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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #53963 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53963)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, June
-1849, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, June 1849
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: George R. Graham
- J. R. Patterson
- J. B. Taylor
-
-Release Date: January 14, 2017 [EBook #53963]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1849 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net from
-page images generously made available by Google Books
-
-
-
-
-
- GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
- VOL. XXXIV. June, 1849. No. 6.
-
-
- Table of Contents
-
- The Picture of Judgment; or The Grotta Del Tifoné
- Thoughts
- Stanzas
- Deaf, Dumb and Blind
- Raffaelle d’Urbino
- Turn Not Away
- Cousin Fanny
- The Sleep of the Dead
- From the Greek Anthologia
- The Battle of Life
- Fifty Suggestions
- May Lillie
- The New Search After Happiness
- Night
- Passages of Life in Europe
- Stanzas for Music
- For and Against
- My Study
- The Birth-Place of Benjamin West
- Dreams of Heaven
- The Young Dragoon
- Wild-Birds of America
- Vincente Filicaja’s Sonnet to Italy
- Review of New Books
- Editor’s Table
- I Can’t Make Up My Mind
-
- Transcriber’s Notes can be found at the end of this eBook.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: LE FOLLET
-
-PARIS, Boulevart S^{t.} Martin, 61
-_Robes & mantelet de M.^{me}_ Forgue, _boul. Bonne Nouvelle, 17_;—_Etoffes
- de la_ Chausée-l’Autin, _N.^{o} 9_;
-_Dentelles de_ Violard, _r. de Choiseul, 2 bis_;—_Chapeaux de M.^{me}_
- Beaudry, _r. Richelieu, 87_;
-_Fleurs de_ Chagot;—_Ombrelles de_ Cazal, _boulev.^{t} des Italiens, 23_;
-_Mouchoir de_ Chapron, _r. de la Paix, 7_—_Essences & flacons de_
- Guerlain, _r. de la Paix, 11_]
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: W. Drummond Addison
-
-THE STAR OF THE NIGHT.
-
-Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine]
-
- * * * * *
-
- GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
-
- * * * * *
-
- VOL. XXXIV. PHILADELPHIA, June, 1849. NO. 6.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE PICTURE OF JUDGMENT;
-
-
- OR THE GROTTA DEL TIFONÉ.
-
- A TALE OF THE ETRURIAN.
-
-
- BY W. GILMORE SIMMS, AUTHOR of “GUY RIVERS,” “THE YEMASSEE,” “RICHARD
- HURDIS,” &c.
-
-
- Ma se conoscer la prima radice
- Del nostri, amor, tu hai cotanto affetto,
- Faro come colui che piange e dice.
- DANTE.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
- _Introductory. The Sepulchres of Etruria._
-
-The “Grotta del Tifoné”—an Etruscan tomb opened by the Chevalier Manzi,
-in 1833—discovered some peculiarities at the time of its opening, which
-greatly mystified the cognoscenti of Italy. It was found, by certain
-Roman inscriptions upon two of the sarcophagi, that the inmates belonged
-to another people, and that the vaults of the noble Tarquinian family of
-Pomponius, had, for some unaccountable reasons, been opened for the
-admission of the stranger. No place was so sacred among the Etruscans as
-that of burial; and the tombs of the Lucumones of Tarquinia, were held
-particularly sacred to the immediate connections of the chief. Here he
-lay in state, and the scions and shoots of his blood and bosom were
-grouped around him, being literally, as the old Hebrew phraseology hath
-it, “gathered to their fathers.” It was not often, and then only under
-peculiar circumstances, which rendered the exception to the rule proper,
-that the leaves of stone which closed the mausoleum were rolled aside
-for the admission of foreigners. The “Grotta del Tifoné,” so called from
-the Etruscan Typhon, or Angel of Death, which appears conspicuously
-painted upon the square central pillar, was the last resting-place of
-the distinguished family of Pomponius. It is a chamber eighteen paces
-long, and sixteen broad, and is hewn out in the solid rock. The
-sarcophagi were numerous when first discovered. The ledges were
-full—every place was occupied, and a further excavation had been made
-for the reception of other tenants. These tombs were all carefully
-examined by the explorers with that intense feeling of curiosity which
-such a discovery was calculated to inspire. The apartment was in good
-preservation; the paintings bright and distinct, though fully twenty-two
-centuries must have elapsed since the colors were first spread by the
-hands of the artist. And there were the inscriptions, just declaring
-enough to heighten and to deepen curiosity. A name, a fragment—and that
-in Latin. That a Roman should sleep in a tomb of the Etruscan, was
-itself a matter of some surprise; but that this strangeness should be
-still further distinguished by an inscription, an epitaph, in the
-language of the detested nation—as if the affront were to be rendered
-more offensive and more imposing—was calculated still further to
-provoke astonishment! Why should the hateful and always hostile Roman
-find repose among the patriarchs of Tarquinia?—the rude, obscure
-barbarian, in the mausoleum of a refined and ancient family? Why, upon
-an Etruscan tomb, should there be other than an Etruscan inscription?
-One of the strangers was a woman! Who was she, and for what was she thus
-distinguished? By what fatality came she to find repose among the awful
-manes of a people, between whom and her own, the hatred was so deep and
-inextinguishable—ending not even with the entire overthrow of the
-superior race? The sarcophagus of the other stranger was without an
-inscription. But he, too, was a Roman! His effigy, betraying all the
-characteristics of his people, lay at length above his tomb; a noble
-youth, with features of exquisite delicacy and beauty, yet distinguished
-by that falcon visage, which so well marked the imposing features of the
-great masters of the ancient world.
-
-The wonder and delight of our visiters were hardly lessened, while their
-curiosity was stimulated to a still higher degree of intensity, as their
-researches led them to another discovery which followed the further
-examination of the “Grotta.” On the right of the entrance they happened
-upon one of these exquisite paintings, in which the genius of the
-Etruscan proves itself to have anticipated, though it may never have
-rivaled the ultimate excellence of the Greek. The piece describes a
-frequent subject of art—a procession of souls to judgment, under the
-charge of good and evil genii. The group is numerous. The grace,
-freedom, and expression of the several figures is beyond description
-fine; and, with two exceptions, the effect is exquisitely grateful to
-the spectator, as the progress seems to be one to eternal delights. Two
-of the souls, however, are not freed, but convict; not escaping, but
-doomed; not looking hope and bliss, but despair and utter misery. One of
-these is clearly the noble youth whose effigy, without inscription,
-appears upon the tomb. He is one of the Roman intruders. Behind him,
-following close, is the evil genius of the Etruscan—represented as a
-colossal negro—brutal in all his features, exulting fiendishly, in his
-expression of countenance, and with his claws firmly grasped in the
-shoulders of his victim. His brow is twined with serpents in the manner
-of a fillet, and his left hand carries the huge mallet with which the
-demon was expected to crush, or bruise and mangle, the prey which was
-assigned him. The other unhappy soul, in similar keeping, is that of a
-young woman, whose features declare her to be one of the loveliest of
-her sex. She is tall and majestic; her carriage haughty even in her wo,
-and her face equally distinguished by the highest physical beauty,
-elevated by a majesty and air of sway, which denoted a person accustomed
-to the habitual exercise of her own will. But, through all her beauty
-and majesty, there are the proofs of that agony of soul which passeth
-show and understanding. Two big drops of sorrow have fallen, and rest
-upon her cheeks, the only tokens which her large Juno-like eyes seem to
-have given of the suffering which she endures. They still preserve their
-fires undimmed and undaunted, and leave it rather to the brow, the lips,
-and the general features of the face to declare the keen, unutterable wo
-that swells within her soul, triumphant equally over pride and beauty.
-Nothing can exceed in force the touching expression of her agony
-unutterable, unless in the sympathizing imagination of him who seeks for
-the sources of the painter’s pencil into the very bosom of the artist.
-Immediately behind this beautiful and suffering creature is seen, close
-following, as in the case of the Roman youth already described, the
-gloomy and brutal demon—the devil of Etruscan superstition—a negro
-somewhat less dark and deformed than the other, and seemingly of the
-other sex, with looks less terrible and offensive, but whose office is
-not less certain, and whose features are not less full of exultation and
-triumph. She does not actually grasp the shoulders of the victim, but
-she has her nevertheless beneath her clutches, and the serpent of her
-fillet, with extended head, seems momently ready to dart its venomous
-fangs into the white bosom that shrinks yet swells beneath its eye.
-
-Long, indeed, did this terrible picture fix and fascinate the eyes of
-the spectators; and when at length they turned away, it was only to look
-back and to meditate upon the mysterious and significant scene which it
-described. In proceeding further, however, in their search through the
-“Grotta,” they happened upon another discovery. They were already aware
-that the features of this beautiful woman were Roman in their type.
-Indeed, there was no mistaking the inexpressible majesty of that
-countenance, which could belong to no other people. It was not to be
-confounded with the Etruscan, which, it must be remembered, was rather
-Grecian or Phœnician in its character, and indicated grace and beauty
-rather than strength, subtlety and skill, rather than majesty and
-command. But, that there might be no doubt of the origin of this lovely
-woman, examining more closely the effigy upon the sarcophagus first
-discovered—having removed the soil from the features, and brought a
-strong light to bear upon them—they were found to be those exactly of
-the victim thus terribly distinguished in the painting.
-
-Here, then, was a coincidence involving a very curious mystery. About
-the facts there could be no mistake. Two strangers, of remarkable
-feature, find their burial, against all usage, in the tumulus of an
-ancient Etruscan family. Both are young, of different sexes, and both
-are Roman. Their features are carved above their dust, in immortal
-marble—we may almost call it so, which, after two thousand years, still
-preserves its trust—and, in an awful procession of souls to judgment,
-delineated by a hand of rare excellence, and with rare precision, we
-find the same persons, drawn to the life, and in the custody, as doomed
-victims, of the terrible fiend of Etruscan mythology. To this condition
-some terrible tale was evidently attached. Both of these pictures were
-portraits. For that matter, all were portraits in the numerous
-collection. With those two exceptions, the rest were of the same family,
-and their several fates, according to the resolve of the painter, were
-all felicitous. They walked erect, triumphant in hope and consciousness,
-elastic in their tread, and joyous in their features. Not so these two:
-the outcasts of the group—_with_ but not _of_ them—painfully
-contrasted by the artist—terribly so by the doom of the awful
-providence whose decree he had ventured thus freely to declare. The
-features of the man had the expression of one whom a just self-esteem
-moves to submit in dignity, and without complaint. The face of the
-woman, on the contrary, is full of anguish, though still distinguished
-by a degree of loftiness and character to which his offers no
-pretension. There were the portraits, and there the effigies, and
-beneath them, in their stone coffins, lay the fragments of their
-mouldering bones—the relic of two thousand years. What a scene had the
-artist chosen to transmit to posterity—from real life—and with what
-motive? By what terrible sense of justice, or by what strange obliquity
-of judgment and feeling, did the great Lucumo of the Pomponii, suffer
-the members of his family to be thus offensively perpetuated to all
-time, in the place of family sepulture? Could it have been the
-inspiration of revenge and hatred, by which this vivid and terrible
-representation was wrought; and what was the melancholy history of these
-two strangers—so young, so beautiful—thus doomed to the inexpiable
-torments of the endless future, by the bold anticipatory awards of a
-successor, or a contemporary? To these questions our explorers of the
-“Grotta del Tifoné” did not immediately find an answer. That they have
-done so since, the reader will ascribe to the keen anxiety with which
-they have groped through ancient chronicles in search of an event which,
-thus wondrously preserved by art for a period of more than twenty
-centuries, could not, as they well conjectured, be wholly obliterated
-from all other mortal records.
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
- _The Etrurian Captive at Rome._
-
-The time had passed when Etruria gave laws to the rest of Italy. Lars
-Porsenna was already in his grave, and his memory, rather than his
-genius and spirit, satisfied the Etruscan. The progeny of the She
-Wolf[1] had risen into wondrous strength and power, and so far from
-shrinking within their walls at the approach of the vulture of Volterræ,
-they had succeeded in clipping her wings, and shortening, if not wholly
-arresting her flight. The city of the Seven Hills, looking with triumph
-from her eminences, began to claim all within her scope of vision as her
-own, and paralyzed at their audacity, their success, and their wonderful
-genius for all the arts of war, the neighboring cities began to tremble
-at the assertion of her claims. But the braver and less prudent spirits
-of young Etruria revolted at this assumption, and new wars followed,
-which were too fierce and bloody to continue long. It needs not that we
-should describe the varying fortunes of the parties. Enough for our
-purposes that, after one well-fought field, in which the Romans
-triumphed, they bore away, as a prisoner, with many others, Cœlius, the
-youthful Lucumo of the Pomponian family. This young man, not yet
-nineteen, was destined by nature rather for an artist, than a soldier.
-He possessed, in remarkable degree, that talent for painting and
-statuary, which was largely the possession of the Etrurians; and, though
-belonging to one of the noblest families in his native city, he did not
-think it dishonorable to exercise his talent with industry and devotion.
-In the invasion of his country by the fierce barbarians of Rome, he had
-thrown aside the pencil for the sword, in the use of which latter weapon
-he had shown himself not a whit less skillful and excellent, because of
-his preference for a less dangerous implement. His captivity was
-irksome, rather than painful and oppressive. He was treated with
-indulgence by his captors, and quartered for a season in the family of
-the fierce chief by whose superior prowess he had been overthrown. Here,
-if denied his freedom, and the use of the sword, he was not denied a
-resumption of those more agreeable exercises of art to which he had
-devoted himself before his captivity. He consoled himself in this
-condition by his favorite studies. He framed the vase into grace and
-beauty, adorned its sides with groups from poetry and history, and by
-his labors delighted the uninitiated eyes of all around him. The fierce
-warrior in whose custody he was looked on with a grim sort of
-satisfaction at the development of arts, for which his appreciative
-faculties were small; and it somewhat lessened our young Etruscan in his
-esteem, that he should take pleasure in such employments. At all events,
-the effects, however disparaging, were so far favorable that they tended
-to the increase of his indulgencies. His restraints were fewer, the old
-Roman not apprehending much danger of escape, or much of enterprise,
-from one whose tastes were so feminine; and the more gentle regards of
-the family, in which he was a guest perforce, contributed still more to
-sweeten and soften the asperities of captivity. As a Lucumo of the first
-rank in Etruria, he also claimed peculiar indulgences from a people,
-who, conscious of their own inferior origin, were not by any means
-insensible to the merits of aristocracy. Our captive was accordingly
-treated with a deference which was as grateful to his condition as it
-was the proper tribute to his rank. The wife of the chief whose captive
-he was, herself a noble matron of Rome, was as little insensible to the
-rank of the Etrurian, as she was to the equal modesty and manliness of
-his deportment. Nor was she alone thus made aware of his claims and
-virtues. She had a son and daughter, the latter named Aurelia, a
-creature of the most imposing beauty, of a lofty spirit and carriage,
-and of a high and generous ambition. The brother, Lucius, was younger
-than herself; a lad of fifteen, but he, like his sister, became rapidly
-and warmly impressed with the grace of manner and goodness of heart
-which distinguished the young Etrurian. They both learned to love him;
-the youth, probably, with quite as unreckoning a warmth as his sister.
-Nor was the heart of Cœlius long untouched. He soon perceived the
-exquisite beauties of the Roman damsel, and, by the usual unfailing
-symptoms, revealed the truth as well to the family of the maiden as to
-herself. The mother discovered the secret with delight, was soon aware
-of the condition of her daughter’s heart; and the relations of the
-several parties being thus understood, it was not long before they came
-to an explanation, which ended to their mutual satisfaction. Cœlius was
-soon released from his captivity, and, to the astonishment of all his
-family, returned home, bearing with him the beautiful creature by whom
-his affections had been so suddenly enslaved.
-
------
-
-[1] Rome.
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
- _The Brother and the Wife._
-
-His return to Tarquinia was hailed with delight by every member of his
-family but one. This was a younger brother, whose position had been
-greatly improved by the absence and supposed death of Cœlius. He cursed
-in the bitterness of his heart the fate which had thus restored, as from
-the grave, the shadow which had darkened his own prospects; and though
-he concealed his mortification under the guise of a joy as lively as
-that of any other member of the household, he was torn with secret hate
-and the most fiendish jealousy. At first, however, as these feelings
-were quite aimless, he strove naturally to subdue them. There was no
-profitable object in their indulgence, and he was one of those, cunning
-beyond his years, who entertain no moods, and commit no crime, unless
-with the distinct hope of acquisition. It required but a little time,
-however, to ripen other feelings in his soul, by which the former were
-rather strengthened than diminished, and by which all his first, and,
-perhaps, feeble efforts to subdue them were rendered fruitless. In the
-first bitter mood in which he beheld the return of his brother, the deep
-disappointment which he felt, with the necessity of concealing his
-chagrin from every eye, prevented him from bestowing that attention upon
-the wife of Cœlius which her beauty, had his thoughts been free, must
-inevitably have commanded. With his return to composure, however, he
-soon made the discovery of her charms, and learned to love them with a
-passion scarcely less warm than that which was felt by her husband.
-Hence followed a double motive for hating the latter, and denouncing his
-better fortune. Aruns—the name of the younger brother—was, like
-Cœlius, a man of great talent and ingenuity; but his talent, informed
-rather by his passions than by his tastes, was addressed to much humbler
-objects. While the one was creative and gentle in his character, the
-other was violent and destructive; while the one worshiped beauty for
-its own sake, the other regarded it only as subserving selfish purposes.
-Cœlius was frank and generous in his temper, Aruns reserved, suspicious
-and contracted. The one had no disguises, the other dwelt within them,
-even as a spider girdled by his web, and lying secret in the crevice at
-its bottom. Hitherto, his cunning had been chiefly exercised in
-concealing itself, in assuming the part of frankness, in appearing, so
-far as he might, the thing that he was not. It was now to be exercised
-for his more certain profit, in schemes hostile to the peace of others.
-To cloak these designs, he betrayed more than usual joy at the
-restoration of his brother. His, indeed, seemed the most elated spirit
-of the household, and the confiding and unsuspecting Cœlius at once took
-him to his heart, with all the warmth and sincerity of boyhood. It gave
-him pleasure to perceive that Aurelia, his wife, received him as a
-brother, and regarded with delight the appearance of affection that
-subsisted between them. The three soon became more and more united in
-their sympathies and objects, and the devotion of Aruns to the Roman
-wife of Cœlius was productive of a gratification to the latter, which he
-did not endeavor to conceal. It was grateful to him that his brother did
-not leave his wife to that solitude in her foreign home, which might
-sometimes have followed his own too intense devotion to the arts which
-he so passionately loved; and, without a fear that his faith might be
-misplaced, he left to Aruns the duty which no husband might prudently
-devolve upon any man, of ministering to those tastes and affections, the
-most delicate and sacred, which make of every family circle a temple in
-which the father, and the husband, and the master, should alone be the
-officiating priest.
-
-Some time had passed in this manner, and at length it struck our Lucumo
-that there was less cordiality between his brother and his wife than had
-pleased him so much at first. Aurelia now no longer spoke of Aruns—his
-name never escaped her lips, unless when she was unavoidably forced to
-speak it in reply. His approaches to her were marked by a timidity not
-usual with him, and by a _hauteur_ in her countenance which was shown to
-no other person. It was a proof of the superior love of Cœlius to his
-wife that he reproached her for this seeming dislike. She baffled his
-inquiry, met his reproaches with renewed shows of tenderness, and the
-fond, confiding husband resumed his labors on the beautiful, with
-perhaps too little regard to what was going on around him. Meanwhile,
-the expression in the face of Aurelia had been gradually deepening into
-gravity. Care was clouding her brow, and an air of anxiety manifested
-itself upon her cheek—a look of apprehension—as if some danger were
-impending—some great fear threatening in her heart. This continued for
-some time, when she became conscious that the eye of her husband began
-to be fixed inquiringly upon her, and with the look of one dissatisfied,
-if not doubtful—disturbed if not suspicious—and with certain
-sensibilities rendered acute and watchful, which had been equally
-confiding and affectionate before. These signs increased her disquiet,
-and deepened her anxiety. But she was silent. The glances of her husband
-were full of appeal, but she gave them no response. She could but retire
-from his presence, and sigh to herself in solitude. There was evidently
-a mystery in this conduct, and the daily increasing anxieties of the
-husband betrayed his doubts that it might prove a humiliating one at the
-solution. But he, too, was silent. His pride forbade that he should
-declare himself, when he could only speak of vague surmises, and perhaps
-degrading suspicions. He was silent, but not at ease. His pleasant
-labors of the studio were abandoned. Was it for relief from his own
-thoughts that he was now so frequently in company with Aruns, or did he
-hope to obtain from the latter, any clue to the mystery which disturbed
-his household? It was not in the art of Aurelia so to mould the
-expression of her countenance, as to hide from others the anxiety which
-she felt in the increasing and secret communion of the brothers. She
-watched their departure with dread, and witnessed their return together
-with agitation. She saw, or fancied she saw, in the looks of the younger
-a malignant exultation, which even his habitual cunning did not suffer
-him entirely to conceal.
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
-
- _The Secret Picture._
-
-At length the cloud seemed to clear away from the brow of her husband.
-He once more resumed his labors, and with an eagerness and an avidity
-which he had not betrayed before. His passion now amounted to intensity.
-He gave himself no respite from his labors. Late and early he was at his
-task—morning and night—without intermission, and with the enthusiasm
-of one who rejoices in the completion of a favorite and long-cherished
-study. Aurelia was not unhappy at this second change; to go back to his
-old engagements and tastes seemed to her to indicate a return to his
-former equanimity and waveless happiness. It was with some surprise,
-however, and not a little concern, that she was not now permitted to
-watch his progress. He wrought in secret—his studio was closed against
-her, as, indeed, it was against all persons. Hitherto it had not been so
-in her instance. She pleasantly reproached him for this seclusion, but
-he answered her—“fear not, you shall see all when it is done.” There
-was something in this reply to disquiet her, but she was in a state of
-mind easily to be disquieted. She was conscious also of a secret
-withheld from her husband—and her reproaches sunk back upon her heart,
-unuttered, from her lips. She could not, because of what she felt,
-declare to him what she thought; and she beheld his progress, from day
-to day, with an apprehension that increased momently, and made her
-appearance, in one respect, not unlike his own. She was now aware that
-he was the victim of a strange excitement, in which his present artist
-labors had a considerable share. He seemed to hurry to their prosecution
-with an eager impatience that looked like frenzy—and to return from his
-daily task with a frame exhausted, but with an eye that seemed to burn
-with the subtlest fires. His words were few, but there was a strange
-intelligence in his looks. His cheeks had grown very pale, his frame was
-thinned, his voice hollow, in the prosecution of these secret labors;
-and yet there was a something of exultation in his glance, which fully
-declared that, however exhausting to his frame might be the task he was
-pursuing, its results were yet looked to with a wild and eager
-satisfaction. At length the work was done. One day he stood before her
-in an attitude of utter exhaustion. “It is finished!” he exclaimed. “You
-shall see it to-morrow.”
-
-“What is it?” she asked.
-
-“Nay, to-morrow! to-morrow!”
-
-He then retired to sleep, and rested several hours. She looked on him
-while he slept. He had never rested so profoundly since he had begun the
-labor from which he was now freed. The slumber of an infant had never
-been less disturbed, never been softer, sweeter, or purer. The beauty of
-Cœlius was that of the most peaceful purity. She bent over him as he
-slept, and kissed his forehead with looks of the truest devotion, while
-two big tears gathered in her large eyes, and slowly felt their way
-along her cheeks. She turned away lest the warm drops falling upon his
-face might awake him. She turned away, and in her own apartment gave
-free vent to the feelings which his pure and placid slumbers seemed
-rather to subdue than encourage. Why, with such a husband—her first
-love—and with so many motives to happiness, was she not happy? Alas!
-who shall declare for the secret yearnings of the heart, and say, as
-idly as Canute to the sea, “thus far shalt thou go, and no farther—here
-shall thy proud waves be stayed.” Aurelia was a creature of fears and
-anxieties, and many a secret and sad presentiment. She was very far from
-happy—ill at ease—and—but why anticipate? We shall soon enough arrive
-at the issue of our melancholy narrative!
-
-That night, while she slept—for grief and apprehension have their
-periods of exhaustion, which we misname repose—her husband rose from
-his couch, and with cautious footsteps departed from his dwelling. He
-was absent all the night, and returned only with the dawn. He re-entered
-his home with the same stealthy caution with which he had quitted it,
-and it might have been remarked that he dismissed his brother, with two
-other persons, at the threshold. They were all masked, and otherwise
-disguised with cloaks. Why this mystery? Where had they been—on what
-mission of mischief or of shame? To Cœlius such a necessity was new, and
-scarcely had he entered his dwelling than he cast aside his disguises
-with the air of one who loathes their uses. He was very pale and
-haggard, with a fixed but glistening expression of the eye, a brow of
-settled gloom, from which hope and faith, and every interest in life
-seemed utterly to be banished. A single groan escaped him when he stood
-alone, and then he raised himself erect, as if hitherto he had leaned
-upon the arms of others. He carried himself firmly and loftily, his lips
-compressed, his eye eagerly looking forward, and thus, after the
-interval of a few seconds, he passed to the chamber of his wife. And
-still she slept. He bent over her, earnestly and intently gazing upon
-those beauties which grief seemed only to sadden into superior
-sweetness. He looked upon her with those earnest eyes of love, the
-expression of which can never be misunderstood. Still he loved her,
-though between her heart and his a high, impassable barrier had been
-raised up by the machinations of a guilty spirit. Tenderness was the
-prevailing character of his glance until she spoke. Her sleep, though
-deep, was not wholly undisturbed. Fearful images crossed her fancy. She
-started and sobbed, and cried, “Save, O save and spare him—Flavius, my
-dear Flavius!”—and her breathing again became free, and her lips sunk
-once more into repose. But fearful was the change, from a saddened
-tenderness to agony and despair, which passed over the features of
-Cœlius as he listened to her cry. Suddenly, striking his clenched hands
-against his forehead, he shook them terribly at the sleeping woman, and
-rushed wildly out of the apartment.
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
- _Progress to the Sepulchre._
-
-It was noon of the same day—a warm and sunny noon, in which the birds
-and the breeze equally counseled pleasure and repose. The viands stood
-before our Cœlius and his wife, the choicest fruits of Italy, and cates
-which might not, in later days, have misbeseemed the favorite chambers
-of Lucullus. The goblet was lifted in the hands of both, and the heart
-of Aurelia felt almost as cheerful as the expression on her face. It was
-the reflection in the face of her husband. His brow was gloomy no
-longer. The tones of his voice were neither cold, nor angry, nor
-desponding. A change—she knew not why—had come over his spirit, and he
-smiled, nay, laughed out, in the very exultation of a new life. Aurelia
-conjectured nothing of this so sudden change. Enough that it was
-grateful to her soul. She was too happy in its influence to inquire into
-its cause. What heart that is happy does inquire? She quaffed the goblet
-at his bidding—quaffed it to the dregs—and her eye gleamed delighted
-and delightfully upon his, even as in the first hours of their union.
-She had no apprehensions—dreaded nothing sinister—and did not perceive
-that ever, at the close of his laughter, there was a convulsive
-quiver—a sort of hysterical sobbing, that he seemed to try to subdue in
-vain. She noticed not this, nor the glittering, almost spectral
-brightness of his glance, as, laughing tumultuously, he still kept his
-gaze intently fixed upon her. She was blind to all things but the
-grateful signs of his returning happiness and attachment. Once more the
-goblet was lifted. “To Turmes (Mercury) the conductor,” cried the
-husband. The wife drank unwittingly—for still her companion smiled upon
-her, and spoke joyfully, and she was as little able as willing to
-perceive that any thing occult occured in his expression.
-
-“Have you drank?” he asked.
-
-She smiled, and laid the empty goblet before him.
-
-“Come, then, you shall now behold the picture. You will now be prepared
-to understand it.”
-
-They rose together, but another change had overspread his features. The
-gayety had disappeared from his face. It was covered with a calm that
-was frightful. The eye still maintained all its eager intensity, but the
-lips were fixed in the icy mould of resolution. They declared a deep,
-inflexible purpose. There was a corresponding change in his manner and
-deportment. But a moment before he was all life, grace, gayety and great
-flexibility; he was now erect, majestic, and commanding in aspect, with
-a lordly dignity in his movement, that declared a sense of a high duty
-to be done. Aurelia was suddenly impressed with misgivings. The change
-was too sudden not to startle. Her doubts and apprehensions were not
-lessened when, instead of conducting her to the studio, where she
-expected to see the picture, he led the way through the vestibule and
-into the open court of the palace. They lingered but for a moment at the
-entrance, and she then beheld his brother Aruns approaching. To him she
-gave not a look.
-
-“All is right,” said the latter.
-
-“Enter!” was the reply of Cœlius; and as the brother disappeared within
-the vestibule, the two moved forward through the outer gate. They passed
-through a lovely wood, shady and hidden, through which, subdued by
-intervening leaves, gleamed only faintly the bright, clear sun of Italy.
-From under the huge chestnuts, on either hand, the majestic gods of
-Etruria extended their guiding and endowing hands. Tina, or Jupiter,
-Aplu, or Apollo, Erkle, Turmes, and the rest, all conducting them along
-the _via sacre_, which led from the palaces to the tombs of every proud
-Etruscan family. They entered the solemn grove which was dedicated to
-night and silence, and were about to ascend the gradual slopes by which
-the tumulus was approached. Then it was that the misgivings of Aurelia
-took a more serious form. She felt a vague but oppressive fear. She
-hesitated.
-
-“My Cœlius,” she exclaimed, “whither do we go. Is not this the passage
-to the house of silence?”
-
-“Do you not know it?” he demanded quickly, and fixing upon her a keen
-inquiring glance. “Come!” he continued, “it is there that I have fixed
-the picture!”
-
-“Alas! my Cœlius, wherefore! It is upon this picture that you have been
-so deeply engaged. It has made you sad—it has left us both unhappy. Let
-us not go—let me not see it!” Her agitation was greatly increased. He
-saw it, and his face put on a look of desperate exultation.
-
-“Ay, but thou must see it—thou shalt look upon it and behold my
-triumph, my greatest triumph in art, and perhaps my last. I shall never
-touch pencil more, and wilt thou refuse to look upon my last and noblest
-work. Fie! this were a wrong to me, and a great shame in thee, Aurelia.
-Come! the toil of which thou think’st but coldly, has brought me peace
-rather than sadness. It has made of death a thing rather familiar than
-offensive. If it has deprived me of hopes, it has left me without
-terrors!”
-
-“Deprived you of hopes, my Cœlius,” said the wife, still lingering, and
-in mortal terror.
-
-“Even so!”
-
-“And, wherefore, O, my husband, wherefore?”
-
-“Speak not, woman! See you not that we are within the shadow of the
-tomb?”
-
-“Let us not approach—let us go hence!” she exclaimed entreatingly, with
-increasing agitation.
-
-“Ay, shrink’st thou!” he answered; “well thou may’st. The fathers of the
-Pomponii, for two thousand years, are now floating around us on their
-sightless wings. They wonder that a Roman woman should draw nigh to the
-dwellings of our ancient Lucumones.”
-
-“A Roman woman!” she exclaimed reproachfully. “My Cœlius, wherefore
-this?”
-
-“Art thou not?”
-
-“I am thy wife.”
-
-“Art sure of that?”
-
-“As the gods live and look upon us, I am thine, this hour and forever!”
-
-“May the gods judge thee, woman,” he responded slowly, as he paused at
-the gate of the mausoleum, and fixed his eyes intently upon her. Hers
-were raised to heaven, with her uplifted hands. She did not weep, and
-her grief was still mixed with a fearful agitation.
-
-“Let us now return, my Cœlius!”
-
-“What, wilt thou not behold the picture?”
-
-“Not now—at another season. I could not look upon it now!”
-
-“Alas! woman, but this cannot be. Thou must behold it now or never. Hope
-not to escape. Enter! I have a tale to tell thee, and a sight to show
-thee within, which thou canst not hear or see hereafter. Enter!” As he
-spoke, he applied the key to the stone leaf, and the door slowly
-revolved upon the massy pivots. She turned and would have fled, but he
-grasped her by the wrist, and moved toward the entrance. She carried her
-freed hand to her forehead—parted the hair from her eyes, and raised
-them pleadingly to heaven. Resistance she saw was vain. Her secret was
-discovered. She prepared to enter, but slowly. “Enter! Dost thou fear
-now,” cried her husband, “when commanded? Hast thou not, thou, a Roman,
-ventured already to penetrate these awful walls, given to silence and
-the dead—and on what mission? Enter, as I bid thee!”
-
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
- _The Chamber of Death—The Catastrophe._
-
-She obeyed him, shuddering and silent. He followed her, closed the
-entrance, and fastened it within. They were alone among the dead of a
-thousand years—alone, but not in darkness. The hand of preparation had
-been there, and cressets were burning upon the walls; their lights,
-reflected from the numerous shields of bronze within the apartment,
-shedding a strange and fantastic splendor upon the scene. The eyes of
-Aurelia rapidly explored the chamber as if in search of some expected
-object. Those of Cœlius watched them with an expression of scornful
-triumph, which did not escape her glance. She firmly met his gaze,
-almost inquiringly, while her hands were involuntarily and convulsively
-clasped together.
-
-“Whom dost thou seek, Aurelia?”
-
-“Thou know’st! thou know’st!—where is he? Tell me, my Cœlius, that he
-is safe, that thou hast sped him hence—that I may bless thee.”
-
-He smiled significantly as he replied, “He is safe—I have sped him
-hence!”
-
-“Tinai, (Adonai,) my husband, keep thee in the hollow of his hand.”
-
-“How shameless! dost thou dare so much!”
-
-“What mean’st thou, my Cœlius?”
-
-“Sit thou there,” he answered, “till I show thee my picture.” He pointed
-her, as he spoke, to a new sarcophagus, upon which she placed herself
-submissively. Then, with a wand in his hand, he, himself seated upon
-another coffin of stone, pointed her to a curtain which covered one of
-the sides of the chamber. “Behind that curtain, Aurelia, is the last
-work of my hands; but before I unveil it to thine eyes, let me tell thee
-its melancholy history. It will not need many words for this. Much of it
-is known to thee already. How I found thee in Rome, when I was there a
-captive—how I loved thee, and how I believed in thy assurances of love;
-all these things thou know’st. We wedded, and I brought thee, a Roman
-woman, held a barbarian by my people, into the palace of one of the
-proudest families of all Etruria. Shall I tell thee that I loved thee
-still, that I love thee even now, when I have most reason to hate thee,
-when I know thy perjury, thy cold heart, thy hot lust, thy base,
-degrading passions!”
-
-“Hold, my lord—say not these things to my grief and thy dishonor. They
-wrong me, not less than thy own name. These things, poured into thine
-ear by some secret enemy, are false!”
-
-“Thou wilt not swear it.”
-
-“By all the gods of Rome—”
-
-“And of what avail, and how binding the oath taken in the names of the
-barbarian deities of Rome.”
-
-“By the Etrurian—”
-
-“Perjure not thyself, woman, but hear me.”
-
-“Go on, my lord, I will hear thee, though I suffer death with every word
-thou speak’st.”
-
-“It is well, Aurelia, that thou art prepared for this.”
-
-“Thy dagger, my Cœlius, were less painful than thy words and looks
-unkind.”
-
-“Never was I unkind until I found thee false.”
-
-“Never was I false, my lord, even when thou wast unkind.”
-
-“Woman! lie not; thou wert discovered with thy paramour, here, in this
-tomb; thou wert followed, day by day, and all thy secret practices
-betrayed. This thou ow’st to the better vigilance of my dear brother
-Aruns—he, more watchful of my honor than myself—”
-
-“Ah! well I know from what hand came the cruel shaft; Cœlius, my Cœlius,
-thy brother is a wretch, doomed to infamy and black with crime. I have
-had no paramour. I might have had, and thou might’st have been
-dishonored, had I hearkened to thy brother’s pleadings. I spurned him
-from my feet with loathing, and he requites me with hate. Oh! my
-husband, believe me, and place this man, whom thou too fondly callest
-thy brother, before thine eyes and mine!”
-
-“Alas! Aurelia, this boldness becomes thee not. I myself traced thee to
-this tomb—these eyes but too frequently beheld thee with thy paramour.”
-
-“Cœlius, as I live, he was no paramour—but where is he, what hast thou
-done with him?”
-
-“Sent him before thee to prepare thy coach in Hades!”
-
-“Oh, brother!—but thou hast not! tell me, my lord, that thy hand is
-free from this bloody crime!”
-
-“He sleeps beneath thee. It is upon his sarcophagus thou sittest.”
-
-She started with a piercing shriek from the coffin where she sat, knelt
-beside it, and strove to remove the heavy stone lid, which had been
-already securely fastened. While thus engaged the Lucumo drew aside with
-his hand the curtain which concealed the picture.
-
-“Look,” said he, “woman, behold the fate which thou and thy paramour
-have received—behold the task which I had set me when first I had been
-shown thy perjuries. Look!”
-
-She arose in silence from her knees, and turned her eyes upon the
-picture. As the curtain was slowly unrolled from before it, and she
-conceived the awful subject, and distinguished, under the care of the
-good and guardian genii, the shades of well-known members of the
-Pomponian family, her interest was greatly excited; but when following
-in the train and under the grasp of the Etrurian demon, she beheld the
-features of the young Roman who was doomed, she bounded forward with a
-cry of agony.
-
-“My brother, my Flavius, my own, my only brother!” and sunk down with
-outstretched arms before the melancholy shade.
-
-“Her brother!” exclaimed the husband. She heard the words and rose
-rapidly to her feet.
-
-“Ay, Flavius, my brother, banished from Rome, and concealed here in thy
-house of silence, concealed even from thee, my husband, as I would not
-vex thee with the anxieties of an Etrurian noble, lest Rome should hear
-and punish the people, by whom her outlaw was protected. Thou know’st my
-crime. This paramour was the brother of my heart—child of the same sire
-and dame—a noble heart, a pure spirit, whose very virtues have been the
-cause of his disgrace at Rome. Slay me, if thou wilt, but tell me not,
-O, Cœlius, that thou hast put the hands of hate upon my brother!”
-
-“Thy tale is false, woman—well-planned, but false. Know I not thy
-brother? Did I not know thy brother well in Rome? Went we not together
-oft? I tell thee, I should know him among a line of ten thousand
-Romans!”
-
-“Alas! alas! my husband, if ever I had brother, then is this he. I tell
-thee nothing but the truth. Of a surety, when thou wert in Rome, my
-brother was known to thee, but the boy has now become a man. Seven years
-have wrought a change upon him of which thou hast not thought. Believe
-me, what I tell thee—the youth whom I sheltered in this vault, and to
-whom I brought food nightly, was, indeed, my brother—my Flavius, the
-only son of my mother, who sent him to me, with fond words of entreaty,
-when the consuls of the city bade him depart in banishment.”
-
-“I cannot believe thee, woman. It were a mortal agony, far beyond what I
-feel in the conviction of thy guilt, were I to yield faith to thy story.
-It is thy paramour whom I have slain, and who sleeps in that tomb. His
-portrait and his judgment are before thee, and now—look on thine own!”
-
-The picture, fully displayed, showed to the wretched woman her own
-person, in similar custody with him who was her supposed paramour. The
-terrible felicity of the execution struck her to the soul. It was a
-picture to live as a work of art, and to this she was not insensible.
-She clasped her hands before it, and exclaimed,
-
-“Oh! my Cœlius, what a life hast thou given to a lie. Yet may I bear the
-terrors of such a doom, if he whom thou hast painted there in a fate
-full of dreadful fellowship with mine, was other than my brother
-Flavius—he with whom thou did’st love to play, and to whom thou did’st
-impart the first lessons in the art which he learned to love from thee.
-Dost hear me, my Cœlius, as my soul lives, this man was none other than
-my brother.”
-
-“False! false! I will not, dare not believe thee!” he answered in husky
-accents. His frame was trembling, yet he busied himself in putting on a
-rich armor, clothing himself in military garb, from head to foot, as if
-going into action.
-
-“What dost thou, my lord?” demanded Aurelia, curious as she beheld him
-in this occupation.
-
-“This,” said he, “is the armor in which I fought with Rome when I was
-made the captive of thy people, and thine. It is fit that I should wear
-it now, when I am once more going into captivity.”
-
-“My husband, what mean’st thou—of what captivity dost thou speak?”
-
-“The captivity of death! Hear me, Aurelia, dost thou feel nothing at thy
-heart which tells thee of the coming struggle when the soul shakes off
-the reluctant flesh, and strives, as it were, for freedom. Is there no
-chill in thy veins, no sudden pang, as of fire in thy breast. These
-speak in me. They warn me of death. We are both summoned. But a little
-while is left us of life.”
-
-“Have mercy, Jove! I feel these pains, this chill, this fire that thou
-speak’st of.”
-
-“It is death! the goblet which I gave thee, and of which I drank the
-first and largest draught was drugged with death.”
-
-“Then—it is all true! Thou hast in truth slain my brother. Thou
-hast—thou hast!”
-
-“Nay, he was not thy brother, Aurelia. Why wilt thou forswear thyself at
-this terrible moment? It is vain. Would’st thou lie to death—would’st
-thou carry an impure face of perjury before the seat of the Triune God!
-Beware! Confess thy crime, and justify the vengeance of thy lord!”
-
-“As I believe thee, my Cœlius—as I believe that thou hast most rashly
-and unjustly murdered my brother, and put death in the cup which,
-delivered by thy hands, was sweet and precious to my lips, so must I now
-declare, in sight of Heaven, in the presence of the awful dead, that
-what I have said and sworn to thee, is truth. He whom I sheltered within
-the tombs of thy fathers, was the son of mine—the only, the last, best
-brother of my heart; I bore him in mine arms when I was a child myself.
-I loved him ever! Oh, how I loved him! next to thee, my Cœlius—next to
-thee! Could’st thou but have spared me this love—this brother!”
-
-“How knew I—how know I now—that he was thy brother?” was the choking
-inquiry.
-
-“To save thee the cruel agony that thou must feel, knowing this, I could
-even be moved to tell thee falsely, and say that he was not my
-brother—but, indeed, some paramour, such as the base and evil thought
-of thy brother has grafted upon thine; but I may not, thy love is too
-precious to me at this last moment, even if death were not too terrible
-to the false speaker. He was, indeed, my Flavius, dear son of a dear
-mother, best beloved brother, he whom thou did’st play with as a boy, to
-whom thou gav’st lessons in thy own lovely art; who loved thee, my
-Cœlius, but too fondly, and only forbore telling thee of his evil plight
-for fear that thou should’st incur danger from the sharp and angry
-hostility of Rome. Seek my chamber, and in my cabinet thou wilt find his
-letters, and the letters of my mother, borne with him in his flight.
-Nay,—oh! mother, what is this agony?”
-
-“Too late! too late! If it be truth thou speakest, Aurelia, it is a
-truth that cannot save. Death is upon us—I see it in thy face—I feel
-it in my heart. Oh! would that I could doubt thy story!”
-
-“Doubt not—doubt not—believe and take me to thy heart. I fear not
-death, if thou wilt believe me. My Cœlius, let me come to thee and die
-upon thy bosom.”
-
-“Ah! should’st thou betray me—should’st thou still practice upon me
-with thy woman art!”
-
-“And wherefore? It is death, thou say’st, that is upon us now. What
-shall I gain, in this hour, by speaking to thee falsely. Thou hast done
-thy worst. Thou hast doomed me to death, and to the eyes of the
-confiding future!”
-
-She threw her arms around him as she spoke, and sunk, sunk sobbing upon
-his breast.
-
-“Ah!” he exclaimed, “that dreadful picture! I feel, my Aurelia, that
-thou hast spoken truly—that I have been rash and cruel in my judgments.
-Thy brother lies before thee, and yonder tomb is prepared for thee. I
-did not yield without a struggle; and I prepared me for a terrible
-sacrifice. Upon this bier, habited as I am, I yield myself to death.
-There is no help—no succor. Yet that picture! Shall the falsehood
-overcome the truth? Shall that lie survive thy virtues, thy beauty, and
-thy life! No! my Aurelia, this crime shall be spared at least.”
-
-He unwound her arms from about his neck, and strove to rise. She sunk in
-the same moment at his feet. “Oh, death!” she cried, “thou art, indeed,
-a god! I feel thee, terrible in thy strength, with an agony never felt
-before. Leave me not, my Cœlius—forgive—and leave me not!”
-
-“I lose thee, Aurelia! Where—”
-
-“Here! before the couch—I faint—ah!”
-
-“I would destroy,” he cried, “but cannot! This blindness. Ho! without
-there! Aruns! It is thy step I hear! Undo, undo—I forgive thee all, if
-thou wilt but help. Here—hither!”
-
-The acute senses of the dying man had, indeed, heard footsteps without.
-They were those of the perfidious brother. But, at the call from within,
-he retreated hastily. There was no answer—there was no help. But there
-was still some consciousness. Death was not yet triumphant. There was a
-pang yet to be felt—and a pleasure. It was still in the power of the
-dying man to lift to his embrace his innocent victim. A moment’s return
-of consciousness enabled her to feel his embrace, his warm tears upon
-her cheek, and to hear his words of entreaty and tenderness imploring
-forgiveness. And speech was vouchsafed her to accord it.
-
-“I forgive thee, my Cœlius—I forgive thee, and bless thee, and love
-thee to the last. I know that thou would’st never do me hurt of thy own
-will; I know that thou wert deceived to this—yet how, oh, how, when my
-head lay upon thy breast at night, and I slept in peace, could’st thou
-think that I should do thee wrong!”
-
-“Why,” murmured the miserable man, “why, oh, why?”
-
-“Had I but told thee, and trusted in thee, my Cœlius?”
-
-“Why did’st thou not?”
-
-“It was because of my brother’s persuasion that I did not—he wished not
-that thou should’st come to evil.”
-
-“And thou forgiv’st me, Aurelia—from thy very heart thou forgiv’st me?”
-
-“All, all—from my heart and soul, my husband.”
-
-“It will not, then, be very hard to die!”
-
-An hour after and the chamber was silent. The wife had yielded first.
-She breathed her last sigh upon his bosom, and with the last effort of
-his strength he lifted her gently and laid her in the sarcophagus,
-composing with affectionate care the drapery around her. Then,
-remembering the picture, he looked around him for his sword with which
-to obliterate the portraits which his genius had assigned to so
-lamentable an eternity; but his efforts were feeble, and the paralysis
-of death seized him while he was yet making them. He sunk back with
-palsied limbs upon the bier, and the lights, and the picture, faded from
-before his eyes, with the last pulses of his life. The calumny which had
-destroyed his hopes, survived its own detection. The recorded falsehood
-was triumphant over the truth; yet may you see to this day, where the
-random strokes of the weapon were aimed for its obliteration. Of himself
-there is no monument in the tomb, though one touching memorial has
-reached us. The vaulted chamber buried in the earth was discovered by
-accident. A fracture was made in its top by an Italian gentleman in
-company with a Scottish nobleman. As they gazed eagerly through the
-aperture, they beheld an ancient warrior in full armor, and bearing a
-coronet of gold. The vision lasted but a moment. The decomposing effects
-of the air were soon perceptible. Even while they gazed, the body seemed
-agitated with a trembling, heaving motion, which lasted a few minutes,
-and then it subsided into dust. When they penetrated the sepulchre, they
-found the decaying armor in fragments, the sword and the helmet, or
-crown of gold. The dust was but a handful, and this was all that
-remained of the wretched Lucumo. The terrible picture is all that
-survives—the false witness, still repeating its cruel lie at the
-expense of all that is noble in youth and manhood, and all that is pure
-and lovely in the soul of woman.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THOUGHTS.
-
-
- BY MARIE ROSEAU.
-
-
-I have thoughts that like the eagle soar to a daring height,
-That boldly revel in the glare of strong and dazzling light,
-That glory in such brightness, and wish ’twas ever day,
-That in unclouded brilliancy life’s hours might pass away.
-I have thoughts that bow me to the dust in stupor-like despair,
-That bind my soul with fetters to keep it always there;
-That whisper I can never rise, that my spirit has no wings,
-But must ever be content to lie amid earth’s blighted things.
-
-I have gentle, holy thoughts that come with sweet and soothing power
-Instilling vigor in my heart, as dew upon the flower;
-And then I feel that I would give the world if I could be
-From all of human frailty and earthly passion free.
-I have thoughts that breathe unholy air, that bring a chilling blight
-Upon each better feeling, each principle of right:
-Vain, foolish, envious, wicked thoughts that fill my heart with pain;
-That pour wild tumult in my breast, and fever on my brain.
-
-I have thoughts that come like zephyrs in the spring-time of the year,
-That bear sweet memories of my friends—those who are ever dear;
-And some who at another time might seem but friends in name,
-Are made by those same gentle thoughts a friendship true to claim.
-I think me of the kindly deeds, the pleasant word or smile,
-Which sometimes served in sadder hours a sorrow to beguile;
-Oh, then I raise my heart in prayer for every one I know,
-And ask our common God to bless and shield them from each wo;
-And there is naught of sacrifice too great for me to bear,
-If so I might but glad their hearts, or free their souls from care.
-
-I have thoughts that spread deep shadows of unholy, dark distrust,
-That like a fearful whirlwind lay high hopes within the dust;
-That recall forgotten mem’ries to a gloomy, clouded mind,
-Of broken friendships, trusts betrayed, and words and looks unkind.
-Ah, then suspicion dark and drear spreads forth her chilling blight,
-And sick at heart I turn away, as withers in my sight
-Bright hopes of future happiness—sweet friendships held most dear.
-And I seem to live ’mid shattered wrecks, in strange, unearthly fear;
-And I start to hear a kindly word, and my spirit dreads a smile,
-Lest the word should be deceitful, or the smile be meant in guile:
-And I deem that the wide world contains no friend who loves me well,
-And I long to go away from earth to where the faithful dwell.
-
-I would not have them ever glad, those many thoughts of mine—
-I would not with unclouded beams life’s sun should ever shine:
-For He who sends the clouds and rain knows when they are needed best,
-And I would upon his guiding care with firm reliance rest:
-But I would my thoughts were ever right—were ever firm and strong,
-Such thoughts as nerve the heart in might to conquer what is wrong,
-I would not that my spirit breathe the taint of impure air,
-But that only holy, heaven-sent thoughts should have an influence there.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- STANZAS.
-
-
- BY MRS. O. M. P. LORD.
-
-
- There’s music in thy voice, love;
- Such notes have never been
- Since years and years ago, love,
- God’s angels talked with men;
- It never chides nor blames, love,
- But always seeks to praise.
- In truth such gentle speech, love.
- Thy native land betrays.
-
- Like summer cloud thy brow, love.
- And hue of summer sky,
- As ocean gives it back, love,
- Dwells in that tender eye;
- The heaven without looks in, love,
- And sees its image there;
- The heaven within looks out, love,
- So wondrous clear and fair.
-
- Soon, soon, we all must sleep, love,
- Through long and dreamless night;
- And, waking, find these robes, love,
- So changed, so clear and white;
- But thou, so pure and free, love,
- Thy garb from earthly stain,
- E’en as thou laid’st it down, love,
- Will take it up again.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND.
-
-
- OR THE NABOB UNCLE.
-
-
- BY AGNES L. GORDON.
-
-
-“Well, girls, prepare your sweetest smiles, and best behavior, for your
-uncle has arrived at last, and I have just received this note, dated at
-the Astor, announcing his coming, and accepting my invitation to make
-our house his home; so, to use his own expression, we may expect him,
-‘bag and baggage,’ this evening.”
-
-These words were addressed by Mrs. Medway to her daughters, as they sat
-at breakfast, in an elegant apartment in a fashionable street up town.
-
-“That means, I suppose, that he comes with an ebony serving-man, in an
-immense turban, half a dozen hookahs, innumerable packages, and
-self-indulging contrivances, and all the et cæteras of an eastern
-nabob,” replied Matilda. “I wonder where we are to stow away all the
-trash that he will undoubtedly pour in upon us? I wish, mamma, you had
-not invited him here; but if his coming prove but a golden one to us, I,
-for one, am perfectly willing to play the agreeable, with so bright a
-prospect in store.”
-
-“Not so with me,” exclaimed her younger sister Sophy, “I am determined
-to do as I please, and not be like an automaton, at the will of a cross
-old invalid, as I have no doubt he is. I suppose we must have great
-fires built up all summer, and be content to be baked, and browned to
-crisps, in ovens of rooms, while old yellow-face shivers with cold, and
-swears at the climate. And then we must live on curries, and spices, and
-pilaus, and all sorts of horrid nauseous messes, until we are as yellow
-and bilious as himself. I boldly protest against all such proceedings,
-and thus, once for all, good people, declare myself free and
-independent.”
-
-“But recollect, girls,” said their mother, while she laughed at Sophy’s
-declaration, “he is your father’s brother, and as such entitled to at
-least an appearance of respect. I wish he was less afflicted to be sure,
-for it will be a sad drawback, I fear, upon your amusements; but keep up
-your courage, and remember that to be co-heiresses of an Indian nabob is
-a distinction very much to be coveted, and worthy some sacrifices to
-attain.”
-
-“I am sure his deafness will be a great relief to us all,” chimed in
-Matilda, “so as we play propriety and have plenty of delicate
-attentions, and wreathed smiles, in readiness, we can indulge once in a
-while in a theatrical aside of impatience, which will be quite a safety
-valve to the temper.”
-
-“But if he is an invalid he must necessarily be cross,” answered Sophy,
-“and as his sight is impaired, he will probably want some one to read to
-him; _that_ task I absolutely refuse to perform; for as to reading any
-thing more than the last magazine, it is an effort I never was equal to.
-We will appoint Grace reader to his Indian majesty. What say you, Grace,
-are you not overwhelmed with the honor?”
-
-This question was addressed to a quiet girl, who had hitherto taken no
-part in the conversation, but who replied with a smile, “If your uncle
-is in reality the disagreeable person you describe, I shall not be
-emulous of the honor you design me; but if he is in truth an invalid, I
-will wait on him with cheerfulness, for you know I am accustomed to a
-sick chamber.”
-
-“That’s just like you, Grace, always ready and willing to do for every
-one,” answered Sophy. “Of course he is an invalid—all nabobs are. He
-has the gout, and we must all creep on tip-toe about the room, lest an
-unlucky jar might give him a twinge, and bring down a volley, not of
-blessings, upon our devoted heads. Then the liver complaint is a
-necessary appendage, and blue pills and calomel will abound. Bah! what a
-house it will be to be sure, I should not wonder if he has a pet monkey
-and half a dozen macaws, and we shall have a menagerie and hospital
-combined. If such _is_ the case, I shall run off and get married; so
-don’t wonder if some morning I am missing.”
-
-“And thus forfeit your claim to the fortune in store,” said her sister;
-“for my part I am willing to take a pill every other day, in the hope
-that it will prove at last a gilded one, and will feed the macaws to a
-surfeit—”
-
-“In fact, kill them with kindness,” interrupted Sophy, laughing. “Well,
-you are welcome to all you can get, the pill will be bitter if it _is_
-gilded; I love my ease too well to be shackled even with golden fetters;
-so Grace and you may divide the labor and the reward.”
-
-“Grace will of course do whatever is required of her,” said Mrs. Medway
-gravely, “but as she has no claim of kindred upon your uncle, she will
-not expect any other return than my approval. And now girls we have
-spent a long time chatting; I must go and prepare for our newly arrived
-relative’s coming, and remember, Sophy, that you treat him with all
-deference and respect; you might have a little natural feeling—”
-
-“All fudge, mamma,” laughed Sophy, rising from her seat; “talk of
-natural feeling, indeed, for a cross old fidgety fellow one never saw,
-and scarcely ever heard of, except when he sent you that superb India
-shawl. I tell you, mamma, it is a natural feeling for his presents and
-his rupees that inspires you and Matilda; I will none of them except
-they come in a _natural_ way, without any force put on my inclination.
-You know I am a little Pickle, and I intend to be as sour as vinegar.”
-
-“And I as sweet as honey-water,” cried Matilda, as she left the room.
-
-“Yes, and as insipid, too,” replied her sister, following. “As for you,
-Grace,” she added, looking back, “as you fortunately have no selfish
-considerations, you can afford to be, as you always are, ‘Simple Grace,
-gracious and graceful,’” so saying, the noisy girl slammed the door
-after her, leaving Grace to her daily duty of washing the breakfast
-things, and arranging the room.
-
-Mrs. Medway was the widow of a merchant who had left his family
-possessed of a moderate income, which they contrived should, like a thin
-plate of gold, cover a large surface. They lived up to their means in
-every sense. Mrs. Medway gave parties, kept several servants, lived in a
-large house, showily furnished, and dressed herself and daughters
-splendidly. All this could not be done without strict economy somewhere;
-and while the soirées of Mrs. Medway were pronounced delightful, the
-servants made many complaints of their daily fare. Mrs. Medway was only
-one of a class; there are hundreds who, to use a vulgar phrase, “rob
-Peter to pay Paul,” and fast at home, that they may appear to feast
-abroad.
-
-The coming of Jacob Medway, an elder brother of her husband, who had
-spent his life in India, and now returned to his native land, to enjoy
-his fortune and find an heir, was an important event to Mrs. Medway. She
-would rather, to be sure, have him unacquainted with certain parts of
-her household arrangement, but she hoped to reap a golden harvest, and
-wished to give her daughters an opportunity of ingratiating themselves
-in his favor. These daughters were handsome, showy girls. Matilda, the
-elder, had been a decided belle for several seasons. She was tall and
-slender, with very fine dark eyes, rather long face, and that
-distinguished air and manner that stamps the woman of fashion. She was
-very anxious to secure her uncle’s favor, for she argued that a fine
-fortune might secure her the alliance that her fine person had hitherto
-failed to win.
-
-The younger daughter, Sophy, with less beauty than her sister, was still
-much admired. She had a rattling, dashing way of saying pert, and
-sometimes shrewd things, that passed for wit, among the idlers who
-surrounded her, though they often winced under the keenness of her
-remarks. She was not amiable, but possessed a sturdy independence that
-was a redeeming trait, and though often displaying it in a most
-disagreeable manner, was in reality much less selfish than her
-soft-lipped sister.
-
-The other inmate of the family whom we have mentioned, was Grace
-Addison—“little Grace,” as she was wont to be affectionately termed in
-her own happy home, but now, “Simple Grace,” as Sophy loved to call her.
-The mother of Grace was a cousin of Mrs. Medway; she had been left a
-widow in very straitened circumstances, her husband dying when Grace was
-just fifteen. Grief and anxiety threw her in a consumption, and she died
-two years after, leaving her orphan child to the care of her cousin,
-Mrs. Medway, who had herself been tenderly reared under the roof of Mrs.
-Addison’s father, and upon whom the grand-daughter of her benefactor
-certainly had a claim.
-
-Mrs. Medway was a selfish woman, and the charge was irksome, but the
-circumstances of her own early life and adoption were so extensively
-known, that she dared not brave the censure of her friends by refusing
-it; and thus whilst Grace was ostensibly cared and provided for, she was
-made to feel her dependence, and had resolved in her own heart to seize
-the first opportunity of releasing her self from this thraldom,
-preferring to earn her daily bread, than to receive it as a favor while
-she toiled for it as a menial. But her gentle and pliant nature dreaded
-to offend or grieve Mrs. Medway, for she knew that she was really
-essential to her, whilst for Sophy, rude as she at times appeared, she
-felt a warm attachment, for she alone acted toward her as an equal and a
-friend.
-
-Grace Addison was not beautiful, but she had charms enough to have made
-her a dangerous rival, had she appeared on equal terms with the sisters.
-She shrunk, however, from society, and seldom appeared at Mrs. Medway’s
-_soirées_, very much, it must be confessed, to that lady’s satisfaction.
-We have said Grace was not beautiful—lovely is the epithet properly
-belonging to her. Scarcely above the middle height, her slender form was
-inexpressibly graceful in all its attitudes; there were no angles about
-her, Sophy said. Every accidental position was a study for a
-sculptor—and never was the gentle name of Grace more fitly applied. Her
-deep, thoughtful blue eyes were shaded by long black lashes, that rested
-on a cheek whose deepest tint never exceeded the glow on the lip of a
-sea-shell, and the delicate features, and rich mass of dark hair, gave
-that air of refinement so rare and so indescribable. Such was the family
-of which the nabob, Jacob Medway, was expected to become an inmate.
-
-In Mrs. Medway’s drawing-room the family was assembled to receive the
-expected guest. Sophy was ridiculing her sister, and imitating the
-welcome which she said Matilda had learned by rote, when the noise of
-carriage-wheels were heard, and presently a loud ring of the bell
-announced the arrival. Mrs. Medway arose, and went into the hall, and
-then came the sound of trunks unstrapped, and packages thrown in, and
-next, enveloped in cloaks, the rich uncle stepped from the carriage, and
-being welcomed by Mrs. Medway, was shown at once to his room, where
-every accommodation for his comfort had been made. He had a colored
-servant, and as many packages as even Matilda expected, but no pet
-monkey or macaws as yet appeared.
-
-“Well, mamma, what is he like?” exclaimed both daughters in a breath, as
-she re-entered the room.
-
-“You shall judge for yourselves presently,” she answered. “He does not
-appear to be gouty, however, for he stepped quite firmly into the hall,
-and his voice is pleasant and not at all cross.”
-
-“So, perhaps, Matilda will not have the gratification of being a martyr
-after all,” cried Sophy, laughing; “her honey-water will sour by
-keeping, and my vinegar become flat; well, after all, I am a little
-disappointed. I don’t believe he is at all rich, Matilda, unless he is
-gouty, cross, and every thing bad; it would be too much of a good thing
-if he were.”
-
-Matilda did not much relish her sister’s raillery, and a sharp reply
-rose to her lips as the door opened and her uncle entered. Mrs. Medway
-immediately rose, and introduced him to her daughters, and Grace offered
-him the arm-chair which he politely accepted, and then expressed, in a
-very few words, his thanks for her courtesy.
-
-He was, of course, an object of great interest to the little group, and
-did not altogether answer their expectations.
-
-Uncle Medway was tall, and rather stout, with a fine open countenance,
-yellow and brown, to be sure, in its hue, but the expression of his
-mouth contradicted at once all idea of ill-nature. His eyes were small,
-with a keen, shrewd, searching expression; and one could scarcely credit
-that their vision was impaired, so that without glasses he could not
-distinguish minute objects. He carried an ear-cornet in his hand, and
-apologised for his infirmities, speaking in a nervous and abrupt manner.
-
-“You will find me a troublesome inmate, I fear, madam,” he said to Mrs.
-Medway; “my infirmities make me a poor companion. I am a man of few
-words, and my loss of hearing renders it almost impossible to enjoy the
-conversation of others, while even the pleasure of reading is in part
-denied me.”
-
-“My daughters will be delighted to serve you in every way,” said Mrs.
-Medway, graciously.
-
-“Now is your chance,” loudly whispered Sophy, to her sister, “lay your
-eyes, ears, and tongue, at the feet of your golden idol.”
-
-“Sophy!” exclaimed her mother, in an agony, but the sight of the
-ear-cornet calmed her fears.
-
-The evening passed slowly away; Uncle Medway retired early, and the
-young ladies, after exchanging opinions of him, went to rest, to dream
-golden dreams, as Sophy maliciously said.
-
-Uncle Medway did not appear at breakfast on the following morning, but
-during the forenoon, while the young ladies were occupied at their
-several employments, he unexpectedly entered, and with an apologetic
-smile and bow, took the seat which Matilda hastened to offer, tendering
-at the same time very affectionate inquiries regarding his health. The
-old gentleman quietly put on his glasses and lowered his ear-cornet,
-requesting her to repeat her words, while Sophy maliciously offered to
-prompt her, in case she forgot her lesson. Matilda looked thunder at her
-sister, and sunshine at her uncle as she repeated her questions.
-
-“I rested well, thank you,” said her uncle, “and as I hope to become
-better acquainted in time, you will not, I trust, be offended at my
-scrutiny.” He took Matilda’s hand as he spoke, and looked earnestly in
-her countenance.
-
-“Do you consider me like papa?” she inquired with her most engaging
-smile, and speaking in the cornet, without which it was evident he could
-hear nothing.
-
-“Humph, not much; your sister there is more like him,” he answered,
-pointing with his ear-trumpet to Sophy.
-
-“There, Matilda, is ten thousand lost to you,” laughed the giddy girl.
-
-“What does she say?” asked the old gentleman, casting a shrewd look at
-her; “come here, merry one, and tell me yourself.”
-
-Sophy rose and courtesied before him, as she said to Grace, “Your turn
-next—so prepare. I wonder if the old Indian thinks he can turn us about
-as he would some China ornaments, while we stand bobbing like so many
-mandarins before him?” then turning to her uncle, she added, “I am
-delighted that you think I resemble my father, sir, although Matilda is
-counted the beauty, and I the fright.”
-
-“Oh, Sophy, how can you rattle so,” exclaimed Grace.
-
-“Now hush, Grace, until your time comes. You know I always speak out
-what I think.”
-
-“Especially when you know one party at least cannot hear,” said her
-sister, sarcastically.
-
-“You all seem to be chattering away among yourselves like so many
-magpies,” said the old gentleman. “But who is this young lady in the
-corner?”
-
-“Our cousin, Grace Addison,” screamed Sophy, at the top of her voice,
-“and the dearest, best, kindest cousin in the world. She makes all our
-dresses, copies Matilda’s music, waters her flowers, sketches in her
-album, and does a thousand things for which others get the credit; and
-more than all, she bears all my impertinences, and never gets out of
-patience. Now, Grace,” turning toward her, “you are properly introduced,
-come and speak for yourself. I think I have made _one party at least_
-hear this time,” she added, to her sister; “and if old yellow-face has
-half as much generosity as he should have, there is a nice little plum
-in store for Simple Grace.” So saying, she ran out of the room.
-
-When the party met at dinner, there were several dishes cooked to suit
-Uncle Medway’s taste, among the rest a curry. Mrs. Medway and Matilda
-accepted some of the proffered viand, but when the old gentleman
-politely turned to Sophy, she exclaimed,
-
-“No, I thank you, none of your nauseous messes for me—the very smell of
-them takes away my appetite. Mamma, after this, I think I shall dine in
-my own room.”
-
-“What does the young lady say?” asked Uncle Medway, elevating his
-cornet, “that she has no appetite?”
-
-“I say I can’t bear curry,” screamed Sophy.
-
-“Oh, Sophy, how can you be so rude?” said her mother, in despair.
-
-“Because I hate hypocrisy,” answered the other, angrily. “There sits
-Matilda, striving to appear to eat what I know she abhors, afraid to say
-what her likes or dislikes are; it would not be worth the effort she
-makes to swallow it, if the hateful curry-powder was gold-dust. See, she
-is pale now—and sick, too, I dare say; for shame, Matilda. Uncle
-Medway, must, indeed, be deaf, dumb, and blind, not to discover in a
-short time all your false pretences.” Sophy spoke rapidly, despite of
-both mother and sister’s attempts to stop her, and Grace’s appealing
-looks. Secure in their guest’s entire deafness, she railed severely at
-the deceit she despised. Uncle Medway cast a searching look toward
-Matilda, and then turning to Grace, who sat next him, invited her to
-partake of his favorite dish. Grace thanked him, but declined.
-
-“What,” said he, with a smile, “can’t you bear curry either? Perhaps you
-have never tasted it.”
-
-“I am not fond of it, I confess,” answered Grace. “I have often seen it
-on my grandfather’s table, and he tried in vain to induce me to like
-it.”
-
-Again those shrewd eyes of Uncle Medway rested on Grace’s countenance,
-and no further discussion arising, the dinner passed pleasantly off.
-
-After dinner Grace was left alone with the old gentleman, while the
-sisters took their usual promenade, when suddenly turning toward her, he
-said, in his peculiarly abrupt manner, “Who _was_ your grandfather?”
-
-Grace looked up in surprise, but immediately answered, “My grandfather’s
-name was Maurice Addison.”
-
-“And your father’s?”
-
-“Jacob Addison; he was born in India—” and then, with a sudden impulse,
-she exclaimed, “Oh, Mr. Medway, did you know my grandfather? Are you not
-the old friend I have so often heard him mention, who went out to India
-with him, and who was so true and kind to him in illness and trouble?
-You _are_, I am sure, and my father was named after you, Jacob Addison.”
-It was unusual for the quiet Grace to be roused to such enthusiasm, but
-she rose from her seat, and laying her hand on the old gentleman’s
-chair, looked into his face with such an affectionate and expectant
-gaze, that his heart must have been adamant, indeed, to resist it. And
-as his was, in reality, a loving and unselfish heart, he drew Grace
-gently toward him, and a pleasant smile lighted up his face, as he said,
-
-“And _are_ you Maurice Addison’s own little merry pet, Grace, he so
-often mentioned in his letters to me? _You are_, I am sure; and you are
-the daughter of my little god-son, Jacob, who was only knee-high when I
-saw him last. And now, my dear child, for surely I have a right to call
-you so, why are you living here? Where are your parents?”
-
-Tears started in Grace’s eyes as she related the circumstances of her
-parents’ death, and her admission into Mrs. Medway’s family, adding,
-that though they were all very kind to her, she would remain no longer
-than until she could procure an independent situation, as she feared, in
-Mrs. Medway’s circumstances, she was a burden.
-
-“Humph!” was the only reply; and then the old gentleman added, “Say
-nothing about this conversation, if you please, until I give you
-permission.”
-
-Grace willingly acceded; she knew that Mrs. Medway would not like to
-believe she possessed any claim, however slight, on Uncle Medway’s
-regard; and although feeling an attachment to him for her grandfather’s
-sake, had not the slightest idea of endeavoring to rival her cousins.
-
-One morning Uncle Medway expressed a desire to drive through the city,
-and wished one of the ladies to accompany him as a _cicérone_. Matilda’s
-services were instantly offered, and politely accepted. On their return,
-Matilda threw herself on a sofa, exclaiming to her mother,
-
-“Well, I never was so wearied in all my life; and I consider this
-splendid dress, which uncle purchased for me at Stewart’s, as very
-hardly earned. Never will I consent to be driven about, shut up in a
-carriage with such a perverse, questioning old codger again for a dozen
-dresses. Why the old man seemed to think I must know the whole history
-of the city, from its first settlement—we will have to lend him
-Diedrich Knickerbocker’s book. And then such stopping to admire the
-churches and other buildings, while groups of fashionables passed and
-stared; it is an ordeal I never will pass through again.”
-
-“The honey-water is exhausted, is it?” asked Sophy. “You gave it in too
-great quantities at first; well, for my part, I might be induced to take
-one drive with such a reward in view.”
-
-“What is that,” asked the uncle, turning sharply around, “don’t Matilda
-like her dress?”
-
-“Shall I answer for you?” said Sophy.
-
-“Oh, yes,” interrupted Mrs. Medway, “she was expressing her admiration
-and gratitude; but she says she will fear to go with you again, lest you
-should think her motives interested.”
-
-“Humph! the motives are apparent enough!” muttered the old gentleman;
-then turning to Grace, he said, “Will _you_ accompany me to-morrow,
-Grace. I promise faithfully that you shall have no reward, save the
-consciousness of obliging a troublesome old man?”
-
-Grace gladly assented, and Mrs. Medway’s consent being given, Grace
-became the almost daily companion of the old gentleman, who seemed,
-however, to bestow but little notice on her, lavishing all his
-preference on Matilda, who was elated with her success.
-
-A few days after, Uncle Medway brought down a closely-written letter of
-several pages, which he asked Matilda to copy for him, as she had so
-often expressed the pleasure it gave her to do any thing for her dear
-uncle. Matilda received the document with a gracious smile, and promised
-it should be done by the following morning. That evening the sisters
-went out with their mother, and Mr. Medway retired early to his own
-room, but having occasion to come down again for his glasses, he saw
-Grace bending over a table, on which were spread writing materials. She
-leaned her head on her clasped hands and sighed heavily. As he entered
-the room she looked up, and hastily drew a blank sheet over the page she
-had written.
