Page:The Clergyman's Wife.djvu/354

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
352
Long Engagements.

tree, and the air is filled with the melody of birds carolling joyful promises from the branches. In the sunshine of bright illusions, the exhilarating atmosphere of alternate hopes and fears, the heart glows and swells and takes in all creation with unwonted tenderness; the dullest prospects are tinged with orient hues; the simplest incidents communicate a thrill of joy; Nature puts on her gala dress to welcome the enamored pair wherever they wander, and shakes down odorous tributes upon their heads from every bough.

And it is well. It is better for the soul, even when love is misplaced, to give a boundless devotion, than to entertain a tame affection for an object worthy of the whole wealth of the heart.

The man of her choice is always a hero to a woman who loves heartily; and her fond fancy invests him with an abundance of captivating attributes, which possibly have not the most shadowy existence out of her imagination. On the other hand Shakspeare tells us that to men "women are angels wooing." But O! the bitter disenchantment if, in the glare of Hymen's torch, the ideal charms vanish away, the mantle of glory falls from the hero's shoulders, and the "angel" at whose shrine the lover devoutly worshipped, stands before him a most terrestrial being, full of failings, wants, caprices, inconsistencies!

Unconsciously his eyes must then forget

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.