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+Project Gutenberg's Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 6 June 1848, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 6 June 1848
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: George R. Graham
+        Robert T. Conrad
+
+Release Date: July 7, 2009 [EBook #29344]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1848 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David T. Jones, Juliet Sutherland and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: inscription--Yr affectionate Brother, S H Walker]
+
+
+GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE.
+
+VOL. XXXII.     PHILADELPHIA, JUNE, 1848.       NO. 6.
+
+CAPTAIN SAMUEL WALKER.
+
+BY FAYETTE ROBINSON.
+
+[WITH AN ENGRAVING.]
+
+
+Time and opportunity make men--and high talent in any profession or
+sphere of life is valueless unless called into action. This is
+strikingly exemplified in the career of the person with whom we now
+have to do.
+
+Samuel Walker was born in the county of Prince George, Maryland, in
+the year 1815. His family, though respectable, had neither fortune nor
+influence sufficient to advance his interests; and at an early age he
+was thrown on the world, dependent for success only on his own
+exertions. Educated to no profession or business, the chances of his
+drawing a prize in the lottery of life seemed small indeed, yet it is
+probable no man of his grade in the service has, since the
+commencement of the Mexican war, attracted more attention. Of the
+early career of Walker we know little except that in 1840 he was one
+of the party of less than twenty men selected by Col. Harney, from the
+strength of the 2d Dragoons, to penetrate the great Payhaokee or
+everglades of Florida. The history of this expedition is peculiar.
+
+After the battle of Okeechobee the might of the Seminoles was broken,
+and they took refuge in the chain of lakes and immense hamacs which
+extend almost from Cape Florida to the Suwannee River. Divided into
+small parties, they defied the pursuit of heavy columns, yet
+frequently left their fastnesses to commit the most fearful
+atrocities. During the winter of 1839 and 40 they had been peculiarly
+bold, and had ventured even to attack, under the guns of Fort
+Micanopy, a party of mounted infantry which was escorting the young
+and beautiful wife of an officer of the 7th Infantry to a neighboring
+post. This party, with the exception of two or three persons, was
+destroyed. It became evident that no operations could lead to a good
+result unless the Indians were pursued to their own retreats, and
+treated as they had themselves conducted the war. Col. Harney, who was
+in command of one of the departments of Florida, immediately organized
+an expedition for the purpose of entering the great everglade south
+of the Lake Okeechobee, in which the Seminoles were supposed to be in
+much strength. The country in which he was about to act seemed to be
+the realization of the poetic chaos. It was overgrown with trees of
+immense size, of kinds almost unknown in other portions of the
+peninsula, and grass of great highth and strength rose two or three
+feet above the surface of the water, which not unfrequently had a
+depth of several feet. Notwithstanding, however, that this was the
+general character of the country there were often _portages_, or shoal
+and dry places, over which it was necessary to carry their boats by
+main force. In this kind of country the Indians had the manifest
+advantage, being acquainted with sinuous pathways, which, it is said,
+enabled them to thread all the intricacies of the hamac almost without
+wetting the moccason. The party of Col. Harney, however, were picked
+men, inured to all the hardships of Indian warfare, and after several
+days of hide and seek, surprised a party of Indians, among whom was a
+chief of distinction. As this identical party had more than once
+surrendered and broken truce, Colonel Harney ordered all the men to be
+hung summarily, and took the women with him to the nearest post as
+prisoners. So important was this service that the names of all the
+party were mentioned in general orders, and the enlisted men advanced
+in grade. The effect on the Indians was great; large parties came in
+and surrendered, and they remained almost quiet until their last
+attempt was crushed by Gen. Worth in the brilliant affair of
+Pilaklakaha, April 17, 1842.
+
+Previous to this time, young Walker had been discharged from the
+service, by reason of the expiration of his enlistment, and with some
+funds he had amassed while in the army, proceeded at once to Texas,
+then embroiled with the abrasions of the great Camanche race and the
+minor tribes strewn along her northern frontier. He was one of the
+party of the famous Jack Hays, when in 1844 that leader defeated,
+with fifteen men armed with Colt's pistols, then novelties in the
+West, a large force of Indians. In this encounter Walker was wounded
+by a lance, and left by his adversary pinned to the ground. After
+remaining in this position for a long time, he was rescued by his
+companions when the fight was over.
+
+The disastrous expedition commenced under the command of Gen.
+Somerville, and terminated at Mier by the surrender of the whole party
+to Don Pedro de Ampudia, since become a person of most unenviable
+notoriety, is well known. One of the most conspicuous members of this
+foray, for it scarcely deserves another name, was Walker. He
+distinguished himself during the long siege the Texans maintained in
+the house they had seized, until forced for want of provisions and
+ammunition to surrender. With the rest he was marched to the castle of
+Perote, suffering every indignity which Mexican cruelty and ingenuity
+could invent. On this sad march, at Salado, Walker performed perhaps
+the most brilliant exploit of his life. Wearied out by cruelty, the
+Texans resolved to escape, and on this occasion Walker was the leader.
+The prisoners were placed in a strong stone building, at the door of
+which two sentinels were placed, while their escort bivoucked in front
+of the building. Walker, at a concerted signal, threw open the door,
+seized and disarmed one of the sentinels, while a gallant fellow named
+Cameron, a Highlander, was equally successful with the other. The
+unarmed prisoners immediately rushed through the gateway and seized
+the arms of the Mexican guard. No scheme was ever more daringly
+planned or more boldly executed. Within the course of a moment the two
+hundred and fourteen Texans had changed places with the numerous
+Mexican guard. Outside of a court-yard, in which the guard had
+bivoucked, was a strong cavalry force, which the Texans charged with
+the bayonet and routed, and immediately resumed their march back to
+the Rio Grande.
+
+They deserved success and liberty, but ignorant of the country, soon
+became lost in the mountains, were overpowered and taken back to
+Salado. They found Santa Anna there, and the Mexican President
+decimated the party.
+
+The Texans in their escape and conflicts had lost five men, and Santa
+Anna demanded the decimation of the rest. A bowl was brought, and a
+bean for every man was placed in it, every tenth bean being black. The
+bowl was covered, and the whole party were then ordered in succession
+to take out one bean. The twenty-one individuals who had chanced on
+the black beans were immediately shot. This was the famous _Caravanza_
+lottery, the mere mention of which is sufficient to make the bosom of
+every Texan boil with indignation, and which is the origin of the
+intense hatred borne by all the people of that state to Santa Anna.
+This worthy has during the whole war carefully avoided the Texan
+Rangers, and had he come in contact with them, they would doubtless
+have exacted a fearful retribution.
+
+Walker with the survivors of the party were taken to Perote, whence
+he was lucky enough to escape, and returned to Texas, into the service
+of which he was at once received.
+
+When the Mexican war began Walker was the captain of a company of
+Texan Rangers stationed on the Rio Grande, and immediately offered his
+services to General Taylor, who accepted them, and stationed him
+between Point Isabel and the cantonment for the purpose of keeping
+open the communication. On the 28th of April he discovered that the
+Mexican troops were in motion, and at once, with his small command of
+twenty-five men, set out to report the fact to the general. On his way
+he encountered the Mexican column, and it is not improbable that with
+his small party he was in contact with one wing of the force which
+subsequently fought at Palo Alto. The Texans were pursued to Point
+Isabel, on which place they fell back, having lost several men, but
+killed more of the enemy than their own force numbered.
+
+In spite of the intervening force of the enemy, Walker determined to
+reach General Taylor on that night, and accompanied but by six of his
+men set out. After charging through a large body of Mexican lancers,
+he reached Gen. Taylor on the morning of the 30th.
+
+On the 1st of May Gen. Taylor broke up his camp, and what followed is
+well known. On the 3d Walker was again employed in the perilous
+service of ascertaining the condition of Fort Brown, which was then
+being bombarded by all the batteries of the city of Matamoras. His
+reconnoisance was one of the boldest feats performed during the war,
+and though May, who had command of a hundred horse for the purpose of
+covering him, presuming he must have been captured returned to Gen.
+Taylor, Walker again returned on the 4th, having accomplished his duty
+alone.
+
+At Palo Alto and La Resaca Walker again distinguished himself, and was
+mentioned by Gen. Taylor in the dispatch with the highest terms of
+commendation. For his distinguished services, on the organization of
+the Mounted Rifles, he was appointed a captain of cavalry in the
+regular service.
+
+After sharing in all the perils of the war, Walker devoted himself to
+the pursuit of the Guerilleros, who infested the road from Vera Cruz
+to the capital, and uniformly maintained his high reputation. In the
+affair of La Hoya, Sept. 20, 1847, he acted independently, and was
+perfectly successful.
+
+In the expedition of Gen. Lane, which terminated so gallantly at
+Huamantla, Walker served for the last time. The prize he had proposed
+to himself was great, being nothing less than the capture of Santa
+Anna. Walker on this occasion commanded the whole cavalry force, and
+led the advance. His charge into the town, from the covering of
+Magues, is described by old soldiers who saw it as having been
+terrific. Passing completely through the town, he pursued the enemy's
+retreating artillery. After the success was sure, Walker returned, and
+was treacherously shot from a house on which a white flag was hanging.
+Within thirty minutes he died, after a brilliant victory, in gaining
+which he had been an important actor. With a force of one hundred and
+ninety-five men he had beaten and routed five hundred picked lancers,
+and given the tone to the events of the day.
+
+No man was more regretted than Capt. Walker, who had enjoyed the
+confidence of every officer with whom he had served. Gen. Scott and
+Gen. Taylor both highly estimated his good qualities, and reposed the
+greatest trust in him.
+
+When the news of his death reached the United States, the people were
+every where loud in their regrets, and he will be remembered as one of
+the heroes of the Mexican war.
+
+Captain Walker had risen by his own exertions. Brought up in a good
+school, "the Light Dragoons of the U. S.," his knowledge of tactics,
+acquired in Florida, was most useful to his first service as an
+officer in the army of the Texan Republic. He is spoken of as having
+possessed every requisite for a cavalry officer--a quick perception, a
+keen eye, a strong arm, perfect control of his horse, thorough
+knowledge of military combination, and the rarer and more valuable
+faculty of winning the confidence of his men. Had he not been cut off
+so untimely in his chosen career, he could not but have become a
+distinguished general.
+
+Captain Walker died at the age of 33, in sight almost of the famous
+dungeon of Perote, where he had long been a prisoner. There was
+something like retribution in the fact that more than one other Texan,
+who, like himself, had been confined there, contributed to raise above
+its battlements the colors of the United States.
+
+
+
+
+LAMARTINE TO MADAME JORELLE.
+
+FROM THE FRENCH.
+
+BY VIRGINIA.
+
+
+    What! offer thee the tribute of my numbers?
+      Thou daughter of the East! whose infancy
+    The warring desert winds rocked to its slumbers--
+      Dost thou demand incense of Poesy?
+
+    Flower of Aleppo! whom the Bulbul choosing
+      Would wander from his worshiped rose of May,
+    O'er thy fair chalice her remembrance losing,
+      To languish 'mid thy leaves his moonlight lay!
+
+    Bear odors to the balm pure sweets exhaling?
+      Hang on the orange bough a riper load?
+    Lend fires to Syria's East at dawn unveiling?
+      Pave with new stars[1] the Night's all-glittering road?
+
+    No verses here!--Verse would despair of raising
+      Aught save an image dark and faint of thee;
+    But gently in yon basin's mirror gazing
+      Behold thyself! Embodied Poesy!
+
+    When through the kiosque's grated ogive straying,
+      The sea-breeze mingles with the Moka's fume,
+    Where softly o'er thy form the moonbeams playing
+      Glance on thy couch, rich from Palmyra's loom--
+
+    When on the jasmine tube thy lip half closes,
+      Veiled with its golden threads in bright array,
+    While ruffling at thy breath, fragrant with roses,
+      Murmur the drops within the Narquite--
+
+    When as winged perfumes rise into thy brain,
+      In light caressing clouds around thee wreathing
+    All love's and youth's lost visions throng again,
+      An atmosphere of dreams thy listeners breathing--
+
+    When in thy tale the Arab steed forth starting
+      Yields foaming to thy curb of infancy,
+    And that triumphant glance obliquely darting
+      Equals the summer-lightning of his eye--
+
+    When thy fair arm, of loveliest symmetry,
+      Supports the fairer brow in thought reclining,
+    While gleams with diamond fires thy poniard nigh
+      In quick reflection of the torch's shining--
+
+    Naught is there in the murmured words of feeling,
+      Naught in the Poet's ever dreaming brow,
+    Naught in pure sighs from purest bosoms stealing,
+      Naught redolent of Poesy as thou!
+
+    With me the age has flown when Love, life's flower,
+      Perfumes the heart--my warmest accents falter,
+    And beauty o'er my soul has lost her power--
+      Cold is the light I kindle on her altar!
+
+    The harp is this chilled bosom's only queen,
+      But how would homage from its depths have burst
+    In gushing minstrelsy at bright sixteen,
+      If _then_ these eyes had rested on thee first!
+
+    How many stanzas had thy lover given
+      To one sweet vaporous wreath that lately graced
+    Thy meditative lip, or how had striven
+      To stay that form by unseen artist traced!
+
+    That shadow's vague enchanting outline cast
+      On yonder wall, to arrest with poet's finger
+    Thy beauty's mystic image fading fast,
+      As round thy form fond moonbeams cease to linger!
+
+[Footnote 1: The road of heaven, star-paved. PARADISE LOST]
+
+
+
+
+PHANTOMS ALL.
+
+A PHANTASY.
+
+BY MRS. CAROLINE H. BUTLER.
+
+
+It was with a feeling of regret, such as stirs one's heart at parting
+with a dear friend, that I turned the last page of Irving's most
+delightful visit to Abbotsford, which he has given us in language so
+beautiful from its simplicity, so graphic in its details, and so
+heart-deep in its sincerity, that with him we ourselves seem to be
+partakers also of the hospitality and kindness of the immortal Scott.
+
+"Every night," says Irving, "I retired with my mind filled with
+delightful recollections of the day, and every morning I arose with
+the certainty of new enjoyment."
+
+And so vividly has he painted for the imagination of his happy readers
+those scenes of delight, those hours of social interchange of two
+great minds, that we are admitted as it were into free communion with
+them. On the banks of the silvery Tweed we stroll delighted, or pause
+to view the "gray waving hills," made so dear to all the lovers of
+Scott and Burns, through the enchantment which romance and poetry have
+thrown around them. We listen for the tinkling chime of the fairy
+bells as we pass through the glen of Thomas the Rhymer, almost
+expecting to see by our side, as we muse on the banks of the goblin
+stream, the queen of the fairies on her "dapple gray pony." Again,
+through the cloisters of Melrose Abbey we wander silently and in awe,
+almost wishing that honest John Boyer would leave us awhile unmolested
+even by the praises of his master the "_shirra_," whom he considers
+"not a bit proud," notwithstanding he has such "_an awfu' knowledge o'
+history!_" Or it may be we recline amid the purple heather and listen
+to the deep tones of the great magician himself, as he delights our
+ear with some quaint tradition of the olden time, while Maida, grave
+and dignified as becomes the rank he holds, crouches beside his
+master, disdaining to share the sports of Hamlet, Hector, "both
+mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound" frolicking so wantonly on the bonny
+green knowe before us!
+
+But at length the hour of parting comes. We feel the hearty grasp, and
+hear the farewell words with which Scott takes leave of his American
+friend, and as with them our delusion wrought by the magic pen of
+Irving vanishes, we would fain slay the enchantment--too bright to
+pass away unlamented!
+
+    "The pen of a ready writer, whereunto shall it be likened?
+
+        *    *    *    *    *
+
+    Let the calm child of genius, whose name shall never die,
+    For that the transcript of his mind hath made his thoughts immortal--
+    Let these, let all, with no faint praise, with no light gratitude, confess
+    _The blessings poured upon the earth from the pen of a readywriter_."
+
+Closing the volume which had so enchained my senses, my mind, from
+dwelling upon the presence of Scott himself, as introduced through
+the unformal courtesy of our beloved Irving, naturally turned to the
+varied and wonderful productions of that master mind, and to the many
+characters thereby created, seeming to hold a sacred place in our
+thoughts and affections, as friends whom we had once known and loved!
+
+I was suddenly aroused from my ruminations by a light tap on the
+shoulder. Judge of my astonishment when Meg Merrillies stood before
+me, clad in the same wild gipsy garb in which she had warned the Laird
+of Ellangowan on Ellangowan's height! In her shriveled hand it would
+seem she held the very sapling which for the last time she had plucked
+from the bonny woods which had so long waved above her bit shealing,
+until driven thence by the timorous and weak-minded laird. With this
+she again touched me, and in a half inviting, half commanding tone
+said:
+
+"Gang wi' me, leddy, gang wi' me, and I will show ye a bonny company,
+amang whilk ye'll soon speer those ye're thinking o'."
+
+I confess it was not without some trepidation I arose to follow my
+strange conductor, who, seizing my hand, rather dragged than led me
+through several long dark passages, until suddenly emerging from one
+still more gloomy than the others, my eyes were almost blinded with
+the glare of light and splendor that flashed upon them.
+
+"Gang in amang them a', my leddy," cried Meg, letting go my hand and
+waving me toward the entrance, "and gin ye suld see bonny Harry
+Bertram, tell him there is ane he kens o' will meet him the night down
+by the cairn when the clock strikes the hour o' twal."
+
+Obeying her mandate, I now found myself in a lofty and spacious
+saloon. From the ceiling, which was of azure sprinkled with golden
+stars, were suspended the most magnificent chandeliers, brilliant with
+a thousand waxen tapers. Gorgeous and life-like tapestry adorned the
+walls--massive mirrors reflected on every side the blaze of elegance,
+while the furniture, patterning the fashions of the different ages
+from the times of the Crusades to that of Elizabeth, was of the most
+choice and beautiful materials.
+
+But of this I took little note--other and "more attractive metal" met
+my eye, for around me were kings and princes--peer and peasant--lords
+and ladies--turbaned infidel and helmeted knight--the wild roving
+gipsy and the wandering troubadour. In short, I found myself in the
+_world_ of the immortal master of Abbotsford, and surrounded by those
+to whose enchanting company I had oft been indebted for dispelling
+many a weary hour of sickness and gloom--friends whom at my bidding I
+could at any moment summon to my presence--friends never weary of
+well-doing--friends never weighing down the heart by their unkindness,
+or chilling by their neglect. My heart throbbed with a delight before
+unknown; and I eagerly looked about me, recognizing on every side
+those dear familiar ones with whom, for so many years, I had been
+linked in love and friendship.
+
+The first group on whom my eyes rested were our dear friends from
+Tully-Veolan accompanied by the McIvors.
+
+The beautiful, high-souled Flora was leaning on the arm of the good
+old Baron Bradwardine, while the gentle Rose shrunk almost timidly
+from the support of the noble but ill-fated Fergus. They were both
+lovely--Flora and Rose; but while the former dazzled by her beauty and
+her wit, the latter, in unpretending sweetness, stole at once into our
+hearts. But not so thought Waverly. With "ear polite" he listened to
+the somewhat tedious colloquy of the old baron, yet his eloquent eyes,
+his heart speaking through them, were fixed upon the noble countenance
+of Flora McIvor.
+
+"Come, good folks," cried a merry voice--and the bright, happy face of
+Julia Mannering was before me--"I am sent by my honored father, the
+colonel, to break up this charmed circle; and he humbly requests to be
+put under the spell himself, through the enchanting voice of Miss
+McIvor--one little Highland air, my dear Flora, is all he asks--but
+see, with sombre Melancholy leaning on his arm, he comes to enforce
+his own request."
+
+And the gallant Colonel Mannering, supporting the fragile form of Lucy
+Bertram, clad in deep mourning robes, now approached, and after
+gracefully saluting the circle, solicited from Miss McIvor a song.
+Waverly eagerly brought the harp of Flora from a small recess, and as
+he placed it before her, whispered something in a low tone, which for
+a moment crimsoned the brow of the maiden, then coldly bowing to him,
+she drew the instrument toward her, and warbled a wild and spirited
+Highland air, her eyes flashing, and her bosom heaving with the
+exciting theme she had chosen.
+
+"Pro-di-gious!" exclaimed a voice I thought I knew; and, sure enough,
+I found the dear old Dominie Sampson close at my elbow--his large,
+gray eyes rolling in ecstasy--his mouth open, and grasping in his
+hands a huge folio, while Davie Gellatly, with cap and bells, stood
+mincing and grimacing behind him--now rolling up the whites of his
+eyes--now pulling the skirts of the unconscious pedagogue--and
+finally, surmounting the wig of the Dominie with his own fool's cap,
+he clapped his hands, gayly crying, "O, braw, braw Davie!"
+
+Julia Mannering now touched the harp to a lively air, when suddenly
+her voice faltered, the eloquent blood mantled her cheek, and her
+little fingers trembled as they swept the harp-strings.
+
+"Ah, ha!" thought I, "there must be a cause for all this--Brown must
+be near!" and in a moment that handsome young soldier had joined the
+group. Remembering the commands of Meg Merrillies, I was striving to
+catch his eye, that I might do her bidding, when the gipsy herself
+suddenly strode into the circle and fixing her eyes upon Brown, or
+rather Bertram, she waved her long skinny arm, exclaiming,
+
+"Tarry not here, Harry Bertram, of Ellangowan; there's a dark deed
+this night to be done amid the caverns of Derncleugh, and then
+
+    The dark shall be light,
+    And the wrong made right,
+    When Bertram's right, and Bertram's might,
+    Shall meet on Ellangowan Height."
+
+I now passed on and found myself in the vicinity of Old Mortality and
+Monkbarns, who were deeply engaged in some antiquarian debate--too
+much so to notice the shrewd smile and cunning leer which the old
+Bluegown, Edie Ochiltree, now and then cast upon them.
+
+"Hear til him," he whispered to Sir Arthur Wardour--"hear til him; the
+poor mon's gone clean gyte with his saxpennies and his old penny
+bodies! odd, but it gars me laugh whiles!"
+
+Both Sir Arthur and his lovely daughter, Isabel, smiled at the
+earnestness of the old man, and slipping some money into his hand, the
+latter bade him come up to the castle in the morning.
+
+At this moment radiant in _spirituelle_ beauty, glorious Die Vernon,
+like another Grace Greenwood, swept past me, followed by Rashleigh,
+and half a score of the Osbaldistons. She was, indeed, a lovely
+creature. The dark-green riding-dress she wore fitting so perfectly
+her light, elegant figure, served but to enhance the brilliancy of her
+complexion, blooming with health and exercise. Her long black hair,
+free from the little hat which hung carelessly upon her arm, fell
+around her in beautiful profusion, and even the golden-tipped
+riding-whip she held so gracefully in her little hand, seemed as a
+wand to draw her worshipers around her.
+
+Turning suddenly and finding herself so closely followed by Rashleigh,
+her beautiful eyes flashed disdainfully, and linking her arm within
+that of Clara Mowbray, who, with the gay party from St. Ronan's Well,
+were just entering the saloon, she waved her hand to her cousin,
+forbidding his nearer approach, and, with the step of a deer, she was
+gone.
+
+An oath whistled through the teeth of Rashleigh, and his dark features
+contracted into a terrible frown.
+
+"Hout, mon--dinna be fashed! Bide a bit--bide a bit! as my father, the
+deacon--"
+
+"Ah, Bailie, are you there?" cried Rashleigh, impatiently; "why I
+thought you were hanging from the trees around the cave of your robber
+kinsman, Rob."
+
+Ere the worthy Nicol Jarvie could reply to this uncourteous address,
+the smiling Mr. Winterblossom approached, and in the name of the
+goddess, Lady Penelope Penfeather, commanded the presence of the
+angered Rashleigh at the shrine of her beauty. This changed the
+current of his thoughts, and with all that grace of manner and
+eloquence of lip and eye, which no one knew better how to assume, he
+followed to the little group of which the Lady Penelope and her rival,
+Lady Binks, formed the attraction. But whatever may have been the
+gallant things he was saying, they were soon ended in the bustle
+consequent upon the sudden rushing in of the brave Captain McTurk,
+followed by the enraged Meg Dods, with no less a weapon in her hand
+than a broom-stick, with which she was striving to belabor the
+shoulders of the unhappy McTurk.
+
+"_Hegh_, sirs!" she cried, brandishing it above her head, "I'll gar ye
+to know ye're not coming flisking to an honest woman's house setting
+folks by the lugs. Keep to your ain whillying hottle here, ye
+ne'er-do-weel, or I'll mak' windle-strae o' your banes--and what for
+no?"
+
+Happily for the gallant captain, Old Touchwood here interposed, and by
+dint of coaxing and threats of joining himself to the gay company at
+the Spring, the irascible Meg was finally marched off.
+
+A deep sigh near me caused me to look around, and there, as pure and
+as lovely as the water-lily drooping from its fragile stem, sat poor
+Lucy Ashton. And like that beautiful flower, the lily of the wave,
+seemed the love of that unhappy maid:
+
+              "Quivering to the blast
+    Through every nerve--yet rooted deep and fast
+    Midst life's dark sea."
+
+Her eyes were cast down, and her rich veil of golden tresses sweeping
+around her. At a little distance, with folded arms and bent brows,
+stood the Laird of Ravenswood, yet unable to approach the
+broken-hearted girl, as her proud, unfeeling mother, the stately Lady
+Ashton, kept close guard over her; and it made me shudder to behold,
+also, the old hag, Ailsie Gourley, crouching down by her bonny
+mistress, and stroking the lily-white hand which hung so listless at
+her side, mumbling the while what seemed to me must be some
+incantation to the Evil One.
+
+"Wae's me--wae's me!" exclaimed that prince of serving-men, Caleb
+Balderstone, at this moment presenting himself before his master; "and
+is your honor, then, not ganging hame when Mysie the puir old body's
+in the dead thraw! _Hech, sirs_, but its awfu'! Ane of the big sacks
+o' siller--a' gowd, ye maun ken, which them gawky chields and my ain
+sell were lifting to your honor's chaumer, cam down on her head! _Eh_!
+but it gars me greet--ah! wull-a-wins, we maun a' dee!"
+
+"Ah, she is a bonny thing, but ye ken she is a wee bit daft, puir
+lassie!" cried Madge Wildfire, smirking and bowing, to catch the eye
+of Jeanie Deans, who, leaning on the arm of her betrothed, Reuben
+Butler, stood gazing with tearful eyes upon that wreck of hope and
+love exhibited in the person of the ill-fated Lucy of Lammermoor.
+
+Bless that sweet, meek face of Jeanie Deans! Many a lovelier--many a
+fairer were in that assemblage, yet not one more winning or truthful.
+The honest, pure heart shone from those mild blue eyes; one might know
+_she_ could make any sacrifice for those she loved, and that guided
+and guarded by her own innocence and steadfast truth, neither crowns
+nor sceptres could daunt her from her noble purpose.
+
+And there, too, was Effie. Not Effie, the Lily of St. Leonards, such
+as she was when gayly tending her little flock on St. Leonard's
+Craigs--not Effie, the poor, wretched criminal of the Tolbooth--but
+Effie, the rich and beautiful Lady Staunton, receiving with all the
+ease and elegance of a high-born dame the homage of the nobles
+surrounding her, of whom none shone more conspicuous than his grace
+the Duke of Argyle, on whose arm she was leaning.
+
+With the step and bearing of a queen a noble lady now approached, and
+as, unattended by knight or dame, she moved gracefully through the
+brilliant crowd, every eye was turned on her with admiration.
+
+Need I say it was Rebecca, the Jewess.
+
+A rich turban of yellow silk, looped at the side by an aigrette of
+diamonds, and confining a beautiful ostrich plume, was folded over her
+polished brow, from which her long, raven tresses floated in beautiful
+curls around her superb neck and shoulders. A simarre of crimson silk,
+studded with jewels, and gathered to her slender waist by a
+magnificent girdle of fine gold, reached below the hips, where it was
+met by a flowing robe of silver tissue bordered with pearls. In
+queenly dignity she was about to pass from the saloon, when the noble
+Richard of the Lion Heart stepped hastily forward, and respectfully
+saluted her. He still wore his sable armor, and with his visor thrown
+back, had for some time been negligently reclining against one of the
+lofty pillars, a careless spectator of the scene around him. The
+lovely Jewess paused, and with graceful ease replied to the address of
+the monarch; but at that moment the voice of Ivanhoe, speaking to
+Rowena, fell on her ear--and with a hurried reverence to Coeur de Lion,
+she glided from the apartment.
+
+"No, Ivanhoe," thought I, "thou hast not done wisely--beautiful as is
+the fair Rowena, to whom thy troth stands plighted--thou shouldst have
+won the peerless Rebecca for thy bride."
+
+I was aroused from the revery into which I had unconsciously fallen by
+a hoarse voice at my elbow repeating a _Pater Noster_, and turning
+around, I beheld the jovial Friar of Copmanhurst, one hand grasping a
+huge oaken cudgel, the other swiftly running over his rosary.
+
+Mary of Avenel next appeared, and (or it may have been fancy) near her
+floated the airy vision of the White Lady.
+
+There was Sir Piercie Shafton, too, and the miller's black-eyed
+daughter. The voice of the knight was low and apparently his words
+were tender; for poor Mysie Happer, with cheeks like a fresh-blown
+rose, and sparkling eyes, drank in with her whole soul the honeyed
+accents of the Euphoist.
+
+"Certes, O my discretion," said he, "thou shalt arise from thy
+never-to-be-lamented-sufficiently-lowliness; thou shalt leave the
+homely occupations of that rude boor unto whom it beseemeth thee to
+give the appellation of father, and shalt attain to the-all-to-be-desired
+greatness of my love, even as the resplendent sun condescends to shine
+down upon the earth-crawling beetle."
+
+I now approached a deep embrasure elevated one step above the level
+of the apartment, over which magnificent hangings of crimson and gold
+swept to the floor. Not for a moment could I doubt who the splendid
+being might be occupying the centre of the little group on which my
+eyes now rested enraptured.
+
+The most lovely, the most unfortunate Mary of Scotland was before me,
+and, as if spell-bound, I could not withdraw my gaze. How did all the
+portraits my fancy had drawn fade in comparison with the actual
+beauty, the indescribable loveliness of this peerless woman. How was
+it possible to give to fancy any thing so exquisitely graceful and
+beautiful as the breathing form before me. Ask me not to depict the
+color of her eyes; ask me not to paint that wealth of splendid
+hair--that complexion no artist's skill could match--that mouth so
+eloquent in its repose--those lips--those teeth. As well attempt to
+_paint the strain_ of delicious music which reaches our ears at
+midnight, stealing over the moonlit wave; or to _color the fragrance_
+of the new-blown rose, or of the lily of the vale, when first plucked
+from its humble bed. For even thus did the unrivaled charms of Mary of
+Scotland blend themselves indescribably with our enraptured senses.
+
+On a low stool at the feet of Mary sat Catharine Seyton, whose fair,
+round arm seemed as a snow-wreath resting amid the rich folds of her
+royal mistress' black velvet robe. Yet not so deeply absorbed was she
+in devotion to her lady as to prevent her now and then casting a
+mischievous glance on Roland Graeme, who, with the Douglas, were also
+in attendance upon their unhappy queen. Drawn up on one side was the
+stately figure of the Lady of Lochleven, with a scowl on her face, and
+a bitter look of hate fastened on the unfortunate Mary.
+
+With regret I at length moved away from this enchanting presence, my
+sympathies to be soon again awakened for the gentle Amy Robsart,
+Countess of Leicester.
+
+She was reclining on a sofa of sea-green velvet, seeded with pearls,
+bearing in its centre the cypher of herself and lord, surmounted by a
+coronet. At her feet knelt the Earl of Leicester with all the outward
+semblance of a god. One little hand rested confidingly in his, the
+other nestled amid the dark locks clustering over his high and
+polished brow. Ah! little did she dream of guile in her noble lord!
+How could she, when with such looks of love he gazed upon her--with
+such words of love delighted her trembling heart.
+
+The fawning villain, Varney, stood at a little distance behind the
+unconscious Amy, even then, as it seemed to me, plotting her
+destruction with the old arch hypocrite, Foster, with whom he was
+holding low and earnest conversation. Tressilian--the brave, good
+Tressilian--as if sworn to protect the lovely lady, leaned on his
+sword at her right hand, his fine eyes bent with a look of mingled
+admiration and pity on her ingenuous countenance.
+
+"The queen! the queen!--room for the queen!" echoed around. Hastily
+rising to his feet, and imprinting a slight kiss on her fair brow, the
+earl left his lovely bride, and was the next moment by the side of
+the haughty Elizabeth--England's maiden Queen.
+
+    "Then, earl, why didst thou leave the beds
+     Where roses and where lilies vie,
+    To seek a prim-rose, whose pale shades
+     Must sicken when those gauds are by?
+
+    "But Leicester (or I much am wrong)
+     It is not beauty lures thy vows,
+    Rather ambition's gilded crown
+     Makes thee forget thy humble spouse.
+
+    "Last night, as sad I chanced to stray,
+     The village death-bell smote my ear;
+    They winked aside, and seemed to say,
+     'Countess, prepare--thy end is near!'"
+
+    "Thus sore and sad that lady grieved,
+     In Cumnor Hall so lone and drear,
+    And many a heartfelt sigh she heaved,
+     And let fall many a bitter tear.
+
+    "And ere the dawn of day appeared
+     In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear,
+    Full many a piercing scream was heard,
+     And many a cry of mortal fear.
+
+    "The death-bell thrice was heard to ring,
+     An aerial voice was heard to call,
+    And thrice the raven flapped his wing
+     Around the towers of Cumnor Hall."
+
+It was pleasant to turn from a scene of such confiding love on one
+part, and base hypocrisy on the other, to look upon the honest
+countenance of Magnus Troil, who, with his daughters on each arm--the
+stately, dark-eyed Minna, and the no less lovely Brenda--were now
+approaching me. Behind followed Norna of the Fitful-head, in earnest
+conversation with the Pirate Cleveland. As I looked upon her tall,
+majestic person, her countenance, so stern and wild, rendered more so,
+perhaps, by the singular head-dress she had assumed, and her long hair
+streaming over her face and shoulders, I could no longer wonder at the
+power she had obtained over the minds of the ignorant peasantry and
+fishermen of Jarlshof.
+
+"Whist! whist! Triptolemus!" quoth Mistress Barbara Yelloway, pulling
+the sleeve of the Factor, "dinna be getting ower near the hellicat
+witch--wha kens but she may be asking for the horn o' siller, man."
+
+This speech had the desired effect; and the trembling Triptolemus
+hastily placed the bold front of Baby between him and the object of
+dread.
+
+Here, too, was Mareshal Dalgetty--and nothing but the respect due to
+so much beauty as was here assembled, I felt sure, could have
+prevented the appearance of his brave charger, Gustavus, also upon the
+scene. He was accompanied by Ranald of the Mist.
+
+With her little harp poised lightly on her arm, sweet Annot Lyle
+tripped by the side of the moody Allan, striving by her lively sallies
+to break the thrall of the dark fit which was about to seize upon him.
+
+Fair Alice Lee, and the brave old knight, Sir Harry, did not escape my
+notice--nor Master Wildrake, or the gay monarch, Charles, still under
+the disguise of Louis Kerneguy; and whose shuffling, awkward gait, and
+bushy red head, caused no small mirth in the assembly, as wondering to
+see one of so ungainly an appearance in such close attendance upon the
+lovely Alice.
+
+"Old Noll" had grouped around him in one corner the
+"Devil-scaring-lank-legs," the "Praise-God-barebones," and the
+"smell-sin-long-noses" of the day; but not finding any thing very
+attractive in that godly company, I passed on to where Isabella of
+Croye and the gallant Quentin Durward were holding earnest
+converse--not aware, unfortunately, that the snaky eye of the Bohemian
+was watching all their movements.
+
+I quickly stepped aside as I saw the miser, Trapbois, eagerly
+advancing toward the Lady of Croye, his eyes gloating over the rich
+jewels which adorned her person, and his long, skinny fingers seeming
+ready to tear the coveted gems from her fair neck and arms. Indeed,
+but for the presence of his stern daughter, Martha, I doubted whether
+he would not at least make the attempt.