-
-“You look pale, child,” said the old gentleman, as he put on his
-spectacles. “What are you doing there?”
-
-“Only writing a little—but I have a severe headache,” answered Grace.
-
-“Go to bed, then—what are you poking your eyes out there for? I dare
-say some long letter to a sentimental friend, eh?” He approached the
-table as he spoke.
-
-“You shall not see it, if it is,” said Grace, playfully putting her hand
-on the paper, “and I must finish it to-night, because I have promised—”
-she paused.
-
-“Well, well,” said the old man, kindly, “promises must be kept, of
-course. I hope Matilda has kept her promise of copying my letter—do
-_you_ think it will be finished by to-morrow morning, Grace?” And
-without waiting a reply, he left the room.
-
-The following morning, the letter and copy were laid by Uncle Medway’s
-plate, and the old gentleman, examining it with an approving glance,
-took a fifty dollar note from his pocket-book, and said, “I do not wish
-to offend, by offering a remuneration for this correct and beautiful
-copy; but I know you ladies have always some charitable object of
-interest, and the fair writer of this must have devoted many hours to
-its accomplishment. It will gratify her to have the power of doing good
-in every way—a power which will, perhaps, ere long be unlimited. Will
-you accept it, Matilda, as to you it justly belongs, and be my almoner?”
-
-Matilda’s eyes sparkled; this speech inferred much, and as she
-gracefully took the note, she thanked her uncle, and promised to dispose
-of it in charitable donations.
-
-After breakfast, Uncle Medway was deeply engrossed in a paper, which he
-was endeavoring to decipher, and the sisters were sitting together, when
-Sophy said,
-
-“Well, Matilda, what charitable institution do you intend to benefit by
-uncle’s donation; as you earned the money so honorably, you will, of
-course, disburse it with equal honesty and justice.”
-
-Matilda colored slightly, but laughed, saying, “I shall do myself the
-charity to purchase that superb head-dress, and several costly et
-cæteras that I want for Mrs. Dayton’s ball; and if you are a good girl,
-and hold your tongue, you shall be an object of charity, too.”
-
-“Now, Matilda, that is too mean, even for you,” exclaimed the other,
-indignantly. “Shame on you, as Grace really copied the letter, she
-should at least have the privilege of distributing the money; here she
-comes now. Grace, in what way ought uncle’s donation to be applied—you
-are the proper person to decide, and prevent Matilda from the
-selfishness she contemplates, in bestowing it all upon herself and me.”
-
-Her sister crimsoned with anger, but Grace spoke.
-
-“I am sure you do Matilda injustice, Sophy; she would never act so
-deliberate a falsehood; as she told her uncle it should be applied to
-charity, she will certainly keep her word. And there is poor Mrs. Brown,
-the laundress, it would, indeed, be a charity to assist her—”
-
-“And begin by paying her bills,” interrupted Sophy.
-
-But her sister, rising angrily, exclaimed, “I will not be dictated to by
-either of you,” and hastily left the apartment.
-
-Uncle Medway had now been domesticated in the family for several weeks,
-and must, indeed, have been deaf, dumb and blind, to remain ignorant of
-the by-play going on around him. Secure in his entire deafness, Matilda
-frequently made use of her safety-valve aside; and once, when requested
-by her uncle to play, and she said to her sister, “I hope to have the
-pleasure of playing the Dead March for him ere long,” she caught his eye
-fixed upon her with such a severe glance, that a momentary doubt of his
-inability to hear made her tremble; but again assured by his bland
-manner toward her, she plied her fulsome flatteries more assiduously
-than ever. Grace often wondered how one so clear-headed in all other
-things, should be so easily imposed upon, while Sophy regarded her
-sister with undisguised contempt; and by way of offset, became more rude
-and impertinent than ever.
-
-The rich uncle had been a great assistance to the household; his
-generous heart was continually prompting him to make those presents
-which he saw were required—and this was done in the most delicate
-manner. It was with mingled feelings, therefore, that Mrs. Medway met
-the information he one day gave, that he had purchased a house in one of
-the most fashionable squares, and desired the taste of the ladies to
-assist him in furnishing it. He intended to celebrate his installation
-in his own home, by a splendid ball and supper, to which, as he had few
-acquaintances, he begged the ladies to invite those friends whose
-society was desirable. He also told Mrs. Medway, in confidence, that if
-she would part with one of her fair charges, he wished on the appointed
-evening, publicly to announce his choice of one of them as his heiress
-and adopted daughter, on condition that she resided with him to cheer
-his lonely old age. Mrs. Medway gave a delighted assent. She had no
-doubt on whom the choice would fall, and immediately congratulated
-Matilda, and caused it to be whispered among her confidential friends
-that her eldest daughter would be the heiress of the Indian nabob.
-Matilda declared the infliction of residing with such a horrid bore a
-severe penalty, but promised herself the satisfaction of spending his
-money at pleasure, while Sophy maliciously advised her to practice the
-“Groves of Blarney” preparatory to the “Dead March.”
-
-The important evening arrived, and the three young ladies, elegantly
-attired in dresses of embroidered crape over India satin, presented by
-Uncle Medway, took their places in his splendid saloon to receive their
-guests. Matilda evidently took the precedence; and very handsome she
-looked in her stately beauty, doing the honors with all the grace which
-the future mistress of so superb an establishment should possess. While
-Grace, looking perfectly lovely in her pure and tasteful dress, shrunk
-abashed from the admiring gaze bestowed upon her, and was confused by
-the attention she excited. Uncle Medway went cheerfully among his
-guests, ear-cornet in hand, and spectacles on nose, quizzed by some,
-respected by many, and flattered by all.
-
-Just as supper was announced, and the musicians had left the ball for
-the supper-room, Uncle Medway, supporting Mrs. Medway on his arm, and
-followed by the young ladies, stepped into the midst of the brilliant
-circle, and said,
-
-“My guests are aware, I suppose, of my intention to adopt one of these
-fair young ladies as my sole heiress, my sister-in-law having kindly
-consented to spare one from her bright circle. I am a lonely old man,
-with many peculiar notions, and I require, therefore, a cheerful, yet
-gentle and patient spirit, to support my whims. Such an one I have found
-in the person of Grace Addison, the grandchild of my oldest friend, and
-the daughter of my namesake and godson. I therefore declare her my
-adopted child and heiress.”
-
-A murmur of surprise ran through the assembly, Mrs. Medway and Matilda
-seemed ready to sink with confusion, Sophy clapped her hands, and Grace,
-pale and trembling with surprise and emotion, suffered herself to be led
-forward by the old gentleman, who continued,
-
-“I have met with much kindness and attention beneath the roof of my
-sister-in-law, in token of which I shall bequeath to my niece, Matilda,
-the sum of thirty thousand dollars, when she has the pleasure of playing
-the Dead March for me. And to her sister, whose opinions were at least
-frankly avowed, I shall leave a similar amount. My ear-cornet and
-glasses have served me a trusty part, and I now lay them aside, I hope
-forever, trusting that the ladies have profited by the lesson they have
-themselves taught me, that appearances are often deceitful, and one need
-not be deaf, dumb and blind, though he is a Nabob Uncle.”
-
-Whether Mrs. Medway and her daughters stayed to the splendid supper
-prepared, and swallowed their mortification and the delicacies together,
-this record sayeth not; but that the beautiful heiress, Grace Addison,
-became at once a star of the first magnitude in the fashionable world,
-is to be expected; but the bright star ever found her happiness in
-enlivening the home of the eccentric but kind old man, who found in his
-adopted daughter the delight and solace of his old age.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- RAFFAELLE D’URBINO.
-
-
- BY W. H. WELSH.
-
-
- ’Twas night in Florence!
-
- Pale the eve had come,
- And flung o’er Nature’s form a sable shroud.
- With step as light as joy the day had gone,
- And sunk into his jeweled couch, o’erhung
- With crimson canopy and crystal sheen.
- The rosy-colored clouds, with emerald fringed,
- That veiled the blushing sky, had faded far—
- And as the night crept on with noiseless tread,
- Bright starry eyes looked on the sleeping Earth,
- And smiled that then it was so like their home.
- Through latticed bower and tesselated hall,
- The zephyr danced with wild and airy wing;
- And spirit-songs sighed on the startled air
- That blew as fragrant as in Araby!
- The night was holy!
-
- On the arching sky
- The Painter turned and saw its thousand fires.
- Around his peaceful form the breezes stole
- With viewless pinions from Æolus sent,
- While ever and anon a passing breath,
- More eager than its fellow, rippled up
- The curls that gathered on his glorious brow.
- Like one whose spirit-form was not of Earth
- He seemed that hour, for o’er him halos hung,
- Such only as the vales of Paradise
- Enclose around the beings of their birth.
- And as he gazed upon the star-lit hall,
- And then with straining sight looked on the sky,
- As if to catch from it some angel glance,
- He sat him down and buried up his face.
- With agony oppressed, his very heart
- Was shrunk and withered, e’en as when a bird
- Whose little life has been a holyday,
- Is overwhelmed as summer clouds have wept.
- Why thus did shadows press upon his soul,
- And with their awful wings fright hopes away?
- Why thus disturbed? Fame in his way had strewn
- With reckless hand, her fairest, proudest gifts—
- Had taught his name to echo far amid
- The ages yet unborn, as though a God
- From high Olympus he’d been missioned forth!
- And yet his heart was sad—for in his dreams
- There broke upon his fancy such a form
- As dwelleth only in the Elfin-land.
- For her he pined—for her he breathed a sigh—
- And prayed to God that she might come to him,
- And in his waking moments bid him live.
- And as, with gloom and darkness thick’ning round,
- He sat and wept for joys that might not be,
- From out the dim and mystic land of dreams,
- There came to him entranced such visioned sights
- As never mortal eye had seen before.
- Back on the crumbling path of Time he went,
- And stood amid the light of ancient days—
- Amidst the treasures of the mighty dead!
- The seal that held the past was shriveled up,
- And from the breathing ruins wondrous forms
- Swept by, and walked again the sea of Life.
- The young and beautiful of olden time—
- The giant habitants whose genius swayed
- The visible creation at its dawn,
- All gathered there in that fantastic realm,
- To swell that ghostly throng!
-
- And as they came,
- One form arose so matchless in its grace,
- That all, amazed, shrank tremblingly away.
- With queenly step she trod the ravished turf,
- And with her winsome foot the lovely buds
- In very ecstasy of rapture played,
- That one so gentle sought their perfumed home.
- A veil of silver-tissue, mottled o’er
- With sparkling stars, hung round her sylphid form,
- And tresses, rich like Autumn’s golden grain,
- Fell down, and nestled on her snowy breast.
- Too exquisite for earth—of mould too fine—
- She seemed a herald from the beaming sky,
- Sent down to whisper of the spirit-land.
- Such sight, I ween, had painter never seen;
- And e’en the charméd breath of poesy,
- Whose blissful cadences the enwrapt ear
- Of wondering mortals caught with silent joy,
- Had conjured up in wild and weird-like spell,
- No face that ever was so fair and bright.
- One look she gave the painter as he gazed,
- That made to him a desert of the world—
- A look so full of passion and of love,
- It turned the memory of the past a blank,
- And in the future left him naught but her.
- His soul was all afire, and his brain
- Swam round, as when the throbbing heart of man
- Is burst for happiness it cannot hold;
- And as he strove to break the mortal chain
- That bound him where he lay, a mist arose
- And envious bore that being from the spot.
- Far from his sight she fled! and passed away
- With floating witcheries of wildest song,
- Into the twilight land where spirit forms
- Like phantoms mingled with the swelling gale.
- Far from his sight she fled! and like a barque
- Whose guiding star has left its native sky,
- The painter drifted on with heedless sail!
- . . . . . .
- The morning breeze crept in the painter’s hall!
- And near the window ledge, with pallid brow,
- He lay like one whose very pulse had gone.
- With tips of gold the princely spires and domes
- Of Florence gleamed, and on her throne she sat
- A queen in pride—queen of the Tuscan land!
- The morning grew apace, and fleecy clouds,
- The children of the dawn, trailed o’er the sky.
- Still Raffaelle slept.
-
- Near by his side
- Were rudely strewn the handmaids of his toil;
- And on his easel hung a picture full
- Of beauty as the glow on Dian’s front.
- No human eye had ever turned its gaze
- Upon that fair and sacred thing, save one,
- And little recked he now of bliss in store.
- The morning breeze crept in the painter’s hall,
- And catching its fresh scent he woke and stared
- Upon the sky that blazed with living light;
- And then again around the hall he cast
- A look that spoke of sorrow and of pain.
- And while he tried to chase away the clouds
- That brooded o’er him like a fearful spell,
- The radiant image of that lovely one
- That was his nightly dream, flashed on his sight;
- With wonderment he stood and scarcely breathed,
- For fear a lightsome sound might fright her far.
- Ay! there she beamed—a rainbow in the storm—
- For in his sleep his mighty genius woke,
- And gave embodiment to face and form;
- And joy clung round his overburdened heart,
- Like sunlight on the drooping bud, when storms
- Have rocked its tender petals in the breeze!
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: Painted by Gainsborough
- Engraved by F. Humphreys
-
-THE COTTAGE DOOR.
-
-_Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine_]
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TURN NOT AWAY.
-
-
- BY HENRY MORFORD.
-
-
- If a voice from the far and happy land
- Ever echoed over thy cradle bed;
- If a mother’s voice and a mother’s hand
- Ever laid a blessing upon thy head;
- If a golden truth from the sacred page,
- Ever was thine in an earlier day,
- And still lives on in thy riper age—
- Turn not away.
-
- If hope beat high when thy youth began—
- Bright hope and love for thy human kind—
- And cares have pressed on the heart of man
- Till love is weary and hope is blind;
- If still one star of all the host,
- Burns with an old remembered ray,
- Believe not all of thy life is lost—
- Turn not away.
-
- If sickness calls thee with feeble cry,
- Or suffering moans from its bed of pain;
- If a pleading comes from the sunken eye,
- Or madness shrieks from the fevered brain;
- Oh! watch, as the angels watch above,
- Oh! pray for them as the angels pray;
- Bring heart and hand to the labor of love—
- Turn not away.
-
- If poverty stands at thy cottage door—
- Squalid poverty, faint and weak—
- Begging a crust from thy little store.
- Or the poor, cheap rest that the weary seek;
- Remember thou, that the mighty wheel
- Of fortune changes, day by day;
- Never be deaf to the poors’ appeal—
- Turn not away.
-
- If thy brother fall in the slippery path,
- And his hands are stained with human sin,
- If the sword of the world is raised in wrath,
- And no city of refuge invites him in;
- If his pitiful cry come up to thee,
- Remember that all men go astray,
- Still let thy heart his refuge be—
- Turn not away.
-
- If life grows dark as thy years roll by,
- And Heaven is veiled in cloud and storm,
- Oh! still look up with a trusting eye,
- For a beckoning smile from an angel form;
- So shall thy heart keep its holy laws,
- Fulfilling its mission day by day,
- And God, when thou pleadest thy final cause—
- Turn not away.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- COUSIN FANNY.
-
-
-BY M. S. G. NICHOLS, AUTHOR OF “UNCLE JOHN,” “THE WORLD AS IT IS,” ETC.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
-A pale, wan woman, with a young girl by her side, walked quickly along
-Chatham street, just as the twilight was deepening into darkness. She
-was very thinly clad, her light shawl was only a covering—it was no
-protection from the keen autumn air. It had once been an elegant and
-fashionable silk, but its fashion had long since passed away. It had
-been colored and colored again, until its substance had well-nigh
-disappeared. Her straw bonnet had been renovated many times, but not for
-a long time, and its faded ribbon was passed plainly over the crown, for
-it would have been mockery to make such ribbon into bows. Every thing
-that covered this young creature was passing away, and as she entered a
-pawn-broker’s shop, you might have seen by the light of the lamp that
-fell on her face, that she, too, was passing from a world that had given
-her small welcome, at least for many years. It would have been a comfort
-to any benevolent person, who had looked into that pale face, to have
-seen the red spot on one of her cheeks, and to have heard her cough.
-
-What had she to do in a world so cold, with that miserable shawl to wrap
-around her ulcerated lungs, that smarted like fire with every breath of
-cold air they inhaled. She might as well have wrapped herself in
-cobwebs, as in clothes such as hers.
-
-She went into the shop, her poor, little, shadowy child clung close to
-her mother. She had little knowledge of the place or the people, though
-she had many times been there, but she knew that after many tears, her
-mother went there, and then that for a brief space they had food.
-
-The poor lady took from her pocket two miniature pictures—the golden
-setting had been removed sometime before. They were by a master’s hand,
-worth at least one hundred dollars each, and infinitely precious to her,
-being the likenesses of her father and mother.
-
-“What will you give me for these?” said she, trembling in every nerve as
-she spoke.
-
-The hard money-getting son of Israel, whose trade was pawn-broking, and
-whose business made him look on misery three hundred and thirteen days
-in the year, answered, “They are worth nothing to me, madam.”
-
-The lady shrunk into herself as if she had been shriveled. Her face and
-lips became deadly pale. She supported herself against the side of the
-box in which she stood, to conceal herself from view; and her little
-girl held her hand and clung to her garments in great fear. Very soon
-she began to cough, and in a moment her thin, tattered, white
-handkerchief was saturated with the blood she raised.
-
-The Jew looked at her with a mingling of kindness and fear. She must not
-bleed to death there. The pictures he knew were of much value, though
-there was a good deal of risk in taking them. He pitied the bleeding
-woman. Yet, pawn-broker and Jew as he was, he pitied her.
-
-“I will give you four dollars on them,” said he, and he hastily ticketed
-them, and handed her the money, to her infinite relief. She felt that
-she and her child had now a reprieve from death. The Jew selected some
-bills that bore a discount of ten per cent., and yet he pitied the
-woman, and she was so grateful to him that she could have pressed his
-hand, and wept hot tears upon it. She hurried away to her attic in
-Frankfort street. It was dark, and she feared insult. New York was worse
-lighted and worse cared for then than now. We had no gas and no star
-police then, but we had plenty of Jews and pawn-broker’s shops.
-
-As she passed along she raised the blood that pressed into her throat as
-fast as possible, but still it almost strangled her. Well-dressed
-people, men of business, returning home, and men and women hurrying to
-the theatre, the concert-room, or the prayer-meeting, or to the varied
-business or amusement of life, passed her without notice. She was their
-sister, but how were they to know that she was dying—that her scanty
-life-current was staining the pavement on which they stepped.
-
-She reached the last landing-place, and thought that she could go no
-further, but it was not seemly to die there, and she made a last effort
-and entered her room. She was startled by a bright light in the
-room—light at night she had not had since she made the last dozen of
-shirts at ten cents a piece. Stranger still, there was a good, bright
-fire in the grate. Her husband stood before it, with his face toward the
-door, and his hands behind him, showily dressed as usual. She had not
-seen him for many days.
-
-“O, Edward!” said she, “I am so glad you are come”—and she fainted, and
-would have fallen to the floor if he had not caught her in his arms. He
-laid her upon the meagre bed that had long since been robbed of every
-valuable article for the pawn-broker.
-
-“Fanny,” said he, with a choking voice, “my poor Fanny!” He sprinkled
-water on her face, and she opened her eyes.
-
-“I am going, Edward,” said she.
-
-“No, no!—you will not die now. O, don’t die till you have forgiven me
-for being your mur—”
-
-“Don’t say that—I forgive as I would be forgiven. Our child—”
-
-A hard fit of coughing and copious bleeding hindered her from speaking
-for some time.
-
-“Our poor Marie—give her to your Cousin Charles; he has wealth and none
-to care for. Promise me that you will do this.”
-
-The husband, trembling with fear, gave her the required promise, when
-she strangled from an excessive rush of blood into the trachea, and died
-with her daughter clinging madly around her neck.
-
-Edward Evans, the gambler and man about town, was alone with his dead
-wife, who, fourteen years before, he had persuaded to elope from her
-parents, and to marry him. She had gone through every gradation of
-suffering and poverty, and but for a strange run of luck that he had had
-for two or three evenings, she would have died in that dark, cold room,
-alone with her child, and have been buried in Potter’s Field. As it was,
-Evans had a basket of coal, a pound of candles, some food, and money to
-buy his wife a grave. And wretched as he was, we must do him the justice
-to say that he was glad to be able to bury his wife decently. And he did
-it.
-
-And now he bethought him of her last request. He must make the effort to
-give away the child, who had clung to the corpse of her mother to the
-last moment, and who had not seemed to see or hear at all, since that
-mother was buried out of her sight.
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
-A patient, plodding man was Charles Evans—a man who had made his own
-fortune, and was perfectly sure that every man might do the same who
-chose to mind his own business and keep at work, and not spend money or
-time. He went to election and voted, and went home without drinking a
-“brandy-smasher,” or a “whiskey-toddy.” He was a democrat when he had no
-property to protect, and when he had acquired wealth, he had got in the
-habit of being a democrat—and his democracy was his religion, his Faith
-in Human Brotherhood. He immured himself in a living tomb in Wall street
-all day, and worked half the night at his home in William street,
-beside. It was here that Edward Evans found him, the evening after his
-wife’s funeral.
-
-“How are you, Ned?” said Charles, glancing at him to see if he were
-sober, and then continued to fold and direct letters, seeming a little
-nervous under the infliction of a visit from his worthless cousin.
-
-“I have been very unfortunate,” said Ned, a good deal troubled how to
-penetrate his thick-skinned cousin.
-
-“I never knew you otherwise,” said Charles, and he wrote on.
-
-“I mean, I have had the bad fortune to bury my wife.”
-
-“Very good fortune for her,” said his cousin, but he dropped his pen and
-regarded the weed on Ned’s hat. “I did not notice that you were in
-mourning. So Fanny is dead. It is a long time since I have seen her. She
-died of a broken-heart, I suppose, you will allow.”
-
-“She bled to death from her lungs.”
-
-“All the same. Pity it had not been you.”
-
-“I came to see you about the child. She wished me to give her to you.”
-
-“To ME,” said his cousin, starting with real astonishment. “What could I
-do with a child, and a child who could never see her father again if she
-were to live with me? How old is she?”
-
-“I don’t justly remember,” said Ned.
-
-“Is there a race-horse in the city whose age you don’t remember? How
-long did it take you to kill your wife—do you know that? How long have
-you been a drunkard and a devil? How long have you eaten when your wife
-and child starved? How long have you hid them where even I could not
-find them—can you tell me that, you decently dressed vagabond? I’ll
-warrant your wife is clad as warmly in her grave as she was out of it.”
-
-Ned could answer nothing. He was a wretch—and he had the good sense to
-know it. He had not the slightest respect for himself, but he wanted his
-child taken care of; then, if he had a pint of brandy, and six feet of
-rope, he _thought_ he would comfort himself with the brandy, and hang
-himself with the rope; but then he had a great liking for cards and a
-decent rig, and it is probable that while luck, or loaded dice, gave him
-broadcloth and brandy, he would have laid up the rope against a lack of
-either, which he would have considered a decided reverse of fortune.
-
-“I promised my wife that I would give the girl to you. If you will take
-her, I will go to the South, and never show my face here again.”
-
-“What on earth am I to do with a child? My old blind aunt can’t see to
-herself and me—how is she to take care of another? But it is a
-temptation to be rid of you. How does the girl look?”
-
-The father was again at a loss.
-
-“Oh, you don’t know—what color is Kenny’s horse, Eclipse? How many
-hands high is he, and how old? How far can he run in ten minutes and
-thirteen seconds?”
-
-“Once for all—will you take the girl?” said the man whose life was
-exhausted by dissipation and excitement into an apathy that resembled
-patience. “She will have to go to the Almshouse if you don’t, and your
-blood is in her veins. She is your grandmother’s grandchild.”
-
-“I _would_ like you to be the only one of our blood who should die in
-the Almshouse; but I say again—what am I to do with the child? I can
-only take her as a servant.”
-
-“Make a slave of your own blood if you like,” replied the father, whose
-stupid apathy was pierced at last. “She had better serve you than serve
-the devil. She is a good, serviceable child.”
-
-“O, you know that, do you? No doubt you know all about that. Look you,
-Ned Evans, I owe you no service. I have earned every dollar I have,
-whilst you have squandered a fortune twice as large as mine, of your
-own, and another for your wife, whilst you have been a sponge to soak
-brandy, a gambler and a stool-pigeon for gamblers, and have made
-acquaintance with every horse-dealer and all the horse-flesh in the
-Union, and have murdered your wife by inches, till at the age of 29
-years, an age when she should be as fresh as a new-blown rose, and with
-her fortune living as well as any lady in the land, you have done her
-the last and only kindness you ever did her—you have bought her a pine
-coffin, and have seen her buried. But though I know you ought to be
-hung, I will make a bargain with you. I will see you on board a vessel
-bound for New Orleans, with your passage paid, and take your child. You
-agree to go to New Orleans. When once you are there, I have no fear of
-you or your ghost ever appearing to me again. On these conditions I will
-take the child.”
-
-“When must I sail for New Orleans? I’ll go after Monday. The race with
-Eclipse and Black Bess comes off then. I have agreed to ride for Kenny.
-I know the horse better than anybody else. Besides, a fellow must keep
-his word.”
-
-“Very good,” said Charles, after a moment’s thought. “You _may_ break
-your neck, and save me the passage-money. I agree to that—any thing
-more?”
-
-“When may I bring the girl?”
-
-“To-morrow morning at 6 o’clock.”
-
-“That’s too early to wake her,” mumbled Ned.
-
-“Then, or not at all. You can keep sober one night, and get up in decent
-season one morning in your life, for the sake of getting your child a
-situation.”
-
-If a particle of Ned Evans’ old spirit had been left, this taunt of
-getting his daughter a situation would have roused it. But his life was
-crushed. He was hopelessly besotted and exhausted, though now he had
-decent clothes, for which he had sacrificed the last remnant of decent
-feeling he possessed. These clothes belonged to the keeper of the vilest
-Hell in New York; and Ned was his “decoy-duck,” and did any job the
-fellow set him about.
-
-He was as craven before his cousin as possible. He had one instinct of
-his nature left—he wanted to provide for his child.
-
-“I will be here at the time, so help me God,” said he—and he kept his
-word. It was the last right act of his life. As if to make his cousin
-out a prophet, he rode Eclipse, and broke his neck in earnest, though
-not in “_sober_ earnest.”
-
-When Charles Evans heard of it, he only said, “One poor devil less in
-the world;” but he murmured to himself, as he turned away, “Poor Cousin
-Ned!”
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
-“Send the little girl to my room to-night, aunty, when you have made her
-decent. I must see what she is fit for, and what she looks like.
-Remember, she is to have good warm clothes, but no gewgawry.”
-
-At 8 o’clock precisely, Marie came into Mr. Evans’s room with a waiter,
-on which was spread the most frugal sort of a supper. Rye bread and
-butter and black tea, it was his sovereign pleasure to be served with at
-night.
-
-Mrs. Evans had had time only to extemporise an amelioration in the
-girl’s dress. She was at that very awkward age when a girl is not a
-child or a woman. She had a heavy burden of deep-red hair, and all her
-bones showed through their scant covering of flesh—and they seemed hung
-on wires, and very loosely hung, too. Her eyes were a very deep blue,
-but she had been somewhat “cross-eyed” from infancy, and now the defect
-was much aggravated by her constant weeping. She was very timid,
-shrinking from every one. What had she ever found in her lot to assure
-her or give her confidence?
-
-Poor, forlorn, ill-dressed, cross-eyed, red-haired, little one—all your
-defects are so many commendations to Charles Evans. In the deep
-selfishness of his benevolence he could love just such a child—one whom
-others would only pity and never think of loving. And he felt a sort of
-secure property in her when he saw that no one else would be likely to
-care for her; but he would be very certain not to let her know that he
-had any kind feelings for her. He was a scraggy limb of the law, and one
-would think that all the sap of his life had been written out in deeds
-and documents that brought him dollars, and that all the warmth of his
-heart had been expended on the Loco Foco candidates from his ward,
-district, city, county, etc., etc., during the time he had been a legal
-voter, which had now reached the term of fourteen years. He had amassed
-a large property, and had neither “chick nor child” to leave it to, as
-his friends said, all and singular of said friends having made up their
-minds that he would never marry, though he had only reached the mature
-and well-judging age of thirty-five.
-
-He liked to be thought well of, as who does not; and there was a
-delicate flattery to him in the thought that Fanny Evans trusted her
-child to _him_ before any of her own or her husband’s relatives. To any
-one of these relatives he would have spoken of the burden of bringing up
-other folks’ brats, but in his heart he thought “it was very wise, and
-well-judged, and kind of Fanny, to leave the girl to me; and when Ned is
-out of the way, I shall have nothing to interfere with my plans for the
-child’s welfare.”
-
-When Marie had set his waiter upon the table, she stopped and timidly
-raised her cross-eyes to Mr. Evans, to see if he wanted any thing more.
-
-“Sit down, Marie,” said he. “I wish your name was Fanny, I don’t like
-fancy names and flummery.”
-
-“I was named for my mother, Frances Maria,” said she, in the sweetest
-and softest voice that Evans remembered ever to have heard. Her voice
-penetrated his heart—and then her name was Fanny. He had always
-cherished a cordial friendship and a true respect for her mother—and he
-wished the girl to bear her mother’s name.
-
-“I would like very much to be called Fanny,” said the child.
-
-“Well, then, Fanny, how do you like your new home?”
-
-“I am very glad of it,” said Fanny, and the tears filled her eyes.
-
-“Don’t cry—there’s a good girl. Do you wish to go to school?”
-
-“I don’t know how I would like school. My dear mother always taught me.”
-
-“Well, you must go and see how you will get on. You will be a good girl,
-I dare say. You will obey Mrs. Evans in all she asks of you. If you want
-any thing, come to me. You will call me Cousin Charles when you speak to
-me, and Mr. Evans when you speak of me. When you speak to Mrs. E. call
-her aunty, and Mrs. Evans when you speak of her.”
-
-And thus little Fanny began her life at her cousin’s comfortable home.
-When she was told of her father’s death, she shuddered and felt
-relieved. Fanny loved her mother as we always love when we have few
-objects for our affections to rest on. But with the blessed faith of a
-child and a Christian, she believed she was now in heaven, where she
-would be perfectly happy forever, and she became strangely happy in her
-new home. All her studies and occupations were so many changing joys.
-From morning till night she was like some bright bird that knew not
-where to bestow the fullness of its brilliant and merry carolings.
-Everybody saw as the months passed away, how she wound herself around
-the heart of Charles Evans; and the friends began to prophesy that he
-would adopt her as his child, and make her his heir.
-
-Mrs. Evans was a woman of great goodness, very old, and very pious. She
-had now but one wish ungratified, and that was that Charles Evans and
-his ward should be converted. This seemed a hard matter to accomplish as
-far as Evans was concerned. He was rather a hopeless subject, for he
-boasted that he was a temperance man, that he never drank any thing
-stronger than black tea, that he never chewed tobacco, took laughing
-gas, or went to a protracted meeting.
-
-“Go to church with aunty enough to keep the peace,” said he to Fanny.
-“You and I will not quarrel about it as long as it tends to aunty’s
-comfort.”
-
-“I would not like you to quarrel with me if I went for my own comfort,”
-said Fanny.
-
-This touch of his own independence pleased him, and he said, “Go along,
-you gipsy—thistles and lilies never quarrel.”
-
-“Red-haired girls are never lilies, though cross cousins are very sharp
-thistles,” said Fanny, who, a year ago, would as soon have indulged in
-repartee with her cousin as the lily he likened her to.
-
-“You have grown very bold, if not very handsome,” he replied—and Fanny
-went to church with her aunt. She was never disturbed there, however
-much good Mrs. Evans prayed for such result. Some of her prayers had
-been answered. She had prayed for many years that all the theatres might
-be converted into chapels, and at last _one_ of them was, and she had
-the pleasure of hearing the divine Mr. Kirchard preach in it, from
-Sunday to Sunday, and various week days and evenings beside. He was an
-earnest preacher, and it was surprising the quantities of green tea,
-cayenne and cavendish that he converted into gospel. The ladies of his
-church presented the pulpit with an elegant cushion and spittoon, and
-never mortal minister had more use for both than the Rev. Mr. Kirchard.
-The way he beat the cushion and filled the other article, when he
-alarmed the sinners, _was_ plentiful.
-
-But Fanny was never disturbed with the powerful preaching of the
-reverend gentleman. Like a man who tends a saw-mill half the time, and
-sleeps soundly when relieved by his companion who tends it the other
-half, so Fanny was always very peaceful in church, if she was not
-sleepy. I believe she had a conscience against sleeping, though what she
-kept awake for, perhaps she was not herself aware. But it was very
-exemplary of her, and very gratifying to good Mrs. Evans.
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
-
-There are some good people who deny the doctrine of total depravity, who
-don’t see how it is possible for a man deliberately to be a hypocrite.
-They say that a man can’t live unless he has some good in him. I shall
-not dispute with these worthy people, because, in a free country, every
-man has a right to his own opinion, provided he does not happen to think
-that he may buy tickets in lotteries out of Wall street, and appropriate
-his neighbor’s goods without the formalities made and provided in the
-righteous common law of our social code; but I must say that if goodness
-is necessary to keep people alive, some folks have the gift of living on
-“small means;” and it becomes my duty to introduce a young gentleman
-eminently gifted in this particular.
-
-Sylvester Wilson was a young man who had a laudable wish for his own
-advancement, but, unfortunately for his piety, he was entirely
-indifferent to the means that contributed to his getting ahead, provided
-the world made no complaint of him. The opinion of those about him, with
-two-thirds the facts concealed from them, was a moral law for him, and
-he had no other. His father was a bad, ambitious and unscrupulous man,
-and the hereditary transmission of qualities would have charmed Fowler,
-though the qualities proved that he was “bad, born bad, and had no
-business here” but to make mischief. He was, however, an excellent
-dissembler, and passed for a pious and exemplary young man, punctual at
-church, and designed for the ministry. His family were friends of the
-Evans family.
-
-“Well, mother, have you wormed any thing out of old Aunty Evans about
-that red-haired horror’s adoption?” said Sylvester Wilson, to his mother
-one day, when she had been taking an old-fashioned cup of tea with Mrs.
-Evans.
-
-“How _can_ you, Sylvester!” said his mother, a good deal disturbed. “The
-child is very well, I am sure.”
-
-“Frights generally have good health.”
-
-“I meant that she was very well-looking. She has changed much in the two
-years she has lived with her cousin. Her hair is deepening its color,
-her eyes do not squint any more, and she is very plump and fresh.”
-
-“All the better for me—fourteen, is she? She will get better still,
-perhaps, in two or three years. But about the cash, mother—will that
-old hunks of a cousin portion her? If so, I am his man.”
-
-“Mrs. Evans thinks he considers her as good as his own child now,” said
-Mrs. Wilson. “You are to be three years in the University, my child, and
-you can’t think of a wife till that time is past.”
-
-“I don’t know what harm _thinking_ is to do a fellow. I am not in the
-University yet, and I don’t exactly see how I am to be there, unless I
-find a gold mine. If I could get employed to give lessons to that
-fox-pate, I might earn some money, and borrow more, and get an education
-and independence at last. One can’t expect beauty and tin together.”
-
-Success was all Mrs. Wilson asked for her son, and his life-plans did
-not seem to her at all profane. And he succeeded in obtaining the place
-he sought. He gave Fanny lessons in music and mathematics. It was a
-great triumph when Fanny got leave of Cousin Charles to learn music. She
-had thought of a piano, and dreamed of one, and thumped on one that
-belonged to a young friend for a long time—but she had no idea of ever
-being the happy possessor of a mine of music.
-
-At Christmas, just about two years from the time when she came to live
-with her cousin, she made a little “Christmas box” for her best friend.
-It contained a pair of slippers, a watch-holder, and a lamp-mat, all
-worked by herself. They had grown very pretty under her skillful
-fingers, but the coarse canvas had not changed more under her hands than
-she had changed since she had lived in this happy home. And she was
-daily improving. When Charles Evans found this Christmas gift on his
-table, he resolved to give Fanny just what she should ask for, and so he
-said, “I have only got you a book for Christmas, Fanny, but if you think
-of any thing else that you want, you must tell me.”
-
-“And will you really give it me?” said Fanny, and her deep-blue eyes
-seemed melting in their own lustre.
-
-“To be sure I will, because I have said so.”
-
-“Well, then, dear, good Cousin Charles, buy me a piano.”
-
-“Buy you a winter full of thunder storms—why you will bang me deaf.”
-
-“But not dumb, I’ll bet any thing—you will always be able to scold your
-poor Cousin Fanny. But I shall play when you are away.”
-
-“I rather think you will when you get a piano. Why do you know what a
-deal of money one of those thunderers costs?”
-
-Fanny began to be frightened. She did not know, but she was really like
-the child who cried for the moon. The tears came into her eyes as she
-thought of herself two years ago. She looked up at her cousin, with her
-grateful soul beaming from her beautiful eyes, and smiling through her
-tears, she said, “Cousin, I was very wrong to ask such an impossible
-thing—will you buy me a canary-bird?”
-
-“Do you give up all claim to the piano if I do?”
-
-“O, yes, to be sure. Please to forget it. Indeed, I did not mean to be a
-silly girl.”
-
-Thus ended the talk of the piano; but the next afternoon an elegant
-piano and a beautiful canary-bird, were domesticated in Mr. Evans’s
-quiet parlor—and Fanny was perfectly wild with delight. That was a
-wonderful era in her life—a time to date from forever after—though
-Cousin Charles brushed her off as if she had been a whole swarm of black
-flies, when she ran to his room, on his return in the evening, to
-overwhelm him with thanks, and tears, and crazy rejoicings.
-
-“Bless me, Fanny,” said he, “you had better make up your mind whether
-you are going to melt, or fly away, or go to a lunatic asylum; and when
-you have concluded, just come and let me know, will you? I can do
-without you till then.”
-
-The next thing to the piano must be a music-teacher. Young Wilson had
-played his cards skillfully. He had interested Charles Evans in his
-fortunes, and he engaged him from motives of benevolence, to teach
-Fanny. To do him justice, he was a good teacher. But Evans was cheated.
-He did not think it possible that the fellow could have thought but to
-teach Fanny, that he might mend his small means—a most praiseworthy
-object in the young man, and one that Evans felt anxious to assist him
-in attaining. Though Fanny had grown very pretty, and was daily
-improving, yet her cousin was hardly conscious of it. He thought of her
-as a mere child as she was, and a very ugly child as she had been; and
-it never once entered his mind that any young man could have designs
-upon the heart of the little one. Young Wilson interested him, not
-because he knew him, but because he did not know him. He saw him
-struggling to get an education, and pay for it himself, and he was glad
-to have an excuse to offer him assistance.
-
-Evans had small love for music, but mathematics was a pet of the first
-magnitude with him, and for the sake of this branch of study, he
-compromised and gave the girl her music. So he said; but the truth was,
-he wished Fanny to be happy. And he had his wish. The bird and the piano
-were all the time new, and she could never for a moment, asleep or
-awake, cease to rejoice in either. She kept her word not to play when
-Mr. Evans was at home. But then this was no great privation, for the
-bird sang like mad all the morning, and he went away early, and she
-managed to tire herself so thoroughly during the day, that she was very
-willing to go patiently and quietly into figures for the evening. Mr.
-Evans was quite satisfied, for as he said he saw Fanny always at her
-“sums,” and never was disturbed by drums or thunder.
-
-Wilson found himself of just as much social importance to Fanny as a
-piano or an algebra. She would have been just as much interested in a
-calculating machine; and if her piano could have taught her to play on
-it, she would have been neither better or worse pleased than now. To be
-sure she was glad when her Aunt Evans told her of the struggles of young
-Wilson to educate himself that she had him for a teacher, but she never
-thought enough of him to mention him to Mr. Evans; first, because she
-seldom needed his help in her mathematical studies, and of music she
-never spoke to her cousin.
-
-Wilson was prudent and careful. He had good hope of getting into the
-University—in time of a pulpit, and a rich wife. No word, or look, or
-overt act ever revealed to Fanny or her friends, that he had designs on
-the fortune of Mr. Evans, through a marriage with his ward. For months
-he labored assiduously, when an accident occurred that changed the face
-of his fortune, though, perhaps, it did not materially affect Fanny. A
-merchant uncle of Wilson, who lived at New Orleans, found himself in
-need of an assistant, in consequence of failing health. He was a man of
-wealth, and Wilson considered his fortune assured by this chance—and so
-the church lost the chance of adding to her ornaments another of those
-paste gems that bring the real jewels into disrepute.
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
-Seventeen! sweet, gay, laughing seventeen had come to Fanny—and she had
-never once thought of getting married. Not she. She would have been
-obliged to contemplate marriage as something that must separate her from
-the only home she had ever known; and she would as soon have stepped out
-of her skin some cold night, as have gone away from her dear friends.
-She liked everybody and loved nobody, and wanted to hug the whole world,
-as she forcibly said, because she was so happy.
-
-“Christmas Eve, to-morrow, Cousin Charles; I hope all my presents are
-purchased and directed.”
-
-“And what are you going to give _me_, little Miss Fairy?”
-
-“Myself, to be sure,” laughed Fanny. “What else have I to give away?”
-
-“No, that you wont. You will keep yourself for some worthless fellow,
-I’ll warrant.”
-
-“No, I thank you. I had rather be excused. I intend to make your black
-tea as long as you live, if you don’t conclude to leave the tea out, and
-take water with me.”
-
-“I tell you, you will marry a scamp the day after you are eighteen—that
-is the way with all the women.”
-
-“There must be a prodigious number of scamps, then, cousin; and if you
-had only been one of them, you might have been _happily married_,
-instead of being the nicest bear of a bachelor at large.”
-
-“I think I might get married even now, if I were only fool enough.”
-
-“But as you are very wise, you shall be my Cousin Charles, and nothing
-else—and I would not exchange you for a pet porcupine. Don’t you see
-how I prize you? So don’t think of getting married—I should quarrel
-with your wife, to see which should love you best; and that would be
-very inconvenient for us all.”
-
-Christmas was a merry time at Charles Evans’s. The man of deeds and
-documents always relaxed and came out of the world of business, or, as
-he said, “allowed the world to mind its own business” at Christmas and
-New Year. But something very serious happened to Mr. Evans from this
-year’s Christmas merry-making. A pretty girl needed some one to see her
-home, and glowing and perspiring from the last game at “Blind Man’s
-Buff,” Mr. Evans attended her on a bitter night, which made him run home
-as rapidly as possible, with chattering teeth, and a chill that seemed
-to go quite to his heart. Next morning he awoke with a quaking headache
-and pains through all his bones, and great heat and cold chills, and all
-the concomitants of a bad fever about him. Thanks to the exhaustion of
-unremitting and most unreasonable labor, such as a great many men
-perform who do the head-work for the headless multitude, and thanks also
-to the lancet of a certain doctor, who held to letting the bad blood out
-of a man, and poisoning what remained to purify it, Mr. Evans became
-dangerously sick. What an invaluable treasure was Fanny now. Her foot
-was the lightest—her hand was the softest and coolest—her eyes never
-closed in slumber, unless she left the best of watchers in her
-place—and she threw quantities of physic to the dogs, or some equally
-prudent place, and she nourished the patient carefully when he began to
-get well; and at last, in spite of all the evils in the patient, and out
-of him, doctors and drugs included, she saw Mr. Evans convalescent.
-
-At length he came down stairs, and when he thought how long Fanny had
-left her piano locked, and not even listened to her canary, he asked her
-for a song. It was in very kindness to her, and in accordance with his
-benevolent character—for he thought that he disliked music, and it is
-probable that he had the good taste to dislike the heathen discord that
-had been christened music, where he had happened to be the victim.
-
-The Battle of Prague, thumped with indenting emphasis on a piano sadly
-out of tune, had given Mr. Evans his ideas of melody; and it is small
-wonder that he had as great dislike for music as prudent regard for his
-ears.
-
-It was a great surprise to Mr. Evans when Fanny’s melodious voice fell
-on his ear, appropriately accompanied by the instrument, which was one
-of the softest and sweetest in the world. He had expected the Battle of
-Prague, and it seemed to him, so great was the contrast, like
-humming-birds amid the flowers.
-
-Fanny sung a song of her own composing, descriptive of her own life,
-first in its great sadness and trials and deep grief with her sainted
-mother, and then her bereavement, and then her adoption by her cousin,
-and the calm flow of her life since then. At the close of her song she
-alluded to her best friend’s illness, and spoke of her joy that he was
-now safely recovering. The song and the music were her own, and they
-came from the depth of her heart. The sad, sweet murmur of her soul’s
-sorrow in the first verses, was succeeded by the calm happiness and
-bird-like joy of the years passed in her cousin’s home, and again the
-sorrowful notes spoke of his illness, and the winged joy burst forth in
-the happy conclusion.
-
-It was a triumph to Fanny when she saw at the close of the piece tears
-rolling over Mr. Evans’s face, and he said, with a voice rendered
-indistinct by emotion, “Sing it again, Fanny”—and she was only too
-happy to comply with his request.
-
-When the song was ended, he conquered his emotion, and laughing through
-his tears, he said,
-
-“You shall be my nightingale, Fanny.”
-
-“Thank you, I accept the appointment—what salary do you intend to
-give?” said Fanny, as she sat down on the sofa by the invalid, and
-passed her hand over his high, white forehead, to see if any fever were
-warning her to send her patient away to rest.
-
-“I will give you myself and all that I have,” said he, again bursting
-into tears.
-
-A flood of new thoughts rushed through the mind of Fanny. She paused to
-think what to say. “You are weak, cousin, and must not sit up too long.
-Will you go to your room, or will you rest and sleep on the sofa here?”
-
-Mr. Evans was frightened at what he had said. He was sure Fanny could
-never love him only as a father or elder brother; and now he thought he
-had broken the freedom of that relation, and he blamed himself, and
-troubled himself, and well-nigh fretted himself into a relapse of his
-fever. But his naturally strong constitution triumphed, and in a few
-weeks he was perfectly restored.
-
-Meanwhile Fanny had become grave and thoughtful; and, truth to tell, she
-shunned her cousin more than she ought. She had not known how dear he
-was to her till his illness—during the time that he was considered
-dangerous she had neither eaten nor slept. She had watched over him as a
-mother watches her first born. She felt that if he should die, life,
-which had always seemed so full of joy and blessing, would be a blank to
-her. She had not asked herself if this were love. She had supposed it
-was only the interest she ought to feel in her cousin. Now she was put
-upon examining her own heart. She fully believed that her cousin was by
-no means in love with her, but that his tender confession was owing to
-the weakness induced by his severe illness and his gratitude to his
-fortunately successful nurse.
-
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
-“And now, mother, tell me all about the Evanses. Is my flame as foxy as
-ever? She must be quite a young lady. Heaven forgive me for not being
-thankful enough for all mercies in general, and for the particular one
-that I am not obliged to marry red hair.” Thus spoke the fortunate
-Wilson, the morning after his arrival from New Orleans, bringing the
-welcome news that his relative was dead, and that he was his heir.
-
-“Don’t be too hasty, Sylvester,” said his mother. “Miss Evans has
-changed more than any one you ever saw. She is a perfect beauty, bating
-her freckles. Her hair is no more red than a chestnut. She is plump and
-round as an apple; she is white as snow, and her eyes are as pretty as
-possible.”
-
-“Amen, mother! One would think you were her lover instead of your
-hopeful son. But I will see for myself. I shall not take your word or
-your bond for that girl’s beauty.”
-
-And so Mr. Wilson, armed for conquest, presented himself before Miss
-Evans. She had never cared enough for him to be very glad to see him,
-but she received him politely and kindly, as was her nature. He was a
-very good-looking, stylish young man, and he talked well on common
-topics, and soon succeeded in interesting Fanny. He was quite
-unprepared, notwithstanding all his mother had said, for the beauty that
-had grown upon Fanny. He loved beauty just as he loved roast pig and
-canvas-backs—and he was smashed at once—Fanny had made an impression.
-He asked her to play and sing for her _cidevant_ teacher, and the
-impression was fixed.
-
-Wilson was sure at the end of an hour that he should marry Fanny Evans;
-and Fanny thought him a very good-looking, interesting young man, and
-she rejoiced in his good fortune; their musical tastes formed a bond
-between them, and it soon seemed very natural and proper to Fanny that
-she saw young Wilson daily. She was sad, and singing diverted her. His
-voice was good, and they sung duets. He played finely, and this was very
-pleasant. She had become estranged from her cousin, and she wanted some
-company. Fanny had never been so unhappy since she first came to live
-with her cousin. Finally, Wilson offered himself to her. This was an
-event to Fanny entirely unexpected.
-
-“Don’t speak of such a thing,” said she, earnestly. “Pray excuse me, Mr.
-Wilson,” and she went straight out of the room. When she reached her
-chamber, she felt very sorrowful, and, truth to tell, very sick. She had
-been worn down by labor and watching during Mr. Evans’s illness, and her
-sadness in being estranged from him. She had got nervous, and began, for
-the first time in her life, to have the _blues_. She almost persuaded
-herself that she was become a burden to her cousin, and that she ought
-to marry Wilson. She wept till she had a dreadful headache, and when the
-servant came to call her to make Mr. Evans’s tea, she was really too ill
-to go down—and with swollen eyes, red face, and dabbled and disarranged
-curls, she looked into the glass, and dared not present herself before
-her cousin.
-
-“Tell Mr. Evans that I have a bad headache, and if he will excuse me, I
-will go early to bed. Make every thing very nice for him, Norah. Were
-his slippers warm when he came in?”
-
-“I don’t know, Miss, but I will get his supper good”—and she went to
-carry Fanny’s excuse to Mr. Evans.
-
-“Go back, Norah, quickly, and ask Miss Evans if I may come up.”
-
-Fanny had wheeled her sofa to the fire, and had just buried her face in
-a velvet cushion to weep as long and as much as she wished. Mr. Evans,
-in his concern for her, had followed Norah, and stood outside the door.
-
-“Tell him not to trouble himself to come up. I shall do very well as
-soon as I have slept.”
-
-“If you had asked me to take the trouble to stay down stairs, I might
-have thought of it; but seeing I am here, it is no trouble to come; and
-you are so bright and cosy, suppose you let the girl bring the waiter up
-here and make my tea for me.”
-
-Mr. Evans was quite sure that something beside sickness had happened to
-Fanny, and he intended to be confessor or doctor, as the case might be.
-
-“Norah, bring Mr. Evans’s supper to my room,” said Fanny, more
-cheerfully than she would have thought possible a few minutes before.
-And she passed into her bed-room and bathed her face and her eyes, and
-arranged her hair, and came back to make tea for Mr. Evans very much
-improved. But she could not talk—she had fairly lost her tongue.
-
-Mr. Evans seemed more unconstrained and more fully himself than since
-his unfortunate offer of himself to Fanny.
-
-“Fanny,” said he, after the tea things were taken away, “I would like to
-ask you what is the matter, if I thought you would like to tell me. It
-is no common headache that is tormenting you; I would sooner guess it is
-a heartache.”
-
-“And what if it is a heartache?” said Fanny.
-
-“You mean to ask what I should have to do with the diseases of your
-heart. I tell you, Fanny, I am not as bad as you may think, or so big a
-fool either. For instance, though I love you a great deal better than
-Heaven, and would sooner have you for my wife than an angel, yet knowing
-that you can’t love an old codger like me, I want to see you happy with
-the man of your choice, and I tell you now, for the cure of your
-headache, or heartache, that you have my consent to marry Mr. Wilson.”
-
-Fanny burst into so violent and uncontrolled a fit of weeping, that Mr.
-Evans was alarmed and puzzled.
-
-“Speak to me, Fanny, tell me what is all this. I thought to give you
-great joy, and I only set you weeping. Tell me, what does all this
-mean?”
-
-“Dear Cousin Charles,” said Fanny, “you have given me the greatest joy
-of my life.”
-
-“Then you love Wilson, as I thought,” said Mr. Evans.
-
-“No, no—not Wilson, but you, Cousin Charles; and you said you would
-rather have me for your wife than an angel.” And Fanny threw her arms
-around Charles Evans’s neck; and there is not a shadow of doubt that he
-would cheerfully have exchanged all the pleasures of his long
-bachelorate in a lump, for the kisses of the next five minutes.
-
-They were a happy couple that evening; but Wilson’s prospects were worse
-damaged than his heart.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD.
-
-
- BY HENRY S. HAGERT.
-
-
- Sweet is the tomb—the all-forgetting tomb—
- The dreamless couch round which no phantoms glide,
- To harrow up the soul, or read a doom,
- Of yore on their dread Sabbath prophesied.
- Calm are its slumbers—never more shall pride,
- Hatred or malice, wound the sleeping clay;
- Wrong not the dead—they should be deified—
- They lived and suffered, and have passed away;
- Here be all feuds forgot—ye, too, shall have your day.
-
- Your day of trouble, when the cup of Grief,
- Full of its Marsh-waters must be drained
- E’en to the dregs—when ye will need relief
- From those upon whose head your lips have rained,
- Curses; when they who were by you disdained,
- Shall offer in their mockery, to dry
- The hot dew of your brows by anguish strained
- Through the parched skin. Ah! then, in grief to fly
- For refuge to the grave, and find but calumny.
-
- Let the dead rest—if ye must “snarl and bite,”
- Turn to the living—there your venom spill;
- Put on Deception’s mask, then vent your spite,
- Sharpen your fangs, and gnaw, and rend, and kill—
- ’Tis a sweet banquet—eat and drink your fill;
- Ye can thrive well on malice—but forbear
- To stir the ashes of the dead, your skill
- Can never fan a glowing ember there,
- At which the hated torch of vengeance to repair.
-
- Look on the dead, and if ye cower and quail
- To think that ye shall be like them one day—
- That the cold coffin-worm, with slimy trail,
- Shall crawl across your forehead, or from play
- Within your eyeless sockets forth shall stray,
- To feast upon your rottenness, your hair
- Shall drip the sick’ning grave-damps, and the gray,
- Dry dust of the rank sepulchre, for air,
- Fill up your nostrils—then by the cold grave _forbear_!
-
- Think on your last dark hour, when a gaunt form,
- Spectral and shadowy, shall stoop and set
- A mystic seal upon you; when the storm
- Of conscience rages, till its spray has wet
- Your brow; when, like the doom in Venice met,
- The walls of your lone chamber seem to close
- Upon you, crushed and bleeding, dying, yet
- Never to die—from torments such as those,
- Would you be free? Withhold—break not the dead’s repose.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGIA.
-
-
- PARAPHRASE.
-
-
- BY RICHARD PENN SMITH.
-
-
- A stalwart blind man trudging through the mud,
- O’ertook a cripple; side by side they stood.
- “Cripple, you’re stall’d,” cried Blinky, “in this clay.”
- Cripple replied, “Can Blinky see his way?”
- “Not a d—d inch,” the poor blind man replies,
- “But mount my shoulders, boy, lend me your eyes;
- Keep them wide open, let their light be mine,
- Cling to my shoulders, and my legs are thine.
- And with clear eyes, strong shanks and shoulders good
- We need no more to travel through this mud.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE BATTLE OF LIFE.
-
-
- BY LEN.
-
-
-A sigh steals down the smiling valley—a gentle sigh of breezes, wafting
-happiness over the face of nature, and at the sound from out their beds
-of earth, myriads of things of beauty wake into existence;—meadow and
-plain and hill-side glisten in fairest verdure—flowers fling their
-fragrance on the gale—stately trees wave their foliage to the passing
-wind—while streams beneath dance onward to the ocean—and the
-dream-like hum that fills the air and swells in chorus to the arch of
-heaven, tells of the blooming Spring—of the transcendent pleasures of
-Life.
-
-What a glorious earth has man for a habitation! what scenes surround him
-to ennoble the soul—what examples to elevate and incite the mind to
-strive for the goal of Happiness. That goal, alas! how distant and hard
-to reach; thorns hedge the road the aspiring one would tread, and weeds
-spring rank and choking in the pathway, or often, when the seeming
-height is won, the eminence fades to a common level, and Happiness is as
-distant as ever! But the soul must toil, though success is but a
-vision—the mind must work, although its labors be fruitless; for there
-is a Higher power controlling the actions of man—guiding his impulses
-and passions, and girding him for the conflict around him and within
-him—the struggle that is ceaselessly waging—the Battle of Life!
-
-How sweet is Fame! Even now, upon men’s tongues there dwells some name
-whose every syllable is a charm, thrilling to adoration. Here, a patriot
-spirit, whose fires have smouldered long beneath wrong and malice, rises
-superior to ills, and grasps—almost the consummation of his wishes;
-there, a warrior from the laureled field, receives the homage of a
-grateful people; or some philosopher, with potent wand, discloses to a
-wondering world a new discovery in Science. They stand aloft upon the
-pinnacle of Fortune, and eager crowds beneath echo their praises or envy
-their success; and upward still they gaze, blind to the rugged crags
-that lie between—blind to the slippery height they covet—blind to the
-thousands round them on the same great plain, breathless and bleeding
-from their vain attempts to climb the dazzling steep—or happy in an
-humbler sphere.
-
-Ah! had they seen that lofty mind on the chill yesterday of Adversity,
-with naught but obstacles before him; who knew that Country was upon
-men’s lips only as a substitute for self, and yet heard his own efforts
-slandered as false and recreant, and whose high purposes had bent before
-the storm only to rise unbroken—they would not undergo the patriot’s
-trials, even for his rewards. The soldier’s hardships in the camp, with
-night’s cold shadows closing round him, and no pillow for his head save
-the still colder earth; or ’mid the battle’s carnage, or on the
-ensanguined field, strewn alike with friends and foes, would look not
-half so pleasant to their eyes as that exulting warrior; or had they
-watched the student through long years of vain research, poring o’er
-musty tomes till the stars paled before the light of day, with fevered
-brow and aching heart, filled with strong hopes that time still dashed
-to earth—though Time at last was destined to fulfill; the marvels
-wrought thus dearly, thus hardly given to the world, the car with wings
-of fire, the thought, borne as on the lightning’s shaft, the shadow that
-no longer vanishes, when won at such a cost, would lose their value, and
-the philosopher stand unenvied though pre-eminent.
-
-Men judge too oft by outward show, the glitter hides the dross which
-lies beneath, the peasant would seek happiness in palaces, the rich,
-perchance, see pleasures ’mid the poor; all err, all causelessly
-despond, for place nor circumstance alone can make life happy; there is
-no lake with breast by winds unruffled, no sea by billows always
-unconvulsed—even so is it with man. How many noble minds are crushed
-beneath adversity, and pulses that ere-while warmed with a kindred glow
-to kindred energies, throb now to sorrow and bereavement? How many
-hearts that loved—loved, oh, how fondly—are doomed, alas! to live, and
-live alone? How many breathing beings toil and travail on to gain
-wherewith they may drag out existence—how many lots that look the
-brightest, are fraught with bitterest wo!
-
-And still the strife goes on, still the throng heaves and swells
-tumultuously, as waves that surge against the rocks which bind them, and
-one unceasing current flows turbulently onward, bearing with it the joys
-and sorrows, the hopes and passions of a world—onward ever, to the
-trackless ocean of Eternity.
-
-But fields are green and flowers are fair—then is no warfare on the
-hills, nor in the groves, nor on the plains; the elements break in
-fearful grandeur above; the seasons come and go—yet sunshine follows
-storms as day the night, and Winter yields to Spring. No murmur is
-heard, save that which trembles through the air, of rippling streams and
-stirring leaves, and songs of sweetest music; and the works of Nature
-stand forth in majestic harmony, unmoved by the strivings around them,
-regardless alike of the fears and longings, the griefs and tumults
-raging in the breasts of men—serene and placid, despite the contest,
-and at Peace, though amid the throes of The Battle of Life.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- FIFTY SUGGESTIONS.
-
-
- BY EDGAR A. POE.
-
-
- (_Concluded from page 319._)
-
- 26.
-
-The taste manifested by our Transcendental poets, _is_ to be treated
-“reverentially,” beyond doubt, as one of Mr. Emerson’s friends
-suggests—for the fact is, it is Taste on her death-bed—Taste kicking
-in _articulo mortis_.
-
- 27.
-
-I should not say, of Taglioni, exactly that she dances, but that she
-laughs with her arms and legs, and that if she takes vengeance on her
-present oppressors, she will be amply justified by the _lex Talionis_.
-
- 28.
-
-The world is infested, just now, by a new sect of philosophers, who have
-not yet suspected themselves of forming a sect, and who, consequently,
-have adopted no name. They are the _Believers in every thing Odd_. Their
-High Priest in the East, is Charles Fourier—in the West, Horace Greely;
-and high priests they are to some purpose. The only common bond among
-the sect, is Credulity:—let us call it Insanity at once, and be done
-with it. Ask any one of them _why_ he believes this or that, and, if he
-be conscientious, (ignorant people usually are,) he will make you very
-much such a reply as Talleyrand made when asked why he believed in the
-Bible. “I believe in it first,” said he, “because I am Bishop of Autun;
-and, secondly, _because I know nothing about it at all_.” What these
-philosophers call “argument,” is a way they have “_de nier ce qui est et
-d’expliquer ce qui n’est pas_.”[2]
-
- 29.
-
-The goddess Laverna, who is a head without a body, could not do better,
-perhaps, than make advances to “La Jeune France,” which, for some years
-to come at least, must otherwise remain a body without a head.
-
- 30.
-
-Mr. A—— is frequently spoken of as “one of our most industrious
-writers;” and, in fact, when we consider how much he has written, we
-perceive, at once, that he _must_ have been industrious, or he could
-never (like an honest woman as he is) have so thoroughly succeeded in
-keeping himself from being “talked about.”
-
- 31.
-
-H—— calls his verse a “poem,” very much as Francis the First bestowed
-the title, _mes déserts_, upon his snug little deer-park at
-Fontainebleau.
-
- 32.
-
-K——, the publisher, trying to be critical, talks about books pretty
-much as a washerwoman would about Niagara falls or a poulterer about a
-phœnix.
-
- 33.
-
-The ingenuity of critical malice would often be laughable but for the
-disgust, which, even in the most perverted spirits, injustice never
-fails to excite. A common _trick_ is that of decrying, impliedly, the
-higher, by insisting upon the lower, merits of an author. Macaulay, for
-example, deeply feeling how much critical acumen is enforced by cautious
-attention to the mere “rhetoric” which is its vehicle, has at length
-become the best of modern rhetoricians. His _brother_
-reviewers—anonymous, of course, and likely to remain so forever—extol
-“the acumen of Carlyle, the analysis of Schlegel, _and_ the style of
-Macaulay.” Bancroft is a philosophical historian; but no amount of
-philosophy has yet taught him to despise a minute accuracy in point of
-fact. His _brother_ historians talk of “the grace of Prescott, the
-erudition of Gibbon, _and_ the pains-taking precision of Bancroft.”
-Tennyson, perceiving how vividly an imaginative effect is aided, now and
-then, by a certain quaintness judiciously introduced, brings this
-latter, at times, in support of his most glorious and most delicate
-imagination:—whereupon his _brother_ poets hasten to laud the
-imagination of Mr. Somebody, whom nobody imagined to have any, “_and_
-the somewhat affected quaintness of Tennyson.”—Let the noblest poet add
-to his other excellences—if he dares—that of faultless versification
-and scrupulous attention to grammar. He is damned at once. His rivals
-have it in their power to discourse of “A. the true poet, _and_ B. the
-versifier and disciple of Lindley Murray.”
-
- 34.
-
-That a cause leads to an effect, is scarcely more certain than that, so
-far as Morals are concerned, a repetition of effect tends to the
-generation of cause. Herein lies the principle of what we so vaguely
-term “Habit.”
-
- 35.
-
-With the exception of Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall,” I have never read a
-poem combining so much of the fiercest passion with so much of the most
-delicate imagination, as the “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship” of Miss
-Barrett. I am forced to admit, however, that the latter work _is_ a
-palpable imitation of the former, which it surpasses in thesis as much
-as it falls below it in a certain calm energy, lustrous and
-indomitable—such as we might imagine in a broad river of molten gold.
-
- 36.
-
-What has become of the inferior planet which Decuppis, about nine years
-ago, declared he saw traversing the disc of the sun?
-
- 37.
-
-“Ignorance _is_ bliss”—but, that the bliss be real, the ignorance must
-be so profound as not to suspect itself ignorant. With this
-understanding, Boileau’s line may be read thus:
-
- “Le plus fou _toujours_ est le plus satisfait,”
-
-—“_toujours_” in place of “_souvent_.”
-
- 38.
-
-Bryant and Street are both, essentially, descriptive poets; and
-descriptive poetry, even in its happiest manifestation, is _not_ of the
-highest order. But the distinction between Bryant and Street is very
-broad. While the former, in reproducing the sensible images of Nature,
-reproduces the sentiments with which he regards them, the latter gives
-us the images and nothing beyond. He never forces us to feel what we
-feel he must have felt.
-
- 39.
-
-In lauding Beauty, Genius merely evinces a filial affection. To Genius
-Beauty gives life—reaping often a reward in Immortality.
-
- 40.
-
-And this is the “American Drama” of ——! Well!—that “Conscience which
-makes cowards of us all” will permit me to say, in praise of the
-performance, only that it is not quite so bad as I expected it to be.
-But then I always expect too much.
-
- 41.
-
-What we feel to be _Fancy_ will be found fanciful still, whatever be the
-theme which engages it. No _subject_ exalts it into Imagination. When
-Moore is termed “a fanciful poet,” the epithet is applied with
-precision. He _is_. He is fanciful in “Lalla Rookh,” and had he written
-the “Inferno,” in the “Inferno” he would have contrived to be still
-fanciful and nothing beyond.
-
- 42.
-
-When we speak of “a suspicious man,” we may mean either one who
-suspects, or one to be suspected. Our language needs either the
-adjective “suspectful,” or the adjective “suspectable.”
-
- 43.
-
-“To love,” says Spencer, “is
-
- “To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
- To speed, to give, to want, to be undone.”
-
-The philosophy, here, might be rendered more profound, by the mere
-omission of a comma. We all know the _willing_ blindness—the
-_voluntary_ madness of Love. We express this in thus punctuating the
-last line:
-
- To speed, to give—_to want to be undone_.
-
-It is a case, in short, where we gain point by omitting it.
-
- 44.
-
-Miss Edgeworth seems to have had only an approximate comprehension of
-“Fashion,” for she says:
-
-“If it was the fashion to burn me, and I at the stake, I hardly know ten
-persons of my acquaintance who would refuse to throw on a faggot.”
-
-There are _many_ who, in such a case, would “refuse to throw on a
-faggot”—for fear of smothering out the fire.
-
- 45.
-
-I am beginning to think with Horsely—that “the People have nothing to
-do with the laws but to obey them.”
-
- 46.
-
-“It is not fair to review my book without reading it,” says Mr. M——,
-talking at the critics, and, as usual, expecting impossibilities. The
-man who is clever enough to _write_ such a work, is clever enough to
-read it, no doubt; but we should not look for so much talent in the
-world at large. Mr. M—— will not imagine that I mean to blame _him_.
-The book alone is in fault, after all. The fact is, that “_er lasst sich
-nicht lesen_”—it will not _permit_ itself to be read. Being a hobby of
-Mr. M——’s, and brimful of spirit, it will let nobody mount it but Mr.
-M——.
-
- 47.
-
-It is only to teach his children Geography, that G—— wears a boot the
-picture of Italy upon the map.
-
- 48.
-
-In his great Dictionary, Webster seems to have had an idea of being more
-English than the English—“_plus Arabe qu’en Arabie_.”[3]
-
- 49.
-
-That there were once “seven wise men” is by no means, strictly speaking,
-an historical _fact_; and I am rather inclined to rank the idea among
-the Kabbala.
-
- 50.
-
-Painting their faces to look like Macaulay, some of our critics manage
-to resemble him, at length, as a Massaccian does a Raffäellian Virgin;
-and, except that the former is feebler and thinner than the
-other—suggesting the idea of its being the ghost of the other—not one
-connoisseur in ten can perceive any difference. But then, unhappily,
-even the street lazzaroni can feel the distinction.
-
------
-
-[2] Nouvelle Héloise.
-
-[3] Count Anthony Hamilton.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- MAY LILLIE.
-
-
- OR LOVE AND LEARNING.
-
-
- BY MRS. CAROLINE H. BUTLER.
-
-
-It was a most provoking thing that young Harry Warren should have fallen
-in love with pretty May Lillie—he simply a village school-master whom
-nobody knew—and she the only daughter of the richest and proudest man
-in the whole county of Erie, whom every body knew! It was not only very
-provoking, but it was also very unfortunate for the poor fellow, as he
-might as well have aspired to wed yon bright evening star, as to lead to
-the altar the daughter of Diogenes Lillie, Esq., Ex. M. C.
-
-See the maliciousness of Fate! If May had been but the child of some
-poor widow or parson—or had Harry claimed descent from some lordly
-aristocrat, the course of true love might not have run so crooked.
-Leander swam the Hellespont to reach his love, breasting bravely the
-surging billows, which parting before him, bore him exultingly to the
-feet of Hero—but how shall Harry force the adamantine chains with which
-Mammon bars the way to happiness! Assist him ye gods of hapless lovers.
-
-My hero was the son of a farmer, more rich in children than in acres,
-and who could only afford them in schooling, value received for a few
-bushels of wheat, rye, or potatoes.
-
-Young Harry had no taste for agriculture. The plough furrowed his
-handsome countenance, and the harrow harrowed his soul. Neither did he
-fancy mechanics—he turned from the anvil, the carpenter’s bench, the
-awl, and the scissors, with equal repugnance. Books, books alone were
-his passion. For these all else were neglected, the cattle strayed loose
-in the fields, the pigs crept through to the garden, the wheat remained
-unshocked, and the grass uncut, while Harry under a tree lost himself
-amid the tattered leaves of an old book, which every breath of wind
-threatened to sweep far from him. This was a sore trial to his father,
-but after fruitlessly exhausting all his arguments to dissuade his son
-from the folly of “_larning_,” he finally gave it up, and left Harry
-unmolested to follow his bent. The clergyman of the village admiring the
-perseverance of the young farmer-boy, and wishing to encourage such
-laudable zeal, kindly volunteered to assist him in his studies, and with
-unwearied toil by night and by day, Harry Warren was finally prepared to
-enter college.
-
-At the age of twenty-one he graduated honorably, and left the college
-walls, his head well-stored with knowledge—a light heart—a lighter
-purse, and a strong will to persevere in the path he had marked out for
-himself, a path which, after many crooked windings, was, as his sanguine
-imagination assured him, to lead him eventually on the high road to
-fame.
-
-To put a little money in his pocket, and at the same time gain some
-leisure for study, he offered himself as a candidate for the school in
-the beautiful village of G——, some fifty miles distant from his native
-town. He was accepted, and entered upon the duties of his new office
-with hope and energy. And then—the very first thing he did was to fall
-in love! foolish fellow—instead of teaching the young idea to shoot—he
-suffered himself to be shot—through the sparkling roguish eyes of
-little May Lillie did Cupid aim his dart—_twang_—he was gone!
-
- * * * * *
-
-Diogenes Lillie, Esq., professed to be a very learned man, an immensely
-learned man, and his library accordingly occupied one whole wing of his
-large and costly mansion. No one far or near could boast of so many
-square feet of knowledge. He patronized the arts and sciences, and
-hinted at many wonderful inventions at work in his brain, which were in
-time to burst forth and astonish the world. He also courted the muses,
-and was convinced that should he once plume his flight to Parnassus,
-there would be an immense fluttering among all soaring poets, whom he
-should distance at once by his bold and flashing imagery.
