Pretty Geraldine, the New York Salesgirl; or, Wedded to Her Choice

"'Oh, darling', she said, and the whispered words In a dreamy cadence fall, 'Can I help but choose thee who art the best And the noblest among them all * * * And since in thine...

"In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In war, he mounts the warrior's steed; In halls, in gay attire is seen; In hamlets, dances on the green. Love rules the court, the cam...

"Last night I was weeping, dear mother, Last night I was weeping alone; The world was so dark and so dreary My heart it grew heavy as stone; I thought of the lonely and loveless...

"At sea--we're all at sea upon life's ocean, And none can boast a never-failing chart; Sail as we may, we'll meet with dread commotion, And hidden shoals to terrify the heart. W...

"I had a dream of Love. It seemed that on a sudden, in my heart, A live and passionate thing leaped into being, And conquered me. 'Twas fierce and terrible, And yet more lovely...

"Write me a letter, my dear old friend, I love you more and more, As farther apart we drift, dear heart, And nearer the other shore. The dear old loves and the dear old days Are...

She stood behind the counter in H. O'Neill's splendid dry-goods emporium on Sixth avenue--only one of his army of salesgirls, yet not a belle of the famous society Four Hundred...

This golden ring, love, take, And wear it for my sake When I am far away; And nightly we will pray The dear God's pity on our pain, That we may meet again, Our partings o'er, ou...

Geraldine had indeed fainted at some words he had said to her, and while in this condition he had lifted her in his arms and carried her aboard the train.

"Come love! Until thy face I see, All things seem valueless to me; Nor singing birds nor blooming flowers Can make less sad the weary hours. Friends cannot cheer, mirth cannot m...

"Through the blue and frosty heavens Christmas stars were shining bright; Glistening lamps throughout the city Almost matched their gleaming light; While the winter snow was lyi...

"I have heard or dreamt, it may be-- What love is when true; How to test it--how to try it-- It the gift of few. Only a true heart can find it True as it is true; Only eyes as c...

"Oh, happy love! where love like this is found! Oh, heart-felt raptures! bliss beyond compare! I've paced much this weary mortal round, And sage experience bids me this declare:...

"I am, and this gentleman here, Miss Harding's betrothed, the Harry Hawthorne whom it was pretended in that forged note the young lady had eloped with. I have been watching you...

"A love like ours was a challenge to fate; She rang down the curtain and shifted the scene; Yet sometimes now, when the day grows late, I can hear you calling for Little Queen....

"If you could go back to the forks of the road, Back the long miles you have carried the load; Back to the place where you had to decide By this way or that all your life to abi...

"We meet where harp and violin Were singing songs of mirth, Where creatures floated in the space Almost too fair for earth. He moved amid the surging crowd, And by one single gl...

"While we were trying to restore you to consciousness, Miss Carroll has told me the circumstances of Geraldine's disappearance. That note purporting to be from Geraldine was no...

"She has a suitor rich, and I am poor, And love 'gainst money has no armor sure; For it is said when poverty appears, Love through the window straight his pathway steers. She's...

Doubt whispers in my ear Many and many a fear, And tells me thou art gay while I despair, Yet be the bright hours thine, If only thou art mine, I all the dark ones am content to...

When Harry Hawthorne was drawn from his perilous position at the heels of the horses, he was found to be unconscious, and the blood pouring from a wound on his head.

"Of course you understand that I have run a great risk in bringing you here, and made myself liable to the law for kidnaping--that is, unless you marry me, and give the affair t...

"Punishment o'ertakes the transgression, In time; Fate compels a full confession, In time. None can safely sin forever-- Conscience leaves the bosom never-- It will crush guilt'...

"Once all was sunshine and brightness, Life had no sorrow or care; Love filled my soul with its brightness, As flowers perfume the air. Where now is Pleasure, the beauty? Where...

"Go! let me pray, pray to forget thee! Woe worth the day, false one, I met thee! Ever till then, careless and free, love, Never again thus shall I be, love. Through my soul's sl...

It thrills one like a draught of rarest wine, The fine, pure air, the sunshine, and the scene, The mountains, and the river where it glides, A silver chain between its banks of...

"How lovely she looked as she stood In a robe of pink gossamer dressed, Her curls waving in the night air, And the jessamine flowers on her breast. Those dark eyes, so tender an...

"It is a common fate--a woman's lot-- To waste on one the riches of her soul, Who takes the wealth she gives him, but cannot Repay the interest, and much less the whole.

"As I came through the valley of Despair, As I came through the valley, on my sight, More awful than the darkness of the night, Shone glimpses of a past that had been fair, And...

"Say an encouraging word to the weary, They to whom life seems all darksome and dreary; One kindly sentence the sad heart will lighten, One smile of love the existence will brig...