+
+"Father, come home! this is no place for you--come home!" she said, in
+deep, slow tones.
+
+"Nay, daughter, I would but offer to serve these rich nobles for a
+small con-sider-ation; let me go, Martha--let me go, I say!" as
+placing her powerful arm within his, she drew him reluctantly toward
+the door.
+
+Suddenly a flourish of warlike music swelled through the lofty
+apartment--peal on peal reverberated around--and while I listened with
+awe to notes so grand and solemn, the music as suddenly changed its
+character. Now only the dulcet tones of the harp were heard, sweet as
+the soft summer shower when the tinkling rain-drops merrily pelt the
+flowers--strains so sweetly harmonious as seemed too heavenly for
+mortal touch. And as fainter and fainter, yet still more sweet, the
+ravishing melody breathed around, one by one the company glided out
+silently and mournfully--the tapestried walls gradually assumed the
+appearance of my own little parlor--the rich and tasteful decorations
+vanished--_and where was I?_ Seated in my own comfortable
+rocking-chair, reclining in the same attitude as when so suddenly
+summoned forth by the gipsy carline. Truly,
+
+     "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.
+      Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
+
+
+
+
+HOMEWARD BOUND.
+
+BY E. CURTISS HINE, U. S. N.
+
+    For weary years my feet had wandered
+     On many a fair but distant shore;
+    By Lima's crumbling walls I'd pondered
+     And gazed upon the Andes hoar.
+    The ocean's wild and restless billow,
+     That rears its crested head on high,
+    For years had been my couch and pillow,
+     Until its sameness pained my eye.
+
+    The playmates of my joyous childhood,
+     With whom I laughed the hours away,
+    And wandered through the tangled wildwood
+     Till close of sultry summer day;
+    My aged, gray, and feeble mother,
+     Whom most I longed to see again,
+    My sisters, and my only brother,
+     Were o'er the wild and faithless main.
+
+    At length the lagging days were numbered,
+     That bound me to a foreign shore,
+    And glorious hopes that long had slumbered
+     Again their gilded plumage wore;
+    Fond voices in my ear were singing
+     The songs I loved in boyhood's day,
+    As in my hammoc slowly swinging
+     I mused the still night-hours away.
+
+    And sylvan scenes then came before me,
+     The bright green fields I loved so well,
+    Ere SORROW threw his shadow o'er me,
+     The streamlet, mountain, wood and dell;
+    The lonely grave-yard, sad and dreary,
+     Which in the night I passed with dread,
+    Where, with their sleepless vigils weary,
+     The white stones watch above the dead;
+
+    Were spread like pictured chart around me,
+     Where Fancy turned my gazing eye,
+    Till slumber with his fetters bound me,
+     And dimmed each star in memory's sky.
+    Then came bright dreams--but all were routed
+     When morning lit the ocean blue,
+    And I, awaking, gayly shouted,
+     "My last, last night in famed PERU!"
+
+    "Farewell PERU! thy shores are fading,
+     As swift we plough the furrowed main,
+    And clouds with drooping wings are shading
+     The towering Andes, wood and plain.
+    The passing breeze, thus idly singing,
+     A sweeter, dearer voice hath found,
+    And hope within my heart is springing,
+     Our white-winged bark is HOMEWARD BOUND!"
+
+        *    *    *    *    *
+
+    'Twas night--at length my feet were nearing
+     The home from which they long had strayed;
+    No star was in the sky appearing,
+     My boyhood's scenes were wrapped in shade.
+    I paused beside the grave-yard dreary,
+     And entered through its creaking gate,
+    To find if yet my mother, weary
+     Of this cold world, had shared the fate
+
+    Of those who in their graves were sleeping,
+     But could not find her grass-grown bed,
+    Though many a stranger stone was keeping
+     Its patient watch above the dead.
+    But HERS was not among them gleaming,
+     And so I turned with joy away,
+    For many a night had I been dreaming
+     That there she pale and faded lay!
+
+
+
+
+POOR PENN--.
+
+A REAL REMINISCENCE.
+
+BY OLIVER BUCKLEY.
+
+     "I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest;--most
+     excellent humor."
+
+Some years ago, ere yet I had reaped the harvest of "oats" somewhat
+wildly sown, I resided in one of our principal western cities, and,
+like most juveniles within sight of the threshold of their majority,
+harbored a decided predilection for the stage. Not a coach and four,
+as is sometimes understood by that expression, but that still more
+lumbering vehicle, the theatre, which hurries down the rough road of
+life a load of passengers quite as promiscuous and impatient. The odor
+of the summer-fields gave me less delight than that which exhaled from
+the foot-lights; and the wild forest-scenes were less enchanting than
+those transitory views which honest John Leslie nightly presented to
+the audience, too often "few" if not "fit." There is something, too,
+in the off-hand, taking-luck-as-it-comes sort of life among actors,
+which to me was especially attractive; and I was not long in making
+the acquaintance of many. But the memory of one among the number
+lingers with me still, with more mingled feelings of pain and pleasure
+than that of any other. Poor Penn--, I will not write his name in
+full, lest, should he be living, it might meet his eye and give his
+good-natured heart a moment's discomfort. To him more than any other
+my nature warmed, as did his to me, until we were cemented in
+friendship. What pleasant rambles of summer-afternoons, after
+rehearsal; what delightful nights when the play was done, what songs,
+recitations and professional anecdotes were ours, no one but ourselves
+can know. The character he most loved to play was Crack, in the
+"Turnpike Gate." Poor Penn--! I can see him yet--"Some gentleman has
+left his beer--another one will drink it!" How admirably he made that
+point! But that is gone by, and he may ere this have made his last
+point and final exit. After six months of the closest intimacy, I
+suddenly missed my hitherto daily companion, and all inquiries at his
+boarding-house and the theatre proved fruitless. For days I frequented
+our old haunts, but in vain; he had vanished, leaving no trace to tell
+of the course he had taken. I seemed altogether forsaken--utterly
+lost--and felt as if I looked like a pump without a handle--a cart
+with but one wheel--a shovel without the tongs--or the second volume
+of a novel, which, because somebody has carried off the first, is of
+no interest to any one. At last a week went by, and I sauntered down
+to the ferry, and stepping aboard the boat suffered myself to be
+conveyed to the opposite shore. On the bank stood the United States
+barracks, and gathered about were groups of soldiers, looking as
+listless and unwarlike as if they had just joined the "peace-league."
+But their present quiet was only like that of a summer sea, which
+would bear unharmed the slightest shallop that ever maiden put from
+shore, but when battling tempests rise can hurl whole navies into
+wreck. Suddenly catching a glimpse of a figure at a distance which
+reminded me of my friend, I eagerly addressed one of the soldiers, and
+pointing out the object of my curiosity, inquired who he was.
+
+"That's our sergeant," replied the man.
+
+"Oh!" I ejaculated in my disappointment, feeling assured that a week
+would not have raised Penn--to that honor, and I sat down on the green
+bank and watched the steamboats as they passed up and down between me
+and the city. And as I gazed, many a sad reflection and strange
+conjecture passed and re-passed along the silent current of my mind.
+How alone I felt! Even the groups of soldiers standing about were but
+as so many stacks of muskets. My eyes wandered listlessly from object
+to object, and rested at last on a pair of boots at my side, such as
+had been moving about me for the last half hour, and they, that is my
+eyes, not the boots, naturally, but slowly, followed up the military
+stripe on the side of the pantaloons, then took a squirrel leap to the
+Uncle Sam buttons on the breast of the coat, and passed leisurely from
+one to another upward, until they lit at last full in the owner's
+face! That quizzical look--that Roman nose! There was no mistaking
+Penn--, Sergeant Penn--, of the United States Army! My surprise may
+easily be imagined. However, a few minutes explained all.
+
+    Alas! for poor humanity,
+    Its weakness and its vanity,
+    Its sorrow and insanity,
+            Alas!
+
+My friend in an evil hour had been led astray--had imbibed one
+"cobbler" too many for his leather; and like most men in similar
+circumstances, grew profoundly patriotic, and in a glorious burst of
+enthusiasm, enlisted! His fine figure, with a dash of the theatrical
+air, promoted him at once to the dignity of sergeant; and never did
+soldier wear his honors "thrust upon him" with a better grace than did
+Poor Penn--. Whether in his sober moments he regretted the rash act, I
+do not know; he was too proud to acknowledge it if he did. Taking me
+by the arm, he conducted the way to the barracks, and with an air of
+indescribable importance, exhibited and explained the whole internal
+arrangements. On the first floor, which was paved with brick, there
+was an immense fire-place, built in the very centre of the great room,
+and steaming and bubbling over the fire hung a big kettle, capable of
+holding at least thirty gallons. Over it, or rather beside it, stood
+the soldier-cook, stirring the contents, which was bean-soup, with an
+iron ladle. In the room above were long rows of bunks, stacks of
+muskets, with other warlike implements and equipage. A number of men
+were lounging on the berths, some reading, some boasting, and others
+telling long yarns. There was one stout, moon-faced gentleman laying
+on his broad back "spouting" Shakspeare. This individual, to whom I
+was introduced, turned out to be Sergeant Smith, another son of
+Thespis, who had left the boards for a more permanent engagement, not
+with the enemy, for those were days of peace, but with that stern old
+manager, Uncle Sam. Sergeant Smith was, perhaps, the most important
+person in his own estimation, on the banks, not even excepting the
+captain. There can be no doubt but that the stage suffered a great
+loss when he left it, for, indeed, he told us so himself. In a little
+while the call sounded, the roll was called, and all hands turned in
+to dinner. Penn-- had provided me a seat by his side; and, for the
+first time in my life, I sat down to soldier fare. There was a square
+block of bread at the side of each pewter plate, a tin cup of cold
+water, and very soon a ladle-full of the steaming bean-soup was dealt
+round to each. It was a plain but a substantial dinner. Poor Penn--,
+as he helped me to an extra ladle of soup, observed, with the most
+solemn face imaginable, that the man who hadn't dined with soldiers
+"didn't know beans;" an expression more apt than elegant. During the
+space of three months I made weekly visits to the barracks, and was
+gratified to find that my friend Penn--, in spite of his formidable
+rival, Sergeant Smith, was fast rising in the confidence of the
+commanding officer and the estimation of the men. Smith, too, was
+judicious enough to hide any jealousy he might have felt, and like a
+true soldier, imitated his superior, and treated Penn-- with marked
+distinction.
+
+Such having been the state of affairs for so long a time, my surprise
+and indignation may easily be imagined, when upon calling, as usual,
+to see my friend, Sergeant Smith, with a most pompous air, informed me
+that he was not acquainted with the person for whom I inquired.
+
+"Not acquainted with Penn--?" cried I, with the most unbounded
+astonishment.
+
+"No, sir," proudly replied the imperturbable sergeant, assuming the
+strictest military attitude, looking like a very stiff figure-head,
+seeming as if it would crack his eyelids to wink.
+
+"Not acq--"
+
+"No, sir," cried he, with great determination, before I could finish
+the word. "Do you suppose an officer of the United States army, an
+unimpeached soldier, capable of being acquainted with a _deserter?_"
+
+"A _deserter_!" echoed I; "Penn-- a deserter!" and the truth flashed
+across my brain, writing that terrible word in letters of fire, as did
+the hand on the walls of Belshazzar. The next moment, by permission of
+the guard, who knew me, I passed down into the long damp basement of
+the barracks, where the offenders were imprisoned. At the farther end,
+among a number of fellow-culprits, my eager eye soon discovered the
+object of its search. He was sitting with folded arms, perched on a
+carpenter's bench, and with the most wo-begone countenance imaginable,
+whistling a favorite air, and beating time against the side of the
+bench with his long, pendulous legs. I can hear the tune yet, "Nix my
+Dolly;" and who that has ever seen "Jack Shepherd" has forgotten it?
+
+"Hallo!" cried I, "Penn--, how is this?"
+
+He looked at me a moment with surprise, and after exclaiming, "How are
+you, my boy?" gave the bench a salutary kick, and whistled more
+vigorously than ever "Nix my Dolly;" and having gone through the
+stave, he turned to me and exclaimed,
+
+"Look you, my boy, be chaste as snow, you shall not escape
+calumny--and to this complexion you may come at last." Again he took
+sight at the blank stone wall, whistled, and beat time.
+
+"But, come," said I, "how did you get here?"
+
+"Get here?" echoed he, "the easiest way in the world! Sergeant Penn--
+crossed the river on a three hours' leave of absence--took a glass too
+many--stayed over the time, and his friend, Sergeant Smith, feeling
+anxious for Penn--'s welfare, went after him and had him arrested as a
+deserter--and here he is! 'Nix my Dolly,'" etc. etc.; and he settled
+again into his musical reverie.
+
+"Well, what will be the upshot of it?" said I.
+
+"The _down-shot_ of me, maybe!"--Nix my Doll--"at least, I shall be
+shipped off with these fine fellows to the west; and if the
+court-martial happen to sit on my case after dinner, I may get off
+with _merely_ having my head shaved, and being drummed out!" Poor
+Penn--, at the thought of this, kicked the bench furiously, and
+whistled with all the vigor he could muster.
+
+"When do you go?" asked I, eagerly.
+
+"Next Sunday," he replied, and added, "Look here, my boy, let me bid
+you good-by now, for the last time"--and he pressed my hand
+warmly--"for the last time, I say, for it would unman me to see you on
+that day, and Penn-- would fain be himself, proud and unshaken even in
+his disgrace. There--there--go, my dear boy, let this be the last
+visit of your life to the barracks. God bless you!" and after giving
+his hand a hearty grasp, I turned hurriedly away, to hide my feeling.
+In passing the door I gave a hasty glance back, and saw Penn-- sitting
+as before, his arms folded, his heels beating the bench, but so
+slowly, that their strokes seemed like the dying vibrations of a
+pendulum; and the whistle was so low that it was scarcely audible.
+With a heavy heart I passed away, much preferring to acknowledge the
+acquaintance of a "deserter" like Poor Penn-- than to continue that of
+the unimpeachable Sergeant Smith. Another week brought around the day
+of my friend's departure, and I found it impossible to resist the
+temptation to take a farewell look at my old companion. Accordingly I
+crossed the river, and taking my station behind a large tree on the
+bank of the river, so that I could see Penn--without letting him see
+me, I awaited with melancholy patience the moment when the deserters
+should be led out. The steamboat was puffing and groaning at the
+wharf, and in a few moments the heavy door of the guard-room swung
+open; there was a sudden clanking of irons, and soon I saw prisoner
+after prisoner emerge, dragging long heavy chains, which were attached
+to their ankles. I counted them as they came out--counted a dozen--but
+yet no Penn--; counted eighteen--nineteen--but the twentieth, and
+last, proved to be him. No language can describe the solemn majesty
+with which he brought up the rear of that dishonored line. No chain
+clanked as he stepped to tell of his disgrace; and the spectators,
+instead of suspecting him as being a culprit, may easily have imagined
+him to be one of the sergeants who had the rest in charge. This, to
+me, was a matter of much surprise, and turning to an old soldier at my
+side, I inquired,
+
+"What does this mean, isn't Penn-- one of them?"
+
+"Of course he is," was the reply.
+
+"But why doesn't he wear a chain like the rest?"
+
+"Wear a chain," said the soldier, "you don't know Penn--, Sergeant
+Penn-- that was. He wear a chain! Why, bless your heart, he carries as
+heavy a chain as any of them, but he's got it twisted around his leg,
+under his pantaloons, clear above his knee! He's too proud to drag
+it--he'd die first!"
+
+Poor Penn--! I could have embraced him for that touch of pride; and
+felt assured that whatever the penalty might be which he was doomed to
+suffer, that he had "a heart for any fate!" What that fate was I have
+had no means of knowing, for I have never since heard of poor Penn--.
+
+
+
+
+A SONG.
+
+BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ.
+
+
+    Bring me the juice of the honey fruit,
+     The large translucent, amber-hued,
+    Rare grapes of southern isles, to suit
+     The luxury that fills my mood.
+
+    And bring me only such as grew
+     Where rarest maidens tent the bowers,
+    And only fed by rain and dew
+     Which first had bathed a bank of flowers.
+
+    They must have hung on spicy trees
+     In airs of far enchanted vales,
+    And all night heard the ecstasies
+     Of noble-throated nightingales:
+
+    So that the virtues which belong
+     To flowers may therein tasted be--
+    And that which hath been thrilled with song
+     May give a thrill of song to me.
+
+    For I would wake that string for thee
+     Which hath too long in silence hung,
+    And sweeter than all else should be
+     The song which in thy praise is sung.
+
+
+
+
+THE ENCHANTED ISLE.
+
+BY MRS. LYDIA JANE PEIRSON.
+
+
+    Far in the ocean of the Night
+     There lyeth an Enchanted Isle,
+    Within a veil of mellow light,
+     That blesseth like affection's smile.
+
+    It tingeth with a rosy hue
+     All objects in that country fair,
+    Like summer twilight, when the dew
+     Is trembling in the fragrant air.
+
+    And there is music evermore,
+     That seemeth sleeping on the breeze.
+    Like sound of sweet bells from the shore
+     Lingering along the summer seas.
+
+    And there are rivers, bowers, and groves,
+     And fountains fringed with blossomed weeds,
+    And all sweet birds that sing their loves
+     'Mid stately flowers or tasseled reeds.
+
+    All that is beautiful of earth,
+     All that is valued, all that's dear,
+    All that is pure of mortal birth,
+     Lives in immortal beauty here.
+
+    All tender buds that ever grew
+     For us on Hope's ephemeral tree,
+    All loves, all joys, that e'er we knew,
+     Bloom in that country gloriously.
+
+    There is no parting there, no change,
+     No death, no fading, no decay;
+    No hand is cold, no voice is strange,
+     No eye is dark--or turned away.
+
+    To us, who daily toil and weep,
+     How welcome is Night's starry smile,
+    When in the fairy barge of Sleep
+     We visit the Enchanted Isle.
+
+    All holy hearts that worship Truth,
+     Though bleak their daily pathway seems,
+    Find treasure and immortal youth
+     In that fair isle of happy dreams.
+
+    But, if the soul have dwelt with sin,
+     It landeth on that isle no more,
+    Though it would give its life to win
+     One glimpse but of the pleasant shore.
+
+    Their joys, which have been thrown away,
+     Or stained with guilt, can bloom no more,
+    And o'er the night their vessels stray
+     Where pale shades weep, and surges roar.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONTINENTS.
+
+BY J. BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+
+    I had a vision in that solemn hour,
+       Last of the year sublime,
+    Whose wave sweeps downward, with its dying power
+       Rippling the shores of Time!
+    On the lone margin of that hoary sea
+       My spirit stood alone,
+    Watching the gleams of phantom History
+       Which through the darkness shone:
+
+    Then, when the bell of midnight, ghostly hands
+       Tolled for the dead year's doom,
+    I saw the spirits of Earth's ancient lands
+       Stand up amid the gloom!
+    The crowned deities, whose reign began
+       In the forgotten Past,
+    When first the glad world gave to sovereign Man
+       Her empires green and vast!
+
+    First queenly ASIA, from the fallen thrones
+       Of twice three thousand years,
+    Came with the wo a grieving goddess owns
+       Who longs for mortal tears:
+    The dust of ruin to her mantle clung,
+       And dimmed her crown of gold,
+    While the majestic sorrows of her tongue
+       From Tyre to Indus rolled:
+
+    "Mourn with me, sisters, in my realm of wo,
+       Whose only glory streams
+    From its lost childhood, like the artic glow
+       Which sunless Winter dreams!
+    In the red desert moulders Babylon,
+       And the wild serpent's hiss
+    Echoes in Petra's palaces of stone
+       And waste Persepolis!
+
+    Gone are the deities who ruled enshrined
+       In Elephanta's caves,
+    And Brahma's wailings fill the odorous wind
+       That stirs Amboyna's waves!
+    The ancient gods amid their temples fall,
+       And shapes of some near doom,
+    Trembling and waving on the Future's wall,
+       More fearful make my gloom!"
+
+    Then from her seat, amid the palms embowered
+       That shade the Lion-land,
+    Swart AFRICA in dusky aspect towered--
+       The fetters on her hand!
+    Backward she saw, from out her drear eclipse,
+       The mighty Theban years,
+    And the deep anguish of her mournful lips
+       Interpreted her tears.
+
+    "Wo for my children, whom your gyves have bound
+       Through centuries of toil;
+    The bitter wailings of whose bondage sound
+       From many a stranger-soil!
+    Leave me but free, though the eternal sand
+       Be all my kingdom now--
+    Though the rude splendors of barbaric land
+       But mock my crownless brow!"
+
+    There was a sound, like sudden trumpets blown,
+       A ringing, as of arms,
+    When EUROPE rose, a stately Amazon,
+       Stern in her mailed charms.
+    She brooded long beneath the weary bars
+       That chafed her soul of flame,
+    And like a seer, who reads the awful stars,
+       Her words prophetic came:
+
+    "I hear new sounds along the ancient shore,
+       Whose dull old monotone
+    Of tides, that broke on many a system hoar,
+       Wailed through the ages lone!
+    I see a gleaming, like the crimson morn
+       Beneath a stormy sky,
+    And warning throes, my bosom long has borne,
+       Proclaim the struggle nigh!
+
+    "The spirit of a hundred races mounts
+       To glorious life in one;
+    New prophet-wands unseal the hidden founts
+       That leap to meet the sun!
+    And thunder-voices, answering Freedom's prayer,
+       In far-off echoes fail,
+    As some loud trumpet, startling all the air,
+       Peals down an Alpine vale!"
+
+    O radiant-browed, the latest born of Time!
+       How waned thy sisters old
+    Before the splendors of thine eye sublime,
+       And mien, erect and bold!
+    Pure, as the winds of thine own forests are,
+       Thy brow beamed lofty cheer,
+    And Day's bright oriflamme, the Morning Star,
+       Flashed on thy lifted spear.
+
+    "I bear no weight," so rang thy jubilant tones,
+       "Of memories weird and vast--
+    No crushing heritage of iron thrones,
+       Bequeathed by some dead Past;
+    But mighty hopes, that learned to tower and soar,
+       From my own hills of snow--
+    Whose prophecies in wave and woodland roar,
+       When the free tempests blow!
+
+    "Like spectral lamps, that burn before a tomb,
+       The ancient lights expire;
+    I wave a torch, that floods the lessening gloom
+       With everlasting fire!
+    Crowned with my constellated stars, I stand
+       Beside the foaming sea,
+    And from the Future, with a victor's hand
+       Claim empire for the Free!"
+
+
+
+
+JEHOIAKIM JOHNSON.
+
+A SKETCH.
+
+BY MARY SPENCER PEASE.
+
+
+What unlucky star it was that presided over the destiny of my cousin
+Jehoiakim Johnson I am not astrologer enough to divine. Certain only
+am I that it could have been neither Saturn, Mercury, Mars, nor Venus;
+for he was far from being either wise, witty, warlike, or beautiful.
+
+Cowper says every one falls "just in the niche he was ordained to
+fill." Cowper was mistaken in one instance, for Cousin Jehoiakim had
+no niche to fall into, but went wandering about the world, (our
+world,) without any thing apparently to do, or any where apparently to
+stay: And just the moment you wished him safe in Botany Bay, just that
+very moment was he standing before you with his--but never mind a
+description of his face and person. _All_ cannot be handsome; folks
+unfortunately do not make themselves--and precisely the moment you
+became indifferent as to his presence, or if--a _very_ rare thing--you
+wished it, that very instant he was no where to be found.
+
+"Our world" was situated in good old New England, around and about
+Boston; and we, "our folks," were of the better class of farmers, and
+lived within a day's ride of the city.
+
+Never in my life have I been happier than in that free, green country,
+with the broad, bright sky above me, and the clear, heaven-wide air
+around me; and bird and beast frolicking in freedom and gladness near
+and about me. I loved them all, and all their various noises, even to
+the unearthly scream of our bright, proud peacock. I shut my eyes and
+see them still; the world of gay-plumaged birds, with their sweet,
+wild songs, the little white-faced lambs, the wee, _roly-poly_ pigs,
+the verdant ducks, the soft, yellow goslins, and the dignified old
+cows stalking about. Well do I remember each of their kind old faces.
+There was the spotted heifer, with an up-turned nose, and eyes with
+corners pointing toward the stars. If ever a cow is admitted into
+heaven for goodness, it will surely be Daisy. Then there was the black
+Alderny, and the--but leaving beef _revenons a nos moutons_--Cousin
+Jehoiakim. Still the place of all others to enjoy life, life
+unconstrained by city forms, life free, free as heaven's wind, is on a
+New England farm. My heart bounds within me as I look back at the dear
+old homestead. Just there it lies in the bend of the time-worn road
+that winds its interminable length through dark elms--the gothic
+ivy-clad elms--and through black giant pines, and the bright-leaved,
+sugar-giving maple, and golden fields, hedged in by ragged fences,
+formed of the roots and stumps of leviathan trees.
+
+You see that picket-gate? open it, and a path bordered on each side by
+currant bushes, and gooseberry bushes, and the tall cyranga, and the
+purple lilac, will lead you through an arbor of fine Isabella's and
+Catawba's to the dear old homestead, now in possession of Brother Dick
+and little Fanny, his better half.
+
+I could describe every nook of that darling old house, and every thing
+surrounding it, from its old-fashioned chimneys--wherein the domestic
+swallows have sung their little ones to sleep each successive summer,
+time out of mind--to the unseemly nail that projected its Judas-point
+from one of the crosspieces of that same little gate, and which always
+contrived to give a triangular tear to my flying robes every time they
+fluttered through that dear little gate. Just imagine the happy
+moments I spent under the great old willow by the well, darning those
+same triangular rents. Still has all this nothing to do with Cousin
+Jehoiakim Johnson. You have probably seen folks that were often in
+your way; now, he was never any where else. Always in the way, and
+always ungraceful. He was not ungraceful for lack of desire to please:
+bless his kind, officious heart! Oh, no! Was there a cup of coffee to
+be handed, and were there a half dozen waiters ready to hand it, he
+was sure to thrust forth at least ten huge digits, and if he chanced
+to get it in his grasp, wo to the coffee! and wo to the snow-white
+damask table-cloth! or worse, wo to one's "best Sunday-go-to-meetin'"
+silk dress. Nature uses strange materials in concocting some of her
+children--most uncouth was the fabric of which she constructed
+Jehoiakim Johnson.
+
+Poor fellow! he is dead now--peace to his soul. Do you know I fancy it
+lies hid in the breast of my dog Jehu--the most ungainly, the
+best-natured creature alive. My baby rides his back, and pulls his
+ears. I never heard him growl. Oh! he is a jewel of a dog.
+
+Poor Cousin Jehoiakim! Among his other _plaisanteries_ he came near
+losing for me a noble husband. Patience, and I will relate how it came
+to pass.
+
+Sister Anna and myself--that sister of mine, by the way, was a
+complete witch; all dimples and fun, with blue eyes that darted here
+and there, dancing in her head for very gladness; with a mouth on
+which the bright red rose sat like a queen on her throne. Her words I
+can liken to nothing but to so many little silver bells, ringing out
+into the clear air in joy and sweetness. And never have I heard those
+musical bells jingle one harsh or unharmonious sound. She is married
+now--poor thing--and the mother of three "little curly-headed,
+good-for-nothing, mischief-making monkeys."
+
+Notwithstanding her exceeding loveliness, Cousin Jehoiakim preferred
+me, and actually offered me his great broad hand, as you shall see.
+She was a perfect Hebe, while my style of beauty was more of
+the--though to confess the "righty-dighty" truth, as little folks say,
+my beauty was of that order which took the keenest of eyes to
+discover. There were a pair, however, dark, and full of soul, that
+dwelt with as much delight on me as though I were Venus herself.
+
+Oh! those were dear, darling eyes, and were in the possession of the
+best, yes, the very best specimen of Nature's modeling that New
+England contained; Nature wrought him from the finest of her clay,
+after her divinest image, and his parents named him Edgar Elliott.
+
+Sister Anna and myself had been making our usual Christmas visit to
+Aunt Charity, or Aunt "Charty," as we used to call her, in good old
+Yankee language. Aunt Charity dwelt in Boston; and was the wife of a
+very excellent man, in very excellent circumstances; and the mother of
+seven dear, excellent boys, of whom Cousin Jehoiakim Johnson was _not_
+one.
+
+How delightfully flew our days on this particular Christmas visit. I
+felt myself in a new world. A world of brighter flowers, and brighter
+sunshine; for, although I was eighteen, never until then had I been
+any thing but a wild, thoughtless, giddy child. And then?--the truth
+is a new star had burst upon my horoscope, bright and beautiful, that
+so bewildered my eyes to look upon, I was forced to awake my heart
+from its long sleep, to supply the place of eyes. Steadfast it gazed
+into that bright star's heaven-lighted depths, until I recognized it
+as my guiding star--my Destiny!
+
+Oh, Love! thou angel! thou devil! thou blissful madness, thou wise
+folly! Thou that comest clad in rainbow garments, with words more full
+of hope than was the first arch that spanned high heaven, stouter
+hearts than mine have been compelled to own thee master. Prouder
+hearts than mine have listened to the witcheries of thy satin-smooth
+tongue until they forgot their pride. More ice-cold ones than mine
+have been consumed in the immortal fire thou buildest--the heart thine
+altar, Love, thou monarch of the universe!
+
+Every thing has an end--a consolation oftentimes--rhapsody, as well as
+love, and so had that happy Christmas-time, when we were so merry,
+when I first saw that master-piece of nature--my Destiny--Edgar
+Elliott.
+
+Anna and myself had been home but three weeks--three dreary years of
+weeks, Anna said--when we received a letter containing the joyful
+intelligence that Edgar Elliott, his aristocratic sister Jane, his
+unaristocratic sister little Fanny, and Herbert Allen--a young
+lieutenant, by the way, and, by the way, the red-hot flame of my
+harem-scarem sister--would all four honor Dough-nut Hall, the name we
+had playfully given our old homestead, with a speedy and long visit.
+
+Joy and hope danced in our hearts when, clear and sunny, the promised
+day at length had come, the snow five and a half feet deep--the
+greatest depth of snow within the memory of the "oldest
+inhabitant"--the mercury full ten degrees below zero. I had just
+changed my dress for the fifth time, and sister Anna was offering me
+this consolation, "I must say, Clara, that that is the most unbecoming
+dress you have, you look like a perfect scare-crow," when the sound of
+sleigh-bells coming up the avenue, sent my heart up in my throat, and
+myself quicker than lightning down to the "hall-door," there to
+welcome--not my darling Edgar and his proud, beautiful sister, and
+Anna's Adonis lieutenant, and Brother Dick's pretty little Fanny--no,
+none of these, oh, no! who but my long-visaged, good-for-nothing
+cousin Jehoiakim Johnson.
+
+"Fiddle-de-dee!" exclaimed a voice at my elbow; and my disappointed
+sister skipped, with chattering teeth, back into the house.
+
+The stage drove off, after depositing cousin Jehoiakim and a
+Noah's-ark of a trunk.
+
+"Wall, Cousin Clarry!" exclaimed he, springing toward me with one of
+his own peculiar bear-like bounds. "How du you du? I guess you didn't
+expect me this time, no how."
+
+"I can't say that I did," said I; "but do come in, this air is enough
+to freeze one."
+
+"Wall, here I am again," said he, rubbing his great hands together
+before the blazing hickory. "But if that _wasn't_ a tarnel cold drive;
+and if this isn't a nation good fire, then I don't know. But how are
+uncle and aunt, and Cousin Anna, and Dick, and little Harry?"
+
+"All quite well. Where have you been since you left here, cousin?"
+
+"Why I went right to Cousin Hezekiah's; but I did not stay there quite
+two months, because little Prudence caught the brain fever, and I was
+obliged to keep so still that it was very unpleasant. I went from
+there to Cousin Ebenezer's. Wall, I stayed to Cousin Eb's four months
+or so; then I went to stay a couple of months with Cousin Pildash and
+Axy, (Achsa.) So this morning I came from Uncle Abimelech's. I only
+stayed there a few weeks, because--But, Cousin Clarry, du look! if
+there isn't a sleigh-load of folks coming."
+
+I _did_ look, and saw coming through the great open gate, and up the
+avenue, a sleigh, all covered with gold and brown, glittering in the
+sun's setting rays. I saw the long, white manes of the ponies, and the
+heavy plumes of my beautiful friend, Jane, streaming far in the wind;
+and then I saw little Fanny's bright, happy face, and the fierce
+moustache of Anna's lieutenant; and then I saw a pair of dark, earnest
+eyes, full of devotion, gazing into mine as though at the shrine of
+their soul's ideal. Never shall I forget the look they wore, so
+inexpressibly full of affection was it.
+
+What a pity stars should set. What a pity that eyes, once overflowing
+with the light of wildest, truest love, should grow cold and dim. A
+pity, too, that love cannot always be love--that it should find its
+grave so often in hate, or indifference, or in sober friendship. Still
+that it does not always, let us bless Love, and think that the fault
+lies in us, and not in Love, that we are grown so like the clay of
+which our bodies are made, that Love, the spirit, cannot find an
+abiding-place within us; and, as years come over us, we are content
+more and more to harden our hearts, and bask, like butterflies, in the
+external sunshine of this beautiful world, until the world within--the
+world of thought and feeling--is a weary one, gladdened only with a
+few flowers of transcendent sweetness and brightness--rewards of merit
+from this work-day, lesson-learning earth.
+
+Meantime were those warm eyes looking love upon me; and meantime, from
+out a world of buffalo-robes and furs, were our merry friends
+emerging; and then a fervent pressure of a soft, warm hand sent the
+bright blood burning to my very temples. Then came numerous other
+shakes of the hand, and question sounded upon question, and laugh
+pealed upon laugh; a gayer, merrier, madder party never met together.
+Sister Anna, and Brother Dick's little love of a Fanny, were a host of
+mirth in themselves. The accession of so many merry faces seemed to
+act on the uncouth spirits of my Cousin Jehoiakim like so much
+exhilarating gas; for scarcely were we housed, when he suddenly caught
+me up in his windmill arms, and twirling me around as though I had
+been a feather, exclaimed, "Bless us! Cousin Clarry, I have scarcely
+had a chance to say how du you du, and to tell you how glad I am to be
+here once more. Arn't you tickled to death to see me?"
+
+Indignant and breathless, I sprang from him, saying, "Really, Cousin
+Jehoiakim, I should be much more delighted to see you if you would be
+kind enough to manifest a less rude way of expressing your joy."
+
+"Oh! beg pardon, Cousin Clarry. I forgot you had grown up into a young
+woman; another word for touch-me-not--ha! ha! ha! I guess you are all
+dressed up, tu; you look like a daisy, anyhow."
+
+With that he threw himself back in a perfect roar of ha! ha's! and he!
+he's! My eyes glanced around to see the effect produced on my friends
+by my _gauche_ cousin. The great blue eyes of the aristocratic Jane
+opened themselves wider and more wide, while the merry black ones of
+little Fanny seemed to enjoy the sport. The lieutenant's moustache
+curled itself a little more decidedly, as he surveyed Jehoiakim
+Johnson; looking upon him, probably, as on some savage monster. I
+thought I perceived a darker shade in Edgar's eyes. It soon passed
+over, and we all became quiet and chatty. The twilight deepened around
+us, meantime, and the shadows formed by the blazing hearth grew more
+and more opaque, and more and more fitful, lengthening themselves over
+carpet, chairs, and sofas, to the very farthest corner of the room,
+darting all manner of fantastic forms upon Sister Anna and her
+handsome lieutenant, as they sat over by the window, in earnest
+conversation. Yes, Sister Anna, for once wert thou earnest. Upon our
+group on the sofa, before the hearth, fell also those strange
+fire-light shadows. Sweet little Fanny! how like a little fairy didst
+thou look in that flickering fire-light; thy graceful form, half
+reclining, thrown carelessly on the sofa; thy long, curling hair
+flowing in dark clouds over thy snow-white dress, and nearly hiding
+thy happy, child-like face, and bright eyes, that glanced out on
+Brother Dick, who, entranced, was devoutly bending over thee, gazing
+on thy sunny face--what he could see of it. Sweet little Fanny! And
+thy proud, beautiful sister, Jane--sitting beside me, and near thee;
+well did that gleaming light reveal her noble outline of face and form
+contrasting so finely with thine. Nor did those wayward shadows spare
+our dear mother, but daguerreotyped all manner of merry-andrews on her
+sober satin dress, as she sat over on a lounge, quietly talking with
+my dear, sweet Edgar, who employed his leisure moments in throwing
+sundry loving glances over at me. Nor did these weird shadows spare
+our Cousin Jehoiakim Johnson in the great old-fashioned arm-chair,
+where he had flung himself, seemingly wrapped in meditation most
+profound. They frolicked over his broad, square shoulders like the
+Liliputs upon Gulliver, dancing all sorts of fantastic dances, pulling
+at his ears, and tweaking his substantial nose, when a snore of most
+immense magnitude broke on our quiet ears. Then another and another,
+each louder than the last. Ah! Cousin Jehoiakim, most profound was thy
+meditation.