-
-Could the eyes of poor old Dominie Sampson have rested upon the
-countless volumes which like “Alps on Alps” arose to the lofty ceiling,
-would not his meagre, bony jaws have ushered in—“pro-di-gious!” for
-there was one compartment devoted to theology, another to geology, and
-spaces for all the _’ologies_—then there were divisions for astronomy,
-for botany, for history, for travels—there was the poet’s corner, and
-the niche of romance. There were books in French, and German, and
-Spanish, and Russian, and Italian, and a mausoleum for the dead
-languages. I cannot vouch that “one poor head could carry” all this,
-that the brain of the great Diogenes contained as many chambers as his
-library divisions—but it was a very pleasant thing for him to gaze up
-and down, and down and up, upon their costly gold-lettered backs! Then
-there were also busts, and statues, and globes, and blow-pipes, and
-barometers, and thermometers scattered around, and here in this hall of
-inspiration, devoted to the “sisters three and such branches of
-learning,” did Mr. Lillie spend the most of his invaluable time.
-
-Now great wisdom is said to bestow upon its possessor a contempt for
-wealth proportionate, which, by the way, may be the reason why so many
-learned writers and men of genius have died in a garret. If so—there
-was no fear that the last breath of Diogenes Lillie, Esq., would be
-drawn in an attic, for he lost not sight of his gold in the depths of
-his wisdom, but so skillfully managed his financial concerns, that
-though apparently paying little heed to business, as he sat there
-ensconced amid his books and papers, the ball was kept constantly
-rolling and constantly accumulating.
-
-Yet what militated most against the love of Harry Warren, he had
-resolved from the time when pretty May slipped her leading-strings, that
-she should be the wife of some great man wielding authority; and pray
-what virtue was there in the petty birch-twig, or the twelve inch ruler,
-which were the only symbols of authority the young school-master
-wielded!
-
-“However, there is no need of my troubling myself upon that head yet!”
-would Mr. Lillie year after year say to himself—“May is but a child—it
-will be time enough years hence to pick out a husband for her.”
-
-_Pick out a husband!_ just as if the bright eyes of May were not capable
-of selecting for themselves—or that the eyes of sixty could see for
-those of sixteen.
-
-But there is in reality no need of Mr. Lillie’s troubling himself, for
-the deed is done, and the little gipsy May engaged in as pretty a
-flirtation, as ever spread the rosy light of love around the hearts of
-youth.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Let me exculpate my unfortunate hero from all attempts to win the
-affections of his beautiful pupil. On the contrary, it seems a mystery
-that his oddities and awkwardness should have awoke any other emotion
-than pity in the heart of May—for he was so terribly ungraceful in her
-presence—why if he merely spoke to her his voice was so low and
-tremulous, that she had really to approach her little head quite near to
-catch a word he said—and as for his scholarship, you would have thought
-him a dunce, so many egregrious blunders did he commit in hearing her
-recitations—and he could no more guide her little hand in making those
-pretty and delicate strokes which marked her copy-book, than he could
-fly to the moon. You would have been amazed that such a fine, handsome
-young fellow, could have made such a booby of himself!
-
-However, never were scholars blessed with so indulgent a master, and his
-popularity rose in proportion, while as your lovers are for the most
-part but little given to the “flesh-pots of Egypt,” he was pronounced by
-all economical housewives upon whose hospitality he was semi-monthly
-thrown, to possess the most accommodating taste, and could dine from
-beef and cabbage, pork and parsnips, peas porridge, or mush and milk,
-with equal relish.
-
-I am sorry to say, that at first May joined in the laugh with her
-mischievous school-mates at the oddities of the master, and contrived
-many little tricks to vex him. Yet if she raised her eyes a moment from
-her book, she was sure to encounter those of Harry fixed upon her, with
-an expression so mournful, yet so tender, as bathed her cheek with
-blushes, and her eyes with tears of contrition. Her frolicks therefore
-soon yielded to a more pensive mood. She could not tell why, but the
-thoughtless mirth of her companions vexed and annoyed her—she no longer
-joined in those idle pranks, which had for their object the ridicule of
-the master, but gave way to sudden fits of musing and abstraction. When
-she heard his footstep approaching, her heart beat audibly, and in her
-class she no longer raised her saucy eyes to _mis_construe her lesson,
-but scarcely lifted their drooping lids as she answered in faint tones
-the questions put to her.
-
-In short, Love had conquered the merriest and most mischievous maiden
-that ever laughed at his wiles!
-
-One day in early spring, ere the snow-drop or the crocus, had dared to
-lift their pretty heads above the snowy mantle in which old winter had
-so long kept them snug and warm, May placed in her bosom a bright and
-beautiful rose-bud. It was the first her little conservatory had
-yielded, and as she that morning for the first time discovered it
-peeping through the rich green leaves, she thought she had never seen
-any thing so fresh and beautiful. Carefully plucking it from the
-luxuriant branch, she bore off the fragrant trophy to exhibit to her
-young companions.
-
-Well to be sure it was only a rose-bud—but as Harry descried it sitting
-so proudly upon its pure and lovely throne, something whispered that
-with that tiny rose his fate was linked—was it thornless, or should he
-wounded and complaining henceforth bid adieu to happiness!
-
-May caught the glance of the master, and blushed and trembled just as if
-she perfectly comprehended what was passing through his mind, and as
-suddenly the little rose-bud was invested with new and tenfold value.
-She would fain have hid it next her heart from the careless gaze of her
-young associates, for she felt that it had now become a sacred thing
-which their touch would profane.
-
-Suddenly, May bent her head over her desk, and shook her long raven
-curls over her blushing cheek, as she heard a well-known step behind
-her, and felt that the large eloquent eyes of the master were fixed upon
-her. But for the throbbing of her own little heart, she could have heard
-the rapid pulsation of his, while his breath almost stirred the
-beautiful ringlet which rested upon her bosom. Rapidly her little hand
-now moved over the slate, glancing to the right and left, tracing figure
-upon figure, as though its mistress had not a thought, but was occupied
-in deciphering the rules of Coleman. It was a most puzzling sum—never
-had she attempted one so difficult—in vain she erased—in vain began
-again. Of course it was all wrong, and so Harry, as in duty bound, took
-the pencil and sat down by her side to extricate her from her
-difficulties—as a school-master you know, there was no other way!
-
-But, dear me—instead of looking upon the slate, his eyes never fell a
-bit lower than that little rose-bud—a pretty teacher, to be sure!
-
-“_Ahem_—that is a beautiful rose, Miss May!”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“You—you are fond of flowers, I see.”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“They are a favorite study of mine—are you much versed in the language
-of flowers, my—_ahem_—Miss May?”
-
-“They always speak to me of God’s love and goodness,” replied May, as
-demurely as if she had been answering her minister.
-
-“True, dear Miss May,” said Harry. “They are indeed, as the poet
-says—‘the smiles of angels’ blessing and cheering us on our earthly
-pilgrimage—but aside from this heavenly mission, the poet has also
-bestowed upon them another language:
-
- “‘In eastern lands they talk in flowers,
- And they tell in a garland their loves and cares,
- Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers,
- On its leaves a mystic language bears.’
-
-“Is it so—do you believe this, May?”
-
-May made no answer, but bent her head still lower over the book before
-her, and the little rose-bud trembled as though moved by some breath of
-summer.
-
-“The—the rose, May,” continued Harry, “seems to have been ever a
-favorite and expressive flower of this mystic garland:
-
- “‘The rose is the sign of joy and love,
- Young blushing love in its earliest dawn.’”
-
-There was a pause.
-
-“May—May, will you give me the rose?”
-
-May timidly raised her eyes to his—they were filled with tears.
-
-“Will you, May—will you give me the rose?”
-
-The next moment the little bud was in the hand of the transported Harry,
-accompanied with a look of such innocent, confiding love, as made his
-heart dance with rapture.
-
-Was there ever in after life a moment of such pure and exquisite
-happiness as then filled the hearts of the lovers!
-
-But the rose-bud, the poor rose-bud, bitterly did it rue the change from
-its lovely resting-place to the great hand of the school-master—besides
-coming very near being crushed to pieces between that and the dainty
-little fingers of May as she placed it therein!
-
-Well, it must have been a puzzling sum indeed to keep the master so long
-at May Lillie’s desk! and taking advantage of his inattention, the
-mischievous scholars carried on a pretty little by-play of their
-own—there was tittering in corners, and whispering behind torn
-covers—and soft, soft tiptoeing from one seat to another, and little
-paper pellets flying like hail-stones from side to side. Ah, dear, happy
-children—there is no danger—you might knock the master’s head off, and
-he would never know it!
-
-“Young ladies—children—I give you a holyday,” quoth Harry, rapping his
-desk with the dread ferule, insignia of his power.
-
-“A holyday—_huzza—huzza_—a holyday!” shouted the girls and boys,
-rushing from the school-room.
-
-But the older girls looked slyly at each other, and then at the blushing
-May.
-
-“Look—look!” exclaimed half-a-dozen in a breath. “The master is walking
-home with May Lillie!”
-
- * * * * *
-
-Diogenes Lillie, Esq., sat in his study. Around him were gathered all
-those powerful incentives necessary to call forth that great masterly
-genius which lay hid somewhere in his brain—somewhere—from whence,
-though many times coaxed and flattered, it had as yet resolutely refused
-to stir.
-
-Upon the table before him, bearing at each corner respectively a bust of
-Plato, of Shakspeare, Homer, and Milton, were pamphlets, reviews,
-folios, quartos and duodecimos, thickly strewn—but what was more to the
-purpose, there was drawn up close to the elbow of Mr. Lillie, a quire of
-hot-pressed letter-paper, with edges of gold—a silver standish, bearing
-the golden pen ingrafted in a feather of pearl, and the cerulean ink
-with which genius should indite the virgin page, whenever said genius
-should deign to issue from its dark hiding-place.
-
-The lips of Diogenes were closely pressed together—his eyes upturned
-with a frenzied glare to the ceiling, and deep indentations, like the
-rind of a musk-melon, corrugated his brow.
-
-Reader—he was conceiving.
-
-Bringing down his clinched hand with a force which made old Homer nod,
-he exclaimed:
-
-“I will write. Yes, I will write a poem—I will astonish the world—my
-talents shall no longer remain under a bushel, but shall go forth like
-the sword of Gideon to hew down all minor poets! Upon what theme shall I
-first spend my genius—let me consider,” (drawing the paper still nearer
-and dipping the golden pen into the flowing liquid,) “gold—the Age of
-Gold—the Golden Age—yes, ‘The Golden Age’ it shall be. My sublimity
-shall throw Milton into the shade,” (with a look at the blind bard)—“my
-glowing pictures of rural life shall startle the lovers of Homer,” (a
-bow to the god)—“my wit shall cut with the keen sarcasm of Shakspeare,”
-(looking glorious Will full in the face)—“while the _tout-ensemble_
-shall form such a completeness of wisdom, as might honor even the head
-of a Plato!” (a triumphant glance at the old philosopher.)
-
-And thus encouraged, the gold pen capered, and flashed, and flourished
-from side to side like a mad thing—pointing notes of admiration here,
-dotting and scratching there, and then diving deep into the sea of ink,
-plumed its pearly pinion for new and higher flights.
-
-For three weeks did the poet bury himself in his library with dead and
-living authors.
-
-And every morning he kissed his pretty May-flower as she tied on her
-little bonnet:
-
-“There, there—go along child; be a good girl and obey the master.”
-
-And then as she came to bid him good-night:
-
-“There, there; go to bed, child, and don’t forget your lessons.”
-
-Not she, bless her! Why she never forgot a single lesson the
-school-master taught her—she had every word by heart!
-
-At length the Golden Age was ready to burst like a blazing star upon
-this dull coppery world, and was the most sublime thing, in the opinion
-of its author, that was ever written—and who, pray, could be a better
-judge!
-
-Now Mr. Lillie having some conception of the ignorance of the critics,
-having once (although it is a great secret,) sent a huge MSS. to the
-Harpers, which was pronounced “_stuff_”—it might have been very good
-stuff notwithstanding—resolved that ere he essayed the publishers, he
-would give his unique poem in all its unfledged beauty to his native
-village. It was a capital idea. It should be delivered before the Lyceum
-to an astonished audience. He could then have some faint idea perhaps of
-the applause which awaited its appearance in 12mo., calf and gilt.
-
-One evening he dispatched a hasty note to our young school-master, and
-requested to see him immediately upon business of a private nature.
-
-Heavens how poor Harry trembled as he perused this terrible summons! All
-was discovered then—Mr. Lillie knew of his presumptuous love, and had
-sent to banish him forever from the presence of May. And then our little
-heroine—into what an agony of doubt and apprehension was she thrown, as
-she read the billet which Harry contrived to slip into her hand.
-
-At the hour appointed, with an unsteady hand, Harry knocked at the door
-of Mr. Lillie’s library. The great Diogenes himself appeared at the
-threshhold—and imagine the surprise of our hero to be greeted with:
-
-“Come in, come in, my dear sir—I am most happy to see you,” (shaking
-him warmly by the hand.) “Sit down, Mr. Warren,” (motioning to a seat at
-the table of the gods.) “It has long been my wish to know you better
-than my very limited time would allow—my pursuits” (glancing
-complacently around him,) “are a great bar to social intercourse. The
-muses, Mr. Warren, the muses I find are very jealous ladies—do you
-cultivate their acquaintance? No? Ah, I am surprised, for I assure you I
-have formed a very high opinion of your talents.”
-
-Harry bowed, and said something about honor, &c., &c.
-
-“My daughter, Mr. Warren,” (ah! now it is coming! thought poor Harry,)
-“my daughter, I am inclined to believe, has made great proficiency under
-your instruction—you have my thanks for initiating her into some of the
-more abstruse sciences which she never before attended to.”
-
-Did Harry dream, or was the wrath of Mr. Lillie veiled under the most
-cutting irony! He could only bow, and smile “a ghastly smile.”
-
-“And speaking of the Muses, my dear young sir,” continued Mr. Lillie, “I
-have just been amusing myself with a trifle—a mere flight of fancy—if
-you have a few moments leisure now, I will read you a few passages.”
-
-Of course our hero considered himself favored—and accordingly with true
-bombastic style Mr. Lillie read several stanzas from the closely written
-pages of his poem. Never had Harry listened to such trash—he could
-hardly credit his senses that any man should be so inflated with vanity
-as to deem it even passable!
-
-“Ah, it strikes you I see,” said Mr. Lillie. “I knew it would. Yes, I
-see it hits your vein exactly—this convinces me that our tastes are
-congenial.”
-
-Again Harry bowed—not daring to trust his voice, he was forced to nod
-his head continually like a Chinese mandarin in a toy-shop.
-
-“Mr. Warren,” proceeded the author, wheeling his chair round and
-regarding our hero with great benignity, “I have imbibed a great regard
-for you, and mean to make your fortune—to smooth your path to eminence.
-Yes, I like you, and am convinced there is no one more worthy than
-yourself to receive——”
-
-Harry started—his face radiant with hope, he bent eagerly forward to
-catch the rest of the sentence.
-
-“But, by the way, my young friend, this conversation must be strictly
-confidential.”
-
-“Certainly, my dear sir!” exclaimed Harry, almost breathless.
-
-“Yes, Mr. Warren, there is something about you which pleases me, and
-therefore I am about to confer upon you a most precious gift—to bestow
-upon you my—ah, can’t you guess what it is?” smiling archly.
-
-“O, my dear sir,” said Harry, seizing his hand, “if I might dare to
-hope!”
-
-“Yes, Mr. Warren, I am about to give you my—poem!”
-
-“Your poem!”
-
-“My poem.”
-
-“Your poem!”
-
-“Yes, my poem—that is, the reputation of the thing.”
-
-Harry started up and paced the room as if pursued by all the furies.
-
-“Ah, I thought I should surprise you,” cried Mr. Lillie. “Come, sit down
-again. I said I would make your fortune, and I will. Now this poem, Mr.
-Warren, you shall have the honor of delivering before the Lyceum as your
-own—think of that—as your own production.”
-
-Poor Harry was struck aghast. “But, my dear sir,” he exclaimed, “I can
-never consent to such a gross imposition!”
-
-“I honor you the more for your delicacy young man,” replied the poet;
-“but banish it—there is no need of it between friends, we perfectly
-understand each other you know—you shall deliver this poem.” (“The Lord
-deliver me!” mentally prayed Harry.) “Listeners will applaud—copies
-will be solicited—your fame will reach the city—Morris and Willis will
-rank you among their favorite young poets—the——”
-
-“But, Mr. Lillie, why not deliver this poem yourself—why not wear your
-own laurels?” interrupted Harry.
-
-“_Ahem_—Mr. Warren, I am averse to popularity—notoriety of any kind I
-detest—I prefer to quaff stealthily at the fount of Helicon, and tread
-with felted footsteps the Parnassian hill—stop, that’s a new idea, I’ll
-note it. So long as I have the mental satisfaction of knowing the _poem
-is mine_, what matters it whether you or I have the reputation! Say no
-more—you accept my proposition of course.”
-
-“Mr. Lillie—”
-
-“Not a word, my dear sir—I will take care that you are invited to
-deliver the next Lyceum lecture—two weeks hence remember. That gives
-you ample time to study the poem and conceive my meaning. Come here
-every evening—you shall have my assistance. I will not detain you
-longer—good-night. You will find May somewhere—in the drawing-room
-most probably; she will be glad to see you, for I dare say she is
-puzzling her little head about something which you can explain.
-Good-night.”
-
-This latter clause sufficed to check all further opposition from Harry,
-for the moment at least, and with rapid steps he now sought the
-drawing-room.
-
-“Dear Harry!” cried May, springing toward him as he entered, and looking
-up in his face as if to read there the stern mandate which was to
-separate them forever.
-
-“Dearest May, do not tremble thus,” replied Harry, leading her to a
-seat; “believe me you have no cause.”
-
-“Ah—does he then approve of our love!” exclaimed May, her sweet young
-face illumined with hope.
-
-“Your father has been kind, my dear girl, and that he does not even
-suspect our love I am convinced, or he would have been less so. His
-kindness, however, if it may be called so,” (and the lip of Harry curled
-doubtingly,) “has placed me in a most awkward predicament. Listen, dear
-May, and help me if you can.”
-
-He then as briefly as possible related the conversation he had just held
-with her father, and the strange proposition made him. No wonder he felt
-provoked at the merry laugh with which the little maiden closed his
-rueful communication.
-
-“Confess now, Harry, you deem papa’s poem most execrable stuff!” she
-said, looking him archly in the face.
-
-“Dear May, you know I—”
-
-“Confess, confess Harry—no equivocation!” cried May, shaking her little
-finger.
-
-“Well, May, I will be honest then—you know, dear one, I would not for
-worlds wound your feelings, but really I must confess I never listened
-to more senseless jargon!”
-
-“That’s excellent—the more absurd the better,” said May, laughing; “and
-you will deliver it, Harry.”
-
-“May!” exclaimed her lover reproachfully, “_you_ surely cannot ask me to
-make myself ridiculous!”
-
-“_Hem_—do you love me, Harry?”
-
-“Can you doubt, it dearest May?”
-
-“Then if you love me, as Hamlet says, ‘speak the speech I pray you.’ No
-doubt it will be hissed—so much the better—you will be laughed
-at—better still—”
-
-“May, May!” cried her lover, turning away from her, “if you loved me you
-would not say this!”
-
-“Ah—not if it gains papa’s consent to our union!”
-
-“That indeed—but, dearest May, to become a laughing-stock—to have the
-finger of derision pointed at one—to feel the lash of the critic,
-and—”
-
-“To call little May your own!” added the coaxing gipsy.
-
-Who could resist such an appeal from such a pair of rosy lips? or
-unrelenting behold the mute eloquence of those beautiful eyes! Not
-Harry; no, nor any other young lover I am sure.
-
-From that evening, dear reader, only imagine my unlucky hero imprisoned
-hour after hour with the learned author, declaiming that—“infernal
-poem,” (I quote Harry’s own words.) Do you not pity him?
-
-But then—the stolen half hour below, assisting little May in her
-lessons—do you not envy him!
-
-In the meantime Mr. Lillie had not been idle. He had forwarded letters
-to some of the most influential men of the neighboring towns, inviting
-them to attend the next Lyceum, where as he informed them, a young
-author, a poet, was to make his _début_ before their intelligent
-community. In confidence he assured them they would be astonished at the
-depth and power of his genius. He had himself looked over the poem, and
-although he would not wish to forestall their admiration, thus much he
-would say, that he had never read such a production!
-
- * * * * *
-
-The eventful evening arrived, and from every turnpike and cross-road
-people came flocking in to listen to the young author—some because of
-the favor of Mr. Lillie, others to compliment their favorite—the
-school-master.
-
-Escorted by the great and learned Diogenes Lillie, Esq., and a few of
-the leading members, Harry was conducted to the hall, and seated within
-the inclosure of the platform.
-
-To depict his feelings would be impossible—he knew he was about to make
-himself ridiculous, and was tempted more than once to turn his back and
-quit the scene of his approaching disgrace. Notwithstanding the tempting
-reward he had in view, the alternative was a hard one—but his eye
-turned to a distant corner of the hall where the sweet face of May
-smiled upon him, and her fair hand waved encouragement. He wavered no
-longer.
-
-Resolving to meet his fate like a hero, Harry now arose, and after a few
-preliminaries introduced—“The Golden Age.”
-
-The two first stanza elicited a general smile from the audience, the
-third and fourth exerted a different influence—influenza became
-universal, to judge from the coughing and _hem-ming_! Between the fifth
-and sixth, many persons left the house, and as Harry with the energy of
-despair drew near the close of the first canto, the hissing and hooting
-of boys outside and in the building was almost deafening, while one of
-the committee arose and advised the orator to sit down!
-
-With the self-satisfaction of a martyr he was preparing to do so, when
-his eye suddenly fell upon the _author_, whom he detected at a glance to
-be the most active in the war of ridicule which was waging against him.
-Rage for the moment overcame his discretion. Hurling the manuscript upon
-the floor, he sprang from the desk, made one leap down the steps, and
-rushed upon his deceitful patron!
-
-“Do you dare to laugh at me!” he exclaimed, pale with anger, “do you
-dare to utter a word, you—you who are yourself the—”
-
-A little hand was on his arm, and a soft voice whispered:
-
-“Harry, dear Harry, come away.” And obeying the gentle mandate our hero
-suffered himself to be led from the scene of his mortification.
-
-“Poor fellow!” cried Mr. Lillie, recovering from the alarm of Harry’s
-onset, “poor fellow, he is almost beside himself I see—well, it is
-pitiful trash after all, and I fear I gave him too much encouragement,
-my friendship got the better of my judgment—yet his delivery is the
-worst—why I am not sure gentlemen but his ranting and mouthing would
-render even Shakspeare ridiculous. The poem _reads_ well—depend upon it
-gentlemen there is genius after all where that poem came from.”
-
-When Mr. Lillie reached home he found Harry awaiting him, storming and
-raving to and fro in the library like a madman. Rushing upon the great
-Diogenes he seized him by the collar:
-
-“Your conduct is unbearable!” he exclaimed. “You shall do me justice,
-sir—by heaven you shall! I am not to be treated in this way! After
-palming off your wretched stuff upon me, do you think I am going to
-submit to your ridicule! No, sir—either go forward and acknowledge
-yourself openly as the author, or I will post you at every corner!”
-
-“Be calm, pray be calm—we’ll settle it all in a moment,” said Mr.
-Lillie, pale and trembling—“I am really sorry your first essay should
-have been so unsuccessful.”
-
-“My first essay!” interrupted Harry indignantly. “I am not to be trifled
-with—no, sir—I will expose you at once—it is you who shall bear the
-ridicule, not me!” and Harry rushed to the door.
-
-“Stop—stop—my dear young friend,” cried Mr. Lillie, catching his
-arm—“listen a moment; for heaven’s sake don’t expose me, it will be my
-ruin. I will give you any thing you ask if you will only spare me—you
-shall have money—”
-
-“_Money!_ Can money repair the disgrace you have heaped upon me—talk of
-money to a man who feels his future hopes blasted!” exclaimed Harry
-scornfully. “Sir, there is but one way to save your reputation.”
-
-“And what is that dear sir?” eagerly demanded the author.
-
-“Give me the hand of your daughter,” he replied firmly.
-
-“My daughter, Mr. Warren—why you astonish me—my daughter!” and Mr.
-Lillie paused and pondered, bit his lips and rubbed his eyebrows. “Why
-bless my soul, Mr. Warren, May is but a child!”
-
-“No matter,” was the answer, “will you or will you not accept my
-proposition?”
-
-“Will not five hundred dollars, Mr. Warren—”
-
-“No—nor five hundred thousand dollars.”
-
-“Well, Mr. Warren, only don’t expose me; only pledge me your word of
-honor that my secret shall be inviolate and May is yours!”
-
-Harry calmed down wonderfully quick, considering he had been in such a
-passion, and very obligingly made all the pledges his father-in-law that
-was to be required.
-
-“But there is one thing, Mr. Warren, which I must leave to your
-generosity,” said Mr. Lillie. “May is my only, and a motherless
-child—if this arrangement should be repugnant to her feelings, I trust
-you will not press your claim—we may perhaps find some other way to
-adjust this little difficulty. I will call May down, we may as well know
-at once what her feelings are.”
-
-Harry coughed, and walked to the window to conceal a smile, feeling at
-the same time more respect for Mr. Lillie for this last clause in favor
-of his child, than he thought him capable of inspiring.
-
-One glance at the happy countenance of her lover informed May the day
-was theirs.
-
-And so she immediately took a great many airs upon herself—pouted her
-pretty lips, and protested she thought it really absurd the idea of
-marrying a man who had made himself so ridiculous—she doted on poets,
-that she was willing to allow—but not such a conceited fellow as wrote
-that poem—she knew!
-
-Harry meanwhile whistled “Rory O’More,” and walked the room with an air
-as much as to say—“It is perfectly indifferent to me, Miss, which ever
-way you decide.”
-
-“But, foolish child!” whispered her father, “the poem is _mine_!”
-
-“Yours, dear papa—oh that alters the case—then you wrote that stup—”
-
-“Hush—hush May. The public are fools, and cannot appreciate true
-genius—the poem is a good poem.”
-
-“I think it has point, papa.”
-
-“Yes, and if those stupid ignoramuses had not made such an outcry, they
-would have seen that it terminates most felicitously.”
-
-“True, papa—one certainly could not wish for a happier termination.”
-
-“But you see, May, I have particular reasons for not wishing to be known
-as the author—and this poor young man feeling much chafed by the
-treatment he has received, and which is perfectly natural you know—”
-
-“Certainly, papa—the school-master is very sensitive. Mercy, if you
-only knew—”
-
-“Well, no matter now—and feeling as I said, greatly incensed, he
-threatens to expose me. You can save me May—your hand will make all
-secure.”
-
-“Very well, dear papa—Mr. Warren has always been kind to me in school,
-and I like him very well—I do papa, and so to oblige you I will do as
-you wish,” said the arch maiden.
-
-Taking her hand, her father now led her up to Harry, and placed it
-within that of the enraptured lover. And May, dropping a little
-courtesy, very gravely assured him that she would endeavor to make as
-obedient a wife as she had a pupil.
-
-Madam Rumor is a prying gossip. How she found out the secret was never
-known—but away she went gadding from house to house, whispering the
-school-master had obtained his charming young wife by fathering the
-literary bantling of the learned Mr. Lillie!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE NEW SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS.
-
-
- A BUCOLIC.
-
-
- BY E. FOXTON.
-
-
- When with glances far and free
- My Spirit stood at Childhood’s knee,
- And gazed and smiled with careless glee,
- To see the fateful spinsters three
- Draw deftly out from carded naught
- Its first soft rainbow thread of thought,
- My playmate true, delight and joy,
- Was a tiny wingéd boy.
- Nightly nestled in my breast,
- His legends lulled me to my rest;
- Thence his voice awakening gay
- Trilled back the early linnet’s lay;
- In the bird’s nest, in the tree,
- By the purling rill sat he;
- From wind-rocked blue-bells flashed his eye;
- He floated round the butterfly;
- His little golden head rose up
- In the water-lily’s cup;
- His saucy breath, with nectar fed,
- Puffed at me from the violet’s bed.
- Half in sport and half caress;
- Oh, dear artless Happiness!
-
- Womanhood one day me found,
- And my brows with roses crowned.
- In a naiad’s glass I saw,
- Pleased, my graces touched with awe;
- And “These royal flowers shall be
- Forged to links, my boy, for thee,”
- So I said. From morn till eve
- Through my haunts the shepherds grieve;
- But the urchin bursts amain
- Shouting from my bloomy chain,
- Bursts and leaves me all forlorn,
- Pricked and bleeding with a thorn.
- “Why thus wrong my gentleness,
- Light, inconstant Happiness!”
-
- All in tears to bring me ease,
- Back he flew, and made his peace;
- And my every art I tried
- Aye to keep him at my side;
- April floods of tears and smiles,
- Soft confessions, simple wiles;
- Then I seized my harp and sang;
- Far and wide the chorus rang;
- (Round me flocked the grave, the gay,
- But the rover would not stay;)
- “Peerless, wronged, thy votaress,
- Cruel, fleeting, Happiness.”
-
- Oft and oftener still his flight;
- Longer still he shunned my sight;
- Till I left my woodlands dim,
- And set forth in quest of him
- To the tourney, feast and ball,
- (In their turn I peeped at all,)
- Court, and hermitage, and camp,
- Still halls where burns the midnight lamp,
- And the sunk-eyed scholar delves
- Slowly through the groaning shelves,
- Where old souls, that erst were men,
- Speak and teach the young again,
- And, while creation’s bounds they track,
- Cast their endless shadows back;
- Vainly still I sought to find
- Him I sought among mankind.
- Still his semblance proved to be
- Garish Mirth or Vanity;
- And still of all I sought in vain
- Good tidings of the lost to gain.
- The scholar said, “In poet’s book;”
- The poet, “In some leafy nook;”
- “Oh, which?” “I know not yet,” he says,
- “Go thou and seek—’mid clustering bays;”
- The lawyer, “In the judge’s gown;”
- The judge, “In ermine’s lordly down;”
- The peer, “He’s in my liege’s crown;”
- The king, “He rides the victor’s glaive;”
- And he, “In peaceful Lethe’s wave,
- Or, haply, in the hermit’s cell;”
- The hermit said, “I know him well,
- Seek him in the house of prayer;”
- “Nay, I know he can’t be there!
- Pride shall bravely fill thy place,
- False and treacherous Happiness!”
-
- Prim sat Pride, then dropped asleep,
- Leaving me to watch and weep.
- Round my dimpled shoulders clung
- My dewy locks at random flung;
- Wildered strayed my fleecy band;
- Loosed the crook my listless hand,
- Playing with the dreary rue
- At my cavern’s mouth that grew,
- And forgot its tuneful craft.
- At my plight the shepherds laughed;
- “She is sick at heart, you know;
- She loved,—wise maidens do not so;
- So fare all idle fools who chase
- The subtle, coy sprite, Happiness!”
-
- Dropped its silver balls from sight
- The starry clepsydra of night;
- And the morn brought jocund glee
- To the world, and not to me,
- “Would I ne’er had seen thy face,
- Happiness, lost Happiness!”
-
- Stung with swarms of wretchedness,
- I plunged into the wilderness;
- Toward the Eastern land of spells
- Me some secret power impels;
- “There some wily witch,” I thought,
- “In her toils the boy has caught.”
- Through the shadows, through the sun,
- And surging sands I journeyed on,
- Till the sun his gold lance set
- In rest to prick from Olivet.
- Glorious light the morrow showed.
- Nor to him its lustre owed.
- Up the steep of Zion’s hill
- Rose a being brighter still.
- Silvery white the garb she wore,
- And a cross of flowers she bore;
- From vulgar gaze her charms, amid
- A dark, enshrining mask, she hid,
- Lighted up like midnight skies
- With the splendor of her eyes;
- Her dainty feet, with sandals shod,
- Scarce touched the ragged road she trod,
- And a pearly scallop-shell
- Gleamed her pilgrim state to tell.
- Dully, long I strove to see
- What that which bore her train could be;
- Now on this side, now on that,
- Now it met a chiding pat,
- For resting on her skirts to impede,
- Impishly, her upward speed,
- From frowning cliff and wayside stone,
- Flitting far, as bribes, it won
- Blossoms fair and held before,
- As her constancy to lure.
- Graciously she marked its play;
- Steadfastly she held her way.
- Changed of mood, with tender gloom
- It hung its garlands o’er a tomb.
- Full in view thence reared its head,
- Looked at me and beckoned,
- Then, as if perforce, again
- Fled and bore the lady’s train;
- Thick my heart’s full throbs confess
- “Surely that was Happiness!”
-
- Panting, staring, faint, I stood,
- Then with foot and tongue pursued;
- “Sorceress, fiend—whate’er ye be—
- Tear not thus my fere from me!
- I defy the loathly charms
- That keep him from his poor maid’s arms!
- I will rend thy mask away!
- I will give those charms to-day!”
- My whirlwind race was won, and lo!
- I tore it from her blushing brow,
- My foster-sister’s, Holiness!
- And her page was Happiness!
-
- Oh, I owned her might too well!
- Groveling in the dust I fell!
- Then wondering heard a whisper low,
- “Let’s be friends, my causeless foe.”
- Doubtfully I raised my eyes;
- Down she gazed with mild surprise.
- Naught to fear I saw was there,
- But purity and beauty rare.
- As she raised me with a kiss,
- Through her veil laughed Happiness.
-
- When I slumber at her feet
- Light pinions scatter odors sweet;
- While her step keeps pace with mine
- Round my neck soft fingers twine;
- If I chase him, he is gone;
- But the rogue returns anon,
- Charged with heavenly fruit, to bless,
- The handmaid meek of Holiness.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- NIGHT.
-
-
- BY MISS AUGUSTA. C. TWIGGS.
-
-
- Brightly the moonshine
- Gleams on the flower,
- Sweetly the woodbine
- Twines round the bower;
- Lowly the lover
- Whispers his love,
- Angel forms hover
- Around from above.
-
- Purple-robed foxglove
- Is deep in the dell,
- Where the night-fays love
- To wind their dark spell;
- Beauty is hurled
- O’er meadow and lea,
- The sails are all furled,
- The ship sleeps at sea.
-
- The night-breeze now sighs
- So sweet and so sad;
- Bright gems deck the skies,
- So blue and so glad;
- The lapwing that brushed
- The dew from the hill,
- Now sleeps—all is hushed,
- ’Cept the laughing rill.
-
- Moonlight’s soft glances
- On every thing smile,
- Pure water dances
- Out laughing the while;
- The cricket’s chirp shrill
- Most merrily sounds,
- The fisher’s barque still
- O’er moonlit wave bounds.
-
- Trees bathed in moonbeams
- Wave gracefully low,
- With beauty all teems
- ’Neath its silvery glow;
- All nature’s at prayer.
- The holy thoughts rise,
- On wings of the air,
- Up, up to the skies.
-
- The cricket has hushed
- Now his chirp so sweet.
- Rare perfume has gushed
- From the new-cut wheat;
- The lily has bent
- Down its head in sleep,
- Its odor is lent
- To the winds to keep.
-
- Mortals are slumb’ring,
- Long hours fly past,
- Old Time is numb’ring
- The seconds so fast,
- Fears him no mortal,
- For slumber has tight
- Closed the portal
- Of thought—it is Night.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- PASSAGES OF LIFE IN EUROPE.
-
-
- BY BAYARD TAYLOR.
-
-
- NO. II.—A LONELY WEEK.
-
-One of the loneliest hours I felt in two years of absence from my
-country, was on an afternoon in April, after leaving the gate of Cassel,
-in Northern Germany. There I had parted from Carl K——, a young
-student, whom I had met for the first time two days before, on entering
-the city. We met, strangers though we were, and ignorant of each other’s
-name or condition, like old acquaintances who had been long separated;
-an invisible link seemed at once to attach us in friendship and
-confidence. He was a boy of seventeen, but already a poet, possessing a
-nature full of enthusiasm and the sorrowful inspiration of song. His
-heart beat with all true and tender impulses, and in its yet unfathomed
-depths there was a capacity for boundless passion. In those two days we
-were constantly together; we climbed the slopes of the Wilhelmshöhe,
-fragrant with early cowslips; we wandered among the giant ruins of the
-Katzenberg; we sat in the rich library, poring over the old illuminated
-pages of the Song of Hildebrand. When the time of parting came, it was a
-struggle for both of us, and as we gave the last warm pressure of hands
-at the gate of Cassel, his dark, mournful eyes were full of tears, and I
-turned away with a mist gathering over my own. I climbed the long hill
-which was to shut out all sight of the valley, with a feeling amounting
-to bitterness, heightened by the languid and feverish sensations of
-approaching illness.
-
-The hazy sunshine shone warmly on the bare, bleak fields beside the
-road, and as the day wore away, my spirits sank down, down, into a
-bottomless gulf of despondency. The coolness of the woods into which the
-road finally led as it descended the hills of the Weser, made me shiver,
-though my veins were parched with heat. I threw myself down on the
-grass, and looked up into the gray sky, that I might lose the feeling of
-loneliness in its vast and sympathizing presence. This is always an
-encouraging contemplation, and I was aided by it in the present
-instance. I made out to reach the city of Münden before dark, and slept
-as I best could, a disturbed, unrefreshing sleep.
-
-The next day, feeling unable to walk, I took the _eilwagen_ to
-Göttingen, where I remained two days, and in spite of medicine and a
-physician, grew no better. It rained continually, and shut up in my
-chamber with no company but my own thoughts, which were by no means
-entertaining companions, I looked back with regret to the home-like
-comforts of Frankfort and Heidelberg. Sickness is synonymous with
-impatience in my vocabulary, and after two days’ trial of repose, I
-determined to continue my journey, trusting to the influences of scenery
-and exercise. Accordingly I took the _eilwagen_ to Nordheim, twenty
-miles nearer the Hartz, as it was raining heavily. In the capacious and
-cushioned vehicle, traveling was tolerable enough and I reached Nordheim
-at nightfall in better spirits.
-
-In the damp, gloomy inn, after the stage rolled off, my fever returned.
-I went to bed, and lay awake for hours, listening to the rain beating on
-the windows and the monotonous wail of the wind down the valley. The
-rest of the night must have been passed either in the wildest dreaming,
-or in a waking fever bordering on delirium. My head throbbed painfully,
-and imaginary voices seemed calling me from a distance. Strange figures
-walked through the room and stood long, looking out the window. Some
-were familiar faces—faces of friends far away—and some that I knew
-not, spoke to me, or talked with each other till my brain was confused
-with the noises, and toward morning I slept.
-
-The next day the sky was dark, without rain. I was weak, though no
-worse, and set out on foot, aided by a stout staff, toward the Hartz. In
-spite of the labor of plodding along the muddy roads, I was refreshed by
-the cool damp atmosphere and inspired by the scenery, which grew wilder
-and lonelier as I advanced. Spring, although late for Germany, had
-already covered the forests with their first light green foliage, and
-the meadows were luxuriant with grass and flowers. Whenever I grew
-weary, there was always a bank of moss somewhere under the pine-trees
-which the rain had not reached, and like Uhland with his apple-tree, I
-greeted the pine as my landlord, who, if he could spread me no board
-from his juicy larder, at least kept for me his best arm-chair, and with
-the thatch of his roof protected me from the frequent showers.
-
-So passed the day, with no incident except the challenge of a gend’arme,
-who could read no part of my passport but the name “America,” in honor
-of which he made a stiff military salute and wished a pleasant journey.
-In the old, decaying village of Osterode, sunk deep among gypsum
-quarries in the valley of the Oder, I made a dinner of milk and black
-bread, and as it was late in the afternoon, pushed on to reach Herzberg,
-at the entrance of the Hartz. As the black and gusty sky deepened into
-night, I was joined by a traveling handwerker, who made the way shorter
-by his cheery conversation, half talk and half singing. We stopped at a
-little one-story inn, called, even in that unknown corner of the world,
-the “London House.” The peasants employed by the landlord, who was rich
-in possessing several acres of barren meadow land, had just collected
-for supper, and we sat down with them at the table. An immense wooden
-bowl, filled with steaming potatoes, was placed in the middle, and a
-choppin of beer set before each one. They used neither knife, fork nor
-plate, but took the potatoes in their fingers, and salted them from
-another dish with the same convenient appliances. I was civilized enough
-to ask for a plate and to call for tea instead of beer, at which these
-stout men and maidens were greatly amused. There was considerable doubt
-at first whether the last article could be had, but the _frau_, after
-some search, produced a package of the kind called Russian tea, which is
-brought overland to Russia through Tartary, and retains the delicate
-aroma of the shrub in a much greater degree than that which reaches us
-by a long sea-voyage from Canton. At least, it seemed to me, in my
-exhausted state, nothing short of nectar, and after some talk with the
-good people of the inn, who, enjoying only the merest necessities of
-life gave me a new lesson in the requisites of happiness, I went to bed
-in the loft and slept till my companion, the handwerker, awoke me at
-breakfast-time.
-
-Our roads, unfortunately, were different. He was bound to Alexisbad on
-the southern edge of the Hartz, while I was for a visit to His
-Phantomship, the Spectre of the Brocken. So we parted, with mutual
-wishes of good luck, and I plunged into the grand mountain defile in
-front of Herzberg, my knapsack heavier by a loaf of bread. Thenceforward
-my way was solitude itself. The steeps on either side were clothed to
-the summit with woods of black pine, with here and there a single larch,
-of a pale and misty green, like the ghost of a tree. The brawling river
-ran over cold black rocks, and even where the hills left a little eddy
-of meadow between them, the winter floods swept it bare and prevented
-the peasant from planting his scanty harvest. The only houses were those
-of the woodmen and mountain herdsmen—the only sounds of human life the
-stroke of axes among the pines and the shout of men and boys driving
-their cattle up to the cleared places, which were already covered with
-thick grass. Snow-drifts still lay in the clefts of the rocks and under
-the boughs of trees which had been felled. Over this stern and lonely
-region was a dark and lowering sky and the only things that were truly
-bright and joyous were the crimson pinks that grew by the wayside.
-
-I overtook a herdsman with his two boys driving their cows and goats up
-the valley, and we walked some time in company. With a frank curiosity
-he asked me why I traveled alone in the Hartz. It was too early, he
-said, to climb the Brocken, and then nobody went there without company.
-People said there were still spirits and witches among the hills, and I
-might easily lose the path and wander about till after night-fall, when
-I would be in their power. The boys listened to his warnings with
-perfect belief in their faces. I asked them if they had ever seen those
-witches, “No,” they answered, but they had never been further than
-Andreasberg; yet the miners had told them of kobolds who guard the veins
-of ore and smothered them to death when they came too near their
-dwellings. The old herdsman said he had climbed the Brocken many years
-before, in the summer time, and added, “but we took good care to come
-down again before night.” I promised him to be careful about the road
-and not to be belated when the witches were abroad, but he still seemed
-unwilling that I should go alone. “Here are the cattle to take care of,”
-said he, “but Ernest and Gottlieb could do that; if it were not for the
-wood I must cut, I would go with you myself the whole way.” If my purse
-had been a little heavier, I would have paid him for the lost work, and
-taken him along. This I could not do, and when he reached the path which
-led to his pasturage, I shook hands with him and repeated my promises.
-“I hope you may be lucky,” was the last he said, “but I wish I could go
-along.”
-
-Still climbing beside the stream, the road finally grew rough and
-narrow, hemmed by mountains too high and bleak as yet for pasture. I
-reached a pass where it was completely covered by an overhanging rock,
-and sat down to compare the directions of my guide-book with the
-appearances around me. I had come to the conclusion that I was in the
-wrong path, when two or three miners came under the other end of the
-rock. They confirmed my suspicions, but told me they were going to
-Andreasburg by a path over the mountain on our right and if I followed
-them I should gain what I had lost. This was a fortunate chance; I
-shouldered my knapsack and took the path, which was so steep and narrow
-that we climbed single file through the woods. It was half an hour
-before we reached the summit and I felt like sinking to the earth from
-fatigue, for my guides were strong-winded and athletic and went steadily
-forward, without taking breath. I kept pace with them in the descent,
-and learned from them something of their under-ground life and the
-extent and productiveness of the mines. This part of the Hartz is very
-rich in minerals, the mines producing gold, silver, lead, copper and
-iron. Some of them have been worked seven or eight centuries, and the
-deep shafts extend more than two thousand feet under the earth’s
-surface. The great mine at Andreasberg, called the _Sampson_, is said to
-be twenty three hundred feet deep, and the town is inhabited entirely by
-the workmen. I have since regretted that I did not spend a day there in
-visiting these remarkable subterranean works.
-
-The town is built near the summit of the mountain and commands a
-singularly wild and dreary view over that part of the Hartz district.
-Bleak hills, on which the snow still lay in patches, rose on every side,
-and the valleys they enclosed looked dim and gloomy in the distance. The
-Brocken was before me, but its top, fifteen miles off, was covered with
-clouds. I pushed on, hoping to reach it before night, but while I was
-tracing the course of the canal which carries water from the dammed
-mountain springs to the mines, the air grew dense and damp, and a wreath
-of cloud, trailing like a scarf along the cliffs far below me, portended
-that night and storm were coming together. When I reached the dam, on
-the side of the Brocken, it began to rain dismally. The wind whistled
-through the long dead grass and soughed in the wet pines with a
-monotonous sound. No sign of house or human being was visible, but I
-kept on till twilight, when I reached a large solitary building standing
-by the road. It was inhabited by some forest superintendent or other
-functionary, and is the second highest dwelling in the Hartz. As the
-office of landlord was also included in the occupant’s duties, I
-determined at once to spend the night there. The only residents were the
-landlord and his wife, two servants and a young man of polished manners,
-yet of quiet and reserved appearance, who seemed to be living there as
-much for the solitude of the place as any other cause. After supper he
-was more communicative, and by drawings and descriptions gave me a very
-good idea of the remaining eight miles to the summit of the Brocken,
-which I was to try alone on the morrow. All night the winds howled
-around the house as if all the witches were abroad. It was the second of
-May, the night after their yearly conclave.
-
-I have related elsewhere my ascent through snow-drifts and
-snow-clouds—up rocky ravines and over mountain marshes—till I reached
-the Brocken House drowned with rain, a most woful-looking traveler.
-After drying beside a stove like a furnace, and a dinner which sent the
-blood warm and tingling through my limbs, I put the Brocken-nosegay of
-moss and lichens in my knapsack and passing the witches’ cauldron, took
-the path for Schierke. It led down the southern side of the mountain,
-and the Brocken host (Herr Nese, who for fifty years past has introduced
-his Spectre to poets, peasants, philosophers and princes) showed me a
-pile of rocks just under the summit, where a few weeks before, his dogs
-had found a handwerker buried in a snow-drift and on the point of
-perishing. A half-hour’s walk brought me below the region of snow, but
-not that of rain, for the clouds were gathered over the mountains to the
-right. As I reached the first forests they rolled up black and swift and
-the drops began to fall hard and heavily. Observing a little thicket of
-scrubby pines, I lay down on the ground and crawled under it, where I
-coiled myself up in the close and fragrant covert, just as the
-floodgates were opened. A perfect deluge succeeded; the trees roared and
-battled in the wind; the gullies on either side were full of foaming
-water and the air was nearly as dark as night. But scarcely a drop found
-its way through my shelter. I lay there warm and snug in the midst of a
-wild and dreary storm, and never shall I forget my exquisite sense of
-happiness while it lasted.
-
-Just before sunset I came out upon a slope of rich green pasture where
-several boys were tending a flock of cattle. The sky was then partially
-clear but cold, and as I was anxious to reach a village before dark, I
-left the road to ask them my nearest way. One question succeeded
-another, and having told them to what country I belonged, I must needs
-stay with them awhile and tell them about it. We sat on a rock and
-talked until the shadow of the opposite mountain fell over us, when I
-left them. They had friends in America, and one of them thought he might
-visit them when he grew older.
-
-They delayed me so long that the foot-path I had taken, through a deep
-and rocky hollow, was very gloomy, and in the dim light, almost fearful.
-Vast masses of rock clung to the side of the mountain,
-
- “Even as a wretched soul, hour after hour,
- Clings to the mass of life, yet clinging, leans;
- And leaning, makes more dark the dread abyss
- In which it fears to fall;”
-
-over and through the crevices were twisted the bony roots of the pines,
-and down in the chasms I heard the foaming of the swollen streams. This
-is the path by which Faust and Mephistopheles ascended the Brocken, and
-the storm which heralded my descent into it reminded me of Goethe’s
-description:
-
- “The night with mist is thick and black;
- Hark, how the forests roar and crack!
- The hooting owls affrighted fly.
- Shivered full the columns tall
- Of the palaces of pine.
- See the uniting boughs entwine—
- The mighty trunks that bend and groan—
- The hard roots grating on the stone!
- Mingling confusedly and madly, all
- Over each other are heaped in the fall,
- And around the crags, so wet and foul,
- The winds in fury hiss and howl!”
-
-I thought of this ghostly passage and remembered the caution given me by
-the old herdsman. But no wrinkled hag, coursing on her he-goat the
-haunted paths of the Brocken interrupted my progress, and the cheerful
-lights of Elbingerode soon glimmered through the wood.
-
-The next day I set out for the Rosstrappe, but again went astray and
-came to a village on the river Bode, deep down under steep mountains and
-the abode of miners. The people told me of two noted caves within half
-an hour’s walk, but the rain had again set in, and I hastened forward
-toward the Rosstrappe, the greatest wonder of the Hartz. The scenery was
-no longer so lonely and exciting in its character. Open, upland plains,
-with occasional forests, skirted the road, and the men and women at work
-in their scanty fields and gardens saluted me with many a shout of
-laughter as I trudged along through the wood. Roads branched off in all
-directions from the main one, and left to my own judgment as to the
-proper course, I continued on till I reached the river, and saw a little
-hamlet on its banks. At the only inn—a hut with two rooms—an old
-grandam told me I had missed the way. The Rosstrappe was two hours
-distant, and I could not find it without a guide. The men were all away
-in the woods, but a neighbor of hers would go with me if I would give
-her a few groschen. To this I willingly consented, and the kind old
-woman dried my blouse carefully by the fire and brought me a dinner of
-bread and milk.
-
-After dinner the neighbor made her appearance, with a large empty basket
-and announced herself ready to start. My landlady rolled up in a paper a
-large slice of bread and thrust it into my pocket, charging me two
-groschen (6 cents) for my dinner. I was about to shoulder my knapsack,
-when my guide asked for it, saying she had brought her basket on purpose
-for it. I hesitated at first; the thought of walking unencumbered, with
-a woman carrying my baggage seemed unchivalric, to say the least. I made
-a rapid comparison between my weakness and fatigue and the distance
-still to be traversed, and decided by placing the knapsack in her basket
-and assisting her to lift it upon her head. Off we went, under a clear
-sky, for the first time since I entered the Hartz. Through fine open
-forests and along precipices overhanging the Bode—past the
-hunting-grounds of the Dukes of Brunswick and across dells fragrant with
-spring flowers—so we walked, for nearly two hours, till the cottage-inn
-of the Rosstrappe was visible through a vista of trees. Here I took the
-knapsack and dismissed my guide with a ten-groschen-piece, which I had
-been told was the usual fee. It was evidently much more than she
-expected.
-
-After I had seen the Rosstrappe, and hung over the fearful chasm where
-the Bode thunders and foams seven hundred feet below, not forgetting to
-note the marvelous giant hoof-mark in the rock, I went back to the inn.
-The landlady gave me the whole story of the Rosstrappe while she brought
-and uncorked a bottle of _birkensaft_ or birch sap, for which the Hartz
-is celebrated. This beverage, which is made in no other part of the
-world, consists of the sap of the birch tree, sweetened and suffered to
-ferment slightly. It is of a bright pink color and delicious taste. I
-had the table brought to the door, where I could see the savage defile
-below, while the landlady seated herself opposite with her knitting and
-gave her tongue full play. Such a tongue! the words came in an
-everlasting stream, and the faster she talked the harder she knit; so
-that one yarn kept pace with the other, and my visit increased the
-growth of her stocking considerably.
-
-“There was once a pack of wild students here,” said she, among the other
-marvelous stories she related; “though all students are wild enough, as
-is quite natural; but these fellows (I remember every one of them) made
-a terrible noise all afternoon, with their songs and their wine-bottles,
-and what not. They climbed down the rocks to the Bode and up again, and
-I must needs tell them the story of the Rosstrappe twice over. When
-night came they were still here under the trees, drinking, and as it
-began to rain and they were not able to find their way, the dear Lord
-knows, what was to be done but keep them? We have no rooms for so many
-here, you see; so I told them to take this chamber where we are sitting
-and sleep as they best might. But no sleep had I nor my good man; there
-was nothing but singing and yelling the whole night. About midnight
-there was a terrible rap on my door. ‘Himmel!’ I cried, ‘what is the
-matter?’ and I started up in great fright. ‘O mein Gott!’ said one of
-the students, ‘there are wolves at the door.’ Now there never was a wolf
-near the house, but I feared it might be a spirit, or something as
-frightful, so I put on my gown as quick as I could and lit my lamp, for
-they had overturned theirs in their fright. When I came into the room I
-found them all in one corner, looking very wild and pale. ‘There are no
-wolves here,’ said I. Just then a night-owl among the trees began to
-hoot. ‘There it is, there it is again!’ they cried, but I laughed,
-although I was very angry, to be called up for an owl. ‘Go to sleep, you
-fools!’ I said to them, ‘do you not know better than to be frightened by
-a _hoo-hoo_!’ The next morning they were very much ashamed, as they
-truly might be, for I tell about their fright to every body who comes
-here.”
-
-At the Rosstrappe, I had reached the eastern extremity of the Hartz, and
-after I descended the mountain my way was enlivened by bloomy orchards
-and springing grain. At sunset I was so far out in the plain of the Elbe
-that I could see the snowy top of the Brocken, free from clouds. This
-was my last view of the bleak and spectral mountain. After a night of
-terror at Halberstadt, (an account of which the reader will find in my
-narrative of travel,) I took the cars for Leipsic, which I reached the
-next night, and where I found a companion waiting for me. So ended my
-Lonely Week of Travel in Northern Germany.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- STANZAS FOR MUSIC.
-
-
- BY MRS. HARRIET S. HANDY.
-
-
- Oh! the bright and sunny days that long, long since were ours,
- Will they ne’er return again, with their wealth of summer flowers;
- The sweet approving smile—the low, soft gentle tone,
- With its murmured words of love, are they forever flown?
- And from thy heart are banished all memories of me.
- As a cloud upon the summer sky, a shadow o’er the sea?
-
- Oh! deeply have I trusted, while I listened to thy vow,
- And dreamed not that deceit _could_ rest upon so fair a brow;
- But well unto my heart the bitter lesson has been taught
- That oft love’s words, when sweetest, with deceitfulness are fraught—
- And though the slighted heart may hide its bitterness of wo,
- There is yet a fount of sorrow, the world may never know.
-
- Then ask me not thy love and _faithlessness_ so coldly to forget,
- Or that our early destinies have once so sadly met.
- Can the sea blot out the burning stars reflected on its breast,
- Or the caged bird forget the haunts where first it built its nest?
- The wildest storm that rocks the one, gives place to stars again,
- And though the captive bird sings on, ’tis a lovèd green-wood strain!
-
- The ocean-shell forgets not its low, sweet plaintive moan,
- Nor the human harp the tones that once were all its own;
- But quivering on its strings, there ever will be found
- An echo-tone of memory—an unforgotten sound—
- And though the chords be broken—its glad music at an end,
- With its murmured melody, a strain of other years will blend!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- FOR AND AGAINST.
-
-
- FOUND AMONG THE PAPERS OF THE LATE
-
-
- WALTER HERRIES, ESQ.
-
-
-I don’t think I ever really loved but once; fancies I have had, and fond
-ones, too; but now when the cold, gray twilight of age is dimming the
-visions of the past, memory still recalls, with wonderful power, one
-bright face from the fair picture gallery of my early loves—the face of
-Edla Fane, the schoolmaster’s daughter. Beautiful she was not, and yet I
-loved her, as I learned too late. She seemed to bind me by some spell of
-witchery that I could not withstand, and yet against which I rebelled,
-because it appealed not to my outer senses. I understand it now; she
-bound me by the might of a lofty, spiritual love; and I blindly cast
-aside that gem of countless price to grasp the dross of earth.
-
-High-toned, and pure-minded, tender, and confiding as a child, yet with
-a sweet womanly pride, and withal a dash of quiet humor, Edla Fane kept
-me vacillating near her for a many months. At one time feeling as though
-I could fall at her feet and worship her, at another fearing I had
-expressed too much, and withdrawing in cold reserve.
-
-One evening a cold mood came over me; I feared I had committed myself in
-my ardent protestations to Edla, and now spoke with the calmness of
-friendship or platonic affection. She listened with a slight curve of
-her expressive lip, and assented to my proposal of affectionate
-friendship so readily, that my self-love was aroused, and with
-characteristic variableness my feelings gained immediate force again.
-But Edla remained unmoved. The next day I received the following lines
-in a blank envelope.
-
- You say that you love me, yet are not a lover;
- As you know not yourself what it is you intend;
- And right sorry are you, I have chanced to discover,
- That you’re _less_ than a _lover_, and _more_ than a _friend_!
- For you know you’re a ranger,
- And think there is danger,
- That when you are weary, and wish to depart,
- _I_, believing you true,
- May have learned to love you,
- And you’ll leave me all lonely, without any heart!
-
- You have cautioned me well, and have done but your duty;
- The proverb says truly, “Forearmed, when forewarned,”
- And though I can boast not of wealth or of beauty,
- I yield not one feeling, I think would be scorned.
- When a lover I find
- Who _knows his own mind_!
- I will give up my heart in return for his vow;
- I must have _all_ or _none_,
- Must be wooed to be won—
- And now I’ll advise _you_, if you will allow.
-
- You at once must restrain all expression of feeling,
- Not only of words, but of glances and sighs,
- Lest by some odd mischance the strange secret revealing,
- Your friendship should prove to be—“love in disguise!”
- Remember, take care,
- I bid you beware,
- For Cupid’s a sly, little mischievous elf,
- When you think your heart free
- He may bind it to me,
- And make you prove constant in spite of yourself.
-
- Then, when I have plighted my vows to another,
- You will sue for one glimpse of old feeling in vain;
- For when once the bright flame of affection you smother,
- You never can kindle its brilliance again;
- I’ll turn proudly away,
- And will calmly say nay,
- (While I look on you coldly, not seeming to see,)
- I esteem, and admire,
- _That_ is all you desire—
- Think well of me always, but never love me!
-
-Provoking! thus to have my own words turned against me, at the close of
-these unexpected verses. I saw Edla frequently after this; but my
-evanescent vows, were never after tolerated even for a moment, and thus,
-when too late, her prophecy was fulfilled—I loved her. But Edla Fane is
-now a happy wife and mother, and I—a Bachelor.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- MY STUDY.
-
-
- BY WILLIAM H. C. HOSMER.
-
-
- The gaudy, blabbing and remorseful day
- Is crept into the bosom of the night.
- SHAKSPEARE.
-
- I love the circuit of thy narrow bounds
- While my pale lamp gives light,
- And, unattended by tumultuous sounds,
- Presides the holy Night.
-
- A quiet nook for revery thou art
- In the dim hour of shade,
- When that wild, wondrous instrument, the heart,
- Is lulled, and tranquil made.
-
- My books—old friends that know not frigid change—
- When come the evil days,
- Unfold their lettered treasures, rich and strange,
- To my enamored gaze.
-
- While Folly wastes in lust and midnight wine,
- Manhood and moral health,
- True wisdom seeketh jewels in the mine
- Of intellectual wealth.
-
- Haunt, sacred to retirement and thought!
- At night’s dark noon alone,
- Within thy hallowed precincts I have caught
- Gleams of that world unknown,
-
- Where the soul harbors when this life is o’er,
- And closed our war with Time,
- And the hushed belfry of the heart no more
- Rings with a numbered chime.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
- THE BIRTH-PLACE OF BENJAMIN WEST.
-
-
- [SEE ENGRAVING.]
-
-We present our readers with an engraving of the birth-place of the
-celebrated American painter, Benjamin West, from an original drawing
-made by Mr. Croome, in the year 1845. The house is situated in the
-township of Springfield, Pennsylvania, about four miles north of
-Chester, on a considerable farm belonging to Mr. Peter Stewart. It will
-be perceived that the house is in rather a dilapidated condition, one of
-the posts of the portico being deficient. The house is substantially
-built of brick, and, at the time of its erection, must have been
-considered rather an elegant country residence; but its antiquity and
-state of decay will probably prevent any future attempt to put it in
-repair. The spot, however, will always be interesting to Americans, from
-its having been the scene of West’s childhood, to which are referred
-those delightful and well known anecdotes, of his early life, which
-display the dawnings of that brilliant genius which was destined to
-astonish the world by its achievements in the graphic art.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- DREAMS OF HEAVEN.
-
-
- BY M. E. THROPP.
-
-
- IRREGULAR LINES.
-
- From orient climes to the lands that glow
- In the last red light of even,
- Indian, Paynim, Moslem, Jew—
- All have their dreams of Heaven.
-
- The Moslem dreams of a green, fair clime,
- Lit up by the sun’s broad beams,
- Where flowers gaze down at their own bright forms
- In still transparent streams;
-
- Where soft winds sigh, and gay birds sing,
- In tones so sweetly clear;
- Where palm groves rustle cool and still,
- And bright-eyed Houries cheer;
-
- Where the banquet waits, with its viands crowned,
- And the wine-cup’s rosy gleam,
- While soft luxuriant bowers around,
- Invite to recline and dream:
-
- Such is the vision of future bliss
- To the Prophet-followers given—
- The “true-believer’s” goal of hope,
- The Moslem’s dream of Heaven,
-
- The Indian dreams of a sunset land,
- Where the great Manitto reigns;
- Where deer and stately bison roam
- O’er broad, uncultured plains.
-
- A land whose giant lakes and streams,
- With gleaming fish abound;
- Where forests wave, and mountains tower—
- A boundless hunting-ground.
-
- ’Tis his dream, as he calmly looks abroad
- On the sunset glow, at even—
- A hunting-ground, where that sun sinks down,
- Is the Indian’s dream of Heaven.
-
- The Jew of his New Jerusalem dreams,
- With its streets of shining gold,
- And temples, that rival the regal fane
- On Moriah’s brow of old.
-
- Still dreams, that Judah’s harps shall sound,
- And Judah’s pennons stream,
- Where now muezzin’s calls are heard,
- And Moslem crescents gleam.
-
- Zion rebuilt, and the land restored,
- To his forefathers given,
- Is the Hebrew exile’s guerdon high,
- His earnest here of Heaven.
-
- The Norseman chief, in the olden times,
- Sprang up, with Valkyriur calls
- Ringing shrill and clear in his dreaming ear—
- “Up! come to ‘Valhalla’s Halls!’”
-
- Would ye know how the chieftain sought those halls?
- —Away to the battle-plain—
- The warrior sleeps on the ghastly heaps,
- His own red sword has slain!
-
- Visions of blood, in that dying hour,
- To his stormy soul were given—
- Feasts, and victorious battle-fields,
- Were the Norseman’s dreams of Heaven.
-
- The Greek had high, ambitious dreams,
- Of Elysium’s fabled clime;
- The Druid too—ah, many and strange,
- Were the dreams of olden time.
-
- How will those dreams accord with thee,
- When time exists no more,
- Unseen, unknown, unpictured realm
- Beyond the silent shore?
-
- Now, shines the gospel sun, the mists
- Of Error roll away;
- And earth, from pole to central zone,
- Rejoices ’neath its sway.
-
- Like some tired wanderer of the deep,
- The Christian struggles on;
- While day and night, in calm or storm,
- How yearns his heart for home!
-
- Dreams he of sensual joys? the chase?
- Some ruined city, lone?
- Of feasts and battle-fields? Not so—
- His is a spirit-home.
-
- To Him, who formed yon glorious sky,
- This green enameled sod,
- The Christian trusts his future home—
- His architect—is God.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: COL. WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLE OF COWPENS.
-
-Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine by S. H. Gimber]
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE YOUNG DRAGOON.
-
-
- A STORY OF THE COWPENS.
-
-
- BY CHARLES J. PETERSON.
-
-
- [SEE ENGRAVING.]
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
- There is a thing—there is a thing,
- I fain would have from thee;
- I fain would have that gay, gold ring.
- THE SPECTRE LADY.
-
-The period of our revolutionary history immediately succeeding the
-defeat at Camden, is still remembered in the Carolinas with horror. The
-British, elated with their success, and regarding the South as now their
-own, proceeded in the work of confiscation and massacre with pitiless
-severity. In that terrible crisis many a family was deprived of its head
-either by exile or by execution. Yet larger numbers were shorn of their
-property and reduced to comparative indigence. In a word, terror reigned
-paramount.
-
-But the common events of life still went on. The transactions of
-business, the struggle for wealth, the toils of the husbandman, births,
-deaths, marriages, cares, hopes, fears—all followed each other down the
-deep current of existence, almost wholly unaffected by the storm of war
-which agitated the surface. It is an error to suppose that great
-convulsions disturb the whole order of society. Men will still hate,
-though the entire nation be turned into a camp; will still strive for
-the dross of earth; will still, if young and generous, risk their
-heart’s happiness in love.
-
-It was toward the close of a winter evening that a youth of noble mien
-and handsome face stood at the foot of one of those long avenues of
-trees, which, in South Carolina, lead up from the road to the mansions
-of the wealthier proprietors. For nearly half an hour he had been there,
-as if awaiting the approach of some one from the house: now looking
-anxiously up the long avenue, now restlessly walking to and fro. During
-that interval but one person had passed along the highway, and the
-notice of this one the youth had skillfully avoided by concealing
-himself behind some dwarf trees within the plantation-fence. This act,
-as well as his whole demeanor, proved that he was awaiting some secret
-interview.
-
-At last, just when the dusk began to deepen into night, the flutter of a
-white dress was seen coming down the avenue. A minute more, and a
-beautiful girl of eighteen summers appeared on the scene.
-
-“Albert,” said the new comer, as the youth, seizing her hand,
-passionately kissed it, “I have not a second to stay. It was with
-difficulty I could leave the house unseen, and my absence has doubtless
-been noticed before this; what we have to say, therefore, must be said
-at once; why have you sought this interview?”
-
-“I have sought it, Ellen,” he replied, still holding her hand, “because,
-despairing of gaining your consent, I have volunteered in Capt.
-Washington’s cavalry corps, and to-morrow set forth. Perhaps you will
-never see me more. I could not leave the neighborhood without seeing you
-once more, and bidding you an eternal farewell; and, as your father’s
-orders had banished me from the house, there was no method of giving you
-my adieux except by soliciting an interview.”
-
-The tears had started to the eyes of his listener, but she turned away
-her head to conceal them; and for some time neither spoke.
-
-“Ellen, dear Ellen,” said the young soldier, earnestly, “will you not
-now, in this solemn moment, say you love me? I once hoped you did, but
-since your father has forbidden me the house, you have been less kind;
-and I fear that I have lost your heart—that you, too, have ceased to
-care for me, now that I am beggared—”
-
-His hearer suddenly turned her face full upon him, with a look of
-tearful reproach that cut short his words.
-
-“Bless you, Ellen, for that look,” he said. “Though my father’s estate
-is confiscated, and he and I both indigent, it is not on that account
-that you have seemed so cold to me lately. Say then, dearest, only say
-that I have been mistaken in thinking you at all altered.”
-
-Another look, equally eloquent, answered him; but still his hearer did
-not speak.
-
-“Oh! Ellen,” he continued, “when I am far away fighting my country’s
-battles, what bliss it would be to know that you sometimes think of me;
-and that if I should fall, you would shed a tear for me.”
-
-His listener, at these words, wept freely, and when her agitation had
-somewhat passed, spoke.
-
-“Albert,” she said, “you have conquered. Know then that I do love you.”
-At these words the impetuous young man clasped her in his arms, but she
-disengaged herself, saying, “But, while my father opposes your suit, I
-can never be yours. The consciousness of his disapproval has made me
-affect a coldness to you which my heart belied, in the hope that you
-would think of some one more worthy of you—but—but,” she hesitated,
-then quickly added, “in a word, if it will comfort you, when away, to
-know that I think of you, and pray for you, go forth happy—the misery
-is for us who stay behind, and who are hourly anxious for the fate of
-the absent.”
-
-The tears fell fast as she spoke, and, concluding, she suffered her head
-to be drawn to her lover’s shoulder, while a deep and holy silence
-succeeded, as these two young and already unhappy beings held each other
-in a first embrace.
-
-It was only for a moment, however, that Ellen yielded to weakness.
-Raising her head and brushing the tears from her eyes, she said, while
-crimson blushes overspread her face,
-
-“And now farewell—perhaps all this is wrong—but I could not see you
-leave me in anger.”
-
-“God bless you for those kind words,” said Albert. “But, Ellen, before
-you go, one more request. That miniature that hangs around your neck—is
-it too much to ask for it?”
-
-She hesitated: then, as steps were heard in the road, suddenly gave it
-to him. He drew a heavy signet-ring from his finger, and said, tendering
-it in exchange,
-
-“Take this, and let us be true to each other—so help us God!”
-
-And with this parting adjuration, he sprang over the fence to conceal
-himself behind the brushwood, while Ellen, hastening up the avenue, was
-soon lost to sight in the obscurity of the hour.
-
-The wind sighed mournfully through the pine woods as this betrothal was
-consummated, and the dark, starless sky overhead looked down with its
-weird and melancholy face.
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
- Heard ye the din of battle bray,
- Lance to lance, and horse to horse.
- GRAY.
-
-It is well known that, after the defeat of Gates, Congress hastened to
-supersede that general, and appoint Greene to succeed him. At the period
-of the incidents narrated in the last chapter, the new
-commander-in-chief had arrived in the South, and was organizing his
-forces.
-
-His very first proceeding showed the resources of an intellect, which,
-in military affairs, was second only to that of the “father of his
-country.” Aware that the initiatory step toward redeeming the South was
-to arouse the confidence of its people, he determined to divide his
-force. While, therefore, he moved with one portion down the Pedee, he
-despatched Morgan, with the remainder, west of the Catawba, in order to
-encourage the inhabitants in that quarter. Morgan’s corps was
-accompanied by Capt. Washington’s light dragoons, of which our hero had
-already become a conspicuous member.
-
-This division of his army, in the face of an active foe, would have been
-a capital error, but for the political advantages it offered, and which
-over-balanced the military ones. Cornwallis, then in command of the
-royal army, determined to frustrate the success of Greene’s plan, by
-cutting off Morgan’s detachment; and accordingly ordered Col. Tarleton,
-with his renowned dragoons, accompanied by a competent force of
-infantry, to give pursuit.
-
-It was on the 14th of January, 1781, a day ever to be remembered in the
-annals of our country, that the heroic Morgan learned the danger in
-which he stood. He determined immediately to give battle. For this
-purpose he halted at a place called the Cowpens, and having drawn up his
-troops, awaited, though not without anxiety, the appearance of the foe.
-
-The attack of Tarleton, as usual, was impetuous, and for awhile the
-American militia were driven helplessly before it; but soon they
-rallied, under cover of a few continentals belonging to Morgan’s
-command, and in turn forced the British to give ground. These brave
-soldiers of the line, led by their colonel, now charged with the
-bayonet, when the route of the royal infantry became complete.
-
-Washington, with his cavalry, had been waiting impatiently a chance to
-participate in the fight; but having been stationed as a partial
-reserve, the order for him to engage did not for some time arrive. His
-troops shared his enthusiasm. Composed chiefly of young men of family,
-and mounted on thorough-bred animals, they presented a formidable
-appearance, as they stood, awaiting the order to engage, the horses
-champing at the bit, and the riders nervously fingering their swords:
-they saw the onset of the British, the flight of the first line, and the
-partial panic that extended through the foot soldiers with horror; but
-still their leader remained unmoved. Many had never been in battle
-before, and such believed the day lost; among these was Albert.
