "’,' & ifle hull w g ., shambling in gait. I must admit. with a be s A girl of so deeply emotional a temperament could ShAM - L e ey Zpie 2 2 cheek won in open fight with those oppressors of t g hardly grow up without loving much and loving oiten W L S il i bt The full Ith of her soul could only expend itself on . paiice. 9 irage e h to ¢ those ghe ed protoundly. Eveir as child L st et 298 t0 the bitter end. till fate landed him at in that s s i sele = €M Jofty position in death he was bound to occupy Meri ber, she creep out of the cott G nights and go to a spot in the copse wi nested; there the badger cubs would steal out, terred by the presence of that other wild creature, and play clumsily with their mother sober twilight: end Meriel adopted one and lo er children would love a dog or a pigeon. e was signifi cant. That sympathetic heart could waste its affection on the veriest bear; perhaps it was well, for what sort of men could poor Meriel hope to captivate among the chairmenders and basketmakers of her wild moorland home? Tt is not the man that the woman really loves— especially such impassioned women as this—it is the ideal she makes of him. And a passionate character like Meriel's will erect a golden image of some game- keeper or some groom and bow down to it in secret as devotedly and earnestly as a lady will bow down to her dissolute dragoon or her worthless, drunken cross- country rider. Idealism works this miracle—it is easy to idealize a laborer or a navvy as an insipid curate or nsed to 12€ On summey cre the badge: und looked and sighed. He was a king among p Night after night she would creep out by the copses might be found. and as he skulked p: his blear-eyed ferret would suggest to him c eless voice where the best pheas: to be found. or point out which path the keeper had last taken on his evening round through the chestnut plantation. She knew as much of woodland lore as Joe PO T TS TSTSTTA FOR THOSE WHC WEAR RING : where Toe her ally likely ina s were and ir I € ST T T~ > < < < T is doubtful whether the origin of the custom oi wearing a ring as a symbol of marriage e been established beyond dispute. It is certain, how- ever, that the custom is an ancient one, for in the Bible may be found several references to rings, and the Queen Victo these have a nected with t gold band. The ade of e alds j ok g % 3 2 3 to her by she was a young B ;'\',s"'",f[ 5‘.”‘]!‘[”'0]‘?(:'}‘ o S N Christians used the ring as a symbol of marriage in &ao. Queen st :,C,: f,\( o eacTie] was 10 ner passion was lor the footman Regarding the custom of wearing the wedding ring jewelry, wor The Emperor of Germa at the great house in the valley—the footman with the blue livery and padded calves, who spent half the year on the most useless finger of the left hand—the third is another ro mage who has display at the town house in Mayfair and half at Greydown, finger—the explanation has been made that the helpless- for rings. It said that on all impo 3 Not that she ever told her love; it is not the way of ness of that finger is a protection to the ring, as on the the K :fr wi h(c seen to wear oh | s sive gold ring set with a larg 3 girls like Meriel to wear their hearts upon their sleeves. I doubt if anybody save myself who am a novelist by trade and therefore observant of these little signs of emotion, ever so much as guessed it. But day after day, when Alfred was about, Meriel would hover near the gate of the great house, waiting and watching, ampiy repaid if the hero of her young love came out on his way to the village on some errand and gave her a pass- ing nod and a “Good day, young woman.” She gloated over his livery, I feel sure; gloated over it with the ad- miration which an Earl’s daughter feels for a hero’s uni form. But Alired went away some months later “to better himself” at Brighton, and after mourning him for six weeks Meriel fell a victim to the charms of the stal- wart young policeman who arrested Ted Vaughan for causing incendiary heath fires at Highdown Firs. This, of course, was sheer treason to her class; family honor intervened: Septerius Stanley, her father. was the friend and associate of gypsies and poachers and tramps and horse-stealers; he could hardly let his daughter consort weakest finger it"is preserved from rough usage. An- other reason given is that on the third finger there is a vein leading from the heart, hence the same excuse as that given for shaking hands with the left hand—*“nearer the heart.” In olden times kings and others in authority wore on the ring a seal or image that indicated power, and n the time of Moses the priests wore rings as symbols of office. In the British Museum quaint rings, made of porcelain, which once adorned the fingers of the poorer classes in Egypt, may be seen. Among the Jews the ring is an important factor in the marriage ceremony, and in Germany the husband is expected to wear his marriage ring continuously. In fact, it would be a difficult matter for a man to re-estab- lish harmony in his home were he discovered to have removed the symbol of marriage from his finger, the in ference being that he had been trying to conceal the fact of his marriage. heirlc o the possession ¢ with he back in the tk and e property an occasions of state and impertance with- zed during the marr 3y C a nearby town, when sion occurred some time ago ir the ring was missing. Nothing better being available as a substitute, a curtain ring was used, and on still an- ¢ other occasion the ring handle of the church key was utilized,