+
+Now I am not going to weary your patience by telling you how just then
+our "help" entered, one bearing a tray-full of tall sperm candles,
+another an immense waiter, crowned with the thick-gilt, untarnished
+china, that had been handed down in our family by four successive
+generations--we had begged our dear mother to let the tea, the tea
+only, be handed around as it was done in Boston; she in an evil hour
+consenting. Nor how Cousin Jehoiakim, aroused from his meditation by
+the glare of light, starting up, cast his eyes upon Mercy, the stout
+serving maiden, and bearer of that same precious porcelain--for which
+my dear mother's reverence was as great, every whit, as that of
+Charles Lamb's for old China; and how the next moment the waiter was
+in the hands of my six feet seven and a-half cousin, with "Du let me
+help you, young woman!" and how the next instant the six feet seven
+and a-half formed a horizontal line with the floor, instead of a
+perpendicular one; and how the glittering fragments of gold and white
+glistened from under every chair, and from the hearth, and out from
+among the ashes, like unto so many evil eyes glaring upon him for his
+stupidity and carelessness; and how little Fanny unwound from one foot
+of the prostrate six feet seven and a-half several yards of snow-white
+muslin--the innocent cause of the disaster; and how, light as a bird,
+she sprung, merrily laughing, from the room, with the fluttering
+fragments of her cobweb dress gathered in an impromptu drapery around
+her graceful little form.
+
+No; I will not fatigue you with the history of that unlucky adventure;
+nor how, but a short time after, when we had taken tea from less
+costly China, and had fallen into a witty, merry uttering of each
+other's thoughts, we were interrupted by screams the most--but never
+mind what kind, seeing I have said you shall not be fatigued with a
+description of what was nothing but an immense kettle of boiling lard
+flowing quietly and river-like over the long length of the before so
+spotless kitchen floor, with many a cluster of dough-nut islands
+interspersed, by way of relieving the said river of monotony. Our dear
+mother was famed for miles around for the profusion and superiority of
+her dough-nuts, hence our soubriquet--"Dough-nut Hall." And, seeing
+that Mercy was only scalded half to death, the guilty culprit, who
+insisted that the kettle was "too heavy for a woman to lift," escaping
+unhurt, that is bodily--his remorse of conscience being truly
+pitiable. No; none of all this, with long, ugly sentences, shall you
+have; no, nor a detail of his many daily, hourly, and almost momently,
+misadventures; how once, when we were sitting in Miss Elliott's room,
+in he bolted with, "Bless my soul! what a lot of industrious
+women-folk! 'How doth the busy bee;'" that new and elegant little poem
+was, word for word, recited. Little Fanny he found making a bead purse
+for Brother Dick, and examining her box with every conceivable shade
+of bead duly assorted, and separated from each other by innumerable
+partitions. No matter what he said about them, only the beads were
+spilled, and the purse could not be finished; and then were Miss
+Jane's delicate brushes passed through his wondering red hair before a
+saving hand could arrest them; then was Miss Jane's beautiful inlaid
+dressing-box broken irreparably; and then--but I will tell you what I
+will relate you--all about our sleigh-ride and country ball. Yes! that
+you must know; not because it is worth telling, but because I should
+like you to hear it--all about how I nearly lost my darling. But to
+commence.
+
+Rumors were afloat of this said ball, the countriest kind of a country
+ball, to take place in Squire Brown's barn, the largest, best built
+barn for miles around. Our city friends entered into the spirit
+exactly, and determined on going. "Cousin Jehoiakim? Oh, he need know
+nothing about it," said Sister Anna; "or we can easily deceive him as
+to the day, without telling him very much of a lie." Ah! Sister Anna.
+The important day arrived. In one great bandbox reposed various
+satins, laces, and ribbons too numerous to mention; the owners thereof
+were standing cloaked, hooded, and muffed, ready to start. The
+distance was ten miles. We had cast lots for the sleighs, and had
+agreed on exclusiveness, though not exactly the exclusiveness that
+Sister Anna wickedly proposed, viz., that each brother should take his
+respective sisters in due decorum. The new "cutter" of my brother's
+was drawn by himself; and he had already started with his little Fanny
+by his side. The proud, beautiful Jane--I really believe I had
+forgotten to mention that, while Cousin Jehoiakim was upsetting
+chairs, and spilling pitchers of water, and breaking glasses, and
+treading on people's toes, and the cat's tail, a distant cousin of
+ours arrived--rather a guess cousin than Cousin Jehoiakim; tall as
+the last named, to be sure, but bearing about the same resemblance to
+him as a vigorous, graceful young willow does to an overgrown mullen
+stalk. This new cousin--by cognomen Clarence Spencer--the family name
+our own, by the way--proud and beautiful as the haughty Jane
+herself--had seen fit to fall most gracefully in love with her. These
+two, therefore, were just started on their way to the ball, in
+Clarence's own incomparable turn-out. Lieutenant Allen had drawn the
+Elliott's beautiful gold and brown sleigh. He was holding the
+impatient ponies, and Sister Anna was arranging the cushions when
+Cousin Jehoiakim hove in sight. Sister Anna sprung like a doe to the
+front seat, threw the heavy buffalo-robes about, making them and the
+great bandbox fill up the back seat, and seating herself by the
+lieutenant--all this quicker than lightning--and giving the ponies a
+touch of the whip, on they dashed to the imminent peril of their necks
+as well as her own. A saucy toss of the head was all she vouchsafed
+me. All, then, were on their way save Edgar and myself, who were
+expecting a quiet, loving talk in the comfortable old-fashioned
+"pung," with a gig top, that papa used in his frequent drives to
+Boston.
+
+"Wall, now, Cousin Clarry, I reckon you thought I didn't snuff what
+was going on."
+
+Poor fellow! he looked _so_ good-natured, truly my heart smote me.
+
+"There is another cutter in the barn, cousin," replied I, "and you can
+take your pick of the horses."
+
+"You are very kind, Cousin Clarry, but there ain't no occasion of
+calling any more of the poor dumb critters out into the cold. I guess
+you can make room for me; I will ride on top until we catch up to some
+of the two-seated sleighs."
+
+Time was too precious to waste in words, and as Cousin Jehoiakim good
+naturedly persisted that he should be very comfortable on the top, on
+the top he seated himself. I saw that Edgar did not like the
+arrangement, but he was too polite, or too proud to interfere. "Let us
+overtake the others," said he. A bright smile passed over his face. I
+saw he meditated some mischief. I knew it could not be very
+mischievous mischief, for a kinder, nobler heart never beat more
+warmly in any human breast. Forward dashed the horses, throwing the
+white, sparkling snow before and around them into the bright sunshine.
+Faster and faster sped the spirited horses, until we passed,
+first--yes, it was no illusion, his lips were actually pressing her
+little rosy mouth. Then, Lieutenant Allen, you are not the first man
+that has done the like; it is a way they all have, ever since Adam
+gave Mother Eve her first love-kiss. What man would not part with some
+years of his life for the privilege of pressing to his own a pretty
+little soft mouth?
+
+Ah, Sister Anna! the question was actually popped; and on that
+memorable day of the ball, thy giddy heart was actually caged. We came
+so noiselessly and swift through the soft snow that we actually took
+thee by surprise. Thy blushes were beautiful; but on we sped, and our
+next tableaux presented Cousin Clarence gazing most intensely and
+earnestly into the great deep-blue eyes of the beautiful Jane
+Elliott, as though he were pouring forth a question from his soul to
+hers. Her delicate hand lay in his, and her stately, graceful head
+inclined gently toward him. They were so earnestly occupied, he in
+talking, and she in listening, that they did not see us until we had
+passed them; and after we passed them we were not long in overtaking
+Dick and his little Fanny. Bless the lovers! Her curly-headed little
+head started, quick as lightning, from its warm resting place, though
+not so quick but that my practiced eye saw it take leave of Brother
+Dick's manly shoulder. Her fun-loving spirit could not resist the
+ludicrous appearance of Cousin Jehoiakim, perched upon the top of our
+pung like some immense bird of prey. Brother Dick joined in her
+pealing, merry laughter, and the old woods rang again. The stump of a
+tree grew at the road-side, near an immense snow-bank. Edgar, as
+though he had been on the look-out for such a fine opportunity,
+speedily and dexterously ran one runner of our pung over the stump,
+and over went the pung. By a skillful movement he righted it
+instantly. The friendly side preserved me from the snow; but Cousin
+Jehoiakim--alas! for gravity on a gig-top. In this deep bank of snow,
+his heels high in air, stood my inverted cousin. As soon as I could
+speak from convulsive laughter, I implored Edgar to go back to my
+cousin's assistance.
+
+"As you please," said he. Now you must know that I was the only one
+that treated Cousin Jehoiakim kindly. Sister Anna and Brother Dick
+made a complete butt of him; the rest did not treat him at all, except
+to an occasional shrug of the shoulder from Anna's lieutenant, or a
+gay laugh from little Fanny. And, forsooth, because I was civil to
+him, and talked to him, and excused his awkwardness, why Edgar saw
+fit, in his wisdom, to be jealous of him. Was there ever any thing
+more absurd? Yes, since time out of mind have men, the wisest and the
+best of them, been just so absurd; and unto all eternity will they,
+the wisest and best of them, be just so absurd again.
+
+By the time we had reached again the spot, the others had come up, and
+were engaged in disentombing the imbedded unfortunate.
+
+"That was a cold bed, any how," said he, shaking himself from head to
+foot like a huge Newfoundland dog, and smiling upon us with his
+imperturbable good-nature; "but why, in the name of all that is good,
+did you not help a feller out sooner? If it had been feathers instead
+of snow, I should surely have been suffocated."
+
+"Thank your stars for your safe deliverance," said the laughing Fanny.
+
+"What were you thinking of, cousin?" said Anna, in a choking voice.
+
+"I could think of nothing but the ten commandments; and I wondered
+what sinful iniquity my grandfather had been guilty of, that I should
+be visited in such an awful manner for his transgressions. But where
+on earth is my hat? I have looked in the hole, and all about for it."
+
+"Look on your neck, Hoiky; you are wearing it for a stock," said my
+brother.
+
+"By gracious! so I am."
+
+I brushed the snow from his shoulders and hair, and assisted his long
+neck from its cumbrous stock, and pinning on the crown-piece, the hat
+was quite wearable again.
+
+"Mr. Johnson will ride much more comfortably in one of the
+double-seated sleighs," said Edgar.
+
+"Most certainly, Mr. Elliott," replied Cousin Jehoiakim, "you know I
+begged you to let me out the first sleigh we met. I reckon you _did_
+let me out to some purpose at last. By jimminy! but that was a cool
+dip. Wall, Cousin Anny, what do you say to my riding along with you,
+though I had a leetle rather sit alongside of Clarry, yet if you've no
+objections I havn't none."
+
+So now was my turn to pay back my sister by as provoking a toss of the
+head as she gave me. Our ride the rest of the way was pleasant.
+Edgar's eyes grew warm and loving. Among the other interesting things
+we talked of, Edgar poured into my greedy ears the wonders and beauty
+of the almost new doctrine of the transcendentalists. He described the
+home he was going to give me, and called me his little wife, and
+said--but dear me, I am not going to tell you all he said. His
+passionate words and the love in his soul-full eyes lay deep in my
+heart as we stopped before Squire Brown's.
+
+Then came the dressing, and then it was we found that Cousin Jehoiakim
+had contrived to crush the great bandbox on the seat beside him. The
+beautiful lace dress Miss Elliott was to have worn over a satin was
+torn and spoiled, also Anna's and my wreaths, also things too numerous
+to mention. When we told of the disaster, Brother Dick said that Anna
+and I looked much prettier in our own uncovered hair than with an
+artificial flower-garden upon our heads--that the elegant white satin
+of Miss Jane needed no lace to make it more beautiful--adding, in an
+undertone, that he would give more to see a woman dressed in the
+simple white muslin his little Fanny wore than for all the laces and
+satins that could be bought.
+
+When we entered the ball-room we found Cousin Jehoiakim already
+dancing with a red-haired young lady, in a blue gauze dress. Seeing
+us, and wishing to astonish us, he attempted a quadruple pigeon-wing,
+which unfortunately entangled his great feet in the blue gauze dress,
+and ended in his own subversion and the dismemberment of the thin
+gauze. The young lady was obliged to retire for the night, while
+Cousin Jehoiakim slowly picked himself up. He was so much abashed I
+had to console him by asking him to dance with me. I really pitied the
+poor fellow, he could get no one but me to dance with him, still he
+tried so hard to make himself agreeable, and was so determinedly
+good-natured that it was not his fault that he could not be a second
+Apollo.
+
+I was Edgar's partner for a reel.
+
+"You seem to take very great interest in the well-doing of that odious
+cousin of yours," said he.
+
+"Poor fellow! why should I not?" replied I.
+
+"Because he is awkward and disagreeable," said he, half laughing at
+his own reason.
+
+"He is as the Lord made him," replied I, in a tone of affected
+humility.
+
+"But the Lord did not make you to dance with him and lavish so much
+attention upon him; you will oblige me very much, Clara, by not
+dancing any more with him and making yourself so ridiculous."
+
+Now there was not very much in those words to take offence at, and I
+should, like a submissive woman that was about to be a wife, have
+promised obedience, but, unfortunately, being a daughter of Eve I
+inherited somewhat of her pride and vanity. In a different tone of
+voice Edgar might have said even those words without offending either
+pride or vanity, but his voice was cold, and his eyes were colder, and
+I, driving my heart away from my lips and eyes, replied--"I trust Mr.
+Elliott does not flatter himself he has _yet_ the entire control of my
+actions."
+
+"Just as you please."
+
+The reel was finished, and he was off. I repented as soon as the words
+passed my lips--the first angry words I had spoken to him. But then,
+thought I, sitting down on a bench by myself, why is he so foolishly
+provoking and unreasonably jealous of my poor cousin. He to be so
+unkind, he who had ever been the noblest and most loving of sons, the
+kindest and truest of brothers. For a moment my heart misgave me at
+the thought of becoming his for life, it was only a moment. I saw
+through the dim vista of years a vision of peace and love.
+
+Cousin Jehoiakim came and sat down beside me. "Ah! Cousin Clarry,"
+said he, abruptly taking my hand and holding it, "you are good and
+kind to me, how happy I shall be when you are my own little wife, when
+the time comes to give you my hand as I already have my heart."
+
+Cousin Jehoiakim sentimental! I looked up--Edgar's cold blue eyes were
+fastened upon me. I hastily drew my hand from my cousin, and sprung
+toward the glooming Edgar.
+
+"Is it not near time to go, dear Edgar?" exclaimed I, grasping his
+hand in my own.
+
+"Mr. Johnson can see you home. I have engaged to go with a friend of
+mine back to Boston."
+
+"Edgar!"--but he was gone.
+
+You may depend I did _not_ ride home with _Mr. Johnson_, but begged a
+seat with my sister, leaving my cousin the "pung" with the gig-top all
+to himself. Whether he encountered any more stumps or pit-falls I
+cannot say. He and the pung came safely home, as did the rest of us.
+
+"Mother," exclaimed I, "I do wish you would contrive some means to get
+rid of my odious Cousin Jehoiakim, he is the torment of my life."
+
+"Mamma," chimed in Anna, while a smile twinkled in the corner of her
+eye, "Cousin Jehoiakim has ruined my beautiful French wreath, and has
+broken my Chinese pagoda, and my exquisite Chinese mandarins, and
+soiled my Book of Beauty, and has broken my new set of chess-men that
+Uncle Eb. brought from the East Indies, and has--dear mother, can you
+not think of some means of sending him to Uncle Abiram's, or to
+Halifax?"
+
+"Yes, mother," said Brother Dick, with a laugh, "Hoiky has been here
+mischiefizing long enough; do invent some means of packing him off. We
+have been victimized long enough. He has broken every fishing-rod I
+have, and has lost my hooks, and he has lamed my beautiful pony Caesar,
+and ruined my gun, and yesterday, in shooting game, he shot my dog
+Neptune, that I have been offered fifty dollars for, and would not
+have taken one hundred."
+
+"Wife," said our dear papa, coming into the room, "it is of no use, I
+can be patient no longer, you _must_ devise some method of letting
+Nephew Jehoiakim understand we do not wish his presence any longer.
+Poor fellow! I would not for the world be unkind to him. I will give
+him an annual stipend that will support him liberally during his life,
+willingly, gladly, but I cannot have him here any longer. He is
+utterly incorrigible."
+
+"What has he done now?" asked our dear mamma.
+
+"He left the bars down that led into my largest, best field of wheat,
+and half the cattle in the country have been devouring it. They have
+ruined at least a couple of hundred dollars worth. The money is not
+what I care so much for, but it was the best wheat-field for miles
+around, and I had a pride in having it yield more than any field of my
+neighbors. I have borne with him day after day, hoping he might do
+better. Poor fellow! he is sorry enough always for his mistakes. The
+other day he left the garden-gate open, and the cows got in and eat
+all my cabbages and other vegetables; then he leaves the barn-door
+open, and the hogs go in and the calves come out."
+
+"We will see," said our dear mamma.
+
+The next morning at the breakfast-table said our dear mother--
+
+"You will have a delightful day to ride in, dear nephew."
+
+Cousin Jehoiakim opened wide his eyes, inquiringly.
+
+"Richard, my son, I hope you did not forget to tell Mr. Grimes to let
+the stage stop here this morning. It will be very inconvenient for
+your cousin to be obliged to stay another day. I packed your trunk
+this morning early, dear nephew, just after you left your room,
+knowing how you disliked the trouble."
+
+Still wider opened my cousin's eyes.
+
+"Harry, my son," said mamma to my little brother, "those cakes and
+dough-nuts are for your cousin to take with him for his lunch."
+
+"Mayn't I have a piece of pie then?"
+
+"Go and get what you want of Mercy, my dear. I put some runs of yarn
+in your trunk, dear nephew, you may give them with my love to sister
+Abigal, and tell her the wool is from white Kitty. She will remember
+the sheep. Give my love to brother Abiram with this letter."
+
+Still wider opened Cousin Jehoiakim's eyes.
+
+"You will find also in your trunk a dozen and a half of new linen
+shirts that I have taken the liberty of putting there instead of your
+old ones."
+
+"Thank you, dear aunt, you are very kind. I really am very sorry to
+leave you all. I have enjoyed myself very much here; but Aunt Abigail
+will feel hurt if I do not pay her a visit. I shall come again as soon
+as I can, so do not cry your eyes out, Cousin Clarry."
+
+The stage came and Cousin Jehoiakim went.
+
+And the way I lured back my flown bird would make quite an interesting
+sentimental little story of itself. Bless his bright eyes! they are
+shining on me now, full of mischief at this sketch I am giving you,
+beloved reader. But _didn't_ we have a nice wedding time? There was
+Anna and her brave lieutenant, Brother Dick and his bright little
+Fanny, the beautiful, majestic Jane, and my beautiful, majestic Cousin
+Clarence, and my darling, good Edgar, and, dear reader, your very
+humble servant.
+
+
+
+
+CORIOLANUS.
+
+BY HENRY B. HIRST.
+
+
+    How many legends have been told or sung
+      Since Rome--the nursling of the wolf--arose,
+    Lean, gaunt and grim, and lapped the bubbling blood
+            Of fallen and dying foes.
+
+    How many lyrics, which, like trumpets heard
+      At dawn, when, clad in steel, the long array
+    Of marshaled armies glittering in the sun
+            Stretch, like the skies, away.
+
+    But none so golden, chivalric and holy
+      As that of thine, Coriolanus--none
+    In the imperial purple of old days
+            But pale before its sun.
+
+    True, thou wast proud, and deemed the people base,
+      Prone to idolatry of those who sought
+    Their April smiles--who fawned to win their votes,
+            Nor dreamed them dearly bought.
+
+    Thou, who hadst stood where death reigned like a king,
+      First in Corioli--thy wounds in front--
+    Preferring neigh of steed and clash of arms,
+            The battle's deadly brunt,
+
+    To silken ease, and mirth, and song, and dance,
+      And festal follies in Etruscan halls--
+    Bacchantic revels, when the sun went down,
+            Beyond the city walls,
+
+    Couldst well gaze on the mass with eagle eye,
+      Demanding as a right their voice, and blush
+    To bare thy scars, while thy patrician scorn
+            Made cheek and forehead flush.
+
+    The base cabals--the hate which drove thee forth
+      A wanderer, ennobled thee: thy fame
+    Looked lightning on the curs that dared abuse,
+            But lacked the power to shame.
+
+    Prouder thy spirit in that trying hour
+      Than theirs who stung thee: well might'st thou go forth
+    Undaunted, for thy fame was not of Rome,
+            But, rather, of the earth.
+
+    Yet it was hard to leave thy wife and babe--
+      Virgilia and thy little one--hard to break
+    The bonds that held thee to them: Rome grew dear--
+            Most dear for their sweet sake.
+
+    But as their forms waxed dim, thy festering heart
+      Looked from thine eyes; thy swelling nostrils told
+    The inward struggle, and thy heaving chest
+            A human ocean rolled.
+
+    Kneeling upon the ground, thy sinister arm
+      Adjuring heaven, thy soul broke forth in tones
+    Of thunder; but thy agony in that hour
+            Pale Rome repaid with groans.
+
+    Coldly, with stately step and placid brow--
+      A lull--the herald of the approaching storm--
+    Thou went'st thy way toward Antium--trod its streets
+            Without the thought of harm.
+
+    Humble was thy approach, but thou went'st forth
+      A Mars of the time--thy snorting steed arrayed
+    And glistering with gold, while at thy heels
+            A thousand clarions brayed.
+
+    Rome from her seven hills looked down with fear,
+      Appalled and breathless, while her people stood
+    Like men awoke from sleep, amazed, aghast--
+            With agues in their blood.
+
+    Like an avenging angel with the sword
+      Of wrath unsheathed, careering toward thy home
+    Through flame and blood, thou rod'st: thy coming shook
+            The hundred gates of Rome.
+
+    She, who abused, beseeched thee, but in vain--
+      Humbled herself before thee; yet thy hate
+    Was unappeased; and, like one stricken dumb,
+            Rome gazed upon her fate.
+
+    But when Volumnia came--thy mother--she
+      Who bore thee 'neath her heart, and, at her side
+    The one who, in thy softer hours, with love
+            Thy trembling lip called bride,
+
+    Leading thy child--thy boy--the old hours came
+      Like south wind over thee; thy icy soul
+    Dissolved in tears; thy hard--thy iron heart
+            Acknowledged love's control,
+
+    And Rome was saved--Rome, who had wronged, was free!
+      --Thou lost!--O, never from the depths of Time
+    Came sweeter record of the power of love
+            Than this, in my poor rhyme.
+
+    Never was story fuller of the strength
+      Of love o'er hate: undimmed by age, it breathes
+    A perfume, and a crown around thy brow,
+            Coriolanus, wreathes!
+
+
+
+
+LENNARD.
+
+A TALE OF MARION'S MEN.
+
+BY MRS. MARY G. HORSFORD.
+
+
+                  --"Mightier far
+    Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway
+    Of magic potent over sun or star
+    Is Love, though oft to agony distrest,
+    And though his favorite seat be feeble woman's breast."
+
+
+I.
+
+    Night o'er the Santee! up the sky
+    The pale moon went with misty eye;
+    And in the west a brooding cloud--
+    Departed day's wind-lifted shroud--
+    Waved slowly in the depths of blue,
+    While now and then a world looked through
+    The broken edge, as from above
+    Steals down a seraph's glance of love,
+    Through sorrow's cloud and mortal air,
+    On breaking hearts or tearful prayer.
+
+
+II.
+
+    Within the recess of the wood
+    That on the river's margin stood,
+      Encamped beneath the shade
+    Of solemn pine and cypress tree,
+    And tulip soaring high and free,
+      A patriot band had made
+    Their pillows of the moss and leaves,
+    Through which the moaning south-wind grieves
+      When day forsakes the glade.
+    And all save one slept hushed as night
+    Beneath the starry Infinite--
+      That one a boy in years,
+    Whose daring arm and flashing eye,
+    When death and danger hovered nigh,
+      Belied the trembling fears
+    And shrinking dread that seemed to speak,
+    From quivering lip and pallid cheek
+      At sight of war's array;
+    The first the fearful strife to bide,
+    Forever at his captain's side,
+      Was Lennard in the fray;
+    Yet strange to tell, though oft beside
+    That captain's form he dared to bide
+      The cannon's fiery blast,
+    His hand no human blood had shed,
+    Beneath his steel no foe had bled,
+      When in the battle cast.
+    So said his comrades tried and cold,
+    Who marveled that a heart so bold,
+      Should beat in pitying breast.
+    And now beside the smouldering fire,
+    He marked its flickering flames expire,
+      And watched his leader's rest.
+
+
+III.
+
+    That leader--in the civil strife
+    Then waged for Liberty and Life,
+      No braver spirit stood,
+    Between his country and the chain,
+    Mistaken tyranny would fain
+      Have cast o'er lake and wood;
+    And though in manhood's early morn,
+    Young Huon led through strife and scorn
+      A trusty troop and free,
+    Who left their homes his lot to share,
+    For Freedom sworn to live and dare,
+      Or die--at Fate's decree;
+    And from the covert solitude
+    Of dark morass and thicket rude
+      Guerilla warfare waged,
+    On Tory band, unwary foe,
+    And struck full many a dauntless blow,
+      While hate and conflict raged.
+
+
+IV.
+
+    One hour from midnight and the sleep
+    That wrapped the stalwart frame so deep,
+      Was woke by guard and sign;
+    The forest sounded with the tramp
+    Of rushing steeds, until the camp
+      Was reached by foremost line
+    Of the brigade of fearless men,
+    Who rode through wood, and brake, and fen,
+    As speeds the red deer to his glen.
+    No gorgeous suit of war array,
+    No uniform of red or gray
+      In that rude band were seen;
+    The ploughman's dress, but coarse and plain,
+    And marred by toil with many a stain,
+      Betrayed no gilded sheen;
+    Their only badge the white cockade,
+    No dagger's point or glittering blade
+      Was worn with martial pride,
+    But sabre hilt and rifle true,
+    Oftimes of dark, ensanguined hue,
+      Were ever at the side.
+    They hailed their comrades in the fight,
+    With blazing fires illumed the night,
+      And waged with jest and smile,
+    As toward the lurid torches' light
+      Rode up their chief the while.
+    No pert gallant or Conrad he,
+    With gay plume waving haughtily;
+    Nor donned he aught his troopers o'er,
+    Save that the leathern cap he wore
+    In front a silver crescent bore,
+    Inscribed with "Death or Liberty."
+    Of stature low, the piercing eye,
+    And forehead broad, and full, and high,
+      And lined with lofty thought;
+    Were all that marked from his compeers,
+    The man who through long, gloomy years
+      With tireless vigor wrought,
+    Nerved by defeat for loftier aim,
+    To build his country's Hope and Fame,
+    And win for her a seat divine
+    Beneath bright Freedom's hallowed shrine;
+    And few, though rashly brave, would dare,
+    To start the Swamp Fox[2] from his lair.
+    Or in his fastness wild and dun,
+    Cope with the rebel Marion.
+
+[Footnote 2: _Swamp Fox_ was the cognomen bestowed on Marion
+by the British.]
+
+V.
+
+    Soon Huon by the river's tide
+    Sought out his brave commander's side,
+    And listened with respectful air,
+    To learn what new emprise to share,
+    What lurking foe to shun or brave.
+    Short was their conference and grave,
+      Ere Huon bade a trooper call
+    His page, young Lennard, to his aid;
+      And passing 'neath the cedar tall,
+    And giant oaks' far spreading shade,
+    The boy with graceful step and light,
+    Stood quickly in his captain's sight,
+    And Marion thus, in kindly tone,
+    Spoke with a frankness all his own.
+    "'T is said, my boy, thy heart is brave,
+    Thy courage sure, and caution grave;
+    This night, then, we will task thy power.
+    Seek, ere the closing of the hour,
+      The village inn that stands below,
+    Embowered within the coppice glade,
+      And learn the bearings of the foe--
+    Their force in camp, and field, and shade;
+    But ere the silver moon again
+    O'er Carolina's hills shall wane,
+    Meet us beside the deep lagoon
+    Beyond, that knows no scorching noon."
+
+
+VI.
+
+    Anon, far down the silent wood,
+    Undaunted by its solitude,
+      Sped Lennard on his way;
+    Until beneath a blasted pine,
+      Beyond the forest gray,
+    That tall, and bald, and hoary white,
+    Gleamed through the dusky veil of night,
+    As through Life's mist on human sight
+      Gleams vital truth divine,
+    He paused, and from a whistle clear,
+    Drew notes that thrilled the valley near.
+
+
+VII.
+
+    Within the rebel camp, meanwhile,
+    No slumbers winning smiles beguile,
+      From care to dreams away;
+    The troop who view with fearless heart
+    The coming strife and battle's mart;
+    And thus with blithesome song, though rude,
+    Awake the echoes of the wood:
+
+          Though dark the night,
+          And fierce the fight,
+            We fear no living foe;
+          The swamp our home,
+          The sky our dome,
+            Our bed the turf below;
+          We hail the strife,
+          And prize not life,
+            Unblessed by Freedom's smile;
+
+          And Age and Youth,
+          To patriot Truth,
+            Pledge hopefully the while.
+
+          Our Country's name
+          Must sink in shame,
+            Or sound in triumph free;
+          Then, brothers, on!
+          For Marion,
+            Our homes and liberty.
+
+
+VIII.
+
+    'T was morning--from the golden sky
+    Night fled before day's burning eye,
+    As flies the minister of sin
+    From souls that kneel to God, to win
+    Courage to meet the tempter's wile,
+    And strength upon the strife to smile.
+    Scarce had the cloudless sun betrayed,
+      The flowers that bloomed in meadows low,
+    Ere toward a thickly shaded glade,
+      An armed horseman traveled slow;
+    And paused beside a gushing spring,
+      Whose gentle murmurs thrilled the air,
+    As thrills an angel's unseen wing
+      The distant blue when mounting there.
+    The dark trees hung above its wave,
+      A tapestry of green,
+    And arching o'er the waters, gave
+      A softness to the sheen
+    Of mellow light that darted through
+    The dewy leaves of richest hue;
+    While round the huge trunks many a vine,
+    Had bade its graceful tendrils twine;
+    The blossoming grape and jessamine pale,
+    Loading with sweets the summer gale.
+    Not long with hasty step he trod
+    The narrow path and flowery sod,
+    Ere gently o'er the sere leaves' bed
+    A maiden passed with faltering tread.
+
+
+IX.
+
+    Oh! light was the step of the blooming girl,
+    And glossy the hue of the raven curl,
+    And joyous the glance of the dark eye's play,
+    When the pride of the village was Morna Grey.
+    But ruthless war to her dwelling came,
+    Her brothers slept on the field of fame,
+    Her father's blood on his hearth was shed;
+    And the desolate orphan in anguish fled
+    To the cottage of one who her childhood nursed,
+    And who soothed the spirit that grief had cursed;
+    And now in the depths of that speaking eye
+    There slumbered a sadness still and high,
+    But veiled with a clear and mellow light,
+    Like the softened glow of a moonlit night;
+    And the rose on her cheek that came and went,
+    Like the hues of the West when day is spent,
+    Told how the chords of the heart below,
+    Quivered and shrunk at the breath of wo.
+    But why did a presage of coming ill,
+    With a fiercer pang her bosom thrill,
+    And pale her cheek to a deadlier hue,
+    As she sought the spring where the jessamine grew?
+    She had come to meet for a moment there,
+    Ere he sought the field in the strife to share,
+    One who her father had blessed in death,
+    As she pledged her faith with faltering breath;
+    And Huon with joyous smile and gay,
+    Welcomed the presence of Morna Grey.
+
+
+X.
+
+    But the words they spoke were short and few--
+    A soldier must be to his duty true;
+    And ere a half hour had hastened by,
+    She watched his steed as it hurried nigh,
+    O'er the verdant plain to the cedars tall,
+    Where his men were waiting their leader's call.
+    As she dashed the drops that dimmed her sight,
+    From the dark-fringed lids where they trembled bright,
+    A rustling was heard in the brushwood near,
+    And a crone, whose wild and fantastic gear
+    Betrayed the erring of mind within,
+    Stood in her presence with mocking grin.
+    "Said I not sorrows in dark array,
+    Crowded the future of Morna Grey?
+    Why from the cheek do the roses fly?
+    Where is the light of the flashing eye?
+    Where has the rounded lips, ruby red,
+    Gone, since we parted beside the dead?
+    The white owl entered the casement high,
+    O'er the brow of the dying I saw it fly;
+    Presager of death! I hailed its wing,
+    She scorned the omen but felt the sting
+    Of bitter grief, when another day
+    Bore her angel Mother from earth away.
+    I warned her, when on the coming blast
+    I saw the phantom-like shades flit past;
+    She smiled on my words as idle play,
+    But wept when her sire, in the midnight fray,
+    Felled to the dust by the Tory's blade,
+    Died in the home where his bones are laid;
+    When the cold drops stood on the forehead fair,
+    And the curdling blood on the thin, gray hair.
+    But the dead in silence forgotten sleep;
+    She is weaving on earth a vision deep,
+    Of joyous hopes that must fade and die,
+    Like the bow that smiles when the tempests fly,
+    In vain the strength of her youth is shed,
+    In a path where she trembles and fears to tread;
+    In vain--in vain would the fragile form,
+    Brave the hot breath of the cannon's storm;
+    The bullet speeds on its mission free--
+    A broken heart and a grave I see."
+
+    "Though dark my way, I fear it not;
+    Speed, woman, to thy sheltered cot,
+    Lest thou, with no protector nigh,
+    Should catch some hostile wanderer's eye.
+    My trust is in that mighty Power,
+    Who rules the battle's wildest hour;
+    And woman's love is like the flower
+    That bloometh not in sunny bower;
+    But when the dark and solemn night,
+    Has gathered round with storm and blight,
+    Unfolds its petals bright and rare,
+    And sheds its fragrance on the air;
+    And if it dare and peril all,
+    Asks only to preserve or fall,
+    His bleeding land requires his arm--
+    God will protect the brave from harm."
+
+    "Behold!" and Morna turned to gaze
+      Upon the huge tree, dark and lone,
+      The withered finger of the crone
+    Marked out, and glancing in the rays
+    Of morn, beheld a serpent coil
+    Its glossy length, with easy toil,
+    Up the brown trunk, till close it hung
+    Above the wild bird's nest and young;
+    While round and round, with scream of dread,
+    The frighted bird in anguish fled;
+    And vainly sought to drive the foe
+    From his dark aim again below.
+
+
+XI.
+
+    Moments there are when Reason's control,
+    Yieldeth to Fancy in heart and soul;
+    When the spirit views with prescient eye,
+    The common light and shaded sky,
+    An omen finds in the falling leaf,
+    And symbols in all things of joy or grief.
+    And this was one, for on that failing strife
+    Had Morna cast her dearest hope in life.
+    Must she behold with power as vain to shield,
+    Earth's only blessing from her presence torn?
+    Was there a fiercer pang for her revealed
+    In that short conflict than she yet had known?
