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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.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #55362 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55362)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 1, July
-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. XXXV, No. 1, July 1849
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: George R. Graham
- J. R. Chandler
- J. B. Taylor
-
-Release Date: August 15, 2017 [EBook #55362]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JULY 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
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: JULY
-GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
-1849.]
-
- GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
- Vol. XXXV. July, 1849. No. 1.
-
-
- Table of Contents
-
- Fiction, Literature and Articles
-
- A Biography of Major-General Stephen Watts Kearny
- Jasper St. Aubyn
- True Unto Death
- Thoughts on the Thermometer
- The Foundling
- The Neglected Grave-Yard
- The Widow of Nain
- A Voice from the Wayside
- The Dream of Mehemet
- Wild-Birds of America
- Cross Purposes
- Uncle Tom
- Editor’s Table
- Review of New Books
-
- Poetry, Music, and Fashion
-
- I Will Be a Miner Too
- The Emigrant’s Daughters
- Mary
- I’m Thinking of Thee!
- The Tulip-Tree
- To My Wife
- A Daughter’s Memory
- From Amalthæus.
- To ——
- The Omnipresence of God
- New Year Meditation
- The Image
- The Pilgrim’s Fast
- To My Mother in Heaven
- The Fortieth Sonnet of Petrarca
- Lines on Burning Some Old Journals and Letters
- Le Follet
- What’s a Tear?
-
- Transcriber’s Notes can be found at the end of this eBook.
-
- * * * * *
-
- GRAHAM’S
-
- AMERICAN MONTHLY
-
- MAGAZINE
-
- Of Literature and Art,
-
- EMBELLISHED WITH
-
- MEZZOTINT AND STEEL ENGRAVINGS, MUSIC, ETC.
-
-WILLIAM C. BRYANT, J. FENIMORE COOPER, RICHARD H. DANA, JAMES K. PAULDING,
- HENRY W. LONGFELLOW, N. P. WILLIS, J. R. LOWELL, HENRY B. HIRST.
-
- MRS. LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY, MISS C. M. SEDGWICK, MRS. FRANCES S. OSGOOD,
- MRS. EMMA C.EMBURY, MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS, MRS. AMELIA B. WELBY,
- MRS. A. M. F. ANNAN, ETC.
- PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS.
-
- G. R. GRAHAM, J. R. CHANDLER AND J. B. TAYLOR, EDITORS.
-
- VOLUME XXXV
-
- PHILADELPHIA:
- SAMUEL D. PATTERSON & CO. 98 CHESTNUT STREET.
-
-
- . . . . . .
- 1849.
-
- * * * * *
-
- CONTENTS
-
- OF THE
-
- THIRTY-FIFTH VOLUME.
-
- JUNE, 1849, TO JANUARY, 1850.
-
-A Biography of Major-General Stephen Watts Kearny, U. 1
- S. A. By Fayette Robinson,
-A Voice from the Wayside. By Caroline C——, 47
-A Memory. By Jane Taylor Worthington, 122
-A Traveler’s Story. By Lydia Jane Peirson, 179
-A Year and a Day. By Caroline H. Butler, 193, 275
-A Harmless Glass of Wine. By Kate Sutherland, 230
-An Adventure of Jasper C——, 239
-A Case of Gold Fever. By John Jones, 356
-Cross Purposes. By Kate, 59
-Colored Birds. The Bullfinch. By Bechstein, 177
-Editor’s Table, 67
-Editor’s Table, 127
-Effie Deans, 244
-Editor’s Table, 248
-Editor’s Table, 307
-Editor’s Table, 372
-General Training. By Alfred B. Street, 133
-Homewood. By P. C. Shannon, 286
-Indian Legend. By Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, 80
-Ibad’s Vision. By Richard Penn Smith, 229
-Jasper St. Aubyn; Or the Course of Passion. By Henry W. 7, 82, 140,
- Herbert, 204, 253, 322
-Jessie Lincoln. By Miss M. J. B. Browne, 164
-Legend. By Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, 155
-Love Tests of Halloween. By T. S. Arthur, 158
-Mary Wilson. By D. W. Belisle, 99
-Minnie Clifton. By Emma C. Embury, 222
-Men at Home. By Mrs. C. B. Marston, 266
-Major Anspach. By Marc Fournier, 282, 343
-Mr. Merritt and His Family. By F. Summers, 293
-My First Love. By Mrs. E. F. Ellet, 360
-Olden Times. By J. R. Chandler, 102
-Sketches of Life in Our Village. By Giftie, 93
-Sketches of Life in Our Village. By Giftie, 151
-Self-Devotion. By Giftie, 349
-True Unto Death. By Caroline H. Butler, 17
-Thoughts on the Thermometer, 25
-The Foundling. By Jessie Howard, 27
-The Neglected Grave-Yard. By Prof. Alden, 36
-The Widow of Nain. By J. R. Chandler, 41
-The Dream of Mehemet. By R. Penn Smith, 55
-The Curtain Lifted. By Caroline H. Butler, 73
-Two Hours of Doom. By Mrs. Juliet H. L. Campbell, 110
-The Captive of York. By Stella Martin, 113
-The Two Paths. By Mrs. Mary B. Horton, 185
-The Engraver’s Daughter. By H. Sunderland, 201
-The Recreant Missionary. By Caroline C——, 215
-The Village Schoolmaster. By C. M. Farmer, 233
-The Battle of Trenton. By C. J. Peterson, 288
-The Life Insurance. By Henry G. Lee, 301
-The Balize, 304
-The Conscript. By Joseph R. Chandler, 313
-Three Pictures. By Caroline C——, 334
-The Two Cousins. By Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, 365
-Uncle Tom. By Simon, 61
-Unfading Flowers. By T. S. Arthur, 366
-Wild-Birds of America. By Professor Frost, 57
-Wild-Birds of America. By Professor Frost, 126
-Wild-Birds of America. By Professor Frost, 189
-Wild-Birds of America. By Professor Frost, 245
-Wild-Birds of America. By Professor Frost, 304
-Wild-Birds of America. By Professor Frost, 369
-
-
- POETRY.
-
-A Daughter’s Memory. By Mary L. Lawson, 34
-Alice. By Thomas Dunn English, 200
-A Parting Song. By Professor Campbell, 214
-A Thought. By Isaac Gray Blanchard, 232
-Alice Vernon. By E. Curtiss Hine, 342
-Bunker-Hill at Midnight. By E. Curtiss Hine, 303
-Communion of the Sea and Sky. By E. Jones, 176
-Dirge. By Richard Penn Smith, 371
-Elim. By Virginia, 91
-Ermengarde’s Awakening. By F. S. Osgood, 112
-From Amalthæus. By Richard Penn Smith, 34
-Faith’s Warning. By Henry T. Tuckerman, 92
-Fragments of an Unfinished Story. By Mrs. Frances S. 263
- Osgood,
-Flower Fancies. By H. Marion Stephens, 306
-Good-Night. By Walter Herries, Esq. 139
-I will be a Miner too. By Mrs. Juliet H. L. Campbell, 6
-I’m Thinking of Thee! By A. D. Williams, 16
-Kubleh. By Bayard Taylor, 120
-Lines. By Walter Herries, Esq. 60
-Lament of the Gold-Digger. By E. C. Hine, 92
-Little Willie. By Mrs. H. Marion Stephens, 98
-Lily Leslie. By Gretta, 156
-Lines. By Forlorn Hope, 281
-Lines. By Sarah Helen Whitman, 303
-Mary. By Mrs. O. M. P. Lord, 15
-My Spirit. By Henry Morford, 125
-New Year Meditation. By Enna Duval, 40
-Northampton. By Henry T. Tuckerman, 232
-Parting. By Miss Phœbe Carey, 265
-Pleasant Words. By Caroline May, 370
-Passing Away. By Annie Grey, 371
-Song. By Thomas Fitzgerald, 228
-Speak Out. By S. D. Anderson, 238
-Spiritual Presence. By Mary G. Horsford, 306
-Summer’s Night. By Sam. C. Reid, Jr. 332
-Song. By Agnes, 342
-The Emigrant’s Daughters. By Gretta, 6
-The Tulip-Tree. By Bayard Taylor, 16
-To My Wife. By S. D. Anderson, 26
-To ——. By Henry B. Hirst, 35
-The Omnipresence of God. By R. Coe, Jr. 35
-The Image. By A. J. Requier, 46
-The Pilgrim’s Fast. By Mary G. Horsford, 54
-To My Mother in Heaven. By T. Fitzgerald, 54
-The Fortieth Sonnet of Petrarca. By F. R. 58
-The Improvisatrice. By Mary G. Horsford, 81
-The Eighteenth Sonnet of Petrarca. By F. R. 81
-To Mary. By Lucy Cabell, 98
-Translation from Sappho. By G. Hill, 109
-This World of Ours. By S. D. Anderson, 124
-To the Lily of the Valley. By Prof. Campbell, 139
-The Spanish Maiden. By Agnes Coleman, 150
-The Angel’s Visit. By Mrs. S. Anna Lewis, 154
-To a Portrait. By Mrs. H. Marion Stephens, 157
-The Odalisque. By Bayard Taylor, 163
-To Inez. By S. D. Anderson, 175
-Time and Change. By Isaac Gray Blanchard, 178
-The Rain. By T. A. Swan, 188
-The Fountain in Winter. By Bayard Taylor, 213
-The Light of Life. By Mrs. O. M. P. Lord, 214
-The Bride of Broek-in-Waterland. By C. P. Shiras, 220
-The Willow by the Spring. By J. Hunt, Jr. 247
-The Broken Household. By Alice Carey, 262
-The Fear of Death. By Mary L. Lawson, 274
-The Seminoles’ Last Look. By Fayette Robinson, 291
-To My Sister E. By Adaliza Cutter, 300
-To My Steed. By S. Anderson, 321
-The Death of the Year. By Henry B. Hirst, 333
-The Cottage. By J. Hunt, Jr. 333
-The Misanthrope. By A New Contributor, 340
-The Broken Reed. By S. S. Hornor, 318
-The Old Wooden Church on the Green. By Henry Morford, 359
-The Death of Cleopatra. By W. G. Simms, 363
-The Fairies’ Song. By Heinrich, 364
-The Undivided Heart. By Myrrha, 371
-Watouska. By Kate St. Clair, 79
-Words of Waywardness. By Prof. Campbell, 100
-Woman’s Heart. By Rufus Henry Bacon, 178
-We are Changed. By Edith Blythe, 247
-
-
- REVIEWS.
-
-H. Kavanagh. A Tale. By H. W. Longfellow, 71
-My Uncle the Curate. By the Author of “The Bachelor of 71
- the Albany,” etc.
-The Personal History and Experience of David 71
- Copperfield the Younger. By Charles Dickens,
-Characteristics of Literature. By Henry T. Tuckerman, 131
-The Earth and Man. By Arnold Guyot, 131
-The History of the United States of America. By Richard 191
- Hildreth,
-Dante’s Divine Comedy: The Inferno. By John A. Carlyle, 192
- M. D.
-A Second Visit to the United States of North America. 251
- By Sir Charles Lyell, F. R. S.
-The Liberty of Rome. By Samuel Eliot, 251
-The Penance of Roland. By Henry B. Hirst, 252
-History of the National Constituent Assembly. By J. F. 252
- Corkran,
-Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography. By Washington Irving, 311
-Bulwer and Forbes on the Water Treatment, 311
-The Child’s First History of Rome. By E. M. Sewell, 312
-A Lift for the Lazy, 312
-Poems. By Robert Browning, 378
-Physician and Patient. By Worthington Hooker, 379
-History of England. By David Hume, 379
-Success in Life. By Mrs. L. C. Tuthill, 379
-Sketches of Life and Character. By T. S. Arthur, 380
-History of the French Revolution of 1848. By A. De 380
- Lamartine,
-
-
- MUSIC.
-
-What’s a Tear? Composed by M. W. Balfe.
-Yes, Let Me Like a Soldier Fall. Written and Adapted by
- E. R. Johnston.
-Oh, Let Thy Locks Unbraided Fall. Words by John W.
- Watson, Esq. Music by John A. Janke, Jr.
-I Love, When the Morning Beams. By D. W. Belisle.
-Wake, Lady, Wake. Music Composed and Arranged for the
- Piano, by B. W. Helfenstein, M. D.
-My Life is Like the Summer’s Rose. Words by Hon.
- Richard Henry Wilde. Music by An Amateur.
-
-
- ENGRAVINGS.
-
-Cross Purposes, engraved by J. M. Butler.
-General Kearny, engraved by T. B. Welch.
-Nature’s Triumph, engraved by F. Humphreys.
-The Widow of Nain.
-Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.
-Title Page, engraved by W. E. Tucker.
-The Golden Age, engraved by W. E. Tucker.
-La Siesta, engraved by Geo. P. Ellis.
-Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.
-Olden Times.
-No Rose Without a Thorn, engraved by J. M. Butler.
-The Bullfinch, engraved by F. Humphreys.
-Love Tests of Hallowe’en, Nos. 1 and 2.
-Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.
-Effie Deans, engraved by T. B. Welch.
-Rose Carlton, engraved by W. H. Egleton.
-The Baggage Wagon, engraved by A. L. Dick.
-Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.
-The Engraver’s Daughter.
-Happy as a King, engraved by J. M. Butler.
-Head-Quarters of Gen. Knox, engraved by W. H. Ellis.
-Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.
-The Balize.
-The Death of the Year, engraved by Wm. E. Tucker.
-Opera Extravagance.
-The Conscript’s Departure and Return, engraved by John
- M. Butler.
-A Case of Gold Fever.
-Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: _FROM AN ORIGINAL DAGUERREOTYPE._
-
-S. W. KEARNY
-
-_Engraved by T. B. Welch expressly for Graham’s Magazine._]
-
- * * * * *
-
- GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
-
- Vol. XXXV. PHILADELPHIA, JULY, 1849. No. 1.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- A BIOGRAPHY
-
-
- OF MAJOR-GENERAL STEPHEN WATTS KEARNY, U. S. A.
-
- [WITH AN ENGRAVING]
-
-
- BY FAYETTE ROBINSON.
-
-
-Few men who have ever been in the service of the United States have
-enjoyed a more enviable reputation than Stephen Watts Kearny, or have
-left behind them more admiring friends. The recent death of this
-excellent soldier, and above all his distinguished services, covering a
-space of more than forty years, make his career at this time peculiarly
-an object of interest to the country.
-
-Stephen Watts Kearny was born in the year 1793, in the town of Newark,
-New Jersey, in a mansion yet the property of his family. Though not
-prone to admit that the adventitious circumstances of birth add any real
-dignity to individuals, either in America or elsewhere, it may not be
-improper to state that the family connections of the deceased general
-were of such a character as to have entitled him to a prominent social
-position any where, he being a relation of the well-known Lady Mary
-Watts, and a connection of the gallant and noble General Alexander (Lord
-Stirling) of the revolutionary army. The grandson of an emigrant, who
-settled in New Jersey, before the revolution, the family of Gen. Kearny
-had always occupied a prominent position in society, and exerted much
-influence in his native state.
-
-At the commencement of the war of 1811, young Kearny, then about
-eighteen, was a student at Princeton College. Contrary, it is said, to
-the advice of his friends, he obtained a commission from Mr. Madison,
-and reported for duty as a lieutenant in the 13th regiment of infantry,
-in which he was attached to the company of which the present very
-distinguished General John E. Wool was the captain.
-
-With two companies of his regiment he was present at the gallant affair
-of Queenstown, and with Colonel, since Gen. Scott, was surrendered a
-prisoner of war. This was on the 13th of October, 1812. In this affair
-the companies of the thirteenth had been long opposed to the greatly
-celebrated and highly disciplined forty-ninth British infantry, a
-regiment which had stood the ordeal of the Peninsula War, and had won
-laurels from the best troops of France. The forty-ninth had occupied,
-with heavy reinforcements of Canadian militia, a battery on a commanding
-position. The cannonade and musketry from this point was so severe that
-every commissioned officer was in the first assault either killed or
-wounded, and Col. Van Rensselaer who commanded, was carried from the
-field unable to stand. Before he left, however, he ordered every man who
-could move to storm the battery. Three more gallant officers than those
-who carried his order into execution probably never lived. They were
-Captain Wool, Lieutenant Kearny, and 2nd Lieutenant T. B. Randolph, late
-of the Virginia regiment. By orders of Capt. Wool the two companies of
-the 13th, which originally had numbered but one hundred, all told, were
-extended and ordered to close upon the guns. This perilous manœuvre was
-executed with brilliant success, the enemy were driven precipitately
-from his guns, which were the first trophies to the United States of the
-war with Great Britain. This field was young Kearny’s first arms, and
-was a brilliant promise of what was to be his future career. The battle
-was important to the United States, though, as is well known, Col. Scott
-and his gallant command of regulars were forced to surrender. To the
-English it was most disastrous, Major Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, the captor
-of Detroit, a man thought worthy to compete with Wellington for the
-command of the British army in Spain, having been picked off by an
-American marksman. Throughout this trying engagement young Kearny
-sustained himself with the firmness which he maintained through life.
-When driven to the hill selected by the present Col. Totten as the
-strongest point, his perseverance was as distinguished as his
-impetuosity had been during the charge.