-
-At last the confusion became so great around them that troops so
-undisciplined, if less brave, would have taken to ignominious flight;
-for the defeated militia were pouring down upon them from all sides,
-almost compelling them to break their ranks, or see the fugitives perish
-under the hoofs of their horses. But now Washington seemed to rouse from
-his inaction. Ordering his men first to allow the flying militia to gain
-their rear, he then directed them, his sharp, quick tones showing that
-the moment for action had come, to close up and prepare to charge.
-
-As he spoke, he pointed with his sword ahead, and our hero beheld the
-renowned regiment of Tarleton coming down upon them at full gallop, and
-amid a cloud of dust, driving before a mass of dismayed fugitives. The
-keen eye of Washington measured, for an instant, the distance between
-them, and then said,
-
-“I want no fire-arms used to-day, my lads. Stick to the cold steel. And
-now, for God and your country—charge!”
-
-Away went the troop, like a thunder-bolt suddenly loosed from a cloud,
-with every scabbard jingling, every steed snorting with excitement, and
-the solid earth shaking under them. In full career they burst upon the
-flank of the enemy, who, disordered by his pursuit, could make but a
-feeble resistance. Horse and rider went down before the impetuous charge
-of the Americans, who for awhile fairly rode down their foes. But
-British valor soon proved too weak for the combined patriotism and
-courage of Washington’s cavalry; and the royal troops, taming their
-bridles, took to ignominious flight.
-
-“On, on,” cried Washington, waving his sword for his men to follow,
-“remember the cruelties of these myrmidons. Revenge for our slaughtered
-countrymen!”
-
-At the word, his men, thus reminded of the butchery of the Waxhaws and
-of the other atrocities perpetrated under the eye of Tarleton, spurred
-their horses afresh, and dashed on in pursuit. A complete panic had now
-taken possession of the royal cavalry, who hurried on at full gallop,
-each man thinking only of himself. Close on their heels followed the
-indignant Americans, cutting down mercilessly every red-coat they
-overtook, until the road was strewed with the dead. Foremost in this
-pursuit rode Washington, a precedence he owed, not only to his superior
-steed, but to his eagerness to overtake an officer just ahead, whom he
-judged to be Tarleton himself from his effort to rally the fugitives.
-
-The tremendous pace at which Washington rode, at last carried him so far
-ahead of his men, that, at a bend in the highway, he found himself
-totally alone. At this moment, the British, looking back, perceived his
-situation, and immediately turned on him, his principal assailants being
-Tarleton and two powerful dragoons.
-
-Knowing, however, that assistance must be close at hand, Washington
-resolutely advanced to meet the enemy, determined to seize Tarleton for
-his prisoner. But, before he could reach the colonel, the two dragoons
-dashed at him, the one on the right, the other on the left. He saw only
-the first of them, however, and accordingly turned on him, clove him
-down with a single blow of his sabre, then rushed at Tarleton himself.
-
-But, meantime, the other dragoon was advancing, totally disregarded,
-upon him, and with upraised blade would have cut him down, had not our
-hero, who had pressed close after his leader, at this instant wheeled
-round the corner of the wood. At a single glance he took in the whole
-scene. Albert saw that before he could come up Washington would be
-slain, unless fire-arms were employed. In this emergency he did not
-hesitate to disobey the orders of his leader. Jerking a pistol from his
-holster, he aimed full at the dragoon, just as the sabre of the latter
-was sweeping down on Washington’s head. The man tumbled headlong from
-his saddle, his sword burying itself, in the dust.
-
-“Ha! who is that?” said Washington, sternly, so astonished to find his
-orders disobeyed, that he turned; a movement which Tarleton took
-advantage of to make good his escape. “You, Albert!—you!”
-
-“There was no other way,” answered our hero, and he pointed to the dead
-dragoon, “to save your life. His sabre was within six inches of you when
-I fired.”
-
-“It could not be helped, then, I suppose,” answered Washington, who now
-comprehended the event, and saw that he owed his life to the quickness
-of thought of his young friend; “but stay, you are yourself hurt.”
-
-As he spoke, he saw blood issuing from the sleeve of Albert, and
-immediately afterward the young soldier reeled and fell senseless to the
-ground.
-
-Two pistol shots had been discharged from the enemy, Washington now
-recollected, immediately after Albert had fired. On examination, one
-ball was found in the arm of our hero. The other had perforated the
-coat, immediately over the heart.
-
-“He is dead,” cried the leader, “that second shot has touched a vital
-part.”
-
-He tore away the garments as he spoke, but uttered a cry of joy when he
-exposed the chest, for there, right over the heart, lay a miniature,
-which had stopped the ball.
-
-Washington looked at the picture, and muttered, “Ha! I have heard of
-this—and now I will see if I cannot serve my young friend a good turn.”
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
- Marry never for houses, nor marry for lands,
- Nor marry for nothing but only love.
- FAMILY QUARRELS.
-
-When our hero, after a long interval of unconsciousness, opened his
-eyes, he found himself, to his surprise, in a large and elegantly
-furnished apartment, entirely strange to him. He pulled aside the
-curtains of his bed with his uninjured arm, and looked out. An aged
-female servant sat watching him.
-
-“What massa want?” she said.
-
-“How did I get here?” he asked.
-
-“Captain Washington heself left you here, massa, after de great battle.
-De surgeon staid to dress your arm, and den follow arter de troops, who
-had lick de red-coats, dey say, all to pieces.”
-
-“Yes! I know—then the army has pursued its march to the Catawba.”
-
-“It hab, massa; and you be to stay here till you well.”
-
-“But where am I?”
-
-The old negro woman smiled till she showed all her teeth.
-
-“You no know, massa?”
-
-“I do not.”
-
-“You forgit me, Massa Albert—me, Missus Ellen’s maman?”
-
-“Good God!” cried our hero, scarcely believing his senses, and
-scrutinizing her features, “can it be? You are indeed she. And this is
-Mr. Thorndike’s house.”
-
-He had started up in bed, and was now confronted by the figure of the
-owner of the mansion himself, who entered at an opposite door; but who,
-instead of wearing the angry air which Albert had last seen upon him,
-smiled kindly upon him.
-
-“I was passing along the corridor,” he said, seating himself on the
-bedside familiarly, and taking the hand of his wounded guest, “and
-hearing your voice, learned for the first time that you were awake.
-Accordingly I made bold to enter, in order to assure you of a welcome.
-When we last parted, Mr. Scott,” he said, noticing our hero’s look of
-astonishment, “it was with ill-feeling on both sides. Let all that be
-forgotten. Whatever I may have said then I now recall. In saving the
-life of Capt. Washington, who is my dearest friend, you have laid me
-under infinite obligations, and at his request I have consented to
-overlook the past, and to give you my daughter. I only make a single
-stipulation, which is that you will not ask her hand until this war is
-over, which,” he added, lowering his voice, “can not be long, now that
-things have begun to go so auspiciously.”
-
-Our hero well understood the character of Mr. Thorndike, who was noted
-for his prudent adherence to whichever side was uppermost, and he
-attributed this sudden change not only to Capt. Washington’s
-intercessions, but also in part to the prospect there now was of the
-triumph of the colonial cause, in which case the confiscated estates of
-the elder Mr. Scott would be restored. He kept this to himself, however,
-and expressed his thanks for Mr. Thorndike’s hospitality.
-
-“But I shall owe you even more,” he added, “for the happiness with which
-your promise has filled me, and I cheerfully accept your terms.
-Meantime, let me rise, and pay my respects to the ladies in person—I am
-sure I am well enough.”
-
-Our hero, however, was compelled to keep his bed for two entire days, in
-consequence of the fever, a period which appeared to him an age.
-
-We shall not attempt to describe his meeting with Ellen. Let us pass
-over the first few minutes of the interview.
-
-“I have but one thing to regret,” he said at last, in a low whisper, for
-Mr. and Mrs. Thorndike were at the other end of the apartment, “and that
-is the loss of your miniature. I had it around my neck when I went into
-battle, but have not seen it since.”
-
-Ellen smiled archly, and drew it from her bosom.
-
-“How did it reach your possession?” he said in surprise. And, taking it
-in his hand, he added, “What means this dent, so like the mark of a
-ball?”
-
-Tears gushed to Ellen’s eyes, as she said—
-
-“Capt. Washington, who gave it to me, said that it lay over your heart,
-and that but for it, Tarleton’s pistol-shot would have killed you. Oh!
-Albert, I sometimes thought, after I gave it to you, that I had done
-wrong, knowing that my parents would not approve of the act; but when I
-heard that it had saved your life, I saw in it the hand of Providence.”
-
-“Yes! for it not only preserved me from death, but was the means of
-interesting Washington in our favor, and thus bringing about this happy
-re-union,” said Albert, after a pause.
-
-We have no more to tell. On recovering from his wound, our hero rejoined
-his corps, with which he continued until the expulsion of the British
-from the Carolinas.
-
-After that happy event he was married to Ellen, and with her spent a
-long life of felicity.
-
-Their descendants still preserve the battered miniature as an heir-loom.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- WILD-BIRDS OF AMERICA.
-
-
- BY PROFESSOR FROST.
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT.
-
-This species is widely spread over the United States, Mexico and the
-West Indies. Trappers have found it in abundance amid the wild solitudes
-of Oregon and the gorges of the Rocky Mountains. The great body of these
-birds winter within the tropics, from whence they reach the Southern
-States early in spring, and Pennsylvania in April. They begin to build
-in May, choosing for this purpose either the thickest parts of the
-forest or a low meadow, retired from the intrusion of man. The nest is
-constructed of dry leaves and grass, and always concealed by thick
-grass, heaps of brush or other undergrowth. Indeed few of our songsters
-are more shy or modest than the Yellow-Throat, and he seems to be devoid
-of the apparent vanity evinced by most birds of handsome or gaudy
-plumage. The lonely banks of a small stream, overgrown with reeds and
-bushes, is his favorite haunt; and here, with his sober mate, he whiles
-away the long sultry days of our summer’s heat. The eggs are five in
-number, either entirely white or of a pale pink tint, varied by minute
-specks and lines, mostly toward the greater end. After being hatched,
-which occurs in June, the young birds join the parent pair, and all live
-as one family, roving along creeks and marshes, and defending each other
-from enemies. Sometimes, however, a second brood interrupts this
-connection. In August the lively song of the male ceases to be heard,
-and the whole party continue their pursuits in silence until warned by a
-scarcity of food to depart for the South.
-
-The Maryland Yellow-Throat is nearly five inches long, and more than six
-across the spread wings. The upper parts are a light olive; the throat
-and breast yellow; the wings and tail brown, mixed with black; the legs
-are pale flesh-color, and remarkable for their delicacy. The young
-resemble the female at first, but the male of the season, before his
-departure in autumn, exhibits the brilliant yellow throat, as well as
-some appearance of the gray and black which ornament the sides of the
-face in the adult. Small insects form the almost exclusive prey of this
-bird, and in capturing them he often displays much art and agility. His
-song is a plaintive whistle, varying in power and cadence, and sometimes
-associated with partial imitations of other birds. In September, small
-flocks depart for the South, only a few stragglers being seen after that
-month. A few pass the winter in the Southern States, but as already
-stated, the greater portion retire within the Tropics.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- SUMMER YELLOW-BIRD, OR WARBLER.
-
-Few birds are more common, or more widely spread than this well known
-species. According to Richardson, it is found as far north as the 68th
-degree of latitude, from whence it ranges throughout the entire North
-American continent, the West Indies, Bahamas, Colombia, Peru, Guiana,
-Brazil and other portions of South America. These latter countries are
-their winter residence. In the early part of March they arrive in
-Carolina, and two months later in Pennsylvania, New England, etc. Here
-they pass the summer, and leave for the South about the beginning of
-September, the time of departure varying with the season and latitude.
-
-The Yellow-Bird is a general favorite with the farmer. In summer he may
-be seen upon almost every tree, but especially among the willows along
-water-courses, where his brilliant plumage forms a fine relief with the
-deep glossy green. Being familiar and playful, he often approaches so
-near as to be captured. His favorite food is larvæ and small
-caterpillars, which he searches for with much industry, enlivening the
-hardship of his labor by a cheerful whistle or song. About the time of
-building, and even after, the female sings almost as well as the male.
-Both these birds display great ingenuity and solicitude in the
-construction of their nest, which is usually placed on a small bush
-close to the ground. Instances are rare where they build on the ground
-or on a high tree. The nest is constructed externally of dried leaves,
-fine bark and fern, and within of down, wool, fine grass, and similar
-materials. Occasionally they forsake the woods, and build in the hedge
-or bushes of the garden, suiting the construction of their small home to
-the change of residence. “The labor of forming the nest,” as Nuttall
-observes, “seems often wholly to devolve on the female. On the 10th of
-May, I observed one of these industrious matrons busily engaged with her
-fabric in a low barberry-bush, and by the evening of the second day the
-whole was completed to the lining, which was made at length of hair and
-willow down, of which she collected and carried mouthfuls so large, that
-she often appeared almost like a mass of flying cotton, and far exceeded
-in industry her active neighbor, the Baltimore, who was also engaged in
-collecting the same materials. Notwithstanding this industry, the
-completion of the nest, with this and other small birds, is sometimes
-strangely protracted, or not immediately required.”
-
-The eggs of the Yellow-Bird are four or five in number, white, with
-small spots of brown. After they are hatched, or even while sitting, the
-female often feigns lameness at the approach of a stranger, falling down
-near him and uttering pitiful cries, or perhaps fluttering along the
-ground. It is frequently annoyed by the intrusions of the Cow Troupial,
-which, building no nest of her own, makes use of the Yellow-Bird’s. The
-little builder being too weak to remove the incumbrance, generally
-builds a partition over it, thus preventing its being hatched. Nests
-have been found in which a second story has been raised in a similar
-manner.
-
-The Yellow-Bird is five inches long, and seven across the wings.
-Greenish yellow above; below, with crown and front golden, and orange
-spots on the breast; wings and tail brown, and the bill blue. The female
-is without any variation of color on the breast.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER.
-
-The Green Warbler arrives in Pennsylvania about the beginning of May,
-and in New England somewhat later. When observed for the first time in
-spring, it is generally alone, seated on a fruit-tree, and industriously
-searching for the small insects and larvæ which constitute his food. The
-species is somewhat rare, rarely more than a single pair, as it is
-asserted, being seen together, except in the fall, when scattered
-individuals collect to prepare for migration. Except during the period
-of incubation, they are not very shy of man, often permitting him to
-approach within a few feet. They are supposed to wander in summer as far
-north as Canada and Hudson’s Bay, but the larger portion remain in the
-Middle and New England States.
-
-Little is known of the precise time of building, since the habits of
-this songster are then retired. They appear to prefer low, dry
-situations, and build on bushes, not far from the ground. A nest
-examined by Nuttall contained four eggs, of a light flesh-colored tint,
-variegated with pale, purplish points of various sizes, interspersed
-with other large, brown or blackish spots. The outside was formed of
-fine strips of the inner bark of juniper, with another tough, fibrous
-bark, the whole lined with soft feathers, horse hair, and bent grass.
-
-The Green Warbler is four and a half inches in length, and seven across
-the wings. The chin and throat are black, with spots of the same color
-on the sides under the wings. The breast and belly are white, the wings
-and tail dusky, with some white, and the legs and feet pale brown. A
-bird called by Latham and Pennant the Yellow-Fronted Warbler, is
-probably but a variation of the same species. The song of the Green
-Warbler is a somewhat plaintive note, not unlike that of the Chicadee,
-uttered at short intervals, in a slow manner and with some variation.
-Owing to its solitary habits, it rarely mingles in the chorus of our
-summer groves.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- VINCENTE FILICAJA’S SONNET TO ITALY.
-
-
- “_Dove Italia il tuo braccio._”
-
- Where is thy might, oh Italy! and why
- Now dost thou humbly kneel to other powers?
- They are thy foes, for both in bygone hours
- Subject before thy throne were forced to lie.
- And is it thus thy honor is preserved?
- And is it thus thy glory is maintained?
- Thine old escutcheon thou hast darkly stained,
- Widely from ancient valor hast thou swerved.
- Well—be it so: yet cast the crown aside,
- Put on the shame, the languor and the chains
- Of slaves, and sleep while all mankind deride—
- Sleep as the hireling harlot sleeps, who stains
- Her bridal-bed with guilt, till in thy side
- Avenging fate the glittering steel shall hide.
- F. R.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.
-
-
- _Selections from the Writings of James Kennard, Jr. With a
- Sketch of His Life and Character. Boston: Wm. D. Ticknor & Co. 1
- vol. 12mo._
-
-This volume is printed for private circulation, and we should not have
-thought of making it the subject of a notice, were it not for the
-interest which attaches to the name of the author. Mr. Kennard was
-stricken early in life with a disease in his knee—was compelled, at the
-age of twenty-two, to have his leg amputated—and from that time to his
-death, ten years after, he was afflicted with a series of diseases,
-frightfully accumulating one upon another, which at last deprived him of
-all power of motion, and sparing not even his eyes. Yet though thus
-seemingly cut off from all enjoyments, and doomed to the peevishness as
-well as the pain of the sick chamber, he bravely surmounted by force of
-will the mental effects of his ailments, and developed in physical agony
-and deprivation one of the most beautiful and loveable characters we
-have had the fortune to meet in literature or in life. Serene, cheerful,
-hopeful, affectionate—uncomplaining in the midst of miseries, any one
-of which might well have quelled a strong spirit, and which, combined,
-seemed impossible for any spirit to bear—he not only was a genial
-companion, ready to talk of every thing but his own pains and
-deprivations, but a voluminous writer. The present volume, consisting of
-essays, reviews and poems, contributed to the Knickerbocker, the
-Christian Examiner, and various newspapers and periodicals, indicates
-not merely the degree of excellence to which by self-culture he had
-trained his talents for composition, but also the wide range of his
-studies, and the wider range of his sympathies. For every holy and
-beneficent enterprise started to alleviate the miseries of the
-unfortunate, to assist the poor and the ignorant, or to champion the
-oppressed, this self-forgetful valetudinary had a word of cheer warm
-from his heart. There is also a sunny, almost frolicksome and dancing,
-spirit of enjoyment in many of his pieces, which is usually
-characteristic only of the highest physical health. The article on our
-“National Poets” is especially teeming with the very exuberance of fun.
-That on Alison’s History of Europe is one of the most judicious and
-brilliant papers on the subject published on either side of the
-Atlantic. Indeed the whole book preaches on every page the most
-scorching rebukes to indolent and self-indulgent health, and the most
-inspiring hope to despairing sickness. The reading of such a book, in
-connection with the character of such a man, is enough to create
-courage, and cheer under the very “ribs of death.”
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Mardi, and a Voyage Thither. By Herman Melville. New York:
- Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo._
-
-Mr. Melville has given us here an acknowledged romance, and those who
-doubted the veracity of “Typee” and “Omoo,” may now have an opportunity
-of noticing the difference between Mr. Melville recording what he has
-observed, and Mr. Melville recording what he has imagined. It appears to
-us that the two processes in the author’s mind have little in common,
-and the best evidence of the truthfulness of his former books is the
-decidedly romantic character of much of the present.
-
-“Mardi” is altogether the most striking work which Mr. Melville has
-produced, exhibiting a range of learning, a fluency of fancy, and an
-originality of thought and diction, of which “Typee,” with all its
-distinctness and luxuriance of description, gave little evidence. At the
-same time it has defects indicating that the author has not yet reached
-the limits of his capacity, and that we may hope from him works better
-even than the present. “Mardi” is of the composite order of mental
-architecture, and the various rich materials which constitute it are not
-sufficiently harmonized to produce unity of effect. It has chapters of
-description, sketches of character, flashes of fanciful exaggeration,
-and capital audacities of satire, which are inimitable, but confusion,
-rather than fusion, characterizes the book as a whole. Of the two
-volumes the first is by far the best, but both contain abundant evidence
-of the richness, strength and independence of the author’s mind, and are
-full of those magical touches which indicate original genius.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Nineveh and Its Remains. With an Account of a Visit to the
- Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan and the Yezidas, or
- Devil-Worshipers; and an Inquiry into the Manners and Arts of
- the Ancient Assyrians. By Austen Henry Layard, Esq., D.C.L. New
- York: Geo. P. Putnam. 2 vols. 8vo._
-
-Private letters from England confirm the reports in the public journals
-of the great sensation which this work has excited in Great Britain. It
-divides with Macaulay’s brilliant history the attention of the reading
-public. The American publisher, with commendable enterprise, has issued
-it in a style of great elegance, and has given all the illustrative
-engravings which decorate the English edition. The work, when we
-consider the expense of its mechanical execution, is placed at a very
-low price.
-
-These volumes belong to a class of books which may be called the geology
-of history—the exhibition of a nation’s history and social life through
-its monuments. The greatest work of this kind in English is doubtless
-Wilkinson’s on the Ancient Egyptians, and the production of Mr. Layard
-is next in rank. It introduces us to the Assyrians through a process
-which enables us to comprehend their material and mental life—to see
-them as they ate, dressed, warred, thought and prayed. Their fine and
-useful arts, their costume, their amusements, their military system,
-their private life, their religion, are all brought directly before the
-eye and mind of the reader, and he is enabled to discern that peculiar
-combination of the elements of human nature which constituted the
-Assyrian mind and heart, and to reconcile the apparent anomalies in the
-national character. The picture is one of engrossing interest, and
-cannot fail to enlarge every mind which contemplates it. It is almost
-needless to say that the course Mr. Layard has pursued is the only
-possible mode by which authentic information can be obtained of an
-extinct people, who left no historical records, and who were almost
-forgotten before history began. The illustrations given in the work of
-the truth of many passages in the Old Testament, are not the least
-interesting and remarkable portions of a most interesting and striking
-book.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Gold Mines of the Gila. A Sequel to Old Hicks the Guide. By
- Charles W. Webber. New York: Dewitt & Davenport. 2 vols. 12mo._
-
-This work possesses a double interest; first, as a most stirring and
-graphic delineation of life, character and scenery on the borders of
-Texas, and second, as indicating an almost unknown region of the
-Continent, rich in gold mines and wealth of various kinds, and tempting
-both curiosity and cupidity to its exploration. Mr. Webber proposes to
-head an expedition of some sixty men, to be called the “Centralia
-Exploring Expedition to California, via the valleys of the Pecos, the
-Gila, and Colorado of the West,” for the purpose of discovery and
-profit; and in the course of this delightful book of adventure, he
-spreads before his readers the evidence he possesses of the existence of
-the region into which he desires to penetrate. If his expedition succeed
-we have little doubt that it will be one of the most interesting and
-romantic since the time of Cortez; and the leader himself has qualities
-of valor, endurance and chivalric sentiment, sufficient to carry him
-through the difficulties of any enterprise, however arduous.
-
-Apart from the information relating to a new gold region, Mr. Webber’s
-volumes possess an engrossing interest as records of adventure. The
-author has a sureness and vividness of conception, and a power of
-expression, which combined make his delineations singularly fresh and
-life-like. To read this book is the next best thing to viewing the
-objects it describes. It displays a representative genius of a high
-order, and if the author would concentrate his energies, he might
-produce a novel which would give him a place in the front rank of our
-original minds.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Rural Letters and other Records of Thought at Leisure, written
- in the intervals of more hurried Literary Labor. By N. Parker
- Willis. New York: Baker & Scribner. 1 vol. 12mo._
-
-The publication of this delightful volume was well-timed, appearing as
-it did with the new grass and the first flowers; and we doubt not it
-will be the companion of many a city tourist during the summer months.
-It is, perhaps, the most fascinating of Mr. Willis’s prose works,
-evincing more than his usual graceful facility of expression and fluency
-of thought, and variegated with the cosiest fancies and most genial wit.
-The author shakes hands with nature, and though the gleam of his jeweled
-fingers sometimes suggests that he is merely a visiter to her dominions,
-his beautiful audacity of manner forces the old lady to tell him some of
-her finest secrets—secrets which she has not always confided to her
-unconventional adorers. We hardly know whether the book is more
-calculated to delight the citizen or the countryman, but certainly there
-is a sweet fusion of nature and convention in it which must win the
-hearts of both. The volume contains “Letters from Under a Bridge,”
-“Open-Air Musings in the City,” “Invalid Rambles in Germany,” “Letters
-from Watering Places,” and “A Plain Man’s Love.” It is dedicated to
-Imogene, the author’s daughter, in five of the best pages that Mr.
-Willis ever wrote. The book is elegantly printed, and cannot but reach
-that wide circulation which it so richly merits.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Philosophy of Religion. By J. Morell, A. M. New York: D.
- Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 12mo._
-
-The subject of this valuable volume is one to task the energies of the
-strongest intellect, and Mr. Morell seems to have exerted his to its
-utmost capacity in its production. Though it may not be in all cases
-sound and practical it evinces a wide knowledge of philosophical
-systems, is eminently suggestive, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit
-both of philosophy and religion. Mr. Morell is a metaphysician of the
-Scotch school, a follower of Reid and Hamilton, and from the latter
-especially he has drawn a good deal of his inspiration. Indeed, Sir
-William Hamilton’s dissertations and notes annexed to the late edition
-of Reid, are destined to have a wide if not a deep influence on
-contemporary thought. The present volume indicates how important are his
-distinctions of presentative and representative knowledge, for from
-Hamilton’s philosophy of perception a good portion of the book is drawn.
-Mr. Morell is well adapted to popularize the principles of more
-scientific and original thinkers than himself, and we hardly know of two
-works better calculated to initiate the reading public into the nature
-of the problems which vex metaphysics and metaphysical theology than his
-history of Philosophy and his present volume on the Philosophy of
-Religion.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Les Confidences. Confidential Disclosures. By Alphonse de
- Lamartine. Translated from the French, by Eugene Plunket._
-
-This curious volume is the commencement of an autobiography, in which
-Lamartine confides to the public the thoughts and events of his life.
-Like all the other productions of the accomplished author it is written
-in a charming style, and with an abundance of captivating sentiment, but
-it gives no evidence of that robustness and solidity of nature we are
-accustomed to expect in a great man after the Saxon type. The
-sentimental dogmatist and egotist is predominant throughout, and with
-all its merit it seems to us one of those books which convey
-intellectual disease into the public mind, and enfeeble while they
-please. It would not, perhaps, be just to test its excellence by its
-agreement with English or American codes of taste, or object to some of
-its disclosures as puerile and unmanly, because so stigmatized by the
-canons of a particular nation, but we think on general principles of
-human nature it cannot stand a sharp examination. There is no evidence
-of any intrinsic greatness and grandeur of mind or heart in the book,
-nothing which justifies the author in making his weaknesses and vices,
-his virtues and fine notions, the subject of a particular work, and
-cramming the public mind with himself. There is really no addition made
-to our knowledge of ethics or metaphysics, to society or psychology, by
-the exhibition here made of the interior nature of Alphonse de
-Lamartine. He “wears his heart upon his sleeve” to no other purpose than
-to gratify a ravenous vanity or to fill an empty purse—two of the
-poorest objects a man can have in view in exhibiting himself.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The American Bee-Keepers Manual. By T. B. Minor. New York: C.
- M. Saxton._
-
-Mr. Minor here presents us with a very complete practical treatise on
-the history and domestic economy of the honey-bee, embracing a full
-illustration of the whole subject, with the most approved method of
-managing this insect through every branch of its culture. The work is
-the result of many years careful notings of personal observation and
-experience, and abounds in agreeable as well as useful matter. It is a
-very readable volume, and opens a pleasant leaf of knowledge to the
-student of nature.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Spirit World, a Poem; and Scenes in the Life of Christ. By
- Joseph H. Wythes. Philadelphia, 1849._
-
-This is a very beautifully printed little volume, embracing the author’s
-first efforts—and very creditable they are. The design of the poem is,
-to unite the discoveries of astronomical science with consistent and
-Scriptural ideas of the powers, condition, and probable employment of a
-future state. We commend the volume to our readers.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- EDITOR’S TABLE.
-
-
- AN EARLY FLOWER.
-
-Last month direct reference was made by our contributors to the beauties
-of May. Poets have felt the inspiration of the season from the first,
-and all the beauties and all the odors of the month have seemed
-transfused to their verse, rich in metrical excellence, and redolent of
-the sweets it embalmed. But we have taken a range among the hills and
-valleys, and, unable to express in poetry those sentiments which the
-season inspired, we must, though a month later, appeal to humble prose,
-and make a record of what we saw and felt, with no hope of suggesting
-high thoughts to others, or of awakening that feeling which, in the
-gifted and the good, may be aroused by eloquence.
-
-The chill of April winds does not prevent the greenness of herbage which
-the fecundating power of April rains provokes. And hidden in among the
-relics of last year’s vegetation, and the nascent herbage of young
-spring, little flowers had nestled away; little, but beautiful flowers,
-decorating the narrow space between the new-born child and the dead
-parent. I plucked a few of those modest gems, almost afraid that I
-desecrated the altar of Nature, in thus taking its scanty decorations;
-but they did their office, since they awakened in me a remembrance of
-Him whose hand planted the towering oak that makes the forest majestic,
-and whose fingers scattered the seed that produced these minute
-ministers of his will, these records of his omnipotence and
-omnipresence.
-
-“All things are full of God”—it is the language of the heathen poet, it
-is the language of divine inspiration, it is the language of the heart
-touched with the truths of Nature, and connecting them with Nature’s
-Author. “Hill and dale are of thy dressing.” And as I stood in the dale,
-amid the delicate outpouring of the beauties there, and looked upward to
-the hills studded with the time-marked trees, I said to myself, “Here is
-that volume of truth that speaks of the unknown, yet not unreverenced,
-God, whose will and providence are revealed in the volume of
-inspiration.”
-
-I had, almost insensibly, got within the enclosure of a burying-ground,
-which is situated near the Frankford Road, only a few miles from the
-city, and was transferring my thoughts from the beautiful objects of
-Nature to the specimens of human ingenuity that transmit the date of
-birth and death, with the name of the mortal, from one generation to the
-other. No one, I believe, passes through a burying-ground without
-pausing to read the little story, and thinking over the events which
-marked the life of the deceased. It is good when standing thus to think
-that he who is below was of like passions with ourselves—that he had
-all the social and domestic feelings which we possess, and was
-influenced by the events of life as we are. What a world do we animate
-when we thus think of each individual—thus place him in connection with
-social, domestic, political life. How we multiply interests, augment
-joys, and increase the pangs to which human existence is liable.
-
-At the turning of one of the little avenues that “lead to the tomb,”
-making an easy path to the grave, I saw that a new head-stone had been
-erected, and it bore the name of one whom I had known in her childhood.
-She was beautiful—but more lovely in mind than person. She married
-early, and gave birth to an infant, and died—a short biography. She was
-not forgotten. The memorials testified to the yet existing memory of her
-husband—and a nurse leading a little child toward the mound signified
-that her virtues were to be kept in remembrance by the child she had
-borne.
-
-A little flower had sprung up on the very top of the grave. It had
-probably been planted in the autumn, but it was now beautiful in its
-solitude. Its colors were as rich as if the roots had struck down and
-drawn nutriment from the heart that mouldered below, and its odors were
-as rich as if they were imparted by the spirit that had gone upward. I
-know not when I have seen thus placed a more lovely flower; perhaps it
-owed a part of this estimate to its loneliness, a part to its connection
-with the beauty and purity of her over whom it expanded.
-
-The little child on leaning over the grave fell prostrate, and
-manifested no disposition to rise. After a few moments delay, I gently
-raised her in my arms, and placed her on her feet. She seemed not
-pleased at first with my interference.
-
-“It is my mamma’s grave,” said she, with much emphasis, “and she is down
-there now.”
-
-“But lying on that moist ground might expose you to take cold.”
-
-“Yet I love to throw myself there,” she said. “I must do it, for I loved
-her much.”
-
-I tried to persuade her to desist, but she stepped toward the grave with
-a view of repeating her fall. Her attendant stooped down, and said in a
-low voice,
-
-“But your dear mother would not be pleased to see you do wrong, even if
-it was in token of your love for her.”
-
-“Then I will not do it.”
-
-If there had been no good seed planted in the child’s heart, at least
-the soil had been beautifully prepared for the planting—what could have
-been better done than this reverence for the name and virtues of a
-mother, and this obedience to her supposed will? I had, I thought,
-lighted on another truly lovely spring flower.
-
-“Do you come often to visit your mother’s grave?” I asked of the little
-one. The child looked up as if the inquiry should be repeated.
-
-“We make frequent visits hither,” said the attendant. “We come almost
-daily in good weather.”
-
-“Oh, yes!” said the child, “we come every fine day to visit where mother
-lies—and I am not afraid.”
-
-“Why should you fear?” said I.
-
-The child looked confused at the question.
-
-“You will some day _meet_ your mother if you are constant in your love,
-and thus seek to do whatever your friends tell you she would have
-desired, and to avoid what she would not have approved.”
-
-“I will endeavor to do so—but—I shall not meet her—we are going to
-Europe again, and shall not return.”
-
-“To Europe—but, my child, God is everywhere.”
-
-“Yes, sir; but my mother is not.”
-
-“But, my dear child, your mother’s spirit, her soul, that which is loved
-in your mother, is, I hope, in Heaven; it is not in the grave to moulder
-into dust—the body takes that course, but the spirit returns to God who
-gave it.”
-
-“Sir,” said the attendant, “they do not teach the child such things, and
-they do not approve of them.”
-
-“Who does not?”
-
-“Her father and a cousin—they are good people, but are unbelievers in
-all such matters; and though they seldom dispute with others, they never
-admit of any instruction to their child about religion.”
-
-“But,” said I, “she must know something about it.”
-
-“Not at all, sir; she does not know what you mean by a spirit or a soul.
-How should she know—the cousin is her teacher, and she never refers to
-the subject, and forbids it to me.”
-
-“But the child has been taught something of the kind.”
-
-“Who taught her, sir?”
-
-“Perhaps God. But I will see whether she has any idea of the matter.”
-
-“Do you know, my child, what the soul is?”
-
-“No sir—do you?”
-
-I did not like to reply to her query—so I proceeded, “Your mother has
-yet an existence, and if she was good—”
-
-“Oh, my mother was very good—always good.”
-
-“Then the spirit which animated her body is in the enjoyment of all the
-good belonging to its present state, which the body could enjoy on
-earth—it is happy.” I was ashamed of the explanation.
-
-“Would it be like her, if I could see it?”
-
-“Probably exactly like her.”
-
-“And could I see or know of her real existence in that state?”
-
-“Yes, though not usual. All is possible with God.”
-
-“Then I understand you. I have seen her often—often at night; and I
-have started as if I had been asleep. But at night I see my mother just
-as she looked when I saw her before her death, only there seemed to be
-light around her head, and she moved easily and rapidly. Oh, how night
-after night I have been with her, toiling on to overtake her steps, or
-carried rapidly forward; sometimes she seems to give me
-instruction—sometimes I rise in the morning and think I will pray to
-her, or I will pray God to give her to me again; and I have made known
-my feelings to cousin, and she has laughed at me or chid me for being so
-babyish as to be thoughtful about dreams. But I see now that this was
-truly my mother, and I will watch to-night, and when she comes again, I
-will ask her about her soul—have we all souls?”
-
-I think, _now_, that I could have placed the child in a position to
-comprehend these things a little better; but _then_ I was confused with
-the extraordinary state of the child’s mind.
-
-“Did God teach her that?” said the attendant.
-
-“Did he not teach her that?” I turned away as I saw some one coming down
-the walk.
-
-Did God teach that child? Was it the yet unfaded visions from which her
-soul was drawn, ere it became a tenant of the clayey tabernacle that was
-overshadowing her mind; the recollections of heaven illuminating its
-little earthly experience, growing dimmer and dimmer with time—was that
-the mother in the child, or was there, indeed, an appeal to its mind
-through its affections? Had she, shut out from all instructors during
-the day, denied all the knowledge which is the true foundation of a
-Christian’s life—denied it by father and relative—had she, in her bed,
-been met as little Samuel was met, by the voice of God, calling up the
-mind to its high destiny, and instructing it in the things that were to
-come?
-
-I could not solve this enigma. But how innocent, how attractive to the
-spirit of goodness must have been the mind of that little girl; and it
-would not be strange, at least it would seem most meet, that her
-guardian spirit should find means to awaken in her a sense of her
-importance, and to invite her to goodness by her love for a departed
-mother. I turned round before I left the ground, and saw the little
-child standing beside the grave. She looked down steadily upon the
-uplifted earth, and then turned her face upward, and seemed to gaze with
-intense interest into the blue sky above. I would have given much to
-know the thoughts that had occupied her mind, to have seen how love for
-the perishing object below, how reverence for the purified spirit above
-were alternating in her mind. I am sure that her thoughts had in them
-more of maturity and truth relative to those objects of her
-contemplation, than they had of the things of this life.
-
-I passed onward to the road, full of the idea of the child, who could
-not be deprived of knowledge. I had found an early flower—the chill of
-winter, its snows and its frosts, had forbidden its development—but a
-gentle ray from the sun of truth had called it forth; it was blossoming
-for man, delightful now, to be transplanted to its native heaven
-hereafter.
-
- C.
-
- * * * * *
-
-THE SEWING GIRL.—The inequality of social life and domestic comfort in
-large cities, is, we presume, inseparable from a state of society as at
-present organized, and the bold reformer, even while he is preaching, is
-illustrating its incapacity for sudden change. So long as capital
-possesses supreme power, and the inherent quality of reproduction, there
-must be dependents and laborers. We cannot all ride in carriages, or
-there would be none to build them, and the present stock, we think,
-would in time grow ricketty upon the hands of the most adroit leveler.
-And if we descended into a race of pedestrians, we fear that we should
-in time, even if we divided the last dollar with a needy brother, be
-looked upon as soulless and decidedly shabby. We do not know that
-Fourier, even in his maddest dreams of social reformation and equality,
-ever seriously contemplated an era when boots should grow upon trees,
-without the aid of human hands, and coats come down like snow-flakes to
-cover our nakedness. We think not. And even if he had, there are certain
-disagreeable anticipations—aside from want of modesty—in wandering
-about on a wintry day, hunting for garments—to say nothing of having
-our beef killed and cooked to stay our appetites the while.
-
-We suppose then we must have sewing girls—but we see no necessity of
-forgetting that they are girls—and neither horses nor mules—that they
-are human beings—noble women, with as warm hearts, and as good blood as
-ourselves, feeling the same yearnings after sympathy, the same keenness
-of suffering under insult, neglect or wrong. There is no necessary
-humiliation in labor. It is in itself of the highest dignity and of the
-loftiest nobility of extraction. She who, by assiduous industry, makes
-her little home happy, clothes her infant brothers, and administers to
-the wants of an aged and decrepit parent, has clothed herself in the
-holiest of garments, and though their texture may not be of the finest,
-she may stand up proudly beside the purple of a queen, and if she sees
-but the trembling of scorn upon the royal lip, may say, “_Stand off! I
-am nobler than thou!_” The treatment, however, which some of them
-receive from very fashionable and very silly young ladies, who have been
-badly educated by ignorant and vulgar mothers, is humiliating to witness
-occasionally, and must be very hard to bear continually.
-
- “Hark! that rustle of a dress,
- Stiff with lavish costliness;
- Here comes one whose cheek would flush
- But to have her garment brush
- ’Gainst the girl whose fingers thin
- Wove the weary broidery in,
- And in midnight’s still and murk
- Stitched her _life_ into the work,
- Bending backward from her toil,
- Lest her tears the silk might soil,
- Shaping from her bitter thought
- Heart’s-ease and forget-me-not.
- Satirizing her despair
- With the emblem woven there.”
-
-And yet the fashionable young lady may number among her accomplishments
-a smattering of French, or a villainous enunciation of Italian; may
-thrash the piano, with all discordancy, and nurse her poodle dog with
-infinite grace, and call it very fatiguing, and be obliged to take a nap
-after dinner, for fear her strength may fail her in the evening, in the
-waltz with Mr. Alfred Fitzhuggens, who labors under the accomplishments
-of an imperial and a dandy cane; while the young sewing girl may be
-devoting diligently sixteen hours out of the weary twenty-four, in
-earning the most indifferent food for a family of dependents.
-
-We wonder if these young ladies while thumbing their gilt prayer-books
-on Sunday, and lisping over the prayer, “From all blindness of heart,
-from pride, vain glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice,
-and all uncharitableness, _Good Lord, deliver us_,” ever think of the
-meaning and solemn import of the words they are using. We doubt it. Or
-in the more direct adjuration, “That it may please thee to strengthen
-those who stand, _and comfort and help the weak hearted_,” they ever
-think how little their heartlessness to dependents justifies them in
-putting up the prayer. Or still further, do they ever think of the
-obligations of that sublime command, in which Christianity sparkles like
-a divine light, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
-them.” We fear that at many a table where grace is said, the hearts who
-hear it are utterly graceless in this regard, and that many who are very
-rigid in paying the formalities of prayer to God, forget the divine
-injunction, “feed my lambs,” and would rather add an additional hour to
-the day of toil, and a shilling less to the pay of the toil-worn sewing
-girl, than to lighten her burdens by a cheerful word or token of
-encouragement.
-
-Not that we wish for a moment to be supposed as intimating that this
-lack of enlarged charity is wanting in well trained hypocrites only—who
-do not dishonor religion, but by daily acts prove its truth and beauty,
-by showing that they are none of Christ’s. The haughty assumption and
-vulgar domineering is far worse where _all_ restraint is thrown off, and
-worldliness unmitigated and shameless, in scarlet and effrontery, rides
-purse proud over the decencies as well as the charities of life, and
-makes dependency a worse slavery than that of the poor Indian in the
-mines.
-
-The character of a lady is in no way more surely tested than in
-treatment of her domestics—and, _generally_, in the frequency with
-which she changes them. Depend upon it—the house in which _nobody_ can
-be happy, must be a miniature of existence in a darker world.
-
- G. R. G.
-
- * * * * *
-
-CAPE MAY SEASON.—As the warm weather steals upon us, our friends begin
-to talk of “the Capes,” and to look up straw hats and bathing-dresses.
-Cape May has in its very sound a charm pleasingly familiar to almost
-every Philadelphia ear. Here visits the merchant in the summer months,
-for relaxation from the counting-room—the clerk for his holydays—the
-man of pleasure for enjoyment—the idle for luxurious indolence. It is
-Philadelphia in miniature, and full of life—lively, chatty, gossipy,
-and hilarious—disposed to enjoyment, and determined to have it. A
-family reunion at holyday times.
-
-The old gentleman has a reputation abroad for great simplicity of
-manner—wearing his coat of the very purest material, and of the very
-plainest cut—and a hat of undeniable beaver, of great amplitude of
-brim; a sturdy old chap, with a benevolent face, who gives his simple
-and emphatic “No!” to the allurements and pressing solicitations of
-folly. The younger shoots have departed greatly from the plainness of
-the primitive tree, and flourish in the luxuriousness of magnolia and
-orange blossoms, and show a strong tendency to burst out in all the
-beauty and splendor of hot-house “japonicadom.” Yet under the eye of the
-old gentleman, in these holyday times, the youngsters seem to scorn the
-borrowed aid of laces, satins and jewelry, and give tight boots,
-dandy-coats, and perfumery the go-by; for it is whispered, that he shuts
-his money-box rather tightly to such of his heirs as run after worldly
-vanities; so that here you may see them in blouses and straw-hats, in
-dressing-gown and slippers, perfectly unrestrained with tight lacing,
-luxuriously happy, and indescribably gay. They go about with an honest,
-hearty, unrestrained laugh—snapping their fingers at care, and
-perfectly unconcerned at the imputation of having let down their
-dignity. The family improves evidently under this relaxation from
-brocades and stiff ceremonies. They have a more hearty expression of
-face, a more thoroughly robust and vigorous frame, and though the cheek
-may be a little browner, the eye is brighter, and the heart happier.
-
-The regular visiter at these times is a black-eyed, cherry-cheeked
-cousin from Baltimore, a little given to flirting and dangerously
-fascinating, as graceful as a young fawn, and as frolicksome as a
-kitten. She always appears to have come down purposely for a romp,
-having left city affectations at home, and brought her graces with her.
-Then she wont go home until she has half a dozen of her cousins—from
-the third to the sixth remove—desperately in love with her, to keep
-them in mind of Cape May.
-
-Then “Tom”—“Our Tom”—he is always there; Tom wouldn’t miss Cape May,
-in the season, for a £100—and the sly dog knows how to show off the
-attractions of his beautiful cousins. He is sure to decoy them into the
-Archery every bright morning, and has so many neat and appropriate
-remarks in regard to the health and gracefulness of the exercise—and
-the bows are so inviting, and the arrows so neat—the gold and crimson
-target so tempting that you do not wonder to see a cloud of arrows
-filling the air, and a crowd of lounging _beaux_, filled with shafts
-more dangerous. Then “Tom”—sad Tom—knows that his fair cousins are as
-fearless as beautiful, and fire off pistols with quite a soldierly
-air—that is, when Tom loads them; and the sly scamp, speaks in so low a
-tone—so softly and so kindly—when he hands the pistol with the
-hair-trigger, that you are amazed to find that there was powder in it
-when it goes off—and at the first crack “Tom” has the whole family
-there; then he is such a lover of enjoyment himself—is good, honest,
-manly Tom Barrett—that it delights him to see them. Then he has his
-Bowling Saloons in tiptop order; his Billiard-room, too; his dogs and
-guns for crack shots at woodcock, and ambitious young sportsmen after
-curlew; and then he has—In short, it wouldn’t _be_ Cape May, if Tom
-wasn’t there—and there’s an end of it. Well, well, Tom! we shall not
-try your pistols nor your archery this summer, but shall take a crack at
-Cape May, in a story, which we have in type. So let the surf come
-tumbling in with its musical roar—its wild waves wash out no memories.
-Our loves and our hates keep time in the heart which beats on proudly,
-yet bides its time hopefully. In the roar of the wilder ocean, where men
-go down battling unregretted, how many who now spread their bright sails
-to the favoring breeze, shall, ere the voyage is ended, find sail and
-cordage gone, their vessels wrecked, and the happy hearts of merry
-companions, one after the other, swept by the remorseless wave forever
-under—who shall tell, Tom! But so the side toward heaven has been
-ripened by the sunlight of kindness to man, what matters the breakers,
-Tom, to you or to me?
-
- “Dipping his feathers in the briny foam;
- Not less quick o’er the white wave Hermes rode.”
-
- G. R. G.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: WAITING AT PANAMA FOR THE STEAMER.—_The Sun going down
-on their Hopes._]
-
-
- WAITING AT PANAMA.
-
-The sad effects of an insane haste to grow rich by chasing gilded
-shadows, instead of taking the secure path of industry, are exemplified
-in the fact, that hundreds of our countrymen who have abandoned places
-of profit for the dazzling placers of speculation, and business, which
-afforded a decent competency, for wild and uncertain adventure, are now
-crowding the shore of the Pacific at Panama, with exhausted means and
-dissipated hopes. The all-absorbing desire for speedy fortune precluded
-even the common and most ordinary caution as to probabilities. At the
-first sound of the horn, the hunter was off, regardless of obstacles,
-defiant of fate, and with a recklessness unpardonable, the comforts of
-home were sacrificed, and all the dangers of a doubtful, hardy, and
-perilous enterprise were imprudently braved. The sad uncertainty of
-fortune—the more than doubts of her existence for them—has been
-cruelly thrust into their faces, and impressed upon their hearts. The
-return of that tremendous tide, which seemed to sweep wise men and
-madmen together resistlessly upon its bosom, comes freighted with the
-first fragments of hopes wrecked, and wealth, and perhaps health
-dissipated and lost. Time and opportunity here—more valuable than
-gold—are gone, and the adventurer comes back with unstrung nerves and
-faded visions of greatness, to battle again in the busy and
-uncompromising marts of trade, for bread. The illusion has
-vanished!—the cheat is transparent! “The sober second-thought” has come
-with its impressive lesson. The blanks turn out in this, as in all
-lotteries, the most numerous and certain—the prizes equally few and
-unreliable. When the voice of that vaster multitude now filling the
-streams and plains of California shall have been heard, we shall have a
-sonorous echo of the despairing wail of the impoverished and deluded at
-Panama. Mark it!
-
- * * * * *
-
-“Be sure you are right, and then go ahead” is a maxim so universally
-current in this country, that one would suppose that its practice would
-be more common. But no! in the rush of excitement, the go-ahead spirit
-takes the lead, leaving at home old father Caution to play with his
-thumbs, and to wonder at his relations. “Get out of the way!” “Take
-care!” “Clear the track!” “Off she goes!”—_whiz!_ and the young
-generation is cut from leading-strings, and half-way on the road to
-fortune before Grandfather has rubbed his eyes, and opened them to the
-true state of affairs around him—no, not _around_, before him, but
-completely out of sight. Talk of Rome not having been built in a day,
-old Graybeard! You are behind the times. Kingdoms shoot up in a night,
-and nations are born between two breakfasts. Don’t speak of the
-ingratitude of relations, old man; the thing is absurd. While you are
-hunting genealogies, the parties have belted the world, and are walking
-with their heads down directly beneath you, or are half-way to the
-Pacific on an air-line in the light that marks the horizon—skimming
-through the clouds in a flying machine. “Friendly ties.” “Home
-affection!” Poh! you are in your dotage, old fellow! We have no time to
-waste on silly abstractions! Good bye! Take care of _yourself_! Will
-write you from the other side! So we go!
-
-But are we happier for all this fiery impetuosity of disposition—this
-ginger-beer effervescence of intellect—this fussing, fretting, fuming
-wrath of haste to get on, to get off, to be going? Is _this_ the true
-enjoyment of LIFE! after all, to go whirling along in a state of high
-excitement without a moment’s pause, with a sort of insane heat and
-fierceness of intellect, restless, roaming, and parched up with the
-fever of desire for wealth—to be enslaved by the eternal, all-absorbing
-all-engulphing _I_—the monster self, grown Colossal, insatiate, and
-fiend-like. Is there nothing worth loving, that we may pause to cherish?
-No enjoyment worth a cool moment, in which the fevered lust of money may
-be forgotten? Pile up your gold, young man! Give your imagination its
-most boundless desire! Spread the base of your pyramid over an area of
-acres! Pile up!—pile high! oh, avarice and pride! Let its peak touch
-the skies! ay, higher still! And now we point you to that little cluster
-of bleached bones, whitening but a spot beside the gigantic god you
-worship, and to that young, pale face, sitting sighing by yonder
-fire-side, thousands of miles away—would the wealth that might cover
-the Cyclops, compensate _her_ for the chilled heart, the desolate days
-which are hers. Ah no! with but a crust to break with you, in a home of
-humbleness and peace, how that heart would bound with pride, those sad
-eyes sparkle with pleasure, and those pale cheeks regain their roses and
-bloom with health. And if all the wealth of India and Peru were hers,
-how poor a gift would she esteem it to clothe those bones of yours once
-again with manly beauty, and to sit once again confidingly by your side,
-her hand in yours, her eyes lifted to your dark gaze, as to the heaven
-of her dreams. Ah! but you will not die, you will take the risk. Pause
-awhile! think of it wisely! think of it well!
-
-We are not talking in the language of statesmen. Ah, no! statesmen and
-warriors estimate men in masses—marshal them in squadrons and platoons;
-they form a State—they fill a list of 10,000 killed and wounded. Ours
-is the humbler view—the domestic ties lacerated—the friendships
-dissipated—the few hearts broken. The dead of the ten thousand slain
-upon the battle-field return no more—the thrice ten thousand hearts
-that mourn, bleed on, but form no part of the estimate of war’s
-disaster. The thousands of brothers, young, impetuous, adventurous, are
-gone! they are the State’s, and of it. The sister weeps—the mother
-droops and dies, as the long years roll on, and the lost ones return no
-more; and the proud page of history swells with the triumph, the pen
-grows eloquent as it records the foundation and the growth of empire,
-and bright names live and flash along the glowing line; but the desolate
-heart, and the desolate hearth, are forgotten and unknown. These are the
-sadder views of conquest—the inevitable results of adventurous
-migration. “And yet,” cries the brawling patriot who is never _self_
-devoted, “you oppose the march of empire—the growth of nations!” By no
-means, good friend! If the thousands who are now pouring as a flood into
-California, or even a tythe of them, were whole families, with farming
-utensils, and domestic implements, seeking a far off and productive
-soil, where they might again erect their household gods, and live
-happily to a green old age, under their own vine and fig-tree, extending
-rationally and naturally the benefits of civilization, we should wish
-them God speed, and give them joy at their going. But how is it? Reader,
-we ask _you_—how is it with the adventurers, who are now rushing
-thoughtlessly, desperately from home? How few, even with the best
-success, will realize their dreams? and of those few, how many will
-really be personally benefited by the wealth thus achieved? But the vast
-army of the disappointed—what of them? With morals contaminated, hearts
-sickened, hopes crushed—how many will return useful members of society?
-How many settle quietly down as hardy tillers of the soil? We fear, oh,
-most wise politician! that this last is a work to be done by another
-class of emigrants, and by but few of the gold hunters, and desperate
-land speculators who now crowd the vessels of the Pacific. Our advice,
-deeply pondered, and calmly given, to those who have a longing for that
-far-off and fertile region, is, to sit earnestly down to business here,
-and amass a few hundreds, or a few thousands, and when the scorn of that
-boiling, seething cauldron shall have passed off—when the thousands
-which have been made—_on paper_—in land speculations and gold mining,
-shall be no more heard of—you will find a few quiet acres still
-untilled, a population improved, and a certainty of comfort and
-happiness awaiting you there. Until then, we think, you may make life
-bearable here, by diligent application to business, a devotion to your
-family, to home duties and affections, and to careful improvement of
-your mental capacity, and of such opportunities as God may furnish you
-for doing good. Think of it, reader!
-
- G. R. G.
-
- * * * * *
-
-THE FAMILY MESSENGER.—This old and sterling family newspaper, we see,
-has been brought out in a suit of new and beautiful type, and is
-otherwise improved and adorned. It has had, too, an accession of
-editorial force, and the new pen, with the aid of Mr. Seckel, its old
-editor, makes the sheet sparkle again. We predict for the old favorite a
-new lease of popular favor, and a circulation unequaled by any paper of
-its class. Various other additions, in the mechanical as well as the
-literary department, are still to be added, when the office is removed
-to the new building in Chestnut street—the movements of beauty on that
-delightful promenade, will, of course, be duly chronicled hereafter, in
-the piquant style of the editors.
-
- * * * * *
-
-A POWERFUL NOVEL.—We shall commence in the July number, a powerfully
-written story from the pen of H. W. Herbert, Esq., author of “Cromwell,”
-“Ringwood the Rover,” etc., which we pronounce the most brilliant of all
-the able novels of that accomplished and vigorous writer. It is entitled
-“JASPER ST. AUBYN; _A Story of Passion_,” and for strength and beauty of
-expression, thrilling and intense interest, and high moral and tragic
-effect, our readers will regard it as the _best story_ we have given
-them for many a day.
-
- * * * * *
-
-BIRDS BEAUTIFULLY COLORED.—We purpose to introduce into Graham’s
-Magazine, in the coming volume, a series of Wild and Cage Birds,
-exquisitely designed and colored, and our artists are already at work.
-We think that this feature of the Magazine will be highly popular with
-our readers, and as the plates will be accompanied with carefully
-prepared letter-press descriptions; they will be found useful to the
-many who cultivate a taste for these beautiful subjects. This, we have
-no doubt, will be _imitated_ as every thing has been in the Magazine
-world which has originated with us.
-
- * * * * *
-
-THE OLDEST MAGAZINE.—Our correspondent, “History,” is informed that he
-is right in his conjecture, that “Graham’s Magazine” was based upon
-“_The Casket_,” and hence is the oldest of the illustrated monthlies. It
-is our proud satisfaction that ours is the _best_, as well as the oldest
-Magazine. It does not require continued puffing, either hired or
-solicited, to make people aware of its existence.
-
- * * * * *
-
-OUR OWN ARTISTS ABROAD.—In order to keep the high position of this
-Magazine, as a work of art, fully up to the standard it has attained, we
-have sent our excellent engraver and designer, W. E. Tucker, Esq., to
-Europe to make careful drawings of such subjects as he may find upon the
-walls of the Academies, or in private collections, and to engage such
-American artists as he may find abroad, who may be useful in carrying
-out our grand design of being _the first to introduce new subjects to
-the American eye_. Our cotemporaries content themselves with
-re-engraving stale prints which may be found in the windows, or in using
-such cast-off English plates as may be offered here cheap; but the vast
-circulation and profit of this work returns to our readers in such
-liberal arrangements to keep them advised of the freshest and most
-beautiful works of art as may be found in the wide range of the world.
-
-For several years our Fashion Plates have been brought freshly from
-Paris, and their beauty of design and coloring has been the subject of
-universal praise. Now, by having _our own artists_ employed, both abroad
-and at home, we not only defy competition, but laugh at it.
-
- * * * * *
-
-THE NEW VOLUME.—With the next number we commence a new volume of
-Graham’s Magazine, which, we do not hesitate to promise our readers
-shall be one of rare excellence and beauty. Our past volume, closing
-with this number, was exhausted very early, and we have consequently
-been obliged for two months past to refuse all orders for the work from
-January last. We shall therefore furnish our subscribers with a title
-page for the coming volume in our next issue. All our arrangements for
-the next six months are perfected, and from July to December our readers
-may expect a succession of brilliant numbers in every respect. Our
-increase for the past six months has been unexampled, and with the
-steady flow of new names, coming with every mail, we look forward to
-being compelled greatly to amplify our means of producing our edition.
-Our printers now run their presses both night and day—keeping us
-frequently waiting for copies to supply the demand. Hoe certainly must
-invent a _book-press_ to run 10,000 per hour for us, and at our demise
-we shall leave him the copyright of Graham.
-
- * * * * *
-
-RIVALS.—We see a great deal about the rivals of Graham, going the
-rounds in the way of paid notices. Does the oldest inhabitant remember a
-time when such notes were not given out? We have a brood of these
-rivals, freshly fledged every spring, who die somehow of the praise of
-the penny-a-liners in literature,
-
-Snooks has an article in the “Great Monthly Thundergust,” calculated to
-make a noise.
-
-“I will write a first rate notice,” says Snooks, “and mark it for the
-benefit of country members, and if that doesn’t _settle_ Graham and
-Godey, I’ll write you an article for nothing.”
-
-“Goodness!” says the new editor—“but—but do you think it is exactly
-fair to break down their business all at once, in that way? Remember
-their interesting families, Mr. Snooks.”
-
-“Families, sir! who talks about families when we commence a Thundergust!
-Get up a breeze! Pile on the agony, sir! You are too meek, sir!—too
-tame!—chicken-hearted, sir!—too tender!—too—too—will you oblige me
-with $20 till to-morrow? _Settle_ is the word!”
-
-An awkward one it is, too—this settling with Indians, when they turn on
-you.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The fishermen of Philadelphia recently turned out in opposition to the
-firemen. They kept themselves closely concealed in covered wagons.
-_Sell-fish_ fellows!
-
- * * * * *
-
-Du Solle turned out a poor number of his new paper, “The Extra,” lately.
-“Extra?” inquires a wag—“this is extra-_ordinary_.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- I CAN’T MAKE UP MY MIND:
-
-
- THE WORDS FROM HOOD’S MAGAZINE,
-
- ADAPTED TO A MELODY
-
- BY F. OTTO,
-
- AND ARRANGED FOR THE PIANO
-
- BY CHAS. GROBE.
-
-Presented by G. Willig, No. 171 Chestnut St. Published by G. Willig Jr.
- Baltimore.
-
- [Entered according to act of Congress, by G. Willig, Jr., in the year
- 1848, at the Clerk’s Office, of the District Court of Md.]
-
-[Illustration]
-
- 1st Verse.
-
- I can’t make up my mind, mamma,
- In such unseemly haste;
- Nor pick from all my dying swains
- A husband to my taste.
- There’s gay Charles Dash, a charming man,
- Most affable and kind
- Who loves me so de-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- vo-ted-ly,
- But I can’t make up my mind.
-
- SECOND VERSE.
-
- And, next, there’s frank, young Harry West,
- So fond, so true, so clever,
- Who though I scold him all the day,
- Adores me more than ever.
- There’s Roger Snipe, the pink of beaux,
- Or else your daughter’s blind,
- And yet when Snipe grows serious, I
- I can’t make up my mind.
-
- THIRD VERSE.
-
- There’s lawyer Keen, and poet Good,
- Exemplars of their sort;
- Still, still I can’t make up my mind
- There’s no accounting for’t!
- “Yes, yes, there is,” stern truth replied;
- “Your vanity imparts
- That false delight in flatt’ring tongues,
- Which forfeits loving hearts.”
-
- FOURTH VERSE.
-
- On purpose to make up her mind,
- So long this fair one tarried,
- Her lovers, loath to hang themselves,
- Sought other maids and married!
- And, though mamma is growing old,
- Her daughter looks much older,
- E’er since her coquetry and pride
- In the Old Maids Corps enroll’d her.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained as well as some
-spellings peculiar to Graham’s. Punctuation has been corrected without
-note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. For
-illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to
-condition of the originals used for preparation of the ebook.
-
-page 339, and paralized at their ==> and paralyzed at their
-page 340, the port of frankness, ==> the part of frankness,
-page 344, hast thou give to ==> hast thou given to
-page 347, cross old fidgetty fellow ==> cross old fidgety fellow
-page 348, rare and so indiscribable. ==> rare and so indescribable.
-page 350, lend him Deidrich Knickerbocker’s ==> lend him Diedrich
- Knickerbocker’s
-page 351, will not be be dictated ==> will not be dictated
-page 353, and like a bark ==> and like a barque
-page 353, And gave embodyment ==> And gave embodiment
-page 359, labored assidiously, when ==> labored assiduously, when
-page 363, the somethat affected ==> the somewhat affected
-page 363, of faultless vesification ==> of faultless versification
-page 370, to and fro the ==> to and fro in the
-page 372, those charms to day!” ==> those charms to-day!”
-page 372, fisher’s bark still ==> fisher’s barque still
-page 374, Sickness is synonimous ==> Sickness is synonymous
-page 375, a most woful-loooking ==> a most woful-looking
-page 377, a blank envelop. ==> a blank envelope.
-page 385, is usually characterestic only ==> is usually characteristic
- only
-page 385, as they eat, dressed, ==> as they ate, dressed,
-page 388, Stiched her _life_ into ==> Stitched her _life_ into
-page 392, Jasper St. Albyn ==> Jasper St. Aubyn
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6,
-June 1849, by Various
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1849 ***
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, June
-1849, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
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-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, June 1849
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: George R. Graham
- J. R. Patterson
- J. B. Taylor
-
-Release Date: January 14, 2017 [EBook #53963]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1849 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net from
-page images generously made available by Google Books
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-</pre>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
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-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.9em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'><span class='sc'>Vol. XXXIV.</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;June, 1849. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No. 6.</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container'>
-<p class='toch'>Table of Contents</p>
-<div class='literal'>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#judg'>The Picture of Judgment; or The Grotta Del Tifoné</a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_1'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_2'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_3'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_4'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_5'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_6'></a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#thoughts'>Thoughts</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#stan'>Stanzas</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#deaf'>Deaf, Dumb and Blind</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#raff'>Raffaelle d’Urbino</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#turn'>Turn Not Away</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#fan'>Cousin Fanny</a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_7'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_8'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_9'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_10'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_11'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_12'></a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#sleep'>The Sleep of the Dead</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#greek'>From the Greek Anthologia</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#life'>The Battle of Life</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#fifty'>Fifty Suggestions</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#may'>May Lillie</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#search'>The New Search After Happiness</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#night'>Night</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#pass'>Passages of Life in Europe</a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_13'></a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#stanz'>Stanzas for Music</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#for'>For and Against</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#mystud'>My Study</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#ben'>The Birth-Place of Benjamin West</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#dreams'>Dreams of Heaven</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#drag'>The Young Dragoon</a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_14'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_15'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_16'></a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#wild'>Wild-Birds of America</a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_17'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_18'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_19'></a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#vin'>Vincente Filicaja’s Sonnet to Italy</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#rev'>Review of New Books</a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#table'>Editor’s Table</a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_20'></a></p>
-<p class='toc' style='margin-left: 2em'><a href='#h_21'></a></p>
-<p class='toc'><a href='#cant'>I Can’t Make Up My Mind</a></p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'><a href='#notes'>Transcriber’s Notes</a> can be found at the end of this eBook.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk100'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='foll'></a></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i001f.jpg'><img src='images/i001.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/></a>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'><span style='font-size:larger'><span class='bold'>LE FOLLET</span></span></p>
-<p class='line'>PARIS, Boulevart S<sup>t.</sup> Martin, 61</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Robes &amp; mantelet de M.<sup>me</sup></span> Forgue, <span class='it'>boul. Bonne Nouvelle, 17</span>;—<span class='it'>Etoffes de la</span> Chausée-l’Autin, <span class='it'>N.<sup>o</sup> 9</span>;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Dentelles de</span> Violard, <span class='it'>r. de Choiseul, 2 bis</span>;—<span class='it'>Chapeaux de M.<sup>me</sup></span> Beaudry, <span class='it'>r. Richelieu, 87</span>;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Fleurs de</span> Chagot;—<span class='it'>Ombrelles de</span> Cazal, <span class='it'>boulev.<sup>t</sup> des Italiens, 23</span>;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Mouchoir de</span> Chapron, <span class='it'>r. de la Paix, 7</span>—<span class='it'>Essences &amp; flacons de</span> Guerlain, <span class='it'>r. de la Paix, 11</span></p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk101'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i002f.jpg'><img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0002' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/></a>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>W. Drummond</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style='font-size:smaller'>Addison</span><br/> <br/><span class='bold'>THE STAR OF THE NIGHT.</span><br/> <br/>Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk102'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.9em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk103'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'><span class='sc'>Vol. XXXIV.</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PHILADELPHIA, June, 1849. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class='sc'>No. 6.</span> </p>
-
-<hr class='tbk104'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='337' id='Page_337'></span><h1 class='nobreak'><a id='judg'></a>THE PICTURE OF JUDGMENT;</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>OR THE GROTTA DEL TIFONÉ.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>A TALE OF THE ETRURIAN.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY W. GILMORE SIMMS, AUTHOR of “GUY RIVERS,” “THE YEMASSEE,” “RICHARD HURDIS,” &amp;c.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';fs:0.9em;' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Ma se conoscer la prima radice</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Del nostri, amor, tu hai cotanto affetto,</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Faro come colui che piange e dice.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='sc'>Dante.</span></p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_1'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>Introductory. The Sepulchres of Etruria.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The “Grotta del Tifoné”—an Etruscan tomb
-opened by the Chevalier Manzi, in 1833—discovered
-some peculiarities at the time of its opening, which
-greatly mystified the cognoscenti of Italy. It was
-found, by certain Roman inscriptions upon two of
-the sarcophagi, that the inmates belonged to another
-people, and that the vaults of the noble Tarquinian
-family of Pomponius, had, for some unaccountable
-reasons, been opened for the admission of the stranger.
-No place was so sacred among the Etruscans as that
-of burial; and the tombs of the Lucumones of Tarquinia,
-were held particularly sacred to the immediate
-connections of the chief. Here he lay in state,
-and the scions and shoots of his blood and bosom
-were grouped around him, being literally, as the old
-Hebrew phraseology hath it, “gathered to their
-fathers.” It was not often, and then only under
-peculiar circumstances, which rendered the exception
-to the rule proper, that the leaves of stone which
-closed the mausoleum were rolled aside for the admission
-of foreigners. The “Grotta del Tifoné,” so
-called from the Etruscan Typhon, or Angel of Death,
-which appears conspicuously painted upon the
-square central pillar, was the last resting-place of the
-distinguished family of Pomponius. It is a chamber
-eighteen paces long, and sixteen broad, and is hewn
-out in the solid rock. The sarcophagi were numerous
-when first discovered. The ledges were
-full—every place was occupied, and a further excavation
-had been made for the reception of other
-tenants. These tombs were all carefully examined
-by the explorers with that intense feeling of curiosity
-which such a discovery was calculated to inspire.
-The apartment was in good preservation; the paintings
-bright and distinct, though fully twenty-two
-centuries must have elapsed since the colors were
-first spread by the hands of the artist. And there
-were the inscriptions, just declaring enough to
-heighten and to deepen curiosity. A name, a fragment—and
-that in Latin. That a Roman should
-sleep in a tomb of the Etruscan, was itself a matter
-of some surprise; but that this strangeness should
-be still further distinguished by an inscription, an
-epitaph, in the language of the detested nation—as if
-the affront were to be rendered more offensive and
-more imposing—was calculated still further to provoke
-astonishment! Why should the hateful and
-always hostile Roman find repose among the patriarchs
-of Tarquinia?—the rude, obscure barbarian,
-in the mausoleum of a refined and ancient family?
-Why, upon an Etruscan tomb, should there be other
-than an Etruscan inscription? One of the strangers
-was a woman! Who was she, and for what was
-she thus distinguished? By what fatality came she
-to find repose among the awful manes of a people,
-between whom and her own, the hatred was so
-deep and inextinguishable—ending not even with the
-entire overthrow of the superior race? The sarcophagus
-of the other stranger was without an inscription.
-But he, too, was a Roman! His effigy, betraying
-all the characteristics of his people, lay at length
-above his tomb; a noble youth, with features of exquisite
-delicacy and beauty, yet distinguished by that
-falcon visage, which so well marked the imposing
-features of the great masters of the ancient world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The wonder and delight of our visiters were hardly
-lessened, while their curiosity was stimulated to a
-still higher degree of intensity, as their researches
-led them to another discovery which followed the
-<span class='pageno' title='338' id='Page_338'></span>
-further examination of the “Grotta.” On the right
-of the entrance they happened upon one of these exquisite
-paintings, in which the genius of the Etruscan
-proves itself to have anticipated, though it may never
-have rivaled the ultimate excellence of the Greek.
-The piece describes a frequent subject of art—a procession
-of souls to judgment, under the charge of
-good and evil genii. The group is numerous. The
-grace, freedom, and expression of the several figures
-is beyond description fine; and, with two exceptions,
-the effect is exquisitely grateful to the spectator, as
-the progress seems to be one to eternal delights.
-Two of the souls, however, are not freed, but convict;
-not escaping, but doomed; not looking hope and
-bliss, but despair and utter misery. One of these is
-clearly the noble youth whose effigy, without inscription,
-appears upon the tomb. He is one of the
-Roman intruders. Behind him, following close, is
-the evil genius of the Etruscan—represented as a
-colossal negro—brutal in all his features, exulting
-fiendishly, in his expression of countenance, and with
-his claws firmly grasped in the shoulders of his
-victim. His brow is twined with serpents in the
-manner of a fillet, and his left hand carries the huge
-mallet with which the demon was expected to crush,
-or bruise and mangle, the prey which was assigned
-him. The other unhappy soul, in similar keeping,
-is that of a young woman, whose features declare
-her to be one of the loveliest of her sex. She is tall
-and majestic; her carriage haughty even in her wo,
-and her face equally distinguished by the highest
-physical beauty, elevated by a majesty and air of
-sway, which denoted a person accustomed to the habitual
-exercise of her own will. But, through all her
-beauty and majesty, there are the proofs of that agony
-of soul which passeth show and understanding. Two
-big drops of sorrow have fallen, and rest upon her
-cheeks, the only tokens which her large Juno-like
-eyes seem to have given of the suffering which she
-endures. They still preserve their fires undimmed
-and undaunted, and leave it rather to the brow, the
-lips, and the general features of the face to declare
-the keen, unutterable wo that swells within her soul,
-triumphant equally over pride and beauty. Nothing
-can exceed in force the touching expression of her
-agony unutterable, unless in the sympathizing imagination
-of him who seeks for the sources of the
-painter’s pencil into the very bosom of the artist.