+    Her dark eyes grew more wildly bright,
+    And gleamed with an intenser light,
+    As closer drew the venomed fang,
+    And shrill the lone bird's accents rang.
+    But, hark! a shot--a rustling fall--
+    Approaching steps--a sportman's call--
+      The parent bird is in the dust;
+    And o'er the path that homeward led,
+    With fleeting step fair Morna fled,
+      And breathed a prayer of thanks and trust.
+    Though sweet to live, more blest to die,
+    For those that strong affections tie
+    Has fettered to the clinging heart,
+    With links not Death can wholly part.
+
+
+XII.
+
+    The day wore on, and down the West,
+    The sun had rolled in his unrest;
+    While gorgeous clouds of gold and red,
+    Reflected back the splendor fled;
+    And twilight--pensive nun, to pray,
+    In silence drew her veil of gray.
+    The last bright gleam was waxing pale,
+    And low night winds began their wail,
+    When near a ruined house, that stood
+    Within a grove of tulip wood,
+    Young Lennard paused and gazed awhile,
+    With clouded brow and saddened smile,
+    On trampled flowers, and shrubs, and vine,
+    Torn from the pillar it would twine
+    With verdant bloom, and casting round
+    Its scarlet blossoms on the ground.
+    A waste of weeds the garden lay,
+    And grass grew in the carriage way;
+    Cold desolation, like a pall,
+    Had spread its mantle over all;
+    Yet not the creeping touch of Time,
+    Had wrecked that dwelling in its prime.
+    The fierce and unrelenting wrath
+    Of human war had crossed that path,
+    And left its trace on all things near,
+    Save the blue sky above our sphere.
+    Anon, with hurried step and free,
+    He crossed the ruined balcony,
+    And passing by the fallen door,
+    Stood on the dark hall's oaken floor.
+    Lighting the pine-torch that he bore,
+    He watched its lurid beams explore
+    The gloomy precincts, and passed on,
+      As one who knew each winding well,
+    To a low room that lay beyond,
+    And echoed to the south wind's knell.
+    Upon the threshold crushed and lone,
+    By rude marauder's hand o'erthrown,
+      The holy volume lay;
+    He raised it from its station there,
+    And smoothed the crumpled leaves with care,
+      Then sadly turned away
+    To gaze upon a portrait near,
+    Whose thoughtful eyes, so calm and clear,
+    And chastened look and lofty mien,
+    And forehead noble and serene,
+    Told of a spirit touched by time
+    Only to soften and sublime;
+    Of woman's earnest faith and love
+    Surmounting earth to soar above.
+
+
+XIII.
+
+    With quivering lip the boy gazed long;
+    Unheeded and unmarked a throng
+    Might there have met, so fixed his soul
+    On Memory's unfolding scroll.
+    He knew not that the hours crept by,
+    And sullen grew the deepening night;
+    Again he met his mother's eye,
+    As erst in joyous days and bright,
+    And heard the accents clear and mild,
+    Now hushed in death, breathe o'er her child
+    A fervent blessing and a prayer;
+    Again his father's silver hair
+    Gleamed on his sight, although the tomb
+    Had closed him in its rayless gloom.
+
+
+XIV.
+
+    His leathern cap aside was flung,
+    And o'er his brow the dark locks hung
+    In wild confusion, as he stood
+    Amid that haunted solitude,
+    Raising the blazing torch to throw
+    Upon the pictured face its glow.
+    In him a careless eye might see
+    A semblance of that face in life;
+    With more of fire and energy
+    To brave the storm and strife;
+    With more of earthly hope to claim,
+    And less of Heaven--yet still the same.
+
+
+XV.
+
+    But suddenly the mystic spell
+    That bound him to the Past was rent;
+    The vivid lightning, forked and red,
+    Flashed through the broken casement, blent
+    With the loud thunder's awful roar,
+    Prolonged and echoing o'er and o'er.
+    The warring of the world without
+    Offended not the struggling heart;
+    Roused from the apathy of thought
+    He sought the casement with a start,
+    And watched the raging storm sweep by
+    With kindling cheek and flashing eye.
+
+
+XVI.
+
+    On! on! it came with fiery breath,
+    Instinct with rage and winged with death,
+    As downward swept, ere Time begun
+    His swift and varied race to run,
+    Through realms chaotic and sublime,
+      With wing of light and forehead pale,
+    Immortal in remorse and crime,
+      Thrilling the Infinite with wail,
+    The apostate troops from lands of light
+    To darkness, shame and withering blight.
+    On! on! it came, and in its path
+    The tall trees bent beneath its wrath,
+    And fell with hollow, crashing sound,
+    Torn and uprooted, to the ground.
+    Still nearer grew the lightning flash,
+    And heavier broke the thunder crash;
+    And as, with almost blinded gaze,
+    Watched Lennard the electric blaze,
+    He saw through rain and densest night
+    A thin, pale line of waving light
+    Speed to a lofty oak, whose head
+    Sunk powerless to its parent bed.
+
+
+XVII.
+
+    The hours passed on--the storm had spent
+    The fury to its madness lent,
+    And wild and sullen clouds on high
+    In broken masses swept the sky,
+    As Lennard left the ruined hall,
+    And, bounding o'er the garden wall,
+    Walked swiftly o'er the lonely plain,
+    Till 'neath the blasted pine again
+    He paused, and blew the whistle low;
+    Soon from a clump of firs below
+    An aged servant slowly led
+    A saddled steed: the pale moon shed
+    Its fitful gleam as Lennard sprung
+    Light to his seat, then fearless flung
+    The bridle loose, and spurring, soon
+    Drew up beside a deep lagoon,
+    Whose stagnant waters 'neath the moon
+    Glimmered through bush and hanging vine,
+    And cypress bald and ragged pine.
+    Concealed within the spectral gloom,
+    Of wide morass and forest tomb,
+      His comrades there he found;
+    By many a devious winding led,
+    Where the pale fire-flies' torches shed
+      A fitful gleam around,
+    He paused at length where Huon stood,
+    Amid his faithful band, though rude,
+      And thus his errand told:
+    "Where bends the Santee in the plain
+    Has Tarleton's troop encamped again,
+      With careless movement bold;
+    One half his men will march to-night
+    To join the troop on Charleston height,
+    The guard will be both dull and light;
+    A few short hours, with speed and care,
+    Must lead us to the station there."
+
+
+XVIII.
+
+    His mission o'er, with thoughtful look,
+    The boy sought out a shaded nook,
+      Apart from all--yet near
+    The opening where the men had laid
+    Their rations on the mossy glade,
+      Beside the swamp-marsh drear.
+    Silent was he, reserved and shy,
+    Seldom raising cap or eye;
+    Not many days since first his hand
+    Had joined him to that patriot band;
+    Yet none more truly did fulfill,
+      The duties of his arm required,
+    Though slight withal, and often still
+      When the loud signal-gun was fired,
+    The herald of the coming fight,
+    His cheek would pale like flowers at night
+    Beneath the autumn's chilling blight;
+    None knew his residence or name,
+      Save that of Lennard, which he told
+    The morn when to the camp he came,
+      And begged that he might be enrolled
+    In Huon's corps, to serve with those
+    Who bled to heal their country's woes;
+    Of late his arm had bolder grown
+    When in the rout and skirmish thrown,
+      And stronger, too, and Huon loved
+    The slender boy who at his side
+    Stood nobly when o'er War's red tide
+      The fiery death-shot moved.
+
+
+XIX.
+
+    'Twas midnight, as with silent tread,
+    Like one who bears the coffined dead,
+    His valiant troopers Marion led
+      Through long and dark defile;
+    And on they marched till morning light
+    With streaks of crimson touched the night;
+    Then, unannounced by trumpet-clang,
+      Fell on the slumb'ring foe;
+    Swift to his post each warrior sprang,
+      Above, around, below;
+    And soon in close and eager strife,
+    As o'er the tomb meet Death and Life,
+      The hostile forces stood;
+    The sabre flashed in day's bright eye,
+    The whizzing shot, death-winged, swept by,
+      The turf grew red with blood;
+    And where the charge was hottest made,
+    Where boldest fell the flashing blade,
+      Was Huon foremost there;
+    And ever near his daring hand
+    The youngest, gentlest of his band,
+      Stood Lennard on that day;
+    Fierce raged the conflict o'er the dead,
+    Until, o'erpowered, the vanquished fled;
+      Yet ere they left the fray
+    One aimed the bloody lance he bore
+    At Huon's heart--a moment more,
+    And Lennard fell, his life-blood o'er
+      The green turf welling fast;
+    The blade that sought his leader's breast
+      His hand aside had cast;
+    Swift to his aid his comrades prest;
+    The death-hue on his forehead lay
+    As Huon flung both sword and lance
+    With quivering lip away,
+    And met in Lennard's dying glance
+      The smile of Morna Grey.
+
+
+XX.
+
+    Beside the Santee's murmuring wave,
+    They made the early dead a grave;
+    And sometimes on its borders green
+    The passing traveler has seen
+    A spot where pale wild roses blow
+    The lofty oaks and firs below--
+    The turf is verdant with the spray--
+    There sleeps the dust of Morna Grey.
+    And Huon?--Still his daring arm
+      Was lifted in his country's aid,
+    Though life had lost its sunniest charm,
+      And o'er the future hung a shade;
+    And time would fail me now to tell
+      Of all the deeds his valor wrought,
+    How, when Fort Moultrie's color fell,
+      He mounted 'mid the flames and shot
+    The merlon height, and fixed on high
+    The starry banner 'mid the sky.
+    Nor how he died--the nobly slain,
+    In bearing from the battle-plain
+      The flag intrusted to his care.
+    But deeds like these were common then
+      As life, and light, and air;
+    Brave deeds that shall forever round
+      Our nation's annals cling;
+    Perchance some louder harp shall sound,
+      Some bolder spirit sing.
+    For me--the first pale star on high
+    Herald's the night with beaming eye,
+    And down the west has rolled the sun--
+    My song is o'er--my task is done.
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+     During the Revolution, a young girl plighted to an
+     officer of Marion's corps, followed him without being
+     discovered to the camp, where, dressed in male attire,
+     and unknown to him, she enrolled in the service. A few
+     days after, during a fierce conflict that occurred, she
+     stood by his side in the thickest of the fight, and in
+     turning away a lance aimed at his heart received it in
+     her own, and fell bleeding at his feet. She was buried
+     on the banks of the Santee. He was afterward
+     distinguished in the service at Fort Moultrie, and at
+     Savannah, where he received his death-wound in carrying
+     off the flag which was intrusted to him.
+
+
+
+
+THE POLE'S FAREWELL.
+
+BY WM. H. C. HOSMER.
+
+
+    Warsaw, farewell! Alone that word
+      Fame's dark eclipse recalls;
+    The voice of wail alone is heard
+      Within her ruined walls--
+    Her pavement rings beneath the tread
+    Of bondsmen by their master led.
+
+    Hope kindles on my native shore
+      No more her beacon fires--
+    The Northern Bear is trampling o'er
+      The dust of fallen sires,
+    And signal ever to destroy
+    Hath been his growl of savage joy.
+
+    Oh! for one hour of glory gone--
+      An arm of might to hurl
+    The Czar, in thunder, from his throne,
+      And Freedom's flag unfurl;
+    Then welcome, like a bride, the grave,
+    Unbranded by the name of slave!
+
+    Our snowy Eagle[3] screams no more
+      Defiance high and loud;
+    The wing is broken that could soar
+      Through battle's smoky cloud,
+    And wounded by a coward's spear,
+    His perch is now lost Poland's bier.
+
+    Once happy was the hall of Home,
+      Now Desolation's lair--
+    Blood stains its hearth, and I must roam
+      A pilgrim of despair,
+    Leaving, when heart and brain grow cold,
+    My weary bones in foreign mould.
+
+[Footnote 3: The Ensign of Poland is a White Eagle.]
+
+
+
+
+THE FORTUNES OF A SOUTHERN FAMILY.
+
+A TALE FOUNDED ON FACT.
+
+BY A NEW CONTRIBUTOR.
+
+
+PART I.
+
+    "Oh! it is pleasant for the good to die--to feel
+    Their last wild pulses throbbing, while the seal
+    Of death is placed upon the tragic brow;
+    The soul in quiet looks within itself,
+    And sees the heavens faintly pictured there."
+
+
+Now, would that I could wield as magic a pencil as did Benjamin West,
+that mighty paint-king, how quickly would glow upon canvas one of the
+most beautiful and magnificent landscapes that ever entranced the eye
+of a scenery-loving traveler--a landscape upon which you might gaze
+enraptured every day for years, as I have done, and yet never tire nor
+grow less fond of beholding it. I would paint for your especial
+gratification, a living, a breathing picture of my old homestead,
+endeared by so many joy-fraught hours, and the surrounding scenery,
+through which I roved until I knew its every nook and corner as well
+as my dog-leaved spelling-book, by the venerable Dilworth. But, as it
+is, dear reader, I must be content to offer you a rude "_pen and ink
+sketch_," excavated from the ruins of my childhood recollections of as
+exquisitely beautiful and picturesque a spot as ever riveted the human
+gaze.
+
+Imagine, for a moment, that we are standing upon a ledge of moss-grown
+rocks, projecting from a red hill-side, and whose verge beetles over a
+foaming river, which swirls and rages amongst the uplifting crags,
+flashing with diamonds in its rush and impetuosity, and then, placid
+and almost waveless, creeping on through the gnarled old forest with a
+faint murmur, seeming like a huge serpent of silver asleep in the
+gushing sunshine.
+
+We are leaning against a rugged mass of the gray ledge--your head is
+resting upon your right hand, and you are gazing intently down at the
+circle and whirl of the romping waters. Only a few yards above, a cool
+spring gushes up, quick and bright, dimpling and laughing in the
+arrowy sunshine, then flashing and foaming over the dark rocks, and
+twisting in and out among the bare roots of the majestic oak that
+cools us with its shadows, falls in a golden shower to the mossy basin
+at your feet, and leaping over the steep precipice, mingles in foam
+with the seething river below. We are turned toward the west, and as
+you raise your eyes to a level with the horizon, one of the most
+stupendous views of the Blue Mountains that ever caused man to stop in
+breathless awe, now presents itself to your astonished gaze. Mountain
+towers behind mountain, and peak behind peak in wild sublimity, like
+giant waves heaved along the blue sky, almost seeming as if they were
+the ramparts of the world. Their sloping sides are dark with forests,
+save here and there, where the axe has penetrated their recesses, and
+blocked out spaces which, having been touched with the magic of the
+plough, now smile with fertility. And yonder, a little to your right,
+lifting his narrow pinnance above all the rest, stands time-honored
+Currahee, with his red cap on--for thus we are accustomed to designate
+the barren soil which crowns his lofty summit.
+
+Now, for a moment, permit me to call your attention farther up the
+river. Did you ever see a more entrancing and exquisitely beautiful
+cascade, steeped as it is in the softness, and glowing with the
+brightness of a cloudless spring morning? See how the wreathes of foam
+come bounding along, like a pack of ravenous wolves chasing each
+other, and stop suddenly in their mad career, for an instant
+equipoising upon the very brink, as if they had shrunk back and feared
+to take the awful leap, then, pushed on by the rush of the waters
+behind, descend like a shower of diamonds, and come whirling and
+dashing through the narrow gorge at our feet. And is not that deep
+basin at the base of the falls glorious? What an angry aspect its
+surface puts on, plunging and surging like a mass of living snow,
+while the flashing sunlight is perpetually endeavoring to paint a
+rainbow in the ever-mounting spray, and yet never quite succeeds. And
+those massive rocks, too, piling themselves up so quaintly on either
+side of the falls, just where they take the final plunge--are they not
+magnificent? How verdant and mossy, and superb in their ruggedness!
+Oh! if we were only upon one of those ledges--that one that seems
+ready to bow itself into the foaming torrent; if we only stood there,
+by that wide-spreading, gnarled old oak, twisting its dark roots in
+and out amongst the deep crevices like a knot of huge serpents, what a
+glorious prospect would burst upon your sight! There are _so_ many
+entrancing scenes about my birth-place, but, among them all, none as
+magnificent as the one you behold from that mossy ledge. But the
+bridge--did you look at the old bridge? See where it stands festooned
+with shadows. That is a dear spot to me, for with it are associated
+some of the most treasured recollections of my boyhood. One end of
+this time-worn fabric opens into a sandy lane, with broad, green
+margins on both sides next the zig-zag fences, where I have so often
+gathered a bunch of flowers for my instructress, as I passed through
+it on my way to the school-house; the other is embowered by a clump of
+oak and beech trees, which, together with a few hemlocks and
+chestnuts, out-skirt a superb grove of evergreens, in the midst of
+which towers the little white cottage of Farmer Daniels. There was
+always a dream-like stillness about the old bridge that pleased me;
+and I have spent whole hours in peeping through the crevices of those
+time-worn and trampled planks, at the dark, deep waters creeping and
+dimpling beneath the massive and sodden arches with a low gurgle,
+receiving a sheet of silver sheen as they stole away into the rich
+sunshine; and, in gazing over the rude balustrade where the gaudy
+butterflies flitted around, or rested by the river's brink, opening
+and shutting their unruffled fans; or in flinging pebbles into the
+placid waters, and then watching the widening circles as they swept
+down with the current. But there is yet another thing about the old
+bridge for which I have cherished memories; that venerable buttonwood
+tree, gnarled and twisted into the quaintest and most comical
+deformity, that looms up from that high bank at the end of the lane.
+That bough which projects so far over the rippling surface, making a
+horizontal bend, like that of a man's arm, and then shooting up
+several yards at an obtuse angle, terminating in a mass of luxuriant
+foliage, was my favorite seat, when fishing, through many a long
+summer.
+
+Now, look still farther down the river. Follow the grass-fringed banks
+in their graceful curve around yonder dark, gray promontory, until
+your eye rests upon a long ridge of snowy foam, where a stream of
+considerable magnitude mingles its waters with those of the river.
+Glancing a little way up this stream, a huge old mill presents itself
+to view, blackened with exposure, and grown picturesque by the lapse
+of years. Here and there the green moss adorns its roof, and slumbers
+along the walls with a quaint richness, especially where the heavy
+water-wheel, revolving in a sea of foam, keeps it shadowy and moist. A
+short distance above stands the pond--a broad, beautiful expanse of
+water, glittering like a sheet of untarnished silver; and, in a shady
+nook, close by the dam, where the large weeping-willow sways its long,
+drooping branches to and fro wearily, floats a little boat, endeared
+by many a fond remembrance.
+
+Turn once more, and mark how the river, increased in size by the
+addition of the mill-stream, having swept around Castle-Hill, (so
+named from its rugged front and frowning aspect,) comes resplendently
+into view again, glowing like a sheet of burnished white, in strange
+and singular contrast with the many and dense shadows which always
+fringe its banks like heaps of black drapery. See where it takes a
+sudden bend, flowing back toward the falls, and then curving
+gracefully to the west, dividing against a jutting rock, and sweeping
+around it and the adjacent woodland, forming an island about a mile in
+circumference. That large white building, which crowns the summit of
+that gentle declivity on the nearest side of the island, with a neat
+porch in front, half embowered by vines and fruit trees--that is my
+birth-place. There never was a spot at once so tranquil and
+picturesque as that where stands my dear old homestead. Is it not a
+beautiful mansion-house? How sequestered and deliciously cool? The
+slope down to the river's brink is covered with a wilderness of
+shrubbery; while to the right of the garden-fence spreads a
+magnificent grove of white pines, once making a famous play-ground for
+us children. Down yonder, in that old field waving with long grass,
+beyond the grove, is a patch of splendid blackberry bushes; and near
+that old ivy-bound oak on the bank, leaning so gracefully over the
+placid waters, as if to greet his image reflected in its vast mirror,
+is a fine place to hunt summer grapes. At the building, that little
+right-hand window with a shutter, around which are trailed pea-vines
+and purple morning-glories, and just above the roof of the porch,
+opens into a small chamber--my sleeping-room. At night you can behold
+a most magnificent prospect from that little window. It looks directly
+down upon the river, which, when there is a full moon and cloudless
+sky, seems like one broad belt of molten silver, weaving its way in
+and out among the gnarled old trees, at intervals, sparkling through
+openings in the thrifty foliage with exceeding beauty; and again,
+entangled in the black shadows flung upon it by the beetling crags
+above. Then all is so silent, too, save the snowy water-fall sending
+up its eternal anthem to the skies, yet coming to your ears with such
+a pleasant sound that you never tire in listening. Sometimes the sky
+is full of golden stars, and then the scene is so beautiful--oh! so
+very beautiful! Many a time have I stolen from my bed, far away in the
+night, while all the rest were in deep repose, to gaze upon the soft
+moonlight flashing over the meadows until they looked like acres of
+green velvet, and gathering upon the dark foliage until it almost
+seemed as if it were sprinkled with umber dust, or to gaze at the deep
+blue cerulean, studded with innumerable burning orbs.
+
+There is another object to which I must direct your particular
+attention, since it assumes an important place in the relation of my
+story. Trace the road from where it leaves the east end of the bridge
+with an abrupt curve, sweeping around that magnificent grove of
+evergreens, passes the old mill, and turning to the east again for a
+short distance, threads its way along a grassy lane, and you arrive
+before a neat, commodious frame building, prettily white-washed in
+front, and hedged in by a rustic fence, with a little gate opening
+next the road. This was the dwelling of our schoolmistress, the
+remembrance of whom will ever be an oasis upon the deserts of
+memory--for to her I owe some of the most pleasurable moments of my
+boyhood existence. A more Christian-like spirit, a soul fraught with
+greater or intenser sympathies, and a mind less selfish in its
+manifestations, or imbued with more genial influences than hers, never
+existed within the compass of human being. As a teacher, she was firm,
+yet mild; as a neighbor, kind and obliging--in a word, her whole
+demeanor was such that the heart unconsciously awakened to
+affectionate regard. The dwelling of our schoolmistress was originally
+built, at her request, by a benevolent farmer, with the understanding
+between them that some future day should witness a transfer of
+ownership, and contains but three apartments--a large room, which, in
+the words of the old song, serves for "parlor, for kitchen, and hall,"
+and two small chambers, but all as neat as hands can make them. Its
+white front, and massive stone chimnies, were completely embowered by
+a clump of superb maples, whose heavy branches twining their dark
+foliage, form a delightful arbor over the very entrance, from the
+first bursting forth of the tiny buds into perfect life and beauty,
+until autumn comes with its garment of mourning, and the sere and
+yellow leaves slowly forsake the limbs which have been their
+birth-place. A thicket of damask and white roses, lilac trees, and
+clusters of pale-blue clematis, with a wealth of other flowers,
+luxuriate beneath, where they receive just enough of the warm and rich
+sunshine that flashed through the woven shades upon them in the
+morning, and of the scented dew-drops which the wind shakes from the
+leaves above at nightfall, to make them the most beautiful flower-plot
+in all the neighborhood. At the back, a low shed, extending the whole
+length of the house, one corner projecting further than the rest, and
+covering a cool spring that gushes up, quick and bright, with a sweet
+impetuosity, and goes dancing merrily across the green meadow, bright
+and glorious in the sunlight, but sullen in the shade. The scenery
+around, too, is magnificent. Here spreads a vast and unbroken forest,
+whose mighty solitudes once echoed to the whar-whoop of the savage,
+and looked upon his horrid rites beneath a midnight moon, or scowling
+sky; and, in the dim distance loom the granite-based mountains, like
+giant pillars to the vault of heaven, from whose tempest-beaten
+summits fifty centuries have looked down, unnoted and unknown.
+
+Our schoolmistress was a widow, the Widow White, as she was usually
+designated. A woman of middle-age at the commencement of my story, she
+had devoted many years to securing a decent competence for her
+declining years, and for her only child such an education as would
+prepare him for an honorable station in society. Early wedded to a
+young clergyman of promising expectations, she was left a widow
+shortly after the birth of a son, and only a few days after her
+husband had assumed his duties as pastor of the little flock amidst
+which she had scarcely taken her abode. Thus left alone at the very
+period when most she needed a protector, she began her course with the
+unfaltering energy which ever characterized her undertakings. Yielding
+to conscientious scruples, she refused the assistance kindly offered
+by the surrounding community, and having chosen a vocation,
+assiduously applied herself to the accomplishment of her cherished
+purpose. Ere long, she had heaped together an amount of money
+sufficiently large to purchase the comfortable homestead I have
+pointed out.
+
+There it is that the opening scene of my story commences. The sun was
+setting leisurely behind the western mountains in a mass of lurid
+clouds, and drowsy twilight had already begun to blur the fine scenery
+in the east, when Widow White sat down to her evening repast. A fire
+of hickory reflected a ruddy glare upon the hearth, before which
+reclined innocent pussy, with eyes half-closed, gazing intently at the
+flames as they crept slowly around the logs, and uniting, darted
+suddenly up the wide-mouthed chimney. The pine floor and splint chairs
+were scoured with scrupulous exactness; a small, oblong looking-glass,
+crowned with shrubs of evergreen, rested upon the high mantle-piece;
+the two windows were adorned with curtains of coarse, but milk-white
+linen, and, in one corner, stood a quaint bedstead of curled maple,
+covered with a counterpane of old-fashioned dimity, which lay upon it
+like a sheet of snow. In the centre of the room was placed a small
+table, covered with a cloth of freshly ironed linen, which fairly
+rivaled the ermine in whiteness, upon which sat a garniture of glossy
+porcelain. A plate of venison and nut-brown sausages, surrounded by
+pearly and yellow eggs, sent up its savory odors to tempt the palate,
+while a pitcher of rye-coffee, on which the heavy cream was mounting
+like a foam, stood at its side; and, near by, a loaf of warm
+wheat-bread, a saucer of wild-honey, and another of golden
+butter--these constituting the wholesome repast of which Widow White
+was partaking.
+
+"Heaven be praised for a comfortable house and bountiful meal!" she
+piously ejaculated, rising from her seat with the expression of
+gratitude warm from her heart. "If we always have as good, we shall
+never have cause to complain."
+
+Although no apparent attention was paid them, these words were
+evidently intended for her son, a tall, premature-looking youth,
+between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, who had entered the room
+only a few moments before, and now stood leaning against the
+mantle-piece, beating the devil's tatoo upon the wall, and, from time
+to time, whistling snatches of a popular air. His strongly marked
+features, though handsome, were bold and repulsive, the upper lip
+curling with half a sneer--but it was merely the soul imaged in the
+countenance, for, lad as he was, the spirit had quaffed many a deep
+draught of sinfulness, while mildew and iciness had crept down and
+sullied the purity of his heart, whose stern monitor-angel,
+conscience, still vainly strove to awaken rich melody from the chords
+which had once vibrated to its slightest touch.
+
+"David," again spoke Widow White in a subdued tone of voice, raising
+her eyes to the face of her son, "for the last few days I have been
+thinking deeply of the past--thinking what a mighty change fourteen
+short, rapid years have wrought in every thing around me. You were a
+babe in the cradle then, and the grave of your father was fresh in the
+lonely church-yard. The sky of my life was black with the storms of
+adversity, and I was very unhappy, for it almost seemed as if the day
+which had departed from it never would dawn again. But amidst all this
+gloominess and desolation, one star beamed with a constant and steady
+radiance, and that star was yourself. I loved you as my life, and
+many, many a time, as I rocked you to repose, have I pictured out a
+bright and glorious future for you, while my mind thrilled with the
+pleasure of its own creations. But a blight has come upon it all. I
+loved you _too_ well--too well for either mine or your own good.
+Yielding to the fondness of a mother's love, I indulged almost your
+every wish, until now, turbulent and self-willed, you spurn my best
+and holiest affections as a mockery, and I find, almost too late, that
+I have greatly erred. I speak this in no spirit of unkindness, David.
+I feel it to be my duty as a Christian--my duty as a mother, to talk
+with you as I am now doing. God knows bow fearful was the struggle
+within my mind before I could bring myself to the determination I
+have. But I am resolved now; the scales have fallen from my eyes, and
+I can plainly see both your danger and my own. You are trembling upon
+the very brink of destruction, and I would ever feel as if there were
+a curse upon my soul, were I to see it all, and yet not endeavor to
+save you. I have come to an unshaken determination. There must be a
+reformation."
+
+"Another sermon, I suppose. It is bad enough to hear one every Sunday,
+but one every day is intolerable _and_ insufferable," insolently broke
+in the lad, and he kicked the cat across the room, and began to
+whistle snatches of a lively air.
+
+The widow turned with a deep sigh to the window, while a gleam of
+sharp agony shot across her face, and then seeming not to heed the
+interruption, she continued:
+
+"Yesterday I was in the village, and saw Mr. Warwick, the saddler. I
+have made arrangements with him for your becoming an apprentice to the
+trade, and to-morrow you are to go there. It is the best thing I can
+do for you, David, and the fullness of a mother's heart alone prompted
+it. If you conduct yourself properly, you may still become an
+honorable man, and occupy an honorable station in society; but if you
+persist in your vicious habits, God only knows where you will end."
+Here she paused for a moment, and then added: "To-night I am going
+away for some hours. Mrs. Williams is very sick, perhaps dying, and
+has sent for me. I may not return until quite late, but, in the
+morning before you go, we can talk this subject over fully."
+
+There was such an earnestness and depth of feeling in his mother's
+remarks, that David White felt but little inclined to reply the second
+time, but the dark thoughts and evil feelings rankled deeply in his
+heart, though no tongue gave them utterance.
+
+Widow White gazed intently into the fire for several minutes after she
+had ceased speaking, and then taking her bonnet from the bed, advanced
+to the door, but stopped a moment on its threshold, and turning to her
+son, said, "Should you become drowsy before I return, carefully cover
+up the fire ere retiring to bed." She closed it after her, and David
+was alone.
+
+He stood still until the last echo of his mother's footsteps died away
+in the distance, and then crept stealthily to the front window, where,
+seeing her passing the gate into the lane, he broke out into a low
+laugh, and returned again to the fire-place.
+
+"So, I must be a saddler, must I? Ahem! Well! it takes two to play at
+that, so we'll see who makes high, low, Jack, and the game this deal.
+Hurst was about right when he said things would come to a compass
+afore long. Guess they have, but who cares? I reckon I know which side
+my bread is buttered!"
+
+Here David White again crossed over to the window, and looked out. His
+mother was far away in the lane, and just turning the last pannel of
+the garden fence, where the road branched off, and led by the old
+mill. Withdrawing from the window, he took a small hand-saw file, and
+a rudely fashioned key from his pocket, passed over to the bed, and
+lifting the foot-valance, drew out a large and strong oaken chest;
+then glancing hurriedly around the room to be sure that no one was
+present, he applied the key to the lock. It did not quite fit, but,
+after carefully filing and applying it for some time, the bolt turned
+in its socket, and the chest stood open before him. In rummaging the
+till, he at length discovered the object of his search, a purse of
+silver coin, the accumulated gains of months, and placed there by his
+mother only a few days previous. This was not her usual depository for
+money, but, in the present instance, it had been laid aside until the
+absent minister of the village should return, into whose hands she was
+accustomed to deliver her spare funds for safe keeping. Laying the
+purse by his side, he locked the chest, and having arranged every
+thing as nearly as possible as he found it, retired through an
+opposite door into his chamber.
+
+"Twenty dollars and a shilling, I think they said," muttered he to
+himself. "A good round sum for one evening's work. I wonder if I
+hadn't better take mother's fashion, and praise Heaven for it?"
+
+Having entered his chamber, he sat down to count his newly-acquired
+treasure, and finding the amount as large as he expected, carefully
+deposited it, with the exception of a few dollars, in a leathern belt
+around his person. Then assuming his shot-pouch, and flinging his
+rifle to his shoulder, he stooped down, and taking a small bundle,
+wrapped in a silk handkerchief, from his trunk, retired from the
+house, slamming the door violently after him, and walked rapidly on,
+until he reached the summit of an eminence near the old moss-grown
+mill, which was the last place from which he could see the home he was
+leaving, perhaps forever. Here he stopped for a few moments, leaned
+his rifle and bundle against a large, long-limbed, butter-nut, and sat
+down upon a decaying log at its foot, to gaze, for the last time, upon
+the old mansion which had been his home from earliest remembrance.
+
+It has been said that there are times when the stoniest hearts are
+softened; when the sternest natures are made mild, and when the most
+abandoned are like little children. That moment had now come for David
+White. It was strange, passing strange. He had committed crime upon
+crime, yet scarcely felt a moment's remorse; for years he had acted
+toward his mother as if his whole soul were naught but selfishness;
+but when he came to leave that mother, that old homestead, and all the
+bright and beautiful objects around it, a softness breathed over his
+iron-nature, and the fount of tears sent up its gushing libations. I
+have often thought that such feelings must be akin to those
+mysterious, indefinable, and gloomy forebodings--those dim and
+indescribable fears and shrinkings within self, that sometimes come
+over our spirits like a creeping, icy thrill--in the midst of a giddy
+round of pleasure, or, as we stand by the grave's brink to see our
+friends entombed, and yet which no earthly or human cause is able to
+explain.
+
+He was beholding everything for the last time, and he looked around
+him as the dying man upon his nearest friends, when he feels the cold
+hand of death pressed heavily upon his brow, and the silver chords of
+his spirit's harp gathering to their utmost tension, and snapping, one
+by one, like reeds before the blast. There was the home which had
+sheltered him in his helplessness, glowing in a shower of soft
+moonlight, and seeming more beautiful than he ever saw it before.
+There the only true love this wide world of cold and bitter
+heartlessness can know, beamed on his infant eyes; and there he had
+spent the only happy moments in all his boyhood existence. In that
+little room he had first learned to pray, and there, first forgotten
+the duty. There his mother had watched over him night after night,
+when he had a burning fever, and the grave had half-opened its
+terrible portals for his entrance. And now he was going to abandon
+that mother who had loved and cherished him so fondly--leave her all
+alone, a joyless, childless widow, and for what cause? He choked down
+the emotion that rose to his mind, and turned hurriedly in another
+direction. Not more than twenty paces from him, a stream went dancing
+and bubbling across the road like a track of liquid silver--the stream
+that was fed by the cool spring at home; and he remembered how he had
+gazed in transport, many years agone, at the bright-hued insects
+floating in the meek, golden-colored sunshine, now sinking their
+velvet feet into the moist sand upon the water's brink, and sipping
+tiny draughts; or, resting upon the edges of the blue and crimson
+flowers that looked up like gems from the verdant grass, opening and
+shutting their unruffled fans, woven of gold and sunlight. He turned
+away from the scene sick at heart, but still another object presented
+itself to view, awakening old memories. A little farther on yonder in
+the green meadow, through which murmured the mill-stream, and by the
+drooping-willow whose long branches rippled in the current, was a deep
+place, in the midst of which loomed up a dark-gray rock, like a lone
+sentinel to the rapid waters, and the scene made his heart bound
+again. There he had angled for trout for many a summer, and looked
+down delighted into the music-breathing waters, watching the silver
+and mottled fishes as they went trooping swiftly past, like guests to
+a fairy wedding. The tears gushed into his eyes as old recollections
+came thronging to his mind, and he faltered in his determination. He
+turned, and took one step toward home, but vicious impulses triumphed,
+and the rainbow that had begun to arch his heart faded in darkness. He
+disappeared down the slope toward the old bridge, and David White was
+ruined forever.
+
+Meanwhile Widow White had almost reached her destination. A few steps
+farther on rose a little white-washed cottage, with sloping roof, and
+two large china-trees embowering it in front. As she arrived at the
+small trellis-work gate, a light met her eye, faintly twinkling
+through the dark foliage of an intervening bough, and reflecting a
+ruddy glare upon the side-walk that lay entombed in shadow. She opened
+the gate, followed the narrow foot-path leading to the front door, and
+found herself in a dark entry, with a few rays of light shimmering
+through the key-hole of a door immediately before her. As she put her
+hand to the latch, a stifled sob broke upon her ear, and noiselessly
+opening the door, she glided into the apartment. It was indeed the
+chamber of death. On a little table by the fire-place, amidst a number
+of glasses and vials, burned a solitary candle over a long and
+lengthening wick, shedding a dim radiance throughout the room. By the
+side of an old-fashioned bedstead, hung with snow-white valance, knelt
+the old gray-headed minister, and his low voice, broken and
+thrillingly solemn, went up in earnest prayer for a departing soul.