-
-After the surrender, Kearny, with the other prisoners, was marched to
-the Canadian village of Niagara, where, it is said, they were scarcely
-treated with the consideration due such gallant soldiers. There occurred
-a circumstance of thrilling character often told—the attempted murder
-of Col. Scott by the Indian chiefs “young Brandt and Captain Jacobs,”
-which, had it proved successful, would have made irreconcilable the war
-between Great Britain and the United States. It failed through the great
-personal courage of Col. Scott and the gallantry of Captain Coffin, an
-aide of Gen. Sheafe, but the would-be murderers were never punished by
-the British government. The recurrence of such scenes, and the
-probability of long confinement, exercised a most unhappy effect on the
-mind of Kearny, who saw as the consequence of his captivity (at that day
-there were no exchanges of prisoners) the ruin of his professional
-prospects. After a confinement of some weeks at Niagara, Kearny was with
-the other prisoners sent to Quebec. For a long time he continued moody
-and morose, until a circumstance occurred, which the present
-general-in-chief relates, that restored his wonted alertness. The
-prisoners were taken to Quebec in a vessel, and from the carelessness
-incident to this mode of travel, the idea of a possible escape occurred
-to Col. Scott. The plan was to overpower the guard, to march at once to
-the nearest division of the United States troops on the frontier, and
-take their conductors with them as captives. Col. Scott imparted this
-plan to Kearny, who at once entered into it with his whole soul. His
-energy returned, and he became again the wild subaltern who had led the
-first platoon of the thirteenth at Queenstown. Circumstances prevented
-this plot from being carried into execution, but it had gone far enough
-to show that the subject of this memoir had as much prudence as valor.
-
-The prisoners at last arrived at Quebec, and their situation at once
-became most painful. They were confined in the old French castle, and
-were subjected to many indignities. This was before Niagara and Lundy’s
-Lane, and countless other fields had taught the British army that the
-American soldiers were worthy antagonists. At that time the British army
-was filled with the aristocracy of the country, which could not conceive
-or imagine the true position of a country without a nobility. Countless
-trivial insults were daily given, and which galled to the last degree
-the forbearance of the prisoners. The following anecdote may explain
-what they were.
-
-On one occasion, when the American prisoners dined at the garrison mess,
-an officer of the British staff arose, and with a pointed pomposity gave
-the toast, “Mr. Madison, dead or alive.” The faces of the American
-officers flushed with indignation, which was not diminished when they
-saw a young American lieutenant rise from his chair, and in the blandest
-manner, and with a most insinuating smile, give thanks for the
-remembrance of the Chief Magistrate of the United States. All thought
-him drunk or mad, as he proceeded to say, “he felt the weightiness of
-the burden imposed on him by the silence of his seniors, that he would
-not give thanks for the toast last drunken, but would give another in
-return. He was sure the officers of both services present would
-understand him when he gave ‘the health of his royal highness, the
-Prince of Wales, DRUNK OR SOBER.’” If a shell had exploded under the
-table the surprise could not have been greater, and the danger of a
-collision became imminent, when the senior officer of the British army
-present, a man of tact and taste, interfered, and sent the person who
-had given the first toast from the table under arrest. This anecdote is
-variously told in the service, and sometimes is attributed to Gen.
-Kearny, and sometimes to the late Mann Page Lomax, major of artillery,
-who was at the time a prisoner in the castle of Quebec. It is perfectly
-characteristic of each of these officers, and whether Gen. Kearny be the
-hero or not, aptly enough illustrates this portion of his career. The
-American victories in the West, by which hosts of prisoners were
-acquired, soon placed the men of Queenstown in a different position, and
-they were exchanged.
-
-Kearny was with Scott at the time the latter officer resisted the
-attempt to place in confinement the Irishmen surrendered at Queenstown,
-and ably sustained him in his energetic action in relation to this
-high-handed measure. He sailed in the cartel to Boston, and immediately
-on his arrival, proceeded to rejoin his regiment. He was subsequently
-stationed at Sacket’s Harbor, where he acquired the reputation for
-discipline and soldiership which never deserted him. While at this post
-the British commander, Sir James Yoe, and Commodore Chauncy, were
-manœuvring for possession of the lake. On one occasion, when in
-possession of a temporary superiority, Sir James appeared in front of
-the harbor and challenged the commodore to a fight. This the latter
-refused, because he had no marines. When the reason was told Capt.
-Kearny, (he had in the interim been promoted) a gallant officer of New
-York, a captain of artillery, named Romain, offered at once to go on
-board and serve as marine. The offer was not, however, accepted, much to
-the chagrin of Kearny and Romain.
-
-Captain Kearny served through the war, and on the reductions of 1815 and
-1821, was retained in the service with his old grade and rank. In 1823
-he received the usual brevet for ten years faithful service, and was
-assigned to the command of the beautiful post of Bellefontaine, near St.
-Louis, and in that year accompanied Brigadier General Atkinson in his
-famous expedition to the Upper Missouri. This was before the
-introduction of steamboats into those waters, and the expedition was one
-of the most tedious imaginable. The boats were necessarily to be
-propelled by poles and oars against the rapid current of the Missouri,
-and not unfrequently by the tedious process of _cordelling_. This is
-done by extending from the capstan of the boat a cable, which is made
-fast to the shore, and thus the vessel must carefully be wound up until
-the rope is exhausted. Then a new rope is stretched, and the same
-tedious process undergone. Often, when in the midst of _rapids_, the
-cable would break, and before the vessel could be brought up, a greater
-distance than had been gained in a week would be passed over. In the
-course of two years they reached the Yellow Stone river, twenty-two
-hundred miles above St. Louis, and displayed the colors of the 1st and
-6th infantry where the United States flag had never been seen before.
-The Sioux, the Pawnee, the Mandan, and Arickra, were made acquainted
-with the government, of which before they had but a vague knowledge, and
-the vast resources of that immense country for the first time revealed
-to the nation.
-
-On his return Major Kearny received a full majority in the third
-infantry, and was removed to a new sphere, to the southern extremity of
-the Indian territory. While major of this regiment he established the
-post of Towson, on the banks of Red River. To reach this place, easy of
-access as it is at present, it was necessary to pass through what was
-then a wilderness of prairie, but which to the soldiers inured to the
-incessant storms of the Upper Missouri, seemed almost an Arcadia. After
-crossing the northern tributaries of the Arkansas, they were in the
-midst of the range of the buffalo, and the countless herds of wild
-horses which then abounded even there. The latter, not unfrequently,
-amazed at the novel sight of the marching troops, would dash up, as if
-to charge the columns, pause with as much unanimity as if they acted by
-command, encircle it, and tossing their long manes and forelocks, hurry
-out of view. New objects continually met his gaze, and the information
-then amassed was among the most valuable ever collected under the
-auspices of the government. On this march Major Kearny was accompanied
-by his accomplished wife, a step-daughter of Gen. M. Clark, of St.
-Louis, whom, about the time of his promotion, he had married. With the
-third infantry Major Kearny remained until the Black Hawk war, when
-almost all the troops of the country were concentrated in the country of
-the hostile Indians.
-
-While a major of the third, an incident occurred, which, though often
-told, will bear repetition. On one occasion, while stationed at
-Jefferson Barracks, Major Kearny was drilling a brigade on one of the
-open fields near the post. The manœuvre was the simple exercise of
-marching in line to the front. An admirable horseman, he sat with his
-face toward the troops, while the horse he rode, perfectly trained, was
-backed in the same direction, along which the command was marched. At
-once the animal fell, fastening the rider to the ground by his whole
-weight. His brigade had been drilled to such a state of insensibility,
-that not one of them came to his assistance; nor was it necessary. The
-line advanced to within about ten feet of him, when, in a loud, distinct
-voice, calmly as if he had been in the saddle under no unusual
-circumstance, Major Kearny gave the command, “_Fourth
-company—obstacle—march._” The fourth company, which was immediately in
-front of him, was flanked by its captain in the rear of the other half
-of the grand division. The line passed on, and when he was thus left in
-the rear of his men, he gave the command, “_Fourth company into
-line—march._” He was not seriously injured—extricated himself from his
-horse, mounted again, passed to the front of the regiment, and executed
-the next manœuvre in the series he had marked out for the day’s drill.
-
-We are now, however, to see Major Kearny in a new and more important
-sphere of action.
-
-During the whole of the last war with Great Britain cavalry was not once
-employed as a battle-piece, and in spite of the great services of the
-horse which had been commanded, during the revolution, by Cols. Lee and
-Washington, and by Count Pulaski, this great arm had become most
-unpopular. Consequently, on the reduction, no skeleton even of a corps
-had been retained—the sabres were locked up, the saddles and horses
-sold, and the officers and men disbanded. The policy, however, of
-disposing the eastern tribes along the western frontier, and the rapid
-strides of emigration west ward, brought the army into contact with the
-mounted tribes of the prairie, who evidently could never be overtaken or
-punished for depredations they at that time used to commit, by
-foot-soldiers, armed with heavy muskets, and laden down with knapsacks
-and camp equipage. Of this evident proof had been obtained in the
-expedition of Gen. Atkinson, mentioned above, and other excursions which
-had brought the officers and men of the 6th, 3rd and 1st infantry into
-contact with the nomad tribes of the Camanch. If other demonstration
-were required, it was furnished by the events of the Black Hawk war,
-when it became necessary to raise a body of mounted gunmen for special
-service, which was done under the auspices of the present distinguished
-Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. Dodge. These troops, called Rangers, did
-good service enough to induce Congress to authorize the levy of a strict
-cavalry corps called Dragoons. The whole army, with very few exceptions,
-was impressed with the necessity of this corps, for which the most
-distinguished men in their several grades of the service applied. On its
-organization, Major Kearny was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the
-regiment, and on him depended almost exclusively the discipline, the
-colonel, Dodge, though a brave man, not having the military education or
-experience requisite to make him the active head of a new corps, in the
-details of which not only men but officers were to be instructed. Col.
-Kearny, during his long seclusion in the west, had been a patient
-student, and had made himself master of all the theory of his
-profession, and in a short time made his regiment one of the best in the
-world. Within less than a year after the first muster of the regiment,
-it was sent, under its colonel, as a part of the command with which the
-lamented Gen. Leavenworth marched to the Spanish Peaks. This disastrous
-march, in the course of which so many men and officers died, was most
-trying to a new corps, which had no guide to direct them. Here all the
-experience of the old world was at fault. Cavalry had there to march but
-from one hamlet to another, finding forage and grain everywhere. Here
-eight hundred miles of wilderness were to be overcome, and more than
-once the jaded horses were without even water. This proved the
-perfectness of the regiment, and the thoroughness of the discipline
-which induced the gallant and veteran Gen. Gaines to speak, in an
-official letter, of the first dragoons as “the best troops I ever saw;”
-and the officer who had defended Fort Erie, beaten back a victorious
-enemy at Chrysler’s Field, and received the keys of St. Augustine,
-certainly knew what a soldier was.
-
-In 1835, Col. Kearny visited with one wing of his regiment, the Sioux,
-on the Upper Missouri, and had the satisfaction at a council to
-reconcile the long animosity between them and the Sauks and Foxes. He
-also made a long march to the head-waters of the Mississippi, visiting
-the village of Wabisha, and effecting a cessation of the trespassing of
-the British subjects, from the Earl of Selkirk’s settlement at Pembina,
-on the territories of the United States. In July, 1836, he was made
-colonel of the first dragoons; and from this period a sketch of his
-services would be almost a history of the West, not one trouble on the
-frontier occurred in the settlement of which he was not instrumental;
-and with six companies of his regiment he was able to protect a line of
-frontier eight hundred miles long. Stationed at Fort Leavenworth, be
-made himself the idol of the West, and devoting himself to his regiment,
-made its discipline perfect. He had now acquired a high rank, and the
-qualities he had always possessed became conspicuous. Bland in his
-manners, but of iron firmness, kind to his juniors, his equals, or those
-nearly so, requiring the strictest obedience, measuring his expectations
-by the rank of the officer, his conduct became proverbial. To his men he
-was most considerate, so that they looked on him as a protector. It is
-believed that during the whole time he commanded the first dragoons no
-soldier ever received a blow, except by the sentence of a general court
-martial for the infamous crime of desertion. The lash disappeared, and
-though probably the strictest disciplinarian in the service, there was
-less punishment in his corps than in any other. About this time the
-system of drill of the dragoons was changed, and he was long engrossed
-in the instruction of his regiment, having the troublesome task of
-unlearning them all he had taught of the old system, from which the new
-one differed entirely in mode and principle of combination.
-
-In the year 1839, the two Ridges, father and son, and Elias Boudinot,
-chiefs of the Cherokees, were murdered by a hostile clique of their own
-tribe, and there seemed imminent danger that a war would originate.
-Immediately on the receipt of the news of a possible collision, Col.
-Kearny determined to proceed to the scene. The officer of the
-quarter-master’s department on duty with him being unable to furnish the
-requisite funds, the colonel provided them from his own resources, and
-after a very rapid march appeared with six companies of his regiment at
-Fort Wayne. Words can not express the difference between his companies
-and those in garrison at that post; the beautiful condition of the men
-and horses of the first, and the rough-coated nags and unclean condition
-of the men of the second. After the difficulty had gone by, he effected
-an exchange of garrisons, and with the neglected and abused left wing,
-proceeded to Fort Leavenworth, where, in a short time these companies
-became equal in discipline to the others of the corps. The companies of
-the Fort Wayne garrison which he took with him to Leavenworth, were
-those which, under the command of the gallant and lamented Capt.
-Burgwin, and the excellent soldier, Major Grier, did such good service,
-and so much distinguished themselves in the campaign in New Mexico
-against the revolters and the Pueblo and Navajo Indians.
-
-In 1842, he was appointed to the command of the third military
-department, with head-quarters at St. Louis. There he remained until
-1846, with the exception of his long march to the South Pass of the
-Rocky Mountains in 1845. There is no doubt that this is one of the most
-extraordinary marches on record, both from its distance, its rapidity,
-and the fact that he passed among semi-hostile tribes nearly two
-thousand miles; crossed deep and rapid streams by swimming, gave
-protection to the immense army of emigrants _en route_ to California,
-and returned without losing a man or horse.
-
-In 1846, the war with Mexico began, and he was assigned to the command
-of the army of the West with orders to occupy New Mexico and California.
-To reach Santa Fe an immense march was to be undertaken across a country
-but sparsely furnished with wood and water, and where no supplies were
-to be met with or obtained until the enemy’s country should be reached,
-and in all probability a battle fought and won. To accomplish this,
-precisely such a man as Col. Kearny was required. He was familiar with
-the service, and possessed the unbounded confidence of the people of
-Missouri, from which state the volunteers who were to compose the main
-body of his army were to be drawn. In a most unprecedented short time
-the men were enrolled, and all necessaries supplied, and before Armijo,
-the governor of New Mexico was aware of his approach, the army was in
-the capital of the province. Like Cæsar, Gen. Kearny might say, “I came,
-I saw, I conquered.”
-
-Immediately before the capture of Santa Fe, Col. Kearny had received his
-promotion to the grade of Brigadier-General, and abandoned to his
-successor the standard of a regiment he had borne from the Gulf of
-Mexico to the head-waters of the Mississippi, and which was to be the
-first flag of the army which waved on the shores of the Pacific. After
-obeying his orders, and providing for the future peace of the country,
-he proceeded to California, across a country where an army had never
-marched before, and which was considered impassable. Cold, a wilderness,
-absolute barrenness, were all to be overcome. Scarcely, however, had he
-set out on this expedition than he was met by an express, informing him
-that California was conquered. Relying on this, he sent back all his
-troops except one hundred men, and proceeded to the valley of the Gila.
-Of the sufferings of his men, of the almost starvation which forced them
-to eat the flesh of the emaciated dragoon-horses which had borne them so
-far we will not speak. When he emerged into the fertile country, it was
-not until after severe contests against immense odds, and until he had
-lost many favorite officers and picked men, to all of whom he had become
-endeared by participation in the dangers of a march across the American
-continent.
-
-On the 2d of December, 1846, Gen. Kearny arrived at Warner’s Rancho, one
-of the extreme eastward settlements of California. He there learned
-certainly what he had previously heard from a party of Californians,
-that the population had risen against the invaders and that Andreas Pico
-was near San Diego with a superior party, intending to give him battle.
-Though exhausted by a long march, and mounted on broken-down mules, Gen.
-Kearny hurried to attack him. On the night of December 5, he heard that
-Pico was at the village of San Pascual, and on the next morning met him.
-At once a charge was ordered, which broke Pico’s line and forced it to
-retreat. After a flight of half a mile, however, it was rallied and
-charged the head of the American force, and lanced many of the foremost
-men. A desperate hand to hand fight ensued, which resulted in the
-discomfiture of Pico, not, however, until Captains Moore and Johnston,
-and Lieutenant Hammond, and sixteen men had been killed, and fourteen
-persons wounded, including the general himself, and all the officers
-except Captain Turner, who, though he greatly distinguished himself,
-escaped untouched. The inequality of the contest was immense, when we
-remember that the Californians, the most superb horsemen in the world,
-were mounted on excellent chargers, while the dragoons were on mules
-which had marched from Santa Fe. The dead were buried; this sad duty,
-and the necessity of making further arrangements, detained the party all
-day. On the next day the march was resumed, but encumbered as they were,
-they were able to proceed but nine miles when the enemy charged them
-again. The needful preparations to receive them were made, when the
-enemy wheeled off, and attempted to occupy an eminence which commanded
-the route. From this, after a sharp skirmish, they were driven with some
-loss, and then Gen. Kearny encamped. As Pico evidently intended to
-dispute every pass, the general determined to remain where he was until
-reinforcements, for which he had sent to the naval commander at San
-Diego, should arrive. Four days afterward a force of marines, under
-Capt. Zelin, U. S. M. C. and of sailors, commanded by Lieutenant Gray,
-arrived, and with this force Gen. Kearny marched without molestation to
-San Diego, a distance of thirty miles. A difficulty about the command
-here arose between Commodore Stockton and Gen. Kearny, which could not
-be settled in California, where the naval commander had far the superior
-force. It did not prevent their undertaking a joint expedition against
-Puebla de los Angelos, which was in possession of a strong Mexican force
-under Flores.