-Immediately behind this beautiful and suffering creature
-is seen, close following, as in the case of the
-Roman youth already described, the gloomy and
-brutal demon—the devil of Etruscan superstition—a
-negro somewhat less dark and deformed than the
-other, and seemingly of the other sex, with looks
-less terrible and offensive, but whose office is not
-less certain, and whose features are not less full of
-exultation and triumph. She does not actually grasp
-the shoulders of the victim, but she has her nevertheless
-beneath her clutches, and the serpent of her
-fillet, with extended head, seems momently ready to
-dart its venomous fangs into the white bosom that
-shrinks yet swells beneath its eye.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Long, indeed, did this terrible picture fix and fascinate
-the eyes of the spectators; and when at length
-they turned away, it was only to look back and to
-meditate upon the mysterious and significant scene
-which it described. In proceeding further, however,
-in their search through the “Grotta,” they happened
-upon another discovery. They were already aware
-that the features of this beautiful woman were Roman
-in their type. Indeed, there was no mistaking the
-inexpressible majesty of that countenance, which
-could belong to no other people. It was not to be
-confounded with the Etruscan, which, it must be remembered,
-was rather Grecian or Phœnician in its
-character, and indicated grace and beauty rather than
-strength, subtlety and skill, rather than majesty and
-command. But, that there might be no doubt of the
-origin of this lovely woman, examining more closely
-the effigy upon the sarcophagus first discovered—having
-removed the soil from the features, and
-brought a strong light to bear upon them—they were
-found to be those exactly of the victim thus terribly
-distinguished in the painting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here, then, was a coincidence involving a very
-curious mystery. About the facts there could be no
-mistake. Two strangers, of remarkable feature, find
-their burial, against all usage, in the tumulus of an
-ancient Etruscan family. Both are young, of different
-sexes, and both are Roman. Their features
-are carved above their dust, in immortal marble—we
-may almost call it so, which, after two thousand
-years, still preserves its trust—and, in an awful procession
-of souls to judgment, delineated by a hand of
-rare excellence, and with rare precision, we find the
-same persons, drawn to the life, and in the custody,
-as doomed victims, of the terrible fiend of Etruscan
-mythology. To this condition some terrible tale was
-evidently attached. Both of these pictures were portraits.
-For that matter, all were portraits in the
-numerous collection. With those two exceptions,
-the rest were of the same family, and their several
-fates, according to the resolve of the painter, were
-all felicitous. They walked erect, triumphant in
-hope and consciousness, elastic in their tread, and
-joyous in their features. Not so these two: the outcasts
-of the group—<span class='it'>with</span> but not <span class='it'>of</span> them—painfully
-contrasted by the artist—terribly so by the doom of
-the awful providence whose decree he had ventured
-thus freely to declare. The features of the man had
-the expression of one whom a just self-esteem moves
-to submit in dignity, and without complaint. The
-face of the woman, on the contrary, is full of anguish,
-though still distinguished by a degree of loftiness and
-character to which his offers no pretension. There
-were the portraits, and there the effigies, and beneath
-them, in their stone coffins, lay the fragments of their
-mouldering bones—the relic of two thousand years.
-What a scene had the artist chosen to transmit to
-posterity—from real life—and with what motive?
-By what terrible sense of justice, or by what strange
-obliquity of judgment and feeling, did the great Lucumo
-of the Pomponii, suffer the members of his
-family to be thus offensively perpetuated to all time,
-in the place of family sepulture? Could it have been
-the inspiration of revenge and hatred, by which this
-<span class='pageno' title='339' id='Page_339'></span>
-vivid and terrible representation was wrought; and
-what was the melancholy history of these two
-strangers—so young, so beautiful—thus doomed to
-the inexpiable torments of the endless future, by the
-bold anticipatory awards of a successor, or a contemporary?
-To these questions our explorers of
-the “Grotta del Tifoné” did not immediately find an
-answer. That they have done so since, the reader
-will ascribe to the keen anxiety with which they
-have groped through ancient chronicles in search of
-an event which, thus wondrously preserved by art
-for a period of more than twenty centuries, could not,
-as they well conjectured, be wholly obliterated from
-all other mortal records.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_2'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>The Etrurian Captive at Rome.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The time had passed when Etruria gave laws to
-the rest of Italy. Lars Porsenna was already in his
-grave, and his memory, rather than his genius and
-spirit, satisfied the Etruscan. The progeny of the She
-Wolf<a id='r1'/><a href='#f1' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[1]</span></sup></a> had risen into wondrous strength and power,
-and so far from shrinking within their walls at the approach
-of the vulture of Volterræ, they had succeeded
-in clipping her wings, and shortening, if not wholly
-arresting her flight. The city of the Seven Hills, looking
-with triumph from her eminences, began to claim
-all within her scope of vision as her own, and <a id='para'></a>paralyzed
-at their audacity, their success, and their wonderful
-genius for all the arts of war, the neighboring
-cities began to tremble at the assertion of her claims.
-But the braver and less prudent spirits of young
-Etruria revolted at this assumption, and new wars
-followed, which were too fierce and bloody to continue
-long. It needs not that we should describe the
-varying fortunes of the parties. Enough for our purposes
-that, after one well-fought field, in which the
-Romans triumphed, they bore away, as a prisoner,
-with many others, Cœlius, the youthful Lucumo of
-the Pomponian family. This young man, not yet
-nineteen, was destined by nature rather for an artist,
-than a soldier. He possessed, in remarkable degree,
-that talent for painting and statuary, which was
-largely the possession of the Etrurians; and, though
-belonging to one of the noblest families in his native
-city, he did not think it dishonorable to exercise his
-talent with industry and devotion. In the invasion
-of his country by the fierce barbarians of Rome, he
-had thrown aside the pencil for the sword, in the use
-of which latter weapon he had shown himself not a
-whit less skillful and excellent, because of his preference
-for a less dangerous implement. His captivity
-was irksome, rather than painful and oppressive.
-He was treated with indulgence by his captors,
-and quartered for a season in the family of the
-fierce chief by whose superior prowess he had been
-overthrown. Here, if denied his freedom, and the
-use of the sword, he was not denied a resumption of
-those more agreeable exercises of art to which he
-had devoted himself before his captivity. He consoled
-himself in this condition by his favorite studies.
-He framed the vase into grace and beauty,
-adorned its sides with groups from poetry and history,
-and by his labors delighted the uninitiated eyes
-of all around him. The fierce warrior in whose custody
-he was looked on with a grim sort of satisfaction
-at the development of arts, for which his appreciative
-faculties were small; and it somewhat lessened
-our young Etruscan in his esteem, that he
-should take pleasure in such employments. At all
-events, the effects, however disparaging, were so
-far favorable that they tended to the increase of his
-indulgencies. His restraints were fewer, the old
-Roman not apprehending much danger of escape, or
-much of enterprise, from one whose tastes were so
-feminine; and the more gentle regards of the family,
-in which he was a guest perforce, contributed still
-more to sweeten and soften the asperities of captivity.
-As a Lucumo of the first rank in Etruria, he
-also claimed peculiar indulgences from a people,
-who, conscious of their own inferior origin, were
-not by any means insensible to the merits of aristocracy.
-Our captive was accordingly treated with a
-deference which was as grateful to his condition as
-it was the proper tribute to his rank. The wife of
-the chief whose captive he was, herself a noble
-matron of Rome, was as little insensible to the rank
-of the Etrurian, as she was to the equal modesty and
-manliness of his deportment. Nor was she alone
-thus made aware of his claims and virtues. She
-had a son and daughter, the latter named Aurelia, a
-creature of the most imposing beauty, of a lofty
-spirit and carriage, and of a high and generous ambition.
-The brother, Lucius, was younger than herself;
-a lad of fifteen, but he, like his sister, became
-rapidly and warmly impressed with the grace of
-manner and goodness of heart which distinguished
-the young Etrurian. They both learned to love him;
-the youth, probably, with quite as unreckoning a
-warmth as his sister. Nor was the heart of Cœlius
-long untouched. He soon perceived the exquisite
-beauties of the Roman damsel, and, by the usual unfailing
-symptoms, revealed the truth as well to the
-family of the maiden as to herself. The mother discovered
-the secret with delight, was soon aware of
-the condition of her daughter’s heart; and the relations
-of the several parties being thus understood, it
-was not long before they came to an explanation,
-which ended to their mutual satisfaction. Cœlius
-was soon released from his captivity, and, to the
-astonishment of all his family, returned home, bearing
-with him the beautiful creature by whom his
-affections had been so suddenly enslaved.</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_1'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 3em;'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div id='f1'><a href='#r1'>[1]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Rome.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_3'>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>The Brother and the Wife.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His return to Tarquinia was hailed with delight by
-every member of his family but one. This was a
-younger brother, whose position had been greatly
-improved by the absence and supposed death of
-Cœlius. He cursed in the bitterness of his heart the
-fate which had thus restored, as from the grave, the
-shadow which had darkened his own prospects; and
-<span class='pageno' title='340' id='Page_340'></span>
-though he concealed his mortification under the guise
-of a joy as lively as that of any other member of the
-household, he was torn with secret hate and the most
-fiendish jealousy. At first, however, as these feelings
-were quite aimless, he strove naturally to subdue
-them. There was no profitable object in their indulgence,
-and he was one of those, cunning beyond
-his years, who entertain no moods, and commit no
-crime, unless with the distinct hope of acquisition.
-It required but a little time, however, to ripen other
-feelings in his soul, by which the former were rather
-strengthened than diminished, and by which all his
-first, and, perhaps, feeble efforts to subdue them were
-rendered fruitless. In the first bitter mood in which
-he beheld the return of his brother, the deep disappointment
-which he felt, with the necessity of concealing
-his chagrin from every eye, prevented him
-from bestowing that attention upon the wife of
-Cœlius which her beauty, had his thoughts been free,
-must inevitably have commanded. With his return
-to composure, however, he soon made the discovery
-of her charms, and learned to love them with a passion
-scarcely less warm than that which was felt by
-her husband. Hence followed a double motive for
-hating the latter, and denouncing his better fortune.
-Aruns—the name of the younger brother—was, like
-Cœlius, a man of great talent and ingenuity; but his
-talent, informed rather by his passions than by his
-tastes, was addressed to much humbler objects.
-While the one was creative and gentle in his character,
-the other was violent and destructive; while the
-one worshiped beauty for its own sake, the other regarded
-it only as subserving selfish purposes. Cœlius
-was frank and generous in his temper, Aruns reserved,
-suspicious and contracted. The one had no
-disguises, the other dwelt within them, even as a
-spider girdled by his web, and lying secret in the
-crevice at its bottom. Hitherto, his cunning had
-been chiefly exercised in concealing itself, in assuming
-the <a id='part'></a>part of frankness, in appearing, so far as
-he might, the thing that he was not. It was now to
-be exercised for his more certain profit, in schemes
-hostile to the peace of others. To cloak these designs,
-he betrayed more than usual joy at the restoration
-of his brother. His, indeed, seemed the most
-elated spirit of the household, and the confiding and
-unsuspecting Cœlius at once took him to his heart,
-with all the warmth and sincerity of boyhood. It
-gave him pleasure to perceive that Aurelia, his wife,
-received him as a brother, and regarded with delight
-the appearance of affection that subsisted between
-them. The three soon became more and more united
-in their sympathies and objects, and the devotion of
-Aruns to the Roman wife of Cœlius was productive
-of a gratification to the latter, which he did not endeavor
-to conceal. It was grateful to him that his
-brother did not leave his wife to that solitude in her
-foreign home, which might sometimes have followed
-his own too intense devotion to the arts which he
-so passionately loved; and, without a fear that his
-faith might be misplaced, he left to Aruns the duty
-which no husband might prudently devolve upon any
-man, of ministering to those tastes and affections, the
-most delicate and sacred, which make of every
-family circle a temple in which the father, and the
-husband, and the master, should alone be the officiating
-priest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Some time had passed in this manner, and at length
-it struck our Lucumo that there was less cordiality
-between his brother and his wife than had pleased
-him so much at first. Aurelia now no longer spoke
-of Aruns—his name never escaped her lips, unless
-when she was unavoidably forced to speak it in
-reply. His approaches to her were marked by a
-timidity not usual with him, and by a <span class='it'>hauteur</span> in her
-countenance which was shown to no other person.
-It was a proof of the superior love of Cœlius to his
-wife that he reproached her for this seeming dislike.
-She baffled his inquiry, met his reproaches with renewed
-shows of tenderness, and the fond, confiding
-husband resumed his labors on the beautiful, with
-perhaps too little regard to what was going on
-around him. Meanwhile, the expression in the face
-of Aurelia had been gradually deepening into gravity.
-Care was clouding her brow, and an air of anxiety
-manifested itself upon her cheek—a look of apprehension—as
-if some danger were impending—some
-great fear threatening in her heart. This continued
-for some time, when she became conscious that the
-eye of her husband began to be fixed inquiringly
-upon her, and with the look of one dissatisfied, if not
-doubtful—disturbed if not suspicious—and with certain
-sensibilities rendered acute and watchful, which
-had been equally confiding and affectionate before.
-These signs increased her disquiet, and deepened her
-anxiety. But she was silent. The glances of her
-husband were full of appeal, but she gave them no
-response. She could but retire from his presence,
-and sigh to herself in solitude. There was evidently
-a mystery in this conduct, and the daily increasing
-anxieties of the husband betrayed his doubts that it
-might prove a humiliating one at the solution. But
-he, too, was silent. His pride forbade that he should
-declare himself, when he could only speak of vague
-surmises, and perhaps degrading suspicions. He was
-silent, but not at ease. His pleasant labors of the
-studio were abandoned. Was it for relief from his
-own thoughts that he was now so frequently in company
-with Aruns, or did he hope to obtain from the
-latter, any clue to the mystery which disturbed his
-household? It was not in the art of Aurelia so to
-mould the expression of her countenance, as to hide
-from others the anxiety which she felt in the increasing
-and secret communion of the brothers. She
-watched their departure with dread, and witnessed
-their return together with agitation. She saw, or
-fancied she saw, in the looks of the younger a malignant
-exultation, which even his habitual cunning
-did not suffer him entirely to conceal.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_4'>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>The Secret Picture.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length the cloud seemed to clear away from the
-brow of her husband. He once more resumed his
-labors, and with an eagerness and an avidity which
-<span class='pageno' title='341' id='Page_341'></span>
-he had not betrayed before. His passion now
-amounted to intensity. He gave himself no respite
-from his labors. Late and early he was at his task—morning
-and night—without intermission, and
-with the enthusiasm of one who rejoices in the completion
-of a favorite and long-cherished study. Aurelia
-was not unhappy at this second change; to go
-back to his old engagements and tastes seemed to her
-to indicate a return to his former equanimity and
-waveless happiness. It was with some surprise,
-however, and not a little concern, that she was not
-now permitted to watch his progress. He wrought in
-secret—his studio was closed against her, as, indeed,
-it was against all persons. Hitherto it had not been
-so in her instance. She pleasantly reproached him
-for this seclusion, but he answered her—“fear not,
-you shall see all when it is done.” There was something
-in this reply to disquiet her, but she was in a
-state of mind easily to be disquieted. She was conscious
-also of a secret withheld from her husband—and
-her reproaches sunk back upon her heart, unuttered,
-from her lips. She could not, because of what
-she felt, declare to him what she thought; and she
-beheld his progress, from day to day, with an apprehension
-that increased momently, and made her appearance,
-in one respect, not unlike his own. She
-was now aware that he was the victim of a strange
-excitement, in which his present artist labors had a
-considerable share. He seemed to hurry to their
-prosecution with an eager impatience that looked
-like frenzy—and to return from his daily task with a
-frame exhausted, but with an eye that seemed to
-burn with the subtlest fires. His words were few,
-but there was a strange intelligence in his looks. His
-cheeks had grown very pale, his frame was thinned,
-his voice hollow, in the prosecution of these secret
-labors; and yet there was a something of exultation
-in his glance, which fully declared that, however
-exhausting to his frame might be the task he was
-pursuing, its results were yet looked to with a wild
-and eager satisfaction. At length the work was
-done. One day he stood before her in an attitude of
-utter exhaustion. “It is finished!” he exclaimed.
-“You shall see it to-morrow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is it?” she asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nay, to-morrow! to-morrow!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He then retired to sleep, and rested several hours.
-She looked on him while he slept. He had never
-rested so profoundly since he had begun the labor
-from which he was now freed. The slumber of an
-infant had never been less disturbed, never been
-softer, sweeter, or purer. The beauty of Cœlius
-was that of the most peaceful purity. She bent over
-him as he slept, and kissed his forehead with looks
-of the truest devotion, while two big tears gathered
-in her large eyes, and slowly felt their way along
-her cheeks. She turned away lest the warm drops
-falling upon his face might awake him. She turned
-away, and in her own apartment gave free vent to
-the feelings which his pure and placid slumbers
-seemed rather to subdue than encourage. Why,
-with such a husband—her first love—and with so
-many motives to happiness, was she not happy?
-Alas! who shall declare for the secret yearnings of
-the heart, and say, as idly as Canute to the sea,
-“thus far shalt thou go, and no farther—here shall
-thy proud waves be stayed.” Aurelia was a creature
-of fears and anxieties, and many a secret and sad
-presentiment. She was very far from happy—ill at
-ease—and—but why anticipate? We shall soon
-enough arrive at the issue of our melancholy narrative!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That night, while she slept—for grief and apprehension
-have their periods of exhaustion, which we
-misname repose—her husband rose from his couch,
-and with cautious footsteps departed from his dwelling.
-He was absent all the night, and returned only
-with the dawn. He re-entered his home with the
-same stealthy caution with which he had quitted it,
-and it might have been remarked that he dismissed
-his brother, with two other persons, at the threshold.
-They were all masked, and otherwise disguised with
-cloaks. Why this mystery? Where had they been—on
-what mission of mischief or of shame? To
-Cœlius such a necessity was new, and scarcely had
-he entered his dwelling than he cast aside his disguises
-with the air of one who loathes their uses.
-He was very pale and haggard, with a fixed but glistening
-expression of the eye, a brow of settled gloom,
-from which hope and faith, and every interest in
-life seemed utterly to be banished. A single groan
-escaped him when he stood alone, and then he raised
-himself erect, as if hitherto he had leaned upon the
-arms of others. He carried himself firmly and loftily,
-his lips compressed, his eye eagerly looking forward,
-and thus, after the interval of a few seconds, he passed
-to the chamber of his wife. And still she slept. He
-bent over her, earnestly and intently gazing upon
-those beauties which grief seemed only to sadden
-into superior sweetness. He looked upon her with
-those earnest eyes of love, the expression of which
-can never be misunderstood. Still he loved her,
-though between her heart and his a high, impassable
-barrier had been raised up by the machinations of a
-guilty spirit. Tenderness was the prevailing character
-of his glance until she spoke. Her sleep, though
-deep, was not wholly undisturbed. Fearful images
-crossed her fancy. She started and sobbed, and
-cried, “Save, O save and spare him—Flavius, my
-dear Flavius!”—and her breathing again became
-free, and her lips sunk once more into repose. But
-fearful was the change, from a saddened tenderness
-to agony and despair, which passed over the features
-of Cœlius as he listened to her cry. Suddenly, striking
-his clenched hands against his forehead, he shook
-them terribly at the sleeping woman, and rushed
-wildly out of the apartment.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_5'>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>Progress to the Sepulchre.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was noon of the same day—a warm and sunny
-noon, in which the birds and the breeze equally
-counseled pleasure and repose. The viands stood
-before our Cœlius and his wife, the choicest fruits
-of Italy, and cates which might not, in later days,
-<span class='pageno' title='342' id='Page_342'></span>
-have misbeseemed the favorite chambers of Lucullus.
-The goblet was lifted in the hands of both, and the
-heart of Aurelia felt almost as cheerful as the expression
-on her face. It was the reflection in the face of
-her husband. His brow was gloomy no longer. The
-tones of his voice were neither cold, nor angry, nor
-desponding. A change—she knew not why—had
-come over his spirit, and he smiled, nay, laughed out,
-in the very exultation of a new life. Aurelia conjectured
-nothing of this so sudden change. Enough
-that it was grateful to her soul. She was too happy
-in its influence to inquire into its cause. What heart
-that is happy does inquire? She quaffed the goblet
-at his bidding—quaffed it to the dregs—and her eye
-gleamed delighted and delightfully upon his, even as
-in the first hours of their union. She had no apprehensions—dreaded
-nothing sinister—and did not perceive
-that ever, at the close of his laughter, there
-was a convulsive quiver—a sort of hysterical sobbing,
-that he seemed to try to subdue in vain. She
-noticed not this, nor the glittering, almost spectral
-brightness of his glance, as, laughing tumultuously,
-he still kept his gaze intently fixed upon her. She
-was blind to all things but the grateful signs of his
-returning happiness and attachment. Once more
-the goblet was lifted. “To Turmes (Mercury) the
-conductor,” cried the husband. The wife drank unwittingly—for
-still her companion smiled upon her,
-and spoke joyfully, and she was as little able as
-willing to perceive that any thing occult occured in
-his expression.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have you drank?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She smiled, and laid the empty goblet before him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come, then, you shall now behold the picture.
-You will now be prepared to understand it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They rose together, but another change had overspread
-his features. The gayety had disappeared
-from his face. It was covered with a calm that
-was frightful. The eye still maintained all its eager
-intensity, but the lips were fixed in the icy mould of
-resolution. They declared a deep, inflexible purpose.
-There was a corresponding change in his manner
-and deportment. But a moment before he was all
-life, grace, gayety and great flexibility; he was now
-erect, majestic, and commanding in aspect, with a
-lordly dignity in his movement, that declared a sense
-of a high duty to be done. Aurelia was suddenly
-impressed with misgivings. The change was too
-sudden not to startle. Her doubts and apprehensions
-were not lessened when, instead of conducting her
-to the studio, where she expected to see the picture,
-he led the way through the vestibule and into the
-open court of the palace. They lingered but for a moment
-at the entrance, and she then beheld his brother
-Aruns approaching. To him she gave not a look.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All is right,” said the latter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Enter!” was the reply of Cœlius; and as the
-brother disappeared within the vestibule, the two
-moved forward through the outer gate. They passed
-through a lovely wood, shady and hidden, through
-which, subdued by intervening leaves, gleamed only
-faintly the bright, clear sun of Italy. From under
-the huge chestnuts, on either hand, the majestic gods
-of Etruria extended their guiding and endowing hands.
-Tina, or Jupiter, Aplu, or Apollo, Erkle, Turmes,
-and the rest, all conducting them along the <span class='it'>via sacre</span>,
-which led from the palaces to the tombs of every
-proud Etruscan family. They entered the solemn
-grove which was dedicated to night and silence, and
-were about to ascend the gradual slopes by which
-the tumulus was approached. Then it was that the
-misgivings of Aurelia took a more serious form. She
-felt a vague but oppressive fear. She hesitated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My Cœlius,” she exclaimed, “whither do we go.
-Is not this the passage to the house of silence?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you not know it?” he demanded quickly, and
-fixing upon her a keen inquiring glance. “Come!”
-he continued, “it is there that I have fixed the
-picture!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Alas! my Cœlius, wherefore! It is upon this
-picture that you have been so deeply engaged. It
-has made you sad—it has left us both unhappy. Let
-us not go—let me not see it!” Her agitation was
-greatly increased. He saw it, and his face put on a
-look of desperate exultation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ay, but thou must see it—thou shalt look upon it
-and behold my triumph, my greatest triumph in art,
-and perhaps my last. I shall never touch pencil more,
-and wilt thou refuse to look upon my last and noblest
-work. Fie! this were a wrong to me, and a great
-shame in thee, Aurelia. Come! the toil of which
-thou think’st but coldly, has brought me peace rather
-than sadness. It has made of death a thing rather
-familiar than offensive. If it has deprived me of hopes,
-it has left me without terrors!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Deprived you of hopes, my Cœlius,” said the
-wife, still lingering, and in mortal terror.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Even so!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And, wherefore, O, my husband, wherefore?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Speak not, woman! See you not that we are
-within the shadow of the tomb?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let us not approach—let us go hence!” she
-exclaimed entreatingly, with increasing agitation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ay, shrink’st thou!” he answered; “well thou
-may’st. The fathers of the Pomponii, for two thousand
-years, are now floating around us on their
-sightless wings. They wonder that a Roman woman
-should draw nigh to the dwellings of our ancient
-Lucumones.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A Roman woman!” she exclaimed reproachfully.
-“My Cœlius, wherefore this?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Art thou not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am thy wife.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Art sure of that?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As the gods live and look upon us, I am thine,
-this hour and forever!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May the gods judge thee, woman,” he responded
-slowly, as he paused at the gate of the mausoleum,
-and fixed his eyes intently upon her. Hers were
-raised to heaven, with her uplifted hands. She did
-not weep, and her grief was still mixed with a fearful
-agitation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let us now return, my Cœlius!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What, wilt thou not behold the picture?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not now—at another season. I could not look
-upon it now!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='343' id='Page_343'></span>
-“Alas! woman, but this cannot be. Thou must
-behold it now or never. Hope not to escape. Enter!
-I have a tale to tell thee, and a sight to show thee
-within, which thou canst not hear or see hereafter.
-Enter!” As he spoke, he applied the key to the stone
-leaf, and the door slowly revolved upon the massy
-pivots. She turned and would have fled, but he
-grasped her by the wrist, and moved toward the
-entrance. She carried her freed hand to her forehead—parted
-the hair from her eyes, and raised them
-pleadingly to heaven. Resistance she saw was vain.
-Her secret was discovered. She prepared to enter,
-but slowly. “Enter! Dost thou fear now,” cried
-her husband, “when commanded? Hast thou not,
-thou, a Roman, ventured already to penetrate these
-awful walls, given to silence and the dead—and on
-what mission? Enter, as I bid thee!”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_6'>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='it'>The Chamber of Death—The Catastrophe.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She obeyed him, shuddering and silent. He followed
-her, closed the entrance, and fastened it
-within. They were alone among the dead of a thousand
-years—alone, but not in darkness. The hand
-of preparation had been there, and cressets were
-burning upon the walls; their lights, reflected from
-the numerous shields of bronze within the apartment,
-shedding a strange and fantastic splendor upon the
-scene. The eyes of Aurelia rapidly explored the
-chamber as if in search of some expected object.
-Those of Cœlius watched them with an expression
-of scornful triumph, which did not escape her glance.
-She firmly met his gaze, almost inquiringly, while
-her hands were involuntarily and convulsively clasped
-together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Whom dost thou seek, Aurelia?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou know’st! thou know’st!—where is he?
-Tell me, my Cœlius, that he is safe, that thou hast
-sped him hence—that I may bless thee.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He smiled significantly as he replied, “He is safe—I
-have sped him hence!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tinai, (Adonai,) my husband, keep thee in the
-hollow of his hand.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How shameless! dost thou dare so much!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What mean’st thou, my Cœlius?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sit thou there,” he answered, “till I show thee
-my picture.” He pointed her, as he spoke, to a new
-sarcophagus, upon which she placed herself submissively.
-Then, with a wand in his hand, he, himself
-seated upon another coffin of stone, pointed her
-to a curtain which covered one of the sides of the
-chamber. “Behind that curtain, Aurelia, is the last
-work of my hands; but before I unveil it to thine
-eyes, let me tell thee its melancholy history. It will
-not need many words for this. Much of it is known
-to thee already. How I found thee in Rome, when
-I was there a captive—how I loved thee, and how
-I believed in thy assurances of love; all these things
-thou know’st. We wedded, and I brought thee, a
-Roman woman, held a barbarian by my people, into
-the palace of one of the proudest families of all Etruria.
-Shall I tell thee that I loved thee still, that I love thee
-even now, when I have most reason to hate thee,
-when I know thy perjury, thy cold heart, thy hot
-lust, thy base, degrading passions!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hold, my lord—say not these things to my grief
-and thy dishonor. They wrong me, not less than
-thy own name. These things, poured into thine ear
-by some secret enemy, are false!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou wilt not swear it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By all the gods of Rome—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And of what avail, and how binding the oath taken
-in the names of the barbarian deities of Rome.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By the Etrurian—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perjure not thyself, woman, but hear me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go on, my lord, I will hear thee, though I suffer
-death with every word thou speak’st.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is well, Aurelia, that thou art prepared for
-this.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thy dagger, my Cœlius, were less painful than
-thy words and looks unkind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Never was I unkind until I found thee false.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Never was I false, my lord, even when thou
-wast unkind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Woman! lie not; thou wert discovered with thy
-paramour, here, in this tomb; thou wert followed, day
-by day, and all thy secret practices betrayed. This
-thou ow’st to the better vigilance of my dear brother
-Aruns—he, more watchful of my honor than myself—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! well I know from what hand came the cruel
-shaft; Cœlius, my Cœlius, thy brother is a wretch,
-doomed to infamy and black with crime. I have had
-no paramour. I might have had, and thou might’st have
-been dishonored, had I hearkened to thy brother’s
-pleadings. I spurned him from my feet with loathing,
-and he requites me with hate. Oh! my husband,
-believe me, and place this man, whom thou too
-fondly callest thy brother, before thine eyes and
-mine!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Alas! Aurelia, this boldness becomes thee not.
-I myself traced thee to this tomb—these eyes but too
-frequently beheld thee with thy paramour.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Cœlius, as I live, he was no paramour—but
-where is he, what hast thou done with him?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sent him before thee to prepare thy coach in
-Hades!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, brother!—but thou hast not! tell me, my
-lord, that thy hand is free from this bloody crime!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He sleeps beneath thee. It is upon his sarcophagus
-thou sittest.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She started with a piercing shriek from the coffin
-where she sat, knelt beside it, and strove to remove
-the heavy stone lid, which had been already securely
-fastened. While thus engaged the Lucumo drew
-aside with his hand the curtain which concealed
-the picture.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look,” said he, “woman, behold the fate which
-thou and thy paramour have received—behold the
-task which I had set me when first I had been shown
-thy perjuries. Look!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She arose in silence from her knees, and turned
-her eyes upon the picture. As the curtain was
-slowly unrolled from before it, and she conceived
-the awful subject, and distinguished, under the care
-<span class='pageno' title='344' id='Page_344'></span>
-of the good and guardian genii, the shades of well-known
-members of the Pomponian family, her interest
-was greatly excited; but when following in
-the train and under the grasp of the Etrurian demon,
-she beheld the features of the young Roman who was
-doomed, she bounded forward with a cry of agony.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My brother, my Flavius, my own, my only
-brother!” and sunk down with outstretched arms
-before the melancholy shade.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Her brother!” exclaimed the husband. She
-heard the words and rose rapidly to her feet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ay, Flavius, my brother, banished from Rome,
-and concealed here in thy house of silence, concealed
-even from thee, my husband, as I would not
-vex thee with the anxieties of an Etrurian noble, lest
-Rome should hear and punish the people, by whom
-her outlaw was protected. Thou know’st my crime.
-This paramour was the brother of my heart—child
-of the same sire and dame—a noble heart, a pure
-spirit, whose very virtues have been the cause of his
-disgrace at Rome. Slay me, if thou wilt, but tell me
-not, O, Cœlius, that thou hast put the hands of hate
-upon my brother!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thy tale is false, woman—well-planned, but
-false. Know I not thy brother? Did I not know thy
-brother well in Rome? Went we not together oft?
-I tell thee, I should know him among a line of ten
-thousand Romans!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Alas! alas! my husband, if ever I had brother,
-then is this he. I tell thee nothing but the truth. Of
-a surety, when thou wert in Rome, my brother was
-known to thee, but the boy has now become a man.
-Seven years have wrought a change upon him of
-which thou hast not thought. Believe me, what I
-tell thee—the youth whom I sheltered in this vault,
-and to whom I brought food nightly, was, indeed,
-my brother—my Flavius, the only son of my mother,
-who sent him to me, with fond words of entreaty,
-when the consuls of the city bade him depart in
-banishment.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I cannot believe thee, woman. It were a mortal
-agony, far beyond what I feel in the conviction of
-thy guilt, were I to yield faith to thy story. It is thy
-paramour whom I have slain, and who sleeps in that
-tomb. His portrait and his judgment are before thee,
-and now—look on thine own!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The picture, fully displayed, showed to the wretched
-woman her own person, in similar custody with
-him who was her supposed paramour. The terrible
-felicity of the execution struck her to the soul. It
-was a picture to live as a work of art, and to this
-she was not insensible. She clasped her hands before
-it, and exclaimed,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! my Cœlius, what a life hast thou <a id='given'></a>given to a
-lie. Yet may I bear the terrors of such a doom, if
-he whom thou hast painted there in a fate full of
-dreadful fellowship with mine, was other than my
-brother Flavius—he with whom thou did’st love to
-play, and to whom thou did’st impart the first lessons
-in the art which he learned to love from thee. Dost
-hear me, my Cœlius, as my soul lives, this man was
-none other than my brother.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“False! false! I will not, dare not believe thee!”
-he answered in husky accents. His frame was
-trembling, yet he busied himself in putting on a rich
-armor, clothing himself in military garb, from head
-to foot, as if going into action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What dost thou, my lord?” demanded Aurelia,
-curious as she beheld him in this occupation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This,” said he, “is the armor in which I fought
-with Rome when I was made the captive of thy
-people, and thine. It is fit that I should wear it now,
-when I am once more going into captivity.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My husband, what mean’st thou—of what captivity
-dost thou speak?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The captivity of death! Hear me, Aurelia, dost
-thou feel nothing at thy heart which tells thee of the
-coming struggle when the soul shakes off the reluctant
-flesh, and strives, as it were, for freedom. Is there
-no chill in thy veins, no sudden pang, as of fire in
-thy breast. These speak in me. They warn me of
-death. We are both summoned. But a little while
-is left us of life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have mercy, Jove! I feel these pains, this chill,
-this fire that thou speak’st of.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is death! the goblet which I gave thee, and of
-which I drank the first and largest draught was drugged
-with death.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then—it is all true! Thou hast in truth slain my
-brother. Thou hast—thou hast!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nay, he was not thy brother, Aurelia. Why
-wilt thou forswear thyself at this terrible moment?
-It is vain. Would’st thou lie to death—would’st thou
-carry an impure face of perjury before the seat of
-the Triune God! Beware! Confess thy crime, and
-justify the vengeance of thy lord!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As I believe thee, my Cœlius—as I believe that
-thou hast most rashly and unjustly murdered my
-brother, and put death in the cup which, delivered
-by thy hands, was sweet and precious to my lips, so
-must I now declare, in sight of Heaven, in the presence
-of the awful dead, that what I have said and
-sworn to thee, is truth. He whom I sheltered within
-the tombs of thy fathers, was the son of mine—the
-only, the last, best brother of my heart; I bore him
-in mine arms when I was a child myself. I loved
-him ever! Oh, how I loved him! next to thee, my
-Cœlius—next to thee! Could’st thou but have spared
-me this love—this brother!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How knew I—how know I now—that he was thy
-brother?” was the choking inquiry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To save thee the cruel agony that thou must feel,
-knowing this, I could even be moved to tell thee
-falsely, and say that he was not my brother—but,
-indeed, some paramour, such as the base and evil
-thought of thy brother has grafted upon thine; but I
-may not, thy love is too precious to me at this last
-moment, even if death were not too terrible to the
-false speaker. He was, indeed, my Flavius, dear
-son of a dear mother, best beloved brother, he whom
-thou did’st play with as a boy, to whom thou gav’st
-lessons in thy own lovely art; who loved thee, my
-Cœlius, but too fondly, and only forbore telling thee
-of his evil plight for fear that thou should’st incur
-danger from the sharp and angry hostility of Rome.
-Seek my chamber, and in my cabinet thou wilt find
-<span class='pageno' title='345' id='Page_345'></span>
-his letters, and the letters of my mother, borne with
-him in his flight. Nay,—oh! mother, what is this
-agony?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Too late! too late! If it be truth thou speakest,
-Aurelia, it is a truth that cannot save. Death is upon
-us—I see it in thy face—I feel it in my heart. Oh!
-would that I could doubt thy story!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Doubt not—doubt not—believe and take me to
-thy heart. I fear not death, if thou wilt believe me.
-My Cœlius, let me come to thee and die upon thy
-bosom.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! should’st thou betray me—should’st thou
-still practice upon me with thy woman art!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And wherefore? It is death, thou say’st, that is
-upon us now. What shall I gain, in this hour, by
-speaking to thee falsely. Thou hast done thy worst.
-Thou hast doomed me to death, and to the eyes of
-the confiding future!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She threw her arms around him as she spoke, and
-sunk, sunk sobbing upon his breast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” he exclaimed, “that dreadful picture! I
-feel, my Aurelia, that thou hast spoken truly—that
-I have been rash and cruel in my judgments. Thy
-brother lies before thee, and yonder tomb is prepared
-for thee. I did not yield without a struggle; and I
-prepared me for a terrible sacrifice. Upon this bier,
-habited as I am, I yield myself to death. There is
-no help—no succor. Yet that picture! Shall the
-falsehood overcome the truth? Shall that lie survive
-thy virtues, thy beauty, and thy life! No! my
-Aurelia, this crime shall be spared at least.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He unwound her arms from about his neck, and
-strove to rise. She sunk in the same moment at his
-feet. “Oh, death!” she cried, “thou art, indeed, a
-god! I feel thee, terrible in thy strength, with an
-agony never felt before. Leave me not, my Cœlius—forgive—and
-leave me not!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I lose thee, Aurelia! Where—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here! before the couch—I faint—ah!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would destroy,” he cried, “but cannot! This
-blindness. Ho! without there! Aruns! It is thy
-step I hear! Undo, undo—I forgive thee all, if thou
-wilt but help. Here—hither!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The acute senses of the dying man had, indeed,
-heard footsteps without. They were those of the
-perfidious brother. But, at the call from within, he
-retreated hastily. There was no answer—there was
-no help. But there was still some consciousness.
-Death was not yet triumphant. There was a pang
-yet to be felt—and a pleasure. It was still in the
-power of the dying man to lift to his embrace his
-innocent victim. A moment’s return of consciousness
-enabled her to feel his embrace, his warm tears
-upon her cheek, and to hear his words of entreaty
-and tenderness imploring forgiveness. And speech
-was vouchsafed her to accord it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I forgive thee, my Cœlius—I forgive thee, and
-bless thee, and love thee to the last. I know that
-thou would’st never do me hurt of thy own will; I
-know that thou wert deceived to this—yet how, oh,
-how, when my head lay upon thy breast at night,
-and I slept in peace, could’st thou think that I should
-do thee wrong!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why,” murmured the miserable man, “why, oh,
-why?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Had I but told thee, and trusted in thee, my
-Cœlius?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why did’st thou not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was because of my brother’s persuasion that I
-did not—he wished not that thou should’st come to
-evil.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And thou forgiv’st me, Aurelia—from thy very
-heart thou forgiv’st me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All, all—from my heart and soul, my husband.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It will not, then, be very hard to die!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>An hour after and the chamber was silent. The
-wife had yielded first. She breathed her last sigh
-upon his bosom, and with the last effort of his
-strength he lifted her gently and laid her in the
-sarcophagus, composing with affectionate care the
-drapery around her. Then, remembering the picture,
-he looked around him for his sword with
-which to obliterate the portraits which his genius had
-assigned to so lamentable an eternity; but his efforts
-were feeble, and the paralysis of death seized him
-while he was yet making them. He sunk back with
-palsied limbs upon the bier, and the lights, and the
-picture, faded from before his eyes, with the last
-pulses of his life. The calumny which had destroyed
-his hopes, survived its own detection. The recorded
-falsehood was triumphant over the truth; yet may
-you see to this day, where the random strokes of the
-weapon were aimed for its obliteration. Of himself
-there is no monument in the tomb, though one
-touching memorial has reached us. The vaulted
-chamber buried in the earth was discovered by accident.
-A fracture was made in its top by an Italian
-gentleman in company with a Scottish nobleman.
-As they gazed eagerly through the aperture, they
-beheld an ancient warrior in full armor, and bearing
-a coronet of gold. The vision lasted but a moment.
-The decomposing effects of the air were soon perceptible.
-Even while they gazed, the body seemed
-agitated with a trembling, heaving motion, which
-lasted a few minutes, and then it subsided into dust.
-When they penetrated the sepulchre, they found the
-decaying armor in fragments, the sword and the
-helmet, or crown of gold. The dust was but a handful,
-and this was all that remained of the wretched Lucumo.
-The terrible picture is all that survives—the
-false witness, still repeating its cruel lie at
-the expense of all that is noble in youth and manhood,
-and all that is pure and lovely in the soul of
-woman.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk105'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='thoughts'></a>THOUGHTS.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY MARIE ROSEAU.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>I have thoughts that like the eagle soar to a daring height,</p>
-<p class='line'>That boldly revel in the glare of strong and dazzling light,</p>
-<p class='line'>That glory in such brightness, and wish ’twas ever day,</p>
-<p class='line'>That in unclouded brilliancy life’s hours might pass away.</p>
-<p class='line'>I have thoughts that bow me to the dust in stupor-like despair,</p>
-<p class='line'>That bind my soul with fetters to keep it always there;</p>
-<p class='line'>That whisper I can never rise, that my spirit has no wings,</p>
-<p class='line'>But must ever be content to lie amid earth’s blighted things.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>I have gentle, holy thoughts that come with sweet and soothing power</p>
-<p class='line'>Instilling vigor in my heart, as dew upon the flower;</p>
-<p class='line'>And then I feel that I would give the world if I could be</p>
-<p class='line'>From all of human frailty and earthly passion free.</p>
-<p class='line'>I have thoughts that breathe unholy air, that bring a chilling blight</p>
-<p class='line'>Upon each better feeling, each principle of right:</p>
-<p class='line'>Vain, foolish, envious, wicked thoughts that fill my heart with pain;</p>
-<p class='line'>That pour wild tumult in my breast, and fever on my brain.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>I have thoughts that come like zephyrs in the spring-time of the year,</p>
-<p class='line'>That bear sweet memories of my friends—those who are ever dear;</p>
-<p class='line'>And some who at another time might seem but friends in name,</p>
-<p class='line'>Are made by those same gentle thoughts a friendship true to claim.</p>
-<p class='line'>I think me of the kindly deeds, the pleasant word or smile,</p>
-<p class='line'>Which sometimes served in sadder hours a sorrow to beguile;</p>
-<p class='line'>Oh, then I raise my heart in prayer for every one I know,</p>
-<p class='line'>And ask our common God to bless and shield them from each wo;</p>
-<p class='line'>And there is naught of sacrifice too great for me to bear,</p>
-<p class='line'>If so I might but glad their hearts, or free their souls from care.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>I have thoughts that spread deep shadows of unholy, dark distrust,</p>
-<p class='line'>That like a fearful whirlwind lay high hopes within the dust;</p>
-<p class='line'>That recall forgotten mem’ries to a gloomy, clouded mind,</p>
-<p class='line'>Of broken friendships, trusts betrayed, and words and looks unkind.</p>
-<p class='line'>Ah, then suspicion dark and drear spreads forth her chilling blight,</p>
-<p class='line'>And sick at heart I turn away, as withers in my sight</p>
-<p class='line'>Bright hopes of future happiness—sweet friendships held most dear.</p>
-<p class='line'>And I seem to live ’mid shattered wrecks, in strange, unearthly fear;</p>
-<p class='line'>And I start to hear a kindly word, and my spirit dreads a smile,</p>
-<p class='line'>Lest the word should be deceitful, or the smile be meant in guile:</p>
-<p class='line'>And I deem that the wide world contains no friend who loves me well,</p>
-<p class='line'>And I long to go away from earth to where the faithful dwell.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>I would not have them ever glad, those many thoughts of mine—</p>
-<p class='line'>I would not with unclouded beams life’s sun should ever shine:</p>
-<p class='line'>For He who sends the clouds and rain knows when they are needed best,</p>
-<p class='line'>And I would upon his guiding care with firm reliance rest:</p>
-<p class='line'>But I would my thoughts were ever right—were ever firm and strong,</p>
-<p class='line'>Such thoughts as nerve the heart in might to conquer what is wrong,</p>
-<p class='line'>I would not that my spirit breathe the taint of impure air,</p>
-<p class='line'>But that only holy, heaven-sent thoughts should have an influence there.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk106'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='stan'></a>STANZAS.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY MRS. O. M. P. LORD.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>There’s music in thy voice, love;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Such notes have never been</p>
-<p class='line'>Since years and years ago, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;God’s angels talked with men;</p>
-<p class='line'>It never chides nor blames, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;But always seeks to praise.</p>
-<p class='line'>In truth such gentle speech, love.</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Thy native land betrays.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Like summer cloud thy brow, love.</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And hue of summer sky,</p>
-<p class='line'>As ocean gives it back, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Dwells in that tender eye;</p>
-<p class='line'>The heaven without looks in, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And sees its image there;</p>
-<p class='line'>The heaven within looks out, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;So wondrous clear and fair.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Soon, soon, we all must sleep, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Through long and dreamless night;</p>
-<p class='line'>And, waking, find these robes, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;So changed, so clear and white;</p>
-<p class='line'>But thou, so pure and free, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Thy garb from earthly stain,</p>
-<p class='line'>E’en as thou laid’st it down, love,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Will take it up again.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk107'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='346' id='Page_346'></span><h1><a id='deaf'></a>DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>OR THE NABOB UNCLE.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY AGNES L. GORDON.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, girls, prepare your sweetest smiles, and
-best behavior, for your uncle has arrived at last, and
-I have just received this note, dated at the Astor,
-announcing his coming, and accepting my invitation
-to make our house his home; so, to use his own expression,
-we may expect him, ‘bag and baggage,’
-this evening.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These words were addressed by Mrs. Medway to
-her daughters, as they sat at breakfast, in an elegant
-apartment in a fashionable street up town.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That means, I suppose, that he comes with an
-ebony serving-man, in an immense turban, half a
-dozen hookahs, innumerable packages, and self-indulging
-contrivances, and all the et cæteras of an
-eastern nabob,” replied Matilda. “I wonder where
-we are to stow away all the trash that he will undoubtedly
-pour in upon us? I wish, mamma, you
-had not invited him here; but if his coming prove
-but a golden one to us, I, for one, am perfectly willing
-to play the agreeable, with so bright a prospect
-in store.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not so with me,” exclaimed her younger sister
-Sophy, “I am determined to do as I please, and not
-be like an automaton, at the will of a cross old invalid,
-as I have no doubt he is. I suppose we must
-have great fires built up all summer, and be content
-to be baked, and browned to crisps, in ovens of
-rooms, while old yellow-face shivers with cold, and
-swears at the climate. And then we must live on
-curries, and spices, and pilaus, and all sorts of horrid
-nauseous messes, until we are as yellow and bilious
-as himself. I boldly protest against all such proceedings,
-and thus, once for all, good people, declare
-myself free and independent.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But recollect, girls,” said their mother, while she
-laughed at Sophy’s declaration, “he is your father’s
-brother, and as such entitled to at least an appearance
-of respect. I wish he was less afflicted to be
-sure, for it will be a sad drawback, I fear, upon your
-amusements; but keep up your courage, and remember
-that to be co-heiresses of an Indian nabob is a
-distinction very much to be coveted, and worthy
-some sacrifices to attain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am sure his deafness will be a great relief to
-us all,” chimed in Matilda, “so as we play propriety
-and have plenty of delicate attentions, and wreathed
-smiles, in readiness, we can indulge once in a while
-in a theatrical aside of impatience, which will be
-quite a safety valve to the temper.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But if he is an invalid he must necessarily be
-cross,” answered Sophy, “and as his sight is impaired,
-he will probably want some one to read to
-him; <span class='it'>that</span> task I absolutely refuse to perform; for as
-to reading any thing more than the last magazine, it
-is an effort I never was equal to. We will appoint
-Grace reader to his Indian majesty. What say
-you, Grace, are you not overwhelmed with the
-honor?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This question was addressed to a quiet girl, who
-had hitherto taken no part in the conversation, but
-who replied with a smile, “If your uncle is in reality
-the disagreeable person you describe, I shall not be
-emulous of the honor you design me; but if he is in
-truth an invalid, I will wait on him with cheerfulness,
-for you know I am accustomed to a sick
-chamber.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That’s just like you, Grace, always ready and
-willing to do for every one,” answered Sophy. “Of
-course he is an invalid—all nabobs are. He has the
-gout, and we must all creep on tip-toe about the
-room, lest an unlucky jar might give him a twinge,
-and bring down a volley, not of blessings, upon our
-devoted heads. Then the liver complaint is a necessary
-appendage, and blue pills and calomel will
-abound. Bah! what a house it will be to be sure, I
-should not wonder if he has a pet monkey and half
-a dozen macaws, and we shall have a menagerie and
-hospital combined. If such <span class='it'>is</span> the case, I shall run
-off and get married; so don’t wonder if some morning
-I am missing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And thus forfeit your claim to the fortune in
-store,” said her sister; “for my part I am willing to
-take a pill every other day, in the hope that it will
-prove at last a gilded one, and will feed the macaws
-to a surfeit—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In fact, kill them with kindness,” interrupted
-Sophy, laughing. “Well, you are welcome to all
-you can get, the pill will be bitter if it <span class='it'>is</span> gilded; I
-love my ease too well to be shackled even with
-golden fetters; so Grace and you may divide the
-labor and the reward.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Grace will of course do whatever is required of
-her,” said Mrs. Medway gravely, “but as she has
-no claim of kindred upon your uncle, she will not
-expect any other return than my approval. And
-now girls we have spent a long time chatting; I
-must go and prepare for our newly arrived relative’s
-coming, and remember, Sophy, that you treat him
-with all deference and respect; you might have a
-little natural feeling—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All fudge, mamma,” laughed Sophy, rising from
-her seat; “talk of natural feeling, indeed, for a
-cross old <a id='fid'></a>fidgety fellow one never saw, and scarcely
-ever heard of, except when he sent you that superb
-India shawl. I tell you, mamma, it is a natural feeling
-for his presents and his rupees that inspires you
-and Matilda; I will none of them except they come
-in a <span class='it'>natural</span> way, without any force put on my inclination.
-<span class='pageno' title='347' id='Page_347'></span>
-You know I am a little Pickle, and I intend
-to be as sour as vinegar.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And I as sweet as honey-water,” cried Matilda,
-as she left the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and as insipid, too,” replied her sister, following.
-“As for you, Grace,” she added, looking
-back, “as you fortunately have no selfish considerations,
-you can afford to be, as you always are,
-‘Simple Grace, gracious and graceful,’” so saying,
-the noisy girl slammed the door after her, leaving
-Grace to her daily duty of washing the breakfast
-things, and arranging the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Medway was the widow of a merchant who
-had left his family possessed of a moderate income,
-which they contrived should, like a thin plate of gold,
-cover a large surface. They lived up to their means
-in every sense. Mrs. Medway gave parties, kept
-several servants, lived in a large house, showily
-furnished, and dressed herself and daughters splendidly.
-All this could not be done without strict
-economy somewhere; and while the soirées of Mrs.
-Medway were pronounced delightful, the servants
-made many complaints of their daily fare. Mrs.
-Medway was only one of a class; there are hundreds
-who, to use a vulgar phrase, “rob Peter to pay Paul,”
-and fast at home, that they may appear to feast
-abroad.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The coming of Jacob Medway, an elder brother
-of her husband, who had spent his life in India, and
-now returned to his native land, to enjoy his fortune
-and find an heir, was an important event to Mrs. Medway.
-She would rather, to be sure, have him unacquainted
-with certain parts of her household arrangement,
-but she hoped to reap a golden harvest, and
-wished to give her daughters an opportunity of ingratiating
-themselves in his favor. These daughters
-were handsome, showy girls. Matilda, the elder,
-had been a decided belle for several seasons. She
-was tall and slender, with very fine dark eyes, rather
-long face, and that distinguished air and manner that
-stamps the woman of fashion. She was very anxious
-to secure her uncle’s favor, for she argued that a
-fine fortune might secure her the alliance that her
-fine person had hitherto failed to win.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The younger daughter, Sophy, with less beauty
-than her sister, was still much admired. She had a
-rattling, dashing way of saying pert, and sometimes
-shrewd things, that passed for wit, among the idlers
-who surrounded her, though they often winced under
-the keenness of her remarks. She was not amiable,
-but possessed a sturdy independence that was a redeeming
-trait, and though often displaying it in a
-most disagreeable manner, was in reality much less
-selfish than her soft-lipped sister.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The other inmate of the family whom we have
-mentioned, was Grace Addison—“little Grace,” as
-she was wont to be affectionately termed in her own
-happy home, but now, “Simple Grace,” as Sophy
-loved to call her. The mother of Grace was a
-cousin of Mrs. Medway; she had been left a widow
-in very straitened circumstances, her husband dying
-when Grace was just fifteen. Grief and anxiety
-threw her in a consumption, and she died two years
-after, leaving her orphan child to the care of her
-cousin, Mrs. Medway, who had herself been tenderly
-reared under the roof of Mrs. Addison’s father, and
-upon whom the grand-daughter of her benefactor
-certainly had a claim.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Medway was a selfish woman, and the
-charge was irksome, but the circumstances of her
-own early life and adoption were so extensively
-known, that she dared not brave the censure of her
-friends by refusing it; and thus whilst Grace was
-ostensibly cared and provided for, she was made to
-feel her dependence, and had resolved in her own
-heart to seize the first opportunity of releasing her
-self from this thraldom, preferring to earn her daily
-bread, than to receive it as a favor while she toiled
-for it as a menial. But her gentle and pliant nature
-dreaded to offend or grieve Mrs. Medway, for she
-knew that she was really essential to her, whilst for
-Sophy, rude as she at times appeared, she felt a warm
-attachment, for she alone acted toward her as an
-equal and a friend.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace Addison was not beautiful, but she had
-charms enough to have made her a dangerous rival,
-had she appeared on equal terms with the sisters.
-She shrunk, however, from society, and seldom appeared
-at Mrs. Medway’s <span class='it'>soirées</span>, very much, it
-must be confessed, to that lady’s satisfaction. We
-have said Grace was not beautiful—lovely is the
-epithet properly belonging to her. Scarcely above
-the middle height, her slender form was inexpressibly
-graceful in all its attitudes; there were no angles
-about her, Sophy said. Every accidental position
-was a study for a sculptor—and never was the
-gentle name of Grace more fitly applied. Her
-deep, thoughtful blue eyes were shaded by long
-black lashes, that rested on a cheek whose deepest
-tint never exceeded the glow on the lip of a sea-shell,
-and the delicate features, and rich mass of dark hair,
-gave that air of refinement so rare and so <a id='inde'></a>indescribable.
-Such was the family of which the nabob,
-Jacob Medway, was expected to become an inmate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In Mrs. Medway’s drawing-room the family was
-assembled to receive the expected guest. Sophy
-was ridiculing her sister, and imitating the welcome
-which she said Matilda had learned by rote, when
-the noise of carriage-wheels were heard, and presently
-a loud ring of the bell announced the arrival.
-Mrs. Medway arose, and went into the hall, and
-then came the sound of trunks unstrapped, and packages
-thrown in, and next, enveloped in cloaks, the
-rich uncle stepped from the carriage, and being welcomed
-by Mrs. Medway, was shown at once to his
-room, where every accommodation for his comfort
-had been made. He had a colored servant, and as
-many packages as even Matilda expected, but no pet
-monkey or macaws as yet appeared.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, mamma, what is he like?” exclaimed
-both daughters in a breath, as she re-entered the
-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You shall judge for yourselves presently,” she
-answered. “He does not appear to be gouty, however,
-for he stepped quite firmly into the hall, and
-his voice is pleasant and not at all cross.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='348' id='Page_348'></span>
-“So, perhaps, Matilda will not have the gratification
-of being a martyr after all,” cried Sophy, laughing;
-“her honey-water will sour by keeping, and
-my vinegar become flat; well, after all, I am a little
-disappointed. I don’t believe he is at all rich,
-Matilda, unless he is gouty, cross, and every thing
-bad; it would be too much of a good thing if he were.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Matilda did not much relish her sister’s raillery,
-and a sharp reply rose to her lips as the door opened
-and her uncle entered. Mrs. Medway immediately
-rose, and introduced him to her daughters, and
-Grace offered him the arm-chair which he politely
-accepted, and then expressed, in a very few words,
-his thanks for her courtesy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was, of course, an object of great interest to
-the little group, and did not altogether answer their
-expectations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Uncle Medway was tall, and rather stout, with a
-fine open countenance, yellow and brown, to be sure,
-in its hue, but the expression of his mouth contradicted
-at once all idea of ill-nature. His eyes were
-small, with a keen, shrewd, searching expression;
-and one could scarcely credit that their vision was
-impaired, so that without glasses he could not distinguish
-minute objects. He carried an ear-cornet in
-his hand, and apologised for his infirmities, speaking
-in a nervous and abrupt manner.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will find me a troublesome inmate, I fear,
-madam,” he said to Mrs. Medway; “my infirmities
-make me a poor companion. I am a man of few
-words, and my loss of hearing renders it almost impossible
-to enjoy the conversation of others, while
-even the pleasure of reading is in part denied me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My daughters will be delighted to serve you in
-every way,” said Mrs. Medway, graciously.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now is your chance,” loudly whispered Sophy,
-to her sister, “lay your eyes, ears, and tongue, at
-the feet of your golden idol.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sophy!” exclaimed her mother, in an agony, but
-the sight of the ear-cornet calmed her fears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The evening passed slowly away; Uncle Medway
-retired early, and the young ladies, after exchanging
-opinions of him, went to rest, to dream golden
-dreams, as Sophy maliciously said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Uncle Medway did not appear at breakfast on the
-following morning, but during the forenoon, while
-the young ladies were occupied at their several employments,
-he unexpectedly entered, and with an
-apologetic smile and bow, took the seat which Matilda
-hastened to offer, tendering at the same time
-very affectionate inquiries regarding his health. The
-old gentleman quietly put on his glasses and lowered
-his ear-cornet, requesting her to repeat her words,
-while Sophy maliciously offered to prompt her, in
-case she forgot her lesson. Matilda looked thunder
-at her sister, and sunshine at her uncle as she repeated
-her questions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I rested well, thank you,” said her uncle, “and
-as I hope to become better acquainted in time, you
-will not, I trust, be offended at my scrutiny.” He
-took Matilda’s hand as he spoke, and looked earnestly
-in her countenance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you consider me like papa?” she inquired
-with her most engaging smile, and speaking in the
-cornet, without which it was evident he could hear
-nothing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Humph, not much; your sister there is more like
-him,” he answered, pointing with his ear-trumpet to
-Sophy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There, Matilda, is ten thousand lost to you,”
-laughed the giddy girl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What does she say?” asked the old gentleman,
-casting a shrewd look at her; “come here, merry
-one, and tell me yourself.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sophy rose and courtesied before him, as she said
-to Grace, “Your turn next—so prepare. I wonder
-if the old Indian thinks he can turn us about as he
-would some China ornaments, while we stand bobbing
-like so many mandarins before him?” then
-turning to her uncle, she added, “I am delighted that
-you think I resemble my father, sir, although Matilda
-is counted the beauty, and I the fright.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Sophy, how can you rattle so,” exclaimed
-Grace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now hush, Grace, until your time comes. You
-know I always speak out what I think.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Especially when you know one party at least
-cannot hear,” said her sister, sarcastically.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You all seem to be chattering away among yourselves
-like so many magpies,” said the old gentleman.
-“But who is this young lady in the corner?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Our cousin, Grace Addison,” screamed Sophy,
-at the top of her voice, “and the dearest, best, kindest
-cousin in the world. She makes all our dresses,
-copies Matilda’s music, waters her flowers, sketches
-in her album, and does a thousand things for which
-others get the credit; and more than all, she bears all
-my impertinences, and never gets out of patience.
-Now, Grace,” turning toward her, “you are properly
-introduced, come and speak for yourself. I
-think I have made <span class='it'>one party at least</span> hear this time,”
-she added, to her sister; “and if old yellow-face has
-half as much generosity as he should have, there is a
-nice little plum in store for Simple Grace.” So
-saying, she ran out of the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the party met at dinner, there were several
-dishes cooked to suit Uncle Medway’s taste, among
-the rest a curry. Mrs. Medway and Matilda accepted
-some of the proffered viand, but when the
-old gentleman politely turned to Sophy, she exclaimed,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, I thank you, none of your nauseous messes
-for me—the very smell of them takes away my appetite.
-Mamma, after this, I think I shall dine in
-my own room.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What does the young lady say?” asked Uncle
-Medway, elevating his cornet, “that she has no appetite?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I say I can’t bear curry,” screamed Sophy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Sophy, how can you be so rude?” said her
-mother, in despair.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Because I hate hypocrisy,” answered the other,
-angrily. “There sits Matilda, striving to appear to
-eat what I know she abhors, afraid to say what her
-likes or dislikes are; it would not be worth the
-effort she makes to swallow it, if the hateful curry-powder
-<span class='pageno' title='349' id='Page_349'></span>
-was gold-dust. See, she is pale now—and
-sick, too, I dare say; for shame, Matilda. Uncle
-Medway, must, indeed, be deaf, dumb, and blind, not
-to discover in a short time all your false pretences.”
-Sophy spoke rapidly, despite of both mother and
-sister’s attempts to stop her, and Grace’s appealing
-looks. Secure in their guest’s entire deafness, she
-railed severely at the deceit she despised. Uncle
-Medway cast a searching look toward Matilda, and
-then turning to Grace, who sat next him, invited her
-to partake of his favorite dish. Grace thanked him,
-but declined.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What,” said he, with a smile, “can’t you bear
-curry either? Perhaps you have never tasted it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not fond of it, I confess,” answered Grace.
-“I have often seen it on my grandfather’s table, and
-he tried in vain to induce me to like it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again those shrewd eyes of Uncle Medway
-rested on Grace’s countenance, and no further discussion
-arising, the dinner passed pleasantly off.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After dinner Grace was left alone with the old
-gentleman, while the sisters took their usual promenade,
-when suddenly turning toward her, he said,
-in his peculiarly abrupt manner, “Who <span class='it'>was</span> your
-grandfather?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace looked up in surprise, but immediately answered,
-“My grandfather’s name was Maurice
-Addison.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And your father’s?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jacob Addison; he was born in India—” and
-then, with a sudden impulse, she exclaimed, “Oh, Mr.
-Medway, did you know my grandfather? Are you
-not the old friend I have so often heard him mention,
-who went out to India with him, and who was so
-true and kind to him in illness and trouble? You
-<span class='it'>are</span>, I am sure, and my father was named after you,
-Jacob Addison.” It was unusual for the quiet Grace
-to be roused to such enthusiasm, but she rose from
-her seat, and laying her hand on the old gentleman’s
-chair, looked into his face with such an affectionate
-and expectant gaze, that his heart must have been
-adamant, indeed, to resist it. And as his was, in
-reality, a loving and unselfish heart, he drew Grace
-gently toward him, and a pleasant smile lighted up
-his face, as he said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And <span class='it'>are</span> you Maurice Addison’s own little merry
-pet, Grace, he so often mentioned in his letters to
-me? <span class='it'>You are</span>, I am sure; and you are the daughter
-of my little god-son, Jacob, who was only knee-high
-when I saw him last. And now, my dear child, for
-surely I have a right to call you so, why are you
-living here? Where are your parents?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tears started in Grace’s eyes as she related the
-circumstances of her parents’ death, and her admission
-into Mrs. Medway’s family, adding, that though
-they were all very kind to her, she would remain no
-longer than until she could procure an independent
-situation, as she feared, in Mrs. Medway’s circumstances,
-she was a burden.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Humph!” was the only reply; and then the old
-gentleman added, “Say nothing about this conversation,
-if you please, until I give you permission.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace willingly acceded; she knew that Mrs.
-Medway would not like to believe she possessed any
-claim, however slight, on Uncle Medway’s regard;
-and although feeling an attachment to him for her
-grandfather’s sake, had not the slightest idea of endeavoring
-to rival her cousins.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One morning Uncle Medway expressed a desire to
-drive through the city, and wished one of the ladies
-to accompany him as a <span class='it'>cicérone</span>. Matilda’s services
-were instantly offered, and politely accepted.
-On their return, Matilda threw herself on a sofa, exclaiming
-to her mother,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I never was so wearied in all my life; and
-I consider this splendid dress, which uncle purchased
-for me at Stewart’s, as very hardly earned.
-Never will I consent to be driven about, shut up in a
-carriage with such a perverse, questioning old
-codger again for a dozen dresses. Why the old
-man seemed to think I must know the whole history
-of the city, from its first settlement—we will have to
-lend him <a id='died'></a>Diedrich Knickerbocker’s book. And then
-such stopping to admire the churches and other
-buildings, while groups of fashionables passed and
-stared; it is an ordeal I never will pass through
-again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The honey-water is exhausted, is it?” asked
-Sophy. “You gave it in too great quantities at first;
-well, for my part, I might be induced to take one
-drive with such a reward in view.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is that,” asked the uncle, turning sharply
-around, “don’t Matilda like her dress?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Shall I answer for you?” said Sophy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes,” interrupted Mrs. Medway, “she was
-expressing her admiration and gratitude; but she says
-she will fear to go with you again, lest you should
-think her motives interested.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Humph! the motives are apparent enough!”
-muttered the old gentleman; then turning to Grace,
-he said, “Will <span class='it'>you</span> accompany me to-morrow,
-Grace. I promise faithfully that you shall have no
-reward, save the consciousness of obliging a troublesome
-old man?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace gladly assented, and Mrs. Medway’s consent
-being given, Grace became the almost daily
-companion of the old gentleman, who seemed, however,
-to bestow but little notice on her, lavishing all
-his preference on Matilda, who was elated with her
-success.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A few days after, Uncle Medway brought down a
-closely-written letter of several pages, which he
-asked Matilda to copy for him, as she had so often
-expressed the pleasure it gave her to do any thing
-for her dear uncle. Matilda received the document
-with a gracious smile, and promised it should be
-done by the following morning. That evening the
-sisters went out with their mother, and Mr. Medway
-retired early to his own room, but having occasion
-to come down again for his glasses, he saw Grace
-bending over a table, on which were spread writing
-materials. She leaned her head on her clasped hands
-and sighed heavily. As he entered the room she
-looked up, and hastily drew a blank sheet over the
-page she had written.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='350' id='Page_350'></span>
-“You look pale, child,” said the old gentleman,
-as he put on his spectacles. “What are you doing
-there?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Only writing a little—but I have a severe headache,”
-answered Grace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go to bed, then—what are you poking your eyes
-out there for? I dare say some long letter to a sentimental
-friend, eh?” He approached the table as he
-spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You shall not see it, if it is,” said Grace, playfully
-putting her hand on the paper, “and I must
-finish it to-night, because I have promised—” she
-paused.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, well,” said the old man, kindly, “promises
-must be kept, of course. I hope Matilda has
-kept her promise of copying my letter—do <span class='it'>you</span> think
-it will be finished by to-morrow morning, Grace?”
-And without waiting a reply, he left the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The following morning, the letter and copy were
-laid by Uncle Medway’s plate, and the old gentleman,
-examining it with an approving glance, took a
-fifty dollar note from his pocket-book, and said, “I
-do not wish to offend, by offering a remuneration
-for this correct and beautiful copy; but I know you
-ladies have always some charitable object of interest,
-and the fair writer of this must have devoted many
-hours to its accomplishment. It will gratify her to
-have the power of doing good in every way—a
-power which will, perhaps, ere long be unlimited.
-Will you accept it, Matilda, as to you it justly belongs,
-and be my almoner?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Matilda’s eyes sparkled; this speech inferred much,
-and as she gracefully took the note, she thanked her
-uncle, and promised to dispose of it in charitable
-donations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After breakfast, Uncle Medway was deeply engrossed
-in a paper, which he was endeavoring to
-decipher, and the sisters were sitting together, when
-Sophy said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, Matilda, what charitable institution do
-you intend to benefit by uncle’s donation; as you
-earned the money so honorably, you will, of course,
-disburse it with equal honesty and justice.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Matilda colored slightly, but laughed, saying, “I
-shall do myself the charity to purchase that superb
-head-dress, and several costly et cæteras that I want
-for Mrs. Dayton’s ball; and if you are a good girl,
-and hold your tongue, you shall be an object of
-charity, too.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, Matilda, that is too mean, even for you,”
-exclaimed the other, indignantly. “Shame on you,
-as Grace really copied the letter, she should at least
-have the privilege of distributing the money; here
-she comes now. Grace, in what way ought uncle’s
-donation to be applied—you are the proper person to
-decide, and prevent Matilda from the selfishness
-she contemplates, in bestowing it all upon herself
-and me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Her sister crimsoned with anger, but Grace spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am sure you do Matilda injustice, Sophy; she
-would never act so deliberate a falsehood; as she told
-her uncle it should be applied to charity, she will
-certainly keep her word. And there is poor Mrs.
-Brown, the laundress, it would, indeed, be a charity
-to assist her—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And begin by paying her bills,” interrupted
-Sophy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But her sister, rising angrily, exclaimed, “I will
-not <a id='bebe'></a>be dictated to by either of you,” and hastily
-left the apartment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Uncle Medway had now been domesticated in the
-family for several weeks, and must, indeed, have
-been deaf, dumb and blind, to remain ignorant of the
-by-play going on around him. Secure in his entire
-deafness, Matilda frequently made use of her safety-valve
-aside; and once, when requested by her uncle
-to play, and she said to her sister, “I hope to have
-the pleasure of playing the Dead March for him ere
-long,” she caught his eye fixed upon her with such a
-severe glance, that a momentary doubt of his inability
-to hear made her tremble; but again assured by his
-bland manner toward her, she plied her fulsome
-flatteries more assiduously than ever. Grace often
-wondered how one so clear-headed in all other things,
-should be so easily imposed upon, while Sophy regarded
-her sister with undisguised contempt; and
-by way of offset, became more rude and impertinent
-than ever.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The rich uncle had been a great assistance to
-the household; his generous heart was continually
-prompting him to make those presents which he
-saw were required—and this was done in the most
-delicate manner. It was with mingled feelings,
-therefore, that Mrs. Medway met the information he
-one day gave, that he had purchased a house in one
-of the most fashionable squares, and desired the taste
-of the ladies to assist him in furnishing it. He intended
-to celebrate his installation in his own home,
-by a splendid ball and supper, to which, as he had
-few acquaintances, he begged the ladies to invite
-those friends whose society was desirable. He also
-told Mrs. Medway, in confidence, that if she would
-part with one of her fair charges, he wished on the
-appointed evening, publicly to announce his choice
-of one of them as his heiress and adopted daughter,
-on condition that she resided with him to cheer his
-lonely old age. Mrs. Medway gave a delighted
-assent. She had no doubt on whom the choice
-would fall, and immediately congratulated Matilda,
-and caused it to be whispered among her confidential
-friends that her eldest daughter would be the heiress
-of the Indian nabob. Matilda declared the infliction
-of residing with such a horrid bore a severe penalty,
-but promised herself the satisfaction of spending his
-money at pleasure, while Sophy maliciously advised
-her to practice the “Groves of Blarney” preparatory
-to the “Dead March.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The important evening arrived, and the three
-young ladies, elegantly attired in dresses of embroidered
-crape over India satin, presented by Uncle
-Medway, took their places in his splendid saloon to
-receive their guests. Matilda evidently took the
-precedence; and very handsome she looked in her
-stately beauty, doing the honors with all the grace
-which the future mistress of so superb an establishment
-should possess. While Grace, looking perfectly
-<span class='pageno' title='351' id='Page_351'></span>
-lovely in her pure and tasteful dress, shrunk
-abashed from the admiring gaze bestowed upon her,
-and was confused by the attention she excited.
-Uncle Medway went cheerfully among his guests,
-ear-cornet in hand, and spectacles on nose, quizzed
-by some, respected by many, and flattered by all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Just as supper was announced, and the musicians
-had left the ball for the supper-room, Uncle Medway,
-supporting Mrs. Medway on his arm, and followed
-by the young ladies, stepped into the midst of the
-brilliant circle, and said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My guests are aware, I suppose, of my intention
-to adopt one of these fair young ladies as my sole
-heiress, my sister-in-law having kindly consented to
-spare one from her bright circle. I am a lonely old
-man, with many peculiar notions, and I require,
-therefore, a cheerful, yet gentle and patient spirit, to
-support my whims. Such an one I have found in the
-person of Grace Addison, the grandchild of my oldest
-friend, and the daughter of my namesake and godson.