+Upon the bed itself, propped up with pillows, lay the invalid. Three
+days ago the flush of health had mantled her cheek, and brightened in
+her eye, and now, how ghastly and changed she was! The sunken and
+mist-covered eye; the pallid cheek; the hueless lips, and painful
+breath, too truly testified that the dark angel Azrael was watching by
+the couch-side. At the head of the bed sat the daughter, a little girl
+apparently five years of age, with her head bent upon her knees, and
+her hands clasped beneath her face, weeping bitterly. The supplicating
+accents of the gray-haired minister ceased, and he arose from his
+kneeling posture, his eyes streaming with tears, and clasping in both
+of his the thin white hand that rested upon the snowy counterpane,
+leaned gently over, and placed his lips close to the ear of the dying
+woman.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Williams," said he kindly, "we all feel that you are
+rapidly sinking; do you die happy? Do you feel that there is a Jesus
+in heaven, through whose mediation you will be saved?"
+
+There was a rustling of the bed-clothes, a faint murmur, and the
+sufferer languidly turned her eyes upon the speaker. A dimness was in
+those sunken orbs; a clamminess upon her wan brow, and her breast
+heaved wildly beneath the linen that lay in snowy waves across it. But
+she did not appear to have heard the inquiry of the minister.
+
+"The Widow White--has she not come yet? It is getting late--quite
+late," feebly spoke the sufferer.
+
+Until then Widow White had stood unnoticed in the dark shadow,
+unwilling to interrupt; but, hearing this inquiry, she glided to the
+bedside.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Williams, I have come," and she laid her hand upon the dewy
+brow of her she had named, and tenderly smoothed back the long hair
+that lay loosely upon it.
+
+A gleam of satisfaction shot across the wan countenance of the
+sufferer as these words fell upon her ear. A light, almost
+preternatural, stole to her eyes, until they sparkled as the diamond,
+and she lifted her head upon her hand, and strove to speak. But the
+effort was too great for her debilitated condition--a weakness came
+over her, and she sunk back exhausted to her pillow. Ere long,
+however, she recovered sufficient strength to speak, and turning
+toward Widow White, clasped her hand affectionately.
+
+"I feel that my life is fast ebbing away," she began in a subdued and
+thrilling voice. "A few short hours will pass by, and this body will
+be a soulless mass. But I do not fear to die; for me, death has no
+terror, nor the grave a victory. I am standing upon its very brink,
+and look down into its blackness without an emotion save that of
+pleasure. This is a vain and heartless world! I have found it so,
+again and again, and the grave is the only place where I can find rest
+from its temptations and persecutions, and I feel glad that the time
+is almost here, when rest, both for body and soul, will be attained.
+But there is one thing that troubles me. My husband slumbers beneath
+the heavy sod in the village grave-yard; I am standing upon the very
+brink of eternity; I have no relatives living on this side of the
+Atlantic, and when I am gone, what is to become of my poor friendless,
+motherless child? I know there is One above who has promised to take
+care of the orphan, but still, it would give me a pleasure to know,
+that when my mouldering body reposes in 'that bourne whence no
+traveler returns,' that the light of a pleasant home would shed its
+radiance on her girlish years. I fear to trust her to the world. I
+fear its buffetings--I fear its bitterness--I fear its selfishness!--I
+have keenly felt them all, and they bowed my strength of spirit almost
+to the dust!--they sullied my purity of purpose, and my love of God!
+Three years ago I took up my abode in this community. Life was in its
+spring-time of joyousness. Pleasure opened her thousand portals, and
+nature breathed in beauty. Then a stern blight came upon it all! The
+gloom of death shadowed my dwelling, and soon the cold and rigid form
+of my beloved partner was carried out, and laid in the narrow bier
+where the 'dust returns to dust as it was.' The feeling of desolation
+entered my heart; I sorrowed in tears, and life almost became a
+weariness. Then you, Widow White, came to me in my distress, like a
+ministering angel; advised me, prayed with me, and led me on, until a
+light broke in upon my soul, and a new life spread out its million
+paths to happiness. From that moment I loved you as my own mother in
+heaven. And now I have a request to make--the request of a dying
+woman--will you grant it?" and she grasped the arm of the listener
+with a wild eagerness, and looked into her eyes, as if she saw down
+into the very soul, and read her every thought.
+
+"Mrs. Williams," began Widow White in reply, in a tone of voice
+thrillingly solemn, her eyes dimmed with tears, and her whole frame
+trembling with emotion, "Mrs. Williams, you know how endeared you are
+to me--that I love you as if you were my own daughter, and that if I
+could comply with any thing that would give you pleasure in a dying
+moment, I would most willingly do so."
+
+"Thank God!--thank God!" exclaimed she fervently, clasping her hands
+as if in prayer. "I have prayed for this, again and again, and now it
+has come to pass--when the grave closes over my mouldering remains, my
+child will have a home and a mother still! Widow White, cherish her as
+your own. Educate her for heaven, and if we mortals, after death, are
+sent as ministering angels to the living, then will I be your guardian
+spirit. Our kind minister, into whose hands I have committed them,
+will inform you of my little worldly concerns after I am gone, for my
+strength is fast failing me, and I feel that I have little time left
+for words. Mary, dear, come to my bedside. A little nearer for I am
+quite weak and exhausted. I am dying, Mary. I am going far away--away
+to heaven. In a short time, my body will be cold and motionless, and
+then I cannot hear you, or speak to you any more. Then you will have
+no mother; she will be dead. In a few days I will be laid in the cold
+and dark ground, and you will never see me again in this world. When I
+am dead, this lady will be your mother. She will take care of you, and
+be kind to you, just as I am; and you must obey her, and try not to be
+naughty. If bad feelings come into your mind, think of your dead
+mother, and how she talked to you and advised you when she was dying.
+If you do what is right, God will love you, and bless you, and take
+care of you, and when death comes, you will go to live with Jesus,
+where there is nothing but happiness; but if you are wicked, God will
+hate you, and when you die, you will go down to hell, where all the
+bad people dwell, and where there is nothing but misery and anguish.
+Now kiss me, for I am too weak to talk to you any longer," and the
+dying woman drew the child to herself, and imprinted a lingering,
+burning kiss upon her forehead.
+
+She sunk back exhausted to the pillow, and her breath came in painful
+gasps from her parted lips, while her hands moved about spasmodically
+on the white counterpane--the excitement of the last hour had been too
+much for her weakened condition. She lay thus for several moments, and
+then suddenly started from her recumbent position, and sat upright in
+the bed. A glorious lustre broke through the mist that whelmed her
+eyes, and a faint color sprung to her pallid cheek. She clasped her
+daughter in her arms with an hysterical sob; looked wildly into her
+face; pressed a burning, quivering kiss upon her forehead, and then
+her lips gave forth fragments of speech, broken, but beautiful. But
+this did not last long; a weakness came over her almost preternatural
+strength; she loosened the embrace that circled her child; the color
+fled her cheek, the brightness her eye; the death-rattle rung out
+shrilly upon the air, and she fell back motionless to the bed. They
+looked upon her countenance--a single glance was sufficient--it was
+cold, calm, passionless--the seal of the grave was upon it.
+
+    *    *    *    *    *
+
+The gloom of death had shadowed that cottage for two days, and now it
+was desolate indeed. The stealthy tread of those who came to gaze upon
+the dead and prepare its burial, no longer broke the solemn hush that
+brooded over the dwelling. The departed was in truth the
+departed--they had borne her over the threshold of her home, and laid
+her remains in the narrow house where all must one day repose--a plain
+head-board alone marking the grave in which slumbered what was once
+Eliza Williams. Like others, she had died sincerely mourned by
+many--like others, futurity would leave no memorial to tell that she
+had ever existed. Decay, and rude hands, and careless feet, after the
+lapse of years, would mar her last resting-place, as many in the
+grave-yard had already been marred, but the form below could never
+know nor feel the injury--she slept, and would sleep, as sleep the
+dead, until the trump of Gabriel awakens and clothes the dry bones in
+the habiliments of another world.
+
+And now they were alone--the mother and her adopted daughter, making
+preparations for a final departure from that desolate old homestead.
+The ashes lay cold upon the hearth-stone, and a gloomy loneliness
+reigned throughout the whole building, flinging a pall over the
+feelings of Widow White. A chill crept over her as the large gray cat
+came purring to her side, and rubbed his soft coat against her ankle;
+and tears sprung to her eyes when she saw the countenance of the
+little child wearing such a sad and mournful expression, and she vowed
+in her heart that no blight should come over her youthful prospects,
+if it were in her power to prevent it.
+
+Ere long, the necessary preparations were completed, and the two bade
+a final adieu to the lonely dwelling, and passed slowly along the road
+toward the mansion of Widow White.
+
+
+PART II.
+
+    "Parent! who with speechless feeling,
+      O'er thy cradled treasure bent,
+    Found each year new charms revealing,
+      Yet thy wealth of love unspent;
+    Hast thou seen that blossom blighted
+      By a drear, untimely frost?
+    All thy labor unrequited?
+      Every glorious promise lost!"
+
+
+Time, at whose touch the monument of a thousand ages crumbles to dust;
+at whose embrace empires totter to ruin, and at whose breath cities
+rise and sink like bursting bubbles in a pool, rolled on his car of
+wonderful mutations.
+
+Ten years--ten short, rapid years had lapsed away into the infinitude
+of the past, and mighty changes had marked their progress. The wave of
+population, like the ocean at its flood, had gradually advanced over
+the land, and many new habitations sent up their curling smoke within
+sight of the old homestead of Widow White. The mansion-house itself
+had changed but little, though one of the tall maples had been cut
+away from the massive stone chimney at the south end of the building,
+and the moss had crept over the sloping roof in spots, giving a quaint
+richness of appearance to the time-honored shingles. The huge old mill
+below the dam had grown a little more picturesque with the lapse of
+years; but it was fast going to decay, for its owner was long since
+dead, and there being some still pending lawsuit between the heirs
+concerning this piece of property, no repairs had been made, or even
+any attention paid to its mouldering condition; and for several
+twelvemonths it had ceased to send up its daily medley of pleasant
+sounds. The old wooden bridge that spanned the river where it swept
+across the mouth of the valley, seemed as it ever did, save that rude
+hands had leveled the magnificent clump of trees that had embowered
+one end, and enveloped it, during half the day, in a mass of dense
+shadows, which always slept about this old fabric, and darkened the
+waters like heaps of black drapery. The scenery around was still as
+magnificent and entrancing as ever, though, immediately surrounding
+the dwelling of Widow White, it had undergone a very material change.
+The adjacent hills that gradually sloped down to the river's brink,
+were still dark with forests, though here and there the settler's axe
+had penetrated their sun-hidden recesses, and blocked out spaces, in
+the midst of which arose many a comfortable farm-house. But, at the
+time of which I speak, stern-browed winter had breathed over the
+scene, and the gnarled oak forest stood out like an army of skeletons
+against the stormy sky.
+
+But ten years had not thus glided away without leaving their stern
+impress upon Widow White. She had become thinner and paler; many white
+hairs had crept in amongst the auburn that once adorned her head; and
+her hazel eye had assumed a milder, more subdued expression. The
+sudden departure of her self-willed son, and the manner of it, had
+caused her many a heart-pang; yet for months after it occurred she
+entertained serious hopes of his becoming repentant and returning; and
+this, for a time, had served to buoy up her depressed spirits; but
+when years had gone by, and no intelligence reached her concerning
+him, hope fell to the ground, and her ardent expectancy settled down
+into a stern grief. Mary, the adopted daughter, stood upon the
+threshold of woman-hood, in all the flush and spring-time of life and
+enjoyment. Widow White seemed to love her as if she were her own
+child, and watched over her with the tenderest care and solicitude. At
+this period Mary was near sixteen years of age, and rather striking in
+her appearance, though by no means what would be strictly termed
+beautiful. Indeed, the contour of her features, as a whole, was rather
+commonplace than otherwise; but a soul beamed out through her flashing
+black eye, and lit up her countenance with a sweetness, a loveliness,
+which was strange, and sometimes startling, from the brilliancy of its
+expression. A ruddy glow, like the blush of a summer sunset, dwelt in
+either cheek, and a slight contraction at both corners of the mouth
+gave her face a half-mirthful look; but her forehead, full in the
+upper and lateral portions, seemed almost too severely intellectual
+for the other features. She possessed a wealth of luxuriant black
+hair, which she had a quaint method of coiling around her head in a
+single massive braid, singularly contrasting with the alabaster
+whiteness of the delicate temples upon which it rested. She was very
+happy at the home she occupied, which was often enlivened by the
+joyous snatches of music that broke from her ruby lips as from a bird;
+but she had but a faint, a dream-like remembrance of the scenes
+connected with her early childhood.
+
+It was a cold afternoon in December--cold even for that ice-clad
+month. Dark, gloomy, stern-browed winter had spread his varied
+desolations around. The first snow of the season had fallen during the
+night previous, and lay upon the ground to the depth of several
+inches, in some places, drifted into the ravines, leaving the
+declivities almost entirely uncovered, and at others, overspreading
+the soil with an unruffled sheet of stainless white. The winds had
+awakened from their August slumbers, and blustered and shrieked
+dismally through the leafless forests, then sweeping out among the
+houses, sought entrance, but finding none, flung themselves
+despairingly against the doors, and mocked at the clattering windows,
+which every now and then threatened to burst from their casements;
+anon, swept moaning around the corners, now muttering, and now
+whispering at the crevices, then passing up toward the eaves, died
+away in sobbings and wailings. Even the dark blue cerulean wore a
+chilly aspect; and the huge masses of heavy, leaden-colored clouds
+that piled themselves up so quaintly over by the lofty-peaked,
+snow-capt mountains, drifted wildly before every impulse of the
+ice-winged lord of the storm.
+
+Late on this afternoon a solitary traveler on horseback might have
+been seen winding slowly along the serpentine road that led over the
+hill above the falls. This traveler was David White. At his heart,
+were the same fierce and turbulent passions--the same dark thoughts
+and bad feelings--the same willful and perverse nature that dwelt
+there, when I left him, ten years ago, forsaking home and happiness;
+time had only served to deepen the impressions, and crime almost
+entirely to blot out the few remaining influences of a religious
+education, while the vicious impulses strengthened. But, in person, he
+was greatly changed. From the stripling he had become the man. A half
+sneer was on his countenance as in boyhood; and the same restless,
+wicked eye lighted up his features with an evil fire. It was a face
+that told the wily hypocrite--the man who could assume any character
+he chose--now, high-minded and honorable, and again, crime-seeking and
+fiendish, just as circumstances required. The cheeks were thin and
+sunken, and the deep pallor which had stolen away the rosy tints of
+health, plainly showed a course of continual dissipation. In person,
+he was somewhat above the standard height, and slender in his make,
+though his frame exhibited great powers of endurance, and no common
+share of muscular strength.
+
+He wound slowly down the hill, stopped for a moment to gaze at the
+falls, adorned with huge, long icicles, and a shore of frozen foam;
+then moved on again, passed leisurely along the curving lane, and
+paused once more at the old bridge, to look up and down the river;
+after which he advanced a short distance into the magnificent grove of
+evergreens which skirted the road, and fastening his horse securely to
+one of the strongest pine saplings, bent his steps toward the home of
+his childhood. By this time the last flashing gleams of sunset were
+dying away in the west, and dark-hued twilight began to shroud the
+east in a mist-like dimness.
+
+David White had been a wanderer in foreign lands. More than once had
+he stood amidst a field of the ghastly dead and shrieking wounded,
+when the tide of a great battle raged fiercest and strongest, his
+foothold bathed in the life-blood of his comrades. Such scenes ever
+tend to pervert the kinder tendencies of our nature, and to render the
+mind adamantine in its manifestations; nor were his less susceptible
+to these influences than others. When first he entered the ranks of
+the army, and joined in the death-dealing battle, he saw the daily
+commission of crimes which made his soul shrink even to contemplate;
+but, by degrees, he learned to look upon them merely as the amusements
+of a passing hour, and finally, to lend a ready hand to their
+accomplishment. Then his heart grew still colder and more feelingless.
+He thirsted for excitement, lawful or unlawful. He longed for the
+bloody onset to come; the deafening roar of the cannon was a music in
+his ears, and the murderous combat brought a restlessness that pleased
+him. But human nature is strange--passing strange. At intervals he was
+mild and gentle. Standing upon the battlefield, when night had drawn
+her silvery curtain over the ghastly and hideous spectacle, when the
+booming shot and frightful discord--the shriek, the groan, the shout,
+and ceaseless rush of angered men were passed away, he had looked
+round upon the cold and bloody scene, and wept--his sternness
+softened, and he became as other men. He brought water to the wounded
+and dying soldier; staunched the flowing blood; pillowed his head upon
+his knee, and as the body shuddered in the last fierce agony, and the
+enfranchised spirit went trembling up to God, tears fell like jewels
+on the pallid face of the dying, and thoughts, of which the good might
+have been proud, flashed through his mind. Who, at such moments, would
+recognize David White, the bold, dark, dangerous man? But thus it is;
+mirthful feelings will sometimes obtrude when the heavy clod is
+falling upon the coffin of a friend, and the grave closing over him
+forever; thoughts of the last agony, the bourne of death, and the
+curtained futurity, will sometimes come like a pall over our minds,
+when the dance is at its flush, and pleasure in its spring-time; and
+moments will sometimes roll round when a softness breathes upon the
+hearts of hardened men.
+
+David White was again amongst the scenes of his boyhood; but he looked
+upon them merely as the passing traveler--with an idle curiosity.
+Change had been more busy than he expected, yet nothing around him
+served to awaken emotion. Not even when he stood upon the little
+eminence, and on almost the very spot where he had stood ten years
+agone, to bid a final adieu to home, and then to pass on to ruin, did
+he seem to remember, save by a faint and sickly smile, half-sneering
+in its expression. Yet, had he seen it when environed by other
+circumstances, perhaps his heart might have been touched--but now it
+was feelingless.
+
+Arrived at the old homestead, he knocked loudly at the door--but no
+one answering the call, he lifted the latch and entered the apartment.
+A large hickory fire was blazing on the hearth, casting a ruddy glare
+upon the floor, and radiating a pleasant heat throughout the room.
+Upon a worsted hearth-rug reclined a large gray cat, which he thought
+the very same he had kicked across the room on the evening of his
+departure, and which started up at his approach, and took refuge
+beneath the bed. Finding that no one was conscious of his presence, he
+flung off his dark overcoat, and laying it on a little pine table by
+the window, drew a large rocking-chair from its nook in the corner,
+and seating himself by the hearth, began very complacently to
+contemplate the ornaments upon the mantle-piece. But soon growing
+tired of this employment, he left his seat and crossed over to some
+pictures that hung against the opposite wall. At this moment a door
+opened to his left, and turning, he beheld Mary entering the
+apartment, her cheeks rosier than ever with recent exercise.
+
+"Good evening to you, my pretty lass," he observed in his blandest
+tones, and slightly bowing as she drew back in surprise at his sudden
+appearance. "A widow was once the occupant of this dwelling--the Widow
+White she was usually called; is she still living, and a resident
+here? and if so, will you be so kind as to inform her of my presence."
+
+Mary replied briefly in the affirmative, and hastened out to call her
+mother from an out-house, a new building which had lately been erected
+to subserve the two-fold purpose of kitchen and dairy, where they both
+had been busily engaged at the time of his arrival, while he sauntered
+familiarly to his seat by the fire, and commenced drumming a tune upon
+the head-board of the mantle-piece. In a few moments the widow made
+her appearance, and politely requested her guest to be seated.
+
+He flung himself carelessly into the chair he had occupied, and
+slightly turning in his seat, fixed his dark eyes on her face, and
+remarked, "You seem to be quite comfortably situated, Mistress White;
+this pleasant fire and comfortable apartment contrast finely with the
+cold and dreariness without doors."
+
+"Yes, thanks to Providence! things have gone especially well with me
+for many years, indeed, much more so perhaps than I really deserve.
+Though this world often requires much care and toil from us frail
+mortals, it also yields many blessings for which to be thankful."
+
+"That is true," replied he; and then breaking off suddenly from the
+topic of conversation, remarked, "But I perceive, Mistress White, that
+you do not recognize your quondam friend. I hope you do not suffer
+prosperity to dampen your recollection of old times."
+
+The widow stopped her knitting for a few moments, leaned slightly
+forward, and scrutinized the features of the stranger; then recovering
+her former position, answered, "I have a faint, a dream-like
+recollection of your countenance. It seems that I have seen it before,
+yet I cannot distinctly remember where."
+
+"Look again!" exclaimed he, divesting himself of a pair of false
+whiskers, and again bending his dark eyes searchingly upon her face.
+"Now do you know me?"
+
+She gazed but an instant, a deathly pallor sprung to her cheeks, and
+extending her arms as if to embrace, she tottered toward him,
+exclaiming, "It is!--I cannot be mistaken!--it is my long lost son,
+David White! Oh, David! David!" and she fell upon his neck, and twined
+her arms around him, sobbing aloud in her ecstasy of enjoyment.
+
+"Tut-tut, mother--what's the use of carrying on so? To be sure I am
+your son, in flesh and blood, and just the same as ever, only changed
+a little for the better. But where's the use in crying? I reckon I am
+not going to die, that you should take on after this fashion."
+
+Here he rudely shook off her embrace, and reseated himself, while a
+sharp pang, such as she had not known since the years of his boyhood
+and unfeeling transgressions, struck deeply into her heart as his
+light mocking tones smote upon her ear, and sinking into a chair, she
+gave vent to her feelings in a gush of tears.
+
+Who, at that moment, to have looked upon the dark countenance of David
+White, and to have witnessed his heartless and unmanly actions, would
+have recognized the cradle-joy of his mother's early widow-hood--the
+babe that smiled so sweetly upon the beholder--the little prattler for
+whom she had pictured out such a bright and glorious future. She had
+loved him--still loved him with all the devotedness and dewy freshness
+of life's morning hours; she had cherished and watched over him with
+the tenderest care and most affectionate solicitude, and now, when the
+fountains of deep-toned feeling and sympathetic emotion should have
+sent up their gushing libations, and she should have been reaping the
+rich benefits of her manifold attentions, the son, so fondly
+cherished, and so dearly loved, turns, like the frozen serpent that
+the shepherd warmed in his own bosom, to sting his benefactor.
+
+But if we look back to this man's infancy, it will be found that much
+of this harvest was unconsciously sown by the mother. Domestic
+education exerts a great power in forming the manners and regulating
+the conduct which is to guide the future man; and as the system of
+Widow White had been injudicious, though she discovered her error at
+the last, it was too late for reform--her son was ruined, and an
+ingratitude engendered which would tinge the whole stream of her
+future life with bitterness. The mother is almost always the arbiter
+of her child's destiny; and if she misguide the bark of his life so
+that it finally anchors in a gulf of base and stormy passions, can it
+be wondered that his sympathies should be blunted, and the
+manifestations of his mind vile and ignoble?
+
+"There, now! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," again spoke the
+son, first breaking the silence which had existed for several minutes,
+and the mother looked up half smilingly through her tears as these
+gentle words came to her ear, they were so unlike the mocking tones
+with which he had sought to evade her welcome. The kind manner of
+their utterance went to her heart, and the best affections of her
+nature gushed to meet them.
+
+"You look worn and tired with your journey, David--would you not be
+the better of some supper? something warm might refresh you," and she
+took a step toward the door in execution of her kind purpose.
+
+"No, no--my time is precious, and I have none to waste in eating. I
+must be back to the Bend before nine, and there is famous little moon
+left to light the way."
+
+"So soon! Why not remain with us to-night, and then return in a more
+comfortable manner in the morning? You surely have no imperative
+necessity to visit the Bend on such a blustering night as this. The
+north, too, is black with a gathering storm. You had better stay."
+
+"I can't. It is impossible. I have a very urgent necessity to return,
+and quickly told, too--money; I must have money, and in no small
+amount either. It is absolutely necessary that I have twenty-five
+dollars, and that I have it now. I am in debt, and the debt must be
+paid--paid to-night. It has been a long time since I asked you for
+money, but I reckon you have enough of the mother about you to let me
+have that sum."
+
+"In debt, David! to whom?"
+
+"To the boat for my passage. But it is getting late, and I have no
+time to ask or answer questions; so, once for all, will you let me
+have it or not?"
+
+The mother was deeply imposed upon, but never, even for an instant,
+did the thought flash across her mind that his statements were false,
+and only used for the purpose of extortion. Obtaining the specified
+amount, she placed it in his hands with a gush of tears, for her
+feelings were greatly hurt at his harsh words.
+
+He received the money, bade her farewell in blander tones than his
+previous conversation, and hastened from the dwelling. When he arrived
+at the spot where was fastened his horse, his mind was fired to a high
+degree of excitement by the dark thoughts rankling within. His face
+was pale with anger; his heavy brows worked and knit themselves over
+eyes that flashed like fire, and he was muttering slowly to himself in
+broken expressions, while his fingers played unconsciously about the
+handle of the bowie-knife which slightly protruded from beneath his
+vest. Having taken a sudden turn in the undergrowth, he unexpectedly
+stood immediately before the horse, which, seeing him indistinctly,
+became affirighted, and ran back with an impetuosity that almost tore
+up the sapling by its roots.
+
+"So, so," he muttered between his clenched teeth, as composedly as his
+anger would permit. "Easy, Oliver, easy!" and advancing, he tenderly
+patted him on the neck, while the restive animal, recognizing his
+voice, greeted him with a low neigh.
+
+Detaching the bridle from the mass of twigs that entangled it, he
+carefully led the way out into the road, and brushing off the snow
+which had collected upon the saddle, leaped to his seat, still
+agitated with the deep passion he was in vain endeavoring to control.
+
+"On!" burst from his lips in a hoarse whisper, which seemed like a low
+shout suppressed by a strong will. "On!" and he struck the spurs
+fiercely into the sides of his steed, and dashed swiftly across the
+old bridge, the clattering hoofs ringing out upon the still night with
+a strange distinctness.
+
+At first, the moon looked down brightly from the starry sky, shedding
+around a shower of flashing beams, which rested upon the sheeted snow
+until it became dazzling in its whiteness. Soon, however, the heavy
+masses of clouds in the northeast, that drove wildly before every
+ice-winged impulse of the storm-king, overwhelmed and shrouded the
+silver disc from sight, and gave forth the tempest they had so long
+threatened. Still, now and then, as the wrathful clouds would separate
+for a moment, a faint lustre would dart forth, sprinkling, as with
+the purple glories of the orient morn, the torn and ragged opening,
+and illuminating the landscape with a quaint beauty--half light and
+half shadow--then all would become dark again. But soon, even this
+ceased, and the heavens were hung with black. Still his horse plunged
+on amid sheets of driving and whirling snow, never stopping his speed
+for an instant.
+
+Ere long the impetuous rider drew up before a dark, weather-beaten,
+dilapidated building, at the north end of the village, and dismounted.
+The old chestnut by the fence creaked dismally as the winds swept
+fiercely up from the valley below, and through one of the swaying
+boughs came a faintly twinkling light, which seemed forcing itself
+through the folds of a window-curtain. Knocking loudly at the front
+door, it was presently opened, and giving some hasty directions
+concerning his horse, he hurried through a dark, narrow entry, and
+guiding his way up a creaking staircase by the aid of a balustrade
+which ran along either side, at length stood before a small door,
+through whose key-hole issued a narrow stream of light, slightly
+illuminating the thick gloom around him. Here he paused for a short
+time to recuperate his exhausted energies, and to subdue the passion
+that still somewhat agitated him. Then pushing open the door, he
+entered the apartment.
+
+It was a gaming-room. Six or eight small tables stood about on the
+floor, at each of which, where the forgotten candles burned dimly over
+the long and lengthening wicks, sat several men--some, with faces
+brightly haggard, gloating over their unhallowed gains--others, dark,
+sullen, silent, fierce, gazing furtively at their piles of lost money.
+Here rattled the dice-box, and yonder fell the dirty cards--all were
+busily engaged--all were motionless, save their hands and eyes--all
+were hushed, save when they uttered solitary words to tell their bets.
+
+David White had almost reached the centre of this room before any one
+was cognizant of his presence; then, several looked up with a nod of
+recognition, and once more bent themselves, pale, watchful, though
+weary, to the duties of the game. The emotion which had so recently
+agitated him was passed away, and his countenance wore the same
+expression which most frequently lurked over it. Crossing over to a
+table at the farthest end of the apartment from the door, he addressed
+a few words to its occupants; assumed a vacant chair by its side, and
+joined in the play. For hours he sat grasping the cards with trembling
+avidity, winning and losing, apparently unmindful of either. But this
+was merely the gilded outwardness--within, rankled fierce passions,
+like the lightning in the summer-evening cloud. The night glided on;
+its dank air grew fresher; the fire burned low on the hearth-stone;
+the raging storm was hushed to stillness, and three was sounding from
+the antique clock that adorned the mantle-piece. Save two men the room
+was deserted. One by one the rest had stolen away, until these two
+were its only occupants. The last stake of David White was in the
+pool; the cards had been dealed, and the game was about to be played
+which was to determine the ownership of the large pile of silver that
+lay in the middle of the table. He had lost, won, and lost
+again--doubled his bets--trebled them, until all had been swept
+away--money, horse, and even his Bowie-knife. Then he had contrived to
+borrow--won again, and now the last stake trembled in the scales. The
+game was played--once more he was penniless. He sat still for several
+minutes, his eyes gazing on vacancy, and when he arose he seemed like
+a strange man, his face was so changed with the workings of evil
+passions.
+
+"There! now you have it all, and I am ruined! Do you hear?" exclaimed
+the frenzied man, his lips quivering with emotion as his voice became
+elevated with excitement. "And who is the dastardly craven that made
+me so? Who was it found me pure, and innocent, and stainless as the
+babe unborn, and lured me from happiness to scenes of madness and
+debauchery--of crime and wretchedness? Say! who was it did all this?
+Who was it first placed the cards in my hands, and trained my youthful
+mind to the cheateries of the gaming-table? And who, when I became
+older, taught me to revel in human gore, and to delight in carnage and
+distress, making me the heartless villain that I am? Who was it did
+all this, I say? Was it not you, Wilson Hurst--was it not you that did
+it?" and the frantic man struck the table a tremendous blow with his
+clenched fist as this last question trembled on his white lips, while
+he glared fiercely upon the listener.
+
+His mind had now worked itself up to the highest pitch of excitement;
+his countenance wore a deathly pallor; his heavy brows lowered
+fearfully above eyes that flashed like fire; his nostrils were widely
+distended, and, as the air breathed through it seemed to choke him;
+his teeth chattered with rage, while the white foam oozed between,
+gathering in a thick froth about the parted lips, and with an
+exclamation that almost froze the blood to hear, he flung himself upon
+his companion. But his adversary had foreseen the whole, and was fully
+prepared to meet this sudden attack. Taking advantage of his cat-like
+eagerness, he threw him to the floor, overpowered, and finally,
+exhausted with struggling, thrust him out the street door, and shut it
+in his face.
+
+Left to himself, he gradually became calm and collected, and then
+other and gentler thoughts grew busy. He stood there in the still
+moonlight, the cool breezes of morning fanning his feverish brow, from
+which distilled great drops of moisture in the anguish of his spirit.
+
+"What a change! what a change!" exclaimed he wildly, smiting his
+breast with his hands. He was thinking of childhood, of those hours of
+innocence forever gone, and he buried his face in his hands, and
+sobbed aloud. The strong man was bowed--yes! he who, undaunted, had
+stood amidst the angered rush of battle; he who, fearless, had seen
+his comrades falling around him like trees before the hurricane; he
+who, unappalled, had heard the shrieks of the wounded and dying, wept
+at the recollection of childhood. What a scene for God and the angels
+to look down upon!
+
+David White sedulously strove to renew the acquaintanceships of his
+boyhood, but amongst none, either of those who remembered him, or
+others to whom he was a perfect stranger, did he contrive to make a
+friend. His company, however, was not avoided, for his conversation
+abounded with strange and interesting adventures in various foreign
+lands, often instructive; but there were too many demands for the
+possessor of an able body, and too extensive a prevalence of sound
+morality, for him to find a spirit any way congenial to his own in the
+vicinity of his home. He therefore took up his residence at the Bend,
+which was a kind of stopping-place for boats passing up and down the
+river, and where congregated all grades of society. His pursuits were
+now undisguisedly those of a gambler--and still further, though
+unknown--those of a smuggler. His mother received frequent, though
+indirect communications concerning her son's course of conduct at the
+neighboring village--indeed, few days passed in which she did not
+incidentally obtain such intelligence. He appeared occasionally at the
+old homestead, but his stay was seldom prolonged beyond a few hours.
+His conduct cost his mother many a heart-pang, but the day when she
+could influence his mind had long since gone by, and she entertained
+no hope of a reformation--indeed, such an occurrence would have
+appeared almost a miracle in the eyes of those acquainted with his
+character and mode of action. Thus months lapsed away into the
+infinitude of the past; summer came round, and soon an eventful and
+crime-stained night rolled into its place.
+
+The moon waxed high in her career. Midnight was gathering slowly over
+the earth; that hallowed and mysterious hour, the isthmus between two
+days. But the deep-toned thunder was muttering at intervals in the
+sky, and the torn clouds swept on in massy columns, dark and aspiring,
+growing blacker and blacker as they rolled up the great heavens, and
+portending a terrible convulsion of the elements. The night was far
+advanced, and in all respects suited to the purpose of David White.
+Twelve o'clock was already striking, when he issued from a private
+door of the time-worn building, where had occurred the gambling scene
+on the stormy night of the winter before. Since then, the two men had
+made friends; fortune had changed, rechanged, and changed again; and
+now, almost penniless, he had resolved on a bold stroke, by which to
+replenish his purse, and furnish means whereby to indulge his
+consuming and all absorbing love of gaming. After entering the street,
+he glanced cautiously around, and then advancing to the iron-gray
+charger that was tied with a stout bridle to the horse-shoe at the
+doorpost, adjusted the accoutrements, leaped to the saddle, and rode
+hurriedly along the road leading to the old homestead.
+
+Meantime the aspect of the heavens had materially changed. The black,
+opaque mass of vapors had extended its dark and jagged front a third
+of the way around the horizon, piling its frowning steeps high up
+toward the zenith. Here and there overhead, the sky was blotted with
+isolated black clouds, which were fast increasing in size and joining
+into one. The thunder, which had been occasionally muttering on high,
+now rattled incessantly, and the forked lightning rushed down in
+sheets of lurid flame. Ere long, the huge mass of sweeping clouds had
+reached the zenith, and were rolling darkly onward toward the opposite
+horizon. Directly the wild uproar died nearly altogether away, and
+intense darkness shrouded the skies and earth in its folds. The air
+grew heavy, and seemed to be forcibly pressed toward the ground. This
+was that strange pause in the strife of the elements, apparently as if
+the combatants were gathering all their strength for the fearful
+contest that was to follow. But this pause was only momentary, and
+soon was at an end. Then a distant, sullen, bellowing murmur came
+surging up from the depths of the forest, followed by the sorrowful
+moaning of the trees along the road-side. David White grew pale, and
+could almost hear the beating of his own heart as he bent forward in
+the saddle, and listened to the approaching rush and roar of the
+lashed winds. He had not expected such a wild fierceness in the storm,
+but now he had gone too far to recede; he was in the very midst of the
+forest, and the danger was the same either way, so he spurred on the
+plunging animal beneath him with a desperate energy. At that instant a
+blinding flash shot down from a cloud almost directly overhead, drank
+up the thick darkness, and wrapped the air in sheets of lurid flame,
+while the tall trees stood out like a spectral throng in its
+supernatural glare. Before a clock could tick, the report followed
+with a roar, deafening and tremendous, rattling and echoing along the
+sky like the simultaneous discharge of a thousand deeply freighted
+cannon. Terrified at the unearthly glare and stunning thunder-bolt,
+the horse plunged aside with a fierce impetuosity, that would have
+flung the rider to the earth had he not clung to the mane with his
+utmost strength; and even for minutes after "the jaws of darkness" had
+devoured up the scene, and the fearful report had died away in the
+distance, his eyes still ached with the intense light, and his ears
+rung with the deafening bolt that had followed.