-
-On the 8th of January the Mexicans were met six hundred strong, with
-four guns, in the face of whom the American force of sailors, marines,
-and the remnant of the dragoons, forded the river, and after a short,
-sharp, and decisive affair, drove them from the field. On the next day
-the enemy again appeared, and, as usual, were beaten, and on the 10th
-Puebla de los Angelos was occupied. At these affairs both the naval and
-army commanders were present, and the question of who was commander
-added somewhat to the difficulty already existing between them. At this
-time Lieut. Col. J. C. Fremont, then of the mounted rifles, commanded a
-numerous body of volunteers in California. Gen. Kearny ordered this
-officer to join him. This Col. Fremont did not do, but on the contrary,
-considered Com. Stockton as his commander. Consequently, when on the
-arrival of land reinforcements from the United States, Gen. Kearny
-assumed and maintained his command, he ordered Col. Fremont to accompany
-him home. Col. Fremont was subsequently arrested and tried for this
-dereliction of duty, found guilty of mutinous conduct, and sentenced to
-be dismissed the service. A portion of the court which tried him having
-recommended the remission of the sentence, the President acquiesced, and
-he was ordered to duty, but immediately resigned his commission. The
-prosecution of the charges against Col. Fremont detained Gen. Kearny in
-Washington during a portion of the winter of ’47 and ’48, and was,
-doubtless, most painful to him, for no man in the army had previously
-borne a higher character for soldiership than Col. Fremont. The court
-martial fully sustained Gen. Kearny in every pretension, and but one
-person has been found in America to cavil at the sentence.
-
-In the spring of 1848, Gen. Kearny was ordered to Mexico, whither he
-proceeded at once. All hostilities were, however, then over, and though
-he was in the discharge of his duty, his service there was uneventful.
-On the conclusion of the war he returned home, and was assigned to the
-command of the military division of which St. Louis is the
-head-quarters. He there had the proud satisfaction to receive the brevet
-of major-general for his services in New Mexico and California. He had,
-however, brought with him the seeds of an insidious disease which soon
-overcame his strength, enfeebled as it was by privations and trials of
-every kind. He died at St. Louis, October 31, 1848, leaving a wife and a
-family of young sons to regret him.
-
-In the eventful career of Gen. Kearny he had always been distinguished
-as one of the best officers of his grade in the service. From a
-subaltern to the highest rank he rose, every step having been won by
-service. He was bland in his manners, dispassionate and calm. Quick and
-ready in forming his opinions, he yet did not act hastily, and when once
-he had decided, was immutable in his course. A great student and
-thinker, he never talked except when he had something to say, yet
-possessed a fund of anecdote and universal information rarely to be met
-with. In the West he was a popular idol, so that the whole population
-acquiesced in the apparently arbitrary steps he was often called on to
-take in the discharge of his duty. To his subalterns he was endeared by
-a thousand kindnesses, and to the whole army by respect and admiration.
-He left in all the army list no one superior to him in personal courage,
-science in his profession, or the minor qualities which contribute so
-much to make the soldier.
-
-Immediately on the receipt of the news of his death, the Secretary of
-War, Mr. Marcy, published an order containing the following high tribute
-to his important services.
-
- “War Department.
- _Washington, Nov. 6, 1848._
-
- The President with feelings of deep regret announces to the Army
- the death of Brigadier-General Stephen W. Kearny, Major-General
- by brevet. The honorable and useful career of this gallant
- officer terminated on the 31st of October at St. Louis, in
- consequence of a disease contracted while in the discharge of
- his official duties in Mexico.
-
- General Kearny entered the army in 1812 as lieutenant, and
- continued in it until his death—a period of more than
- thirty-six years. His character and bearing as an accomplished
- officer were unsurpassed, and challenge the admiration of his
- fellow citizens and the emulation of his professional brethren.
- His conquest of New Mexico and valuable services in California
- have inseparably connected his name with the future destiny of
- these territories, and it will be ever held in grateful
- remembrance by the successive generations which will inhabit
- these extensive regions of our confederacy.”
-
-He was buried in St. Louis by the 7th and 8th regiments of infantry and
-a squadron of that regiment of dragoons which he had made so famous,
-commanded by one of his favorite captains, the present Col. E. V.
-Sumner, of the 1st dragoons. All the city of St. Louis accompanied the
-cortège to pay their last tribute of respect to the general and the MAN.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- I WILL BE A MINER TOO.
-
-
- BY MRS. JULIET H. L. CAMPBELL.
-
-
- All around me men are delving,
- Deep within the troubled earth,
- Searching for the darksome treasures
- Hidden since creation’s birth.
- Wearying toil and ceaseless effort
- Bring the buried ore to view;—
- Though I be but feeble woman,
- I will be a miner too!
-
- Heart of mine! thou art a cavern,
- Sad and silent, dark and deep—
- In thy fathomless recesses
- Spirit gnomes their treasures keep.
- Gems of love, and hope, and joyance,
- Bury there their flashing beam—
- Wilder passions fret their prison
- With the fierceness of their gleam.
-
- Though unburnished, prized and precious,
- To the enraptured poet’s sight,
- As the jewels, proudly flashing,
- On the brow of beauty bright.
- True, unto the sordid worldling
- These are gems of little worth,
- Yet, for thee, high-hearted poet!
- I will strive to bring them forth!
-
- Lamp of truth, my brow adorning,
- Lighting up the weary way—
- I, in pain, will probe my bosom,
- Bare its treasures to the day.
- Wearying toil and ceaseless effort
- Bring the buried ore to view;—
- Though I be but feeble woman,
- I will be a miner too!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE EMIGRANT’S DAUGHTERS.
-
-
- BY GRETTA.
-
-
- I had but two; they were my only treasure,
- Two lovely daughters of the imperial isle;
- They gave my quiet hearth-stone every pleasure,
- They gave my lone heart every sunny smile,
- And to your land I brought them o’er the sea,
- To hear the tones which tell of Liberty!
-
- They were twin lasses; one was like the Rose,
- With deep, dark crimson on its opening breast;
- The other like the Daisy, when it glows
- With evening’s pearls upon its snowy crest.
- And when they nestled near me lovingly,
- They were like morn and quiet eve to me.
-
- But she, the golden haired, is with the stars!
- She, the blue-eyed, the fondest of the twain,
- For her was opened heaven’s glorious bars,
- Just as the sun was sinking in the main,
- And flowers less fair, each in its soft green nest,
- On the far shore, had sunk like her to rest.
-
- Upon the waves she died—the sounding waves—
- The sands her pillow, and the weeds her pall;
- And there the deepest, tideless water laves
- The mortal part of half my little all;
- And though I know her soul is bright above,
- Still earth is desolate without her love.
-
- She drooped from day to day—within my arms
- I cradled her dear form, so slight, so fair,
- And gazed with doating love upon her charms,
- While my big tears were glistening in her hair,
- Till o’er her upturned eyes the fringed-lid fell,
- And soft she said—I know she said—“Farewell!”
-
- She died without a moan, without a sigh;
- A golden day had faded in the west,
- And mother Night descending from on high,
- Was hushing Nature to her dreamy rest;
- And ere another day broke o’er the sea,
- Deep rolled the waves between my child and me.
-
- I chanted o’er her lays of her old home—
- And she, the stricken mourner by my side,
- Mingled her tears with ocean’s moonlit foam,
- And sent her wail upon the shoreless tide.
- Oh! it was sad to hear that heart-wrung moan
- On the wild sea, so vast, so still, so lone!
-
- On my own native Scotland’s hallowed ground,
- In a low glen, from worldly din afar,
- The stars look down upon the grassy mound
- Where _she_ is laid—my young life’s morning star—
- And in the trackless deep, the bud she gave
- From her fond bosom, fills a briny grave.
-
- And with this one, all that my heart has left,
- I raise my altar where your heaven glows;
- Here the lone pair, of all they loved bereft,
- Would find in you, Bethesda for their woes.
- They’ll think of home, with memory’s burning tear,
- But turn to meet Hope’s smiling welcome here!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- JASPER ST. AUBYN;
-
-
- OR THE COURSE OF PASSION.
-
-
- BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT.
-
-
- INTRODUCTION.
-
-In the commencement of the seventeenth century, there stood among the
-woody hills and romantic gorges which sweep southwardly down from the
-bleak expanse of Dartmoor, one of those fine old English halls, which,
-dating from the reign of the last of the Tudors, united so much of
-modern comfort with so much of antique architectural beauty. Many
-specimens of this style of building are still to be found scattered
-throughout England, with their broad terraces, their quaintly sculptured
-porticoes, their tall projecting oriels, their many stacks of richly
-decorated chimneys, and their heraldic bearings adorning every salient
-point, grotesquely carved in the red freestone, which is their most
-usual, as indeed their most appropriate material. No one, however,
-existed, it is probable, at that day, more perfect in proportion to its
-size, or more admirably suited to its wild and romantic site, than the
-manor-house of Widecomb-Under-Moor, or, as it was more generally called
-in its somewhat sequestered neighborhood, the House in the Woods. Even
-at the present time, that is a very rural and little frequented
-district; its woods are more extensive, its moorlands wilder, its
-streams less often turned to purposes of manufacturing utility, than in
-any other tract of the southern counties; but at the time of which I
-write, when all England was comparatively speaking an agricultural
-country; when miles and miles of forest existed, where there now can
-scarcely be found acres; when the communications even between the
-neighboring country towns were difficult and tedious, and those between
-the country and metropolis almost impracticable; the region of Dartmoor
-and its surrounding woodlands was less known and less frequented, except
-by its own inhabitants, rude for the most part and uncultured as their
-native hills, than the prairies of the Far West, or the solitudes of the
-Rocky Mountains.
-
-The few gentry, and lords of manors who owned estates, and had their
-castellated or Elizabethan dwellings, scattered here and there, at long
-intervals, among the sylvan scenery of that lonely region, were for the
-greater part little superior in habits, in refinement, and in mental
-culture, to the boors around them. Staunch hunters, and hard drinkers,
-up with the lark and abed before the curfew, loyal to their king, kind
-and liberal to their dependents, and devout before their God, they led
-obscure and blameless lives, careless of the great world, a rumor of
-which rarely wandered so far as to reach their ears, unknown to fame,
-yet neither useless nor unhonored within the sphere of their humble
-influence, marked by few faults and many unpretending virtues.
-
-To this general rule, however, the lords of Widecomb Manor had long been
-an exception. Endowed with larger territorial possessions than most of
-their neighbors, connected with many of the noblest families of the
-realm, the St. Aubyns of Widecomb Manor had for several generations held
-themselves high above the squires of the vicinity, and the burghers of
-the circumjacent towns. Not confining themselves to the remote limits of
-their rural possessions, many of them had shone in the court and in the
-camp; several had held offices of trust and honor under Elizabeth and
-her successor; and when, in the reign of the unfortunate Charles, the
-troubles between the king and his Parliament broke out at length into
-open war, the St. Aubyn of that day, like many another gallant
-gentleman, emptied his patrimonial coffers to replenish the exhausted
-treasury; and melted his old plate and felled his older oaks, in order
-to support the king’s cause in the field, at the head of his own
-regiment of horse.
-
-Thence, when the good cause succumbed for a time, and democratic
-license, hardly restrained by puritanic rigor, strode rampant over the
-prerogative of England’s crown, and the liberties of England’s people,
-fines, sequestrations, confiscations, fell heavily on the confirmed
-malignancy, as it was then termed, of the Lord of Widecomb; and he might
-well esteem himself fortunate, that he escaped beyond the seas with his
-head upon his shoulders, although he certainly had not where to lay it.
-
-Returning at the restoration with the Second Charles, more fortunate
-than many of his friends, Sir Miles St. Aubyn recovered a considerable
-portion of his demesnes, which, though sequestrated, had not been sold,
-and with these the old mansion, now, alas! all too grand and stately for
-the diminished revenues of its owner, and the shrunken estates which it
-overlooked.
-
-It would not perhaps have been too late, even then for prudence and
-economy, joined to a resolute will and energetic purpose, to retrieve
-the shaken fortunes of the house; but having recovered peace and a
-settled government, the people and the court of England appeared
-simultaneously to have lost their senses. The overstrained and somewhat
-hypocritical morality of the Protectorate was succeeded by the wildest
-license, the most extravagant debauchery; and in the orgies which
-followed their restoration to their patrimonial honors, too many of the
-gallant cavaliers discreditably squandered the last remnant of fortunes
-which had been half ruined in a cause so noble and so holy.
-
-Such was the fate of Sir Miles St. Aubyn. The brave and generous soldier
-of the First Charles sank into the selfish, dissipated roysterer under
-his unworthy successor. He never visited again the beautiful oak-woods
-and sparkling waters of his native place, but frittered away a frivolous
-and useless life among the orgies of Alsatia and the revels of
-Whitehall; and died, unfriended, and almost alone, leaving an only son,
-who had scarce seen his father, the heir to his impoverished fortunes
-and little honored name.
-
-His son, who was born before the commencement of the troubles, of a lady
-highly-bred, and endowed as highly, who died—as the highly endowed die
-but too often—in the first prime of womanhood, was already a man when
-the restoration brought his father back to his native land, though not
-to his patrimonial estates or his paternal duties.
-
-Miles St. Aubyn, the younger, had been educated during the period of the
-civil war, and during the protracted absence of his father, by a distant
-maternal relative, whose neutrality and humble position alike protected
-him from persecution by either of the hostile parties. He grew up, like
-his race, strong, active, bold and gallant; and if he had not received
-much of that peculiar nurture which renders men graceful and
-courtly-mannered, almost from their cradles, he was at least educated
-under the influence of those traditional principles which make them at
-the bottom, even if they lack something of external polish, high-souled
-and honorable gentlemen.
-
-After the restoration he was sent abroad, as was the habit of the day,
-to push his fortunes with his sword in the Netherlands, then, as in all
-ages of the world, the chosen battle-ground of nations. There he served
-many years, if not with high distinction, at least with credit to his
-name; and if he did not win high fortune with his sword—and indeed the
-day for such winnings had already passed in Europe—he at least enjoyed
-the advantage of mingling, during his adventurous career, with the
-great, the noble, and the famous of the age; and when, on his return to
-his native land after his father’s death, he turned his sword into a
-ploughshare, and sought repose among the old staghorned oaks at
-Widecomb, he was no longer the enthusiastic, wild and headstrong youth
-of twenty years before; but a grave, polished, calm, accomplished man,
-with something of Spanish dignity and sternness engrafted on the
-frankness of his English character, and with the self-possession of one
-used familiarly to courts and camps showing itself in every word and
-motion.
-
-He was a man moreover of worth, energy and resolution, and sitting down
-peacefully under the shadow of his own woods, he applied himself
-quietly, but with an iron steadiness of purpose that ensured success, to
-retrieving in some degree the fortunes of his race.
-
-Soon after he returned he had taken unto himself a wife, not perhaps
-very wisely chosen from a family of descent prouder and haughtier even
-than his own, and of fortunes if not as much impoverished, at least so
-greatly diminished, as to render the lady’s dower a matter merely
-nominal. But it was an old affection—a long promise, hallowed by love
-and constancy and honor.
-
-She was, moreover, a beautiful and charming creature, and, so long as
-she lived, rendered the old soldier a very proud and very happy husband,
-and when she died—which, most unhappily for all concerned, was but a
-few months after giving birth to an only son—left him so comfortless,
-and at the same time so wedded to the memory of the dead, that he never
-so much as envisaged the idea of a second marriage.
-
-This gentleman it was, who, many long years after the death of the
-gentle Lady Alice, dwelt in serene and dignified seclusion in the old
-Hall, which he had never quitted since he became a widower; devoting his
-whole abilities to nursing his dilapidated estates, and educating his
-only son, whom he regarded with affection bordering on idolatry.
-
-With the last Miles St. Aubyn, however, we shall have little to do
-henceforth, for the soldier of the Netherlands had departed so far from
-the traditions of his family—the eldest son of which had for
-generations borne the same name of Miles—as to drop that patrimonial
-appellation in the person of his son, whom he had caused to be
-christened Jasper, after a beloved friend, a brother of the lady
-afterward his wife, who had fallen by his side on a well-fought field in
-the Luxembourg.
-
-What was the cause which induced the veteran, in other respects so
-severe a stickler for ancient habitudes, to swerve from this
-time-honored custom, it would be difficult to state; some of those who
-knew him best, attributing it merely to the desire of perpetuating the
-memory of his best friend in the person of his only child; while others
-ascribed it to a sort of superstitious feeling, which, attaching the
-continued decline of the house to the continual recurrence of the
-patronymic, looked forward in some degree to a revival of its honors
-with a new name to its lord.
-
-Whatever might have been the cause, the consequences of this deviation
-from old family usage, as prognosticated by the dependents of Widecomb,
-and the superstitious inhabitants of the neighboring woods and wolds,
-were any thing but likely to better the fortunes of the lords of the
-manor; for not a few of them asserted, with undoubting faith, that the
-last St. Aubyn had seen the light of day, and that in the same
-generation which had seen the extinction of the old name the old race
-should itself pass away. Nor did they lack some sage authority to which
-they might refer for confirmation of their dark forebodings; for there
-existed, living yet in the mouths of men, one of those ancient saws,
-which were so common a century or two ago in the rural districts of
-England, as connected with the fortunes of the old houses; and which
-were referred to some Mother Shipton, or other equally infallible
-soothsayer of the county, whose dicta to the vulgar minds of the feudal
-tenantry were confirmations strong as proofs of Holy Writ.
-
-The prophecy in question was certainly exceeding old; and had been
-handed down through many generations, by direct oral tradition, among a
-race of men wholly illiterate and uneducated; to whom perhaps alone,
-owing to the long expatriation of the late and present lords of the
-manor, it was now familiar; although in past times it had doubtless been
-accredited by the family to which it related.