-I therefore declare her my adopted child and heiress.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A murmur of surprise ran through the assembly,
-Mrs. Medway and Matilda seemed ready to sink
-with confusion, Sophy clapped her hands, and Grace,
-pale and trembling with surprise and emotion, suffered
-herself to be led forward by the old gentleman,
-who continued,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have met with much kindness and attention
-beneath the roof of my sister-in-law, in token of
-which I shall bequeath to my niece, Matilda, the sum
-of thirty thousand dollars, when she has the pleasure
-of playing the Dead March for me. And to her
-sister, whose opinions were at least frankly avowed,
-I shall leave a similar amount. My ear-cornet and
-glasses have served me a trusty part, and I now lay
-them aside, I hope forever, trusting that the ladies
-have profited by the lesson they have themselves
-taught me, that appearances are often deceitful, and
-one need not be deaf, dumb and blind, though he is a
-Nabob Uncle.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whether Mrs. Medway and her daughters stayed
-to the splendid supper prepared, and swallowed
-their mortification and the delicacies together, this
-record sayeth not; but that the beautiful heiress,
-Grace Addison, became at once a star of the first
-magnitude in the fashionable world, is to be expected;
-but the bright star ever found her happiness in enlivening
-the home of the eccentric but kind old man,
-who found in his adopted daughter the delight and
-solace of his old age.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk108'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='352' id='Page_352'></span><h1><a id='raff'></a>RAFFAELLE D’URBINO.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY W. H. WELSH.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>’Twas night in Florence!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Pale the eve had come,</p>
-<p class='line'>And flung o’er Nature’s form a sable shroud.</p>
-<p class='line'>With step as light as joy the day had gone,</p>
-<p class='line'>And sunk into his jeweled couch, o’erhung</p>
-<p class='line'>With crimson canopy and crystal sheen.</p>
-<p class='line'>The rosy-colored clouds, with emerald fringed,</p>
-<p class='line'>That veiled the blushing sky, had faded far—</p>
-<p class='line'>And as the night crept on with noiseless tread,</p>
-<p class='line'>Bright starry eyes looked on the sleeping Earth,</p>
-<p class='line'>And smiled that then it was so like their home.</p>
-<p class='line'>Through latticed bower and tesselated hall,</p>
-<p class='line'>The zephyr danced with wild and airy wing;</p>
-<p class='line'>And spirit-songs sighed on the startled air</p>
-<p class='line'>That blew as fragrant as in Araby!</p>
-<p class='line'>The night was holy!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;On the arching sky</p>
-<p class='line'>The Painter turned and saw its thousand fires.</p>
-<p class='line'>Around his peaceful form the breezes stole</p>
-<p class='line'>With viewless pinions from Æolus sent,</p>
-<p class='line'>While ever and anon a passing breath,</p>
-<p class='line'>More eager than its fellow, rippled up</p>
-<p class='line'>The curls that gathered on his glorious brow.</p>
-<p class='line'>Like one whose spirit-form was not of Earth</p>
-<p class='line'>He seemed that hour, for o’er him halos hung,</p>
-<p class='line'>Such only as the vales of Paradise</p>
-<p class='line'>Enclose around the beings of their birth.</p>
-<p class='line'>And as he gazed upon the star-lit hall,</p>
-<p class='line'>And then with straining sight looked on the sky,</p>
-<p class='line'>As if to catch from it some angel glance,</p>
-<p class='line'>He sat him down and buried up his face.</p>
-<p class='line'>With agony oppressed, his very heart</p>
-<p class='line'>Was shrunk and withered, e’en as when a bird</p>
-<p class='line'>Whose little life has been a holyday,</p>
-<p class='line'>Is overwhelmed as summer clouds have wept.</p>
-<p class='line'>Why thus did shadows press upon his soul,</p>
-<p class='line'>And with their awful wings fright hopes away?</p>
-<p class='line'>Why thus disturbed? Fame in his way had strewn</p>
-<p class='line'>With reckless hand, her fairest, proudest gifts—</p>
-<p class='line'>Had taught his name to echo far amid</p>
-<p class='line'>The ages yet unborn, as though a God</p>
-<p class='line'>From high Olympus he’d been missioned forth!</p>
-<p class='line'>And yet his heart was sad—for in his dreams</p>
-<p class='line'>There broke upon his fancy such a form</p>
-<p class='line'>As dwelleth only in the Elfin-land.</p>
-<p class='line'>For her he pined—for her he breathed a sigh—</p>
-<p class='line'>And prayed to God that she might come to him,</p>
-<p class='line'>And in his waking moments bid him live.</p>
-<p class='line'>And as, with gloom and darkness thick’ning round,</p>
-<p class='line'>He sat and wept for joys that might not be,</p>
-<p class='line'>From out the dim and mystic land of dreams,</p>
-<p class='line'>There came to him entranced such visioned sights</p>
-<p class='line'>As never mortal eye had seen before.</p>
-<p class='line'>Back on the crumbling path of Time he went,</p>
-<p class='line'>And stood amid the light of ancient days—</p>
-<p class='line'>Amidst the treasures of the mighty dead!</p>
-<p class='line'>The seal that held the past was shriveled up,</p>
-<p class='line'>And from the breathing ruins wondrous forms</p>
-<p class='line'>Swept by, and walked again the sea of Life.</p>
-<p class='line'>The young and beautiful of olden time—</p>
-<p class='line'>The giant habitants whose genius swayed</p>
-<p class='line'>The visible creation at its dawn,</p>
-<p class='line'>All gathered there in that fantastic realm,</p>
-<p class='line'>To swell that ghostly throng!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>And as they came,</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='pageno' title='353' id='Page_353'></span></p>
-<p class='line'>One form arose so matchless in its grace,</p>
-<p class='line'>That all, amazed, shrank tremblingly away.</p>
-<p class='line'>With queenly step she trod the ravished turf,</p>
-<p class='line'>And with her winsome foot the lovely buds</p>
-<p class='line'>In very ecstasy of rapture played,</p>
-<p class='line'>That one so gentle sought their perfumed home.</p>
-<p class='line'>A veil of silver-tissue, mottled o’er</p>
-<p class='line'>With sparkling stars, hung round her sylphid form,</p>
-<p class='line'>And tresses, rich like Autumn’s golden grain,</p>
-<p class='line'>Fell down, and nestled on her snowy breast.</p>
-<p class='line'>Too exquisite for earth—of mould too fine—</p>
-<p class='line'>She seemed a herald from the beaming sky,</p>
-<p class='line'>Sent down to whisper of the spirit-land.</p>
-<p class='line'>Such sight, I ween, had painter never seen;</p>
-<p class='line'>And e’en the charméd breath of poesy,</p>
-<p class='line'>Whose blissful cadences the enwrapt ear</p>
-<p class='line'>Of wondering mortals caught with silent joy,</p>
-<p class='line'>Had conjured up in wild and weird-like spell,</p>
-<p class='line'>No face that ever was so fair and bright.</p>
-<p class='line'>One look she gave the painter as he gazed,</p>
-<p class='line'>That made to him a desert of the world—</p>
-<p class='line'>A look so full of passion and of love,</p>
-<p class='line'>It turned the memory of the past a blank,</p>
-<p class='line'>And in the future left him naught but her.</p>
-<p class='line'>His soul was all afire, and his brain</p>
-<p class='line'>Swam round, as when the throbbing heart of man</p>
-<p class='line'>Is burst for happiness it cannot hold;</p>
-<p class='line'>And as he strove to break the mortal chain</p>
-<p class='line'>That bound him where he lay, a mist arose</p>
-<p class='line'>And envious bore that being from the spot.</p>
-<p class='line'>Far from his sight she fled! and passed away</p>
-<p class='line'>With floating witcheries of wildest song,</p>
-<p class='line'>Into the twilight land where spirit forms</p>
-<p class='line'>Like phantoms mingled with the swelling gale.</p>
-<p class='line'>Far from his sight she fled! and like a <a id='barq'></a>barque</p>
-<p class='line'>Whose guiding star has left its native sky,</p>
-<p class='line'>The painter drifted on with heedless sail!</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='bold'> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.</span></p>
-<p class='line'>The morning breeze crept in the painter’s hall!</p>
-<p class='line'>And near the window ledge, with pallid brow,</p>
-<p class='line'>He lay like one whose very pulse had gone.</p>
-<p class='line'>With tips of gold the princely spires and domes</p>
-<p class='line'>Of Florence gleamed, and on her throne she sat</p>
-<p class='line'>A queen in pride—queen of the Tuscan land!</p>
-<p class='line'>The morning grew apace, and fleecy clouds,</p>
-<p class='line'>The children of the dawn, trailed o’er the sky.</p>
-<p class='line'>Still Raffaelle slept.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Near by his side</p>
-<p class='line'>Were rudely strewn the handmaids of his toil;</p>
-<p class='line'>And on his easel hung a picture full</p>
-<p class='line'>Of beauty as the glow on Dian’s front.</p>
-<p class='line'>No human eye had ever turned its gaze</p>
-<p class='line'>Upon that fair and sacred thing, save one,</p>
-<p class='line'>And little recked he now of bliss in store.</p>
-<p class='line'>The morning breeze crept in the painter’s hall,</p>
-<p class='line'>And catching its fresh scent he woke and stared</p>
-<p class='line'>Upon the sky that blazed with living light;</p>
-<p class='line'>And then again around the hall he cast</p>
-<p class='line'>A look that spoke of sorrow and of pain.</p>
-<p class='line'>And while he tried to chase away the clouds</p>
-<p class='line'>That brooded o’er him like a fearful spell,</p>
-<p class='line'>The radiant image of that lovely one</p>
-<p class='line'>That was his nightly dream, flashed on his sight;</p>
-<p class='line'>With wonderment he stood and scarcely breathed,</p>
-<p class='line'>For fear a lightsome sound might fright her far.</p>
-<p class='line'>Ay! there she beamed—a rainbow in the storm—</p>
-<p class='line'>For in his sleep his mighty genius woke,</p>
-<p class='line'>And gave <a id='embod'></a>embodiment to face and form;</p>
-<p class='line'>And joy clung round his overburdened heart,</p>
-<p class='line'>Like sunlight on the drooping bud, when storms</p>
-<p class='line'>Have rocked its tender petals in the breeze!</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk109'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i038f.jpg'><img src='images/i038.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0003' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/></a>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Painted by Gainsborough</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style='font-size:smaller'>Engraved by F. Humphreys</span><br/> <br/><span class='bold'>THE COTTAGE DOOR.</span><br/> <br/><span class='it'>Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk110'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='turn'></a>TURN NOT AWAY.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY HENRY MORFORD.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>If a voice from the far and happy land</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Ever echoed over thy cradle bed;</p>
-<p class='line'>If a mother’s voice and a mother’s hand</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Ever laid a blessing upon thy head;</p>
-<p class='line'>If a golden truth from the sacred page,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Ever was thine in an earlier day,</p>
-<p class='line'>And still lives on in thy riper age—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Turn not away.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>If hope beat high when thy youth began—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Bright hope and love for thy human kind—</p>
-<p class='line'>And cares have pressed on the heart of man</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Till love is weary and hope is blind;</p>
-<p class='line'>If still one star of all the host,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Burns with an old remembered ray,</p>
-<p class='line'>Believe not all of thy life is lost—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Turn not away.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>If sickness calls thee with feeble cry,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Or suffering moans from its bed of pain;</p>
-<p class='line'>If a pleading comes from the sunken eye,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Or madness shrieks from the fevered brain;</p>
-<p class='line'>Oh! watch, as the angels watch above,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Oh! pray for them as the angels pray;</p>
-<p class='line'>Bring heart and hand to the labor of love—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Turn not away.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>If poverty stands at thy cottage door—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Squalid poverty, faint and weak—</p>
-<p class='line'>Begging a crust from thy little store.</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Or the poor, cheap rest that the weary seek;</p>
-<p class='line'>Remember thou, that the mighty wheel</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Of fortune changes, day by day;</p>
-<p class='line'>Never be deaf to the poors’ appeal—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Turn not away.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>If thy brother fall in the slippery path,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And his hands are stained with human sin,</p>
-<p class='line'>If the sword of the world is raised in wrath,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And no city of refuge invites him in;</p>
-<p class='line'>If his pitiful cry come up to thee,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Remember that all men go astray,</p>
-<p class='line'>Still let thy heart his refuge be—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Turn not away.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>If life grows dark as thy years roll by,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And Heaven is veiled in cloud and storm,</p>
-<p class='line'>Oh! still look up with a trusting eye,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;For a beckoning smile from an angel form;</p>
-<p class='line'>So shall thy heart keep its holy laws,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Fulfilling its mission day by day,</p>
-<p class='line'>And God, when thou pleadest thy final cause—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Turn not away.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk111'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='354' id='Page_354'></span><h1><a id='fan'></a>COUSIN FANNY.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY M. S. G. NICHOLS, AUTHOR OF “UNCLE JOHN,” “THE WORLD AS IT IS,” ETC.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_7'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A pale, wan woman, with a young girl by her
-side, walked quickly along Chatham street, just as
-the twilight was deepening into darkness. She was
-very thinly clad, her light shawl was only a covering—it
-was no protection from the keen autumn air. It
-had once been an elegant and fashionable silk, but
-its fashion had long since passed away. It had been
-colored and colored again, until its substance had
-well-nigh disappeared. Her straw bonnet had been
-renovated many times, but not for a long time, and
-its faded ribbon was passed plainly over the crown,
-for it would have been mockery to make such ribbon
-into bows. Every thing that covered this young
-creature was passing away, and as she entered a
-pawn-broker’s shop, you might have seen by the
-light of the lamp that fell on her face, that she, too,
-was passing from a world that had given her small
-welcome, at least for many years. It would have
-been a comfort to any benevolent person, who had
-looked into that pale face, to have seen the red spot
-on one of her cheeks, and to have heard her cough.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What had she to do in a world so cold, with that
-miserable shawl to wrap around her ulcerated lungs,
-that smarted like fire with every breath of cold air
-they inhaled. She might as well have wrapped herself
-in cobwebs, as in clothes such as hers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She went into the shop, her poor, little, shadowy
-child clung close to her mother. She had little
-knowledge of the place or the people, though she had
-many times been there, but she knew that after many
-tears, her mother went there, and then that for a
-brief space they had food.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The poor lady took from her pocket two miniature
-pictures—the golden setting had been removed sometime
-before. They were by a master’s hand, worth at
-least one hundred dollars each, and infinitely precious
-to her, being the likenesses of her father and mother.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What will you give me for these?” said she,
-trembling in every nerve as she spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The hard money-getting son of Israel, whose trade
-was pawn-broking, and whose business made him
-look on misery three hundred and thirteen days in
-the year, answered, “They are worth nothing to me,
-madam.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lady shrunk into herself as if she had been
-shriveled. Her face and lips became deadly pale.
-She supported herself against the side of the box in
-which she stood, to conceal herself from view; and
-her little girl held her hand and clung to her garments
-in great fear. Very soon she began to cough,
-and in a moment her thin, tattered, white handkerchief
-was saturated with the blood she raised.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Jew looked at her with a mingling of kindness
-and fear. She must not bleed to death there. The
-pictures he knew were of much value, though there
-was a good deal of risk in taking them. He pitied
-the bleeding woman. Yet, pawn-broker and Jew as
-he was, he pitied her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will give you four dollars on them,” said he,
-and he hastily ticketed them, and handed her the
-money, to her infinite relief. She felt that she
-and her child had now a reprieve from death.
-The Jew selected some bills that bore a discount of
-ten per cent., and yet he pitied the woman, and she
-was so grateful to him that she could have pressed
-his hand, and wept hot tears upon it. She hurried
-away to her attic in Frankfort street. It was dark,
-and she feared insult. New York was worse lighted
-and worse cared for then than now. We had no
-gas and no star police then, but we had plenty of
-Jews and pawn-broker’s shops.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she passed along she raised the blood that
-pressed into her throat as fast as possible, but still it
-almost strangled her. Well-dressed people, men of
-business, returning home, and men and women hurrying
-to the theatre, the concert-room, or the prayer-meeting,
-or to the varied business or amusement of
-life, passed her without notice. She was their sister,
-but how were they to know that she was dying—that
-her scanty life-current was staining the pavement
-on which they stepped.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She reached the last landing-place, and thought
-that she could go no further, but it was not seemly
-to die there, and she made a last effort and entered
-her room. She was startled by a bright light in the
-room—light at night she had not had since she made
-the last dozen of shirts at ten cents a piece. Stranger
-still, there was a good, bright fire in the grate. Her
-husband stood before it, with his face toward the door,
-and his hands behind him, showily dressed as usual.
-She had not seen him for many days.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, Edward!” said she, “I am so glad you are
-come”—and she fainted, and would have fallen to the
-floor if he had not caught her in his arms. He laid
-her upon the meagre bed that had long since been
-robbed of every valuable article for the pawn-broker.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny,” said he, with a choking voice, “my
-poor Fanny!” He sprinkled water on her face, and
-she opened her eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am going, Edward,” said she.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, no!—you will not die now. O, don’t die
-till you have forgiven me for being your mur—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t say that—I forgive as I would be forgiven.
-Our child—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A hard fit of coughing and copious bleeding hindered
-her from speaking for some time.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Our poor Marie—give her to your Cousin Charles;
-he has wealth and none to care for. Promise me
-that you will do this.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The husband, trembling with fear, gave her the
-required promise, when she strangled from an excessive
-<span class='pageno' title='355' id='Page_355'></span>
-rush of blood into the trachea, and died with her
-daughter clinging madly around her neck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Edward Evans, the gambler and man about town,
-was alone with his dead wife, who, fourteen years
-before, he had persuaded to elope from her parents,
-and to marry him. She had gone through every
-gradation of suffering and poverty, and but for a
-strange run of luck that he had had for two or three
-evenings, she would have died in that dark, cold
-room, alone with her child, and have been buried in
-Potter’s Field. As it was, Evans had a basket of
-coal, a pound of candles, some food, and money to
-buy his wife a grave. And wretched as he was, we
-must do him the justice to say that he was glad to be
-able to bury his wife decently. And he did it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now he bethought him of her last request.
-He must make the effort to give away the child, who
-had clung to the corpse of her mother to the last moment,
-and who had not seemed to see or hear at all,
-since that mother was buried out of her sight.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_8'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A patient, plodding man was Charles Evans—a man
-who had made his own fortune, and was perfectly
-sure that every man might do the same who chose
-to mind his own business and keep at work, and not
-spend money or time. He went to election and
-voted, and went home without drinking a “brandy-smasher,”
-or a “whiskey-toddy.” He was a democrat
-when he had no property to protect, and when he
-had acquired wealth, he had got in the habit of being
-a democrat—and his democracy was his religion, his
-Faith in Human Brotherhood. He immured himself
-in a living tomb in Wall street all day, and worked
-half the night at his home in William street, beside.
-It was here that Edward Evans found him, the
-evening after his wife’s funeral.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How are you, Ned?” said Charles, glancing at
-him to see if he were sober, and then continued to
-fold and direct letters, seeming a little nervous under
-the infliction of a visit from his worthless cousin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have been very unfortunate,” said Ned, a good
-deal troubled how to penetrate his thick-skinned
-cousin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I never knew you otherwise,” said Charles, and
-he wrote on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I mean, I have had the bad fortune to bury my
-wife.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very good fortune for her,” said his cousin, but
-he dropped his pen and regarded the weed on Ned’s
-hat. “I did not notice that you were in mourning.
-So Fanny is dead. It is a long time since I have
-seen her. She died of a broken-heart, I suppose, you
-will allow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She bled to death from her lungs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All the same. Pity it had not been you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I came to see you about the child. She wished
-me to give her to you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To ME,” said his cousin, starting with real
-astonishment. “What could I do with a child, and
-a child who could never see her father again if she
-were to live with me? How old is she?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t justly remember,” said Ned.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is there a race-horse in the city whose age you
-don’t remember? How long did it take you to kill
-your wife—do you know that? How long have you
-been a drunkard and a devil? How long have you
-eaten when your wife and child starved? How long
-have you hid them where even I could not find
-them—can you tell me that, you decently dressed
-vagabond? I’ll warrant your wife is clad as warmly
-in her grave as she was out of it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ned could answer nothing. He was a wretch—and
-he had the good sense to know it. He had not
-the slightest respect for himself, but he wanted his
-child taken care of; then, if he had a pint of brandy,
-and six feet of rope, he <span class='it'>thought</span> he would comfort
-himself with the brandy, and hang himself with the
-rope; but then he had a great liking for cards and a
-decent rig, and it is probable that while luck, or
-loaded dice, gave him broadcloth and brandy, he
-would have laid up the rope against a lack of
-either, which he would have considered a decided
-reverse of fortune.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I promised my wife that I would give the girl to
-you. If you will take her, I will go to the South,
-and never show my face here again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What on earth am I to do with a child? My old
-blind aunt can’t see to herself and me—how is she to
-take care of another? But it is a temptation to be
-rid of you. How does the girl look?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The father was again at a loss.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you don’t know—what color is Kenny’s
-horse, Eclipse? How many hands high is he, and
-how old? How far can he run in ten minutes and
-thirteen seconds?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Once for all—will you take the girl?” said the
-man whose life was exhausted by dissipation and
-excitement into an apathy that resembled patience.
-“She will have to go to the Almshouse if you don’t,
-and your blood is in her veins. She is your grandmother’s
-grandchild.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I <span class='it'>would</span> like you to be the only one of our blood
-who should die in the Almshouse; but I say again—what
-am I to do with the child? I can only take her
-as a servant.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Make a slave of your own blood if you like,”
-replied the father, whose stupid apathy was pierced
-at last. “She had better serve you than serve the
-devil. She is a good, serviceable child.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, you know that, do you? No doubt you know
-all about that. Look you, Ned Evans, I owe you no
-service. I have earned every dollar I have, whilst
-you have squandered a fortune twice as large as mine,
-of your own, and another for your wife, whilst you
-have been a sponge to soak brandy, a gambler and a
-stool-pigeon for gamblers, and have made acquaintance
-with every horse-dealer and all the horse-flesh
-in the Union, and have murdered your wife by inches,
-till at the age of 29 years, an age when she should be
-as fresh as a new-blown rose, and with her fortune
-living as well as any lady in the land, you have done
-her the last and only kindness you ever did her—you
-have bought her a pine coffin, and have seen her
-buried. But though I know you ought to be hung,
-I will make a bargain with you. I will see you on
-<span class='pageno' title='356' id='Page_356'></span>
-board a vessel bound for New Orleans, with your
-passage paid, and take your child. You agree to go
-to New Orleans. When once you are there, I have
-no fear of you or your ghost ever appearing to me
-again. On these conditions I will take the child.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When must I sail for New Orleans? I’ll go
-after Monday. The race with Eclipse and Black
-Bess comes off then. I have agreed to ride for
-Kenny. I know the horse better than anybody else.
-Besides, a fellow must keep his word.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very good,” said Charles, after a moment’s
-thought. “You <span class='it'>may</span> break your neck, and save me
-the passage-money. I agree to that—any thing
-more?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When may I bring the girl?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To-morrow morning at 6 o’clock.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That’s too early to wake her,” mumbled Ned.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then, or not at all. You can keep sober one
-night, and get up in decent season one morning in
-your life, for the sake of getting your child a situation.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If a particle of Ned Evans’ old spirit had been left,
-this taunt of getting his daughter a situation would
-have roused it. But his life was crushed. He was
-hopelessly besotted and exhausted, though now he
-had decent clothes, for which he had sacrificed the
-last remnant of decent feeling he possessed. These
-clothes belonged to the keeper of the vilest Hell in
-New York; and Ned was his “decoy-duck,” and
-did any job the fellow set him about.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was as craven before his cousin as possible.
-He had one instinct of his nature left—he wanted to
-provide for his child.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will be here at the time, so help me God,” said
-he—and he kept his word. It was the last right act
-of his life. As if to make his cousin out a prophet,
-he rode Eclipse, and broke his neck in earnest,
-though not in “<span class='it'>sober</span> earnest.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When Charles Evans heard of it, he only said,
-“One poor devil less in the world;” but he murmured
-to himself, as he turned away, “Poor Cousin
-Ned!”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_9'>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Send the little girl to my room to-night, aunty,
-when you have made her decent. I must see what
-she is fit for, and what she looks like. Remember,
-she is to have good warm clothes, but no gewgawry.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At 8 o’clock precisely, Marie came into Mr. Evans’s
-room with a waiter, on which was spread the most
-frugal sort of a supper. Rye bread and butter and
-black tea, it was his sovereign pleasure to be served
-with at night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Evans had had time only to extemporise an
-amelioration in the girl’s dress. She was at that
-very awkward age when a girl is not a child or a
-woman. She had a heavy burden of deep-red hair,
-and all her bones showed through their scant covering
-of flesh—and they seemed hung on wires, and
-very loosely hung, too. Her eyes were a very deep
-blue, but she had been somewhat “cross-eyed” from
-infancy, and now the defect was much aggravated
-by her constant weeping. She was very timid,
-shrinking from every one. What had she ever found
-in her lot to assure her or give her confidence?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Poor, forlorn, ill-dressed, cross-eyed, red-haired,
-little one—all your defects are so many commendations
-to Charles Evans. In the deep selfishness of
-his benevolence he could love just such a child—one
-whom others would only pity and never think of
-loving. And he felt a sort of secure property in her
-when he saw that no one else would be likely to care
-for her; but he would be very certain not to let her
-know that he had any kind feelings for her. He was
-a scraggy limb of the law, and one would think that
-all the sap of his life had been written out in deeds
-and documents that brought him dollars, and that all
-the warmth of his heart had been expended on the
-Loco Foco candidates from his ward, district, city,
-county, etc., etc., during the time he had been a
-legal voter, which had now reached the term of fourteen
-years. He had amassed a large property, and
-had neither “chick nor child” to leave it to, as his
-friends said, all and singular of said friends having
-made up their minds that he would never marry,
-though he had only reached the mature and well-judging
-age of thirty-five.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He liked to be thought well of, as who does not;
-and there was a delicate flattery to him in the thought
-that Fanny Evans trusted her child to <span class='it'>him</span> before
-any of her own or her husband’s relatives. To any
-one of these relatives he would have spoken of the
-burden of bringing up other folks’ brats, but in his
-heart he thought “it was very wise, and well-judged,
-and kind of Fanny, to leave the girl to me; and when
-Ned is out of the way, I shall have nothing to interfere
-with my plans for the child’s welfare.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When Marie had set his waiter upon the table, she
-stopped and timidly raised her cross-eyes to Mr.
-Evans, to see if he wanted any thing more.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sit down, Marie,” said he. “I wish your name
-was Fanny, I don’t like fancy names and flummery.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was named for my mother, Frances Maria,”
-said she, in the sweetest and softest voice that Evans
-remembered ever to have heard. Her voice penetrated
-his heart—and then her name was Fanny. He
-had always cherished a cordial friendship and a true
-respect for her mother—and he wished the girl to
-bear her mother’s name.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would like very much to be called Fanny,”
-said the child.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, then, Fanny, how do you like your new
-home?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am very glad of it,” said Fanny, and the tears
-filled her eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t cry—there’s a good girl. Do you wish
-to go to school?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know how I would like school. My dear
-mother always taught me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you must go and see how you will get on.
-You will be a good girl, I dare say. You will obey
-Mrs. Evans in all she asks of you. If you want any
-thing, come to me. You will call me Cousin Charles
-when you speak to me, and Mr. Evans when you
-<span class='pageno' title='357' id='Page_357'></span>
-speak of me. When you speak to Mrs. E. call her
-aunty, and Mrs. Evans when you speak of her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And thus little Fanny began her life at her cousin’s
-comfortable home. When she was told of her
-father’s death, she shuddered and felt relieved. Fanny
-loved her mother as we always love when we have
-few objects for our affections to rest on. But with
-the blessed faith of a child and a Christian, she believed
-she was now in heaven, where she would be
-perfectly happy forever, and she became strangely
-happy in her new home. All her studies and occupations
-were so many changing joys. From morning
-till night she was like some bright bird that knew
-not where to bestow the fullness of its brilliant and
-merry carolings. Everybody saw as the months
-passed away, how she wound herself around the
-heart of Charles Evans; and the friends began to prophesy
-that he would adopt her as his child, and make
-her his heir.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Evans was a woman of great goodness, very
-old, and very pious. She had now but one wish
-ungratified, and that was that Charles Evans and his
-ward should be converted. This seemed a hard
-matter to accomplish as far as Evans was concerned.
-He was rather a hopeless subject, for he boasted that
-he was a temperance man, that he never drank any
-thing stronger than black tea, that he never chewed
-tobacco, took laughing gas, or went to a protracted
-meeting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go to church with aunty enough to keep the
-peace,” said he to Fanny. “You and I will not
-quarrel about it as long as it tends to aunty’s comfort.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would not like you to quarrel with me if I
-went for my own comfort,” said Fanny.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This touch of his own independence pleased him,
-and he said, “Go along, you gipsy—thistles and
-lilies never quarrel.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Red-haired girls are never lilies, though cross
-cousins are very sharp thistles,” said Fanny, who, a
-year ago, would as soon have indulged in repartee
-with her cousin as the lily he likened her to.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have grown very bold, if not very handsome,”
-he replied—and Fanny went to church with
-her aunt. She was never disturbed there, however
-much good Mrs. Evans prayed for such result.
-Some of her prayers had been answered. She had
-prayed for many years that all the theatres might be
-converted into chapels, and at last <span class='it'>one</span> of them was,
-and she had the pleasure of hearing the divine Mr.
-Kirchard preach in it, from Sunday to Sunday, and
-various week days and evenings beside. He was an
-earnest preacher, and it was surprising the quantities
-of green tea, cayenne and cavendish that he converted
-into gospel. The ladies of his church presented
-the pulpit with an elegant cushion and spittoon,
-and never mortal minister had more use for
-both than the Rev. Mr. Kirchard. The way he beat
-the cushion and filled the other article, when he
-alarmed the sinners, <span class='it'>was</span> plentiful.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But Fanny was never disturbed with the powerful
-preaching of the reverend gentleman. Like a man
-who tends a saw-mill half the time, and sleeps soundly
-when relieved by his companion who tends it the
-other half, so Fanny was always very peaceful in
-church, if she was not sleepy. I believe she had a
-conscience against sleeping, though what she kept
-awake for, perhaps she was not herself aware. But
-it was very exemplary of her, and very gratifying
-to good Mrs. Evans.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_10'>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There are some good people who deny the doctrine
-of total depravity, who don’t see how it is possible
-for a man deliberately to be a hypocrite. They
-say that a man can’t live unless he has some good
-in him. I shall not dispute with these worthy people,
-because, in a free country, every man has a right to
-his own opinion, provided he does not happen to
-think that he may buy tickets in lotteries out of Wall
-street, and appropriate his neighbor’s goods without
-the formalities made and provided in the righteous
-common law of our social code; but I must say that
-if goodness is necessary to keep people alive, some
-folks have the gift of living on “small means;” and
-it becomes my duty to introduce a young gentleman
-eminently gifted in this particular.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sylvester Wilson was a young man who had a
-laudable wish for his own advancement, but, unfortunately
-for his piety, he was entirely indifferent to
-the means that contributed to his getting ahead, provided
-the world made no complaint of him. The
-opinion of those about him, with two-thirds the facts
-concealed from them, was a moral law for him, and
-he had no other. His father was a bad, ambitious
-and unscrupulous man, and the hereditary transmission
-of qualities would have charmed Fowler,
-though the qualities proved that he was “bad, born
-bad, and had no business here” but to make mischief.
-He was, however, an excellent dissembler,
-and passed for a pious and exemplary young man,
-punctual at church, and designed for the ministry.
-His family were friends of the Evans family.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, mother, have you wormed any thing out
-of old Aunty Evans about that red-haired horror’s
-adoption?” said Sylvester Wilson, to his mother one
-day, when she had been taking an old-fashioned cup
-of tea with Mrs. Evans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How <span class='it'>can</span> you, Sylvester!” said his mother, a
-good deal disturbed. “The child is very well, I
-am sure.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Frights generally have good health.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I meant that she was very well-looking. She
-has changed much in the two years she has lived
-with her cousin. Her hair is deepening its color,
-her eyes do not squint any more, and she is very
-plump and fresh.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All the better for me—fourteen, is she? She
-will get better still, perhaps, in two or three years.
-But about the cash, mother—will that old hunks of a
-cousin portion her? If so, I am his man.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Evans thinks he considers her as good as
-his own child now,” said Mrs. Wilson. “You are
-to be three years in the University, my child, and
-you can’t think of a wife till that time is past.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know what harm <span class='it'>thinking</span> is to do a
-<span class='pageno' title='358' id='Page_358'></span>
-fellow. I am not in the University yet, and I don’t
-exactly see how I am to be there, unless I find a
-gold mine. If I could get employed to give lessons
-to that fox-pate, I might earn some money, and
-borrow more, and get an education and independence
-at last. One can’t expect beauty and tin together.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Success was all Mrs. Wilson asked for her son,
-and his life-plans did not seem to her at all profane.
-And he succeeded in obtaining the place he sought.
-He gave Fanny lessons in music and mathematics.
-It was a great triumph when Fanny got leave of
-Cousin Charles to learn music. She had thought of
-a piano, and dreamed of one, and thumped on one
-that belonged to a young friend for a long time—but
-she had no idea of ever being the happy possessor of
-a mine of music.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At Christmas, just about two years from the time
-when she came to live with her cousin, she made a
-little “Christmas box” for her best friend. It contained
-a pair of slippers, a watch-holder, and a lamp-mat,
-all worked by herself. They had grown very
-pretty under her skillful fingers, but the coarse
-canvas had not changed more under her hands than
-she had changed since she had lived in this happy
-home. And she was daily improving. When Charles
-Evans found this Christmas gift on his table, he resolved
-to give Fanny just what she should ask for,
-and so he said, “I have only got you a book for
-Christmas, Fanny, but if you think of any thing else
-that you want, you must tell me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And will you really give it me?” said Fanny,
-and her deep-blue eyes seemed melting in their own
-lustre.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To be sure I will, because I have said so.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, then, dear, good Cousin Charles, buy me
-a piano.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Buy you a winter full of thunder storms—why
-you will bang me deaf.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But not dumb, I’ll bet any thing—you will always
-be able to scold your poor Cousin Fanny. But I
-shall play when you are away.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I rather think you will when you get a piano.
-Why do you know what a deal of money one of
-those thunderers costs?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Fanny began to be frightened. She did not know,
-but she was really like the child who cried for the
-moon. The tears came into her eyes as she thought
-of herself two years ago. She looked up at her
-cousin, with her grateful soul beaming from her
-beautiful eyes, and smiling through her tears, she
-said, “Cousin, I was very wrong to ask such an impossible
-thing—will you buy me a canary-bird?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you give up all claim to the piano if I do?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, yes, to be sure. Please to forget it. Indeed,
-I did not mean to be a silly girl.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus ended the talk of the piano; but the next
-afternoon an elegant piano and a beautiful canary-bird,
-were domesticated in Mr. Evans’s quiet parlor—and
-Fanny was perfectly wild with delight. That
-was a wonderful era in her life—a time to date from
-forever after—though Cousin Charles brushed her
-off as if she had been a whole swarm of black flies,
-when she ran to his room, on his return in the evening,
-to overwhelm him with thanks, and tears, and crazy
-rejoicings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bless me, Fanny,” said he, “you had better
-make up your mind whether you are going to melt,
-or fly away, or go to a lunatic asylum; and when
-you have concluded, just come and let me know,
-will you? I can do without you till then.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next thing to the piano must be a music-teacher.
-Young Wilson had played his cards skillfully.
-He had interested Charles Evans in his fortunes,
-and he engaged him from motives of benevolence,
-to teach Fanny. To do him justice, he was
-a good teacher. But Evans was cheated. He did
-not think it possible that the fellow could have
-thought but to teach Fanny, that he might mend his
-small means—a most praiseworthy object in the
-young man, and one that Evans felt anxious to assist
-him in attaining. Though Fanny had grown very
-pretty, and was daily improving, yet her cousin was
-hardly conscious of it. He thought of her as a mere
-child as she was, and a very ugly child as she had
-been; and it never once entered his mind that any
-young man could have designs upon the heart of
-the little one. Young Wilson interested him, not
-because he knew him, but because he did not know
-him. He saw him struggling to get an education,
-and pay for it himself, and he was glad to have an
-excuse to offer him assistance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Evans had small love for music, but mathematics
-was a pet of the first magnitude with him, and for
-the sake of this branch of study, he compromised
-and gave the girl her music. So he said; but the
-truth was, he wished Fanny to be happy. And he
-had his wish. The bird and the piano were all the
-time new, and she could never for a moment, asleep
-or awake, cease to rejoice in either. She kept her
-word not to play when Mr. Evans was at home.
-But then this was no great privation, for the bird
-sang like mad all the morning, and he went away
-early, and she managed to tire herself so thoroughly
-during the day, that she was very willing to go
-patiently and quietly into figures for the evening.
-Mr. Evans was quite satisfied, for as he said he saw
-Fanny always at her “sums,” and never was disturbed
-by drums or thunder.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Wilson found himself of just as much social importance
-to Fanny as a piano or an algebra. She
-would have been just as much interested in a calculating
-machine; and if her piano could have taught
-her to play on it, she would have been neither better
-or worse pleased than now. To be sure she was glad
-when her Aunt Evans told her of the struggles of
-young Wilson to educate himself that she had him
-for a teacher, but she never thought enough of him
-to mention him to Mr. Evans; first, because she
-seldom needed his help in her mathematical studies,
-and of music she never spoke to her cousin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Wilson was prudent and careful. He had good
-hope of getting into the University—in time of a
-pulpit, and a rich wife. No word, or look, or overt
-act ever revealed to Fanny or her friends, that he
-had designs on the fortune of Mr. Evans, through a
-marriage with his ward. For months he labored
-<span class='pageno' title='359' id='Page_359'></span>
-<a id='assi'></a>assiduously, when an accident occurred that changed
-the face of his fortune, though, perhaps, it did not
-materially affect Fanny. A merchant uncle of Wilson,
-who lived at New Orleans, found himself in need of
-an assistant, in consequence of failing health. He
-was a man of wealth, and Wilson considered his
-fortune assured by this chance—and so the church
-lost the chance of adding to her ornaments another
-of those paste gems that bring the real jewels into
-disrepute.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_11'>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Seventeen! sweet, gay, laughing seventeen had
-come to Fanny—and she had never once thought of
-getting married. Not she. She would have been
-obliged to contemplate marriage as something that
-must separate her from the only home she had ever
-known; and she would as soon have stepped out of
-her skin some cold night, as have gone away from
-her dear friends. She liked everybody and loved
-nobody, and wanted to hug the whole world, as she
-forcibly said, because she was so happy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Christmas Eve, to-morrow, Cousin Charles; I
-hope all my presents are purchased and directed.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what are you going to give <span class='it'>me</span>, little Miss
-Fairy?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Myself, to be sure,” laughed Fanny. “What
-else have I to give away?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, that you wont. You will keep yourself for
-some worthless fellow, I’ll warrant.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, I thank you. I had rather be excused. I
-intend to make your black tea as long as you live, if
-you don’t conclude to leave the tea out, and take
-water with me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I tell you, you will marry a scamp the day after you
-are eighteen—that is the way with all the women.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There must be a prodigious number of scamps,
-then, cousin; and if you had only been one of them,
-you might have been <span class='it'>happily married</span>, instead of
-being the nicest bear of a bachelor at large.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I think I might get married even now, if I were
-only fool enough.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But as you are very wise, you shall be my
-Cousin Charles, and nothing else—and I would not
-exchange you for a pet porcupine. Don’t you see
-how I prize you? So don’t think of getting married—I
-should quarrel with your wife, to see which
-should love you best; and that would be very inconvenient
-for us all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Christmas was a merry time at Charles Evans’s.
-The man of deeds and documents always relaxed
-and came out of the world of business, or, as he said,
-“allowed the world to mind its own business” at
-Christmas and New Year. But something very
-serious happened to Mr. Evans from this year’s
-Christmas merry-making. A pretty girl needed some
-one to see her home, and glowing and perspiring
-from the last game at “Blind Man’s Buff,” Mr.
-Evans attended her on a bitter night, which made
-him run home as rapidly as possible, with chattering
-teeth, and a chill that seemed to go quite to his heart.
-Next morning he awoke with a quaking headache
-and pains through all his bones, and great heat and
-cold chills, and all the concomitants of a bad fever
-about him. Thanks to the exhaustion of unremitting
-and most unreasonable labor, such as a great many
-men perform who do the head-work for the headless
-multitude, and thanks also to the lancet of a certain
-doctor, who held to letting the bad blood out of a
-man, and poisoning what remained to purify it, Mr.
-Evans became dangerously sick. What an invaluable
-treasure was Fanny now. Her foot was the lightest—her
-hand was the softest and coolest—her eyes
-never closed in slumber, unless she left the best of
-watchers in her place—and she threw quantities of
-physic to the dogs, or some equally prudent place,
-and she nourished the patient carefully when he
-began to get well; and at last, in spite of all the evils
-in the patient, and out of him, doctors and drugs included,
-she saw Mr. Evans convalescent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length he came down stairs, and when he
-thought how long Fanny had left her piano locked,
-and not even listened to her canary, he asked her
-for a song. It was in very kindness to her, and in
-accordance with his benevolent character—for he
-thought that he disliked music, and it is probable that
-he had the good taste to dislike the heathen discord
-that had been christened music, where he had happened
-to be the victim.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Battle of Prague, thumped with indenting
-emphasis on a piano sadly out of tune, had given
-Mr. Evans his ideas of melody; and it is small
-wonder that he had as great dislike for music as prudent
-regard for his ears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a great surprise to Mr. Evans when Fanny’s
-melodious voice fell on his ear, appropriately accompanied
-by the instrument, which was one of the
-softest and sweetest in the world. He had expected
-the Battle of Prague, and it seemed to him, so great
-was the contrast, like humming-birds amid the
-flowers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Fanny sung a song of her own composing, descriptive
-of her own life, first in its great sadness
-and trials and deep grief with her sainted mother,
-and then her bereavement, and then her adoption by
-her cousin, and the calm flow of her life since then.
-At the close of her song she alluded to her best
-friend’s illness, and spoke of her joy that he was
-now safely recovering. The song and the music
-were her own, and they came from the depth of her
-heart. The sad, sweet murmur of her soul’s sorrow
-in the first verses, was succeeded by the calm
-happiness and bird-like joy of the years passed in her
-cousin’s home, and again the sorrowful notes spoke
-of his illness, and the winged joy burst forth in the
-happy conclusion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a triumph to Fanny when she saw at the
-close of the piece tears rolling over Mr. Evans’s
-face, and he said, with a voice rendered indistinct
-by emotion, “Sing it again, Fanny”—and she was
-only too happy to comply with his request.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the song was ended, he conquered his emotion,
-and laughing through his tears, he said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You shall be my nightingale, Fanny.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thank you, I accept the appointment—what
-salary do you intend to give?” said Fanny, as she
-<span class='pageno' title='360' id='Page_360'></span>
-sat down on the sofa by the invalid, and passed her
-hand over his high, white forehead, to see if any
-fever were warning her to send her patient away
-to rest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will give you myself and all that I have,” said
-he, again bursting into tears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A flood of new thoughts rushed through the mind
-of Fanny. She paused to think what to say. “You
-are weak, cousin, and must not sit up too long.
-Will you go to your room, or will you rest and sleep
-on the sofa here?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Evans was frightened at what he had said.
-He was sure Fanny could never love him only as a
-father or elder brother; and now he thought he had
-broken the freedom of that relation, and he blamed
-himself, and troubled himself, and well-nigh fretted
-himself into a relapse of his fever. But his naturally
-strong constitution triumphed, and in a few weeks
-he was perfectly restored.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile Fanny had become grave and thoughtful;
-and, truth to tell, she shunned her cousin more
-than she ought. She had not known how dear he
-was to her till his illness—during the time that he
-was considered dangerous she had neither eaten nor
-slept. She had watched over him as a mother
-watches her first born. She felt that if he should die,
-life, which had always seemed so full of joy and
-blessing, would be a blank to her. She had not
-asked herself if this were love. She had supposed
-it was only the interest she ought to feel in her cousin.
-Now she was put upon examining her own heart.
-She fully believed that her cousin was by no means
-in love with her, but that his tender confession was
-owing to the weakness induced by his severe illness
-and his gratitude to his fortunately successful nurse.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_12'>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And now, mother, tell me all about the Evanses.
-Is my flame as foxy as ever? She must be quite a
-young lady. Heaven forgive me for not being
-thankful enough for all mercies in general, and for
-the particular one that I am not obliged to marry red
-hair.” Thus spoke the fortunate Wilson, the morning
-after his arrival from New Orleans, bringing the
-welcome news that his relative was dead, and that
-he was his heir.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be too hasty, Sylvester,” said his mother.
-“Miss Evans has changed more than any one you
-ever saw. She is a perfect beauty, bating her freckles.
-Her hair is no more red than a chestnut. She is
-plump and round as an apple; she is white as snow,
-and her eyes are as pretty as possible.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Amen, mother! One would think you were her
-lover instead of your hopeful son. But I will see
-for myself. I shall not take your word or your bond
-for that girl’s beauty.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And so Mr. Wilson, armed for conquest, presented
-himself before Miss Evans. She had never cared
-enough for him to be very glad to see him, but she
-received him politely and kindly, as was her nature.
-He was a very good-looking, stylish young man, and
-he talked well on common topics, and soon succeeded
-in interesting Fanny. He was quite unprepared, notwithstanding
-all his mother had said, for the beauty
-that had grown upon Fanny. He loved beauty just
-as he loved roast pig and canvas-backs—and he was
-smashed at once—Fanny had made an impression.
-He asked her to play and sing for her <span class='it'>cidevant</span>
-teacher, and the impression was fixed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Wilson was sure at the end of an hour that he
-should marry Fanny Evans; and Fanny thought
-him a very good-looking, interesting young man,
-and she rejoiced in his good fortune; their musical
-tastes formed a bond between them, and it
-soon seemed very natural and proper to Fanny that
-she saw young Wilson daily. She was sad, and
-singing diverted her. His voice was good, and they
-sung duets. He played finely, and this was very
-pleasant. She had become estranged from her cousin,
-and she wanted some company. Fanny had never
-been so unhappy since she first came to live with
-her cousin. Finally, Wilson offered himself to her.
-This was an event to Fanny entirely unexpected.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t speak of such a thing,” said she, earnestly.
-“Pray excuse me, Mr. Wilson,” and she went
-straight out of the room. When she reached her
-chamber, she felt very sorrowful, and, truth to tell,
-very sick. She had been worn down by labor and
-watching during Mr. Evans’s illness, and her sadness
-in being estranged from him. She had got
-nervous, and began, for the first time in her life, to
-have the <span class='it'>blues</span>. She almost persuaded herself that
-she was become a burden to her cousin, and that she
-ought to marry Wilson. She wept till she had a
-dreadful headache, and when the servant came to
-call her to make Mr. Evans’s tea, she was really too
-ill to go down—and with swollen eyes, red face, and
-dabbled and disarranged curls, she looked into the
-glass, and dared not present herself before her cousin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell Mr. Evans that I have a bad headache, and
-if he will excuse me, I will go early to bed. Make
-every thing very nice for him, Norah. Were his
-slippers warm when he came in?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know, Miss, but I will get his supper
-good”—and she went to carry Fanny’s excuse to Mr.
-Evans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go back, Norah, quickly, and ask Miss Evans
-if I may come up.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Fanny had wheeled her sofa to the fire, and had
-just buried her face in a velvet cushion to weep as
-long and as much as she wished. Mr. Evans, in his
-concern for her, had followed Norah, and stood outside
-the door.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell him not to trouble himself to come up. I
-shall do very well as soon as I have slept.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you had asked me to take the trouble to stay
-down stairs, I might have thought of it; but seeing I
-am here, it is no trouble to come; and you are so
-bright and cosy, suppose you let the girl bring the
-waiter up here and make my tea for me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Evans was quite sure that something beside
-sickness had happened to Fanny, and he intended to
-be confessor or doctor, as the case might be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Norah, bring Mr. Evans’s supper to my room,”
-said Fanny, more cheerfully than she would have
-thought possible a few minutes before. And she
-<span class='pageno' title='361' id='Page_361'></span>
-passed into her bed-room and bathed her face and her
-eyes, and arranged her hair, and came back to make
-tea for Mr. Evans very much improved. But she
-could not talk—she had fairly lost her tongue.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Evans seemed more unconstrained and more
-fully himself than since his unfortunate offer of himself
-to Fanny.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny,” said he, after the tea things were taken
-away, “I would like to ask you what is the matter,
-if I thought you would like to tell me. It is no common
-headache that is tormenting you; I would
-sooner guess it is a heartache.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what if it is a heartache?” said Fanny.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You mean to ask what I should have to do with
-the diseases of your heart. I tell you, Fanny, I am
-not as bad as you may think, or so big a fool either.
-For instance, though I love you a great deal better
-than Heaven, and would sooner have you for my
-wife than an angel, yet knowing that you can’t love
-an old codger like me, I want to see you happy with
-the man of your choice, and I tell you now, for the
-cure of your headache, or heartache, that you have
-my consent to marry Mr. Wilson.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Fanny burst into so violent and uncontrolled a fit
-of weeping, that Mr. Evans was alarmed and puzzled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Speak to me, Fanny, tell me what is all this. I
-thought to give you great joy, and I only set you
-weeping. Tell me, what does all this mean?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dear Cousin Charles,” said Fanny, “you have
-given me the greatest joy of my life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then you love Wilson, as I thought,” said Mr.
-Evans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, no—not Wilson, but you, Cousin Charles;
-and you said you would rather have me for your
-wife than an angel.” And Fanny threw her arms
-around Charles Evans’s neck; and there is not a
-shadow of doubt that he would cheerfully have exchanged
-all the pleasures of his long bachelorate in
-a lump, for the kisses of the next five minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They were a happy couple that evening; but
-Wilson’s prospects were worse damaged than his
-heart.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk112'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='sleep'></a>THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY HENRY S. HAGERT.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Sweet is the tomb—the all-forgetting tomb—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The dreamless couch round which no phantoms glide,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To harrow up the soul, or read a doom,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Of yore on their dread Sabbath prophesied.</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Calm are its slumbers—never more shall pride,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Hatred or malice, wound the sleeping clay;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Wrong not the dead—they should be deified—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;They lived and suffered, and have passed away;</p>
-<p class='line'>Here be all feuds forgot—ye, too, shall have your day.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Your day of trouble, when the cup of Grief,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Full of its Marsh-waters must be drained</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;E’en to the dregs—when ye will need relief</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;From those upon whose head your lips have rained,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Curses; when they who were by you disdained,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Shall offer in their mockery, to dry</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;The hot dew of your brows by anguish strained</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Through the parched skin. Ah! then, in grief to fly</p>
-<p class='line'>For refuge to the grave, and find but calumny.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Let the dead rest—if ye must “snarl and bite,”</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Turn to the living—there your venom spill;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Put on Deception’s mask, then vent your spite,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Sharpen your fangs, and gnaw, and rend, and kill—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;’Tis a sweet banquet—eat and drink your fill;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ye can thrive well on malice—but forbear</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To stir the ashes of the dead, your skill</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Can never fan a glowing ember there,</p>
-<p class='line'>At which the hated torch of vengeance to repair.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Look on the dead, and if ye cower and quail</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;To think that ye shall be like them one day—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;That the cold coffin-worm, with slimy trail,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Shall crawl across your forehead, or from play</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Within your eyeless sockets forth shall stray,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;To feast upon your rottenness, your hair</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Shall drip the sick’ning grave-damps, and the gray,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Dry dust of the rank sepulchre, for air,</p>
-<p class='line'>Fill up your nostrils—then by the cold grave <span class='it'>forbear</span>!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Think on your last dark hour, when a gaunt form,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Spectral and shadowy, shall stoop and set</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;A mystic seal upon you; when the storm</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Of conscience rages, till its spray has wet</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Your brow; when, like the doom in Venice met,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The walls of your lone chamber seem to close</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Upon you, crushed and bleeding, dying, yet</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Never to die—from torments such as those,</p>
-<p class='line'>Would you be free? Withhold—break not the dead’s repose.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk113'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='greek'></a>FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGIA.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>PARAPHRASE.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY RICHARD PENN SMITH.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>A stalwart blind man trudging through the mud,</p>
-<p class='line'>O’ertook a cripple; side by side they stood.</p>
-<p class='line'>“Cripple, you’re stall’d,” cried Blinky, “in this clay.”</p>
-<p class='line'>Cripple replied, “Can Blinky see his way?”</p>
-<p class='line'>“Not a d—d inch,” the poor blind man replies,</p>
-<p class='line'>“But mount my shoulders, boy, lend me your eyes;</p>
-<p class='line'>Keep them wide open, let their light be mine,</p>
-<p class='line'>Cling to my shoulders, and my legs are thine.</p>
-<p class='line'>And with clear eyes, strong shanks and shoulders good</p>
-<p class='line'>We need no more to travel through this mud.”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk114'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='362' id='Page_362'></span><h1><a id='life'></a>THE BATTLE OF LIFE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY LEN.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A sigh steals down the smiling valley—a gentle
-sigh of breezes, wafting happiness over the face of
-nature, and at the sound from out their beds of
-earth, myriads of things of beauty wake into existence;—meadow
-and plain and hill-side glisten in
-fairest verdure—flowers fling their fragrance on the
-gale—stately trees wave their foliage to the passing
-wind—while streams beneath dance onward to the
-ocean—and the dream-like hum that fills the air and
-swells in chorus to the arch of heaven, tells of the
-blooming Spring—of the transcendent pleasures of
-Life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What a glorious earth has man for a habitation!
-what scenes surround him to ennoble the soul—what
-examples to elevate and incite the mind to strive for
-the goal of Happiness. That goal, alas! how distant
-and hard to reach; thorns hedge the road the aspiring
-one would tread, and weeds spring rank and choking
-in the pathway, or often, when the seeming height is
-won, the eminence fades to a common level, and
-Happiness is as distant as ever! But the soul must
-toil, though success is but a vision—the mind must
-work, although its labors be fruitless; for there is a
-Higher power controlling the actions of man—guiding
-his impulses and passions, and girding him for the
-conflict around him and within him—the struggle that
-is ceaselessly waging—the Battle of Life!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How sweet is Fame! Even now, upon men’s
-tongues there dwells some name whose every syllable
-is a charm, thrilling to adoration. Here, a patriot
-spirit, whose fires have smouldered long beneath
-wrong and malice, rises superior to ills, and grasps—almost
-the consummation of his wishes; there, a
-warrior from the laureled field, receives the homage
-of a grateful people; or some philosopher, with potent
-wand, discloses to a wondering world a new discovery
-in Science. They stand aloft upon the pinnacle
-of Fortune, and eager crowds beneath echo
-their praises or envy their success; and upward still
-they gaze, blind to the rugged crags that lie between—blind
-to the slippery height they covet—blind to
-the thousands round them on the same great plain,
-breathless and bleeding from their vain attempts to
-climb the dazzling steep—or happy in an humbler
-sphere.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ah! had they seen that lofty mind on the chill
-yesterday of Adversity, with naught but obstacles
-before him; who knew that Country was upon men’s
-lips only as a substitute for self, and yet heard his
-own efforts slandered as false and recreant, and whose
-high purposes had bent before the storm only to rise
-unbroken—they would not undergo the patriot’s
-trials, even for his rewards. The soldier’s hardships
-in the camp, with night’s cold shadows closing
-round him, and no pillow for his head save the still
-colder earth; or ’mid the battle’s carnage, or on the
-ensanguined field, strewn alike with friends and foes,
-would look not half so pleasant to their eyes as that
-exulting warrior; or had they watched the student
-through long years of vain research, poring o’er
-musty tomes till the stars paled before the light of
-day, with fevered brow and aching heart, filled with
-strong hopes that time still dashed to earth—though
-Time at last was destined to fulfill; the marvels
-wrought thus dearly, thus hardly given to the world,
-the car with wings of fire, the thought, borne as on
-the lightning’s shaft, the shadow that no longer
-vanishes, when won at such a cost, would lose their
-value, and the philosopher stand unenvied though
-pre-eminent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Men judge too oft by outward show, the glitter
-hides the dross which lies beneath, the peasant would
-seek happiness in palaces, the rich, perchance, see
-pleasures ’mid the poor; all err, all causelessly despond,
-for place nor circumstance alone can make
-life happy; there is no lake with breast by winds unruffled,
-no sea by billows always unconvulsed—even
-so is it with man. How many noble minds are
-crushed beneath adversity, and pulses that ere-while
-warmed with a kindred glow to kindred energies,
-throb now to sorrow and bereavement? How many
-hearts that loved—loved, oh, how fondly—are doomed,
-alas! to live, and live alone? How many breathing
-beings toil and travail on to gain wherewith they
-may drag out existence—how many lots that look
-the brightest, are fraught with bitterest wo!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And still the strife goes on, still the throng heaves
-and swells tumultuously, as waves that surge against
-the rocks which bind them, and one unceasing current
-flows turbulently onward, bearing with it the joys
-and sorrows, the hopes and passions of a world—onward
-ever, to the trackless ocean of Eternity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But fields are green and flowers are fair—then is
-no warfare on the hills, nor in the groves, nor on the
-plains; the elements break in fearful grandeur above;
-the seasons come and go—yet sunshine follows
-storms as day the night, and Winter yields to Spring.
-No murmur is heard, save that which trembles
-through the air, of rippling streams and stirring leaves,
-and songs of sweetest music; and the works of Nature
-stand forth in majestic harmony, unmoved by
-the strivings around them, regardless alike of the
-fears and longings, the griefs and tumults raging in
-the breasts of men—serene and placid, despite the
-contest, and at Peace, though amid the throes of The
-Battle of Life.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk115'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='363' id='Page_363'></span><h1><a id='fifty'></a>FIFTY SUGGESTIONS.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY EDGAR A. POE.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1em;'>(<span class='it'>Concluded from page 319.</span>)</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>26.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The taste manifested by our Transcendental poets,
-<span class='it'>is</span> to be treated “reverentially,” beyond doubt, as
-one of Mr. Emerson’s friends suggests—for the fact is,
-it is Taste on her death-bed—Taste kicking in <span class='it'>articulo
-mortis</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>27.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I should not say, of Taglioni, exactly that she
-dances, but that she laughs with her arms and legs,
-and that if she takes vengeance on her present oppressors,
-she will be amply justified by the <span class='it'>lex
-Talionis</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>28.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The world is infested, just now, by a new sect of
-philosophers, who have not yet suspected themselves
-of forming a sect, and who, consequently, have
-adopted no name. They are the <span class='it'>Believers in every
-thing Odd</span>. Their High Priest in the East, is Charles
-Fourier—in the West, Horace Greely; and high
-priests they are to some purpose. The only common
-bond among the sect, is Credulity:—let us call it
-Insanity at once, and be done with it. Ask any one
-of them <span class='it'>why</span> he believes this or that, and, if he be
-conscientious, (ignorant people usually are,) he will
-make you very much such a reply as Talleyrand
-made when asked why he believed in the Bible. “I
-believe in it first,” said he, “because I am Bishop of
-Autun; and, secondly, <span class='it'>because I know nothing about
-it at all</span>.” What these philosophers call “argument,”
-is a way they have “<span class='it'>de nier ce qui est et d’expliquer
-ce qui n’est pas</span>.”<a id='r2'/><a href='#f2' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[2]</span></sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>29.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The goddess Laverna, who is a head without a
-body, could not do better, perhaps, than make advances
-to “La Jeune France,” which, for some
-years to come at least, must otherwise remain a
-body without a head.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>30.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. A—— is frequently spoken of as “one of our
-most industrious writers;” and, in fact, when we
-consider how much he has written, we perceive, at
-once, that he <span class='it'>must</span> have been industrious, or he
-could never (like an honest woman as he is) have so
-thoroughly succeeded in keeping himself from being
-“talked about.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>31.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>H—— calls his verse a “poem,” very much as
-Francis the First bestowed the title, <span class='it'>mes déserts</span>,
-upon his snug little deer-park at Fontainebleau.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>32.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>K——, the publisher, trying to be critical, talks
-about books pretty much as a washerwoman would
-about Niagara falls or a poulterer about a phœnix.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>33.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ingenuity of critical malice would often be
-laughable but for the disgust, which, even in the most
-perverted spirits, injustice never fails to excite. A
-common <span class='it'>trick</span> is that of decrying, impliedly, the
-higher, by insisting upon the lower, merits of an
-author. Macaulay, for example, deeply feeling how
-much critical acumen is enforced by cautious attention
-to the mere “rhetoric” which is its vehicle, has
-at length become the best of modern rhetoricians.
-His <span class='it'>brother</span> reviewers—anonymous, of course, and
-likely to remain so forever—extol “the acumen of
-Carlyle, the analysis of Schlegel, <span class='it'>and</span> the style of
-Macaulay.” Bancroft is a philosophical historian;
-but no amount of philosophy has yet taught him to
-despise a minute accuracy in point of fact. His
-<span class='it'>brother</span> historians talk of “the grace of Prescott, the
-erudition of Gibbon, <span class='it'>and</span> the pains-taking precision
-of Bancroft.” Tennyson, perceiving how vividly
-an imaginative effect is aided, now and then, by a
-certain quaintness judiciously introduced, brings this
-latter, at times, in support of his most glorious and
-most delicate imagination:—whereupon his <span class='it'>brother</span>
-poets hasten to laud the imagination of Mr. Somebody,
-whom nobody imagined to have any, “<span class='it'>and</span> the
-<a id='some'></a>somewhat affected quaintness of Tennyson.”—Let
-the noblest poet add to his other excellences—if he
-dares—that of faultless <a id='verse'></a>versification and scrupulous
-attention to grammar. He is damned at once. His
-rivals have it in their power to discourse of “A. the
-true poet, <span class='it'>and</span> B. the versifier and disciple of Lindley
-Murray.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>34.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That a cause leads to an effect, is scarcely more
-certain than that, so far as Morals are concerned, a
-repetition of effect tends to the generation of cause.
-Herein lies the principle of what we so vaguely term
-“Habit.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>35.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With the exception of Tennyson’s “Locksley
-Hall,” I have never read a poem combining so much
-of the fiercest passion with so much of the most delicate
-imagination, as the “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship”
-of Miss Barrett. I am forced to admit, however,
-that the latter work <span class='it'>is</span> a palpable imitation of
-the former, which it surpasses in thesis as much as
-it falls below it in a certain calm energy, lustrous
-and indomitable—such as we might imagine in a
-broad river of molten gold.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>36.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What has become of the inferior planet which
-Decuppis, about nine years ago, declared he saw
-traversing the disc of the sun?</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>37.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='364' id='Page_364'></span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ignorance <span class='it'>is</span> bliss”—but, that the bliss be real,
-the ignorance must be so profound as not to suspect
-itself ignorant. With this understanding, Boileau’s
-line may be read thus:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“Le plus fou <span class='it'>toujours</span> est le plus satisfait,”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>—“<span class='it'>toujours</span>” in place of “<span class='it'>souvent</span>.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>38.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Bryant and Street are both, essentially, descriptive
-poets; and descriptive poetry, even in its happiest
-manifestation, is <span class='it'>not</span> of the highest order. But the
-distinction between Bryant and Street is very broad.
-While the former, in reproducing the sensible images
-of Nature, reproduces the sentiments with which he
-regards them, the latter gives us the images and nothing
-beyond. He never forces us to feel what we
-feel he must have felt.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>39.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In lauding Beauty, Genius merely evinces a filial
-affection. To Genius Beauty gives life—reaping
-often a reward in Immortality.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>40.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And this is the “American Drama” of ——! Well!—that
-“Conscience which makes cowards of us all”
-will permit me to say, in praise of the performance,
-only that it is not quite so bad as I expected it to be.
-But then I always expect too much.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>41.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What we feel to be <span class='it'>Fancy</span> will be found fanciful
-still, whatever be the theme which engages it. No
-<span class='it'>subject</span> exalts it into Imagination. When Moore is
-termed “a fanciful poet,” the epithet is applied with
-precision. He <span class='it'>is</span>. He is fanciful in “Lalla Rookh,”
-and had he written the “Inferno,” in the “Inferno”
-he would have contrived to be still fanciful and nothing
-beyond.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>42.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When we speak of “a suspicious man,” we may
-mean either one who suspects, or one to be suspected.
-Our language needs either the adjective “suspectful,”
-or the adjective “suspectable.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>43.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To love,” says Spencer, “is</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,</p>
-<p class='line0'>To speed, to give, to want, to be undone.”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The philosophy, here, might be rendered more profound,
-by the mere omission of a comma. We all
-know the <span class='it'>willing</span> blindness—the <span class='it'>voluntary</span> madness
-of Love. We express this in thus punctuating
-the last line:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>To speed, to give—<span class='it'>to want to be undone</span>.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is a case, in short, where we gain point by
-omitting it.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>44.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Edgeworth seems to have had only an approximate
-comprehension of “Fashion,” for she
-says:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If it was the fashion to burn me, and I at the
-stake, I hardly know ten persons of my acquaintance
-who would refuse to throw on a faggot.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There are <span class='it'>many</span> who, in such a case, would “refuse
-to throw on a faggot”—for fear of smothering
-out the fire.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>45.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I am beginning to think with Horsely—that “the
-People have nothing to do with the laws but to obey
-them.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>46.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not fair to review my book without reading
-it,” says Mr. M——, talking at the critics, and, as
-usual, expecting impossibilities. The man who is
-clever enough to <span class='it'>write</span> such a work, is clever enough
-to read it, no doubt; but we should not look for so
-much talent in the world at large. Mr. M—— will
-not imagine that I mean to blame <span class='it'>him</span>. The book
-alone is in fault, after all. The fact is, that “<span class='it'>er lasst
-sich nicht lesen</span>”—it will not <span class='it'>permit</span> itself to be read.
-Being a hobby of Mr. M——’s, and brimful of spirit,
-it will let nobody mount it but Mr. M——.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>47.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is only to teach his children Geography, that
-G—— wears a boot the picture of Italy upon the
-map.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>48.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In his great Dictionary, Webster seems to have
-had an idea of being more English than the English—“<span class='it'>plus
-Arabe qu’en Arabie</span>.”<a id='r3'/><a href='#f3' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[3]</span></sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>49.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That there were once “seven wise men” is by no
-means, strictly speaking, an historical <span class='it'>fact</span>; and I
-am rather inclined to rank the idea among the
-Kabbala.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1em;'>50.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Painting their faces to look like Macaulay, some
-of our critics manage to resemble him, at length, as
-a Massaccian does a Raffäellian Virgin; and, except
-that the former is feebler and thinner than the other—suggesting
-the idea of its being the ghost of the
-other—not one connoisseur in ten can perceive any
-difference. But then, unhappily, even the street
-lazzaroni can feel the distinction.</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_2'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 3em;'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div id='f2'><a href='#r2'>[2]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nouvelle Héloise.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_3'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 3em;'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div id='f3'><a href='#r3'>[3]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Count Anthony Hamilton.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk116'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='365' id='Page_365'></span><h1><a id='may'></a>MAY LILLIE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>OR LOVE AND LEARNING.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY MRS. CAROLINE H. BUTLER.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a most provoking thing that young Harry
-Warren should have fallen in love with pretty May
-Lillie—he simply a village school-master whom nobody
-knew—and she the only daughter of the richest
-and proudest man in the whole county of Erie, whom
-every body knew! It was not only very provoking,
-but it was also very unfortunate for the poor fellow,
-as he might as well have aspired to wed yon bright
-evening star, as to lead to the altar the daughter of
-Diogenes Lillie, Esq., Ex. M. C.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>See the maliciousness of Fate! If May had been
-but the child of some poor widow or parson—or had
-Harry claimed descent from some lordly aristocrat,
-the course of true love might not have run so crooked.
-Leander swam the Hellespont to reach his love, breasting
-bravely the surging billows, which parting before
-him, bore him exultingly to the feet of Hero—but
-how shall Harry force the adamantine chains with
-which Mammon bars the way to happiness! Assist
-him ye gods of hapless lovers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My hero was the son of a farmer, more rich in
-children than in acres, and who could only afford
-them in schooling, value received for a few bushels
-of wheat, rye, or potatoes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Young Harry had no taste for agriculture. The
-plough furrowed his handsome countenance, and the
-harrow harrowed his soul. Neither did he fancy mechanics—he
-turned from the anvil, the carpenter’s
-bench, the awl, and the scissors, with equal repugnance.
-Books, books alone were his passion. For
-these all else were neglected, the cattle strayed loose
-in the fields, the pigs crept through to the garden, the
-wheat remained unshocked, and the grass uncut,
-while Harry under a tree lost himself amid the tattered
-leaves of an old book, which every breath of
-wind threatened to sweep far from him. This was a
-sore trial to his father, but after fruitlessly exhausting
-all his arguments to dissuade his son from the
-folly of “<span class='it'>larning</span>,” he finally gave it up, and left
-Harry unmolested to follow his bent. The clergyman
-of the village admiring the perseverance of the
-young farmer-boy, and wishing to encourage such
-laudable zeal, kindly volunteered to assist him in his
-studies, and with unwearied toil by night and by day,
-Harry Warren was finally prepared to enter college.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the age of twenty-one he graduated honorably,
-and left the college walls, his head well-stored with
-knowledge—a light heart—a lighter purse, and a
-strong will to persevere in the path he had marked
-out for himself, a path which, after many crooked
-windings, was, as his sanguine imagination assured
-him, to lead him eventually on the high road to fame.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To put a little money in his pocket, and at the
-same time gain some leisure for study, he offered
-himself as a candidate for the school in the beautiful
-village of G——, some fifty miles distant from his native
-town. He was accepted, and entered upon the
-duties of his new office with hope and energy. And
-then—the very first thing he did was to fall in love!
-foolish fellow—instead of teaching the young idea to
-shoot—he suffered himself to be shot—through the
-sparkling roguish eyes of little May Lillie did Cupid
-aim his dart—<span class='it'>twang</span>—he was gone!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk117'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Diogenes Lillie, Esq., professed to be a very
-learned man, an immensely learned man, and his
-library accordingly occupied one whole wing of his
-large and costly mansion. No one far or near could
-boast of so many square feet of knowledge. He patronized
-the arts and sciences, and hinted at many
-wonderful inventions at work in his brain, which
-were in time to burst forth and astonish the world.
-He also courted the muses, and was convinced that
-should he once plume his flight to Parnassus, there
-would be an immense fluttering among all soaring
-poets, whom he should distance at once by his bold
-and flashing imagery.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Could the eyes of poor old Dominie Sampson have
-rested upon the countless volumes which like “Alps
-on Alps” arose to the lofty ceiling, would not his
-meagre, bony jaws have ushered in—“pro-di-gious!”