+
+Now came the arrowy flight and form of the hurricane itself. It
+crushed the tall and sturdy trees to the ground as if they had been a
+forest of reeds. On it came, darker, fiercer, and more impetuous, as
+if under the influence of some angry fiend enjoying a triumph. The
+shrieking of the lashed winds; the crashing thunder; the noise of the
+giant monarchs of the forest upheaving from their deep-set
+foundations, and toppling to the ground; the rush and howling of the
+tempest--all mingled in one swelling uproar, and deafened the very
+heavens. Now the whole malignity and embodied power of the hurricane
+was upon them. The shivering horse sprang forward into the shelter of
+a huge rock that frowned upon the road like some stern sentinel
+guarding the passage, and David White leaped from the saddle, and
+crouched in terror against the dark mass that towered above and
+afforded protection.
+
+On it came, winding its tortuous pathway from right to left and from
+left to right, crushing and twisting the Titans of the woods from
+their trunks in its awful rush of destruction. The wheeling clouds and
+tumultuous atmosphere were lashed through and through with the fiery
+lightning, and masses of loose leaves, and branches, with all their
+wealth of mangled foliage--saplings twisted up by the roots, and
+bunches of shrubs tossed themselves impetuously into the air, flung
+into the wildest and most rapid agitation--now rushing together as if
+consolidating into masses--now scattered abroad in the deepest
+confusion, while a stubborn oak, disdaining to bend, was dashed
+headlong across the road, where the horse and his rider had stood only
+a few moments previous, and hurling the soil to their very feet.
+
+Rush after rush of the trooping winds went by--each succeeding onset
+wilder and more impetuous than the last, until at length the sullen
+distant roar--and then the low, surging murmurs announced that the
+greatest danger had overblown, and that the hurricane was winding its
+tortuous pathway through the forests many miles away to the right.
+
+Gradually the devastations of the awful skies became mellowed down;
+the wheeling clouds began to dispart, and a gush of heavy drops came
+pattering from above. Moaning pitifully, the prostrate and bowed trees
+and undergrowth lifted their mangled boughs from the compressed state
+into which they had been forced--those which had survived the tempest,
+seemingly with a painful effort, regaining their upright and natural
+position.
+
+Soon the heavy and dank air grew fresher; the wrathful clouds
+separated, and the moon once more gleamed forth in resplendent beauty
+and brightness. By degrees the gloom retired from the face of the
+heavens, the stars looked down gloriously from their sapphire thrones,
+and a silvery gush played amidst the swaying foliage, where the
+rain-drops glistened on their leaflet platforms like so many diamonds.
+Then the lucid milky-way, whose loveliness flushes the firmament, bent
+itself across the concave above, one broad flame of pure transparent
+white, as if some burning orb had fled along the sky with so swift a
+flight, that, for a moment, it had left its lustre in the vault of
+heaven. Gradually all was lulled into stillness, and nature became as
+one great solitude.
+
+Awe-stricken and bewildered, David White remounted his quivering
+steed, and slowly wound his way along the ruin-covered road. One by
+one the appearances which told a near approach to his destination came
+into view; and finally he stood before the home of his childhood,
+which was now to be the scene of a great and heinous crime. Carefully
+hitching his horse in the dark shadows of some ancient oaks at the
+head of the lane, he softly opened the gate, and glided round the
+house until he stood at a little window which looked out from his
+mother's chamber, and next the old stone chimney. For the night, she
+was absent at a distant neighbor's, which circumstance, together with
+that of her having withdrawn a large amount of funds from the
+possession of the village minister, had induced the present visit.
+But when he saw the shutter open, a thing wholly unexpected, it
+flashed through his mind that he was watched--that this was an
+allurement to ensnare him; so he shrunk back into the dense shadows of
+the maples, and glanced hurriedly around him. Satisfied with his
+investigation, he ventured to the window, and peered cautiously into
+the chamber, but seeing nothing to excite his fears, gently raised the
+sash, and leaped into the apartment. The moon shone so brightly that
+he had no occasion to strike a light, but its silver disc was fast
+verging toward the horizon, and warned him to haste, else be left to
+return in darkness. Fumbling in his coat-pocket, he at length produced
+a large bunch of keys, and stooping down, applied one to the heavy
+oaken chest beneath the window-sill. Fortunately it suited the lock;
+the bolt turned without difficulty, and he lifted the massive lid,
+which he upheld with one hand, while he rummaged the till with the
+other. At this moment a slight rustling reached his ears from the
+furthest corner of the apartment from the window.
+
+"What the deuce is that?" exclaimed he, starling up from his kneeling
+posture, and turning anxiously in the direction whence the disturbance
+had proceeded, at the same time thoughtlessly relinquishing his grasp
+of the lid, which fell with a heavy crash upon the arm still resting
+beneath.
+
+"Furies!" shouted he, writhing in agony, and releasing the bruised
+member from its painful position.
+
+At these words a faint scream of terror issued from the bed which
+stood only a few feet distant. Mary White had been awakened by his
+outcry, and starting up in alarm, beheld a man standing by the window,
+which occasioned the involuntary exclamation that had just burst from
+her lips. She had sat up until quite late, every moment expecting the
+young lady who was to have been her companion for the night; and then
+the convulsions of the tempest had kept her wakeful, and prevented her
+retiring. The tedium of the hours becoming irksome, she had sauntered
+into her mother's chamber, and opened the window to gaze out upon the
+lulling war of the elements; but growing wearied of this employment,
+and a drowsiness stealing over her, she had flung herself upon the
+bed, and almost immediately sunk into a refreshing slumber, from which
+the late disturbances in the apartment had just awakened her. The
+first impulse that entered her mind was to gain the door and escape,
+but her nature was one on which fear acts as a sudden paralysis. All
+power of volition deserted her; and she stood motionless as carved
+marble, with her eyes glaring, and her finger pointed toward the spot
+where was the object of her terrors.
+
+"Who's there? stand back!" burst from his lips in nervous agitation as
+the shriek rung out upon the air, and turning round, he rushed to the
+bedside, but started back; and there was the confusion of cowardice in
+his manner as he exclaimed, "You here, Mary! what in the world brought
+you into this room at such a time of night as this?"
+
+"David White!" exclaimed she, shrinking back, when the moonlight fell
+upon his features, and she recognized the intruder.
+
+"No one else, my pretty lass," replied the vile man, becoming
+emboldened by the time and situation; and with a graceful bend of his
+fine form, he threw his arm around her waist, and attempted to press
+his lips to her cheek; but fear gave her an almost preternatural
+strength, and she thrust him forcibly from her.
+
+"What! are you determined to fight shy?" said he, with a dark sneer,
+again advancing toward her.
+
+"Off! off!--do you dare to lay that vile hand on me again?" and as he
+caught her arm, she struck him forcibly in the face with her clenched
+fist, and releasing his grasp, darted toward the door with the
+swiftness of the deer.
+
+He sprung after her with arms outstretched, and his eyes on fire with
+fierce rage. His hand clutched the folds of her dress as she reached
+the door, and he jerked her toward himself with a violence that was
+almost stunning.
+
+"Ha!" shouted he, inebriate with passion, as her pallid face turned to
+his, "is this your game? Take that, then!" and he plunged a glittering
+knife deeply into her bosom.
+
+She clasped her hands convulsively, turned her eyes heavenward, and
+with a single groan, the utterance of the last mortal agony swelling
+in her soul, sunk, pale and quivering, slowly to the floor. Then a
+deep stillness reigned around, broken only by the gurgling sound of
+the blood as it gushed from the deep wound near her heart, and
+gathered in a dark, clotted pool by her side.
+
+"'Twas quickly done!" muttered he, in stifled tones of still unsubdued
+ferocity. "Let this finish it well!" and he made a random stab, which
+was followed by a spasmodic movement of the body; and drawing the
+blade from its fleshy sheath, he composedly wiped off the warm blood
+against the bed-clothes, and thrust it back into his bosom with a low,
+savage laugh.
+
+He then crossed over to the chest, and cursing his carelessness,
+abstracted the money from its careful hiding-place, and quitted the
+scene of his exploit with hurried steps, passing out the front way,
+and flinging the door wide open as he departed. Within an hour and a
+half more he was at home. There all was silent and dreary, but he had
+no observation to fear. Striking a light, he carefully washed the
+blood from his hands, and disarraying himself of the cast-off clothing
+which he had assumed for the occasion, thrust them into the fire, and
+watched until the whole was entirely consumed. Having thus guarded
+against direct evidence, he made some artful dispositions of negative
+disproof, that he might be provided with full armor against all
+suspicions; and then retiring to his homely bed with a feelingless
+heart, and unmurmuring conscience, he slept soon and deeply.
+
+
+PART III.
+
+    "Alas! for earthly joy, and hope, and love,
+      Thus stricken down, e'en in their holiest hour!
+    What deep, heart-wringing anguish must they prove,
+      Who live to weep the blasted tree or flower.
+    Oh, wo! deep wo to earthly love's fond trust,
+      When all it once has worshiped lies in dust!"
+
+
+Time glided on--days dawned and waned--weeks came and went--soon
+months were numbered with the ruins of the past, and when the old
+year, with sober meekness, took up his bright inheritance of luscious
+fruits, a pomp and pageant filled the splendid scene. The yellow maize
+and golden sheaves stood up in the fields, and the fading meadow, like
+a crushed flower, gave out a dying fragrance to the fresh, cool winds,
+that, sporting playfully amongst the tree-tops, swept downward from
+their high communion, and stooped to dally with its sweet decay. Then
+the apple-boughs were heavily laden with crimson fruit, peeping like
+roses from their garniture of woven foliage; the purple grape-clusters
+dotted the creeping vine, half transparent in their tempting
+lusciousness; the red cherries seemed, in the distance, like the
+burning brilliancy of a summer sunset struggling through the branches
+and tangled leaves that intervened; and the downy peach peered
+provokingly from amongst the sheltering green, where, all the summer
+long, it had stolen the first blush of saffron-vested Aurora, when
+seraph hands unbar the gates of morning, and the last ray of golden
+light that paused at the flame-wrought portals of expiring day to look
+reluctant back. Another change came over the face of nature, and
+delicate-footed spring seemed to have come again with her lap full of
+leaves and blossoms. The trees cast aside their long-worn garniture of
+green, and flaunted proudly in gorgeous robes of gold and crimson. The
+blushing rose once more sought the thorny stem that had slept so long
+desolate; and the changeful-hued touch-me-not looked up smilingly from
+the pallid grass, where nestled thousands of purple violets peeping
+out timidly from their shady nooks; and the waning year smiled--smiled
+as smiles the dying man, when the life-blood quickens in his veins,
+for almost the last time to linger on the cheek and lip, brighten in
+the eye, and give a joyous swell to the heart that lies in ruins. The
+gorgeous pageant went by, and the trees put on their robes of
+mourning--anon, tossed their huge branches to the sky, leafless and
+desolate, save where the ivy, creeping gracefully up the twisted
+trunk, or the sacred mistletoe, luxuriant on the dying bough, wore a
+fadeless green amidst the desolations that surrounded them. The clear,
+unsullied sky assumed a deeper, peculiar blue; the night reigned with
+a clearer, intenser brilliancy, and the thronging stars beamed with an
+almost unnatural brightness; the cold, hurrying winds awoke from their
+sluggishness, and took their way over hill and meadow with a dismal
+tone, like the midnight howl that comes to the ear of the dying with
+hideous tales of the noisome grave; and the fleecy mass of trooping
+clouds, driving wildly before every ice-winged impulse of the wintry
+storm, seemed like sheets of floating snow dotting the vast cerulean.
+Still another change--the earth was clad in a robe of spotless ermine,
+and the gray dawn opened her pale eye on iciness and desolation; men
+hurried to and fro as nature were a plague, and they its victims; the
+sparkling, tripping, garrulous brooks, whose sweet voices had so long
+gone up like a spirit's on the air, now sped their way with a faint
+and death-like gurgle; the laurel, pine, and cedar, disdaining to be
+poor pensioners on the bounties of a gushing sunshine, or, with a
+cringing obsequiousness, to yield conformity to the golden mutations
+of a passing hour, expanded their foliage of living green, unchanged
+amidst the bleakest ruins of winter, while the stern-browed year, old,
+wrinkled, and hoary, drew nearer and nearer his death-time. Ere long
+spring came. As the grim darkness flees before the many-tinted dawn,
+until at last she stands blushing upon the eastern horizon in perfect
+beauty, so fled the stern winter before the radiant footsteps of this
+flower-goddess. At her approach the wooing south-winds swept downward
+from their sky-built thrones, and stooping to the hill-tops, laid
+their soft fingers on the expanding buds, stealing a fragrance, and
+whispering their heaven-taught melody amongst the gnarled old
+branches; then crept stealthily into the valleys below, and drinking
+in their rich gush of pleasant sounds, glided back exulting to their
+high communion. The merry-voiced waters, freed from their icy fetters,
+and sparkling like a sheet of silver sheen, went dancing and leaping
+on--on with a winged impetuosity to their ocean home. Anon, the yellow
+violets shook off their winter slumbers, and opened their smiling cups
+to the arrowy sunshine; then came a wealth of painted flowers, and
+soon the life-breathing spring had attained its zenith. A thousand
+glad voices rose and swelled amid the forest's leaf-wrought canopy;
+its breezes were awake with spicy odors, and the bird warbled as life
+were new, and this creation's morn. In the orchards, the peach-trees
+were glorious with pink blossoms, sprinkling the tall, waving grass
+with rosy flakes at every gush of the wooing zephyr, which, laden with
+sweetness, swept sighing across the meadows.
+
+Anon, a spring sunset came on. The lurid disc of the sun wheeled
+slowly down to the western horizon. Pile on pile of clouds, heaped up
+in gorgeous magnificence, varying from red to purple, and from purple
+to gold, gathered fantastically in the sky--now like a molten ocean
+with uplifting rocks, and then like toppling steeps whose summits
+reached the stars. Gradually the day went down behind the everlasting
+hills, and the brilliant hues insensibly died away through all the
+variations of the many-tinted rainbow, until only a faint golden
+mellowness suffused the western sky, slowly fading into a deep azure
+as it approached the zenith. At length twilight, twin sister to the
+cold, gray dawn, shrouded the heavens in misty dimness. Universal
+silence seemed to pervade the whole face of nature. The voice of the
+feathered songsters was hushed in the grove, and the breeze, which all
+day long had refreshed the deep woods with its joyous ministrations,
+lulled into stillness, as if its kind office were now completed. Then
+the brighter stars came out, one by one, and assumed their sapphire
+thrones in the vaulted cerulean, and the round, bright front of the
+full moon floated over the eastern mountains, whose dark umbrage
+glowed with the silver glories of the thronging night--the night whose
+morrow had but its dawn for David White, the condemned felon. Ten
+long, weary months had come and passed away with their pomp and
+mutation, finding and leaving him within a prison's walls; and now,
+the lapse of a few short, rapid hours would behold a tenement in
+ruins, and a soul set free. Another day-break, and he would know the
+untried and unimaginable realities of a shoreless eternity, from whose
+everlasting portals men have so often shrunk back appalled. Oh, what a
+bewildering rush of thoughts crowded upon his mind. He stood by the
+prison-window, through whose iron bars came trooping the silent
+moonbeams, lighting up his countenance, ghastly and contracted with
+anguish, then flashing along the darkness, rested upon the floor in
+mellow radiance. At the farthermost verge of the western horizon, just
+where the gray outlines of the mountains stood forth like shadows
+against the deep blue of the sky, huge masses of clouds piled
+themselves up into strange and fantastic forms, indistinct and dark,
+from whose bright centre, ever and anon, leaped the fierce lightning,
+like the tongues of a thousand adders forked in flame, and boomed the
+loud thunder as the din of a far-off battle. While he gazed, old
+memories thronged from the past; the fount of tears sent up its
+gushing libations, and he buried his face in his hands, and strove to
+pray. Oh, how sorrow, and suffering, and solitude, and the certainty
+of a near death bow the strong spirit! It may have become darkened by
+fierce and unruly passions; grown callous and crime-stained amidst the
+roll of years, and almost destitute of a single virtuous impulse, yet,
+for a time, under such circumstances, a softness will gather about the
+heart; a thousand little harps, untuned before, quiver with a rich
+gush of melody, and the angel in our nature spring up and assert its
+influence. But no one, in whom the mind has not been crushed or
+debilitated by the decay of the body, has stood upon time's furthest
+brink in perfect consciousness, as David White did at that moment,
+without thinking with an aching intenseness on the dread hour when
+life must end; and as he leaned his head against the iron bars of the
+narrow lattice, the balmy breeze laying its cool hands upon his
+feverish brow, and the soft moonlight playing upon his wan features
+like the kiss of a tender bride, his soul was wrought with a stern
+agony, and his frame with a shudder--for dark thoughts and sad images
+of death and eternity came thronging--for no JESUS was there to light
+the breathless darkness of the grave--no HOPE stood by to point
+exultant to a sinless heaven!--for him, futurity was a dark and
+impenetrable gulf, without a wanderer or a voice.
+
+Suddenly he started. An overpowering, yet unutterable awe crept over
+him--a fearful but undefined sensation--a presentiment that something
+terrible was about to happen. He strove to shake it off, but could
+not--like an icy thrill it ran, slow and curdling, through his veins.
+A low rustling, as of silken drapery, struck upon his ear. He turned
+to know the cause, and leaned eagerly forward. A shriek, wild and
+agonizing, burst from his pallid lips; his hair stood upright, and his
+arms fell nerveless to his side--his blood ebbed back upon the heart,
+returned with tenfold violence throughout his system, seemed to
+thicken, and then stagnate; his pulses bounded, staggered and ceased;
+cold moisture bathed his wan forehead, and his whole frame appeared
+stiffening with the death-chill. A few feet distant, by a window the
+very counterpart of the one near which he stood, loomed forth a
+shape--a substance, yet it cast no shadow--the moonlight shone through
+it, resting on the floor like slightly tarnished silver. He looked on
+speechless and motionless; his whole soul concentrated into an intense
+and aching gaze. At first, it floated before his fixed and dilating
+vision, indistinct and mist-like; but, as he gazed, it assumed the
+outline of a human form--then the features of Mary White, the
+foster-sister whom he had murdered. The apparition grew still plainer.
+The ghastly countenance; the fallen lip; the sightless eye, dull and
+open with a vacant stare; the deep, solemn, mysterious repose which
+ever accompanies the aspect of death; the deep wound near the heart,
+from which gushed life's crimson torrent, falling at her feet without
+a sound--each--all, for one short, passing, fearful, agonizing moment,
+trembled into terrible distinctness. Then she lifted an arm reeking
+with blood, and pointing through the window at a new-made gibbet and
+its dangling rope, smiled a faint and sickly smile, and vanished as a
+dying spark. The trance passed from his spirit, and nature recommenced
+her operations like the clanking of a vast machinery. Yet his eye, as
+if it could not recover from its vision of terror, remained glaring
+upon the spot where the spectre had been; and it was not until several
+minutes had elapsed that the sharp agony which had contracted his
+features died away. He sprung forward with a wild cry, but the echo
+alone replied. No voice but his own awoke the awful stillness,
+pulseless it reigned around him. The stars glittered as brightly, the
+moon shone as gloriously, and, as he held his breath, the faint and
+confused murmur of the distant water-fall, and the caroling of the
+night-wind in the gnarled old forest, almost seeming to be a part of
+the silence, came up through the window to his ear as distinctly and
+steadily as ever--every thing belied the scene he had just witnessed.
+Was it a dream? He grasped his arm until it pained him--he was
+awake--there was no change--all appeared as it had been. He attempted
+to shake the iron bars of the lattice--they were firm in their
+sockets. He groped his way to the other side of the room, passed his
+hands along the walls--nothing but darkness was there. He stood where
+first he had stood when he beheld the apparition--the unearthly
+visitant was there no longer. He bent forward, and strained an aching
+gaze--in vain; nothing underwent a change. Then he felt that he had
+seen the dead--the murdered. His mind recoiled upon itself, and the
+very marrow in his bones crept at the thought. He flung himself upon
+his pallet, and for the hundredth time strove to sleep. Black despair
+had eaten down into his very heart's core, and remorse, like an old
+vulture, gnawed at his vitals; yet for a few brief, agonizing moments
+he slept, but only as the fiends of hell might be supposed to sleep. A
+dream, a series of change and torture, bewildering and terrible, came,
+like a blight, over his spirit.
+
+Now he felt the cold hand of death upon his brow, and his whole body
+seemed to be encompassed in a mass of ice. His blood waxed thick in
+its courses; his heart staggered, fluttered, gave one agonizing throb,
+and for a moment ceased to pulsate; cold dews gathered on his brow,
+and a stinging sensation pervaded his whole system; his eyelids
+trembled, and the balls rolled, gave out a dying lustre, glazed, grew
+fixed and sightless in their sockets--then came the last convulsive
+and impotent contest with the King of Terrors--the groan, the gasping
+breath, the half-uttered words upon the quivering lip--the
+death-rattle, the soulless face, and the pulseless silence. He
+recovered. Above him was a sky of livid flame, upon whose high zenith
+dread darkness sat enthroned. Around him spread a shoreless ocean of
+molten fire. No wave agitated its placid bosom--no sound--no wind
+breathed over its fearful stillness. A lone rock, cold, barren, and
+dismal, yet like an oasis in a desert, lifted its gray summit from the
+sluggish surface. Upon this he stood, rigid and motionless, like a
+marble statue on its pedestal; and, ever and ever, around and above
+him, rushed to and fro shadowy forms, upon whose countenances was
+engraven unutterable anguish. Suddenly, over the vast and dreary
+profound, went the low, deep, muffled tolling of a bell, bursting on
+the red air like the knell of hope, peace, and mercy, lost forever to
+another soul. As it ceased, the boundless sea of ebbless and
+unextinguishable flame, that glowed with a lurid but intolerable light
+at his feet, began to uplift in one mighty and unbroken mass.
+Slowly--slowly it rose up--up--up, until the liquid fire was frothing,
+and the sky and ocean seemed to blend--then flowed back, returned, and
+closed hissing around him. A groan, deep, intense, and fearful,
+bubbled up in a gush of blood, and echoed in the distance like
+fiendish laughter. Higher and higher rose the living flames. They were
+about to close over him--his head sunk upon his bosom, and a
+voice--the voice of her whom he had murdered, shrieked in his
+ear--"THE OCEAN OF REMORSE!"
+
+     "A change came o'er the spirit of his dream."
+
+He stood upon the narrow verge of an awful precipice. Night, black,
+rayless night, enshrouded the yawning gulf below, save that, ever and
+anon, hideous and fleshless forms--skeletons wrought in lurid and
+undying flame--strode to and fro within the thick panoply of gloom;
+while, at intervals, howls of despair came up from its midst, like
+howls from the lips of the damned in hell. With a thrill of horror, he
+turned hurriedly from the scene, and cast his despairing eyes
+heavenward. In the centre of a massive cloud, burning with the
+brilliancy of a summer sunset, appeared a vast city, with domes and
+palaces of pearl and ruby, and whose gates were gates of burnished
+gold. As he gazed, they were flung open on silent hinges, and a host,
+clothed in spotless white, entered their portals, welcomed with
+swelling anthems and seraphic songs. Then the toppling precipice began
+to reel and stagger beneath his feet--a fierce bright flame burst from
+amidst the night below, more brilliant than the sun's intensest ray.
+It drank up the darkness, and filled the gulf with liquid fire. It
+flashed through his eye-balls like a glance of lightning. He felt his
+foothold totter on the eve of its awful rush of destruction, and
+turned to flee, but started aside with a wild cry. The same voice was
+in his ear, and it shrieked in exulting tones--"THE MURDERER'S DOOM!"
+
+But where was the mother during these fearful and agonizing moments!
+Had _she_ forgotten the son that once nestled on her bosom? Had _she_
+forsaken the child she bore, now that the dark hour of adversity had
+come? Ah! no. It is not a mother's nature to forget or to forsake!
+Though crime and infamy enshroud his name; though base heartlessness
+and vile ingratitude shut-to the portals of his soul; though he fling
+off the hoarded wealth of her affections as the oak the clinging ivy
+when the storm comes, yet the mother will love--must love--it is the
+thirst of her immortal nature. No, no! Widow White had not forgotten,
+neither had she forsaken her son. Villain as he was, and stained with
+the blood of her foster-child, her heart warmed toward him--the mother
+was the mother still! Though absent, her mind was racked with
+agony--stern agony. For hours had she paced up and down her dim-lit
+chamber, her hands folded across her breast, and her eyes fixed upon
+the floor--thought and feeling were busy. To the casual observer her
+features exhibited scarcely an evidence of internal emotion; but the
+arched lip, bloodless with pressure, and the swollen veins upon her
+high forehead betokened how severe was the struggle going on within.
+There are some persons who can stand by the bedside of a dying
+relative, and, with an almost unruffled countenance, behold him
+stiffened in the cold arms of death--who can look upon the corpse for
+the last time, follow it to the grave, and see it laid beneath the
+heavy sod with so little apparent concern, that the beholder considers
+him heartless; but draw aside the curtain which separates the inner
+from the outer being, and the features of the spirit are seen to be
+distorted with anguish. To this class of individuals belonged Widow
+White. Oh, how she felt as she trod to and fro within that dim-lit
+room! Her son--her only son, in the endearing playfulness of whose
+infantile smiles she had so often exulted; upon whose boyish accents
+she had so frequently hung with transport, and for whom she had
+pictured out such a bright and glorious future, was a condemned felon,
+and the morrow would open its great eye upon him for the last time.
+The lapse of another day!--and that son, so cherished, and so fondly
+loved, would fill a murderer's grave, and she would look upon his face
+no more. She knew that it was appointed for all to "pass through the
+dark valley of the shadow of death," but what a horrible, detestable,
+and ignominious death was his! Could it be true? Was he--her son, in
+the prime of manhood and enjoyment--the life-blood coursing freely and
+strongly throughout his system--unshattered by disease--to die--to be
+a sport for the winds--to hang--ay--ay--to hang!--to be cut down--to
+be thrust into the coffin, blackened, distorted, and hideous, the rope
+still around his neck--to be laid in the ground with infamy around his
+name--to rot--to be a banquet for the worms? Horror of horrors! She
+would not believe it! Surely it was a dream!
+
+Thus that agony-fraught night lapsed away, and the morning, which,
+from the birth of creation, has never failed, dawned once more--dawned
+as it ever dawns, bright, glorious, and magnificent, bearing the
+impress of a mighty God. That morning witnessed a terrible--a horrible
+scene. Another human being took his exit from the transitory splendors
+of this decaying world, and entered upon the untried and unimaginable
+realities of a futurity, whose secrets none can ever know until the
+silver chord is loosened, and the golden bowl is broken. Upon what
+state of existence David White entered when eternity closed its
+everlasting portals, and the enfranchised spirit went up to the
+Eternal Judge, it is not for me to say. God is just, and whatever was
+apportioned, it was good and right. Let it suffice to know, that, be
+his doom what it may, it is irrevocable--sealed forever.
+
+From that eventful day, Widow White became thinner and paler, and the
+expression of her countenance was that of a strong heart in ruins, and
+with its energies prostrated. Three weeks went by, and she, too, was
+gone. They carried her out from the desolate homestead, and laid her
+cold remains beneath the grassy sod, where neither the war of the
+elements, nor of human passions could ever disturb her more. Since
+then many years have lapsed away into the dim and shadowy past, and
+now, a sunken grave alone marks the last resting-place of Widow
+White--the victim of a broken heart, and of her own injudicious
+education of a son in his infancy and boyhood.
+
+
+
+
+THE REAL AND THE IDEAL.
+
+BY MARION H. RAND.
+
+
+    Alas, the romances! the beautiful fancies!
+      We fling round our thoughts of a poet;
+    How can we believe that the web which we weave
+      Has no solid basis below it?
+
+    Youth, beauty and grace--a soul-speaking face,
+      And eyes full of genius and fire;
+    The softest dark hair, with a curl here and there;
+      All this, without fail, we require.
+
+    A warm feeling heart, affectation or art
+      Unknown to its deepest recesses;
+    A brow fair and high, where her thoughts open lie
+      To him who admiringly gazes.
+
+    But let this bright thought, this idol, be brought
+      To nearer and closer inspection--
+    Alas! 'tis a dream! 'tis a straying sunbeam,
+      Of far more than human perfection.
+
+    Then turn for awhile from the heavenly smile
+      That haunts thy fond fancy, young dreamer;
+    Turn from the ideal to gaze on the real,
+      And see if she be what you deem her.
+
+    She is young, it is true, her eyes dark and blue,
+      But sadly deficient in lustre,
+    While often is seen in one hand a pen,
+      In the other a mop or a duster.
+
+    Her hair, of a shade inclining to red,
+      Is tied up and carefully braided;
+    And the forehead below (not as white the snow)
+      By no drooping ringlet is shaded.
+
+    Her little hands write, but they're not always white,
+      With marks of good usage they're speckled,
+    While the face, once so fair, has been kissed by the air,
+      Until 'tis considerably freckled.
+
+    She has her full part of a true woman's art,
+      Her share of a woman's warm feeling!
+    She knows what to hide, with a true woman's pride,
+      When the world would but scorn the revealing.
+
+    This earth is no place fancy beauties to trace,
+      Or seek for perfection uncertain;
+    Then why mourn our fate, when sooner or late,
+      Reality peeps through the curtain.
+
+    But if we _must_ cling to the form lingering
+      And cherished within us so dearly,
+    We must gaze from afar, as upon some bright star,
+      And never approach it more nearly.
+
+
+
+
+THE HUMAN VOICE.
+
+BY GEORGE P. MORRIS.
+
+
+    We all love the music of sky, earth and sea--
+    The chirp of the cricket--the hum of the bee--
+    The wind-harp that swings from the bough of the tree--
+      The reed of the rude shepherd boy:
+    All love the bird-carols when day has begun,
+    When rock-fountains gush into song as they run,
+    When the stars of the morn sing their hymns to the sun,
+      And hills clap their hands in their joy.
+
+    All love the invisible lutes of the air--
+    The chords that vibrate to the hands of the fair--
+    Whose minstrelsy brightens the midnight of care,
+      And steals to the heart like a dove:
+    But even in melody there is a choice,
+    And, though we in all her sweet numbers rejoice,
+    There's none thrills the soul like the tones of the voice,
+      When breathed by the beings we love.
+
+
+
+
+VENICE AS IT WAS, AND AS IT IS.
+
+[WRITTEN IN 1826.]
+
+BY PROFESSOR GOODRICH, YALE COLLEGE.
+
+
+    Bright glancing in the sun's last rays,
+      The Fairy City rose to view:
+    It seemed to "swim in air"--a blaze
+      Of parting glory round she threw.
+
+    Midst silent halls and mouldering towers,
+      And trophies fallen from side to side,
+    Awe-struck, I saw a few brief hours,
+      The grave of Venice' ruined pride.
+
+    Light from her native surge she sprung,
+      The Venus of the Adrian wave;
+    And o'er the admiring nations flung
+      The _spell_ of "BEAUTIFUL and BRAVE"
+
+    Her Winged Lion's terror shook
+      The Sultan's throne:--o'er prostrate piles,
+    "Breaker of Chains," she proudly spoke
+      Her mandate to a hundred isles.
+
+    Astonished Europe saw that hour
+      Her blind old chieftain guide her wars,
+    And _twice_, in one brief season, pour
+      Her fury on Byzantium's towers!
+
+    Saw when in Mark's proud porch,
+      Abased in dust the eastern crown was laid.
+    And when, with frantic pride, she placed
+      Her foot on Barbarosa's head!
+
+    Gone, like a dream! wealth, pomp and power!
+      And Learning's toils, so nobly urged!
+    Doomed 'neath a tyrant's lash to cower,
+      She gnaws the chain _she_ once had forged.
+
+    And still that tyrant bids to stand,
+      In mockery of her former state,
+    Those emblems of her wide command,
+      The three tall Masts where glory sate:
+
+    And high upreared on column proud,
+      And glancing to the wide-spread sea,
+    Her Winged Lion stands, aloud
+      To tell a nation's infamy!
+
+    Oh, how unlike the day, when round
+      Those Masts and 'neath that Lion's wings,
+    Exulting thousands thronged the ground,
+      And spoke the fate of distant kings.
+
+    When brightly in the morning beam
+      Her galleys, ranged in stern array,
+    Impatient stood, till PONTIFFS came
+      To bless the parting warrior's way.
+
+    They go beneath the drum's long roll,
+      The cymbal's clang, the trumpet's breath;
+    While Beauty's glances fire the soul,
+      And Honor smooths the road to death.
+
+    Tread _now_ that court! The unbended sail
+      Flaps idly in the passing wind;
+    And dark below, each dull canal
+      Is stagnant as its _owner's_ mind!
+
+    Yet here, how many a burning soul
+      Has poured at moonlit eve the song,
+    While conscious Beauty, panting, stole
+      To hear the strain _her_ praise prolong!
+
+    Hark to that shout! Her nobles come,
+      In many a galley ranged, and gay
+    With waving flag and nodding plume,
+      To grace fair Venice' bridal day.
+
+    See! on the foremost prow, a _king_
+      In form--eye--soul!--again
+    The exulting Doge has _cast the ring_
+      That weds him to the Adrian Main!
+
+    Mark _now_ that wretch with downcast eye,
+      And abject mien, once free, once brave!
+    It is the _People's Doge_! and he
+      Is now an Austrian tyrant's slave.[4]
+
+    And she, the Beautiful One, lies
+      Fallen to earth; while by her side
+    Moulder her towers and palaces,
+      _The grave of_ VENICE' _ruined pride_!
+
+[Footnote 4: I have here used the license, in order to carry out the
+contrast, of supposing that the Office of Doge, like most of the
+institutions of Venice, is preserved by the Austrian government;
+though I believe it has been abolished.]
+
+
+
+
+SONG.--THOU REIGN'ST SUPREME.
+
+
+    Thou reign'st supreme, love, in my heart,
+      O'er every secret thought;
+    Thou canst not find the smallest part
+      Where thou abidest not.
+    All blest emotions, every sense
+      Are consecrate to thee;
+    Would that affection so intense,
+      But filled thy heart for me!
+
+    Thou reign'st supreme, love, eyes that burn
+      With the soul's restless fire,
+    Their liquid glances on me turn,
+      Yet no fond thoughts inspire.
+    E'en in that hour for thee I long,
+      Like a wild bird set free;
+    Ah! would that love so true and strong
+      But filled thy heart for me!
+
+    Thou reign'st supreme, love, while I live
+      Thine shall be every breath;
+    And be thou near me to receive
+      My last fond sighs in death;
+    Thus to expire were joy, were bliss,
+      May such my portion be!
+    Oh! would that love as deep as this,
+      But filled thy heart for me!           C. E. T.
+
+
+
+
+THE NEW ENGLAND FACTORY GIRL.
+
+A SKETCH OF EVERYDAY LIFE.
+
+BY MRS. JOSEPH C. NEAL.
+
+    For naught its power to STRENGTH can teach
+    Like =Emulation=--and ENDEAVOR.    SCHILLER.
+
+(_Concluded from page_ 292.)
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE RETURN--THE LOSS.
+
+
+How vexatious is delay of any kind when one's mind is prepared for a
+journey, "made up to go," as a good aunt used to say. Mary grew
+anxious and almost impatient as April passed and found her still an
+inhabitant of the city of looms and spindles. The more so, that spring
+was the favorite season, and she longed to watch its coming in the
+haunts of her childhood; and in the busy, bustling atmosphere by which
+she was surrounded, none gave heed to the steps of "the light-footed
+maiden," save that our heroine's companions availed themselves of the
+balmier air to dress more gayly. In our larger cities the ladies are
+the only spring blossoms. It is they who tell us by bright tints and
+fabrics, that the time has come when nature puts on her gay
+appareling; yet it is in vain that they imitate the lilies of the
+field, there is a grace, a delicacy in those frail blossoms, that art
+never can rival.