-
-It ran as follows, and, not being deficient in a sort of wild harmony
-and rugged solemnity, produced, by no means unnaturally, a powerful
-effect on the minds of hearers, when recited in awe-stricken tones and
-with a bended brow beside some feebly glimmering hearth, in the lulls of
-the tempest haply raving without, among the leafless trees, under the
-starless night—It ran as follows, and, universally believed by the
-vassals of the house, it remains for us to see how far its predictions
-were confirmed by events, and how far it influenced or foretold the
-course of passion, or the course of fate—
-
- While Miles sits master in Widecomb place,
- The cradle shall rock on the oaken floor,
- And St. Aubyn rule, where he ruled of yore.
-
- But when Miles departs from the olden race,
- The cradle shall rock by the hearth no more,
- Nor St. Aubyn rule, where he ruled of yore.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Thus far it has been necessary for us to tread back the path of departed
-generations, and to retrace the fortunes of the Widecomb family,
-inasmuch as many of the events, which we shall have to narrate
-hereafter, and very much of the character of the principal personage, to
-whom our tale relates, have a direct relation to these precedents, and
-would have been to a certain degree incomprehensible but for this
-retrogression. If it obtain no other end, it will serve at least to
-explain how, amid scenes so rural and sequestered, and dwelling almost
-in solitude, among neighbors so rugged and uncivilized, there should
-have been found a family, deprived of all advantages of
-intercommunication with equals or superiors in intellect and demeanor,
-and even unassisted by the humanizing influence of familiar female
-society, which had yet maintained, as if traditionally, all the
-principles, all the ideas, and all the habitudes of the brightest
-schools of knightly courtesy and gentlemanly bearing, all the graces and
-easy dignity of courts, among the remote solitudes of the country.
-
-At the time when our narrative commences, the soldier of the
-Netherlands, Sir Miles St. Aubyn—for though he cared not to bear a
-foreign title, he had been stricken a knight banneret on a bloody
-battle-field of Flanders—had fallen long into the sere, the yellow
-leaf; and though his cheek was still ruddy as a winter pippin, his eye
-bright and clear, and his foot firm as ever, his hair was as white as
-the drifted snow; his arm had lost its nervous power; and if his mind
-was still sane and his body sound, he was now more addicted to sit
-beside the glowing hearth in winter, or to bask in the summer sunshine,
-poring over some old chronicle or antique legend, than to wake the
-echoes of the oakwoods with his bugle-horn, or to rouse the heathcock
-from the heathy moorland with his blythe springers.
-
-Not so, however, the child of his heart, Jasper. The boy on whom such
-anxious pains had been bestowed, on whom hopes so intense reposed, had
-reached his seventeenth summer. Like all his race, he was unusually
-tall, and admirably formed, both for agility and strength. Never, from
-his childhood upward, having mingled with any persons of vulgar station
-or unpolished demeanor, he was, as if by nature, graceful and easy. His
-manners although proud, and marked by something of that stern dignity
-which we have mentioned as a characteristic of the father, but which in
-one so youthful appeared strange and out of place, were ever those of a
-high and perfect gentleman. His features were marked with all the
-ancestral beauties, which may be traced in unmixed races through so many
-generations; and as it was a matter of notorious truth, that from the
-date of the conquest, no drop of Saxon or of Celtic blood had been
-infused into the pure Norman stream which flowed through the veins of
-the proud St. Aubyns, it was no marvel that after the lapse of so many
-ages the youthful Jasper should display, both in face and form, the
-characteristic lines and coloring peculiar to the noblest tribe of men
-that has ever issued from the great northern hive of nations.
-Accordingly, he had the rich dark chestnut hair, not curled, but waving
-in loose clusters; the clear gray eye; the aquiline nose; the keen and
-fiery look; the resolute mouth, and the iron jaw, which in all ages have
-belonged to the descendant of the Northman. While the spare yet sinewy
-frame, the deep, round chest, thin flanks, and limbs long and muscular
-and singularly agile, were not less perfect indications of his blood
-than the sharp, eagle-like expression of the bold countenance.
-
-Trained in his early boyhood to all those exercises of activity and
-strength, which were in those days held essential to the gentleman, it
-needs not to say that Jasper St. Aubyn could ride, swim, fence, shoot,
-run, leap, pitch the bar, and go through every manœuvre of the _salle
-d’armes_, the tilt-yard, and the _manège_, with equal grace and power.
-Nor had his lighter accomplishments been neglected; for the age of his
-father and grandfather, if profligate and dissolute even to debauchery,
-was still refined and polished, and to dance gracefully, and touch the
-lute or sing tastefully, was as much expected from the cavalier as to
-have a firm foot in the stirrup, or a strong and supple wrist with the
-backsword and rapier.
-
-His mind had been richly stored also, if not very sagely trained and
-regulated. For Sir Miles, in the course of his irregular and adventurous
-life, had read much more than he had meditated; had picked up much more
-of learning than he had of philosophy; and what philosophy he had
-belonged much more to the cold self-reliance of the camp than to the
-sounder tenets of the schools.
-
-While filling his son’s mind, therefore, with much curious lore of all
-sorts; while making him a master of many tongues, and laying before him
-books of all kinds, the old banneret had taken little pains—perhaps he
-would not have succeeded had he taken more—to point the lessons which
-the books contained; to draw deductions from the facts which he
-inculcated; or to direct the course of the young man’s opinions.
-
-Self-taught himself, or taught only in the hard school of experience,
-and having himself arrived at sound principles of conduct, he never
-seemed to recollect that the boy would run through no such ordeal, and
-reap no such lessons; nor did he ever reflect that the deductions which
-he had himself drawn from certain facts, acquired in one way, and under
-one set of circumstances, would probably be entirely different from
-those at which another would arrive, when his data were acquired in a
-very different manner, and under circumstances altogether diverse and
-dissimilar.
-
-Thence it came that Jasper St. Aubyn, at the age of seventeen years, was
-in all qualities of body thoroughly trained and disciplined; and in all
-mental faculties perfectly educated, but entirely untrained, uncorrected
-and unchastened.
-
-In manner, he was a perfect gentleman; in body, he was a perfect man; in
-mind, he was almost a perfect scholar. And what, our reader will perhaps
-inquire, what could he have been more; or what more could education have
-effected in his behalf?
-
-Much—very much—good friend.
-
-For as there is an education of the body, and an education of the brain,
-so is there also an education of the heart. And that is an education
-which men rarely have the faculty of imparting, and which few men ever
-have obtained, who have not enjoyed the inestimable advantage of female
-nurture during their youth, as well as their childhood; unless they have
-learned it in the course of painful years, from those severe and bitter
-teachers, those chasteners and purifiers of the heart—sorrow and
-suffering, which two _are_ experience.
-
-This, then, was the education in which Jasper St. Aubyn was altogether
-deficient; which Sir Miles had never so much as attempted to impart to
-him; and which, had he endeavored, he probably would have failed to
-bestow.
-
-We do not mean to say that the boy was heartless—boys rarely are so, we
-might almost say never—nor that the impulses of his heart were toward
-evil rather than good; far from it. His heart, like all young and
-untainted hearts, was full of noble impulses—but they were _impulses_;
-full of fresh springing generous desires, of gracious sympathies and
-lofty aspirations—but he had not one principle—he never had been
-taught to question one impulse, before acting upon it—he never had
-learned to check one desire, to doubt the genuineness of one sympathy,
-to moderate the eagerness of one aspiration. He never had been brought
-to suspect that there were such virtues as self-control, or
-self-devotion; such vices as selfishness or self-abandonment—in a word,
-he never had so much as heard
-
- That Right is right, and that to follow Right
- Were wisdom, in the scorn of consequence—
-
-and therefore he was, at the day of which we write, even what he was;
-and thereafter, what we propose to show you.
-
-At the time when the youthful heir had attained his seventeenth year,
-the great object of his father’s life was accomplished; the fortunes of
-the family were so far at least retrieved, that if the St. Aubyns no
-longer aspired, as of old, to be the first or wealthiest family of the
-county, they were at least able to maintain the household on that
-footing of generous liberality and hospitable ease which has been at all
-times the pride and passion of the English country gentleman.
-
-For many years Sir Miles had undergone the severest privations, and it
-was only by the endurance of actual poverty within doors, that he was
-enabled to maintain that footing abroad, without which he could scarcely
-have preserved his position in society.
-
-For many years the park had been neglected, the gardens overrun with
-weeds and brambles, the courts grass-grown, and the house itself
-dilapidated, literally from the impossibility of supporting domestics
-sufficiently numerous to perform the necessary labors of the estate.
-
-During much of this period it was to the beasts of the forest, the fowl
-of the moorland, and the fish of the streams, that the household of
-Widecomb had looked for their support; nor did the table of the banneret
-himself boast any liquor more generous than that afforded by the ale
-vats of March and October.
-
-Throughout the whole of this dark and difficult time, however, the stout
-old soldier had never suffered one particle of that ceremonial, which he
-deemed essential as well to the formation as the preservation of the
-character of a true gentleman, to be relaxed or neglected by his
-diminished household.
-
-Personally, he was at all times clad point device; nor did he ever fail
-in being mounted, himself and at least one attendant, as became a
-cavalier of honor. The hours of the early dinner, and of the more
-agreeable and social supper, were announced duly by the clang of
-trumpets, even when there were no guests to be summoned, save the old
-banneret and his motherless child, and perhaps the only visiter for
-years at Widecomb Manor, the gray-haired vicar of the village, who had
-served years before as chaplain of an English regiment in the Low
-Countries, with Sir Miles. Nor was the pewter tankard, containing at the
-best but toast and ale, stirred with a sprig of rosemary, handed around
-the board with less solemnity than had it been a golden hanap mantling
-with the first vintages of Burgundy or Xeres.
-
-Thus it was that, as Jasper advanced gradually toward years of manhood,
-the fortunes of the house improving in proportion to his growth, seeing
-no alteration in the routine of the household, he scarcely was aware
-that any change had taken place in more essential points.
-
-The eye and ear of the child had been taken by the banners, the
-trumpets, and the glittering board, and his fancy riveted by the
-solemnity and grave decorum which characterized the meals partaken in
-the great hall; and naturally enough he never knew that the pewter
-platters and tankards had been exchanged, since those days, for plate of
-silver, and the strong ale converted into claret or canary.
-
-The consequence of this was simply that he found himself a youth of
-seventeen, surrounded by all the means and appliances of luxury, with
-servants, horses, hounds, and falcons at his command, the leading
-personage, beyond all comparison, of the neighborhood, highly born,
-handsome, well bred and accomplished. All this, by the way, was entirely
-uncorrected by any memory of past sufferings or sorrows, either on his
-own part or on that of his family, or by any knowledge of the privations
-and exertions on the part of Sir Miles, by which this present affluence
-had been purchased; and he became, naturally enough, somewhat over
-confident in his own qualities, somewhat over-bearing in his manner, and
-not a little intolerant and inconsiderate as to the opinions and
-feelings of others. He then presented, in a word, the not unusual
-picture of an arrogant, self-sufficient, proud and fiery youth, with
-many generous and noble points, and many high qualities, which, duly
-cultivated, might have rendered him a good, a happy, and perhaps even a
-great man; but which, untrained as they were, and suffered to run up
-into a rank and unpruned overgrowth, were but too likely to degenerate
-themselves into vices, and to render him at some future day a tormentor
-of himself, and an oppressor of others.
-
-Now, however, he was a general favorite, for largely endowed with animal
-spirits, indulged in every wish that his fancy could form, never crossed
-in the least particular, it was rarely that his violent temper would
-display itself, or his innate selfishness rise conspicuous above the
-superficial face of good-nature and somewhat careless affability, which
-he presented to the general observer.
-
-It was, perhaps, unfortunate for Jasper, no less than for those who were
-in after days connected with him, whether for good or evil, that, at
-this critical period of his adolescence, when the character of the man
-is developed from the accidents of boyhood, in proportion as his
-increasing years and altered habits and pursuits led him to be more
-abroad, and cast him in some degree into the world, the advancing years
-and growing infirmities of his father kept him closer to the library and
-the hall.
-
-So that at the very time when his expanding mind and nascent passions
-most needed sage advice and moderate coercion, or at least wary
-guidance, he was abandoned almost entirely to his own direction. The
-first outbreaks, therefore, of evil principles, the germs of a masterful
-will, the seeds of fierce and fiery passions, and, above all, the
-growing recklessness with regard to the feelings and the rights of
-others, which could scarcely have escaped the notice of the shrewd old
-man had he accompanied his son abroad, and which, if noticed, would
-surely have been repressed, were allowed to increase hourly by
-self-indulgence and the want of restraint, unknown and unsuspected to
-the youth himself, for whom one day they were to be the cause of so many
-and so bitter trials.
-
-But it is now time that, turning from this brief retrospect of previous
-events, and this short analysis of the early constitution of the mind of
-him whose singular career is to form the subject of this narrative, we
-should introduce our reader to the scene of action, and to the person
-whose adventures in after life will perhaps excuse the space which has
-necessarily been allotted to the antecedents of the first marked event
-which befel him, and from which all the rest took their rise in a train
-of connection, which, although difficult to trace by a casual observer,
-was in reality close and perfect.
-
-The manor-house of Widecomb, such as it has been slightly sketched
-above, stood on a broad flat terrace, paved with slabs of red freestone,
-and adorned with a massive balustrade of the same material, interspersed
-with grotesque images at the points where it was reached from the
-esplanade below, by three or four flights of broad and easy steps.
-
-The mansion itself was large, and singularly picturesque, but the
-beauties of the building were as nothing to those of the scenery which
-it overlooked.
-
-It was built on the last and lowest slope of one of those romantic spurs
-which trend southerly from the wild and heathery heights of Dartmoor.
-And although the broad and beautifully kept lawn was embosomed in a very
-woody and sylvan chase, full of deep glens and tangled dingles, which
-was in turn framed on three sides by the deep oak-woods, which covered
-all the rounded hills in the rear of the estate and to the right and
-left hand, yet as the land continued to fall toward the south for many
-and many a mile, the sight could range from the oriel windows of the
-great hall, and of the fine old library, situated on either hand of the
-entrance and armory, over a wide expanse of richly cultivated country,
-with more than one navigable river winding among the woods and
-corn-fields, and many a village steeple glittering among the hedgerows,
-until in the far distance it was bounded by a blue hazy line, which
-seemed to melt into the sky, but which was in truth, though not to be
-distinguished as such unless by a practiced eye, the British Channel.
-
-The Hall itself and even the southern verge of the chase, which bounded
-the estate in that direction, lay, however, at a very considerable
-distance from the cultivated country, and was divided from it by a vast
-broken chasm, with banks so precipitous and rocky that no road had ever
-been carried through it, while its great width had deterred men from the
-idea of bridging it. Through this strange and terrific gorge there
-rushed an impetuous and powerful torrent, broken by many falls and
-rapids, with many a deep and limpid pool between them, favorite haunts
-of the large salmon and sea trout which abounded in its waters. This
-brook, for it scarcely can be called a river, although after the rains
-of autumn or the melting snows of spring it sent down an immense volume
-of dark, rust colored water, with a roar that could be heard for miles,
-to the distant Tamar, swept down the hills in a series of cascades from
-the right hand side of the park, until it reached the brink of the chasm
-we have described, lying at right angles to its former course, down
-which it plunged in an impetuous shoot of nearly three hundred feet, and
-rushed thence easterly away, walled on each side by the precipitous
-rock, until some five miles thence it was crossed at a deep and somewhat
-dangerous ford, by the only great road which traversed that district,
-and by which alone strangers could reach the Hall and its beautiful
-demesnes.
-
-To the westward or right hand side of the chase the country was entirely
-wild and savage, covered with thick woods, interspersed with lonely
-heaths, and intersected by hundreds of clear brawling rills. To the
-eastward, however, although much broken by forest ground, there was a
-wide range of rich pasture fields and meadows, divided by great
-overgrown hawthorn hedges, each hedge almost a thicket, and penetrated
-by numerous lanes and horse-roads buried between deep banks, and
-overcanopied by foliage, that, even at noonday, was almost impenetrable
-to the sunshine.
-
-Here and there lay scattered among the fields and woods innumerable
-farm-houses and granges, the abodes of small freeholders, once tenants
-and vassals of the great St. Aubyns; and, at about six miles from the
-Hall, nestled in a green valley, through which ran a clear, bright
-trout-stream to join the turbulent torrent, stood the little market town
-of Widecomb-Under-Moor, from their unalienated property in which the
-family of St. Aubyn derived the most valuable portion of their incomes.
-
-Over the whole of this pleasant and peaceful tract, whether it was still
-owned by themselves, or had passed into the hands of the free yeomanry,
-the Lords of Widecomb still held manorial rights, and the few feudal
-privileges which had survived the revolution; and, through the whole of
-it, Sir Miles St. Aubyn was regarded with unmixed love and veneration,
-while the boy Jasper was looked upon almost as a son in every family,
-though some old men would shake their heads doubtfully, and mutter sage
-but unregarded saws concerning his present disposition and future
-prospects; and some old grandames would prognosticate disasters,
-horrors, and even crimes as hanging over his career, in consequence,
-perhaps, of the inauspicious change in the patronymic of his race.
-
-They were a happy and an unsophisticated race who inhabited those lonely
-glens. Sufficiently well provided to be above the want of necessaries,
-or the fear of poverty, they were not so far removed from the necessity
-of labor as to have incurred vicious ambitions—moderate, frugal, and
-industrious, they lived uncorrupted, and died happy in their unlearned
-innocence.
-
-It was the boast of the district that bars and locks were appendages to
-doors entirely unusual and useless; that the cage of Widecomb had not
-held a tenant since the days of stiff old Oliver; and that no deed of
-violence or blood had ever tainted those calm vales with horror.
-
-Alas! how soon was that boast to be annulled; how soon were the details
-of a dread domestic tragedy, full of dark horrors, and reproductive of
-guilt through generations, to render the very name of Widecomb a terror,
-and to invest the beauteous scenery with images of superstitious awe and
-hatred. But we must not anticipate, nor seek as yet to penetrate the
-secrets of that destiny, which even during the morn of promising young
-life, seemed to overhang the house,
-
- And hushed in grim repose,
- Expects its evening prey.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
- _The Peril._
-
- I say beware—
- That way perdition lies, the very path
- Of seeming safety leading to the abyss.