-for there was one compartment devoted to theology,
-another to geology, and spaces for all the <span class='it'>’ologies</span>—then
-there were divisions for astronomy, for botany,
-for history, for travels—there was the poet’s corner,
-and the niche of romance. There were books in
-French, and German, and Spanish, and Russian, and
-Italian, and a mausoleum for the dead languages. I
-cannot vouch that “one poor head could carry” all
-this, that the brain of the great Diogenes contained
-as many chambers as his library divisions—but it was
-a very pleasant thing for him to gaze up and down,
-and down and up, upon their costly gold-lettered
-backs! Then there were also busts, and statues, and
-globes, and blow-pipes, and barometers, and thermometers
-scattered around, and here in this hall of
-inspiration, devoted to the “sisters three and such
-branches of learning,” did Mr. Lillie spend the most
-of his invaluable time.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now great wisdom is said to bestow upon its possessor
-a contempt for wealth proportionate, which,
-by the way, may be the reason why so many learned
-writers and men of genius have died in a garret. If
-so—there was no fear that the last breath of Diogenes
-Lillie, Esq., would be drawn in an attic, for he lost
-not sight of his gold in the depths of his wisdom, but
-so skillfully managed his financial concerns, that
-though apparently paying little heed to business, as
-<span class='pageno' title='366' id='Page_366'></span>
-he sat there ensconced amid his books and papers,
-the ball was kept constantly rolling and constantly
-accumulating.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet what militated most against the love of Harry
-Warren, he had resolved from the time when pretty
-May slipped her leading-strings, that she should be
-the wife of some great man wielding authority; and
-pray what virtue was there in the petty birch-twig,
-or the twelve inch ruler, which were the only symbols
-of authority the young school-master wielded!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“However, there is no need of my troubling myself
-upon that head yet!” would Mr. Lillie year after
-year say to himself—“May is but a child—it will be
-time enough years hence to pick out a husband for
-her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Pick out a husband!</span> just as if the bright eyes of
-May were not capable of selecting for themselves—or
-that the eyes of sixty could see for those of
-sixteen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But there is in reality no need of Mr. Lillie’s troubling
-himself, for the deed is done, and the little gipsy
-May engaged in as pretty a flirtation, as ever spread
-the rosy light of love around the hearts of youth.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk118'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Let me exculpate my unfortunate hero from all
-attempts to win the affections of his beautiful pupil.
-On the contrary, it seems a mystery that his oddities
-and awkwardness should have awoke any other emotion
-than pity in the heart of May—for he was so
-terribly ungraceful in her presence—why if he
-merely spoke to her his voice was so low and tremulous,
-that she had really to approach her little head
-quite near to catch a word he said—and as for his
-scholarship, you would have thought him a dunce, so
-many egregrious blunders did he commit in hearing
-her recitations—and he could no more guide her
-little hand in making those pretty and delicate strokes
-which marked her copy-book, than he could fly to the
-moon. You would have been amazed that such a
-fine, handsome young fellow, could have made such
-a booby of himself!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>However, never were scholars blessed with so indulgent
-a master, and his popularity rose in proportion,
-while as your lovers are for the most part but
-little given to the “flesh-pots of Egypt,” he was pronounced
-by all economical housewives upon whose
-hospitality he was semi-monthly thrown, to possess
-the most accommodating taste, and could dine from
-beef and cabbage, pork and parsnips, peas porridge,
-or mush and milk, with equal relish.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I am sorry to say, that at first May joined in the
-laugh with her mischievous school-mates at the oddities
-of the master, and contrived many little tricks to
-vex him. Yet if she raised her eyes a moment from
-her book, she was sure to encounter those of Harry
-fixed upon her, with an expression so mournful, yet
-so tender, as bathed her cheek with blushes, and her
-eyes with tears of contrition. Her frolicks therefore
-soon yielded to a more pensive mood. She could
-not tell why, but the thoughtless mirth of her companions
-vexed and annoyed her—she no longer joined
-in those idle pranks, which had for their object the
-ridicule of the master, but gave way to sudden fits of
-musing and abstraction. When she heard his footstep
-approaching, her heart beat audibly, and in her
-class she no longer raised her saucy eyes to <span class='it'>mis</span>construe
-her lesson, but scarcely lifted their drooping
-lids as she answered in faint tones the questions put
-to her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In short, Love had conquered the merriest and
-most mischievous maiden that ever laughed at his
-wiles!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One day in early spring, ere the snow-drop or the
-crocus, had dared to lift their pretty heads above the
-snowy mantle in which old winter had so long kept
-them snug and warm, May placed in her bosom a
-bright and beautiful rose-bud. It was the first her
-little conservatory had yielded, and as she that morning
-for the first time discovered it peeping through the
-rich green leaves, she thought she had never seen any
-thing so fresh and beautiful. Carefully plucking it
-from the luxuriant branch, she bore off the fragrant
-trophy to exhibit to her young companions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well to be sure it was only a rose-bud—but as
-Harry descried it sitting so proudly upon its pure and
-lovely throne, something whispered that with that
-tiny rose his fate was linked—was it thornless, or
-should he wounded and complaining henceforth bid
-adieu to happiness!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>May caught the glance of the master, and blushed
-and trembled just as if she perfectly comprehended
-what was passing through his mind, and as suddenly
-the little rose-bud was invested with new and tenfold
-value. She would fain have hid it next her heart
-from the careless gaze of her young associates, for
-she felt that it had now become a sacred thing which
-their touch would profane.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly, May bent her head over her desk, and
-shook her long raven curls over her blushing cheek,
-as she heard a well-known step behind her, and felt
-that the large eloquent eyes of the master were fixed
-upon her. But for the throbbing of her own little
-heart, she could have heard the rapid pulsation of
-his, while his breath almost stirred the beautiful
-ringlet which rested upon her bosom. Rapidly her
-little hand now moved over the slate, glancing to the
-right and left, tracing figure upon figure, as though
-its mistress had not a thought, but was occupied in
-deciphering the rules of Coleman. It was a most
-puzzling sum—never had she attempted one so difficult—in
-vain she erased—in vain began again. Of
-course it was all wrong, and so Harry, as in duty
-bound, took the pencil and sat down by her side to
-extricate her from her difficulties—as a school-master
-you know, there was no other way!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But, dear me—instead of looking upon the slate,
-his eyes never fell a bit lower than that little rose-bud—a
-pretty teacher, to be sure!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Ahem</span>—that is a beautiful rose, Miss May!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, sir.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You—you are fond of flowers, I see.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, sir.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They are a favorite study of mine—are you
-much versed in the language of flowers, my—<span class='it'>ahem</span>—Miss
-May?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They always speak to me of God’s love and goodness,”
-<span class='pageno' title='367' id='Page_367'></span>
-replied May, as demurely as if she had been
-answering her minister.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“True, dear Miss May,” said Harry. “They are
-indeed, as the poet says—‘the smiles of angels’ blessing
-and cheering us on our earthly pilgrimage—but
-aside from this heavenly mission, the poet has also
-bestowed upon them another language:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“‘In eastern lands they talk in flowers,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And they tell in a garland their loves and cares,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;On its leaves a mystic language bears.’</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>“Is it so—do you believe this, May?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>May made no answer, but bent her head still lower
-over the book before her, and the little rose-bud trembled
-as though moved by some breath of summer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The—the rose, May,” continued Harry, “seems
-to have been ever a favorite and expressive flower
-of this mystic garland:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“‘The rose is the sign of joy and love,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Young blushing love in its earliest dawn.’”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was a pause.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May—May, will you give me the rose?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>May timidly raised her eyes to his—they were filled
-with tears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Will you, May—will you give me the rose?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next moment the little bud was in the hand of
-the transported Harry, accompanied with a look of
-such innocent, confiding love, as made his heart dance
-with rapture.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Was there ever in after life a moment of such pure
-and exquisite happiness as then filled the hearts of
-the lovers!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the rose-bud, the poor rose-bud, bitterly did
-it rue the change from its lovely resting-place
-to the great hand of the school-master—besides
-coming very near being crushed to pieces between
-that and the dainty little fingers of May as she placed
-it therein!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, it must have been a puzzling sum indeed to
-keep the master so long at May Lillie’s desk! and
-taking advantage of his inattention, the mischievous
-scholars carried on a pretty little by-play of their
-own—there was tittering in corners, and whispering
-behind torn covers—and soft, soft tiptoeing from one
-seat to another, and little paper pellets flying like
-hail-stones from side to side. Ah, dear, happy children—there
-is no danger—you might knock the master’s
-head off, and he would never know it!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Young ladies—children—I give you a holyday,”
-quoth Harry, rapping his desk with the dread ferule,
-insignia of his power.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A holyday—<span class='it'>huzza—huzza</span>—a holyday!” shouted
-the girls and boys, rushing from the school-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the older girls looked slyly at each other, and
-then at the blushing May.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look—look!” exclaimed half-a-dozen in a breath.
-“The master is walking home with May Lillie!”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk119'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Diogenes Lillie, Esq., sat in his study. Around
-him were gathered all those powerful incentives necessary
-to call forth that great masterly genius which
-lay hid somewhere in his brain—somewhere—from
-whence, though many times coaxed and flattered, it
-had as yet resolutely refused to stir.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Upon the table before him, bearing at each corner
-respectively a bust of Plato, of Shakspeare, Homer,
-and Milton, were pamphlets, reviews, folios, quartos
-and duodecimos, thickly strewn—but what was more
-to the purpose, there was drawn up close to the elbow
-of Mr. Lillie, a quire of hot-pressed letter-paper, with
-edges of gold—a silver standish, bearing the golden
-pen ingrafted in a feather of pearl, and the cerulean
-ink with which genius should indite the virgin page,
-whenever said genius should deign to issue from its
-dark hiding-place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lips of Diogenes were closely pressed together—his
-eyes upturned with a frenzied glare to
-the ceiling, and deep indentations, like the rind of a
-musk-melon, corrugated his brow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Reader—he was conceiving.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Bringing down his clinched hand with a force
-which made old Homer nod, he exclaimed:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will write. Yes, I will write a poem—I will
-astonish the world—my talents shall no longer remain
-under a bushel, but shall go forth like the sword
-of Gideon to hew down all minor poets! Upon what
-theme shall I first spend my genius—let me consider,”
-(drawing the paper still nearer and dipping the
-golden pen into the flowing liquid,) “gold—the Age
-of Gold—the Golden Age—yes, ‘The Golden Age’ it
-shall be. My sublimity shall throw Milton into the
-shade,” (with a look at the blind bard)—“my glowing
-pictures of rural life shall startle the lovers of
-Homer,” (a bow to the god)—“my wit shall cut with
-the keen sarcasm of Shakspeare,” (looking glorious
-Will full in the face)—“while the <span class='it'>tout-ensemble</span>
-shall form such a completeness of wisdom, as might
-honor even the head of a Plato!” (a triumphant
-glance at the old philosopher.)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And thus encouraged, the gold pen capered, and
-flashed, and flourished from side to side like a mad
-thing—pointing notes of admiration here, dotting and
-scratching there, and then diving deep into the sea of
-ink, plumed its pearly pinion for new and higher
-flights.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For three weeks did the poet bury himself in his
-library with dead and living authors.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And every morning he kissed his pretty May-flower
-as she tied on her little bonnet:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There, there—go along child; be a good girl and
-obey the master.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And then as she came to bid him good-night:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There, there; go to bed, child, and don’t forget
-your lessons.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not she, bless her! Why she never forgot a single
-lesson the school-master taught her—she had every
-word by heart!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length the Golden Age was ready to burst like
-a blazing star upon this dull coppery world, and was
-the most sublime thing, in the opinion of its author,
-that was ever written—and who, pray, could be a
-better judge!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now Mr. Lillie having some conception of the ignorance
-of the critics, having once (although it is a
-great secret,) sent a huge MSS. to the Harpers, which
-<span class='pageno' title='368' id='Page_368'></span>
-was pronounced “<span class='it'>stuff</span>”—it might have been very
-good stuff notwithstanding—resolved that ere he essayed
-the publishers, he would give his unique poem
-in all its unfledged beauty to his native village. It
-was a capital idea. It should be delivered before the
-Lyceum to an astonished audience. He could then
-have some faint idea perhaps of the applause which
-awaited its appearance in 12mo., calf and gilt.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One evening he dispatched a hasty note to our
-young school-master, and requested to see him immediately
-upon business of a private nature.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Heavens how poor Harry trembled as he perused
-this terrible summons! All was discovered then—Mr.
-Lillie knew of his presumptuous love, and had
-sent to banish him forever from the presence of May.
-And then our little heroine—into what an agony of
-doubt and apprehension was she thrown, as she read
-the billet which Harry contrived to slip into her
-hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the hour appointed, with an unsteady hand,
-Harry knocked at the door of Mr. Lillie’s library.
-The great Diogenes himself appeared at the threshhold—and
-imagine the surprise of our hero to be
-greeted with:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come in, come in, my dear sir—I am most happy
-to see you,” (shaking him warmly by the hand.) “Sit
-down, Mr. Warren,” (motioning to a seat at the table
-of the gods.) “It has long been my wish to know
-you better than my very limited time would allow—my
-pursuits” (glancing complacently around him,)
-“are a great bar to social intercourse. The muses,
-Mr. Warren, the muses I find are very jealous
-ladies—do you cultivate their acquaintance? No?
-Ah, I am surprised, for I assure you I have formed
-a very high opinion of your talents.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Harry bowed, and said something about honor,
-&amp;c., &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My daughter, Mr. Warren,” (ah! now it is coming!
-thought poor Harry,) “my daughter, I am inclined
-to believe, has made great proficiency under
-your instruction—you have my thanks for initiating
-her into some of the more abstruse sciences which
-she never before attended to.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Did Harry dream, or was the wrath of Mr. Lillie
-veiled under the most cutting irony! He could only
-bow, and smile “a ghastly smile.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And speaking of the Muses, my dear young sir,”
-continued Mr. Lillie, “I have just been amusing
-myself with a trifle—a mere flight of fancy—if you
-have a few moments leisure now, I will read you a
-few passages.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of course our hero considered himself favored—and
-accordingly with true bombastic style Mr. Lillie
-read several stanzas from the closely written pages
-of his poem. Never had Harry listened to such trash—he
-could hardly credit his senses that any man
-should be so inflated with vanity as to deem it even
-passable!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, it strikes you I see,” said Mr. Lillie. “I
-knew it would. Yes, I see it hits your vein exactly—this
-convinces me that our tastes are congenial.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again Harry bowed—not daring to trust his voice,
-he was forced to nod his head continually like a Chinese
-mandarin in a toy-shop.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Warren,” proceeded the author, wheeling
-his chair round and regarding our hero with great benignity,
-“I have imbibed a great regard for you, and
-mean to make your fortune—to smooth your path to
-eminence. Yes, I like you, and am convinced there
-is no one more worthy than yourself to receive——”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Harry started—his face radiant with hope, he bent
-eagerly forward to catch the rest of the sentence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, by the way, my young friend, this conversation
-must be strictly confidential.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly, my dear sir!” exclaimed Harry, almost
-breathless.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Mr. Warren, there is something about you
-which pleases me, and therefore I am about to confer
-upon you a most precious gift—to bestow upon
-you my—ah, can’t you guess what it is?” smiling
-archly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, my dear sir,” said Harry, seizing his hand,
-“if I might dare to hope!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Mr. Warren, I am about to give you my—poem!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your poem!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My poem.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your poem!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, my poem—that is, the reputation of the
-thing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Harry started up and paced the room as if pursued
-by all the furies.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, I thought I should surprise you,” cried Mr.
-Lillie. “Come, sit down again. I said I would
-make your fortune, and I will. Now this poem, Mr.
-Warren, you shall have the honor of delivering before
-the Lyceum as your own—think of that—as your
-own production.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Poor Harry was struck aghast. “But, my dear
-sir,” he exclaimed, “I can never consent to such a
-gross imposition!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I honor you the more for your delicacy young
-man,” replied the poet; “but banish it—there is no
-need of it between friends, we perfectly understand
-each other you know—you shall deliver this poem.”
-(“The Lord deliver me!” mentally prayed Harry.)
-“Listeners will applaud—copies will be solicited—your
-fame will reach the city—Morris and Willis
-will rank you among their favorite young
-poets—the——”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, Mr. Lillie, why not deliver this poem yourself—why
-not wear your own laurels?” interrupted
-Harry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Ahem</span>—Mr. Warren, I am averse to popularity—notoriety
-of any kind I detest—I prefer to quaff
-stealthily at the fount of Helicon, and tread with felted
-footsteps the Parnassian hill—stop, that’s a new
-idea, I’ll note it. So long as I have the mental satisfaction
-of knowing the <span class='it'>poem is mine</span>, what matters
-it whether you or I have the reputation! Say no
-more—you accept my proposition of course.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Lillie—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not a word, my dear sir—I will take care that
-you are invited to deliver the next Lyceum lecture—two
-weeks hence remember. That gives you ample
-<span class='pageno' title='369' id='Page_369'></span>
-time to study the poem and conceive my meaning.
-Come here every evening—you shall have my assistance.
-I will not detain you longer—good-night.
-You will find May somewhere—in the drawing-room
-most probably; she will be glad to see you, for I dare
-say she is puzzling her little head about something
-which you can explain. Good-night.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This latter clause sufficed to check all further opposition
-from Harry, for the moment at least, and
-with rapid steps he now sought the drawing-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dear Harry!” cried May, springing toward him
-as he entered, and looking up in his face as if to read
-there the stern mandate which was to separate them
-forever.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dearest May, do not tremble thus,” replied
-Harry, leading her to a seat; “believe me you have
-no cause.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah—does he then approve of our love!” exclaimed
-May, her sweet young face illumined with
-hope.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your father has been kind, my dear girl, and that
-he does not even suspect our love I am convinced,
-or he would have been less so. His kindness, however,
-if it may be called so,” (and the lip of Harry
-curled doubtingly,) “has placed me in a most awkward
-predicament. Listen, dear May, and help me
-if you can.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He then as briefly as possible related the conversation
-he had just held with her father, and the
-strange proposition made him. No wonder he felt
-provoked at the merry laugh with which the little
-maiden closed his rueful communication.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Confess now, Harry, you deem papa’s poem
-most execrable stuff!” she said, looking him archly
-in the face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dear May, you know I—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Confess, confess Harry—no equivocation!” cried
-May, shaking her little finger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, May, I will be honest then—you know,
-dear one, I would not for worlds wound your feelings,
-but really I must confess I never listened to
-more senseless jargon!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That’s excellent—the more absurd the better,”
-said May, laughing; “and you will deliver it,
-Harry.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May!” exclaimed her lover reproachfully, “<span class='it'>you</span>
-surely cannot ask me to make myself ridiculous!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Hem</span>—do you love me, Harry?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Can you doubt, it dearest May?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then if you love me, as Hamlet says, ‘speak the
-speech I pray you.’ No doubt it will be hissed—so
-much the better—you will be laughed at—better
-still—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May, May!” cried her lover, turning away from
-her, “if you loved me you would not say this!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah—not if it gains papa’s consent to our union!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That indeed—but, dearest May, to become a
-laughing-stock—to have the finger of derision pointed
-at one—to feel the lash of the critic, and—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To call little May your own!” added the coaxing
-gipsy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Who could resist such an appeal from such a pair
-of rosy lips? or unrelenting behold the mute eloquence
-of those beautiful eyes! Not Harry; no, nor
-any other young lover I am sure.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From that evening, dear reader, only imagine my
-unlucky hero imprisoned hour after hour with the
-learned author, declaiming that—“infernal poem,”
-(I quote Harry’s own words.) Do you not pity him?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But then—the stolen half hour below, assisting
-little May in her lessons—do you not envy him!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the meantime Mr. Lillie had not been idle. He
-had forwarded letters to some of the most influential
-men of the neighboring towns, inviting them to attend
-the next Lyceum, where as he informed them,
-a young author, a poet, was to make his <span class='it'>début</span> before
-their intelligent community. In confidence he assured
-them they would be astonished at the depth and
-power of his genius. He had himself looked over
-the poem, and although he would not wish to forestall
-their admiration, thus much he would say, that
-he had never read such a production!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk120'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The eventful evening arrived, and from every
-turnpike and cross-road people came flocking in to
-listen to the young author—some because of the favor
-of Mr. Lillie, others to compliment their favorite—the
-school-master.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Escorted by the great and learned Diogenes Lillie,
-Esq., and a few of the leading members, Harry was
-conducted to the hall, and seated within the inclosure
-of the platform.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To depict his feelings would be impossible—he
-knew he was about to make himself ridiculous, and
-was tempted more than once to turn his back and
-quit the scene of his approaching disgrace. Notwithstanding
-the tempting reward he had in view, the
-alternative was a hard one—but his eye turned to a
-distant corner of the hall where the sweet face of
-May smiled upon him, and her fair hand waved encouragement.
-He wavered no longer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Resolving to meet his fate like a hero, Harry now
-arose, and after a few preliminaries introduced—“The
-Golden Age.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The two first stanza elicited a general smile from
-the audience, the third and fourth exerted a different
-influence—influenza became universal, to judge from
-the coughing and <span class='it'>hem-ming</span>! Between the fifth and
-sixth, many persons left the house, and as Harry with
-the energy of despair drew near the close of the first
-canto, the hissing and hooting of boys outside and in
-the building was almost deafening, while one of the
-committee arose and advised the orator to sit down!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With the self-satisfaction of a martyr he was preparing
-to do so, when his eye suddenly fell upon the
-<span class='it'>author</span>, whom he detected at a glance to be the most
-active in the war of ridicule which was waging
-against him. Rage for the moment overcame his
-discretion. Hurling the manuscript upon the floor,
-he sprang from the desk, made one leap down the
-steps, and rushed upon his deceitful patron!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you dare to laugh at me!” he exclaimed, pale
-with anger, “do you dare to utter a word, you—you
-who are yourself the—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A little hand was on his arm, and a soft voice
-whispered:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='370' id='Page_370'></span>
-“Harry, dear Harry, come away.” And obeying
-the gentle mandate our hero suffered himself to be
-led from the scene of his mortification.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Poor fellow!” cried Mr. Lillie, recovering from
-the alarm of Harry’s onset, “poor fellow, he is almost
-beside himself I see—well, it is pitiful trash
-after all, and I fear I gave him too much encouragement,
-my friendship got the better of my judgment—yet
-his delivery is the worst—why I am not sure gentlemen
-but his ranting and mouthing would render
-even Shakspeare ridiculous. The poem <span class='it'>reads</span> well—depend
-upon it gentlemen there is genius after all
-where that poem came from.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When Mr. Lillie reached home he found Harry
-awaiting him, storming and raving to and fro <a id='fro'></a>in the library
-like a madman. Rushing upon the great Diogenes
-he seized him by the collar:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your conduct is unbearable!” he exclaimed.
-“You shall do me justice, sir—by heaven you shall!
-I am not to be treated in this way! After palming
-off your wretched stuff upon me, do you think I am
-going to submit to your ridicule! No, sir—either go
-forward and acknowledge yourself openly as the
-author, or I will post you at every corner!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Be calm, pray be calm—we’ll settle it all in a
-moment,” said Mr. Lillie, pale and trembling—“I
-am really sorry your first essay should have been so
-unsuccessful.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My first essay!” interrupted Harry indignantly.
-“I am not to be trifled with—no, sir—I will expose
-you at once—it is you who shall bear the ridicule,
-not me!” and Harry rushed to the door.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Stop—stop—my dear young friend,” cried Mr.
-Lillie, catching his arm—“listen a moment; for heaven’s
-sake don’t expose me, it will be my ruin. I
-will give you any thing you ask if you will only
-spare me—you shall have money—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Money!</span> Can money repair the disgrace you
-have heaped upon me—talk of money to a man who
-feels his future hopes blasted!” exclaimed Harry
-scornfully. “Sir, there is but one way to save your
-reputation.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what is that dear sir?” eagerly demanded
-the author.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Give me the hand of your daughter,” he replied
-firmly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My daughter, Mr. Warren—why you astonish
-me—my daughter!” and Mr. Lillie paused and pondered,
-bit his lips and rubbed his eyebrows. “Why
-bless my soul, Mr. Warren, May is but a child!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No matter,” was the answer, “will you or will
-you not accept my proposition?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Will not five hundred dollars, Mr. Warren—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No—nor five hundred thousand dollars.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, Mr. Warren, only don’t expose me; only
-pledge me your word of honor that my secret shall
-be inviolate and May is yours!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Harry calmed down wonderfully quick, considering
-he had been in such a passion, and very obligingly
-made all the pledges his father-in-law that was to be
-required.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But there is one thing, Mr. Warren, which I
-must leave to your generosity,” said Mr. Lillie.
-“May is my only, and a motherless child—if this arrangement
-should be repugnant to her feelings, I trust
-you will not press your claim—we may perhaps find
-some other way to adjust this little difficulty. I will
-call May down, we may as well know at once what
-her feelings are.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Harry coughed, and walked to the window to conceal
-a smile, feeling at the same time more respect
-for Mr. Lillie for this last clause in favor of his child,
-than he thought him capable of inspiring.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One glance at the happy countenance of her lover
-informed May the day was theirs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And so she immediately took a great many airs
-upon herself—pouted her pretty lips, and protested
-she thought it really absurd the idea of marrying a
-man who had made himself so ridiculous—she doted
-on poets, that she was willing to allow—but not
-such a conceited fellow as wrote that poem—she
-knew!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Harry meanwhile whistled “Rory O’More,” and
-walked the room with an air as much as to say—“It
-is perfectly indifferent to me, Miss, which ever way
-you decide.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, foolish child!” whispered her father, “the
-poem is <span class='it'>mine</span>!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yours, dear papa—oh that alters the case—then
-you wrote that stup—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hush—hush May. The public are fools, and cannot
-appreciate true genius—the poem is a good
-poem.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I think it has point, papa.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and if those stupid ignoramuses had not
-made such an outcry, they would have seen that it
-terminates most felicitously.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“True, papa—one certainly could not wish for a
-happier termination.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you see, May, I have particular reasons for
-not wishing to be known as the author—and this
-poor young man feeling much chafed by the treatment
-he has received, and which is perfectly natural
-you know—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly, papa—the school-master is very sensitive.
-Mercy, if you only knew—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, no matter now—and feeling as I said,
-greatly incensed, he threatens to expose me. You
-can save me May—your hand will make all
-secure.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very well, dear papa—Mr. Warren has always
-been kind to me in school, and I like him very well—I
-do papa, and so to oblige you I will do as you
-wish,” said the arch maiden.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Taking her hand, her father now led her up to
-Harry, and placed it within that of the enraptured
-lover. And May, dropping a little courtesy, very
-gravely assured him that she would endeavor to make
-as obedient a wife as she had a pupil.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Madam Rumor is a prying gossip. How she
-found out the secret was never known—but away
-she went gadding from house to house, whispering
-the school-master had obtained his charming young
-wife by fathering the literary bantling of the learned
-Mr. Lillie!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk121'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='371' id='Page_371'></span><h1><a id='search'></a>THE NEW SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>A BUCOLIC.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY E. FOXTON.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;When with glances far and free</p>
-<p class='line'>My Spirit stood at Childhood’s knee,</p>
-<p class='line'>And gazed and smiled with careless glee,</p>
-<p class='line'>To see the fateful spinsters three</p>
-<p class='line'>Draw deftly out from carded naught</p>
-<p class='line'>Its first soft rainbow thread of thought,</p>
-<p class='line'>My playmate true, delight and joy,</p>
-<p class='line'>Was a tiny wingéd boy.</p>
-<p class='line'>Nightly nestled in my breast,</p>
-<p class='line'>His legends lulled me to my rest;</p>
-<p class='line'>Thence his voice awakening gay</p>
-<p class='line'>Trilled back the early linnet’s lay;</p>
-<p class='line'>In the bird’s nest, in the tree,</p>
-<p class='line'>By the purling rill sat he;</p>
-<p class='line'>From wind-rocked blue-bells flashed his eye;</p>
-<p class='line'>He floated round the butterfly;</p>
-<p class='line'>His little golden head rose up</p>
-<p class='line'>In the water-lily’s cup;</p>
-<p class='line'>His saucy breath, with nectar fed,</p>
-<p class='line'>Puffed at me from the violet’s bed.</p>
-<p class='line'>Half in sport and half caress;</p>
-<p class='line'>Oh, dear artless Happiness!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Womanhood one day me found,</p>
-<p class='line'>And my brows with roses crowned.</p>
-<p class='line'>In a naiad’s glass I saw,</p>
-<p class='line'>Pleased, my graces touched with awe;</p>
-<p class='line'>And “These royal flowers shall be</p>
-<p class='line'>Forged to links, my boy, for thee,”</p>
-<p class='line'>So I said. From morn till eve</p>
-<p class='line'>Through my haunts the shepherds grieve;</p>
-<p class='line'>But the urchin bursts amain</p>
-<p class='line'>Shouting from my bloomy chain,</p>
-<p class='line'>Bursts and leaves me all forlorn,</p>
-<p class='line'>Pricked and bleeding with a thorn.</p>
-<p class='line'>“Why thus wrong my gentleness,</p>
-<p class='line'>Light, inconstant Happiness!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;All in tears to bring me ease,</p>
-<p class='line'>Back he flew, and made his peace;</p>
-<p class='line'>And my every art I tried</p>
-<p class='line'>Aye to keep him at my side;</p>
-<p class='line'>April floods of tears and smiles,</p>
-<p class='line'>Soft confessions, simple wiles;</p>
-<p class='line'>Then I seized my harp and sang;</p>
-<p class='line'>Far and wide the chorus rang;</p>
-<p class='line'>(Round me flocked the grave, the gay,</p>
-<p class='line'>But the rover would not stay;)</p>
-<p class='line'>“Peerless, wronged, thy votaress,</p>
-<p class='line'>Cruel, fleeting, Happiness.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Oft and oftener still his flight;</p>
-<p class='line'>Longer still he shunned my sight;</p>
-<p class='line'>Till I left my woodlands dim,</p>
-<p class='line'>And set forth in quest of him</p>
-<p class='line'>To the tourney, feast and ball,</p>
-<p class='line'>(In their turn I peeped at all,)</p>
-<p class='line'>Court, and hermitage, and camp,</p>
-<p class='line'>Still halls where burns the midnight lamp,</p>
-<p class='line'>And the sunk-eyed scholar delves</p>
-<p class='line'>Slowly through the groaning shelves,</p>
-<p class='line'>Where old souls, that erst were men,</p>
-<p class='line'>Speak and teach the young again,</p>
-<p class='line'>And, while creation’s bounds they track,</p>
-<p class='line'>Cast their endless shadows back;</p>
-<p class='line'>Vainly still I sought to find</p>
-<p class='line'>Him I sought among mankind.</p>
-<p class='line'>Still his semblance proved to be</p>
-<p class='line'>Garish Mirth or Vanity;</p>
-<p class='line'>And still of all I sought in vain</p>
-<p class='line'>Good tidings of the lost to gain.</p>
-<p class='line'>The scholar said, “In poet’s book;”</p>
-<p class='line'>The poet, “In some leafy nook;”</p>
-<p class='line'>“Oh, which?” “I know not yet,” he says,</p>
-<p class='line'>“Go thou and seek—’mid clustering bays;”</p>
-<p class='line'>The lawyer, “In the judge’s gown;”</p>
-<p class='line'>The judge, “In ermine’s lordly down;”</p>
-<p class='line'>The peer, “He’s in my liege’s crown;”</p>
-<p class='line'>The king, “He rides the victor’s glaive;”</p>
-<p class='line'>And he, “In peaceful Lethe’s wave,</p>
-<p class='line'>Or, haply, in the hermit’s cell;”</p>
-<p class='line'>The hermit said, “I know him well,</p>
-<p class='line'>Seek him in the house of prayer;”</p>
-<p class='line'>“Nay, I know he can’t be there!</p>
-<p class='line'>Pride shall bravely fill thy place,</p>
-<p class='line'>False and treacherous Happiness!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Prim sat Pride, then dropped asleep,</p>
-<p class='line'>Leaving me to watch and weep.</p>
-<p class='line'>Round my dimpled shoulders clung</p>
-<p class='line'>My dewy locks at random flung;</p>
-<p class='line'>Wildered strayed my fleecy band;</p>
-<p class='line'>Loosed the crook my listless hand,</p>
-<p class='line'>Playing with the dreary rue</p>
-<p class='line'>At my cavern’s mouth that grew,</p>
-<p class='line'>And forgot its tuneful craft.</p>
-<p class='line'>At my plight the shepherds laughed;</p>
-<p class='line'>“She is sick at heart, you know;</p>
-<p class='line'>She loved,—wise maidens do not so;</p>
-<p class='line'>So fare all idle fools who chase</p>
-<p class='line'>The subtle, coy sprite, Happiness!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Dropped its silver balls from sight</p>
-<p class='line'>The starry clepsydra of night;</p>
-<p class='line'>And the morn brought jocund glee</p>
-<p class='line'>To the world, and not to me,</p>
-<p class='line'>“Would I ne’er had seen thy face,</p>
-<p class='line'>Happiness, lost Happiness!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Stung with swarms of wretchedness,</p>
-<p class='line'>I plunged into the wilderness;</p>
-<p class='line'>Toward the Eastern land of spells</p>
-<p class='line'>Me some secret power impels;</p>
-<p class='line'>“There some wily witch,” I thought,</p>
-<p class='line'>“In her toils the boy has caught.”</p>
-<p class='line'>Through the shadows, through the sun,</p>
-<p class='line'>And surging sands I journeyed on,</p>
-<p class='line'>Till the sun his gold lance set</p>
-<p class='line'>In rest to prick from Olivet.</p>
-<p class='line'>Glorious light the morrow showed.</p>
-<p class='line'>Nor to him its lustre owed.</p>
-<p class='line'>Up the steep of Zion’s hill</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='pageno' title='372' id='Page_372'></span></p>
-<p class='line'>Rose a being brighter still.</p>
-<p class='line'>Silvery white the garb she wore,</p>
-<p class='line'>And a cross of flowers she bore;</p>
-<p class='line'>From vulgar gaze her charms, amid</p>
-<p class='line'>A dark, enshrining mask, she hid,</p>
-<p class='line'>Lighted up like midnight skies</p>
-<p class='line'>With the splendor of her eyes;</p>
-<p class='line'>Her dainty feet, with sandals shod,</p>
-<p class='line'>Scarce touched the ragged road she trod,</p>
-<p class='line'>And a pearly scallop-shell</p>
-<p class='line'>Gleamed her pilgrim state to tell.</p>
-<p class='line'>Dully, long I strove to see</p>
-<p class='line'>What that which bore her train could be;</p>
-<p class='line'>Now on this side, now on that,</p>
-<p class='line'>Now it met a chiding pat,</p>
-<p class='line'>For resting on her skirts to impede,</p>
-<p class='line'>Impishly, her upward speed,</p>
-<p class='line'>From frowning cliff and wayside stone,</p>
-<p class='line'>Flitting far, as bribes, it won</p>
-<p class='line'>Blossoms fair and held before,</p>
-<p class='line'>As her constancy to lure.</p>
-<p class='line'>Graciously she marked its play;</p>
-<p class='line'>Steadfastly she held her way.</p>
-<p class='line'>Changed of mood, with tender gloom</p>
-<p class='line'>It hung its garlands o’er a tomb.</p>
-<p class='line'>Full in view thence reared its head,</p>
-<p class='line'>Looked at me and beckoned,</p>
-<p class='line'>Then, as if perforce, again</p>
-<p class='line'>Fled and bore the lady’s train;</p>
-<p class='line'>Thick my heart’s full throbs confess</p>
-<p class='line'>“Surely that was Happiness!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Panting, staring, faint, I stood,</p>
-<p class='line'>Then with foot and tongue pursued;</p>
-<p class='line'>“Sorceress, fiend—whate’er ye be—</p>
-<p class='line'>Tear not thus my fere from me!</p>
-<p class='line'>I defy the loathly charms</p>
-<p class='line'>That keep him from his poor maid’s arms!</p>
-<p class='line'>I will rend thy mask away!</p>
-<p class='line'>I will give those charms <a id='today'></a>to-day!”</p>
-<p class='line'>My whirlwind race was won, and lo!</p>
-<p class='line'>I tore it from her blushing brow,</p>
-<p class='line'>My foster-sister’s, Holiness!</p>
-<p class='line'>And her page was Happiness!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Oh, I owned her might too well!</p>
-<p class='line'>Groveling in the dust I fell!</p>
-<p class='line'>Then wondering heard a whisper low,</p>
-<p class='line'>“Let’s be friends, my causeless foe.”</p>
-<p class='line'>Doubtfully I raised my eyes;</p>
-<p class='line'>Down she gazed with mild surprise.</p>
-<p class='line'>Naught to fear I saw was there,</p>
-<p class='line'>But purity and beauty rare.</p>
-<p class='line'>As she raised me with a kiss,</p>
-<p class='line'>Through her veil laughed Happiness.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;When I slumber at her feet</p>
-<p class='line'>Light pinions scatter odors sweet;</p>
-<p class='line'>While her step keeps pace with mine</p>
-<p class='line'>Round my neck soft fingers twine;</p>
-<p class='line'>If I chase him, he is gone;</p>
-<p class='line'>But the rogue returns anon,</p>
-<p class='line'>Charged with heavenly fruit, to bless,</p>
-<p class='line'>The handmaid meek of Holiness.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk122'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='night'></a>NIGHT.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY MISS AUGUSTA. C. TWIGGS.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Brightly the moonshine</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Gleams on the flower,</p>
-<p class='line'>Sweetly the woodbine</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Twines round the bower;</p>
-<p class='line'>Lowly the lover</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Whispers his love,</p>
-<p class='line'>Angel forms hover</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Around from above.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Purple-robed foxglove</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Is deep in the dell,</p>
-<p class='line'>Where the night-fays love</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To wind their dark spell;</p>
-<p class='line'>Beauty is hurled</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;O’er meadow and lea,</p>
-<p class='line'>The sails are all furled,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;The ship sleeps at sea.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The night-breeze now sighs</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;So sweet and so sad;</p>
-<p class='line'>Bright gems deck the skies,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;So blue and so glad;</p>
-<p class='line'>The lapwing that brushed</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;The dew from the hill,</p>
-<p class='line'>Now sleeps—all is hushed,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;’Cept the laughing rill.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Moonlight’s soft glances</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;On every thing smile,</p>
-<p class='line'>Pure water dances</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Out laughing the while;</p>
-<p class='line'>The cricket’s chirp shrill</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Most merrily sounds,</p>
-<p class='line'>The fisher’s <a id='bark2'></a>barque still</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;O’er moonlit wave bounds.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Trees bathed in moonbeams</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Wave gracefully low,</p>
-<p class='line'>With beauty all teems</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;’Neath its silvery glow;</p>
-<p class='line'>All nature’s at prayer.</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;The holy thoughts rise,</p>
-<p class='line'>On wings of the air,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Up, up to the skies.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The cricket has hushed</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Now his chirp so sweet.</p>
-<p class='line'>Rare perfume has gushed</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;From the new-cut wheat;</p>
-<p class='line'>The lily has bent</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Down its head in sleep,</p>
-<p class='line'>Its odor is lent</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To the winds to keep.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Mortals are slumb’ring,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Long hours fly past,</p>
-<p class='line'>Old Time is numb’ring</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;The seconds so fast,</p>
-<p class='line'>Fears him no mortal,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;For slumber has tight</p>
-<p class='line'>Closed the portal</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Of thought—it is Night.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk123'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='373' id='Page_373'></span><h1><a id='pass'></a>PASSAGES OF LIFE IN EUROPE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY BAYARD TAYLOR.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_13'>NO. II.—A LONELY WEEK.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One of the loneliest hours I felt in two years of
-absence from my country, was on an afternoon in
-April, after leaving the gate of Cassel, in Northern
-Germany. There I had parted from Carl K——, a
-young student, whom I had met for the first time two
-days before, on entering the city. We met, strangers
-though we were, and ignorant of each other’s
-name or condition, like old acquaintances who had
-been long separated; an invisible link seemed at
-once to attach us in friendship and confidence. He
-was a boy of seventeen, but already a poet, possessing
-a nature full of enthusiasm and the sorrowful inspiration
-of song. His heart beat with all true and
-tender impulses, and in its yet unfathomed depths
-there was a capacity for boundless passion. In those
-two days we were constantly together; we climbed
-the slopes of the Wilhelmshöhe, fragrant with early
-cowslips; we wandered among the giant ruins of the
-Katzenberg; we sat in the rich library, poring over
-the old illuminated pages of the Song of Hildebrand.
-When the time of parting came, it was a struggle for
-both of us, and as we gave the last warm pressure of
-hands at the gate of Cassel, his dark, mournful eyes
-were full of tears, and I turned away with a mist
-gathering over my own. I climbed the long hill
-which was to shut out all sight of the valley, with a
-feeling amounting to bitterness, heightened by the
-languid and feverish sensations of approaching illness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The hazy sunshine shone warmly on the bare, bleak
-fields beside the road, and as the day wore away, my
-spirits sank down, down, into a bottomless gulf of
-despondency. The coolness of the woods into which
-the road finally led as it descended the hills of the
-Weser, made me shiver, though my veins were
-parched with heat. I threw myself down on the
-grass, and looked up into the gray sky, that I might
-lose the feeling of loneliness in its vast and sympathizing
-presence. This is always an encouraging
-contemplation, and I was aided by it in the present
-instance. I made out to reach the city of Münden
-before dark, and slept as I best could, a disturbed, unrefreshing
-sleep.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next day, feeling unable to walk, I took the
-<span class='it'>eilwagen</span> to Göttingen, where I remained two days,
-and in spite of medicine and a physician, grew no
-better. It rained continually, and shut up in my
-chamber with no company but my own thoughts, which
-were by no means entertaining companions, I looked
-back with regret to the home-like comforts of Frankfort
-and Heidelberg. Sickness is <a id='syn'></a>synonymous with
-impatience in my vocabulary, and after two days’
-trial of repose, I determined to continue my journey,
-trusting to the influences of scenery and exercise.
-Accordingly I took the <span class='it'>eilwagen</span> to Nordheim, twenty
-miles nearer the Hartz, as it was raining heavily.
-In the capacious and cushioned vehicle, traveling was
-tolerable enough and I reached Nordheim at nightfall
-in better spirits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the damp, gloomy inn, after the stage rolled off,
-my fever returned. I went to bed, and lay awake
-for hours, listening to the rain beating on the windows
-and the monotonous wail of the wind down the
-valley. The rest of the night must have been passed
-either in the wildest dreaming, or in a waking fever
-bordering on delirium. My head throbbed painfully,
-and imaginary voices seemed calling me from a distance.
-Strange figures walked through the room
-and stood long, looking out the window. Some were
-familiar faces—faces of friends far away—and some
-that I knew not, spoke to me, or talked with each
-other till my brain was confused with the noises, and
-toward morning I slept.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next day the sky was dark, without rain. I
-was weak, though no worse, and set out on foot,
-aided by a stout staff, toward the Hartz. In spite of
-the labor of plodding along the muddy roads, I was
-refreshed by the cool damp atmosphere and inspired
-by the scenery, which grew wilder and lonelier as I
-advanced. Spring, although late for Germany, had
-already covered the forests with their first light green
-foliage, and the meadows were luxuriant with grass
-and flowers. Whenever I grew weary, there was
-always a bank of moss somewhere under the pine-trees
-which the rain had not reached, and like Uhland
-with his apple-tree, I greeted the pine as my landlord,
-who, if he could spread me no board from his
-juicy larder, at least kept for me his best arm-chair,
-and with the thatch of his roof protected me from the
-frequent showers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So passed the day, with no incident except the
-challenge of a gend’arme, who could read no part of
-my passport but the name “America,” in honor of
-which he made a stiff military salute and wished a
-pleasant journey. In the old, decaying village of Osterode,
-sunk deep among gypsum quarries in the valley
-of the Oder, I made a dinner of milk and black
-bread, and as it was late in the afternoon, pushed on
-to reach Herzberg, at the entrance of the Hartz. As
-the black and gusty sky deepened into night, I was
-joined by a traveling handwerker, who made the
-way shorter by his cheery conversation, half talk and
-half singing. We stopped at a little one-story inn,
-called, even in that unknown corner of the world,
-the “London House.” The peasants employed by
-the landlord, who was rich in possessing several
-acres of barren meadow land, had just collected for
-supper, and we sat down with them at the table.
-An immense wooden bowl, filled with steaming potatoes,
-was placed in the middle, and a choppin of beer
-<span class='pageno' title='374' id='Page_374'></span>
-set before each one. They used neither knife, fork
-nor plate, but took the potatoes in their fingers, and
-salted them from another dish with the same convenient
-appliances. I was civilized enough to ask for
-a plate and to call for tea instead of beer, at which
-these stout men and maidens were greatly amused.
-There was considerable doubt at first whether the
-last article could be had, but the <span class='it'>frau</span>, after some
-search, produced a package of the kind called Russian
-tea, which is brought overland to Russia through
-Tartary, and retains the delicate aroma of the shrub
-in a much greater degree than that which reaches us
-by a long sea-voyage from Canton. At least, it
-seemed to me, in my exhausted state, nothing short
-of nectar, and after some talk with the good people of
-the inn, who, enjoying only the merest necessities of
-life gave me a new lesson in the requisites of happiness,
-I went to bed in the loft and slept till my companion,
-the handwerker, awoke me at breakfast-time.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our roads, unfortunately, were different. He was
-bound to Alexisbad on the southern edge of the Hartz,
-while I was for a visit to His Phantomship, the
-Spectre of the Brocken. So we parted, with mutual
-wishes of good luck, and I plunged into the grand
-mountain defile in front of Herzberg, my knapsack
-heavier by a loaf of bread. Thenceforward my way
-was solitude itself. The steeps on either side were
-clothed to the summit with woods of black pine, with
-here and there a single larch, of a pale and misty
-green, like the ghost of a tree. The brawling river
-ran over cold black rocks, and even where the hills
-left a little eddy of meadow between them, the winter
-floods swept it bare and prevented the peasant
-from planting his scanty harvest. The only houses
-were those of the woodmen and mountain herdsmen—the
-only sounds of human life the stroke of axes
-among the pines and the shout of men and boys driving
-their cattle up to the cleared places, which were
-already covered with thick grass. Snow-drifts still
-lay in the clefts of the rocks and under the boughs of
-trees which had been felled. Over this stern and
-lonely region was a dark and lowering sky and the
-only things that were truly bright and joyous were
-the crimson pinks that grew by the wayside.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I overtook a herdsman with his two boys driving
-their cows and goats up the valley, and we walked
-some time in company. With a frank curiosity he
-asked me why I traveled alone in the Hartz. It was
-too early, he said, to climb the Brocken, and then
-nobody went there without company. People said
-there were still spirits and witches among the hills,
-and I might easily lose the path and wander about till
-after night-fall, when I would be in their power.
-The boys listened to his warnings with perfect belief
-in their faces. I asked them if they had ever seen
-those witches, “No,” they answered, but they had
-never been further than Andreasberg; yet the miners
-had told them of kobolds who guard the veins of ore
-and smothered them to death when they came too
-near their dwellings. The old herdsman said he had
-climbed the Brocken many years before, in the summer
-time, and added, “but we took good care to come
-down again before night.” I promised him to be
-careful about the road and not to be belated when the
-witches were abroad, but he still seemed unwilling
-that I should go alone. “Here are the cattle to take
-care of,” said he, “but Ernest and Gottlieb could do
-that; if it were not for the wood I must cut, I would
-go with you myself the whole way.” If my purse
-had been a little heavier, I would have paid him for
-the lost work, and taken him along. This I could
-not do, and when he reached the path which led to
-his pasturage, I shook hands with him and repeated
-my promises. “I hope you may be lucky,” was the
-last he said, “but I wish I could go along.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Still climbing beside the stream, the road finally
-grew rough and narrow, hemmed by mountains too
-high and bleak as yet for pasture. I reached a pass
-where it was completely covered by an overhanging
-rock, and sat down to compare the directions of my
-guide-book with the appearances around me. I had
-come to the conclusion that I was in the wrong path,
-when two or three miners came under the other end
-of the rock. They confirmed my suspicions, but
-told me they were going to Andreasburg by a path
-over the mountain on our right and if I followed them
-I should gain what I had lost. This was a fortunate
-chance; I shouldered my knapsack and took the path,
-which was so steep and narrow that we climbed
-single file through the woods. It was half an hour
-before we reached the summit and I felt like sinking
-to the earth from fatigue, for my guides were strong-winded
-and athletic and went steadily forward, without
-taking breath. I kept pace with them in the
-descent, and learned from them something of their
-under-ground life and the extent and productiveness
-of the mines. This part of the Hartz is very rich in
-minerals, the mines producing gold, silver, lead, copper
-and iron. Some of them have been worked
-seven or eight centuries, and the deep shafts extend
-more than two thousand feet under the earth’s surface.
-The great mine at Andreasberg, called the
-<span class='it'>Sampson</span>, is said to be twenty three hundred feet
-deep, and the town is inhabited entirely by the workmen.
-I have since regretted that I did not spend a
-day there in visiting these remarkable subterranean
-works.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The town is built near the summit of the mountain
-and commands a singularly wild and dreary view
-over that part of the Hartz district. Bleak hills, on
-which the snow still lay in patches, rose on every
-side, and the valleys they enclosed looked dim and
-gloomy in the distance. The Brocken was before
-me, but its top, fifteen miles off, was covered with
-clouds. I pushed on, hoping to reach it before night,
-but while I was tracing the course of the canal which
-carries water from the dammed mountain springs to
-the mines, the air grew dense and damp, and a
-wreath of cloud, trailing like a scarf along the cliffs
-far below me, portended that night and storm were
-coming together. When I reached the dam, on the
-side of the Brocken, it began to rain dismally. The
-wind whistled through the long dead grass and
-soughed in the wet pines with a monotonous sound.
-No sign of house or human being was visible, but I
-<span class='pageno' title='375' id='Page_375'></span>
-kept on till twilight, when I reached a large solitary
-building standing by the road. It was inhabited by
-some forest superintendent or other functionary, and
-is the second highest dwelling in the Hartz. As the
-office of landlord was also included in the occupant’s
-duties, I determined at once to spend the night there.
-The only residents were the landlord and his wife,
-two servants and a young man of polished manners,
-yet of quiet and reserved appearance, who seemed
-to be living there as much for the solitude of the
-place as any other cause. After supper he was
-more communicative, and by drawings and descriptions
-gave me a very good idea of the remaining
-eight miles to the summit of the Brocken, which I
-was to try alone on the morrow. All night the
-winds howled around the house as if all the witches
-were abroad. It was the second of May, the night
-after their yearly conclave.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I have related elsewhere my ascent through snow-drifts
-and snow-clouds—up rocky ravines and over
-mountain marshes—till I reached the Brocken House
-drowned with rain, a most <a id='look'></a>woful-looking traveler.
-After drying beside a stove like a furnace, and a
-dinner which sent the blood warm and tingling through
-my limbs, I put the Brocken-nosegay of moss and
-lichens in my knapsack and passing the witches’
-cauldron, took the path for Schierke. It led down
-the southern side of the mountain, and the Brocken
-host (Herr Nese, who for fifty years past has introduced
-his Spectre to poets, peasants, philosophers
-and princes) showed me a pile of rocks just under the
-summit, where a few weeks before, his dogs had
-found a handwerker buried in a snow-drift and on
-the point of perishing. A half-hour’s walk brought
-me below the region of snow, but not that of rain,
-for the clouds were gathered over the mountains to
-the right. As I reached the first forests they rolled
-up black and swift and the drops began to fall hard
-and heavily. Observing a little thicket of scrubby
-pines, I lay down on the ground and crawled under
-it, where I coiled myself up in the close and fragrant
-covert, just as the floodgates were opened. A perfect
-deluge succeeded; the trees roared and battled in the
-wind; the gullies on either side were full of foaming
-water and the air was nearly as dark as night. But
-scarcely a drop found its way through my shelter. I
-lay there warm and snug in the midst of a wild and
-dreary storm, and never shall I forget my exquisite
-sense of happiness while it lasted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Just before sunset I came out upon a slope of rich
-green pasture where several boys were tending a
-flock of cattle. The sky was then partially clear
-but cold, and as I was anxious to reach a village before
-dark, I left the road to ask them my nearest way.
-One question succeeded another, and having told
-them to what country I belonged, I must needs stay
-with them awhile and tell them about it. We sat on
-a rock and talked until the shadow of the opposite
-mountain fell over us, when I left them. They had
-friends in America, and one of them thought he might
-visit them when he grew older.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They delayed me so long that the foot-path I had
-taken, through a deep and rocky hollow, was very
-gloomy, and in the dim light, almost fearful. Vast
-masses of rock clung to the side of the mountain,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“Even as a wretched soul, hour after hour,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Clings to the mass of life, yet clinging, leans;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And leaning, makes more dark the dread abyss</p>
-<p class='line0'>In which it fears to fall;”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>over and through the crevices were twisted the bony
-roots of the pines, and down in the chasms I heard
-the foaming of the swollen streams. This is the
-path by which Faust and Mephistopheles ascended
-the Brocken, and the storm which heralded my descent
-into it reminded me of Goethe’s description:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“The night with mist is thick and black;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Hark, how the forests roar and crack!</p>
-<p class='line0'>The hooting owls affrighted fly.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Shivered full the columns tall</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of the palaces of pine.</p>
-<p class='line0'>See the uniting boughs entwine—</p>
-<p class='line0'>The mighty trunks that bend and groan—</p>
-<p class='line0'>The hard roots grating on the stone!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Mingling confusedly and madly, all</p>
-<p class='line0'>Over each other are heaped in the fall,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And around the crags, so wet and foul,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The winds in fury hiss and howl!”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I thought of this ghostly passage and remembered
-the caution given me by the old herdsman. But no
-wrinkled hag, coursing on her he-goat the haunted
-paths of the Brocken interrupted my progress, and
-the cheerful lights of Elbingerode soon glimmered
-through the wood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next day I set out for the Rosstrappe, but
-again went astray and came to a village on the river
-Bode, deep down under steep mountains and the
-abode of miners. The people told me of two noted
-caves within half an hour’s walk, but the rain had
-again set in, and I hastened forward toward the
-Rosstrappe, the greatest wonder of the Hartz. The
-scenery was no longer so lonely and exciting in its
-character. Open, upland plains, with occasional
-forests, skirted the road, and the men and women
-at work in their scanty fields and gardens saluted me
-with many a shout of laughter as I trudged along
-through the wood. Roads branched off in all directions
-from the main one, and left to my own judgment
-as to the proper course, I continued on till I
-reached the river, and saw a little hamlet on its
-banks. At the only inn—a hut with two rooms—an
-old grandam told me I had missed the way. The
-Rosstrappe was two hours distant, and I could not
-find it without a guide. The men were all away in
-the woods, but a neighbor of hers would go with me
-if I would give her a few groschen. To this I willingly
-consented, and the kind old woman dried my
-blouse carefully by the fire and brought me a dinner
-of bread and milk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After dinner the neighbor made her appearance,
-with a large empty basket and announced herself
-ready to start. My landlady rolled up in a paper a
-large slice of bread and thrust it into my pocket,
-charging me two groschen (6 cents) for my dinner.
-I was about to shoulder my knapsack, when my
-guide asked for it, saying she had brought her basket
-on purpose for it. I hesitated at first; the thought of
-walking unencumbered, with a woman carrying my
-baggage seemed unchivalric, to say the least. I
-made a rapid comparison between my weakness and
-<span class='pageno' title='376' id='Page_376'></span>
-fatigue and the distance still to be traversed, and
-decided by placing the knapsack in her basket and
-assisting her to lift it upon her head. Off we went,
-under a clear sky, for the first time since I entered
-the Hartz. Through fine open forests and along precipices
-overhanging the Bode—past the hunting-grounds
-of the Dukes of Brunswick and across dells
-fragrant with spring flowers—so we walked, for
-nearly two hours, till the cottage-inn of the Rosstrappe
-was visible through a vista of trees. Here I
-took the knapsack and dismissed my guide with a
-ten-groschen-piece, which I had been told was the
-usual fee. It was evidently much more than she
-expected.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After I had seen the Rosstrappe, and hung over
-the fearful chasm where the Bode thunders and foams
-seven hundred feet below, not forgetting to note the
-marvelous giant hoof-mark in the rock, I went back
-to the inn. The landlady gave me the whole story
-of the Rosstrappe while she brought and uncorked
-a bottle of <span class='it'>birkensaft</span> or birch sap, for which the
-Hartz is celebrated. This beverage, which is made
-in no other part of the world, consists of the sap of
-the birch tree, sweetened and suffered to ferment
-slightly. It is of a bright pink color and delicious
-taste. I had the table brought to the door, where I
-could see the savage defile below, while the landlady
-seated herself opposite with her knitting and gave
-her tongue full play. Such a tongue! the words
-came in an everlasting stream, and the faster she
-talked the harder she knit; so that one yarn kept
-pace with the other, and my visit increased the growth
-of her stocking considerably.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There was once a pack of wild students here,”
-said she, among the other marvelous stories she
-related; “though all students are wild enough, as is
-quite natural; but these fellows (I remember every
-one of them) made a terrible noise all afternoon, with
-their songs and their wine-bottles, and what not.
-They climbed down the rocks to the Bode and up
-again, and I must needs tell them the story of the
-Rosstrappe twice over. When night came they
-were still here under the trees, drinking, and as it
-began to rain and they were not able to find their
-way, the dear Lord knows, what was to be done but
-keep them? We have no rooms for so many here,
-you see; so I told them to take this chamber where
-we are sitting and sleep as they best might. But
-no sleep had I nor my good man; there was nothing
-but singing and yelling the whole night. About midnight
-there was a terrible rap on my door. ‘Himmel!’
-I cried, ‘what is the matter?’ and I started up in
-great fright. ‘O mein Gott!’ said one of the students,
-‘there are wolves at the door.’ Now there
-never was a wolf near the house, but I feared it
-might be a spirit, or something as frightful, so I put
-on my gown as quick as I could and lit my lamp, for
-they had overturned theirs in their fright. When I
-came into the room I found them all in one corner,
-looking very wild and pale. ‘There are no wolves
-here,’ said I. Just then a night-owl among the trees
-began to hoot. ‘There it is, there it is again!’ they
-cried, but I laughed, although I was very angry, to
-be called up for an owl. ‘Go to sleep, you fools!’
-I said to them, ‘do you not know better than to be
-frightened by a <span class='it'>hoo-hoo</span>!’ The next morning they
-were very much ashamed, as they truly might be,
-for I tell about their fright to every body who comes
-here.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the Rosstrappe, I had reached the eastern extremity
-of the Hartz, and after I descended the mountain
-my way was enlivened by bloomy orchards and
-springing grain. At sunset I was so far out in the
-plain of the Elbe that I could see the snowy top of
-the Brocken, free from clouds. This was my last
-view of the bleak and spectral mountain. After a
-night of terror at Halberstadt, (an account of which
-the reader will find in my narrative of travel,) I took
-the cars for Leipsic, which I reached the next night,
-and where I found a companion waiting for me. So
-ended my Lonely Week of Travel in Northern
-Germany.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk124'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='stanz'></a>STANZAS FOR MUSIC.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY MRS. HARRIET S. HANDY.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Oh! the bright and sunny days that long, long since were ours,</p>
-<p class='line'>Will they ne’er return again, with their wealth of summer flowers;</p>
-<p class='line'>The sweet approving smile—the low, soft gentle tone,</p>
-<p class='line'>With its murmured words of love, are they forever flown?</p>
-<p class='line'>And from thy heart are banished all memories of me.</p>
-<p class='line'>As a cloud upon the summer sky, a shadow o’er the sea?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Oh! deeply have I trusted, while I listened to thy vow,</p>
-<p class='line'>And dreamed not that deceit <span class='it'>could</span> rest upon so fair a brow;</p>
-<p class='line'>But well unto my heart the bitter lesson has been taught</p>
-<p class='line'>That oft love’s words, when sweetest, with deceitfulness are fraught—</p>
-<p class='line'>And though the slighted heart may hide its bitterness of wo,</p>
-<p class='line'>There is yet a fount of sorrow, the world may never know.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Then ask me not thy love and <span class='it'>faithlessness</span> so coldly to forget,</p>
-<p class='line'>Or that our early destinies have once so sadly met.</p>
-<p class='line'>Can the sea blot out the burning stars reflected on its breast,</p>
-<p class='line'>Or the caged bird forget the haunts where first it built its nest?</p>
-<p class='line'>The wildest storm that rocks the one, gives place to stars again,</p>
-<p class='line'>And though the captive bird sings on, ’tis a lovèd green-wood strain!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The ocean-shell forgets not its low, sweet plaintive moan,</p>
-<p class='line'>Nor the human harp the tones that once were all its own;</p>
-<p class='line'>But quivering on its strings, there ever will be found</p>
-<p class='line'>An echo-tone of memory—an unforgotten sound—</p>
-<p class='line'>And though the chords be broken—its glad music at an end,</p>
-<p class='line'>With its murmured melody, a strain of other years will blend!</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk125'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='377' id='Page_377'></span><h1><a id='for'></a>FOR AND AGAINST.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>FOUND AMONG THE PAPERS OF THE LATE</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>WALTER HERRIES, ESQ.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I don’t think I ever really loved but once; fancies
-I have had, and fond ones, too; but now when the
-cold, gray twilight of age is dimming the visions of
-the past, memory still recalls, with wonderful power,
-one bright face from the fair picture gallery of my
-early loves—the face of Edla Fane, the schoolmaster’s
-daughter. Beautiful she was not, and yet I
-loved her, as I learned too late. She seemed to bind
-me by some spell of witchery that I could not withstand,
-and yet against which I rebelled, because it
-appealed not to my outer senses. I understand it
-now; she bound me by the might of a lofty, spiritual
-love; and I blindly cast aside that gem of countless
-price to grasp the dross of earth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>High-toned, and pure-minded, tender, and confiding
-as a child, yet with a sweet womanly pride,
-and withal a dash of quiet humor, Edla Fane kept
-me vacillating near her for a many months. At one
-time feeling as though I could fall at her feet and
-worship her, at another fearing I had expressed too
-much, and withdrawing in cold reserve.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One evening a cold mood came over me; I feared
-I had committed myself in my ardent protestations
-to Edla, and now spoke with the calmness of friendship
-or platonic affection. She listened with a slight
-curve of her expressive lip, and assented to my
-proposal of affectionate friendship so readily, that
-my self-love was aroused, and with characteristic
-variableness my feelings gained immediate force
-again. But Edla remained unmoved. The next day
-I received the following lines in a blank <a id='enve'></a>envelope.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>You say that you love me, yet are not a lover;</p>
-<p class='line0'>As you know not yourself what it is you intend;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And right sorry are you, I have chanced to discover,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That you’re <span class='it'>less</span> than a <span class='it'>lover</span>, and <span class='it'>more</span> than a <span class='it'>friend</span>!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;For you know you’re a ranger,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And think there is danger,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That when you are weary, and wish to depart,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>I</span>, believing you true,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;May have learned to love you,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And you’ll leave me all lonely, without any heart!</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>You have cautioned me well, and have done but your duty;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The proverb says truly, “Forearmed, when forewarned,”</p>
-<p class='line0'>And though I can boast not of wealth or of beauty,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I yield not one feeling, I think would be scorned.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;When a lover I find</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Who <span class='it'>knows his own mind</span>!</p>
-<p class='line0'>I will give up my heart in return for his vow;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I must have <span class='it'>all</span> or <span class='it'>none</span>,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Must be wooed to be won—</p>
-<p class='line0'>And now I’ll advise <span class='it'>you</span>, if you will allow.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>You at once must restrain all expression of feeling,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Not only of words, but of glances and sighs,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Lest by some odd mischance the strange secret revealing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Your friendship should prove to be—“love in disguise!”</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Remember, take care,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I bid you beware,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For Cupid’s a sly, little mischievous elf,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;When you think your heart free</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;He may bind it to me,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And make you prove constant in spite of yourself.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>Then, when I have plighted my vows to another,</p>
-<p class='line0'>You will sue for one glimpse of old feeling in vain;</p>
-<p class='line0'>For when once the bright flame of affection you smother,</p>
-<p class='line0'>You never can kindle its brilliance again;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I’ll turn proudly away,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And will calmly say nay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>(While I look on you coldly, not seeming to see,)</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I esteem, and admire,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>That</span> is all you desire—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Think well of me always, but never love me!</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Provoking! thus to have my own words turned
-against me, at the close of these unexpected verses.
-I saw Edla frequently after this; but my evanescent
-vows, were never after tolerated even for a moment,
-and thus, when too late, her prophecy was fulfilled—I
-loved her. But Edla Fane is now a happy wife
-and mother, and I—a Bachelor.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk126'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='mystud'></a>MY STUDY.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY WILLIAM H. C. HOSMER.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';fs:0.9em;' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>The gaudy, blabbing and remorseful day</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Is crept into the bosom of the night.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='sc'>Shakspeare.</span></p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>I love the circuit of thy narrow bounds</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;While my pale lamp gives light,</p>
-<p class='line'>And, unattended by tumultuous sounds,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Presides the holy Night.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>A quiet nook for revery thou art</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;In the dim hour of shade,</p>
-<p class='line'>When that wild, wondrous instrument, the heart,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Is lulled, and tranquil made.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>My books—old friends that know not frigid change—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;When come the evil days,</p>
-<p class='line'>Unfold their lettered treasures, rich and strange,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To my enamored gaze.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>While Folly wastes in lust and midnight wine,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Manhood and moral health,</p>
-<p class='line'>True wisdom seeketh jewels in the mine</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Of intellectual wealth.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Haunt, sacred to retirement and thought!</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;At night’s dark noon alone,</p>
-<p class='line'>Within thy hallowed precincts I have caught</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Gleams of that world unknown,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Where the soul harbors when this life is o’er,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And closed our war with Time,</p>
-<p class='line'>And the hushed belfry of the heart no more</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Rings with a numbered chime.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk127'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i098.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0004' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='378' id='Page_378'></span><h1 class='nobreak'><a id='ben'></a>THE BIRTH-PLACE OF BENJAMIN WEST.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>[SEE ENGRAVING.]</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We present our readers with an engraving of the
-birth-place of the celebrated American painter, Benjamin
-West, from an original drawing made by Mr.
-Croome, in the year 1845. The house is situated in
-the township of Springfield, Pennsylvania, about
-four miles north of Chester, on a considerable farm
-belonging to Mr. Peter Stewart. It will be perceived
-that the house is in rather a dilapidated condition,
-one of the posts of the portico being deficient. The
-house is substantially built of brick, and, at the time
-of its erection, must have been considered rather an
-elegant country residence; but its antiquity and state
-of decay will probably prevent any future attempt to
-put it in repair. The spot, however, will always be
-interesting to Americans, from its having been the
-scene of West’s childhood, to which are referred
-those delightful and well known anecdotes, of his
-early life, which display the dawnings of that brilliant
-genius which was destined to astonish the
-world by its achievements in the graphic art.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk128'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='dreams'></a>DREAMS OF HEAVEN.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY M. E. THROPP.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>IRREGULAR LINES.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>From orient climes to the lands that glow</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;In the last red light of even,</p>
-<p class='line'>Indian, Paynim, Moslem, Jew—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;All have their dreams of Heaven.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The Moslem dreams of a green, fair clime,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Lit up by the sun’s broad beams,</p>
-<p class='line'>Where flowers gaze down at their own bright forms</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;In still transparent streams;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Where soft winds sigh, and gay birds sing,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;In tones so sweetly clear;</p>
-<p class='line'>Where palm groves rustle cool and still,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And bright-eyed Houries cheer;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Where the banquet waits, with its viands crowned,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And the wine-cup’s rosy gleam,</p>
-<p class='line'>While soft luxuriant bowers around,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Invite to recline and dream:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Such is the vision of future bliss</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To the Prophet-followers given—</p>
-<p class='line'>The “true-believer’s” goal of hope,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;The Moslem’s dream of Heaven,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The Indian dreams of a sunset land,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Where the great Manitto reigns;</p>
-<p class='line'>Where deer and stately bison roam</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;O’er broad, uncultured plains.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>A land whose giant lakes and streams,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;With gleaming fish abound;</p>
-<p class='line'>Where forests wave, and mountains tower—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;A boundless hunting-ground.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>’Tis his dream, as he calmly looks abroad</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;On the sunset glow, at even—</p>
-<p class='line'>A hunting-ground, where that sun sinks down,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Is the Indian’s dream of Heaven.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The Jew of his New Jerusalem dreams,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;With its streets of shining gold,</p>
-<p class='line'>And temples, that rival the regal fane</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;On Moriah’s brow of old.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Still dreams, that Judah’s harps shall sound,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And Judah’s pennons stream,</p>
-<p class='line'>Where now muezzin’s calls are heard,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And Moslem crescents gleam.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Zion rebuilt, and the land restored,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To his forefathers given,</p>
-<p class='line'>Is the Hebrew exile’s guerdon high,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;His earnest here of Heaven.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The Norseman chief, in the olden times,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Sprang up, with Valkyriur calls</p>
-<p class='line'>Ringing shrill and clear in his dreaming ear—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;“Up! come to ‘Valhalla’s Halls!’”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Would ye know how the chieftain sought those halls?</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;—Away to the battle-plain—</p>
-<p class='line'>The warrior sleeps on the ghastly heaps,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;His own red sword has slain!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Visions of blood, in that dying hour,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;To his stormy soul were given—</p>
-<p class='line'>Feasts, and victorious battle-fields,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Were the Norseman’s dreams of Heaven.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>The Greek had high, ambitious dreams,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Of Elysium’s fabled clime;</p>
-<p class='line'>The Druid too—ah, many and strange,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Were the dreams of olden time.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>How will those dreams accord with thee,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;When time exists no more,</p>
-<p class='line'>Unseen, unknown, unpictured realm</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Beyond the silent shore?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Now, shines the gospel sun, the mists</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Of Error roll away;</p>
-<p class='line'>And earth, from pole to central zone,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Rejoices ’neath its sway.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Like some tired wanderer of the deep,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;The Christian struggles on;</p>
-<p class='line'>While day and night, in calm or storm,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;How yearns his heart for home!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Dreams he of sensual joys? the chase?</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Some ruined city, lone?</p>
-<p class='line'>Of feasts and battle-fields? Not so—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;His is a spirit-home.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>To Him, who formed yon glorious sky,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;This green enameled sod,</p>
-<p class='line'>The Christian trusts his future home—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;His architect—is God.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk129'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i102f.jpg'><img src='images/i102.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0005' style='width:550px;height:auto;'/></a>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>COL. WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLE OF COWPENS.</span><br/> <br/>Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine by S. H. Gimber</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk130'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='379' id='Page_379'></span><h1 class='nobreak'><a id='drag'></a>THE YOUNG DRAGOON.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>A STORY OF THE COWPENS.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY CHARLES J. PETERSON.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>[SEE ENGRAVING.]</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_14'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';fs:0.9em;' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>There is a thing—there is a thing,</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>&ensp;&ensp;I fain would have from thee;</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>I fain would have that gay, gold ring.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='sc'>The Spectre Lady.</span></p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>The period of our revolutionary history immediately
-succeeding the defeat at Camden, is still remembered
-in the Carolinas with horror. The British,
-elated with their success, and regarding the South
-as now their own, proceeded in the work of confiscation
-and massacre with pitiless severity. In that
-terrible crisis many a family was deprived of its
-head either by exile or by execution. Yet larger
-numbers were shorn of their property and reduced to
-comparative indigence. In a word, terror reigned
-paramount.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the common events of life still went on. The
-transactions of business, the struggle for wealth, the
-toils of the husbandman, births, deaths, marriages,
-cares, hopes, fears—all followed each other down the
-deep current of existence, almost wholly unaffected
-by the storm of war which agitated the surface. It
-is an error to suppose that great convulsions disturb
-the whole order of society. Men will still hate,
-though the entire nation be turned into a camp; will
-still strive for the dross of earth; will still, if young
-and generous, risk their heart’s happiness in love.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was toward the close of a winter evening that
-a youth of noble mien and handsome face stood at
-the foot of one of those long avenues of trees, which,
-in South Carolina, lead up from the road to the
-mansions of the wealthier proprietors. For nearly
-half an hour he had been there, as if awaiting the
-approach of some one from the house: now looking
-anxiously up the long avenue, now restlessly walking
-to and fro. During that interval but one person
-had passed along the highway, and the notice of this
-one the youth had skillfully avoided by concealing
-himself behind some dwarf trees within the plantation-fence.