+
+Mary had so longed for the winter to pass, she had even counted the
+days that must intervene before she could hope to see her mother, and
+all the dear ones at home. The little gifts she had prepared for them
+were looked over again and again; and each time some trifle had been
+added until she almost began to fear she was growing extravagant. But
+she worked cheerfully, and most industriously, through the pleasant
+days, and when evening came, she would dream, in the solitude of her
+little room, of the meeting so soon to arrive.
+
+"A letter for you, Mary--from home, I imagine," said her gay friend,
+Lizzie Ellis, bursting into her room one bright May morning. "I called
+at the post-office for myself and found this, only. It's too bad the
+people at home don't think enough of their sister to write once a
+month; but I'm not sorry that your friends are more punctual. There's
+good news for you, I hope, or you'll be more mopish than ever."
+
+"Mary's lip quivered as she looked up. The instant the sheet was
+unfolded in her hand, she saw that it bore no common message. There
+was but a few lines written in a hurried, nervous manner; and as her
+eye glanced hastily over the page, she found that she was not
+mistaken.
+
+"Poor little Sue is very ill," said she, in reply to her friend's
+anxious queries; "mother has written for me to come directly, or I may
+never see her again"--her tone grew indistinct as she ceased to
+speak; and leaning her face upon Lizzie's shoulder, a burst of tears
+and choking sobs relieved her. Poor Sue--and poor Mary! It would not
+have been so hard could she have watched by her sister's bedside and
+aided to soothe the pain and the fear of the dear little one who had
+from the time of her birth been Mary's especial care.
+
+Delay had before been vexatious, but it was now agony. The few hours
+that elapsed before she was on the way, were as weeks to Mary's
+impatient spirit; and then the miles seemed _so_ endless, the dreary
+road most solitary. The night was passed in sleepless tossing, and the
+afternoon of the second day found her scarcely able to control her
+restless agitation. She was then rapidly nearing home. Every thing had
+a familiar aspect; the farm-houses--the huge rocks that lifted their
+hoary heads by the road-side--the dark, deep woods--the village
+church--were in turn recognized. Then came the long ascent of the
+hill, which alone hid her home from view. Even that was at last
+accomplished, and she caught a glimpse of the dear old homestead, its
+rambling dark-brown walls, half-hidden by the clump of broad-leaved
+maples that clustered about it. Could it be reality, that she was once
+more so near all whom she loved? There was no deception; it was not
+the delusive phantom of a passing dream; her brother's glad greeting
+was too earnest; her mother's sobbed blessing too tender. After the
+hopes and plans of many weeks, even months, such was her "welcome
+home."
+
+"You are in time to see your sister once more," said Mrs. Gordon, as
+she released Mary from a fond embrace; and a feeble voice from the
+adjoining room, a whisper, rather than a call, came softly to her
+ears.
+
+"Dear Susie--my poor darling!" were all the spoken words, as she
+clasped the little sufferer in her arms. The child made no sound, not
+even a murmur of delight escaped her wan lips. She folded her thin,
+pale hands about her sister's neck, and gently laying her head upon
+the bosom which had so often pillowed it, lay with her large spiritual
+eyes fixed upon those regarding her so tenderly, as if she feared a
+motion might cause the loved vision to vanish. Fast flowing tears fell
+silently upon her face, but she heeded them not; then came fierce
+pain, that distorted every feature, but still no moan, no sound.
+
+"Speak to me, Susie, will you not!" whispered Mary, awed by the
+fixed, intense gaze of those mournful eyes.
+
+"I knew you would come, sister, to see me once more before I go," was
+the murmured reply. "I knew God would let me meet you here, before he
+takes me to be an angel in heaven. I am ready now, for I said good-by
+to mother and Jamie, and all, long ago. I only waited for you, dear
+Mary. Kiss me, won't you--kiss me again, and call mother--I feel very
+strangely."
+
+Her mother bent over her, but she was not recognized; her father took
+one of those emaciated hands within his own, but it was cold, and gave
+back no pressure. Awe fell upon every heart in that hushed and
+stricken group; there was no struggle with the dark angel, for the
+silver chord was gently loosened. The calm gaze of those radiant eyes
+grew fixed, unchangeable--a faint flutter, and the heart's quick
+pulsations forever ceased--wings had been given that balmy eve to a
+pure and guileless spirit.
+
+Mary calmly laid the little form back upon the pillow. Her mother's
+hand closed the already drooping lids; a sweet smile stole gently
+round the mouth, and its radiance dwelt upon the marble forehead.
+
+"It is well with the child," said the bereaved parent--and her husband
+bending beside the bed of death, prayed fervently, while the sobs of
+his remaining children fell upon his ears, that they might be also
+ready.
+
+"Oh, mother, how can I bear this! how can you be so calm and
+resigned!" said Mary, as her mother sat down beside her in the
+twilight, and spoke of the sorrowful illness of their faded flower. "I
+had planned so much for Susie; I thought as much of her as of myself,
+and here are the books, and all these things that I thought would make
+her so happy; she did not even see them. Why was she taken away, so
+good, so loving as she always was?"
+
+"And would you wish her back again, my child; has she not more cause
+to mourn for us, than we for her? Think--she has passed through the
+greatest suffering that mortal may know; she has entered upon a world
+the glory of which it 'hath not entered into the heart of man to
+conceive of;' and would you recall her to this scene of trial and
+temptation? Rather pray, dear Mary, that we may meet her again in her
+bright and glorious home. I, her mother, though mourning for my own
+loneliness and bereavement, thank God that my child is at rest."
+
+"If I could only feel as you do, mother; but I cannot. Poor Susie!"
+and Mary's tears burst forth afresh.
+
+She begged to be allowed to watch through the night beside the form of
+the lost one, even though she knew the spirit had departed. But her
+mother would not allow this--some young friends whom Mary could not
+greet that night, though she loved them very dearly, claimed the sad
+duty. And again, after a year of new and strange life, she found
+herself reposing in her own quiet room, with sighing trees, the voice
+of the brook, and the low cry of the solitary whippo-wil, to lull her
+to sweet sleep.
+
+    *    *    *    *    *
+
+It was Sabbath morning, calm and holy. The bell of the little village
+church tolled sadly and reverentially, as the funeral train wound
+through the shaded lane. All the young people for miles around had
+gathered in the church-yard; and as the coffin was borne beneath the
+trees that waved over its entrance, they joined in the procession. It
+passed toward the place of worship, and for the last time the form of
+their little friend entered the sacred walls.
+
+The simple coffin was placed in the broad central aisle, the choir
+sung a sweet yet mournful dirge; then the voice of music and of
+weeping was hushed, for the man of God communed, with faltering voice,
+with the Father in heaven, who had seen fit in his mercy to take this
+lamb to his bosom; and when the prayer was ended, and an earnest and
+impressive address was made to those who had been bereaved, and those
+who sympathized with them, the friends and playmates of the little one
+clustered about the coffin to take a farewell glance of those lifeless
+yet beautiful features.
+
+The pure folds of the snowy shroud were gathered about the throat, and
+upon it were crossed the slender hands, in which rested a fading sprig
+of white violets, placed there by some friend, as a fit emblem of the
+sleeper. Her sunny curls were smoothly bound back beneath the cap, and
+its border of transparent lace, threw a slight shadow upon the
+deeply-fringed lids that were never more to be stirred. Oh! the
+exceeding beauty and holiness of that childish face, in its perfect
+repose! None shuddered as they gazed; the horror of death had
+departed; but tears came to the eyes of many, as they bent down to
+kiss that pure forehead for the last time.
+
+Aye, "the last time!" for the lid was closed as the congregation
+passed, one by one, once more into the church-yard, shutting out the
+light of day from that still, pale face forever. The mother gazed no
+more upon her child--brother and sister must henceforth dwell upon her
+loveliness but in memory--the father wept--and man's tears are
+scalding drops of agony.
+
+Many lingered until the simple rites were ended, and then turned away
+under the shade of sombre pines, to think of the loneliness that must
+dwell in the hearts of those from whom such a treasure had been taken;
+and they, as they turned to a home that seemed almost desolate, tried
+in vain to subdue the bitterness of their anguish. _They had seen her
+grave_--and who that has stood beside the little mound of earth that
+covers the form of some one loved and lost--has forgotten the crushing
+agony that comes with the first full realization that all is
+over--that hope--prayer--lamentation--is of no avail, for the "grave
+giveth not up its dead until such a time as the mortal shall put on
+immortality."
+
+The dark hearse, with its nodding plumes, bears the rich man from his
+door, to a grave whose proud monument shall commemorate his life, be
+its deeds good or evil. Perhaps an almost endless train of costly
+equipages follow; and there are congregated many who seem to weep, but
+I question if in all that splendor there lingers half the love, or
+half the regret which was felt for the little one whose mournful
+burial we have recorded; or if the grave, with its richly wrought pile
+of sculptured marble, be as often visited, and wept over, as was the
+low, grassy mound marked only by a clambering rose-tree, whose pure
+petals, as they floated from their stems, were symbols of the life and
+death of the village favorite.
+
+It was many days before the household of Deacon Gordon regained any
+thing like serenity; but the business of life must go on, come what
+may, and in the petty detail of domestic cares, the keenness of grief
+is worn away, and a mournful pleasure mingles with memories of the
+past. It was in this case as in all others; gradually it became less
+painful to see everywhere around traces of the child and the sister;
+they could talk of her with calmness, and recall the many pleasant
+little traits of character which she had even at so early an age
+exhibited. The robin that she had fed daily, came still at her
+brother's call to peck daintily at the grain which he threw toward it.
+The pet kitten gamboled upon the sunny porch, or peered with curious
+face over the deep well, as if studying her own reflection,
+unconscious that the one who had so loved to watch her ceaseless play
+was gone forever. Even Mary could smile at its saucy ways; and though
+the memory of her sister was ever present, she could converse without
+shedding tears, of her gentleness and truth, thanking God she had been
+taken from evil to come.
+
+Then she felt doubly attached to her mother. She was now the only
+daughter; and though Mrs. Gordon seemed perfectly resigned, and even
+cheerful, she knew that many lonely and solitary hours would come when
+Mary was once more away. And James had so much to tell, for he, _too_,
+was home for a few days of the spring vacation, the rest being passed
+in the poor student's usual employment--school teaching. They would
+wander away in the pleasant afternoon to the depths of the cool green
+wood, and sit with the shadows playing about them, and the wind
+whispering mystic prophecies as it wandered by, recalling for each
+other the incidents of the past year, and speculating with the
+hopefulness of eager youth, on the dim and unknown future.
+
+A new friend sometimes joined them in their woodland walks. The young
+pastor of the village church, who had sorrowed with them at their
+sister's death, and who, having made Mary's acquaintance in a time of
+deep affliction, felt more drawn toward her than if he had known her
+happy and cheerful for many years. Somehow they became less and less
+restrained in his presence, and at last James confided to him his
+hopes and prospects. Mary was not by when the disclosure was made, or
+she would have blushed at her brother's enthusiastic praise of the
+unwavering self-denial which had led her away from home and friends,
+and made her youth a season "of toil and endeavor;" and she might have
+wondered why tears came to the eyes of their friend while he listened;
+and why he so earnestly besought James to improve to the utmost the
+advantages thus put before him. Allan Loring was alone in the world,
+and almost a stranger to the people of his charge, for he had been
+scarce a twelvemonth among them. Of a proud and somewhat haughty
+family, and prejudiced by education, he had in early youth looked upon
+labor of the hands as a kind of degradation; but the meek and humble
+faith which he taught, and which had chastened his spirit, made him
+now fully appreciate the loving and faithful heart, which Mary in
+every act exhibited, and he looked upon her with renewed interest when
+next they met.
+
+Again the time drew near when Mary was to leave her home. A month had
+passed of mingled shadow and sunshine within those dear walls. It was
+hard to part with her mother, who seemed to cling more fondly than
+ever to her noble-minded daughter; her father and Stephen, each in
+their blunt, honest way, expressed their sorrow that the time of her
+departure was so near at hand; but still Mary did not waver in her
+determination, though a word from her mother would have changed the
+whole color of her plans. That mother saw that for her children's sake
+it was best that they should part again for a season--and she stifled
+the wish to have them remain by her side. So Mary went forth into the
+world once more with a stronger and bolder spirit, to brave alike the
+sneers and the temptations which might there beset her pathway; with
+the blessings of her parents, the thanks of an idolized brother, and
+"a conscience void of offence," she could but be calmly happy, even
+though surrounded by circumstances which often jarred upon her pure
+and delicate nature, and which would have crushed one less conscious
+of future peace and present rectitude.
+
+Beside, Mr. Loring had seemed, she knew not why, to take a deep
+interest in all her movements. He had begged permission, at parting,
+to write to her occasionally; and his letters, full of friendly advice
+and inquiry, became a great and increasing source of pleasure. There
+was nothing in them that a kind brother might not have addressed to a
+young and gentle sister; and Mary's replies were dictated in the same
+spirit of candor and esteem. So gradually her simple and child-like
+character was unfolded to her new friend, who encouraged all that was
+noble, and strove to check each lighter and vainer feeling which
+sprung up in her heart. At times she wondered why one so wise and so
+good should seem interested in her welfare; but gradually she ceased
+to wonder why he wrote, so that his letters did not fail to reach her.
+Still noisy and fatiguing labor claimed her daily care; but in the
+long quiet evenings she found time for study and reflection; thus
+becoming, even in that rude school, "a perfect woman, nobly planned."
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE REWARD.
+
+Are you fond of _tableaux_, dear readers? If so, let me finish my
+simple recital by placing before you two scenes in the life of our
+little heroine--something after the fashion of dissolving views.
+
+Four years had passed since first we looked in upon that quiet country
+home. Four years of cheerful toil--of mingled trial--despondency and
+hope to those who then gathered around that blazing hearth. One, as
+we have seen, had been taken to a higher mansion--others had gone
+forth into the world, strong only in noble hearts, firm in the path of
+rectitude. We have witnessed the commencement of the struggle,
+followed in part its progress--and now let us look to its end. No, not
+the end--for life is ever a struggle--there may be a cessation of care
+for a season, but till the weary journey be accomplished, who shall
+say that all danger is passed.
+
+It was the annual examination at one of our largest New England female
+schools. The pretty seminary-building gleamed through the clustering
+trees that lovingly encircled it, and its snowy pillars and
+porticoes--vine-wreathed by fairy-fingers--gave it an air of lightness
+and grace which village architecture rarely shows. Now the shaded path
+which led to its entrance was thronged, as group after group pressed
+upward. Carriages, from the simple "Rockaway" to equipages glittering
+with richly plated harness, and drawn by fiery, impatient steeds,
+stood thickly around. It was the festival-day of the village, and each
+cottage was filled to overflowing--for strangers from all parts of the
+Union were come to witness the _debut_ of the sister, the daughter, or
+the friend.
+
+Many were the bright eyes that scarcely closed in sleep the night
+preceding this eventful anniversary. There was so much to hope--so
+much to fear. "If I _should_ fail," was repeated again and again; and
+their hearts throbbed wildly as the signal-bell was heard, which
+called them to pass the dread ordeal. Such a display of
+beauty--genuine, unadorned beauty--rarely greets the eye of man. More
+than a hundred young girls, from timid fifteen to more assured
+one-and-twenty, robed in pure white, with tresses untortured by the
+prevailing mode, decorated only by wreaths of delicate wild flowers,
+or the rich coral berry of the ground-ivy, shaded by its own
+dark-green leaves. A simple sash bound each rounded form, and a knot
+of the same fastened the spotless dress about the throat. Then
+excitement flushed the cheeks which the mountain air had already
+tinged with the glow of health, and made bright eyes still brighter as
+they rested on familiar faces.
+
+The exercises of the day went on, and yet those who listened and those
+who spoke did not weary. The young students had won all honor to
+themselves and their teachers; and as the shadows lengthened in the
+grove around them, but one class remained to be approved or censured.
+
+"Now sister--there!" exclaimed a manly-looking Virginian, as the
+graduates came forward to the platform. "Who is that young lady at
+their head. I have tried all day to find some one that knew her, but
+she seems a stranger to all."
+
+"With her hair in one plain braid, and large, full eyes? Oh, that is
+Miss Gordon; she has the valedictory, though why, I'm sure I don't
+know, for she has been in school but about a year, and Jenny Dowling,
+my room-mate, has gone through the whole course. Miss Gordon entered
+two years in advance. She was a factory girl, brother--just think of
+_that_; and worked in Lowell three or four years. Miss Harrison
+wished me to room with her this term--but not I; there is too much
+Howard spirit in me to associate with one no better than a
+servant-girl. Some of them seem to like her though; and as for the
+teachers, they are quite carried away with her. Miss Harrison had the
+impertinence to say to me only last week, that I would do well to take
+pattern by her. Not in dress, I hope--" and the young girl's lip
+curled, as she contrasted her own richly embroidered robe with the
+simple muslin which Mary Gordon wore.
+
+Clayton Howard had not attended to half that his sister said, for with
+low and earnest voice Mary had commenced reading the farewell address
+which she, as head of her class, had been chosen to prepare in its
+behalf; and his eyes were riveted on the timid but graceful girl. We
+have never spoken of our heroine's personal attractions, choosing
+first to display if possible, the beauty of heart and character which
+her humble life exhibited. The young Southerner thought, as he eagerly
+listened, that the flattered and richly attired belle of the
+fashionable watering-place he had just left, was not half as worthy of
+the homage which she received, as was this lowly maiden. If beauty
+consists in regularity of features, Mary would have little in the eye
+of those who dwell upon outline alone; but there was a high
+intelligence beaming from her full, dark eyes, a sweet smile ever
+playing about the small exquisitely formed mouth, and a mass of soft,
+rich hair, smoothly braided back, added not a little to perfect the
+contour of her queenly head.
+
+Her voice grew tremulous with deep feeling as she proceeded, her eyes
+were shaded by gathering tears, and when, in behalf of those who were
+about to leave this sheltered nook, she bade farewell to the
+companions whose love and sympathy had made their school days
+pleasant; the teachers who had been their friends as well as guides;
+scarce one in that crowded hall deemed it weakness to weep with those
+now parting. Never more could those cherished friends meet again; they
+were going forth, each on a separate mission, and though in after
+years, greetings might pass between them, the heart would be utterly
+changed. The unreserved confidence, the warm affection of girlhood
+passes forever away, when rude contact with the world has chilled
+trust and child-like faith. And they knew this, though it was _felt_
+more fully in after years.
+
+But tears were dried, as the enthusiasm which lighted the face of the
+reader--as her topic turned to their future life--was communicated to
+those who listened. She spoke to her classmates of the duties which
+devolved on them as women; of the strength which they should gather in
+life's sunshine, for the storm and the trial which _would_ come. That
+their part in life was to shed a hallowed but _unseen_ influence over
+its strife and discord--
+
+        "Sitting by the fireside of the heart
+        Feeding it flames."
+    "In that stillness which best becomes a woman,
+     Calm and holy."
+
+And when she ceased, and the gathered crowd turned slowly from the
+threshold, many hearts--beating in proud and manly bosoms--felt
+stronger and purer for the words they had that hour listened to, from
+one who, young as she was, had learned to think, and to act, with a
+sound judgment, and bold independence in the cause of truth, which
+shamed them in their vacillation.
+
+Young Howard was leaning behind a vine-wreathed pillar, to watch the
+one in whom he had that day become strangely interested. His heart
+beat fast as she approached his hiding-place, and then sunk within
+him, as he noted the warm blush which stole over her face, as two
+gentlemen, whom he had not before noticed, came to greet her.
+
+"Dear sister," said one, kissing her burning cheek, "have I not reason
+to be proud of you."
+
+The other, older by ten years than the first speaker, grasped the hand
+which she timidly extended to him, and whispered, "I, too, am proud of
+my future wife."
+
+Howard did not hear the words, but the look which accompanied that
+warm pressure of the hand did not escape him. It destroyed at once
+hopes, which he had not dreamed before were fast rising in his breast,
+and he turned almost sadly away from that happy group to join his
+sister.
+
+"See," said the young girl, as she took his arm, "there is Mr. Loring,
+one of the finest-looking men I know of, and belongs to as proud
+family as any in Boston, yet he is going to throw himself away on Mary
+Gordon. To be sure he is only a poor country clergyman, but he might
+do better if he chose, I'm sure."
+
+Her brother thought _that_ was hardly possible, though he did not say
+so; neither did he add--lest he should vex his foolishly aristocratic
+sister--that but for Mr. Loring the chances were that she would be
+called upon, so far as his inclinations were concerned, to receive
+Miss Gordon not as a room-mate, but as a sister, before the year was
+ended.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE BRIDE AND THE WIFE.
+
+A stranger would have asked the reason of the commotion in the
+village, though every one of its inhabitants, from highest to lowest,
+knew that it was the morning of their pastor's bridal. None, not even
+the oldest and gravest of the community, wondered--or shook their
+heads in disapprobation of the choice. They had known Mary Gordon from
+her earliest childhood--they saw her now an earnest and thoughtful
+woman, with a heart to plan kind and charitable deeds, and a hand that
+did not pause in their execution. They knew, moreover, that for two
+years she had refused to take new vows upon herself because she felt
+that her mother needed her care; but now that health once more reigned
+in the good deacon's dwelling, she was this day to become a wife, and
+leave her father's roof, for a new home and more extended duty.
+
+Again we look upon the village church, but it is no mournful
+procession that passes up its shaded aisles. There are white-robed
+maidens thronging around, and men with sun-burned faces. Children,
+too, scarce large enough to grasp the flowers which they tear from the
+shrubs that climb to the very windows of the sanctuary; and through
+the crowd comes the bridal train. Mary Gordon, leaning upon the arm of
+her betrothed, is more beautiful than ever, for a quiet dignity is now
+added to the grace that ever marked her footsteps; and he, in the
+pride of his manhood, looks with pride and tenderness upon her.
+
+The deacon is there, with his heavy, good-natured face, lighted by an
+expression of profound content; and his wife is by his side, looking
+less calm and placid than usual, though she is very happy. It may be
+that she fears for her daughter's future welfare, though that can
+scarcely be when the dearest wish of her heart is about to be
+fulfilled; or, perhaps, as her eye wanders from the gay group around
+her, it rests upon a little grassy mound not far away, and she is
+thinking of one who would have been the fairest and the best beloved
+of all.
+
+Stephen seemed to feel a little out of place, as he stood there with a
+gay, laughter-loving maiden clinging to his arm; but the happiest of
+all, if we may judge from the exterior, was James; arrived but the
+night before, after an absence of nearly two years. He had just been
+admitted to the bar, and Mr. Hall, who was present at the examination,
+said it was rare to meet with a young man of so much promise, and
+knowing his untiring industry, he had little doubt of his success in
+after life. So James--now a manly-looking fellow of three-and-twenty--was,
+after the bride, the observed of all observers; and not a few of the
+bride's white-robed attendants put on their most witching smile when
+he addressed them.
+
+Despite of all the sunshine and festivity at a bridal, there is to me
+more of solemnity, almost sadness, in the scene than in any other we
+are called upon to witness, save that more mournful rite, when dust is
+returned to dust. There is a young and often thoughtless maiden,
+taking upon herself vows which but few understand, in the depth of
+their import, vows lasting as life, and on the full performance of
+them depends, in a great measure, the joy or misery of her future
+years. Then, too, in her trust and innocence, she does not dream that
+change can come, that the loved one will ever be less considerate,
+less tender, than at the present hour. True, she has been told that it
+may be so--but the thought is not harbored for an instant. "He never
+could speak coldly or unkindly to me," she murmurs, as eyes beaming
+with deep affection meet her own. Then, too, the proud man that stands
+beside her, may be but taking that gentle flower to his bosom, to cast
+it aside when its perfume may have become less grateful--leaving it
+crushed and faded; or, worse still--and still more improbable, though
+it is sometimes so--there may be poison lurking in the seemingly pure
+blossom, that will sting and embitter his future life. Oh, that woman
+should ever prove false to the vow of her girlhood!
+
+All these thoughts, I say, and many more scarcely less sorrowful, come
+to my mind when I look upon a bridal; and tears will start, unbidden
+it is true, when the faces of those around are radiant with smiles.
+But perhaps few have learned with me the truthful lesson of the poet--
+
+    "Hope's gayest wreaths are made of earthly flowers--
+      Things that are made to fade, and fade away,
+    Ere they have blossomed for a few short hours."
+
+How could I call up such a train of sombre thought when speaking of
+Mary Gordon's marriage? None doubted her husband's truth, her own deep
+devotion, as they crowded around when the simple rite was ended to
+congratulate them, and breathe a fervent wish that their joy might
+increase as the years of their life rolled onward. They went forth
+from that quiet church with new and strange feelings springing up, and
+as Mary looked upon the throng who still reiterated their friendly
+wishes, she felt an inward consciousness that God had blessed and
+sustained her through those years of trial and probation.
+
+"Who _would have thought_ that the deacon's Mary would ever have grown
+up such a fine woman?" said Aunty Gould, as she wiped her spectacles
+upon the corner of her new gingham apron. "The deacon himself ain't
+got much sperit in him, and as for _Miss Gordon_, I don't believe she
+ever whipped one of them children in her life. She always let 'em have
+their own way a great deal too much to suit me. Jest think of her
+letting Mary go off to Lowell, in the midst of that city of iniquity,
+and stay three or four years, jest because James must be college
+larned. As if it warn't as respectable to stay to home and be a
+farmer, as his father and his grandfather was before him. I haven't
+much 'pinion of _him_, but Stephen Gordon is going to make the man.
+Steddy and industrious a'most as the deacon himself."
+
+So we see the differences of opinion which exist in the narrowest
+community; for Mrs. Hall, as she turned toward her own bright home,
+said to her husband that Mary Gordon was a pattern to the young girls
+now growing up in the village. But for her honest independence and
+hardihood in braving the opinion of the world, her family might have
+been living without education, and without refinement. Now she had won
+for herself the love of a noble heart--could see her brother
+successful through her efforts, and knew that their parents were happy
+in feeling that they were so. "She has been the sun of that
+household," replied her husband, "and I doubt not will ever be the
+happiness of her own."
+
+They were sitting alone--the newly made husband and wife--on the eve
+of their marriage-day. They were in their home, which was henceforth
+to be the scene of all their love and labors. The last kind friend had
+gone, and for the first time that day they could feel the calm,
+unclouded serenity which the end of a long and often wearisome toil
+had brought.
+
+The moonlight trembled through the shaded casement, and surrounded as
+with a halo the sweet, serious face that looked out upon the night;
+and far around, even to the rugged mountains that rose as sentinels
+over the green valley, earth and air were bathed in that pure and
+tender radiance. The flowering shrubs that twined about the little
+porch seemed to give forth a more delicious perfume than when scorched
+by the sun's warm kiss. The neighboring orchards almost bending
+beneath the clusters of buds and blossoms that covered the green
+boughs, waved gently in the light breeze that showered the sunny
+petals as it passed upon the freshly springing grass beneath. The low
+cry of the whippo-wil came now and then from a far-off wood; save
+that, and the rustle of the vines clinging about the casement, no
+sound broke the sabbath-like repose. The church--scarce a stone's
+throw from the little parsonage--stood boldly relieved by the dark
+trees which rose beside it; and not far away--not too far for them to
+see by day the loved forms of its inmates--they could distinguish the
+sloping roofs and brown walls of Mary's early home.
+
+The young bride turned from the scene without, and when she looked up
+into her husband's face he saw that her eyes were filled with tears.
+
+"Are you not happy, my Mary?" said he, as he drew her more closely to
+his bosom.
+
+"Happy! oh, only too happy!" was the murmured response, as he kissed
+the tears away. "I was but thinking of my past life; how strange it
+seems that I should have been so prompted, so guided through all.
+Then, stranger than the rest that you should love one so humble, so
+ignorant as myself. I may tell you now--now that I am your own true
+wife, how your love has been the happiness of many years. Ere I dared
+to hope that your letters breathed more than a friendly interest--and
+believe me I would not indulge the thought for an instant until you
+had given me the right so to do--though the wish would for an instant
+flit across my mind--I knew that one less wise, less noble than
+yourself would never gain the deep affection of my heart. I almost
+felt that I could live through life without dearer ties, if so you
+would always watch my path with interest, awarding, as then, praise
+and blame.
+
+"But, strange as it may seem, you did love me through all, deeply,
+devotedly. Oh, what is there in me to deserve such affection! and when
+I read those blessed words--'I love you, _Mary_, have loved you from
+an early period of our correspondence,' it seemed as if my heart were
+breaking with the excess of wild happiness which rushed like a flood
+upon it. How could you love me? what was there in me to create such an
+emotion?"
+
+Allan Loring thought that the wife was far more beautiful than the
+maiden, as she stood encircled by his arms, gazing with deep
+earnestness, as if she would read his very soul.
+
+"I cannot tell you all there is in you to love and admire," said he,
+tenderly, "and, indeed, my little wife would blush too deeply at a
+recital of her own merits and graces. But this I now recall, that the
+first emotion of deep interest which I felt for you, arose as I
+listened to your brother's recital of your wonderful self-denial, and
+persevering effort for his sake. I saw, young as you were, the germ of
+a high and noble nature, best developed, believe me, in the rough and
+untoward circumstances by which you were surrounded. I wrote to you at
+first, thinking, perhaps, to aid you in the struggle for knowledge and
+truth; and as your mind and heart were laid open before me, how could
+I help loving the guileless sincerity which every act exhibited.
+
+I knew that the good sister, the affectionate child, could but make a
+true and gentle wife. So I thought myself fortunate, beyond my own
+hopes even, when I found you could grant me the only boon I asked, a
+deep and steadfast affection."
+
+What heart is there that would not have been satisfied with such
+praise; and who, witnessing the calm spirit of content which animated
+both the husband and the wife, could have prophesied evil as the
+result of such a union.
+
+We might follow our heroine still farther--might show her to you as
+the companion and assistant in her husband's labors of love, as he
+fulfilled the high mission to which he had been appointed--as the
+mother, training her little ones to usefulness and honor. But we will
+leave her now, assured that whatever storms may cloud the unshadowed
+morn of her wedded life--and all know that in this existence no home,
+however lofty or lowly, is exempt from suffering and trial--she bore a
+talisman to pass through all unscathed--strength, gained by patient
+endurance, and the knowledge of duties rightly performed.
+
+It may be, dear lady--you who are now glancing idly over these
+pages--that you are surrounded by every luxury wealth can command. You
+are lounging, perhaps, upon a softly cushioned divan, with tiny,
+slippered feet half buried in the glowing carpet. There are brilliants
+blazing upon the delicate hand which shields your face from the warm
+sunlight, and as you glance around, a costly mirror reveals at full
+length your graceful and yielding form.
+
+"I have no interest in such as these," you say, as the simple
+narrative is ended.
+
+I pray, in truth, that you may never learn the harsh lessons of
+adversity; but remember, as you enjoy the elegancies of a luxurious
+home, that change comes to all when least expected. And if misfortune
+should not spare even one so young and so beautiful; if poverty or
+desolation overshadow the household, it may be your part to sustain
+and to strengthen, not only by words, but by deeds. Well rewarded
+should I feel, if words from this pen could aid in removing one pang,
+could give a tithe of the strength of mind and heart such a lesson
+would call forth. God shield you, dear lady; but if the storm come,
+_remember that honest labor elevates rather than degrades_; and those
+whose opinions are of value will not hesitate to confirm the truth of
+the moral.
+
+
+
+
+LINES TO ----.
+
+BY W. HORRY STILWELL.
+
+
+    A sister's love I did not ask from thee,
+      Though that were much--oh, more than earth hath given;
+    None live to bear that gentle name for me,
+      Though one may lisp it now, perchance, in Heaven.
+    I know not even, for I never felt,
+      The quiet yearnings of such love as this;
+    Thou should'st have known a deeper feeling dwelt
+      In the rapt glow of that impassioned kiss!
+
+    "I had no wish a _brother's_ love to share"--
+      I did not read thy features dreamingly,
+    And peer into thine eye's deep azure, there
+      Searching _another's_ depths, in revery!
+    I did not press, all passionless, thy hand
+      Or idly dally with thy taper finger,
+    Or coldly gaze, for I could not withstand
+      The high and holy hope which bade me linger!
+
+    I was not thinking of _another_ then,
+      In thy sweet face her features imaging,
+    Tracing each thought-print o'er them--watching when
+      Hope's earnest breathings to my lips might spring;
+    Nor this--nor fame--though her ascending star
+      Might shed its glory in a halo o'er me;
+    No thought like this, that moment, rose to mar
+      The vision that in beauty stood before me!
+
+    But it was marr'd, for even then the feeling
+      Came o'er me, that thou never couldst be mine!
+    And in the cloud of sadness, gently stealing
+      Like a dim shadow o'er that brow of thine,
+    I read my destiny. Oh! life can bring
+      No darker doom--no wo that may inherit
+    So much of bitterness--no rack to ring
+      With deeper agony, my fainting spirit.
+
+    To dwell, in thought, upon one image still,
+      Till it becomes a portion of our being,
+    Hath fix'd its features in the eye, until
+      It hath become a part of sight--thus seeing,
+    Even in tree, and rock, and rill, and flower,
+      A form of borrow'd beauty, and a spell--
+    A spirit of unspeakable heart--power--
+      To move the waters in our soul's deep well!
+
+    Till every thought, that like a wavelet, breaks
+      Upon the surface of life's charmed pool,
+    Circling instinctively, unbidden, takes
+      Form, hue, direction, from that magic rule!
+    What is it but the yearning of the soul
+      Toward one allied to it by heavenly birth?
+    And seeking to unite, blend, melt the whole
+      Into one miracle of love on earth!
+
+    Such have my feelings been--thy soul to mine
+      Came robed in radiance of such heavenly hue,
+    My spirit clasped it as a thing divine;
+      And while I dreamed they into oneness grew,
+    I suddenly awaked, to know that vision
+      Had not appeared to any one but me!
+    Why did I learn, waked from that dream elysian,
+      A sister's love was all I shared with thee!
+
+
+
+
+THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION.
+
+BY JAMES K. PAULDING, AUTHOR OF THE "DUTCHMAN'S FIRESIDE," ETC.
+
+
+There was no inhabitant of all the East more favored by nature and by
+fortune than Adakar, son of Benhadad, of the famous city of Damascus,
+which Musselmen call the Paradise of the earth. He was young, rich,
+and beautiful; and being early left without parents, had run the race
+of sensual pleasures by the time his beard was grown. He became sated
+with enjoyment, and now passed much of his time in a spacious garden
+which belonged to him, through which the little river Barady, which
+flows from Mount Hermon, meandered among beds of flowers, and groves
+of oranges, pomegranates, and citrons, whose mingled odors perfumed
+the surrounding air.
+
+Here he would recline on a sofa in listless apathy, or peevish
+discontent, sometimes half dozing, and, at others, inwardly
+complaining of the lot of man, which seemed to have ordained that the
+possession of that wealth which it is said can purchase all which is
+necessary to human enjoyment, should yet be incapable of conferring
+happiness. He became the victim of spleen and disappointment; and as
+he watched the butterflies flitting gayly about among the groves and
+beds of many-colored flowers, sipping their sweets, without labor or
+satiety, he often wished that he was like them gifted with wings to
+cut the trackless regions of the air, and freed from all the miseries
+of disappointed hope, inflamed imagination, and memory, which too
+often brings with it nothing but the sting of remorse. By degrees he
+rendered himself still more miserable by envying the happiness of
+these gilded epicures, and it became the dearest wish of his heart to
+become a butterfly, that he might pass his life among the flowers, and
+banquet on their sweets like them.
+
+One day as he sat buried in these contemplations, his attention was
+attracted by a butterfly more beautiful than any he had ever seen
+before. Its body was of imperial purple, glossy and soft as velvet;
+its eyes shone like the diamonds of Golconda; its wings were of the
+color of the deep blue skies of Damascus, sprinkled with glittering
+stars; its motions were swift and graceful beyond all others, and it
+seemed to revel in the bliss of the dewy roses and honeysuckles, with
+a zest which made Adakar only repine the more, that he had lost the
+capacity of enjoyment by abusing the bounties of fortune.