- —MS.
-
-It was as fair a morning of July as ever dawned in the blue summer sky;
-the sun as yet had risen but a little way above the waves of fresh green
-foliage which formed the horizon of the woodland scenery surrounding
-Widecomb Manor; and his heat, which promised ere midday to become
-excessive, was tempered now by the exhalations of the copious
-night-dews, and by the cool breath of the western breeze, which came
-down through the leafy gorges, in long, soft swells from the open
-moorlands.
-
-All nature was alive and joyous; the air was vocal with the piping
-melody of the blackbirds and thrushes, caroling in every brake and bosky
-dingle; the smooth, green lawn, before the windows of the old Hall was
-peopled with whole tribes of fat, lazy hares, limping about among the
-dewy herbage, fearless, as it would seem, of man’s aggression; and to
-complete the picture, above a score of splendid peacocks were strutting
-to and fro on the paved terraces, or perched upon the carved stone
-balustrades, displaying their gorgeous plumage to the early sunshine.
-
-The shadowy mists of the first morning twilight had not been long
-dispersed from the lower regions, and were suspended still in the middle
-air in broad fleecy masses, though melting rapidly away in the
-increasing warmth and brightness of the day.
-
-And still a faint blue line hovered over the bed of the long rocky
-gorge, which divided the chase from the open country, floating about it
-like the steam of a seething caldron, and rising here and there into
-tall smoke-like columns, probably where some steeper cataract of the
-mountain-stream sent its foam skyward.
-
-So early, indeed, was the hour, that had my tale been recited of these
-degenerate days, there would have been no gentle eyes awake to look upon
-the loveliness of new-awakened nature.
-
-In the good days of old, however, when daylight was still deemed to be
-the fitting time for labor and for pastime, and night the appointed time
-for natural and healthful sleep, the dawn was wont to brighten beheld by
-other eyes than those of clowns and milkmaids, and the gay songs of the
-matutinal birds were listened to by ears that could appreciate their
-untaught melodies.
-
-And now, just as the stable clock was striking four, the great oaken
-door of the old Hall was thrown open with a vigorous swing that made it
-rattle on its hinges, and Jasper St. Aubyn came bounding out into the
-fresh morning air, with a foot as elastic as that of the mountain roe,
-singing a snatch of some quaint old ballad.
-
-He was dressed simply in a close-fitting jacket and tight hose of
-dark-green cloth, without any lace or embroidery, light boots of
-untanned leather, and a broad-leafed hat, with a single eagle’s feather
-thrust carelessly through the band. He wore neither cloak nor sword,
-though it was a period at which gentlemen rarely went abroad without
-both these, their distinctive attributes; but in the broad black belt
-which girt his rounded waist he carried a stout wood-knife with a
-buckhorn hilt; and over his shoulder there swung from a leathern thong,
-a large wicker fishing-basket.
-
-Nothing, indeed, could be simpler or less indicative of any particular
-rank or station in society than young St. Aubyn’s garb, yet it would
-have been a very dull and unobservant eye which should take him for
-aught less than a high-born and high-bred gentleman.
-
-His fine intellectual face, his bearing erect before heaven, the
-graceful ease of his every motion, as he hurried down the flagged steps
-of the terrace, and planted his light foot on the dewy greensward, all
-betokened gentle birth and gentle associations.
-
-But he thought nothing of himself, nor cared for his advantages,
-acquired or natural. The long and heavy salmon-rod which he carried in
-his right hand, in three pieces as yet unconnected, did not more clearly
-indicate his purpose than the quick marking glance which he cast toward
-the half-veiled sun and hazy sky, scanning the signs of the weather.
-
-“It will do, it will do,” he said to himself, thinking as it were aloud,
-“for three or four hours at least; the sun will not shake off those
-vapors before eight o’clock at the earliest, and if he do come out then
-hot and strong, I do not know but the water is dark enough after the
-late rains to serve my turn awhile longer. It will blow up, too, I
-think, from the westward, and there will be a brisk curl on the pools.
-But come, I must be moving, if I would reach Darringford to breakfast.”
-
-And as he spoke he strode out rapidly across the park toward the deep
-chasm of the stream, crushing a thousand aromatic perfumes from the dewy
-wild-flowers with his heedless foot, and thinking little of the beauties
-of nature, as he hastened to the scene of his loved exercise.
-
-It was not long, accordingly, before he reached the brink of the steep
-rocky bank above the stream, which he proposed to fish that morning, and
-paused to select the best place for descending to the water’s edge.
-
-It was, indeed, a striking and romantic scene as ever met the eye of
-painter or of poet. On the farther side of the gorge, scarcely a hundred
-yards distant, the dark limestone rocks rose sheer and precipitous from
-the very brink of the stream, rifted and broken into angular blocks and
-tall columnar masses, from the clefts of which, wherever they could find
-soil enough to support their scanty growth, a few stunted oaks shot out
-almost horizontally with their gnarled arms and dark-green foliage, and
-here and there the silvery bark and quivering tresses of the birch
-relieved the monotony of color by their gay brightness. Above, the
-cliffs were crowned with the beautiful purple heather, now in its very
-glow of summer bloom, about which were buzzing myriads of wild bees
-sipping their nectar from its cups of amethyst.
-
-The hither side, though rough and steep and broken, was not in the place
-where Jasper stood precipitous; indeed it seemed as if at some distant
-period a sort of landslip had occurred, by which the fall of the rocky
-wall had been broken into massive fragments, and hurled down in an
-inclined plane into the bed of the stream, on which it had encroached
-with its shattered blocks and rounded boulders.
-
-Time, however, had covered all this abrupt and broken slope with a
-beautiful growth of oak and hazel coppice, among which, only at distant
-intervals, could the dun weather-beaten flanks of the great stones be
-discovered.
-
-At the base of this descent, a hundred and fifty feet perhaps below the
-stand of the young sportsman, flowed the dark arrowy stream—a wild and
-perilous water. As clear as crystal, yet as dark as the brown
-cairn-gorm, it came pouring down among the broken rocks with a rapidity
-and force which showed what must be its fury when swollen by a storm
-among the mountains, here breaking into wreaths of rippling foam where
-some unseen ledge chafed its current, there roaring and surging white as
-December’s snow among the great round-headed rocks, and there again
-wheeling in sullen eddies, dark and deceitful, round and round some deep
-rock-brimmed basin.
-
-Here and there, indeed, it spread out into wide shallow rippling rapids,
-filling the whole bottom of the ravine from side to side, but more
-generally it did not occupy above a fourth part of the space below,
-leaving sometimes on this margin, sometimes on that, broad pebbly banks,
-or slaty ledges, affording an easy footing and a clear path to the
-angler in its troubled waters.
-
-After a rapid glance over the well-known scene, Jasper plunged into the
-coppice, and following a faint track worn by the feet of the wild-deer
-in the first instance, and widened by his own bolder tread, soon reached
-the bottom of the chasm, though not until he had flushed from the dense
-oak covert two noble black cocks with their superb forked tails, and
-glossy purple-lustered plumage, which soared away, crowing their bold
-defiance, over the heathery moorlands.
-
-Once at the water’s edge, the young man’s tackle was speedily made
-ready, and in a few minutes his long line went whistling through the
-air, as he wielded the powerful two-handed rod, as easily as if it had
-been a stripling’s reed, and the large gaudy peacock-fly alighted on the
-wheeling eddies, at the tail of a long arrowy shoot, as gently as if it
-had settled from too long a flight. Delicately, deftly, it was made to
-dance and skim the clear, brown surface, until it had crossed the pool
-and neared the hither bank; then again, obedient to the pliant wrist, it
-arose on glittering wing, circled half round the angler’s head, and was
-sent thirty yards aloof, straight as a wild bee’s flight, into a little
-mimic whirlpool, scarce larger than the hat of the skillful fisherman,
-which spun round and round just to leeward of a gray ledge of limestone.
-Scarce had it reached its mark before the water broke all around it, and
-the gay deceit vanished, the heavy swirl of the surface, as the break
-was closing, indicating the great size of the fish which had risen. Just
-as the swirl was subsiding, and the forked tail of the monarch of the
-stream was half seen as he descended, that indescribable but well-known
-turn of the angler’s wrist, fixed the barbed hook, and taught the scaly
-victim the nature of the prey he had gorged so heedlessly.
-
-With a wild bound he threw himself three feet out of the water, showing
-his silver sides, with the sea-lice yet clinging to his scales, a fresh
-sea-run fish of fifteen, ay, eighteen pounds, and perhaps over.
-
-On his broad back he strikes the water, but not as he meant the
-tightened line; for as he leaped the practiced hand had lowered the
-rod’s tip, that it fell in a loose bight below him. Again! again! again!
-and yet a fourth time he bounded into the air with desperate and
-vigorous soubresaults, like an unbroken steed that would dismount his
-rider, lashing the eddies of the dark stream into bright bubbling
-streaks, and making the heart of his captor beat high with anticipation
-of the desperate struggle that should follow, before the monster would
-lie panting and exhausted on the yellow sand or moist greensward.
-
-Away! with the rush of an eagle through the air, he is gone like an
-arrow down the rapids—how the reel rings, and the line whistles from
-the swift working wheel; he is too swift, too headstrong to be checked
-as yet; tenfold the strength of that slender tackle might not control
-him in his first fiery rush.
-
-But Jasper, although young in years, was old in the art, and skillful as
-the craftiest of the gentle craftsmen. He gives him the butt of his rod
-steadily, trying the strength of his tackle with a delicate and gentle
-finger, giving him line at every rush, yet firmly, cautiously, feeling
-his mouth all the while, and moderating his speed even while he yields
-to his fury.
-
-Meanwhile, with the eye of intuition and the nerve of iron, he bounds
-along the difficult shore, he leaps from rock to rock, alighting on
-their slippery tops with the firm agility of the rope-dancer, he
-splashes knee deep through the slippery shallows, keeping his line ever
-taut, inclining his rod over his shoulder, bearing on his fish ever with
-a killing pull, steering him clear of every rock or stump against which
-he would fain smash the tackle, and landing him at length in a fine open
-roomy pool, at the foot of a long stretch of white and foamy rapids,
-down which he has just piloted him with the eye of faith, and the foot
-of instinct.
-
-And now the great salmon has turned sulky; like a piece of lead he has
-sunk to the bottom of the deep black pool, and lies on the gravel bottom
-in the sullenness of despair.
-
-Jasper stooped, gathered up in his left hand a heavy pebble, and pitched
-it into the pool, as nearly as he could guess to the whereabout of his
-game—another—and another! Aha! that last has roused him. Again he
-throws himself clear out of water, and again foiled in his attempt to
-smash the tackle, dashes away down stream impetuous.
-
-But his strength is departing—the vigor of his rush is broken. The
-angler gives him the butt abundantly, strains on him with a heavier
-pull, yet ever yields a little as he exerts his failing powers; see, his
-broad, silver side has thrice turned up, even to the surface, and though
-each time he has recovered himself, each time it has been with a heavier
-and more sickly motion.
-
-Brave fellow! his last race is run, his last spring sprung—no more
-shall he disport himself in the bright reaches of the Tamar; no more
-shall the Naiads wreathe his clear silver scales with river-greens and
-flowery rushes.
-
-The cruel gaff is in his side—his cold blood stains the eddies for a
-moment—he flaps out his death-pang on the hard limestone.
-
-“Who-whoop! a nineteen pounder!”
-
-Meantime the morning had worn onward, and ere the great fish was brought
-to the basket the sun had soared clear above the mist-wreaths, and had
-risen so high into the summer heaven that his slant rays poured down
-into the gorge of the stream, and lighted up the clear depths with a
-lustre so transparent that every pebble at the bottom might have been
-discerned, with the large fish here and there floating mid depth, with
-their heads up stream, their gills working with a quick motion, and
-their broad tails vibrating at short intervals slowly but powerfully, as
-they lay motionless in opposition to the very strongest of the swift
-current.
-
-The breeze had died away, there was no curl upon the water, and the heat
-was oppressive.
-
-Under such circumstances to whip the stream was little better than mere
-loss of time, yet as he hurried with a fleet foot down the gorge,
-perhaps with some ulterior object, beyond the mere love of sport, Jasper
-at times cast his fly across the stream, and drew it neatly, and, as he
-thought, irresistibly right over the recusant fish; but though once or
-twice a large lazy salmon would sail up slowly from the depths, and
-almost touch the fly with his nose, he either sunk down slowly in
-disgust, without breaking the water, or flapped his broad tail over the
-shining fraud as if to mark his contempt.
-
-It had now got to be near noon, for in the ardor of his success the
-angler had forgotten all about his intended breakfast; and, his first
-fish captured, had contented himself with a slender meal furnished from
-out his fishing-basket and his leathern bottle.
-
-Jasper had traversed by this time some ten miles in length, following
-the sinuosities of the stream, and had reached a favorite pool at the
-head of a long, straight, narrow trench, cut by the waters themselves in
-the course of time, through the hard shistous rock which walls the
-torrent on each hand, not leaving the slightest ledge or margin between
-the rapids and the precipice.
-
-Through this wild gorge of some fifty yards in length, the river shoots
-like an arrow over a steep inclined plane of limestone rock, the surface
-of which is polished by the action of the water, till it is as slippery
-as ice, and at the extremity leaps down a sheer descent of some twelve
-feet into a large, wide basin, surrounded by softly swelling banks of
-greensward, and a fair amphitheatre of woodland.
-
-At the upper end this pool is so deep as to be vulgarly deemed
-unfathomable; below, however, it expands yet wider into a shallow
-rippling ford, where it is crossed by the high-road, down stream of
-which again there is another long, sharp rapid, and another fall, over
-the last steps of the hills; after which the nature of the stream
-becomes changed, and it murmurs gently onward through a green pastoral
-country unrippled and uninterrupted.
-
-Just in the inner angle of the high road, on the right hand of the
-stream, there stood an old-fashioned, low-browed, thatch-covered, stone
-cottage, with a rude portico of rustic woodwork overrun with jassmine
-and virgin-bower, and a pretty flower-garden sloping down in successive
-terraces to the edge of the basin. Beside this, there was no other house
-in sight, unless it were part of the roof of a mill which stood in the
-low ground on the brink of the second fall, surrounded with a mass of
-willows. But the tall steeple of a country church raising itself
-heavenward above the brow of the hill, seemed to show that, although
-concealed by the undulations of the ground, a village was hard at hand.
-
-The morning had changed a second time, a hazy film had crept up to the
-zenith, and the sun was now covered with a pale golden veil, and a
-slight current of air down the gorge ruffled the water.
-
-It was a capital pool, famous for being the temporary haunt of the very
-finest fish, which were wont to lie there awhile, as if to recruit
-themselves after the exertions of leaping the two falls and stemming the
-double rapid, before attempting to ascend the stream farther.
-
-Few, however, even of the best and boldest fishermen cared to wet a line
-in its waters, in consequence of the supposed impossibility of following
-a heavy fish through the gorge below or checking him at the brink of the
-fall. It is true, that throughout the length of the pass, the current
-was broken by bare, slippery rocks peering above the waters, at
-intervals, which might be cleared by an active cragsman; and it had been
-in fact reconnoitered by Jasper and others in cool blood, but the result
-of the examination was that it was deemed impassable.
-
-Thinking, however, little of striking a large fish, and perhaps desiring
-to waste a little time before scaling the banks and emerging on the high
-road, Jasper threw a favorite fly of peacock’s back and gold tinsel
-lightly across the water; and, almost before he had time to think, had
-hooked a monstrous fish, which, at the very first leap, he set down as
-weighing at least thirty pounds.
-
-Thereupon followed a splendid display of piscatory skill. Well knowing
-that his fish must be lost if he once should succeed in getting his head
-down the rapid, Jasper exerted every nerve, and exhausted every art to
-humor, to meet, to restrain, to check him. Four times the fish rushed
-for the pass, and four times Jasper met him so stoutly with the butt,
-trying his tackle to the very utmost, that he succeeded in forcing him
-from the perilous spot. Round and round the pool he had piloted him, and
-had taken post at length, hoping that the worst was already over, close
-to the opening of the rocky chasm.
-
-And now perhaps waxing too confident he checked his fish too sharply.
-Stung into fury, the monster sprang five times in succession into the
-air, lashing the water with his angry tail, and then rushed like an
-arrow down the chasm.
-
-He was gone—but Jasper’s blood was up, and thinking of nothing but his
-sport, he dashed forward and embarked with a fearless foot in the
-terrible descent.
-
-Leap after leap he took with beautiful precision, alighting firm and
-erect on the centre of each slippery block, and bounding thence to the
-next with unerring instinct, guiding his fish the while with consummate
-skill through the intricacies of the pass.
-
-There were now but three more leaps to be taken before he would reach
-the flat table-rock above the fall, which once attained, he would have
-firm foot-hold and a fair field; already he rejoiced, triumphant in the
-success of his bold attainment, and confident in victory, when a shrill
-female shriek reached his ears from the pretty flower-garden; caught by
-the sound he diverted his eyes, just as he leaped, toward the place
-whence it came; his foot slipped, and the next instant he was flat on
-his back in the swift stream, where it shot the most furiously over the
-glassy rock. He struggled manfully, but in vain. The smooth, slippery
-surface afforded no purchase to his gripping fingers, no hold to his
-laboring feet. One fearful, agonizing conflict with the wild waters, and
-he was swept helplessly over the edge of the fall, his head, as he
-glanced down foot foremost, striking the rocky brink with fearful
-violence.
-
-He was plunged into the deep pool, and whirled round and round by the
-dark eddies long before he rose, but still, though stunned and half
-disabled, he strove terribly to support himself, but it was all in vain.