-This act, as well as his whole demeanor,
-proved that he was awaiting some secret interview.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last, just when the dusk began to deepen into
-night, the flutter of a white dress was seen coming
-down the avenue. A minute more, and a beautiful
-girl of eighteen summers appeared on the scene.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Albert,” said the new comer, as the youth, seizing
-her hand, passionately kissed it, “I have not a
-second to stay. It was with difficulty I could leave
-the house unseen, and my absence has doubtless
-been noticed before this; what we have to say, therefore,
-must be said at once; why have you sought
-this interview?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have sought it, Ellen,” he replied, still holding
-her hand, “because, despairing of gaining your
-consent, I have volunteered in Capt. Washington’s
-cavalry corps, and to-morrow set forth. Perhaps
-you will never see me more. I could not leave the
-neighborhood without seeing you once more, and
-bidding you an eternal farewell; and, as your father’s
-orders had banished me from the house, there was
-no method of giving you my adieux except by soliciting
-an interview.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The tears had started to the eyes of his listener, but
-she turned away her head to conceal them; and for
-some time neither spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ellen, dear Ellen,” said the young soldier,
-earnestly, “will you not now, in this solemn moment,
-say you love me? I once hoped you did, but
-since your father has forbidden me the house, you
-have been less kind; and I fear that I have lost your
-heart—that you, too, have ceased to care for me,
-now that I am beggared—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His hearer suddenly turned her face full upon him,
-with a look of tearful reproach that cut short his
-words.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bless you, Ellen, for that look,” he said. “Though
-my father’s estate is confiscated, and he and I both
-indigent, it is not on that account that you have
-seemed so cold to me lately. Say then, dearest, only
-say that I have been mistaken in thinking you at all
-altered.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Another look, equally eloquent, answered him;
-but still his hearer did not speak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Ellen,” he continued, “when I am far
-away fighting my country’s battles, what bliss it
-would be to know that you sometimes think of me;
-and that if I should fall, you would shed a tear for
-me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His listener, at these words, wept freely, and when
-her agitation had somewhat passed, spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Albert,” she said, “you have conquered. Know
-then that I do love you.” At these words the impetuous
-young man clasped her in his arms, but she
-disengaged herself, saying, “But, while my father
-opposes your suit, I can never be yours. The
-consciousness of his disapproval has made me affect
-a coldness to you which my heart belied, in the
-hope that you would think of some one more worthy
-of you—but—but,” she hesitated, then quickly added,
-“in a word, if it will comfort you, when away, to
-know that I think of you, and pray for you, go forth
-happy—the misery is for us who stay behind, and
-who are hourly anxious for the fate of the absent.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The tears fell fast as she spoke, and, concluding,
-<span class='pageno' title='380' id='Page_380'></span>
-she suffered her head to be drawn to her lover’s
-shoulder, while a deep and holy silence succeeded,
-as these two young and already unhappy beings held
-each other in a first embrace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was only for a moment, however, that Ellen
-yielded to weakness. Raising her head and brushing
-the tears from her eyes, she said, while crimson
-blushes overspread her face,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And now farewell—perhaps all this is wrong—but
-I could not see you leave me in anger.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“God bless you for those kind words,” said
-Albert. “But, Ellen, before you go, one more request.
-That miniature that hangs around your neck—is
-it too much to ask for it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She hesitated: then, as steps were heard in the
-road, suddenly gave it to him. He drew a heavy
-signet-ring from his finger, and said, tendering it in
-exchange,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Take this, and let us be true to each other—so
-help us God!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And with this parting adjuration, he sprang over
-the fence to conceal himself behind the brushwood,
-while Ellen, hastening up the avenue, was soon lost
-to sight in the obscurity of the hour.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The wind sighed mournfully through the pine woods
-as this betrothal was consummated, and the dark,
-starless sky overhead looked down with its weird
-and melancholy face.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_15'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';fs:0.9em;' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Heard ye the din of battle bray,</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Lance to lance, and horse to horse.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='sc'>Gray.</span></p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is well known that, after the defeat of Gates,
-Congress hastened to supersede that general, and
-appoint Greene to succeed him. At the period of the
-incidents narrated in the last chapter, the new commander-in-chief
-had arrived in the South, and was
-organizing his forces.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His very first proceeding showed the resources of
-an intellect, which, in military affairs, was second
-only to that of the “father of his country.” Aware
-that the initiatory step toward redeeming the South
-was to arouse the confidence of its people, he determined
-to divide his force. While, therefore, he
-moved with one portion down the Pedee, he despatched
-Morgan, with the remainder, west of the
-Catawba, in order to encourage the inhabitants in
-that quarter. Morgan’s corps was accompanied by
-Capt. Washington’s light dragoons, of which our
-hero had already become a conspicuous member.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This division of his army, in the face of an active
-foe, would have been a capital error, but for the
-political advantages it offered, and which over-balanced
-the military ones. Cornwallis, then in
-command of the royal army, determined to frustrate
-the success of Greene’s plan, by cutting off Morgan’s
-detachment; and accordingly ordered Col. Tarleton,
-with his renowned dragoons, accompanied by a competent
-force of infantry, to give pursuit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was on the 14th of January, 1781, a day ever to be
-remembered in the annals of our country, that the
-heroic Morgan learned the danger in which he stood.
-He determined immediately to give battle. For this
-purpose he halted at a place called the Cowpens, and
-having drawn up his troops, awaited, though not
-without anxiety, the appearance of the foe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The attack of Tarleton, as usual, was impetuous,
-and for awhile the American militia were driven
-helplessly before it; but soon they rallied, under
-cover of a few continentals belonging to Morgan’s
-command, and in turn forced the British to give
-ground. These brave soldiers of the line, led by
-their colonel, now charged with the bayonet, when
-the route of the royal infantry became complete.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Washington, with his cavalry, had been waiting
-impatiently a chance to participate in the fight; but
-having been stationed as a partial reserve, the order
-for him to engage did not for some time arrive. His
-troops shared his enthusiasm. Composed chiefly of
-young men of family, and mounted on thorough-bred
-animals, they presented a formidable appearance,
-as they stood, awaiting the order to engage, the
-horses champing at the bit, and the riders nervously
-fingering their swords: they saw the onset of the
-British, the flight of the first line, and the partial
-panic that extended through the foot soldiers with
-horror; but still their leader remained unmoved. Many
-had never been in battle before, and such believed
-the day lost; among these was Albert.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last the confusion became so great around them
-that troops so undisciplined, if less brave, would
-have taken to ignominious flight; for the defeated
-militia were pouring down upon them from all sides,
-almost compelling them to break their ranks, or see
-the fugitives perish under the hoofs of their horses.
-But now Washington seemed to rouse from his inaction.
-Ordering his men first to allow the flying
-militia to gain their rear, he then directed them, his
-sharp, quick tones showing that the moment for action
-had come, to close up and prepare to charge.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As he spoke, he pointed with his sword ahead,
-and our hero beheld the renowned regiment of
-Tarleton coming down upon them at full gallop, and
-amid a cloud of dust, driving before a mass of dismayed
-fugitives. The keen eye of Washington
-measured, for an instant, the distance between them,
-and then said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I want no fire-arms used to-day, my lads. Stick
-to the cold steel. And now, for God and your
-country—charge!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Away went the troop, like a thunder-bolt suddenly
-loosed from a cloud, with every scabbard jingling,
-every steed snorting with excitement, and the
-solid earth shaking under them. In full career they
-burst upon the flank of the enemy, who, disordered
-by his pursuit, could make but a feeble resistance.
-Horse and rider went down before the impetuous
-charge of the Americans, who for awhile fairly rode
-down their foes. But British valor soon proved too
-weak for the combined patriotism and courage of
-Washington’s cavalry; and the royal troops, taming
-their bridles, took to ignominious flight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“On, on,” cried Washington, waving his sword
-for his men to follow, “remember the cruelties of
-these myrmidons. Revenge for our slaughtered
-countrymen!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='381' id='Page_381'></span>
-At the word, his men, thus reminded of the
-butchery of the Waxhaws and of the other atrocities
-perpetrated under the eye of Tarleton, spurred their
-horses afresh, and dashed on in pursuit. A complete
-panic had now taken possession of the royal
-cavalry, who hurried on at full gallop, each man
-thinking only of himself. Close on their heels followed
-the indignant Americans, cutting down mercilessly
-every red-coat they overtook, until the road
-was strewed with the dead. Foremost in this pursuit
-rode Washington, a precedence he owed, not
-only to his superior steed, but to his eagerness to
-overtake an officer just ahead, whom he judged
-to be Tarleton himself from his effort to rally the
-fugitives.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The tremendous pace at which Washington rode,
-at last carried him so far ahead of his men, that, at a
-bend in the highway, he found himself totally alone.
-At this moment, the British, looking back, perceived
-his situation, and immediately turned on him, his
-principal assailants being Tarleton and two powerful
-dragoons.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Knowing, however, that assistance must be close
-at hand, Washington resolutely advanced to meet
-the enemy, determined to seize Tarleton for his
-prisoner. But, before he could reach the colonel,
-the two dragoons dashed at him, the one on the right,
-the other on the left. He saw only the first of them,
-however, and accordingly turned on him, clove him
-down with a single blow of his sabre, then rushed at
-Tarleton himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But, meantime, the other dragoon was advancing,
-totally disregarded, upon him, and with upraised blade
-would have cut him down, had not our hero, who had
-pressed close after his leader, at this instant wheeled
-round the corner of the wood. At a single glance
-he took in the whole scene. Albert saw that before
-he could come up Washington would be slain, unless
-fire-arms were employed. In this emergency he
-did not hesitate to disobey the orders of his leader.
-Jerking a pistol from his holster, he aimed full at the
-dragoon, just as the sabre of the latter was sweeping
-down on Washington’s head. The man tumbled
-headlong from his saddle, his sword burying itself,
-in the dust.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ha! who is that?” said Washington, sternly, so
-astonished to find his orders disobeyed, that he turned;
-a movement which Tarleton took advantage of to
-make good his escape. “You, Albert!—you!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There was no other way,” answered our hero,
-and he pointed to the dead dragoon, “to save your
-life. His sabre was within six inches of you when
-I fired.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It could not be helped, then, I suppose,” answered
-Washington, who now comprehended the event, and
-saw that he owed his life to the quickness of thought
-of his young friend; “but stay, you are yourself
-hurt.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As he spoke, he saw blood issuing from the sleeve
-of Albert, and immediately afterward the young
-soldier reeled and fell senseless to the ground.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Two pistol shots had been discharged from the
-enemy, Washington now recollected, immediately
-after Albert had fired. On examination, one ball was
-found in the arm of our hero. The other had perforated
-the coat, immediately over the heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He is dead,” cried the leader, “that second shot
-has touched a vital part.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He tore away the garments as he spoke, but uttered
-a cry of joy when he exposed the chest, for there,
-right over the heart, lay a miniature, which had
-stopped the ball.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Washington looked at the picture, and muttered,
-“Ha! I have heard of this—and now I will see if I
-cannot serve my young friend a good turn.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_16'>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';fs:0.9em;' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Marry never for houses, nor marry for lands,</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Nor marry for nothing but only love.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='sc'>Family Quarrels.</span></p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>When our hero, after a long interval of unconsciousness,
-opened his eyes, he found himself, to his
-surprise, in a large and elegantly furnished apartment,
-entirely strange to him. He pulled aside the
-curtains of his bed with his uninjured arm, and looked
-out. An aged female servant sat watching him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What massa want?” she said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How did I get here?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Captain Washington heself left you here, massa,
-after de great battle. De surgeon staid to dress your
-arm, and den follow arter de troops, who had lick de
-red-coats, dey say, all to pieces.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes! I know—then the army has pursued its
-march to the Catawba.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It hab, massa; and you be to stay here till you
-well.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But where am I?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old negro woman smiled till she showed all
-her teeth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You no know, massa?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You forgit me, Massa Albert—me, Missus Ellen’s
-maman?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good God!” cried our hero, scarcely believing
-his senses, and scrutinizing her features, “can it be?
-You are indeed she. And this is Mr. Thorndike’s
-house.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He had started up in bed, and was now confronted
-by the figure of the owner of the mansion himself,
-who entered at an opposite door; but who, instead
-of wearing the angry air which Albert had last seen
-upon him, smiled kindly upon him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was passing along the corridor,” he said, seating
-himself on the bedside familiarly, and taking the
-hand of his wounded guest, “and hearing your voice,
-learned for the first time that you were awake. Accordingly
-I made bold to enter, in order to assure
-you of a welcome. When we last parted, Mr. Scott,”
-he said, noticing our hero’s look of astonishment,
-“it was with ill-feeling on both sides. Let all that
-be forgotten. Whatever I may have said then I
-now recall. In saving the life of Capt. Washington,
-who is my dearest friend, you have laid me under
-infinite obligations, and at his request I have consented
-to overlook the past, and to give you my
-daughter. I only make a single stipulation, which
-<span class='pageno' title='382' id='Page_382'></span>
-is that you will not ask her hand until this war is
-over, which,” he added, lowering his voice, “can
-not be long, now that things have begun to go so
-auspiciously.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our hero well understood the character of Mr.
-Thorndike, who was noted for his prudent adherence
-to whichever side was uppermost, and he attributed
-this sudden change not only to Capt. Washington’s
-intercessions, but also in part to the prospect there
-now was of the triumph of the colonial cause, in
-which case the confiscated estates of the elder Mr.
-Scott would be restored. He kept this to himself,
-however, and expressed his thanks for Mr. Thorndike’s
-hospitality.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But I shall owe you even more,” he added, “for
-the happiness with which your promise has filled me,
-and I cheerfully accept your terms. Meantime, let
-me rise, and pay my respects to the ladies in person—I
-am sure I am well enough.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our hero, however, was compelled to keep his
-bed for two entire days, in consequence of the fever,
-a period which appeared to him an age.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We shall not attempt to describe his meeting with
-Ellen. Let us pass over the first few minutes of the
-interview.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have but one thing to regret,” he said at last,
-in a low whisper, for Mr. and Mrs. Thorndike were
-at the other end of the apartment, “and that is the
-loss of your miniature. I had it around my neck
-when I went into battle, but have not seen it since.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ellen smiled archly, and drew it from her bosom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How did it reach your possession?” he said in
-surprise. And, taking it in his hand, he added,
-“What means this dent, so like the mark of a ball?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tears gushed to Ellen’s eyes, as she said—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Capt. Washington, who gave it to me, said that
-it lay over your heart, and that but for it, Tarleton’s
-pistol-shot would have killed you. Oh! Albert, I
-sometimes thought, after I gave it to you, that I had
-done wrong, knowing that my parents would not
-approve of the act; but when I heard that it had
-saved your life, I saw in it the hand of Providence.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes! for it not only preserved me from death,
-but was the means of interesting Washington in our
-favor, and thus bringing about this happy re-union,”
-said Albert, after a pause.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We have no more to tell. On recovering from
-his wound, our hero rejoined his corps, with which
-he continued until the expulsion of the British from
-the Carolinas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After that happy event he was married to Ellen,
-and with her spent a long life of felicity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Their descendants still preserve the battered miniature
-as an heir-loom.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk131'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='wild'></a>WILD-BIRDS OF AMERICA.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY PROFESSOR FROST.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i111.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0006' style='width:425px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_17'>MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This species is widely spread over the United
-States, Mexico and the West Indies. Trappers have
-found it in abundance amid the wild solitudes of
-Oregon and the gorges of the Rocky Mountains.
-The great body of these birds winter within the
-tropics, from whence they reach the Southern States
-early in spring, and Pennsylvania in April. They
-begin to build in May, choosing for this purpose
-either the thickest parts of the forest or a low
-meadow, retired from the intrusion of man. The
-nest is constructed of dry leaves and grass, and
-always concealed by thick grass, heaps of brush or
-other undergrowth. Indeed few of our songsters are
-more shy or modest than the Yellow-Throat, and he
-seems to be devoid of the apparent vanity evinced
-by most birds of handsome or gaudy plumage. The
-<span class='pageno' title='383' id='Page_383'></span>
-lonely banks of a small stream, overgrown with
-reeds and bushes, is his favorite haunt; and here,
-with his sober mate, he whiles away the long sultry
-days of our summer’s heat. The eggs are five in
-number, either entirely white or of a pale pink tint,
-varied by minute specks and lines, mostly toward
-the greater end. After being hatched, which occurs
-in June, the young birds join the parent pair, and all
-live as one family, roving along creeks and marshes,
-and defending each other from enemies. Sometimes,
-however, a second brood interrupts this connection.
-In August the lively song of the male ceases to be
-heard, and the whole party continue their pursuits in
-silence until warned by a scarcity of food to depart
-for the South.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Maryland Yellow-Throat is nearly five inches
-long, and more than six across the spread wings.
-The upper parts are a light olive; the throat and
-breast yellow; the wings and tail brown, mixed
-with black; the legs are pale flesh-color, and remarkable
-for their delicacy. The young resemble
-the female at first, but the male of the season, before
-his departure in autumn, exhibits the brilliant yellow
-throat, as well as some appearance of the gray and
-black which ornament the sides of the face in the
-adult. Small insects form the almost exclusive prey
-of this bird, and in capturing them he often displays
-much art and agility. His song is a plaintive whistle,
-varying in power and cadence, and sometimes associated
-with partial imitations of other birds. In
-September, small flocks depart for the South, only a
-few stragglers being seen after that month. A few
-pass the winter in the Southern States, but as already
-stated, the greater portion retire within the Tropics.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i114.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0007' style='width:425px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_18'>SUMMER YELLOW-BIRD, OR WARBLER.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Few birds are more common, or more widely
-spread than this well known species. According to
-Richardson, it is found as far north as the 68th degree
-of latitude, from whence it ranges throughout the
-entire North American continent, the West Indies,
-Bahamas, Colombia, Peru, Guiana, Brazil and other
-portions of South America. These latter countries
-are their winter residence. In the early part of
-March they arrive in Carolina, and two months later
-in Pennsylvania, New England, etc. Here they pass
-the summer, and leave for the South about the beginning
-of September, the time of departure varying
-with the season and latitude.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Yellow-Bird is a general favorite with the
-farmer. In summer he may be seen upon almost
-every tree, but especially among the willows along
-water-courses, where his brilliant plumage forms a
-fine relief with the deep glossy green. Being familiar
-and playful, he often approaches so near as to
-be captured. His favorite food is larvæ and small
-caterpillars, which he searches for with much industry,
-enlivening the hardship of his labor by a cheerful
-whistle or song. About the time of building, and
-even after, the female sings almost as well as the
-male. Both these birds display great ingenuity and
-solicitude in the construction of their nest, which is
-usually placed on a small bush close to the ground.
-Instances are rare where they build on the ground
-or on a high tree. The nest is constructed externally
-of dried leaves, fine bark and fern, and within of
-down, wool, fine grass, and similar materials. Occasionally
-they forsake the woods, and build in the
-hedge or bushes of the garden, suiting the construction
-of their small home to the change of residence.
-“The labor of forming the nest,” as Nuttall observes,
-“seems often wholly to devolve on the female. On
-the 10th of May, I observed one of these industrious
-matrons busily engaged with her fabric in a low
-barberry-bush, and by the evening of the second day
-the whole was completed to the lining, which was
-made at length of hair and willow down, of which
-she collected and carried mouthfuls so large, that she
-often appeared almost like a mass of flying cotton,
-and far exceeded in industry her active neighbor, the
-Baltimore, who was also engaged in collecting the
-same materials. Notwithstanding this industry, the
-<span class='pageno' title='384' id='Page_384'></span>
-completion of the nest, with this and other small
-birds, is sometimes strangely protracted, or not immediately
-required.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The eggs of the Yellow-Bird are four or five in
-number, white, with small spots of brown. After
-they are hatched, or even while sitting, the female
-often feigns lameness at the approach of a stranger,
-falling down near him and uttering pitiful cries, or
-perhaps fluttering along the ground. It is frequently
-annoyed by the intrusions of the Cow Troupial, which,
-building no nest of her own, makes use of the
-Yellow-Bird’s. The little builder being too weak to
-remove the incumbrance, generally builds a partition
-over it, thus preventing its being hatched. Nests
-have been found in which a second story has been
-raised in a similar manner.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Yellow-Bird is five inches long, and seven
-across the wings. Greenish yellow above; below,
-with crown and front golden, and orange spots on
-the breast; wings and tail brown, and the bill blue.
-The female is without any variation of color on the
-breast.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i117.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0008' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_19'>BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Green Warbler arrives in Pennsylvania about
-the beginning of May, and in New England somewhat
-later. When observed for the first time in
-spring, it is generally alone, seated on a fruit-tree,
-and industriously searching for the small insects and
-larvæ which constitute his food. The species is
-somewhat rare, rarely more than a single pair, as it
-is asserted, being seen together, except in the fall,
-when scattered individuals collect to prepare for
-migration. Except during the period of incubation,
-they are not very shy of man, often permitting him
-to approach within a few feet. They are supposed
-to wander in summer as far north as Canada and
-Hudson’s Bay, but the larger portion remain in the
-Middle and New England States.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Little is known of the precise time of building,
-since the habits of this songster are then retired.
-They appear to prefer low, dry situations, and build
-on bushes, not far from the ground. A nest examined
-by Nuttall contained four eggs, of a light flesh-colored
-tint, variegated with pale, purplish points of
-various sizes, interspersed with other large, brown
-or blackish spots. The outside was formed of fine
-strips of the inner bark of juniper, with another
-tough, fibrous bark, the whole lined with soft
-feathers, horse hair, and bent grass.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Green Warbler is four and a half inches in
-length, and seven across the wings. The chin and
-throat are black, with spots of the same color on the
-sides under the wings. The breast and belly are
-white, the wings and tail dusky, with some white,
-and the legs and feet pale brown. A bird called
-by Latham and Pennant the Yellow-Fronted Warbler,
-is probably but a variation of the same species.
-The song of the Green Warbler is a somewhat plaintive
-note, not unlike that of the Chicadee, uttered at
-short intervals, in a slow manner and with some
-variation. Owing to its solitary habits, it rarely
-mingles in the chorus of our summer groves.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk132'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='vin'></a>VINCENTE FILICAJA’S SONNET TO ITALY.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>“<span class='it'>Dove Italia il tuo braccio.</span>”</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Where is thy might, oh Italy! and why</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Now dost thou humbly kneel to other powers?</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;They are thy foes, for both in bygone hours</p>
-<p class='line'>Subject before thy throne were forced to lie.</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;And is it thus thy honor is preserved?</p>
-<p class='line'>And is it thus thy glory is maintained?</p>
-<p class='line'>Thine old escutcheon thou hast darkly stained,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Widely from ancient valor hast thou swerved.</p>
-<p class='line'>Well—be it so: yet cast the crown aside,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Put on the shame, the languor and the chains</p>
-<p class='line'>Of slaves, and sleep while all mankind deride—</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Sleep as the hireling harlot sleeps, who stains</p>
-<p class='line'>Her bridal-bed with guilt, till in thy side</p>
-<p class='line'>Avenging fate the glittering steel shall hide.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-top:0.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>F. R.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk133'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='385' id='Page_385'></span><h1><a id='rev'></a>REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.</h1></div>
-
-<hr class='tbk134'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Selections from the Writings of James Kennard, Jr. With a
-Sketch of His Life and Character. Boston: Wm. D.
-Ticknor &amp; Co. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This volume is printed for private circulation, and we
-should not have thought of making it the subject of a notice,
-were it not for the interest which attaches to the
-name of the author. Mr. Kennard was stricken early in
-life with a disease in his knee—was compelled, at the age
-of twenty-two, to have his leg amputated—and from that
-time to his death, ten years after, he was afflicted with a
-series of diseases, frightfully accumulating one upon another,
-which at last deprived him of all power of motion,
-and sparing not even his eyes. Yet though thus seemingly
-cut off from all enjoyments, and doomed to the
-peevishness as well as the pain of the sick chamber, he
-bravely surmounted by force of will the mental effects of
-his ailments, and developed in physical agony and deprivation
-one of the most beautiful and loveable characters
-we have had the fortune to meet in literature or in life.
-Serene, cheerful, hopeful, affectionate—uncomplaining in
-the midst of miseries, any one of which might well have
-quelled a strong spirit, and which, combined, seemed impossible
-for any spirit to bear—he not only was a genial
-companion, ready to talk of every thing but his own pains
-and deprivations, but a voluminous writer. The present
-volume, consisting of essays, reviews and poems, contributed
-to the Knickerbocker, the Christian Examiner, and
-various newspapers and periodicals, indicates not merely
-the degree of excellence to which by self-culture he had
-trained his talents for composition, but also the wide
-range of his studies, and the wider range of his sympathies.
-For every holy and beneficent enterprise started
-to alleviate the miseries of the unfortunate, to assist the
-poor and the ignorant, or to champion the oppressed, this
-self-forgetful valetudinary had a word of cheer warm
-from his heart. There is also a sunny, almost frolicksome
-and dancing, spirit of enjoyment in many of his pieces,
-which is usually <a id='char'></a>characteristic only of the highest physical
-health. The article on our “National Poets” is especially
-teeming with the very exuberance of fun. That on
-Alison’s History of Europe is one of the most judicious
-and brilliant papers on the subject published on either side
-of the Atlantic. Indeed the whole book preaches on every
-page the most scorching rebukes to indolent and self-indulgent
-health, and the most inspiring hope to despairing
-sickness. The reading of such a book, in connection
-with the character of such a man, is enough to create
-courage, and cheer under the very “ribs of death.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk135'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Mardi, and a Voyage Thither. By Herman Melville. New
-York: Harper &amp; Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Melville has given us here an acknowledged romance,
-and those who doubted the veracity of “Typee”
-and “Omoo,” may now have an opportunity of noticing
-the difference between Mr. Melville recording what he
-has observed, and Mr. Melville recording what he has
-imagined. It appears to us that the two processes in the
-author’s mind have little in common, and the best evidence
-of the truthfulness of his former books is the decidedly
-romantic character of much of the present.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mardi” is altogether the most striking work which
-Mr. Melville has produced, exhibiting a range of learning,
-a fluency of fancy, and an originality of thought and diction,
-of which “Typee,” with all its distinctness and
-luxuriance of description, gave little evidence. At the
-same time it has defects indicating that the author has not
-yet reached the limits of his capacity, and that we may
-hope from him works better even than the present.
-“Mardi” is of the composite order of mental architecture,
-and the various rich materials which constitute it are not
-sufficiently harmonized to produce unity of effect. It has
-chapters of description, sketches of character, flashes of
-fanciful exaggeration, and capital audacities of satire,
-which are inimitable, but confusion, rather than fusion,
-characterizes the book as a whole. Of the two volumes
-the first is by far the best, but both contain abundant evidence
-of the richness, strength and independence of the
-author’s mind, and are full of those magical touches which
-indicate original genius.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk136'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Nineveh and Its Remains. With an Account of a Visit to
-the Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan and the Yezidas, or
-Devil-Worshipers; and an Inquiry into the Manners and
-Arts of the Ancient Assyrians. By Austen Henry Layard,
-Esq., D.C.L. New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 2 vols. 8vo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Private letters from England confirm the reports in the
-public journals of the great sensation which this work has
-excited in Great Britain. It divides with Macaulay’s
-brilliant history the attention of the reading public. The
-American publisher, with commendable enterprise, has
-issued it in a style of great elegance, and has given all the
-illustrative engravings which decorate the English edition.
-The work, when we consider the expense of its mechanical
-execution, is placed at a very low price.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These volumes belong to a class of books which may be
-called the geology of history—the exhibition of a nation’s
-history and social life through its monuments. The greatest
-work of this kind in English is doubtless Wilkinson’s
-on the Ancient Egyptians, and the production of Mr.
-Layard is next in rank. It introduces us to the Assyrians
-through a process which enables us to comprehend their
-material and mental life—to see them as they <a id='ate'></a>ate, dressed,
-warred, thought and prayed. Their fine and useful arts,
-their costume, their amusements, their military system,
-their private life, their religion, are all brought directly
-before the eye and mind of the reader, and he is enabled
-to discern that peculiar combination of the elements of
-human nature which constituted the Assyrian mind and
-heart, and to reconcile the apparent anomalies in the national
-character. The picture is one of engrossing interest,
-and cannot fail to enlarge every mind which contemplates
-it. It is almost needless to say that the course
-Mr. Layard has pursued is the only possible mode by
-which authentic information can be obtained of an extinct
-people, who left no historical records, and who were
-almost forgotten before history began. The illustrations
-given in the work of the truth of many passages in the
-Old Testament, are not the least interesting and remarkable
-portions of a most interesting and striking book.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk137'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Gold Mines of the Gila. A Sequel to Old Hicks the
-Guide. By Charles W. Webber. New York: Dewitt &amp;
-Davenport. 2 vols. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This work possesses a double interest; first, as a most
-stirring and graphic delineation of life, character and
-scenery on the borders of Texas, and second, as indicating
-an almost unknown region of the Continent, rich in gold
-mines and wealth of various kinds, and tempting both
-<span class='pageno' title='386' id='Page_386'></span>
-curiosity and cupidity to its exploration. Mr. Webber
-proposes to head an expedition of some sixty men, to be
-called the “Centralia Exploring Expedition to California,
-via the valleys of the Pecos, the Gila, and Colorado of
-the West,” for the purpose of discovery and profit; and in
-the course of this delightful book of adventure, he spreads
-before his readers the evidence he possesses of the existence
-of the region into which he desires to penetrate. If
-his expedition succeed we have little doubt that it will be
-one of the most interesting and romantic since the time of
-Cortez; and the leader himself has qualities of valor,
-endurance and chivalric sentiment, sufficient to carry him
-through the difficulties of any enterprise, however arduous.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Apart from the information relating to a new gold region,
-Mr. Webber’s volumes possess an engrossing interest
-as records of adventure. The author has a sureness and
-vividness of conception, and a power of expression, which
-combined make his delineations singularly fresh and life-like.
-To read this book is the next best thing to viewing
-the objects it describes. It displays a representative
-genius of a high order, and if the author would concentrate
-his energies, he might produce a novel which would
-give him a place in the front rank of our original minds.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk138'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Rural Letters and other Records of Thought at Leisure,
-written in the intervals of more hurried Literary Labor.
-By N. Parker Willis. New York: Baker &amp; Scribner.
-1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The publication of this delightful volume was well-timed,
-appearing as it did with the new grass and the first
-flowers; and we doubt not it will be the companion of many
-a city tourist during the summer months. It is, perhaps,
-the most fascinating of Mr. Willis’s prose works, evincing
-more than his usual graceful facility of expression and
-fluency of thought, and variegated with the cosiest fancies
-and most genial wit. The author shakes hands with
-nature, and though the gleam of his jeweled fingers sometimes
-suggests that he is merely a visiter to her dominions,
-his beautiful audacity of manner forces the old lady to
-tell him some of her finest secrets—secrets which she has
-not always confided to her unconventional adorers. We
-hardly know whether the book is more calculated to delight
-the citizen or the countryman, but certainly there is
-a sweet fusion of nature and convention in it which must
-win the hearts of both. The volume contains “Letters
-from Under a Bridge,” “Open-Air Musings in the City,”
-“Invalid Rambles in Germany,” “Letters from Watering
-Places,” and “A Plain Man’s Love.” It is dedicated to
-Imogene, the author’s daughter, in five of the best pages
-that Mr. Willis ever wrote. The book is elegantly
-printed, and cannot but reach that wide circulation which
-it so richly merits.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk139'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Philosophy of Religion. By J. Morell, A. M. New York:
-D. Appleton &amp; Co. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The subject of this valuable volume is one to task the
-energies of the strongest intellect, and Mr. Morell seems
-to have exerted his to its utmost capacity in its production.
-Though it may not be in all cases sound and practical it
-evinces a wide knowledge of philosophical systems, is
-eminently suggestive, and thoroughly imbued with the
-spirit both of philosophy and religion. Mr. Morell is a
-metaphysician of the Scotch school, a follower of Reid
-and Hamilton, and from the latter especially he has drawn
-a good deal of his inspiration. Indeed, Sir William
-Hamilton’s dissertations and notes annexed to the late
-edition of Reid, are destined to have a wide if not a deep
-influence on contemporary thought. The present volume
-indicates how important are his distinctions of presentative
-and representative knowledge, for from Hamilton’s
-philosophy of perception a good portion of the book is
-drawn. Mr. Morell is well adapted to popularize the
-principles of more scientific and original thinkers than
-himself, and we hardly know of two works better calculated
-to initiate the reading public into the nature of the
-problems which vex metaphysics and metaphysical theology
-than his history of Philosophy and his present volume
-on the Philosophy of Religion.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk140'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Les Confidences. Confidential Disclosures. By Alphonse
-de Lamartine. Translated from the French, by Eugene
-Plunket.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This curious volume is the commencement of an autobiography,
-in which Lamartine confides to the public the
-thoughts and events of his life. Like all the other productions
-of the accomplished author it is written in a charming
-style, and with an abundance of captivating sentiment, but
-it gives no evidence of that robustness and solidity of nature
-we are accustomed to expect in a great man after the
-Saxon type. The sentimental dogmatist and egotist is
-predominant throughout, and with all its merit it seems to
-us one of those books which convey intellectual disease
-into the public mind, and enfeeble while they please. It
-would not, perhaps, be just to test its excellence by its
-agreement with English or American codes of taste, or
-object to some of its disclosures as puerile and unmanly,
-because so stigmatized by the canons of a particular nation,
-but we think on general principles of human nature
-it cannot stand a sharp examination. There is no evidence
-of any intrinsic greatness and grandeur of mind or
-heart in the book, nothing which justifies the author in
-making his weaknesses and vices, his virtues and fine notions,
-the subject of a particular work, and cramming the
-public mind with himself. There is really no addition
-made to our knowledge of ethics or metaphysics, to society
-or psychology, by the exhibition here made of the interior
-nature of Alphonse de Lamartine. He “wears his heart
-upon his sleeve” to no other purpose than to gratify a
-ravenous vanity or to fill an empty purse—two of the
-poorest objects a man can have in view in exhibiting
-himself.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk141'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The American Bee-Keepers Manual. By T. B. Minor.
-New York: C. M. Saxton.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Minor here presents us with a very complete practical
-treatise on the history and domestic economy of
-the honey-bee, embracing a full illustration of the whole
-subject, with the most approved method of managing
-this insect through every branch of its culture. The
-work is the result of many years careful notings of
-personal observation and experience, and abounds in
-agreeable as well as useful matter. It is a very readable
-volume, and opens a pleasant leaf of knowledge to the
-student of nature.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk142'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Spirit World, a Poem; and Scenes in the Life of Christ.
-By Joseph H. Wythes. Philadelphia, 1849.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is a very beautifully printed little volume, embracing
-the author’s first efforts—and very creditable they are.
-The design of the poem is, to unite the discoveries of astronomical
-science with consistent and Scriptural ideas
-of the powers, condition, and probable employment of
-a future state. We commend the volume to our readers.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk143'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='387' id='Page_387'></span><h1><a id='table'></a>EDITOR’S TABLE.</h1></div>
-
-<hr class='tbk144'/>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_20'>AN EARLY FLOWER.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Last month direct reference was made by our contributors
-to the beauties of May. Poets have felt the inspiration
-of the season from the first, and all the beauties and
-all the odors of the month have seemed transfused to their
-verse, rich in metrical excellence, and redolent of the
-sweets it embalmed. But we have taken a range among the
-hills and valleys, and, unable to express in poetry those
-sentiments which the season inspired, we must, though a
-month later, appeal to humble prose, and make a record of
-what we saw and felt, with no hope of suggesting high
-thoughts to others, or of awakening that feeling which,
-in the gifted and the good, may be aroused by eloquence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The chill of April winds does not prevent the greenness
-of herbage which the fecundating power of April rains
-provokes. And hidden in among the relics of last year’s
-vegetation, and the nascent herbage of young spring,
-little flowers had nestled away; little, but beautiful
-flowers, decorating the narrow space between the new-born
-child and the dead parent. I plucked a few of those
-modest gems, almost afraid that I desecrated the altar of
-Nature, in thus taking its scanty decorations; but they
-did their office, since they awakened in me a remembrance
-of Him whose hand planted the towering oak that makes
-the forest majestic, and whose fingers scattered the seed
-that produced these minute ministers of his will, these
-records of his omnipotence and omnipresence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All things are full of God”—it is the language of the
-heathen poet, it is the language of divine inspiration, it
-is the language of the heart touched with the truths of Nature,
-and connecting them with Nature’s Author. “Hill
-and dale are of thy dressing.” And as I stood in the dale,
-amid the delicate outpouring of the beauties there, and
-looked upward to the hills studded with the time-marked
-trees, I said to myself, “Here is that volume of truth that
-speaks of the unknown, yet not unreverenced, God, whose
-will and providence are revealed in the volume of inspiration.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had, almost insensibly, got within the enclosure of a
-burying-ground, which is situated near the Frankford
-Road, only a few miles from the city, and was transferring
-my thoughts from the beautiful objects of Nature to
-the specimens of human ingenuity that transmit the date
-of birth and death, with the name of the mortal, from one
-generation to the other. No one, I believe, passes through
-a burying-ground without pausing to read the little story,
-and thinking over the events which marked the life of the
-deceased. It is good when standing thus to think that he
-who is below was of like passions with ourselves—that he
-had all the social and domestic feelings which we possess,
-and was influenced by the events of life as we are. What
-a world do we animate when we thus think of each individual—thus
-place him in connection with social, domestic,
-political life. How we multiply interests, augment
-joys, and increase the pangs to which human existence is
-liable.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the turning of one of the little avenues that “lead to
-the tomb,” making an easy path to the grave, I saw that
-a new head-stone had been erected, and it bore the name of
-one whom I had known in her childhood. She was beautiful—but
-more lovely in mind than person. She married
-early, and gave birth to an infant, and died—a short
-biography. She was not forgotten. The memorials testified
-to the yet existing memory of her husband—and a
-nurse leading a little child toward the mound signified that
-her virtues were to be kept in remembrance by the child
-she had borne.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A little flower had sprung up on the very top of the
-grave. It had probably been planted in the autumn, but
-it was now beautiful in its solitude. Its colors were as
-rich as if the roots had struck down and drawn nutriment
-from the heart that mouldered below, and its odors were
-as rich as if they were imparted by the spirit that had
-gone upward. I know not when I have seen thus placed
-a more lovely flower; perhaps it owed a part of this estimate
-to its loneliness, a part to its connection with the
-beauty and purity of her over whom it expanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The little child on leaning over the grave fell prostrate,
-and manifested no disposition to rise. After a few moments
-delay, I gently raised her in my arms, and placed
-her on her feet. She seemed not pleased at first with my
-interference.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is my mamma’s grave,” said she, with much emphasis,
-“and she is down there now.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But lying on that moist ground might expose you to
-take cold.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yet I love to throw myself there,” she said. “I must
-do it, for I loved her much.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I tried to persuade her to desist, but she stepped toward
-the grave with a view of repeating her fall. Her attendant
-stooped down, and said in a low voice,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But your dear mother would not be pleased to see you
-do wrong, even if it was in token of your love for her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then I will not do it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If there had been no good seed planted in the child’s
-heart, at least the soil had been beautifully prepared for
-the planting—what could have been better done than this
-reverence for the name and virtues of a mother, and this
-obedience to her supposed will? I had, I thought, lighted
-on another truly lovely spring flower.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you come often to visit your mother’s grave?”
-I asked of the little one. The child looked up as if the
-inquiry should be repeated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We make frequent visits hither,” said the attendant.
-“We come almost daily in good weather.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes!” said the child, “we come every fine day
-to visit where mother lies—and I am not afraid.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why should you fear?” said I.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The child looked confused at the question.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will some day <span class='it'>meet</span> your mother if you are constant
-in your love, and thus seek to do whatever your
-friends tell you she would have desired, and to avoid what
-she would not have approved.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will endeavor to do so—but—I shall not meet her—we
-are going to Europe again, and shall not return.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To Europe—but, my child, God is everywhere.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, sir; but my mother is not.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, my dear child, your mother’s spirit, her soul, that
-which is loved in your mother, is, I hope, in Heaven; it is
-not in the grave to moulder into dust—the body takes that
-course, but the spirit returns to God who gave it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sir,” said the attendant, “they do not teach the child
-such things, and they do not approve of them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who does not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Her father and a cousin—they are good people, but
-are unbelievers in all such matters; and though they seldom
-<span class='pageno' title='388' id='Page_388'></span>
-dispute with others, they never admit of any instruction
-to their child about religion.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But,” said I, “she must know something about it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not at all, sir; she does not know what you mean by
-a spirit or a soul. How should she know—the cousin is
-her teacher, and she never refers to the subject, and forbids
-it to me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the child has been taught something of the kind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who taught her, sir?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps God. But I will see whether she has any
-idea of the matter.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you know, my child, what the soul is?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No sir—do you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I did not like to reply to her query—so I proceeded,
-“Your mother has yet an existence, and if she was good—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, my mother was very good—always good.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then the spirit which animated her body is in the
-enjoyment of all the good belonging to its present state,
-which the body could enjoy on earth—it is happy.” I was
-ashamed of the explanation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Would it be like her, if I could see it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Probably exactly like her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And could I see or know of her real existence in that
-state?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, though not usual. All is possible with God.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then I understand you. I have seen her often—often
-at night; and I have started as if I had been asleep. But
-at night I see my mother just as she looked when I saw
-her before her death, only there seemed to be light around
-her head, and she moved easily and rapidly. Oh, how
-night after night I have been with her, toiling on to overtake
-her steps, or carried rapidly forward; sometimes she
-seems to give me instruction—sometimes I rise in the
-morning and think I will pray to her, or I will pray
-God to give her to me again; and I have made known my
-feelings to cousin, and she has laughed at me or chid me
-for being so babyish as to be thoughtful about dreams.
-But I see now that this was truly my mother, and I will
-watch to-night, and when she comes again, I will ask her
-about her soul—have we all souls?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I think, <span class='it'>now</span>, that I could have placed the child in
-a position to comprehend these things a little better; but
-<span class='it'>then</span> I was confused with the extraordinary state of the
-child’s mind.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Did God teach her that?” said the attendant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Did he not teach her that?” I turned away as I saw
-some one coming down the walk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Did God teach that child? Was it the yet unfaded
-visions from which her soul was drawn, ere it became a
-tenant of the clayey tabernacle that was overshadowing
-her mind; the recollections of heaven illuminating its little
-earthly experience, growing dimmer and dimmer with
-time—was that the mother in the child, or was there, indeed,
-an appeal to its mind through its affections?
-Had she, shut out from all instructors during the day,
-denied all the knowledge which is the true foundation of
-a Christian’s life—denied it by father and relative—had she,
-in her bed, been met as little Samuel was met, by the voice
-of God, calling up the mind to its high destiny, and instructing
-it in the things that were to come?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could not solve this enigma. But how innocent, how
-attractive to the spirit of goodness must have been the
-mind of that little girl; and it would not be strange, at
-least it would seem most meet, that her guardian spirit
-should find means to awaken in her a sense of her importance,
-and to invite her to goodness by her love for a
-departed mother. I turned round before I left the ground,
-and saw the little child standing beside the grave. She
-looked down steadily upon the uplifted earth, and then
-turned her face upward, and seemed to gaze with intense
-interest into the blue sky above. I would have given
-much to know the thoughts that had occupied her mind, to
-have seen how love for the perishing object below, how
-reverence for the purified spirit above were alternating in
-her mind. I am sure that her thoughts had in them more
-of maturity and truth relative to those objects of her contemplation,
-than they had of the things of this life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I passed onward to the road, full of the idea of the child,
-who could not be deprived of knowledge. I had found an
-early flower—the chill of winter, its snows and its frosts,
-had forbidden its development—but a gentle ray from the
-sun of truth had called it forth; it was blossoming for
-man, delightful now, to be transplanted to its native
-heaven hereafter.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>C.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk145'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The Sewing Girl.</span>—The inequality of social life and
-domestic comfort in large cities, is, we presume, inseparable
-from a state of society as at present organized, and
-the bold reformer, even while he is preaching, is illustrating
-its incapacity for sudden change. So long as capital
-possesses supreme power, and the inherent quality of reproduction,
-there must be dependents and laborers. We
-cannot all ride in carriages, or there would be none to
-build them, and the present stock, we think, would in time
-grow ricketty upon the hands of the most adroit leveler.
-And if we descended into a race of pedestrians, we fear
-that we should in time, even if we divided the last dollar
-with a needy brother, be looked upon as soulless and decidedly
-shabby. We do not know that Fourier, even in
-his maddest dreams of social reformation and equality,
-ever seriously contemplated an era when boots should
-grow upon trees, without the aid of human hands, and
-coats come down like snow-flakes to cover our nakedness.
-We think not. And even if he had, there are certain disagreeable
-anticipations—aside from want of modesty—in
-wandering about on a wintry day, hunting for garments—to
-say nothing of having our beef killed and cooked to
-stay our appetites the while.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We suppose then we must have sewing girls—but we
-see no necessity of forgetting that they are girls—and
-neither horses nor mules—that they are human beings—noble
-women, with as warm hearts, and as good blood as
-ourselves, feeling the same yearnings after sympathy, the
-same keenness of suffering under insult, neglect or wrong.
-There is no necessary humiliation in labor. It is in itself
-of the highest dignity and of the loftiest nobility of extraction.
-She who, by assiduous industry, makes her
-little home happy, clothes her infant brothers, and administers
-to the wants of an aged and decrepit parent, has
-clothed herself in the holiest of garments, and though
-their texture may not be of the finest, she may stand up
-proudly beside the purple of a queen, and if she sees but
-the trembling of scorn upon the royal lip, may say,
-“<span class='it'>Stand off! I am nobler than thou!</span>” The treatment,
-however, which some of them receive from very fashionable
-and very silly young ladies, who have been badly
-educated by ignorant and vulgar mothers, is humiliating
-to witness occasionally, and must be very hard to bear
-continually.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“Hark! that rustle of a dress,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Stiff with lavish costliness;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Here comes one whose cheek would flush</p>
-<p class='line0'>But to have her garment brush</p>
-<p class='line0'>’Gainst the girl whose fingers thin</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wove the weary broidery in,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And in midnight’s still and murk</p>
-<p class='line0'><a id='stit'></a>Stitched her <span class='it'>life</span> into the work,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bending backward from her toil,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Lest her tears the silk might soil,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Shaping from her bitter thought</p>
-<p class='line0'>Heart’s-ease and forget-me-not.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Satirizing her despair</p>
-<p class='line0'>With the emblem woven there.”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='389' id='Page_389'></span>
-And yet the fashionable young lady may number among
-her accomplishments a smattering of French, or a villainous
-enunciation of Italian; may thrash the piano,
-with all discordancy, and nurse her poodle dog with infinite
-grace, and call it very fatiguing, and be obliged to
-take a nap after dinner, for fear her strength may fail her
-in the evening, in the waltz with Mr. Alfred Fitzhuggens,
-who labors under the accomplishments of an imperial and
-a dandy cane; while the young sewing girl may be devoting
-diligently sixteen hours out of the weary twenty-four,
-in earning the most indifferent food for a family of
-dependents.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We wonder if these young ladies while thumbing their
-gilt prayer-books on Sunday, and lisping over the prayer,
-“From all blindness of heart, from pride, vain glory, and
-hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness,
-<span class='it'>Good Lord, deliver us</span>,” ever think of the
-meaning and solemn import of the words they are using.
-We doubt it. Or in the more direct adjuration, “That
-it may please thee to strengthen those who stand, <span class='it'>and
-comfort and help the weak hearted</span>,” they ever think how
-little their heartlessness to dependents justifies them in
-putting up the prayer. Or still further, do they ever think
-of the obligations of that sublime command, in which
-Christianity sparkles like a divine light, “As ye would
-that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” We
-fear that at many a table where grace is said, the hearts
-who hear it are utterly graceless in this regard, and that
-many who are very rigid in paying the formalities of
-prayer to God, forget the divine injunction, “feed my
-lambs,” and would rather add an additional hour to the
-day of toil, and a shilling less to the pay of the toil-worn
-sewing girl, than to lighten her burdens by a cheerful
-word or token of encouragement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not that we wish for a moment to be supposed as intimating
-that this lack of enlarged charity is wanting in
-well trained hypocrites only—who do not dishonor religion,
-but by daily acts prove its truth and beauty, by showing
-that they are none of Christ’s. The haughty assumption
-and vulgar domineering is far worse where <span class='it'>all</span> restraint
-is thrown off, and worldliness unmitigated and shameless,
-in scarlet and effrontery, rides purse proud over the decencies
-as well as the charities of life, and makes dependency
-a worse slavery than that of the poor Indian in the mines.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The character of a lady is in no way more surely tested
-than in treatment of her domestics—and, <span class='it'>generally</span>, in the
-frequency with which she changes them. Depend upon
-it—the house in which <span class='it'>nobody</span> can be happy, must be a
-miniature of existence in a darker world.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>G. R. G.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk146'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Cape May Season.</span>—As the warm weather steals upon
-us, our friends begin to talk of “the Capes,” and to look
-up straw hats and bathing-dresses. Cape May has in its
-very sound a charm pleasingly familiar to almost every
-Philadelphia ear. Here visits the merchant in the summer
-months, for relaxation from the counting-room—the clerk
-for his holydays—the man of pleasure for enjoyment—the
-idle for luxurious indolence. It is Philadelphia in miniature,
-and full of life—lively, chatty, gossipy, and hilarious—disposed
-to enjoyment, and determined to have it. A
-family reunion at holyday times.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old gentleman has a reputation abroad for great
-simplicity of manner—wearing his coat of the very purest
-material, and of the very plainest cut—and a hat of undeniable
-beaver, of great amplitude of brim; a sturdy old
-chap, with a benevolent face, who gives his simple and
-emphatic “No!” to the allurements and pressing solicitations
-of folly. The younger shoots have departed greatly
-from the plainness of the primitive tree, and flourish in the
-luxuriousness of magnolia and orange blossoms, and show
-a strong tendency to burst out in all the beauty and
-splendor of hot-house “japonicadom.” Yet under the
-eye of the old gentleman, in these holyday times, the
-youngsters seem to scorn the borrowed aid of laces, satins
-and jewelry, and give tight boots, dandy-coats, and perfumery
-the go-by; for it is whispered, that he shuts his
-money-box rather tightly to such of his heirs as run after
-worldly vanities; so that here you may see them in
-blouses and straw-hats, in dressing-gown and slippers,
-perfectly unrestrained with tight lacing, luxuriously
-happy, and indescribably gay. They go about with an
-honest, hearty, unrestrained laugh—snapping their fingers
-at care, and perfectly unconcerned at the imputation of
-having let down their dignity. The family improves evidently
-under this relaxation from brocades and stiff ceremonies.
-They have a more hearty expression of face, a
-more thoroughly robust and vigorous frame, and though
-the cheek may be a little browner, the eye is brighter, and
-the heart happier.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The regular visiter at these times is a black-eyed, cherry-cheeked
-cousin from Baltimore, a little given to flirting
-and dangerously fascinating, as graceful as a young fawn,
-and as frolicksome as a kitten. She always appears to
-have come down purposely for a romp, having left city
-affectations at home, and brought her graces with her.
-Then she wont go home until she has half a dozen of her
-cousins—from the third to the sixth remove—desperately
-in love with her, to keep them in mind of Cape May.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then “Tom”—“Our Tom”—he is always there; Tom
-wouldn’t miss Cape May, in the season, for a £100—and
-the sly dog knows how to show off the attractions of his
-beautiful cousins. He is sure to decoy them into the
-Archery every bright morning, and has so many neat and
-appropriate remarks in regard to the health and gracefulness
-of the exercise—and the bows are so inviting, and the
-arrows so neat—the gold and crimson target so tempting
-that you do not wonder to see a cloud of arrows filling
-the air, and a crowd of lounging <span class='it'>beaux</span>, filled with shafts
-more dangerous. Then “Tom”—sad Tom—knows that
-his fair cousins are as fearless as beautiful, and fire off
-pistols with quite a soldierly air—that is, when Tom loads
-them; and the sly scamp, speaks in so low a tone—so softly
-and so kindly—when he hands the pistol with the hair-trigger,
-that you are amazed to find that there was powder
-in it when it goes off—and at the first crack “Tom” has
-the whole family there; then he is such a lover of enjoyment
-himself—is good, honest, manly Tom Barrett—that
-it delights him to see them. Then he has his Bowling
-Saloons in tiptop order; his Billiard-room, too; his dogs
-and guns for crack shots at woodcock, and ambitious young
-sportsmen after curlew; and then he has—In short, it
-wouldn’t <span class='it'>be</span> Cape May, if Tom wasn’t there—and there’s
-an end of it. Well, well, Tom! we shall not try your
-pistols nor your archery this summer, but shall take a
-crack at Cape May, in a story, which we have in type.
-So let the surf come tumbling in with its musical roar—its
-wild waves wash out no memories. Our loves and our
-hates keep time in the heart which beats on proudly, yet
-bides its time hopefully. In the roar of the wilder ocean,
-where men go down battling unregretted, how many who
-now spread their bright sails to the favoring breeze, shall,
-ere the voyage is ended, find sail and cordage gone, their
-vessels wrecked, and the happy hearts of merry companions,
-one after the other, swept by the remorseless wave forever
-under—who shall tell, Tom! But so the side toward
-heaven has been ripened by the sunlight of kindness to man,
-what matters the breakers, Tom, to you or to me?</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<div class='poetry-container' style=''><div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>“Dipping his feathers in the briny foam;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Not less quick o’er the white wave Hermes rode.”</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>G. R. G.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk147'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='390' id='Page_390'></span></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i132f.jpg'><img src='images/i132.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0009' style='width:490px;height:auto;'/></a>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='bold'>WAITING AT PANAMA FOR THE STEAMER.—<span class='it'>The Sun going down on their Hopes.</span></span></span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak' id='h_21'><span class='pageno' title='391' id='Page_391'></span>WAITING AT PANAMA.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The sad effects of an insane haste to grow rich by
-chasing gilded shadows, instead of taking the secure path
-of industry, are exemplified in the fact, that hundreds
-of our countrymen who have abandoned places of profit
-for the dazzling placers of speculation, and business, which
-afforded a decent competency, for wild and uncertain adventure,
-are now crowding the shore of the Pacific at
-Panama, with exhausted means and dissipated hopes. The
-all-absorbing desire for speedy fortune precluded even
-the common and most ordinary caution as to probabilities.
-At the first sound of the horn, the hunter was off, regardless
-of obstacles, defiant of fate, and with a recklessness
-unpardonable, the comforts of home were sacrificed, and
-all the dangers of a doubtful, hardy, and perilous enterprise
-were imprudently braved. The sad uncertainty of
-fortune—the more than doubts of her existence for them—has
-been cruelly thrust into their faces, and impressed upon
-their hearts. The return of that tremendous tide, which
-seemed to sweep wise men and madmen together resistlessly
-upon its bosom, comes freighted with the first fragments
-of hopes wrecked, and wealth, and perhaps health
-dissipated and lost. Time and opportunity here—more
-valuable than gold—are gone, and the adventurer comes
-back with unstrung nerves and faded visions of greatness,
-to battle again in the busy and uncompromising marts of
-trade, for bread. The illusion has vanished!—the cheat
-is transparent! “The sober second-thought” has come
-with its impressive lesson. The blanks turn out in this, as
-in all lotteries, the most numerous and certain—the prizes
-equally few and unreliable. When the voice of that vaster
-multitude now filling the streams and plains of California
-shall have been heard, we shall have a sonorous echo of
-the despairing wail of the impoverished and deluded at
-Panama. Mark it!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk148'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Be sure you are right, and then go ahead” is a maxim
-so universally current in this country, that one would
-suppose that its practice would be more common. But
-no! in the rush of excitement, the go-ahead spirit takes
-the lead, leaving at home old father Caution to play with
-his thumbs, and to wonder at his relations. “Get out of
-the way!” “Take care!” “Clear the track!” “Off she
-goes!”—<span class='it'>whiz!</span> and the young generation is cut from
-leading-strings, and half-way on the road to fortune before
-Grandfather has rubbed his eyes, and opened them to the
-true state of affairs around him—no, not <span class='it'>around</span>, before
-him, but completely out of sight. Talk of Rome not
-having been built in a day, old Graybeard! You are behind
-the times. Kingdoms shoot up in a night, and nations
-are born between two breakfasts. Don’t speak of the
-ingratitude of relations, old man; the thing is absurd.
-While you are hunting genealogies, the parties have belted
-the world, and are walking with their heads down directly
-beneath you, or are half-way to the Pacific on an air-line
-in the light that marks the horizon—skimming through
-the clouds in a flying machine. “Friendly ties.” “Home
-affection!” Poh! you are in your dotage, old fellow!
-We have no time to waste on silly abstractions! Good
-bye! Take care of <span class='it'>yourself</span>! Will write you from the
-other side! So we go!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But are we happier for all this fiery impetuosity of disposition—this
-ginger-beer effervescence of intellect—this
-fussing, fretting, fuming wrath of haste to get on, to get off,
-to be going? Is <span class='it'>this</span> the true enjoyment of <span class='sc'>LIFE</span>! after all,
-to go whirling along in a state of high excitement without
-a moment’s pause, with a sort of insane heat and fierceness
-of intellect, restless, roaming, and parched up with
-the fever of desire for wealth—to be enslaved by the
-eternal, all-absorbing all-engulphing <span class='it'>I</span>—the monster self,
-grown Colossal, insatiate, and fiend-like. Is there nothing
-worth loving, that we may pause to cherish? No
-enjoyment worth a cool moment, in which the fevered
-lust of money may be forgotten? Pile up your gold,
-young man! Give your imagination its most boundless
-desire! Spread the base of your pyramid over an area of
-acres! Pile up!—pile high! oh, avarice and pride! Let
-its peak touch the skies! ay, higher still! And now we
-point you to that little cluster of bleached bones, whitening
-but a spot beside the gigantic god you worship, and
-to that young, pale face, sitting sighing by yonder fire-side,
-thousands of miles away—would the wealth that
-might cover the Cyclops, compensate <span class='it'>her</span> for the chilled
-heart, the desolate days which are hers. Ah no! with
-but a crust to break with you, in a home of humbleness
-and peace, how that heart would bound with pride, those
-sad eyes sparkle with pleasure, and those pale cheeks
-regain their roses and bloom with health. And if all the
-wealth of India and Peru were hers, how poor a gift would
-she esteem it to clothe those bones of yours once again
-with manly beauty, and to sit once again confidingly by
-your side, her hand in yours, her eyes lifted to your dark
-gaze, as to the heaven of her dreams. Ah! but you will
-not die, you will take the risk. Pause awhile! think
-of it wisely! think of it well!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We are not talking in the language of statesmen. Ah,
-no! statesmen and warriors estimate men in masses—marshal
-them in squadrons and platoons; they form a
-State—they fill a list of 10,000 killed and wounded. Ours
-is the humbler view—the domestic ties lacerated—the
-friendships dissipated—the few hearts broken. The dead
-of the ten thousand slain upon the battle-field return no
-more—the thrice ten thousand hearts that mourn, bleed
-on, but form no part of the estimate of war’s disaster.
-The thousands of brothers, young, impetuous, adventurous,
-are gone! they are the State’s, and of it. The
-sister weeps—the mother droops and dies, as the long years
-roll on, and the lost ones return no more; and the proud
-page of history swells with the triumph, the pen grows
-eloquent as it records the foundation and the growth of
-empire, and bright names live and flash along the glowing
-line; but the desolate heart, and the desolate hearth,
-are forgotten and unknown. These are the sadder views
-of conquest—the inevitable results of adventurous migration.
-“And yet,” cries the brawling patriot who is
-never <span class='it'>self</span> devoted, “you oppose the march of empire—the
-growth of nations!” By no means, good friend! If
-the thousands who are now pouring as a flood into California,
-or even a tythe of them, were whole families, with
-farming utensils, and domestic implements, seeking a far
-off and productive soil, where they might again erect their
-household gods, and live happily to a green old age, under
-their own vine and fig-tree, extending rationally and naturally
-the benefits of civilization, we should wish them
-God speed, and give them joy at their going. But how
-is it? Reader, we ask <span class='it'>you</span>—how is it with the adventurers,
-who are now rushing thoughtlessly, desperately
-from home? How few, even with the best success, will
-realize their dreams? and of those few, how many will
-really be personally benefited by the wealth thus achieved?
-But the vast army of the disappointed—what of them?
-With morals contaminated, hearts sickened, hopes crushed—how
-many will return useful members of society? How
-many settle quietly down as hardy tillers of the soil? We
-fear, oh, most wise politician! that this last is a work to
-be done by another class of emigrants, and by but few
-of the gold hunters, and desperate land speculators who
-now crowd the vessels of the Pacific. Our advice, deeply
-pondered, and calmly given, to those who have a longing
-for that far-off and fertile region, is, to sit earnestly down
-<span class='pageno' title='392' id='Page_392'></span>
-to business here, and amass a few hundreds, or a few
-thousands, and when the scorn of that boiling, seething
-cauldron shall have passed off—when the thousands which
-have been made—<span class='it'>on paper</span>—in land speculations and gold
-mining, shall be no more heard of—you will find a few
-quiet acres still untilled, a population improved, and a
-certainty of comfort and happiness awaiting you there.
-Until then, we think, you may make life bearable here, by
-diligent application to business, a devotion to your family,
-to home duties and affections, and to careful improvement
-of your mental capacity, and of such opportunities as God
-may furnish you for doing good. Think of it, reader!</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>G. R. G.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk149'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The Family Messenger.</span>—This old and sterling
-family newspaper, we see, has been brought out in a suit
-of new and beautiful type, and is otherwise improved and
-adorned. It has had, too, an accession of editorial force,
-and the new pen, with the aid of Mr. Seckel, its old editor,
-makes the sheet sparkle again. We predict for the old
-favorite a new lease of popular favor, and a circulation
-unequaled by any paper of its class. Various other additions,
-in the mechanical as well as the literary department,
-are still to be added, when the office is removed to
-the new building in Chestnut street—the movements of
-beauty on that delightful promenade, will, of course, be
-duly chronicled hereafter, in the piquant style of the
-editors.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk150'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>A Powerful Novel.</span>—We shall commence in the
-July number, a powerfully written story from the pen
-of H. W. Herbert, Esq., author of “Cromwell,” “Ringwood
-the Rover,” etc., which we pronounce the most
-brilliant of all the able novels of that accomplished and
-vigorous writer. It is entitled “<span class='sc'>Jasper St. <a id='aubyn'></a>Aubyn</span>; <span class='it'>A
-Story of Passion</span>,” and for strength and beauty of expression,
-thrilling and intense interest, and high moral and
-tragic effect, our readers will regard it as the <span class='it'>best story</span> we
-have given them for many a day.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk151'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Birds Beautifully Colored.</span>—We purpose to introduce
-into Graham’s Magazine, in the coming volume, a
-series of Wild and Cage Birds, exquisitely designed and
-colored, and our artists are already at work. We think
-that this feature of the Magazine will be highly popular
-with our readers, and as the plates will be accompanied
-with carefully prepared letter-press descriptions; they
-will be found useful to the many who cultivate a taste
-for these beautiful subjects. This, we have no doubt, will
-be <span class='it'>imitated</span> as every thing has been in the Magazine world
-which has originated with us.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk152'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The Oldest Magazine.</span>—Our correspondent, “History,”
-is informed that he is right in his conjecture, that
-“Graham’s Magazine” was based upon “<span class='it'>The Casket</span>,”
-and hence is the oldest of the illustrated monthlies. It
-is our proud satisfaction that ours is the <span class='it'>best</span>, as well as
-the oldest Magazine. It does not require continued puffing,
-either hired or solicited, to make people aware of its
-existence.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk153'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Our Own Artists Abroad.</span>—In order to keep the
-high position of this Magazine, as a work of art, fully up
-to the standard it has attained, we have sent our excellent
-engraver and designer, W. E. Tucker, Esq., to Europe to
-make careful drawings of such subjects as he may find
-upon the walls of the Academies, or in private collections,
-and to engage such American artists as he may find abroad,
-who may be useful in carrying out our grand design of
-being <span class='it'>the first to introduce new subjects to the American eye</span>.
-Our cotemporaries content themselves with re-engraving
-stale prints which may be found in the windows, or in
-using such cast-off English plates as may be offered here
-cheap; but the vast circulation and profit of this work returns
-to our readers in such liberal arrangements to keep
-them advised of the freshest and most beautiful works of
-art as may be found in the wide range of the world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For several years our Fashion Plates have been brought
-freshly from Paris, and their beauty of design and coloring
-has been the subject of universal praise. Now, by having
-<span class='it'>our own artists</span> employed, both abroad and at home, we not
-only defy competition, but laugh at it.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk154'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The New Volume.</span>—With the next number we commence
-a new volume of Graham’s Magazine, which, we
-do not hesitate to promise our readers shall be one of rare
-excellence and beauty. Our past volume, closing with
-this number, was exhausted very early, and we have consequently
-been obliged for two months past to refuse all
-orders for the work from January last. We shall therefore
-furnish our subscribers with a title page for the coming
-volume in our next issue. All our arrangements for
-the next six months are perfected, and from July to December
-our readers may expect a succession of brilliant
-numbers in every respect. Our increase for the past six
-months has been unexampled, and with the steady flow of
-new names, coming with every mail, we look forward to
-being compelled greatly to amplify our means of producing
-our edition. Our printers now run their presses both
-night and day—keeping us frequently waiting for copies
-to supply the demand. Hoe certainly must invent a <span class='it'>book-press</span>
-to run 10,000 per hour for us, and at our demise we
-shall leave him the copyright of Graham.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk155'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Rivals.</span>—We see a great deal about the rivals of Graham,
-going the rounds in the way of paid notices. Does
-the oldest inhabitant remember a time when such notes
-were not given out? We have a brood of these rivals,
-freshly fledged every spring, who die somehow of the
-praise of the penny-a-liners in literature,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Snooks has an article in the “Great Monthly Thundergust,”
-calculated to make a noise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will write a first rate notice,” says Snooks, “and
-mark it for the benefit of country members, and if that
-doesn’t <span class='it'>settle</span> Graham and Godey, I’ll write you an article
-for nothing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Goodness!” says the new editor—“but—but do you
-think it is exactly fair to break down their business all at
-once, in that way? Remember their interesting families,
-Mr. Snooks.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Families, sir! who talks about families when we
-commence a Thundergust! Get up a breeze! Pile on
-the agony, sir! You are too meek, sir!—too tame!—chicken-hearted,
-sir!—too tender!—too—too—will you
-oblige me with $20 till to-morrow? <span class='it'>Settle</span> is the word!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>An awkward one it is, too—this settling with Indians,
-when they turn on you.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk156'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The fishermen of Philadelphia recently turned out in
-opposition to the firemen. They kept themselves closely
-concealed in covered wagons. <span class='it'>Sell-fish</span> fellows!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk157'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Du Solle turned out a poor number of his new paper,
-“The Extra,” lately. “Extra?” inquires a wag—“this
-is extra-<span class='it'>ordinary</span>.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk158'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='393' id='Page_393'></span><h1><a id='cant'></a>I CAN’T MAKE UP MY MIND:</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>THE WORDS FROM HOOD’S MAGAZINE,</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>ADAPTED TO A MELODY</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>BY F. OTTO,</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>AND ARRANGED FOR THE PIANO</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>BY CHAS. GROBE.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'>Presented by G. Willig, No. 171 Chestnut St. Published by G. Willig Jr. Baltimore.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'>[Entered according to act of Congress, by G. Willig, Jr., in the year 1848, at the Clerk’s Office, of the District Court of Md.]</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i135f.jpg'><img src='images/i135.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0010' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/></a>
-</div>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;1st Verse.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>I can’t make up my mind, mamma,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;In such unseemly haste;</p>
-<p class='line'>Nor pick from all my dying swains</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;A husband to my taste.</p>
-<p class='line'>There’s gay Charles Dash, a charming man,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Most affable and kind</p>
-<p class='line'>Who loves me so de-</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i136f.jpg'><img src='images/i136.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0011' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/></a>
-</div>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>vo-ted-ly,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;But I can’t make up my mind.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;'>SECOND VERSE.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>And, next, there’s frank, young Harry West,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;So fond, so true, so clever,</p>
-<p class='line'>Who though I scold him all the day,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Adores me more than ever.</p>
-<p class='line'>There’s Roger Snipe, the pink of beaux,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Or else your daughter’s blind,</p>
-<p class='line'>And yet when Snipe grows serious, I</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;I can’t make up my mind.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THIRD VERSE.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>There’s lawyer Keen, and poet Good,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Exemplars of their sort;</p>
-<p class='line'>Still, still I can’t make up my mind</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;There’s no accounting for’t!</p>
-<p class='line'>“Yes, yes, there is,” stern truth replied;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;“Your vanity imparts</p>
-<p class='line'>That false delight in flatt’ring tongues,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Which forfeits loving hearts.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>FOURTH VERSE.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>On purpose to make up her mind,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;So long this fair one tarried,</p>
-<p class='line'>Her lovers, loath to hang themselves,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Sought other maids and married!</p>
-<p class='line'>And, though mamma is growing old,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Her daughter looks much older,</p>
-<p class='line'>E’er since her coquetry and pride</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;In the Old Maids Corps enroll’d her.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk159'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:1.1em;'><span class='bold'><a id='notes'></a>Transcriber’s Notes:</span></p>
-
-<p class='noindent'>Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained as well as some spellings
-peculiar to Graham’s. Punctuation has been corrected
-without note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. For
-illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to condition of
-the originals used for preparation of the ebook.</p>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>page 339, and paralized at their ==>&ensp;and <a href='#para'>paralyzed</a> at their</p>
-<p class='line'>page 340, the port of frankness, ==>&ensp;the <a href='#part'>part</a> of frankness,</p>
-<p class='line'>page 344, hast thou give to ==>&ensp;hast thou <a href='#given'>given</a> to</p>
-<p class='line'>page 347, cross old fidgetty fellow ==>&ensp;cross old <a href='#fid'>fidgety</a> fellow</p>
-<p class='line'>page 348, rare and so indiscribable. ==>&ensp;rare and so <a href='#inde'>indescribable</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>page 350, lend him Deidrich Knickerbocker’s ==>&ensp;lend him <a href='#died'>Diedrich</a> Knickerbocker’s</p>
-<p class='line'>page 351, will not be be dictated ==>&ensp;will not <a href='#bebe'>be</a> dictated</p>
-<p class='line'>page 353, and like a bark ==>&ensp;and like a <a href='#barq'>barque</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 353, And gave embodyment ==>&ensp;And gave <a href='#embod'>embodiment</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 359, labored assidiously, when ==>&ensp;labored <a href='#assi'>assiduously</a>, when</p>
-<p class='line'>page 363, the somethat affected ==>&ensp;the <a href='#some'>somewhat</a> affected</p>
-<p class='line'>page 363, of faultless vesification ==>&ensp;of faultless <a href='#verse'>versification</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 370, to and fro the ==>&ensp;to and fro <a href='#fro'>in</a> the</p>
-<p class='line'>page 372, those charms to day!” ==>&ensp;those charms <a href='#today'>to-day</a>!”</p>
-<p class='line'>page 372, fisher’s bark still ==>&ensp;fisher’s <a href='#bark2'>barque</a> still</p>
-<p class='line'>page 374, Sickness is synonimous ==>&ensp;Sickness is <a href='#syn'>synonymous</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 375, a most woful-loooking ==>&ensp;a most <a href='#look'>woful-looking</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 377, a blank envelop. ==>&ensp;a blank <a href='#enve'>envelope</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>page 385, is usually characterestic only ==>&ensp;is usually <a href='#char'>characteristic</a> only</p>
-<p class='line'>page 385, as they eat, dressed, ==>&ensp;as they <a href='#ate'>ate</a>, dressed,</p>
-<p class='line'>page 388, Stiched her <span class='it'>life</span> into ==>&ensp;<a href='#stit'>Stitched</a> her <span class='it'>life</span> into</p>
-<p class='line'>page 392, Jasper St. Albyn ==>&ensp;Jasper St. <a href='#aubyn'>Aubyn</a></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6,
-June 1849, by Various
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1849 ***
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