+
+"Allah!" exclaimed he, "if I were only that butterfly!" At that moment
+the luxurious vagrant, in the midst of its careless sports, and
+voluptuous banquet, became entangled in a web woven by a great black
+spider, which sat with eager impatience waiting until it had wound
+itself into the toils by its fruitless exertions, that he might seize
+and devour his prey. The heart of Adakar melted with pity; starting up
+from the spot where he was reclining, he gently seized the little
+glittering captive and rescued it from the fangs of the spider, which
+at the same instant disappeared among the foliage of the orange trees.
+
+Adakar sat down with the butterfly in his hand, and was contemplating
+its beautiful colors with increasing envy as well as admiration, when
+he thought he heard a low silvery whisper come from he knew not
+whither. He gazed around wistfully, but could see no tiny thing but
+the little captive in his hand, and was about setting it free, when
+another whisper, more distinct met his ear. "Adakar," it seemed to
+say, "thou hast saved me from the jaws of a devouring monster. I am a
+fairy transformed for a time by the malice of a wicked enchanter, and
+fairies are never ungrateful. Ask what thou wilt and it shall be
+granted. Wealth thou hast already more than enough. Thou art in the
+enjoyment of youth, beauty and a distinguished name, for thou art
+descended from the Prophet, and wearest the green turban. Dost thou
+wish to be any thing more? If so thou hast only to ask and it shall be
+given thee."
+
+"Make me a butterfly like thee!" exclaimed Adakar with eager
+impetuosity; and at one and the same moment the butterfly disappeared,
+while he became transformed into its likeness.
+
+At first his astonishment rendered him incapable of estimating the
+immediate consequences of the change, and he remained on the spot
+where it was accomplished, until seeing the great black spider
+cautiously emerging from his retreat and coming toward him, he spread
+his glittering wings, and mounting over the tops of the minarets of
+Damascus, at length settled down among the flowery meadows that
+environ the city. Here, for a time, he was delighted with his change
+of being, and eagerly enjoyed the freedom of thus roaming at will, and
+sipping the flowery banquet. But while he was thus solacing himself, a
+little boy, who had approached unseen, suddenly covered him with his
+cap, and he became a prisoner. The boy was however greatly puzzled to
+secure his prey, and while slipping his hand under the cap, raised it
+sufficiently to permit Adakar to escape.
+
+From this time Adakar encountered unceasing perils from wanton boys,
+who sought the meadows to sport or gather flowers, and soon learned
+that his safety depended on perpetual watchfulness. If he lighted on a
+flower he felt his heart beating least some secret enemy was near, and
+the honeyed dew, sweet as it was, became embittered by the
+apprehension of being caught at the banquet. In short, he lived in
+continual terror, and soon learned from experience that a life of fear
+is one of unceasing misery. Every living thing that approached was an
+object of dismay, and at length Adakar, who, though transformed in
+appearance, was not divested of the consciousness of his identity,
+resolved to leave the haunts of men, for the purpose of seeking refuge
+in some unfrequented solitude, where he might repose in peace, enjoy
+his freedom and his flowers, and spread his gilded wings without the
+great drawback of perpetual apprehension.
+
+Accordingly, he once more mounted high into the air, and spreading his
+silken wings directed his course toward Mount Horeb, at the foot of
+which lies the city of Damascus, in whose deep recesses he sought to
+escape from the dangers that beset him in the neighborhood of man.
+Here he sported among the flowers that nodded over the precipices
+which border the little river Barady, as it plunges its way through
+the gorges of the mountain.
+
+"Here," thought he, "I shall surely be safe, since the foot of man can
+never reach these inaccessible cliffs." Scarcely, however, had the
+thought passed over his mind, when hearing a whistling noise in the
+air, he cast his eyes fearfully upward and perceived a bird darting
+toward him with such inconceivable swiftness, that he had scarcely
+time to shelter himself from its talons by crouching into a hole in
+the rock, where he remained throbbing with fear, not daring to look
+out to see whether his enemy was still on the watch.
+
+"There is no safety for me here," exclaimed Adakar, who at length
+gathered sufficient courage to look out from his retreat, and seeing
+the bird had disappeared, once more flitted away. He visited the
+recesses of the forest, the cultivated plains, and the solitudes of
+the desert, but wherever he went he found enemies watching to make him
+their prey, and his life was only one long series of that persecution
+which strength ever wages against unresisting weakness. "What,"
+thought he, "is the use of my wings, since they only enable me to
+encounter new dangers, and to what purpose do I sip the dews of the
+opening flowers, when death is every moment staring me in the face,
+and enemies beset me on every side? O, that I were a man again; I
+would willingly resign the unbounded freedom I enjoy, for that slavery
+which is accompanied by security."
+
+Thus he continued to become every day more discontented with his lot,
+until by degrees the autumn came, and the flowers withered and died.
+The frosts, too, began to shed their hoary lustre over the green
+fields that gradually changed their hue to that of melancholy brown,
+and Adakar became pinched with both hunger and cold. The brilliant
+colors of his body and wings faded, as if in sympathy with the waning
+beauties of nature; his strength and activity yielded to the approach
+of expiring weakness; he had provided neither food nor shelter against
+the coming winter; and once more death stared him in the face with an
+aspect more dreary and terrible than it had ever presented before. The
+bare earth afforded no shelter, and the withered fields no food. "O,"
+thought he, as he felt himself dying, "O, that the fairy would once
+more change me into a man!"
+
+He had scarcely uttered these words when he found himself transformed
+according to his wish, and the fairy butterfly once more in his place.
+
+"Adakar," said she, in her whispering, silvery voice, "thou hast first
+played the butterfly as a man, and now as an insect. In both
+situations thou didst pursue the same course. As a man thou livedst
+only for the present moment, regardless of the consequences of
+reveling in perpetual sweets, without looking to the period when the
+frosts of age would chill thy imagination, and the ice of winter
+freeze up thy capacity for those enjoyments of sense which constituted
+thy sole happiness, if happiness it may be called. As a butterfly thou
+didst sport through the spring-time and summer without for a moment
+thinking of providing food and refuge against the wintry barrenness
+and wintry cold. Thou hast learned that the beings which live in air,
+sport among gardens, groves, and flowers, and traverse the climes of
+the earth at will, are not necessarily happier than man, since they
+live in perpetual fear. Be wiser in future. Be content with thy lot,
+assured that the only way to be happy in this and every other state of
+existence, is to use the blessings bestowed on us by a beneficent
+Providence with sober moderation, and share them among others with a
+chastened liberality. Thou hast been a benefactor to me, and I have
+repaid the obligation by enabling thee thus to learn wisdom from
+bitter experience. The lesson has been dearly bought, but is fully
+worth the price. Go, and be thankful that thou wast created a man
+instead of a butterfly."
+
+The fairy disappeared, and Adakar took his way toward Damascus, where
+his appearance caused great surprise, most especially to a hump-backed
+cousin, who had taken possession of his estate, after having convinced
+the bashaw of Damascus, by twelve purses of gold, that he was
+certainly dead. Adakar was obliged to appeal to the bashaw for the
+restoration of his property, but failed to establish his identity. He
+could only account for his absence by relating his transformation into
+a butterfly, of which the bashaw, being blinded to the truth by the
+glitter of gold, would not believe one word. He decreed the estate to
+the cousin, and consoled the other for his loss by inflicting the
+bastinado. Adakar passed several years as a water-carrier, until the
+benevolent fairy, finding that he had completed the circle of his
+experience by drinking at both extremes of the fountain, wrought a
+second transformation, by which Adakar became changed into the
+likeness of his cousin, and the latter into that of Adakar, who thus
+regained his estate at the expense of his beauty. He became a wise as
+well as a good man; and devoting himself to the study of philosophy,
+wrote a famous treatise, in which he clearly demonstrated that men
+were at least as well off in this world as butterflies.
+
+
+
+
+CINCINNATI.
+
+BY FAYETTE ROBINSON, AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES," ETC.
+
+
+When Columbus discovered the new world, he was in search of a western
+route to Cathay and India, whence he expected to bring back, if not
+treasures of gold and gems, intelligence of the wonderful land Marco
+Polo had described. It was not until long after the discovery of the
+continents of North and South America, that it was ascertained that a
+new region, broad as the Atlantic, lay between the ocean and the
+Indian Sea, as the Pacific was then called. So deep-rooted was this
+belief that the French colonists in Canada, long after they had begun
+to be formidable to their English and Hollandish neighbors, in spite
+of many disappointments, followed the tracery of the Ohio and
+Mississippi in the full confidence that this mighty current could end
+only in the Western Sea. They could not realize that nature in America
+had always acted on a grander scale than they were used to, and would
+have laughed, if told that not far above the mouth of the Ohio was
+another great artery which, by its tributaries, watered one valley,
+the superfices of which was larger than all Europe.
+
+They, with their limited views, were the discoverers to Europe of the
+_Ohio_, which, in the language of the tribe that dwelt on the bank
+from which the white man first beheld it, signified _Beautiful Water_.
+This the French translated into their own language, and by the term of
+_La Belle River_ it was long known in the histories of the Jesuit and
+Franciscan missions, which, until the land the Ohio watered became the
+property of the second North American race, were its only chronicles.
+Not until a later day did it become known to the English colonists,
+and then so slightly, that even in the reign of Charles II. authority
+was given to the English governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley,
+to create an hereditary order of knighthood, with high privileges and
+brilliant insignia, eligibility to which depended on the aspirant
+having crossed the Alleghany Ridge, and added something to the stock
+of intelligence of the region beyond, the title to all of which had
+been conferred by royal patent on the colony at Jamestown.
+
+Possessed of Canada, with strongly defended positions at Fort Duquesne
+(Pittsburg) and Fort Chartres, near the confluence of the Ohio and
+Mississippi, with the even then important city of New Orleans, the
+wily statesmen of the reign of Louis XIV. conceived the plan of
+enclosing the English colonies in a network of fortifications, and
+ultimately of controlling the continent. So cherished was this policy
+that treaties made in Europe between the crowns of France and England
+never extended their influence to America, and for almost a century
+continued a series of contests, during which Montcalm, de Levi, Wolf
+and Braddock distinguished themselves and died. The result is well
+known, Canada became English, the northern point _d'appui_ of the
+system was lost, and the Ohio was no longer under their control. This
+prologue to the beautiful engraving of Cincinnati is given because,
+though Pittsburg and Louisville are important cities, Cincinnati is
+the undoubted queen of the river.
+
+It was not, however, until the war of the Revolution that serious
+attention was generally directed to the Ohio, for the brilliant
+expedition of Clarke against Kaskaskia (which is almost unknown,
+though in difficulty and daring it far exceeded Arnold's against
+Quebec,) was purely military. Immediately on the termination of the
+war, emigrants began to hurry to the Ohio, and by one of the hardiest
+of these, Cincinnati was commenced in 1789. By the gradual influx of
+population into the west Cincinnati throve, and soon became the chief
+city of the region.
+
+For a long while Cincinnati was merely the depot of the Indians and
+fur trade, the most valuable of the products of which required to be
+transported across the mountains and through forests to the seaboard.
+At that time Cincinnati presented a strange appearance; the houses
+were of logs, and here and there through the broad streets its
+founders so providentially prepared, were seen the hunter, in his
+leathern jerkin, the Indian warrior in full paint, and the husbandman
+returning home from his labors. Almost from the establishment of the
+northwest territory Cincinnati had been the home of the governor; and
+it was the residence of St. Clair, long the only delegate in congress
+of the whole northwest--a wilderness then, but now teeming with three
+million of men, and sending to Washington thirty-four representatives.
+
+Cincinnati was the _point de depart_ of many of the expeditions
+against the Indians between the revolution and the war of 1812. When
+that war broke out it acquired new importance. Military men replaced
+the hunter and Indian, and every arrival brought a reinforcement of
+troops. From it Taylor and Croghan marched with Gen. Harrison
+northward, and to it the victorious army returned from the Thames.
+When peace returned, a new activity was infused into Cincinnati; the
+vast disbursements made by the government had attracted thither many
+adventurers. Then commenced the era of bateau navigation, and the
+advent of a peculiar race of men, of whom now no trace remains. Rude
+boats were built and freighted with produce, which descended the river
+to New Orleans, where the cargo was disposed of, and the boat itself
+broken up and sold. The crew, after a season of dissipation, returned
+homeward by land, through the country inhabited by the Chactas and
+Chickasas, and the yet wilder region infested by thieves and pirates.
+It was no uncommon thing for the boatmen never to return. Exposure
+to danger made them reckless; and they were often seen floating down
+the bosom of the stream, with the violin sounding merrily, but with
+their rifles loaded, and resting against the gunwales, ready to be
+used whenever an emergency arose. All the west even now rings with
+traditions of the daring of this race; and the traveler on the waters
+of the west often has pointed out to him the scene of their bloody
+contests and quarrels.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF CINCINNATI OHIO.]
+
+The era of steam began, and this state of things passed away. The
+mighty discovery of Fulton created yet more activity in the west; and
+a current of trade, second in importance to none on the continent,
+except, perhaps, those of New York and Philadelphia, sprung from it.
+As the States of Kentucky and Ohio began to fill up, the farmers and
+planters crowded to Cincinnati with their produce, and the character
+of the population changed. The day of the voyageur was gone, and lines
+of steamboats crowded its wharf. The peculiar character of the country
+around it, teeming with the sustenance for animals and grazing, made
+it the centre of a peculiar business which, unpoetical as it may seem,
+doubled every year, until in 1847 it amounted to more than the value
+of the cotton crop of the whole Atlantic frontier.
+
+Other branches of industry also grew up. Ship-yards lined the banks of
+the river, and more than one stately vessel has first floated on the
+bosom of the Ohio, in front of Cincinnati, been freighted at its
+wharves, and sailed thence to the ocean, never again to return to the
+port of its construction.
+
+Long before the reign of merchant princes began, stately churches,
+colleges, and commodious dwellings had arisen, and replaced the hut of
+the early settlers, so that Cincinnati, with the exception of
+Philadelphia, is become the most regular and beautiful city of the
+Union. The scene of the accumulation of large fortunes, cultivation
+has followed in their train, so that it is difficult for one who first
+visits it from the east to realize that he is seven hundred miles from
+the seaboard.
+
+Fulton had by his discovery overcome the difficulties of
+communication, and opened a market for its immense products; but yet
+another discovery was to contribute to its prosperity. By means of the
+magnetic telegraph communication between the seaboard of the Atlantic
+and the lakes is more easy than between New York and Brooklyn, and
+with the whole west Cincinnati has acquired new importance. It can not
+but continue to advance and acquire yet more influence than now it
+has.
+
+
+
+
+CLEOPATRA.
+
+BY ELIZABETH J. EAMES.
+
+
+    Enchantress queen! whose empire of the heart
+      With sovereign sway o'er sea and land extended,
+    Whose peerless, haunting charms, and syren art,
+      Won from the imperial Caesar conquests splendid;
+    Rome sent her thousands forth, and foreign powers,
+      Poured in thy woman's hand an empire's treasures;
+    Was _Fate_ beside thee in those gorgeous hours
+      When monarchs knelt, slaves to thy merest pleasures?
+    When but a gesture of thy royal hand
+    Was to the proud Triumvirs a command.
+
+    O, bright Egyptian Queen! thy day is past
+      With the young Caesar--lo! the spell is broken
+    That thy all-radiant beauty o'er him cast;
+      His eye is cold--wo! for thy grief unspoken!
+    Yet thy proud features wear a mask, which tells
+      How true thou art to thy commanding nature:--
+    Once more, in all thy wild bewildering spells,
+      Thou standest robed and crowned, imperial creature:
+    Thy royal barge is on the sunny sea,
+    Oh! sceptered queen--goest thou victoriously?
+
+    But hark! a trumpet's thrilling call "to arms!"
+      O'er the soft sounds of lute and lyre ringeth.
+    Doubt not thy matchless sovereignty of charms,
+      But haste--the victor of Philippi bringeth
+    His shielded warriors and lords renowned--
+      With spear and princely crest they come to meet thee,
+    Arrayed for triumph, and with laurels crowned,
+      How will their stern and haughty leader treat thee?
+    He comes to conquer--lo! on bended knee
+    The spell-bound Roman pleads, and yields to thee!
+
+    Once more the world is thine. Exultingly
+      Thy beautiful and stately head is lifted;
+    He lives but in thy smile--proud Antony--
+      The crowned of empire--he, the grandly gifted.
+    The spoils of nations at thy feet are laid--
+      The wealth of kingdoms for thy favor scattered:
+    Oh! Syren of the Nile! thy love has made
+      The royal Roman's ruin! crowns were shattered
+    And kingdoms lost. Fame, honor, glory, power,
+    Were playthings given to grace thy triumph-hour.
+
+    Another change!--the last for thee, doomed queen,
+      Now calmly on thine ivory couch reclining--
+    The impassioned glow hath left thy marble mien--
+      And from thine night-black eyes hath past the shining.
+    But _still_ a queen! that brow, so icy cold,
+      Its diadem of starry jewels beareth--
+    Robed in the royal purple, and the gold,
+      No conqueror's chain that form imperial beareth.
+    To grace _Death's_ triumph was but left for thee,
+    Daughter of Afric, by the asp set free!
+
+
+
+
+REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.
+
+
+     _An Universal History of the Most Remarkable Events of
+     All Nations, from the Earliest Period to the Present
+     Time, forming a Complete History of the World. Vol._ 1.
+     _Ancient History. William H. Graham: New York._
+
+This is one of the most useful works now issuing from the American
+press. Its publication has been commenced in this country somewhat in
+advance of the London and Leipsic editions, which have been previously
+advertised; thus securing an immediate circulation in the three great
+reading nations of the world. The entire work will embrace about
+twenty numbers, appearing at intervals of a month. The first four of
+these, two numbers of which are before us, are devoted to Ancient
+History, extending to the Fall of the Roman Empire.
+
+No province of literature has been so modified by the vast increase of
+books as the writing of History. While the republican idea, which has
+struck such deep root into the world's politics, seems to tend toward
+an equalization of human intellect, it has, perhaps, made the deeps of
+thought shallower, and weakened the concentration and devotion of mind
+which marked the scholars of former centuries. The fields of
+knowledge, once but a small manor, have broadened into a kingdom; and,
+grasping at total possession, men prefer the shortest and easiest ways
+of obtaining it. Works of the imagination, and fictions, illustrative
+of life and society, which are now multiplied to an indefinite extent,
+unfit the common mind for those grave and serious studies which were
+once almost the only road to literary distinction.
+
+The consequence of this is, that books are written with a view to
+their being _read_; and where the subject is addressed to the
+understanding alone, polished and classic language, or more frequently
+an assumed peculiarity of style, is used to hold the ear captive, and
+through it the intellect. The modern writers of history especially,
+seize upon scenes and situations which involve strong dramatic effect,
+endeavoring, as it were, to reproduce the past, by painting its events
+with the most vivid colors of description. They do not give the
+polished, stately _bas-reliefs_ of the old historians, but glowing
+_pictures_, perhaps less distinct in their outlines, but conveying a
+stronger impression of real life. The works of Prescott, (who has
+maintained, however, a happy medium between these styles,) Michelet,
+Lamartine, and Carlyle, furnish striking examples of this.
+
+The present work fills a blank which has long existed among historical
+works--that of a Universal History, which, embracing the prominent
+events of all ages, placed before the reader in a clear and
+comprehensive arrangement, shall yet be so simple and brief as to
+command the perusal of the great laboring classes, who would shrink
+from the study of Rollin or Rotteck, as a task too serious to be
+undertaken. The abridgment of Schlosser's "Weltgeschichte," which we
+believe has never been translated, contains these qualifications in an
+eminent degree; yet its high philosophical tone is rather adapted to
+the scholar than the general reader. Gibbon's great work, from its
+magnificence of language, long retained a place in popular favor, and
+will always be read by the diligent historical student, but of late
+years it has ceased to be in common use. Our knowledge of ancient
+history has been wonderfully extended by the study of the modern
+Asiatic languages, and the restoration of tongues, which had been
+forgotten for centuries, and the Roman Empire, which once included in
+its history that of the greater part of the ancient world, is almost
+equaled in interest and importance by the records of Egypt, India,
+and China. What is wanted, therefore, is a concise abstract, which
+shall embody the labor of all former histories and the discoveries of
+modern research.
+
+The author of this work, judging from that portion of it already
+published, is equal to this task. He comes to it prepared by twenty
+years of study, and a familiar acquaintance with all the necessary
+authorities, not only those to whom we look for the solid record of
+fact, but those who have gone beneath the surface of events, and
+tracked the source of political convulsions by a thousand pulses back
+to the hidden heart of some great principle. This Philosophy of
+History, which has become almost a distinct branch of literature,
+gives vitality to the narrative, by leading us to causes which may
+still exist; thus connecting our interest in the Present with the fate
+of the Past. In this country, where every man is more or less a
+political philosopher, a history possessing merit of this character,
+is likely to become exceedingly popular.
+
+The utility of the present work to the general reader is greatly
+increased by the geographical and statistical accounts of the
+countries, which are given in connection with their history. In fact,
+some knowledge of their physical character, climate, and productions
+is necessary to a comprehensive idea of the people who sprung up and
+flourished upon them. These descriptions would become still more
+valuable if they were accompanied with maps; and we would suggest that
+this defect be remedied, if possible, in the succeeding numbers.
+
+The author has chosen the epistolary form, as combining ease of style
+with a certain familiar license of language, and therefore better
+adapted for popular instruction. Commencing at the traditionary period
+from which we date the origin of man, he describes the gradual
+formation of society, and marks out the first broad divisions of the
+race from which sprung the great empires of Egypt and the East. The
+geographical account of these countries is extended and complete,
+embracing also a graphic view of their modern condition. We notice
+that in common with several distinguished German historians, the
+author gives to the Hindoos the distinction of being the earliest race
+of men. "Above all the historical records of other nations," says he,
+"the Hindoos have brought forth the best evidence of the highest
+antiquity, and the earliest civilization. Therefore the supposition of
+those may be correct, who presume that man's first abode was somewhere
+in the neighborhood of the Himalaya mountains, which are the most
+stupendous on the globe."
+
+The two remaining numbers devoted to Ancient History, will bring us
+down to A. D. 476. The author dedicates his work to M. A. Thiers, as
+the "orator, statesman, historian, and friend of liberty."
+
+    *    *    *    *    *
+
+
+     _Lectures on Shakspeare. By H. N. Hudson. New York:
+     Baker & Scribner_. 2 _vols_. 12_mo_.
+
+We suppose that few of our readers are unacquainted with Mr. Hudson,
+the lecturer on Shakspeare, and the writer of various brilliant and
+powerful articles in the American Review. The lectures which compose
+the present volume have been delivered, at various times, in the
+principal cities of the Union, and have everywhere been welcomed as
+productions of the highest merit in one of the most difficult
+departments of critical art. The author has delayed the publication
+until the present time, in order that they might be subjected to
+repeated revision, and every opinion they contain cautiously scanned.
+Many of the lectures have been re-written a dozen times; and probably
+few books of the size ever published in the country, have been the
+slow product of so much toil of analysis and research. Almost every
+sentence gives evidence of being shaped in the "forge and
+working-house of thought." All questions which rise naturally in the
+progress of the work are sturdily met and answered, however great may
+be their demand on the intellect or the time of the author. Every
+thing considered, subtilty, depth, force, brilliancy, comprehension,
+we know of no work of criticism ever produced in the United States
+which equals the present, either in refinement and profundity of
+thought, or splendor and intensity of expression. Indeed, none of our
+critics have devoted so much time as Mr. Hudson to one subject, or
+been content to confine themselves so rigidly to the central sun of
+our English literary system. We doubt, also, if there be any work on
+Shakspeare, produced on the other side of the Atlantic, which is so
+complete as the present in all which relates to Shakspeare's mind and
+characters. It not only comprehends the highest results of Shaksperian
+criticism, but it is a step forward.
+
+This may to some appear extravagant praise, but for its justice we
+confidentially appeal to the record. The plays which have most
+severely tried the sagacity of Shakspeare's critics, are Hamlet,
+Macbeth, Lear, and Othello. We do not hesitate to say that Mr.
+Hudson's analysis and representation of these are the most thorough,
+accurate, and comprehensive which exist at present either in English
+or German. Compare him or these tragedies with Goethe, with Schlegel,
+with Coleridge, with Hazlitt, with Ulrici, and it will be found that
+he excels them all in completeness. It is needless to add that he is
+able to excel them only by coming after them; and that it is by
+diligently digesting all the positive results of Shaksperian criticism
+that he has been enabled to advance the science. He has grasped the
+principles which Schlegel and Coleridge established, and applied them
+to the discovery of new truths. By the most patient and toilsome
+analysis he has fully brought out many things which they simply
+hinted, and distinctly set forth conclusions which lay dormant in
+their premises. And in the analysis of individual character, meaning
+by that the resolving each Shaksperian personage into its original
+elements, and indicating the degree of general truth it covers, our
+countryman has hardly a rival. Few even of Shakspeare's diligent
+readers are aware of the vast stores of thought and knowledge implied
+in Shakspeare's characters, because the fact is so commonly stated in
+general terms. Mr. Hudson proves that the characters are classes
+intensely individualized, by showing how large is the number of
+persons each character represents, or of whom it is the ideal. He thus
+indicates the extent of Shakspeare's range over the whole field of
+humanity, and the degree of his success in _classifying_ mankind. No
+one, therefore, can read Mr. Hudson's interpretative criticisms
+without new wonder at the amazing reach and depth of Shakspeare's
+genius.
+
+It would be impossible in the space to which we are necessarily
+confined, to do justice to Mr. Hudson's powers of analysis and
+representation, as exercised through the wide variety of the
+Shaksperian drama. The volumes swarm with strong and striking thoughts
+on so many suggested topics, that it is difficult to fix upon any
+particular excellence for especial praise. The first quality which
+will strike the reader will be the author's opulence of expression and
+profusion of wit. Analogies with him are as cheap as commonplaces are
+to other men. He has no hesitation in announcing his analysis in a
+witticism, and condensing a principle into an epigram. His page often
+blazes and burns with wit. South, Congreve, and Sheridan are hardly
+richer in the precious article. In Mr. Hudson, also, the quality has
+an individual character, and is the racier from its genuineness and
+from its root in his intellectual constitution. This wit is, perhaps,
+the leading characteristic of his style, though his diction varies
+sufficiently with the varying demands of his subjects, and often
+glides from the tingling concussion of antithesis into the softest
+music, or rises from sarcastic brevity and stinging emphasis into rich
+and sonorous amplification. The analysis of Iago, and the analysis of
+the Weird Sisters, indicate, perhaps, the extremes of his manner.
+Throughout the volumes, whether the subject be comic or tragic,
+humorous or sublime, there is never any lack of verbal felicities.
+These seem to grow spontaneously in the soil of his mind; and there is
+no American writer whose style is more wholly free from worn and
+wasted images, phrases, and forms of expression. He is neither
+mediocre in thought nor expression.
+
+We cannot resist the temptation to give a few of Mr. Hudson's
+sentences, illustrative of his manner of stinging the minds of his
+readers and enforcing their attention. Speaking of Sir Thomas Lucy, on
+whose manor Shakspeare is said to have poached, Hudson remarks: "This
+Warwickshire esquire, once so rich and mighty, is now known only as
+the block over which the Warwickshire peasant stumbled into
+immortality." Referring to those purists who regard words more than
+things in their strictures on licentiousness, he calls them persons
+"whose morality seems to be all in their ears." Speaking of Hume, "an
+exquisite voluptuary among political and metaphysical abstractions,"
+he puts him in a class of men who "study art as they study nature,
+only in the process of dissection--a process which, of course, scares
+away the very life which makes her nature; so that they get, after
+all, but a _sort of post-mortem knowledge of her_." Again, he
+observes--"Pope, for example, was the prince of versifiers, and Hume
+the prince of logicians: with the one versification strangled itself
+in a tub of honey; with the other logic broke its neck in trying to
+fly in a vacuum. It is by no means strange, therefore, that the
+thousand-eyed philosophy of Shakspeare should have seemed a perfect
+monster to the one-eyed logic of Hume." Perhaps the finest answer to
+the charge that Shakspeare was an unregulated genius, full of great
+absurdities and great beauties, is contained in Hudson's ironical
+statement of it: "He has sometimes been represented as a sort of
+inspired and infallible idiot, who practiced a species of poetical
+magic without knowing what he did or why he did it; who achieved the
+greatest wonders of art, not by rational insight and design, but by a
+series of lucky accidents and _lapsus naturae_; who, in short, went
+through life stumbling upon divinities, and blundering into miracles."
+
+By the publication of these lectures Mr. Hudson takes his place among
+the first thinkers and writers of the country. He has that in his
+writings which will make him popular, and that which will make him
+permanent. It is unnecessary to say that a book so strongly marked by
+individuality as his is calculated to provoke criticism. It contains
+many things which will be severely assailed by those whose opinions on
+certain theories of government and society are in exact opposition to
+those of the author. Some positions, critical and political, which he
+confidently states as settled, are still open to discussion. But take
+the work as a whole, as an embodiment of mental power, and there are
+few men in the country on whom it would not confer honor. It needs but
+a very small prophetic faculty to predict for a work so fascinating
+and instructive a circulation commensurate with its merits.
+
+    *    *    *    *    *
+
+
+     _The Military Heroes of the Revolution. With a
+     Narrative of the War of Independence. By Charles J.
+     Peterson. Philadelphia: Wm. H. Leary._ 487 _pp.
+     octavo_.
+
+This is one of the most elegant books which has ever been issued from
+the American press. The type is large and clear, and the paper is of
+the finest quality. It is embellished with nearly two hundred
+engravings, consisting of portraits of all the chief actors of the
+Revolution, spirited representations of almost every engagement, with
+numerous views of noted places. This, together with the picturesque
+style in which the book is written, gives a peculiar charm, and leaves
+on the mind of the reader impressions more vivid and lasting than any
+other work which we have seen on the same subject.
+
+The design of the work is to furnish brief analytical portraits of
+those military heroes who, either from their superior ability or
+superior good fortune, played the most prominent part in the war of
+independence. The volume contains thirty-three biographies. Of these
+Washington's, Putnam's, Arnold's, Moultrie's, Warren's, Marion's,
+Hamilton's, and Burr's, are, in our opinion, the most spirited. The
+biography of Washington affords a keen analysis of that great hero's
+character, and conclusively proves, we think, that he was not only a
+great patriot, but a great general. This is a somewhat new view of his
+character, the fashion having been to exalt his undoubted goodness at
+the expense of his skill, the result of positive ignorance of his
+character during the war of independence. Those were no weak
+achievements which Napoleon acknowledged to have been the examples
+which first fired him with the spirit and plan of his own victories!
+And our author justly remarks, that "if four generals in succession,
+beside several entire armies, failed to conquer America, it was not on
+account of want of talent or means on the part of the enemy, but
+because the genius of Washington proved too gigantic for any or all of
+his competitors."
+
+The most of these biographies are, as it were, the frames to battle
+pictures: thus, in the history of Putnam, we have a graphic
+description of the contest on Bunker Hill; in that of Moultrie, of the
+defence of Fort Sullivan; and in that of Washington, of the battle of
+Trenton. The actions from the skirmish at Lexington to the surrender
+of Cornwallis, are all admirably and graphically told in a style
+animated without being florid, and chaste without being stiff. The
+straight forward honesty of the diction, leaves the mind of the reader
+to be carried on with the simple but intense spirit of the action, as
+if he were a spectator rather than reader. The description of the
+battle of Trenton is the most complete ever published.
+
+The author, in his preface, says he does not claim exemption from
+errors, that no one can who writes on a subject so obscure in many
+respects as that of the Revolution. We think his decisions, however,
+are generally unimpeachable. Wherever we have been able of testing
+them, we have found them accurate; and this induces us to believe that
+in other cases he is correct. But we should like to have seen his
+evidence of the second battle of Assunpink, for Hull, in his diary,
+mentions nothing of it. We think, too, that Arnold was not personally
+present at Stillwater, though Burgoyne was of opinion that he was, for
+he complimented him for his behaviour on that occasion. We notice some
+misprints in the volume, a thing almost unavoidable in a book of this
+size; one or two are glaring ones--but these can be corrected in a
+second edition.
+
+The narrative of the war, in all its relations, is well told. It gives
+a comprehensive picture of the rise and progress of the contest, and
+abounds with much new matter, showing a thorough knowledge of the
+great history of that period. We notice many anecdotes which we have
+never before seen in print.
+
+The public has long needed a good popular history of the Revolution;
+for Batta's, and others of that stamp, are too long; and, beside, much
+new light has been lately thrown on that portion of our annals. We
+have such a book here, and it is for this reason that we hail it with
+peculiar pleasure.
+
+We cannot close this notice without quoting the following somewhat
+remarkable passage from Mr. Peterson's preliminary chapter, which was
+evidently written long before the late events in Europe--more than two
+years ago, according to the preface.
+
+"It is evident," he says, "that the old world is worn out. There are
+cycles in empires as well as dynasties; and Europe, after nearly two
+thousand years, seems to have finished another term of civilization.
+The most polite nation in the eastern hemisphere is now where the
+Roman empire was just before it verged to a decline--the same system
+of government--the same extremes of wealth and poverty--the same
+delusive prosperity characterizing both. _Europe stands on the crust
+of a decayed volcano, which at any time may fall in._ The social
+fabric in the old world is in its dotage." Part of this prediction has
+already been verified, and we wait with impatient expectation for the
+fulfillment of the rest.
+
+    *    *    *    *    *
+
+
+     _Old Hicks, the Guide; or Adventures in the Camanche
+     Country in Search of a Gold Mine. By Charles W. Webber.
+     New York: Harper & Brothers_. 2 _parts_.
+
+Here is a book "to stir a fever in the blood of age"--full of wild
+adventure, and running over with life. It seems to have been composed
+on horseback. The sentences trot, gallop, leap, toss the mane, and
+give all other evidences of strength and activity in the race of
+expression. The author fairly gives the reins to his thoughts and
+fancies, and they sweep along the dizziest edges of rhetoric with a
+jubilant hip! hip! hurrah! We have rarely known so much daring
+rewarded with so much success. The critic is expecting every moment to
+see the author break his neck by a sudden descent from the sublime to
+the ridiculous, but is continually disappointed. The vigor of old
+Kentucky bounds in the veins and "lives along the heart" of this most
+stalwart and defiant Kentuckian. He charges critical batteries with
+the force of Harney's dragoons. We accordingly surrender at
+discretion. Captain Scott need but to point his rifle, and the coon
+comes down at once.
+
+Seriously, Mr. Webber's book is one of the most captivating of its
+kind ever produced in the United States. It shows the scholar and the
+practiced writer amid all its rampant energy, and many passages are
+full of eloquence. The scenery and events are of that kind most
+calculated to fasten on the popular imagination. The author has a
+singular faculty of condensing narration and description, and bringing
+the scene and deed right before the eye, without any of the tedious
+minutiae in which most descriptive writers indulge. Consequently his
+observations are flashed upon the mind of the reader rather than
+conveyed to it, piece by piece. If Mr. Webber would soften a little
+the ravenousness of his style, and treat his subjects with a little
+more regard to artistic propriety, he might produce a work of fiction
+of very great merit, both as regards plot and characterization. The
+present volume indicates a vitality of mind, to which creation is but
+an appropriate exercise. It evinces more genius than Typee or Omoo.
+
+    *    *    *    *    *
+
+
+     _Cookery in America. Illustrated by Martin the Younger.
+     Wm. H. Graham, New York_.
+
+Fair and funny. It is time that the _lex talionis_ should be applied
+to those who have so often made themselves merry at our expense.
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Several characteristic spellings and instances of punctuation were
+left as in the original, as representing the usage of the times--while
+a number of obvious printer's errors and omissions were corrected
+silently.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 6 June
+1848, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1848 ***
+
+***** This file should be named 29344.txt or 29344.zip *****
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