-
-Again he sunk and rose once more, and as he rose that wild shriek again
-reached his ears, and his last glance fell upon a female form wringing
-her hands in despair on the bank, and a young man rushing down in wild
-haste from the cottage on the hill.
-
-He felt that aid was at hand, and struck out again for life—for dear
-life!
-
-But the water seemed to fail beneath him.
-
-A slight flash sprang across his eyes, his brain reeled, and all was
-blackness.
-
-He sunk to the bottom, spurned it with his feet, and rose once more, but
-not to the surface.
-
-His quivering blue hands emerged alone above the relentless waters,
-grasped for a little moment at empty space, and then disappeared.
-
-The circling ripples closed over him, and subsided into stillness.
-
-He felt, knew, suffered nothing more.
-
-His young, warm heart was cold and lifeless—his soul had lost its
-consciousness—the vital spark had faded into darkness—perhaps was
-quenched for ever.
-
- [_To be continued._
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- MARY.
-
-
- BY MRS. O. M. P. LORD.
-
-
- Humble Mary! thus in breaking
- Vows I never meant to keep,
- Who will blame me for forsaking,
- Though a love-sick girl may weep?
-
- Humble Mary! high born maiden
- Must my name and honors share,
- With ancestral glory laden—
- Matters not less good and fair.
-
- . . . . . .
-
- Angel Mary! sadly pleading,
- Sinking low on bended knee,
- See remorse to scorn succeeding—
- Mary! Mary! pardon me.
-
- Angel Mary! lost forever!
- What are name and fame to thee?
- Cursed the pride that bade us sever—
- Angel Mary! pardon me.
-
- Mary! cold the earth above thee,
- Cold and calm thy broken heart—
- Canst thou not to him who loved thee
- Something of thy peace impart?
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- I’M THINKING OF THEE!
-
-
- BY A. D. WILLIAMS.
-
-
- When the wild winds are howling,
- Now distant, now nigh,
- And the storm-king is growling,
- And clouds veil the sky;
- When the tempest is foaming,
- O’er ocean and lea,
- My thoughts are not roaming—
- I’m thinking of thee!
-
- When the mild, gentle showers
- Distil from the sky,
- And the bright blooming flowers
- Delight the glad eye;
- When the zephyrs are playing
- So blandly and free,
- My thoughts are not straying—
- I’m thinking of thee!
-
- When the beams of Aurora
- Are flooding the earth,
- With morn’s radiant glory
- And day’s jovial mirth;
- When the gay birds are singing
- In innocent glee,
- As their clear tones are ringing,
- I’m thinking of thee!
-
- When day’s fading sky-light
- Wanes slow from the west,
- And the shadows of twilight
- Steal soft o’er its breast;
- When Luna is shimmering
- O’er land and o’er sea—
- While the bright stars are glim’ring,
- I’m thinking of thee!
-
- Amid gay festive pleasure,
- Where mirth lends the song,
- There my heart has no treasure—
- Thou’rt not in the throng.
- But forgetting the present,
- Its wild merry glee,
- My communings are pleasant—
- I’m thinking of thee!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE TULIP-TREE.
-
-
- BY BAYARD TAYLOR.
-
-
- Bounds my blood with long-forgotten fleetness
- To the chime of boyhood’s blithest tune,
- While I drink a life of brimming sweetness
- From the glory of the breezy June.
- Far above, the fields of ether brighten;
- Forest leaves are twinkling in their glee;
- And the daisy’s snows around me whiten,
- Drifted down the sloping lea!
-
- On the hills he standeth like a tower,
- Shining in the morn—the Tulip-Tree!
- On his rounded turrets beats the shower,
- While his emerald flags are flapping free:
- But when Summer in the fields is standing,
- And his blood is stirred with light, like wine,
- O’er his branches, all at once expanding,
- How the starry blossoms shine!
-
- Through the glossy leaves they burn, unfolded,
- Like the breast of some sweet oriole—
- Filled with fragrance, as a joy new moulded
- Into being by a poet’s soul!
- Violet hills, against the sunrise lying,
- See them kindle when the stars grow dim,
- And the breeze that drinks their odorous sighing
- Woos the lark’s rejoicing hymn.
-
- Then all day, in every opening chalice
- Drains their honey-drops the reveling bee,
- Till the dove-winged Sleep makes thee her palace,
- Filled with song-like murmurs, Tulip-Tree!
- In thine arms repose the dreams enchanted
- Which in childhood’s heart were nestled long,
- And, beneath thee, still my brain is haunted
- With their tones of vanished song.
-
- Oh, while Earth’s full heart is throbbing over
- With its wealth of light and life and joy,
- Who can dream the seasons that shall cover
- With their frost the visions of the boy?
- Who can paint the years that downward darken,
- While the splendid morning bids aspire,
- Or the turf upon his coffin hearken,
- When his pulses leap with fire!
-
- Wind of June, that sweep’st the rolling meadow,
- Thou shalt wail in branches rough and bare,
- While the tree, o’erhung with storm and shadow,
- Writhes and creaks amid the gusty air.
- All his leaves, like shields of fairies scattered,
- Then shall drop before the Northwind’s spears,
- And his limbs, by hail and tempest battered,
- Feel the weight of wintry years.
-
- Yet, why cloud the rapture and the glory
- Of the Beautiful, that still remains?
- Life, alas! will soon reverse the story,
- And its sunshine gild forsaken plains.
- Let thy blossoms in the morning brighten,
- Happy heart, as doth the Tulip-Tree,
- While the daisy’s snows around us whiten,
- Drifted down the sloping lea!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TRUE UNTO DEATH.
-
-
- BY MRS. CAROLINE H. BUTLER.
-
-
- PART I.
-
-A gentle breeze swept through the vine-latticed casement of a small
-apartment, filling it with all the balmy odors of a June evening, while
-the moonbeams stealing softly on its track, broke through the leafy
-screen in fitful shadows. The sighing of the wind through the long,
-slender branches of the willows—the plaintive cry of the
-whip-poor-will, and at a little distance the murmuring sound of water,
-as the waves of the lake broke gently upon the shore—all were in unison
-with the sad hearts of the two—a youth and maiden, who, in that little
-room bathed by the moonbeams and the breeze, were now about to be
-parted, perhaps forever.
-
-Deep anguish was depicted on the countenance of the young man—calm
-resolve and pious resignation on that of his companion, who, with her
-hands clasped before her, and her deep mournful eyes fixed tenderly upon
-his, said,
-
-“No, Richard, it cannot be—urge me no more to a course which seems to
-me both cruel and unnatural. Think you this sacrifice is not as painful
-to me as to you, dear Richard?” she added, taking his hand and pressing
-it to her lips, while a tear trickled slowly down her pale cheek; “then
-reproach me not—call me not heartless, unfeeling; rather encourage me
-to fulfill faithfully the part which duty allots me—will you not,
-Richard?”
-
-“And thus destroy my own happiness and yours, Margaret! It is, indeed, a
-cruel task you would impose on me. No—I cannot make our future life so
-desolate as to sanction your cruel decision. Believe me, dearest, your
-resolution is but the delirium of a moment—grief for the loss of your
-beloved mother, and sympathy with your afflicted father renders you
-morbidly sensitive on that point alone. I entreat you, then, dearest,
-beloved Margaret—I entreat you by all our hopes of happiness, revoke
-your cruel words, and reflect longer ere you consign us both to misery.”
-
-“I have well deliberated, Richard, and my decision is unalterable. Call
-it not delirium, or the shadow of a grief which a moment’s sunshine may
-dispel; every hour, on the contrary, will but strengthen my resolution,
-and convince me I have acted rightly. My poor father—can I leave him in
-his sad bereavement! who else has he now to love but me—and shall I
-selfishly turn from him in his loneliness! Ah, Richard, ask me not—for
-never, never will I leave him or forsake him.”
-
-“And have you, then, no care for my wretchedness?” exclaimed her lover
-with bitterness, as he rapidly paced the floor; “no sympathy for my
-disappointment! Think, Margaret, how long I have waited to call you
-mine—how many years I have cheerfully toiled, looking to this dear hand
-as my reward. O, Margaret, Margaret!—and now, even now, when that
-joyful hour was so near—when but a few days more would have made you
-mine forever—it is you who speak those bitter words—it is you who
-place a barrier between our loves!—cruel, cruel girl!”
-
-“It is the hand of Death, not mine, which has placed the barrier between
-us, Richard—she who would have blessed our union is no more! ‘_Forsake
-not your father, my child!_’ were her dying words—and so long as God
-gives me breath, I never will! Come here, Richard, listen to me, and
-pity me—for not a pang rends your bosom but finds an answering pang in
-mine; nor do I hesitate to confess it to you in this sad moment—there
-shall be no concealment from you—I will not wrap my heart in maidenly
-reserve, but confess alike my tenderness and my grief. No longer, then,
-dearest Richard, accuse me of coldly sacrificing your love to filial
-duty—for God knows the agony with which I have decided.”
-
-“Forgive me, my beloved.” said Richard, “I have been too selfish. I
-should have known that pure heart better. However my own feelings may
-dictate, Margaret, I will no longer oppose the course to which the most
-devoted filial piety leads you, in thus unselfishly renouncing love and
-happiness that you may devote your days to a beloved parent. God bless
-and reward you, dearest.”
-
-“Richard, how much your words comfort me,” replied Margaret; “you no
-longer oppose but encourage me. Thank you, dear Richard; yet one thing
-more, when you leave me, you must be free from all engagement—nay, do
-not interrupt me—many long years may intervene ere I shall be free to
-give you my hand; nor would I have its disposal linked with such a
-dreadful alternative as my father’s death. The few charms I may possess
-will ere long have faded, and I would not bind you to me when the light
-of youth has passed from cheek and eye. No, Richard—go forth into the
-world, it claims your talents and your usefulness, and in time some
-other will be to you all that I would have been.”
-
-“Margaret, you do not know me,” he replied. “Think you another can ever
-come between me and your image. I go, but the memory of our love shall
-go with me—your name shall be my star, and for your dear sake I will
-devote all my energies henceforth to the happiness of my fellow-beings;
-your noble example shall not pass without its lesson. But promise me one
-thing, Margaret—let there be one solace for my wretchedness—one hope,
-though faint, to cheer my lonely path—promise me that should any thing
-hereafter occur, no matter how long the flight of years, which may
-induce you to wave your present decision, you will write to me—will
-you—will you promise me this, my best beloved?”
-
-Margaret placed her hand in his: “Yes, Richard, I promise you—should
-that time come you shall be informed; and I ask in return this, if your
-feelings have meanwhile changed, if through time and absence I may have
-become indifferent to you, Richard, then make no reply to my
-communication—let there be forever _silence_—or _joy_—between us.”
-
-And thus parted two fond devoted hearts—a noble sacrifice to filial
-love.
-
-Never, perhaps, was there a more striking illustration of the frail
-basis on which all human hopes are placed, than was presented by those
-sudden events overwhelming the inmates of Willow Bank Cottage with
-affliction. Thus our most ardent expectations are frequently met by
-disappointment, and our most promising joys blighted. Even when
-happiness and peace irradiate our hearts, and on the buoyant wing of
-hope our fancy soars into a future of unclouded bliss, even then
-desolation and wo may be at our very threshold.
-
-Thus it proved with those whose history I will briefly relate.
-
-Willow Bank, for many years the residence of the Gardner family, was
-delightfully situated near the borders of a lovely little lake, whose
-circling waters rippled gently to the shore beneath the deep shadows of
-the maple and sycamore—occasionally weeping willows swept with their
-long golden pendants the bright water, or the branches of some stately
-pine in green old age, rose proudly above the lowly alder and silvery
-birch here and there skirting the bank. Thus rocked in its cradle of
-green, lay this beautiful little lake, as blue as the blue sky above it
-were its waters, now dimpled by the passing breeze, now breaking in tiny
-wavelets, each with its cap of pearly foam, sportively chasing each
-other like a band of merry children to lose themselves at the feet of
-the brave old trees. From the windows of the cottage the lake was seen
-spreading itself out like some broad and beautiful mirror, and then
-gently diverging into a narrow rivulet, winding through meadow and
-woodland, until it sprang joyously into the bosom of the Ohio. Nature
-had done much to beautify the spot Mr. Gardner had selected for his
-residence—taste and art had also united their skill; the three combined
-had created almost a Paradise.
-
-But it is to those who dwelt therein, not to its local beauties, my pen
-must confine itself.
-
-Early in life Mr. Gardner had married a lovely and amiable woman, and
-removed from Virginia, his native state, to the beautiful residence I
-have described, a few miles from the town of S——, Ohio. Blending his
-profession of the law with that of agriculture, a few years saw him one
-of the most influential men in the country; and had he offered himself
-as a candidate for office, he would have been almost certain of success,
-such was his popularity; but his ambition took not that course. Domestic
-happiness was to him worth more than all the perishable honors of public
-life—to Willow Bank and its beloved inmates were all his wishes
-centred; and uninterrupted and continued for many years were the smiles
-of Providence. It seemed, indeed, as if this favored spot was exempt
-from all the ordinary ills of life—sickness came not to fright the
-roses from the cheek of health, neither did strife, envy, or sullen
-discontent intrude upon this earthly paradise.
-
-Mr. and Mrs. Gardner had but one child—it was Margaret. When about
-seventeen, chance led to an acquaintance with Richard Lelland, employed
-by an eminent firm at the South upon business connected with the sale of
-lands in Ohio. Among other letters of introduction he brought one to Mr.
-Gardner, who, favorably impressed with his appearance, invited him to
-pass a few days at Willow Bank.
-
-Upon what slight chances does our happiness or misery rest. _A few
-days_—how simple their signification; and yet from their brief circle
-how many hours of bitter anguish may take their rise. Little did Lelland
-or Margaret dream of the untold future, whose all of earthly weal or wo
-these few days decided.
-
-To know Margaret was to love her—yet she was not strictly beautiful;
-there may be features more regular, complexions more dazzling, and forms
-of more perfect symmetry than she possessed. She was one of those whose
-gentle and winning manners stole into your heart, and then only you saw
-her loveliness, or acknowledged the light of love and tenderness which
-beamed from her large, dark hazel eyes. Her beauty was not that which
-attracts the eye of every careless observer—it was the beauty of the
-mind and heart.
-
-Richard Lelland was at that time twenty-one, rather above the ordinary
-height, and of graceful, polished manners, with a frank and open
-countenance, at once a passport to your favor and respect. His
-complexion was almost as delicate as a girl’s, a large, full, dark-blue
-eye, and hair of rich wavy brown.
-
-Business detaining young Lelland in the vicinity of Willow Bank for some
-weeks longer than he had first anticipated, he took frequent
-opportunities of improving his acquaintance with Miss Gardner, and the
-interest she had first awakened in his heart soon ripened into a deep
-and fervent attachment. But he possessed a firmness and decision of
-character seldom met with in one so young; and he resolved to bury his
-love for Margaret in his own breast, until he could produce such
-testimonials as to family, etc., as should warrant his openly paying her
-his addresses. He therefore returned to the South leaving his love
-unspoken; but there is a language more eloquent even than words, and
-this had already made known to Margaret the sentiments of the young
-stranger; this, too, had whispered in the lover’s ear, thrilling his
-soul with ecstasy, that when he should ask the love of the pure and
-gentle girl, it would be his.
-
-Within the year the lovers were betrothed, with the full sanction of
-Margaret’s parents, with the proviso that their marriage should not be
-consummated until Lelland, who had now nothing but his salary to depend
-upon, should be in a situation better calculated for the maintenance of
-a family. This was as much his wish as theirs, for he loved Margaret too
-well to take her from all the comforts and luxuries of the paternal
-roof, only to offer in exchange the embarrassments and privations
-attendant upon a narrow and straitened income. For three years,
-therefore, early and late did he cheerfully give all his energies to his
-business, and at the end of that time became a partner in the mercantile
-house in whose employ he had so faithfully exerted himself. There was no
-longer, as it would seem, any impediment to his union with his adored
-Margaret. The wedding-day was appointed, and the happy Lelland, with all
-the rapture of a bridegroom, flew to claim his bride.
-
-Had the hand of misfortune been so long withheld but to crush with one
-fell blow so much of love and happiness?
-
-The very evening of his arrival at Willow Bank, Mrs. Gardner was seized
-with a sudden and violent illness, which, alas! baffled all medical
-skill, and in less than twenty-four hours the beloved and idolized wife
-and mother was no more. To depict the anguish of the bereaved husband
-and daughter were a vain attempt. To those in whose dwellings the
-destroyer has never come, who have never read that fatal sentence,
-“_Thou art mine!_” imprinted by his icy fingers on the brow of the loved
-and cherished, or followed to the dark and silent chambers the lifeless
-forms of earth’s treasured ones, to them death is, indeed, a fearful
-thing. To _them_—yes, to all; and did not our Heavenly Father
-graciously extend to us the hand of mercy, and bid us, with smiles of
-ineffable love, turn to him for consolation in this hour of despair, how
-could we sustain the anguish of separation, as one after another the
-loved ones go home.
-
-To Margaret the death of her mother at once opened a new path of duty,
-and however painful the sacrifice to herself, she hesitated not a moment
-as to the course she should pursue. But when she thought of Lelland—of
-the anguish her decision would cause him—of the bitter
-disappointment—of fond hopes all blasted—then, indeed, she faltered,
-and her heart shrunk from inflicting a blow so terrible. And again as
-she thought of her unhappy father, her resolution strengthened. Could
-she leave him; no! better sacrifice love, happiness, and with them
-perhaps life itself, than forsake him in his desolateness.
-
-Stupefied as it were with amazement and grief, Lelland listened at first
-in silence to the cruel words of his beloved Margaret—then
-remonstrated—entreated—all in vain. Reproaches were alike unavailing
-to alter her decision, until touched at length by her grief, and filled
-with admiration of her self-sacrificing devotion to her parent, with an
-almost breaking heart he yielded to her persuasions.