When Clifford Standish plunged the dagger into Hawthorne's breast, and heard the groan of the victim, felt the hot blood spurting over his hands as he rolled over in the snow, h...

"Her ruby lips hiding teeth of pearl That dazzle me when she speaks, Her nut-brown hair in riotous curl, Her laugh, which sets all my senses awhirl, And the damask of her cheeks...

It was impossible for Hawthorne to sleep that night after the sight of the beautiful stranger, Miss Fitzgerald, whose startling likeness to his lost darling had awakened in his...

"Reprove me not that still I change With every passing hour, For glorious nature gives me leave, In wave and cloud and flower. And you and all the world would do-- It all but da...

"Awake, awake, oh, gracious heart-- There's some one knocking at the door! 'Tis Cupid come with loving art To honor, worship, and implore. Arise and welcome him before Adown his...

"Till now thy soul hath been All glad and gay; Bid it arise and look At grief to-day! For now life's stream has reached A deep, dark sea, And sorrow, dim and crowned, Is waiting...

But the sudden, unexpected news of his marriage, that she never thought of doubting, struck her with the suddenness of an awful blow, beating down pride and reserve at one terri...

"As shines the moon in cloudless skies, She in her poor attire was seen, One praised her ankles, one her eyes, One her dark hair, and lovesome mien, So sweet a face, such angel...

"There are some sweet affections That wealth cannot buy, That cling but still closer When sorrow draws nigh; As the mistletoe clings To the oak, not in part, But with leaves clo...

"When you see a vain pretender Rushing aimlessly along, Boasting of his wealth and splendor To the giddy, thoughtless throng, Pity him, and while you pity In your mind this adag...

"The bard has sung: God never formed a soul Without its own peculiar mate, to meet Its wandering half, when ripe to crown the whole Bright plan of bliss, most heavenly, most com...

The newly made widow leaned against the berth where the dead man lay with his face hidden beneath the sheet, her face in her hands, sobbing in a subdued but heart-broken way. No...

"If she ever cared for me in the least, that villain Standish with his infernal arts, has turned her against me forever. But let him look out for himself if he ever returns to N...

"Love, dear friend, is a sacred thing! Love is not tinsel, silver or gold! Love is a fragment of Heaven's own gate, Broken in halves by God's hand, Fate, And given two kindred s...

"Round the post-office window are pressing A motley and turbulent throng. All eagerly bent on possessing The letter they've looked for so long. To some come dark tidings of sorr...

Ay, but, darling, speak his name; Give to sorrow words and tears; This strange silence, proud and cold, Fills my heart with anxious fears. Curse him, bairnie, or forgive him, Fo...

"Fair maiden, let me say to you, Mark well the man who comes to woo; Select the one as true as steel, With brain to think and heart to feel."

"'What is life?' A battle, child, Where the strongest lance may fail, Where the weariest eye may be beguiled, And the stoutest heart may quail, Where foes are gathered on every...

"Vast the empire Love rules over-- Held in bonds his subjects are-- Firmly shackled is each lover By the boy-god everywhere. Yet we could not live without him, So, young tyrant,...

He did so, but he did not judge it prudent to incur the wrath of Hawthorne by too persistent attentions. He preserved a coolly courteous demeanor toward both, devoting himself t...

"I have loved thee--fondly loved thee! No one but God can know The struggle and the agony It cost to let thee go. But woman's pride usurps my heart, And surges to my brow. To se...

"Oh, would I knew thy heart! Thine eye seems truthful! Thy smile is bright, thy voice is low and sweet; Thou seemst the very counterpart of honor When thou art kneeling supplian...

Never had she looked so beautiful, never had she seemed so truly noble as at this moment when so generously pleading the cause of the woman who had brought such bitter sorrow in...

From my hand I tore in anger That dear pledge, the wedding ring-- Swore that I would learn to hate him, But it is so weak a thing, This poor woman's heart, that, beating Heavily...

"The villain who foully abused her, Though the husband to whom she was wed, After pledging his heart and his hand, Like a monster reviled and abused her, And she died in a far a...

"Let us begin, dear love, where we left off; Tie up the broken threads of that old dream; And go on happy as before; and seem Lovers again, though all the world may scoff.

"Has Fate o'erwhelmed thee with some sudden blow? Let thy tears flow. But know when storms are past the heavens appear More pure, more clear; And hope, when farthest from their...

"Half the night I waste in sighs, Half in dreams, I sorrow after The delight of early skies; In a wakeful doze I sorrow For the hand, the lips, the eyes, For the meeting of the...

At last the Stansburys were gone, but then some of the girls from O'Neill's dropped in. It was a merry, happy day to Geraldine, with but one shadow on its brightness--the absenc...