North Carolina State University - Agromeck Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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in showers of vellnw nold at tlieir feet, and ladini;- the air tor miles aruiuid with its sweet fragrance. In the distance, tlirongh the trees, can be caught a glimpse of the sea — the restless, ever moving sea, with its ceaseless mnrniur which hills one to rest as a mother her tired child. And viidding to the motion of the hammock, Katherine lazily closed her eyes. She was not pretty, this slender girl. One of her friends described her thus : A wee Palmetto girl, with delicate features and laughing face; hair, which having been kissed by the sun, had raught several stray sunl)eams, that still lingered in its meshes as though loath to leave; a sweet mouth, and clear, earnest grey eyes which looked straight into yours — eyes fearless and tender; grave and laughing; proud and appealing. A girl who had a way of capturing your love ere you knew it was gone, and when you idealized it you did not wish it back again. Once her friend, always hi ' r friend. Katherine, Katherine, come to lunch. Lazily, slee]iily o] ening her eves, she murmui ' eil ] ly Prince, then starting, said half-alond, I must ha e fallen asleep, and I ' ve dreamed of my Prince again. Will I ever meet him e.xcejjt in dreams, I wonder ( Well, I nnist go and tell ilary of my dream, and let her lecture me once more, lief ore T go, on being so iuuiginative. Dear old Mary, how good she is to me, and how I love her — I fa)icy as a sister which I have always longed for. The car was whirling along, carried by that wonderful power of electricity, Avhich man has caught, chained and made his slave. Katherine was idly gazing out, half listening to the young lady she had recently met — half thinking of the friends she had left in the Palmetto State, and around her heart lurked the merest twinge of homesickness — when she heard her name called — ly friend. Miss Allison, Mr. Ravenel. Looking up, she started, for with lirown eyes smiling down into her grey ones stood — the Prince of her dreams. The same handsome head, the dark eyes, now deep, soft and tender — now with a shadow (d ' mischief lurking in their depths; the same clear-cnt features; the same mouth, strong, tirm, yet gentle, and as he raised his hat, the same broad white lirow, with short, dark, clustering curls. We have startled Miss Allison from some very pleasant dreams, he said, if I may judge from her expression ; — then, Permit me, as he descended from the car with them, accomiianied them a short distance to the church and

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••Si.i]i! wait I hell) I Willi i- waxing cliniuent uuw ( Wlici ' c shall 1 iK-iiin lo answer s.i many (im-siions ' . First, iiccaiise you liaxc t ' (jnn l yoiii ' rrincc don ! think that cxcry .iihcr man is a ])rinee, too. Ami 1 iv ' j: leave to call your .Majesty ' s attention to the fact — uni li ' ipji! . How eouhl i he otherwise when excryone i so kind and good to nie ' ■■Then that teaching question. I don ' t ihink teaching is drudgery — I like it — and the children, with their (|uainl saying-, 1 love them. Perhajis it is true that sometimes their faces and hands may not he iiiuuacnlate. hut their little hearts are so sweet and fresh and imre. they remind me of tlowers — -ioleis, bahy-faced ])ansies, frail, delicale snowdrops — the worhl ' s great Hower garden. And mother — here her eyes softened and a dewy, misty hxjk re]ilaced the laughter in them — what a ]irivilege it is fipr me to work for her — she who has done so much for uie ! Lasth- — and it makes me feel as if I were a minister saying lastly — you, voni ' own sell ' , little woman, with yonr ]inrilanical ideas of truth and honor. Would not have me marry a man 1 diil not love — aecejjt his love and his wealth, and in return give him an em]ity heart — no, dear, T know you lietler; and I T shoidd des])ise myself, eotdd 1 sI.k.]. to that, ■es. 1 know he is worthv of love. Do not ask me why I cannot Ionc him. Know you not lh ' lillle hlind god, ( ' n]iiil, comes not at our call, hut sends his darts where and at w hum hi ' will ' . ■■.Vnd now. ha i ' 1 eonviuced you You havi ' found your I ' rinci — do not denv me the ]ileasnre of waiting and watching for mine. ■ ' Von have always iiad a way of imd ing us think as yon wish, Katie. I sniqiose it is iHcanse yon n ake ns love you tirst. 1 shall miss yon s,, mnrh — I wish on were not going to-night, lint you must promise me, after yon have s])ent the month anmng the leaehers of the Old Xi.rlh Slate, yon will come hack to me for the summer I will not take ■no ' for an answer. .Vnd as Marv went within In ]irepare a liinrh, i alliei-ine still -wayed to and fro in the hanimork. as she nmsed : ■■Who would not he ha]i|iy in such a s|iiit ' . I think it is the most heantifnl of any jioi ' tion of our dear old I ' almelto Stale. The gival gmii ' led old oaks with their (Quaker dres-es of soft gi ' ey nmss, which hangs in long festoons till it scarce escajies tonehiii the grounil--the yellow jasmine clamhering in riotous jirofnsion over every availahle irv. hough and twig, then casting its hlossoms

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ciilcrcil. Knilicriiir v:is iiKirr (|ni( ' t lluiii was woiil with licr. ami i v (nicc iluriug ihc scrxicc, as the oriiaii was pcaliin:- tui ' lli, diil slic iilaurc aniuiicl al ilic Pvince, to st ' e if this, ti i, wcrr a drcaiii, and if he were still there. His face was filled with the sniil nf the imisi( he did imt e -eii feiiieiidief hef existence. The next afteriKieii sh,. had jusl liatheivd hef wi-iliiii; iiialerials, and liei:an- ■■Kaieiiih, N. ( ' .. Wataii ' .ia. .Iiilv. I ' .Mi;;. .My |)ear . lar -: -I ha ' e met the Priiici when a kmick at the decif and a imte askiiiii ' ]iei-missi(in tu call was handed hei- fi ' iilii the Prince. ■ Will ynn tell me, he said latei- that e ( ' nin ; ' as they sat IcMikiiii; eiit at the rain softly falling — ' from what ])leasant fe ' efie we so rndely aweke yen yester- day — yon looked quite startled when we called yon to earth again, and 1 feared yon must thiid-; me an ogre f She did not tcdl him that his face was so strangely like the face of the Prince that she so ofti ' n saw in her dreams — hut she told him of lu r dear old I ' alnietto State — her home — the great old trees e(i -ered in long grey moss — the yellow jasmine — the sea. And he s|. ike of the Old .Xoi ' th State — the I ' almetfo ' s sister — the grand moun- tain scenery. lay I come again tomorrow evening, he said on leax ' ing, and c(]n ince yott that our mountains are more heaittifttl than your sea Von may try to ciin -iiice lue, slu ' re])]ied, Imt I am ' erv stuliliorn. Wh en the Prince came in the next evening with a great himeh of white earna- tioiis, If we cannot agree on our States, he said. ) erha])s we can on Howers, as he smilingly handed them to her. Do you like tlowers r ' I Io -e them. Again we ditfei-. for I hold that you cannot lo -e atiylhing whicdi cannot re- turn your lo -e. Btit I love them, anyway. she said, smiling it]) al him. Some are dear, true friends, dthers jileasant aci|iuiiiitances. The iolets first, dear little llowers, looking up sii trustfully into your face, with earnest eyes — asking for little, contented if they may hut hloom. lo ' e you and shed their f ragi-aiu ' c, nndix ided to all. The rose, as she helids her graceful head lo liear your secret you whisper to her, assuring yott she will kee]i it faithfully. ' l he white carimtion, with her little hands clasped in jirayer as a (diild at its mother ' s knee. 124