-
-A new character must now be introduced. Henry Wingate was an orphan
-nephew of Mr. Gardner, and since the death of his parents, which took
-place when he was quite young, Willow Bank had been his home. As a boy
-he was artful and selfish, passionate and cruel. As he grew up to
-manhood he still retained the same foibles, with the double art of
-veiling them under the most specious and insinuating address. If he
-loved any one when a child, it was his Cousin Margaret—she only had
-power to quell his wild storms of passion. With years this love (if it
-be not profanation to call it so) increased, until it took possession of
-his whole being—yet, characteristic of himself, it was purely selfish;
-so that he could make her his, it little mattered to him whether his
-love was returned.
-
-That he should hate Lelland followed of course, and that his soul should
-be filled with jealousy and rage, as he saw the time so rapidly drawing
-near when another should snatch from him the charms he so much coveted.
-The sudden death of her who had ever been as a kind and tender mother to
-him, gave him therefore but a momentary pang. Her grave only opened to
-him new hopes, new machinations, and with such joy as filled the Tempter
-at the destruction of Eden, did his heart leap at the wretchedness of
-his hated rival, thus doomed to see his long cherished hopes all
-blasted, and to part, perhaps forever, with her he so devotedly loved.
-And now all his sophistry and cunning were brought to bear. Carefully
-concealing his own fiendish joy under the mask of deep sympathy and
-sorrow, he breathed only to Margaret words of tender pity—stabbing his
-own ears by dwelling upon the virtues of Lelland, and assuring her that
-his own life would be a cheerful sacrifice if thereby he might advance
-her happiness. Thus artfully did he begin his course, trusting in time
-to supplant his rival in her affections. But he little understood the
-heart of a faithful woman, or he would not have undertaken a task so
-hopeless. Margaret was grateful for his kindness, and it was a relief to
-unburthen her heart to one who seemed so truly to sympathize with her;
-nor did she hesitate to speak of Lelland, or conceal from her cousin the
-sorrows which sometimes oppressed her when reflecting upon their
-reparation. Like hot molten lead did her every word seethe and scorch
-his jealous soul, yet resolved to win her, he persevered in the artful
-course he had marked out.
-
-Thus passed two long weary years to Margaret, sustained by the
-consciousness that she was administering to the happiness of her father,
-and by that Higher Power to whose never-failing support affliction had
-taught her to look. But now another trial even more severe awaited her.
-
-Ah, poor return for such filial love and piety. A thankless boon, young
-Margaret, did you offer, when for a father’s happiness you so devotedly
-sacrificed your own! A sacrifice, however, not the less to be
-admired—for where is the heart that does not reverence such a beautiful
-trait of filial love.
-
-Mr. Gardner suddenly announced to Margaret his intention of marriage
-with a young, thoughtless girl of rather doubtful reputation, who had
-been occasionally employed to assist in the work of the family. A cruel
-stroke was this, to which all that had gone before seemed light in
-comparison. What though it released her from all obligation of duty;
-what though she was now free to accept the hand of Lelland, the thought
-gave her no satisfaction—not a ray of happiness gleamed from out the
-darkness of her despair. To have retained her dear father _her own_; to
-feel that in her all his happiness was still treasured, she would have
-deemed almost any sacrifice too poor; or had he been about to unite
-himself with one more worthy to fill the place of her sainted mother,
-she would have schooled herself to resignation. But that her father
-should have selected for a wife one so unsuited by birth and education,
-and of a character so vain and frivolous, filled her with dread for the
-future.
-
-It was a strange hallucination of Mr. Gardner. There is no way of
-accounting for a procedure so at variance with the whole tenor of his
-former life, and it can only be regarded in the light of insanity.
-
-Margaret shrunk not from the task to which duty impelled her, namely, to
-remonstrate and warn her father against the step he was taking. The
-winds which hurled the dead leaves of autumn in fitful showers against
-the window, as she thus tearfully besought his consideration and
-forbearance, would have yielded to her voice as soon.
-
-Passing over the further grief of Margaret, I will only say that in a
-few weeks this ill-assorted marriage took place, and a system of petty
-tyranny and malice commenced on the part of the new Mrs. Gardner as
-almost broke her heart. Captive to the arts of an intriguing woman, her
-father heeded neither her tears or her complaints, until at length
-Margaret finding all remonstrance vain, passively yielded herself to the
-cruel yoke.
-
-Thus repulsed as it were from the affections of her father, all her
-domestic happiness destroyed, and subjected more and more to the insults
-of a low, vulgar-minded woman, it would seem the time had come when
-Margaret might redeem the promise made to Lelland, that should any thing
-occur which might induce her to waive her decision, she would write to
-him. A doubt of his constancy had never darkened her mind; she judged of
-him by her own true heart, which never could know change. If at first
-she hesitated, it was from maidenly timidity, not distrust; but when she
-reflected what happiness those few brief lines would cause him, she
-hesitated no longer. The letter was written. To her cousin, the specious
-Wingate, she frankly confided her resolution, and asked his assistance
-in forwarding her letter safely and surely to the hands of Lelland.
-Skillfully as he wore the mask, he was almost betrayed as he listened to
-the artless details of Margaret, who faithfully related to him the
-promise each had made at their last sad parting. Recovering himself,
-however, he promised to secure the safety of her letter, even if it
-should include the necessity of journeying himself to place it in his
-hands.
-
-With thanks warm and sincere for his kindness and sympathy, the
-deceived, trusting girl gave her letter to his charge—that precious
-letter, which thus, like the dove, went forth to seek rest for her weary
-soul.
-
-“Ah! think you, my pretty cousin, I value my own purposes so lightly as
-to risk the work of years within the delicate folds of this envelope!”
-exclaimed Wingate, as he entered his own apartment, and crushing the
-letter of Margaret in his hand as he spoke. “I should be a fool,
-indeed—no, no, fair lady, content you that my eye alone may read this
-pretty sentimental effusion. Now, thanks to my lucky stars, this letter
-proves almost a sure passport to my desires—ha! ha! pretty little fool,
-how she will wait for an answer! And what then? Did she not entreat
-_silence if he no longer loved_—‘let there be forever silence or joy
-between us’—were her words—_silence_—ay, of that I will take care,
-and then she is mine—mine as surely as yonder setting sun will rise
-again! With your leave, Mr. Richard Lelland—” and thus violating every
-honorable principle, Wingate tore asunder the seal of affection, and ran
-his eye over the sacred contents: “D—n him!” he exclaimed, hurling the
-letter across the table with a look almost demoniacal: “I could tear his
-very heart out—his heart!—why here it is—yes, fond fool, why here is
-his very life—his soul!”—once more snatching the letter—“and thus I
-hold him in my power!—if more were needed to spur on my revenge of a
-hated, detested rival, I have it here in these tender, trustful lines.
-By heavens it turns my very blood to gall to find with what fidelity
-that man has been loved—while I—but no matter—your letter goes no
-further, fair cousin, and thus do I annihilate your fond hopes and
-devote you mine!” thrusting as he spoke poor Margaret’s epistle into the
-flames, and watching it with a fiendish smile until of those tender,
-confiding lines, nothing but a blackened scroll remained.
-
-At the expiration of a week he informed her that he had heard from the
-friend to whose care he had enclosed her letter, stating that he had
-delivered it into Lelland’s own hand.
-
-Poor deceived girl! O the wretchedness of hope deferred, as day after
-day flew by, and still no answer came! It was only by her more pallid
-cheek, her drooping eyelids, and the wan smile by which she strove to
-hide her dejection, that Wingate saw his hellish scheme was succeeding,
-and his victim sinking under the belief of her lover’s inconstancy—for
-she never again mentioned to him the name of Lelland. Nothing could be
-kinder, or better calculated to touch the heart of Margaret than the
-demeanor which her cousin now assumed. His countenance wore a look of
-such subdued pity—such heavy sighs would now and then burst from his
-heart—and then meeting her inquiring glance, he would turn from her, or
-perhaps rush from the room, as if to conceal the tears her sorrows
-called forth.
-
-Thus another six months passed—bringing no change for the better in the
-alienated affections of Mr. Gardner for his child—they were all
-engrossed by the artful woman he had so unhappily married. He did not,
-it is true, treat her with visible unkindness, but with a coldness and
-jealousy which stung the heart of Margaret perhaps more deeply.
-
-Wingate now resolved to delay no longer the avowal of his _love_! And
-accordingly most adroitly opened the subject to Margaret—he told her
-for how many years he had loved her—of the silent grief which he had so
-long endured under the conviction that her affections were given to
-another—and how by many bitter struggles he had schooled his heart to
-relinquish her at last to a happy rival. He did not ask her love in
-return, but the privilege to protect her! Her pity and kindness were all
-he dared to hope for _now_—but perhaps at a future time his long-tried
-devotion might be rewarded with her affection—and for that he was
-willing to wait—too happy if he might look for such a priceless
-recompense.
-
-Not doubting for a moment his sincerity, and touched by his kindness,
-Margaret yielded to the tempter’s wiles and became his wife.
-
-And here we must leave her, allowing for the lapse of some sixteen years
-ere we again take up the story.
-
-
- PART II.
-
-In the summer of 1840, a gentleman embarked at Albany, on board one of
-those magnificent steamers which ply between that city and New York. The
-morning was one of unrivaled loveliness. A soft haze curtained the
-landscape, veiling the shores and the silvery outline of the river in
-one dim, undefined perspective of beauty, through which the sun like a
-huge ball of fire floated on the verge of the eastern sky. As the
-morning wore on, a gentle breeze was seen curling the smooth surface of
-the river, and then fold after fold of the beautiful curtain was lifted
-from the landscape. The silvery vapors circling, dividing, re-uniting,
-and wreathing themselves into a thousand fantastic shapes, floated
-lightly away, leaving the charming scenery of the Hudson unveiled to the
-admiring eye of the traveler.
-
-The gentleman to whom allusion has been made, was apparently near or
-over forty years of age, of a most prepossessing exterior. He was tall,
-finely built, and his countenance denoting benevolence and peace with
-all men. A shade of sadness, however, evidently of no recent origin, was
-stamped upon his fine features, involuntarily claiming your sympathy and
-respect. Such was the person who now slowly paced the deck—now stopping
-to admire some beautiful point of scenery, now communing with his own
-thoughts.
-
-The boat was crowded with passengers, presenting the usual variety
-composing the “world” of a steamboat. But with these the stranger held
-no communion—not a familiar face met his in all that motley assemblage.
-It was already near the dinner hour, and many of the passengers had
-descended to the dining-saloon, or gathered around the companion-way
-waiting the deafening stroke of the gong, when his attention was
-suddenly drawn to a little group seated under the awning aft of the
-ladies’ cabin. Reclining on cushions spread over one of the settees was
-a lady whose hollow, racking cough betokened the last stages of
-consumption. A large shawl carefully enveloped her figure, and one pale,
-attenuated hand rested heavily upon her bosom, as if to stay the rapid
-pulsation of her heart caused by those violent paroxysms of coughing. A
-thin veil was thrown lightly over her head, screening her marble
-paleness. Two young girls, almost children, sat by the couch—the
-eldest, whose profile only could be seen as she sat with her back nearly
-turned to the passengers, was gently fanning her mother, and now and
-then moistening her fevered lips with the grateful juice of an orange,
-or when seized with coughing, tenderly supporting her head, and wiping
-the perspiration from her throbbing temples. The younger, a sweet little
-child of perhaps ten years, had thrown off her bonnet, and thick masses
-of rich brown ringlets fell over her neck and shoulders. She was seated
-on a low ottoman by the side of the settee, reading from a small Bible
-which she held in her hand—pausing whenever the terrible cough racked
-the poor invalid, and then stooping over her would kiss her pale lips,
-and the little white hand, and again in sweet low tones resume her book.
-
-The stranger found himself deeply interested in this little group—it
-was in harmony with his own melancholy thoughts, and stirred the deep
-waters of kindness in his soul. Mechanically he stopped in his walk, and
-leaning over the rail continued to muse upon the sick lady and the
-affectionate little girls, occasionally resting his eyes upon the
-unconscious objects of his meditation. When the deck was nearly deserted
-for the dinner-table, the youngest of the two girls finding her mother
-slept, softly rose and without putting on her bonnet drew near the spot
-where the stranger was still standing, and bent down her beautiful head
-over the railing as if to peer into the depths of old Hudson. At that
-moment one of the river gods (possibly) in the shape of a large
-sturgeon, his scaly armor all flashing in the bright sunbeams, leaped up
-some twelve or fifteen feet above the surface. An exclamation of
-surprise burst from the little girl.
-
-“O, sir, what was that?” she asked, turning her large black eyes upon
-the stranger.
-
-At that sweet face, and those deep, earnest eyes, sudden emotion
-thrilled his heart, and sent the blood coursing rapidly through his
-veins. That face—it was so like—so very like one with whose memory
-both happiness and misery held divided sway! Scarcely could he command
-himself to answer her artless question; and after having done so, in an
-agitated voice he asked—
-
-“Will you tell me your name, my dear?”
-
-The child hesitated a moment, as if doubting the propriety of giving her
-name to a stranger, but there was something so kind and benevolent in
-his looks that compelled her irresistibly to reply.
-
-“My name is Margaret—Margaret Wingate.”
-
-Richard Lelland took her small slender hand, put back the beautiful
-curls from her forehead, and gazed long and mournfully into her face,
-then turning away walked slowly to the opposite side of the deck and
-soon disappeared. And the little girl, wondering at his strange
-behaviour, returned to her seat by the side of her mother.
-
-It was more than an hour ere Lelland again made his appearance. He was
-pale, and it seemed as if an age of sorrow had in that brief hour swept
-over his soul. Again he took his station near the little group.
-
-In the mean time the sick lady had remained quiet, and the sisters still
-retained their position by her side. Margaret soon raising her eyes met
-those of the stranger, who smilingly beckoned her to approach. Rising
-very softly, the child glided to his side, and placed her little hand
-confidingly in his.
-
-“Will you ask your sister to come to me, my dear, I would speak with her
-a moment?” said Lelland, laying his hand tenderly on her head.
-
-Margaret returned to her sister, who, in a few moments, timid and
-blushing, drew near. She seemed about fourteen, of a slight, graceful
-figure, and with the same expression of countenance, only more
-thoughtful, as her younger sister.
-
-“You will excuse the presumption of a stranger, young lady,” said
-Lelland, “but unless I greatly err, I see before me the daughter of a
-much loved friend. Tell me, was not your mother’s maiden name Margaret
-Gardner?”
-
-“Yes, sir, that was her name,” she replied in evident surprise.
-
-“I knew I could not be mistaken,” continued Lelland, sighing
-deeply—then after a pause—“and your—your father—is he with you?”
-
-“He is not—but will meet us on our arrival in New York.”
-
-“Has your mother been long ill?” inquired Lelland, his voice faltering
-as he spoke.
-
-“She has been declining for several years,” replied the young girl, “but
-for the last six months her strength has rapidly failed. O, my dear
-sir,” she added, bursting into tears, “if she should die!”
-
-Lelland could not answer—at length he resumed.
-
-“And are you then traveling alone, my dear young lady?”
-
-“We came as far as Albany under the protection of a neighbor, and the
-captain of the boat has promised to take charge of us to the city.”
-
-“Can I do any thing to aid you? Is there not something you would like to
-have for your mother? if so, consider me in the light of an old
-acquaintance, and frankly tell me. My name is Lelland, Richard
-Lelland—I knew your dear mother when she was but a few years older than
-yourself;” he paused, and overcome with emotion turned away.
-
-Mary took his hand. “I have often heard her mention you. O let me tell
-her at once that such an old and valued friend is near—she will be so
-glad to see you!”
-
-“No, my dear girl, not now—the surprise might prove too much for her in
-her present weak state—but allow me to be near you, and call upon me if
-need require.”
-
-Mary thanked him, and then resumed her faithful care of her mother, who
-was now apparently in an easy slumber; and walking lightly around the
-settee, Lelland took a seat near the head of the invalid.
-
-Who can describe the anguish of his soul as he thus watched over the
-dying form of his first and only love. And yet, with its bitterness was
-mingled a strange feeling of happiness, and his heart rose in
-thankfulness to be near her—even in death!
-
-The day was now nearly spent, and the boat shooting rapidly past the
-beautiful Palisades, when Mrs. Wingate awoke, and complaining of a
-slight chilliness proposed retiring to the cabin. With difficulty she
-arose and leaning on the arm of Mary attempted to walk, but she was so
-feeble she could scarcely stand, and the slender strength of Mary seemed
-all too frail a support. Lelland immediately advanced, and, averting his
-face, proffered his assistance. Thanking him for his kindness, Mrs.
-Wingate placed her arm in his, and carefully supporting her to the
-cabin, and placing her in an easy commodious seat, he left her to the
-care of her children.
-
-Ah, little did the poor invalid dream whose arm had so tenderly
-sustained her feeble steps!
-
-When the boat was nearing the wharf, Mary came out of the cabin and
-joined Lelland, who was standing close by the door, and taking his arm
-crossed over to the side, that she might recognize, and be recognized at
-once by her father, whom she was expecting every moment to appear among
-the crowd collected on the wharf. Once or twice she thought she saw him,
-but it proved not. The boat stopped at length, and the passengers group
-after group dispersed, until scarcely any one was left on board save the
-officers of the boat. Still Mr. Wingate did not appear, and overcome by
-disappointment and their lonely situation, poor Mary burst into tears.
-Lelland strove to comfort her, and having ascertained from her the hotel
-where her father lodged, he offered to go himself in search of him.
-Bidding her return to her mother, and calm any uneasiness she might feel
-at the nonappearance of her husband, he left the boat and proceeded to
-the hotel. Mr. Wingate was not there. He had been gone some days, nor
-could they give any information respecting him.
-
-What was to be done?—something must be decided upon at once. It was
-getting late—already the street lamps were lighted—and hastily
-retracing his steps to the steamboat, Lelland sent for Mary. She turned
-pale when she saw he was alone.
-
-“My father—where is my father?” she cried.
-
-“No doubt, my dear, your father has been called away unexpectedly—you
-will see him I am sure to-morrow. In the mean time don’t be uneasy—you
-are with one who will not desert you for a moment—but lest your mother
-may hesitate to entrust herself to the protection of an apparent
-stranger, I think it will be necessary for me to reveal myself to her.”
-Taking a card from his pocket he wrote a few lines upon it, and handed
-them to Mary, who quickly glided back into the cabin.
-
-Lelland now strove to calm his agitation, that he might meet his still
-beloved Margaret with firmness—without betraying more than the pleasure
-one naturally feels at meeting with an old friend.
-
-It was half an hour ere Mary again appeared, and informed him her mother
-would be pleased to see him.
-
-He entered the cabin. The light of an argand lamp fell gently upon the
-pale countenance of Mrs. Wingate, who was partially reclining upon one
-of the settees, with her head resting against the crimson silken panels.
-She had thrown off her little cap, on account of the heat, and her
-jet-black hair was swept back from her brow by the slender little hand
-which pressed her temples. Little Margaret was kneeling at her feet, and
-looking up into her face with an expression of childish pity.
-
-The step of Lelland faltered as he drew near—as his eye fell upon that
-countenance so changed from its youthful loveliness,—so pallid, so wan,
-and on which it seemed Death had already stamped his seal—scarcely
-could he command himself to speak.
-
-“Margaret, you will trust yourself with me?” he said at length, forcing
-a smile and extending his hand.
-
-A slight color for an instant suffused her pale cheek, and her still
-beautiful eyes were lifted to his—she attempted to speak, but could
-not, and placing her thin, feverish hand in his, she burst into tears.
-For a few moments no word was spoken. Mrs. Wingate was the first to
-recover herself.
-
-“My nerves are very weak, as you see,” she said, with a sad smile,
-pressing his hand, “and the sight of an old friend quite overpowers
-me—but I am very glad to see you, and thank you for your kindness. Mr.
-Wingate must have been unexpectedly detained from us, or—” she
-hesitated.
-
-“And you will allow me, I trust, the pleasure of attending upon you, and
-of procuring lodgings for you until the arrival of your husband,” said
-Lelland. “You must be very much fatigued—a carriage is in waiting, and
-if you will allow me, I will soon place you in a more comfortable
-situation—if you will point out to me your trunks, Miss Mary, I will
-take care of them.” And Lelland gladly left the cabin, that he might
-school himself to more fortitude ere meeting the poor invalid again.
-
-When all was ready, he tenderly lifted the frail form of Mrs. Wingate
-and placed her in the carriage, Mary and little Margaret sprang after,
-and then giving the driver the necessary directions Lelland himself took
-a seat therein. The carriage in a short time stopped before one of the
-large private hotels in the upper part of the city, where he was certain
-both quiet and comforts of every kind might be obtained for the invalid.
-They were conducted at once to a pleasant, retired little parlor,
-opening into a commodious sleeping-room, and after attending to all
-their immediate requirements Lelland left them for the purpose of again
-seeking Mr. Wingate; resolving to leave a note for him at the hotel
-where he had boarded, and also to drop another into the post-office.
-Meeting the maid-servant in the hall, he put some money in her hand, and
-charged her to be very attentive to the sick lady, promising her she
-should be well rewarded for her kindness.
-
-Upon returning to the hotel early in the morning, he was inexpressibly
-grieved to find that Mrs. Wingate had passed a wretched night, and was
-now so ill that it had been thought advisable to send for a physician.
-Doctor M. soon arrived, and after visiting his patient, returned to the
-saloon where Lelland was anxiously awaiting him. His opinion was but a
-sad confirmation of his worst fears—he pronounced Mrs. Wingate in the
-last stage of decline, and that in all probability a few days or weeks
-at furthest must close her life. “Was there nothing could be done to
-save her?” Lelland asked—nothing—she was past all human aid; and now
-all there was left to do, was to smooth her passage to the grave by kind
-and tender care. The doctor promised to see her every day, and
-expressing much sympathy for the little girls took his leave. That day
-Lelland did not see Mrs. Wingate, yet he heard her low stifled moans,
-and occasionally the faint tones of her voice, for he had taken an
-apartment adjoining hers, that he might be near in case his services
-were required. Once or twice during the day and evening he passed out
-the hotel, and jumping into a cab, sought the former lodgings of
-Wingate, in the faint hope of meeting him, and then returned to his sad
-and lonely watch.
-
-For some days Mrs. Wingate remained nearly the same, during which time
-nothing was heard of her husband. No doubt the agitation of mind this
-caused her had a most injurious effect upon her, and probably hastened
-her death. Finding herself growing weaker, Lelland was at length
-admitted to her room; and from that time until her death a portion of
-every day was spent by him at her bedside. He calmed her apprehensions
-when speaking of the strange absence of her husband, and strove to
-remove those delicate scruples which she entertained that herself and
-children were so entirely dependent upon him, assuring her he thanked
-God it was in his power to be of service to her. He read to her from the
-sacred Scriptures, and as much as her feeble strength would admit
-conversed with her of that unrevealed future into which her soul must so
-soon take its flight. Of her husband she never spoke but in terms of
-kindness, nor by her words gave him reason to suppose he was not the
-best of husbands and fathers.
-
-Days passed on. Mr. Wingate did not come.
-
-And now the last sad hour was at hand. Upon going into her room one
-morning, Lelland was shocked at the alteration a few hours had made in
-her appearance. Death was there. Not as a tyrant—not armed with terrors
-to seize the shrinking soul—but as some gentle messenger, clad in robes
-of peace and joy, sent to bear her to the arms of her Father. Lelland
-was at first too much overcome to speak, and walked to the window to
-recover composure. In a faint voice she called him to her.
-
-“Richard,” she said, pressing his hand, “there is but one pang in
-death—it is that I must leave my poor children unprotected.”
-
-“Dearest friend, do not suffer that thought to disturb your peace of
-mind,” he replied tenderly; “they shall be mine; until their father’s
-return I will be a parent to them, and if he come not, Margaret—still
-they will be mine. I have wealth, and how freely it shall be used for
-their advantage and happiness you surely cannot doubt. My life has been
-a lonely one—they will cheer its decline”—he paused as if irresolute
-whether to proceed—“I waited long and in vain for that letter,
-Margaret—it came not!”
-
-It was the first allusion made to their former love.
-
-She feebly pressed the hand which held hers: “It was written,
-Richard—there came no answer.”
-
-“It _was_ written then—thank God for that!” he exclaimed.
-
-A cold shudder crept over the frame of Margaret.
-
-“Ah! I see it all,” she said. “Richard, we were betrayed! but may God
-forgive him, as I do!”
-
-There was no reply; but stooping down Lelland imprinted a kiss upon her
-cold brow, and turning away, the strong man wept as a little child!
-
-Once more he approached the bed.
-
-“Give your children to me, Margaret; I swear to you I will faithfully
-protect and cherish them. I shall never marry, and my whole life shall
-be devoted to them.”
-
-A sweet smile illumined her features. “Yes, Richard, they are yours. For
-my sake forgive their father, and should he return, O, I beseech you,
-lend him your counsel, and say to him all that I would say—” she
-paused—“perhaps he will tear the children from you; if so, at a
-distance watch over them, and protect them when they require it. Now, my
-friend, call them to me; I would say a few words to them, and I feel my
-strength rapidly failing.”
-
-Mary and Margaret remained with their mother near an hour, and then
-Lelland was hastily summoned to the chamber of the dying. She was
-already speechless, but with a look of ineffable sweetness, she turned
-her eyes first upon her children, then upon Lelland; with her little
-strength she placed their hands within his, her lips moved as if in
-prayer, celestial beauty overspread her countenance, and the weary soul
-of Margaret was at rest in the bosom of her God.
-
-Soon after the last melancholy rites Lelland placed the girls at school,
-under the care of a most excellent woman whom he engaged to accompany
-them. Not a day passed that he did not see them, and on Saturdays he
-took them on pleasant excursions into the country, as much as possible
-striving to divert their minds from dwelling upon their recent loss. In
-the meanwhile he took every measure he could possibly devise to discover
-Mr. Wingate—but for many months in vain, his disappearance was veiled
-in impenetrable mystery.
-
-It was nearly a year after the death of Margaret, that one day business
-took Mr. Lelland to one of the slips on the North river. As he passed
-along, his attention was suddenly drawn to a man who stood leaning
-against one of the piers. He was very shabbily dressed, and held in his
-hand a small faded well-worn carpetbag. Giving no heed to the moving
-crowd around him, buried in thought, he stood with his eyes fixed
-vacantly on the river. There was something in his features which seemed
-familiar. Turning, Mr. Lelland again passed him, fixing his eyes
-intently upon him as he did so, and more and more confirmed that his
-suspicions were correct, he stepped up to him, and touching him lightly
-on the shoulder, said,
-
-“Excuse me—but is not your name Wingate?”
-
-“Suppose it is—what the d——l is yours?” replied the man sullenly,
-without turning his head.
-
-“My name is Lelland, Mr. Wingate—for such you are, or I greatly err.”
-
-With an expression of malignant hate, the man suddenly turned, and shook
-his fist almost in the very teeth of Lelland.
-
-“So we have met again, Mr. Richard Lelland, have we! Well, we shall see
-who will be the better for the meeting, that’s all—d——n you!”
-
-“Your words are idle,” replied Lelland, calmly. “Answer me one
-question—do you know aught of your wife and children!”
-
-At the mention of his family, Wingate grew suddenly pale, and seemed
-much agitated.
-
-“And you—what—what do you know of them?” he demanded, but in more
-subdued tones.
-
-“If you will go with me into the hotel yonder, I may perhaps give you
-some information respecting them,” he replied.
-
-Without a word Wingate mechanically followed Lelland, who, ordering a
-private room, sat down to the melancholy duty before him.
-
-“You spoke of my wife and children,” exclaimed Wingate, the moment they
-entered the room, “if you know any thing of them, for God’s sake tell
-me, for it is many months since I heard from them.”
-
-“Prepare yourself for the most melancholy tidings,” said Lelland, in a
-sympathizing voice and manner. “You have no longer a wife—it is now ten
-months since her death.”
-
-The wretched man buried his face in his hands.
-
-“Dead—dead—dead! and without forgiving me—_dead_!” he exclaimed.
-
-“With her latest breath she forgave and blessed you,” said Lelland,
-taking his hand kindly.
-
-“But my children—where are they—are they dead, too!”
-
-“Your children are here—here, in the city; you may see them in an hour
-if you will,” replied Lelland.
-
-“_Here!_ here in the city—here, with _you_!” cried Wingate, starting
-up, every feature distorted by passion; “with _you_, do you say! how
-came _you_ near _her_ death-bed—ha! _did you dare_—” seizing Lelland
-by the breast as he spoke. But shaking him off, Lelland placed his hand
-on his arm, saying,
-
-“First listen to me, Mr. Wingate, and you will see how little
-provocation you have for such anger.”
-
-He then briefly related his unexpected and providential meeting with
-Margaret and her children, and the painful scene which so soon followed
-it. He spoke of Mary and Margaret—of their loveliness, their sweet
-dispositions, and of the consolation and happiness Wingate might yet
-receive from their affection.
-
-When he had done speaking, the unhappy man seized the hand of Lelland,
-and pressing it fervently, said,
-
-“Wretch—wretch that I am! how little have I merited such goodness. It
-is, indeed, more than my guilty soul can bear. I had rather you would
-stab me to the heart than thus pierce my soul with deeds of
-kindness—for I deserve it not. It was I, Lelland, who robbed you of one
-of God’s choicest treasures. When driven almost to despair by the unjust
-treatment of her father, who should have been to her more than father
-ever was, poor Margaret wrote you that letter which would have confirmed
-your happiness and hers. It was _I_, who, goaded on by hate for you, and
-a determination to make her mine—it was I who destroyed it! I watched
-the struggle of her pure heart; I saw her cheek pale day by day, and yet
-I repented not—nay, I gloried in my revenge. At length she became my
-wife—and an angel she ever was to me, always so kind, so patient with
-my follies; but I knew she loved you—I knew her heart was silently
-breaking, her strength wasting, and instead of moving my pity, it only
-drove me to madness. I was jealous even of my sweet babes, that they
-were loved more than me. For years I ran a wild career of riot and
-debauchery, and only came to my senses to see my poor injured wife was
-truly dying; then came remorse—but it was too late. My business had
-been neglected—my affairs were in ruin, and I saw myself on the brink
-of poverty. The doctor had said that change of air would do much toward
-her restoration; and now, as anxious to restore as I had been to
-destroy, I resolved to come to New York and find some employment which
-should warrant my removing my family here. I did so, and was so
-fortunate as to obtain a situation as book-keeper, with a handsome
-salary. In a few months I wrote my wife and children to join me. I
-received for answer that she was now too feeble to journey. This made me
-angry, though why, God only knows, except that I would not let her die
-among scenes your love had hallowed—and I immediately wrote a
-peremptory command for her to come, naming the day I should expect her.
-In this wicked frame of mind I went out into the streets, and,
-unfortunately meeting a gay companion, was induced to enter a
-gambling-house, and ere I left, every dollar I possessed in the world
-was swept from me. In the vain hope of winning back my money, I again
-sought that den of destruction; need I say, so far from retrieving, I
-left it hundreds in debt. Then, then, Richard Lelland, I became a
-_forger_—yes, forged the name of my worthy employer—was detected, and
-fled with my ill-got gains. The day I had appointed my poor Margaret to
-arrive in the city I was on the way to the West Indies. From thence I
-went to Paris, where, as long as my money lasted I led a mad career;
-that expended, I was forced to the most menial offices to obtain my
-daily food. At last driven by remorse, I determined to return to my
-native country, see Margaret and my children once more, and then give
-myself up to the laws I had outraged. I flattered myself that my wife
-still lived, and that not finding me in the city on her arrival, had
-gone back to Ohio. I arrived last night, and was even now about to take
-passage in a sloop for Albany, thinking I should be less likely to meet
-any acquaintance, when you so unexpectedly appeared before me.”
-
-To this dreadful recital Lelland had listened in silence. When it was
-ended, he took the hand of Wingate,
-
-“Wretched man,” said he, “I forgive you for the misery of a lifetime, as
-did that suffering angel, now in heaven; and may God extend to you his
-peace and mercy!”
-
-Then calling for pen, ink and paper, he drew a check for the amount
-Wingate had forged, and placed it in his hand.
-
-“There, Mr. Wingate, take that; in the morning see your late employer,
-and restore him the money of which you defrauded him; in the meantime I
-will see what can be done for you—rely upon me as your friend. But
-remain here for the night, and on no account leave the room; have
-patience, for to-morrow you shall see your children.” So saying, Lelland
-took leave, promising to call for him in a carriage at an early hour in
-the morning.
-
-Immediately after breakfast, therefore, he proceeded to the hotel. But
-Wingate had already left—had been gone some hours. On the table was a
-letter directed to Lelland. Hastily breaking the seal, he read:
-
-“Burthened with grief, and overwhelmed with remorse, life is
-insupportable. I can no longer endure the torments of self-reproach, and
-I fly to end alike my wretchedness and my life. Heaven is dark—but
-earth is hell! Protect my innocent children!”
-
-The next day the body of Henry Wingate was exposed in the Dead-House.
-Lelland recognized and claimed it for burial.
-
-Mary and Margaret were told their father was no more—but of the manner
-of his wretched death they never knew.
-
-Facts have often the appearance of fiction—such is the story I have
-given. If it has called forth any interest in the minds of my readers,
-the assurance that its principal incidents were gathered from real life,
-will not, I trust, lessen that interest. Names and scene are, of course,
-fictitious.
-
-In a splendid mansion on the banks of the Potomac, Mr. Lelland still
-resides with the two fair daughters of his adoption. They are beautiful
-and accomplished, beloved by all who know them, and most tenderly
-protected and cherished by their more than father; while those gems of
-early piety implanted in their minds by their mother, have, under the
-careful culture of Mr. Lelland, put forth the most lovely and Christian
-graces.
-
-Thus in the happiness and the virtues of her children, has God rewarded
-the filial piety of poor Margaret.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THOUGHTS ON THE THERMOMETER.
-
-
-Climate is said to have much influence on the physical, moral, mental,
-political and social condition of mankind. Experience and observation
-certainly give force to such an opinion. The difference in manners,
-customs and character of the Russ and the Italian is as much owing to
-latitude as lineality. One’s happiness, and even one’s destiny in life,
-depend alike on Seasons and on Self.
-
-The iron constitution, the sharp wit, the keen sense, the peculiar
-individuality, the guessing and bartering of the man of Maine, contrasts
-with the singing, siesta-seeking, music-loving, rich intellectuality of
-the Mexican of the hacienda. Even in religious sentiment the difference
-is striking. Look upon the cold, austere meeting-house worship of the
-Puritan, and side by side behold the rich, voluptuous cathedral service
-of the Catholic. These at least indicate the extremes of the influence
-of the climate. The whole physical, mental and moral constitution of man
-is operated upon by the temperature of his location, and thus affecting
-not only his individual existence but the ultimate condition of his
-race.
-
-What would have been the fate of “The Colonists” of the “May-Flower” had
-they landed at San Francisco or St. Domingo? If instead of the stern,
-bracing, labor-requiring, excess-denying latitude of Plymouth, the
-Pilgrims had rested in the land of the palmetto and the pomegranate? Or
-who would have ventured on an unknown ocean, in search for a new world,
-if the hope, the imagination, the enthusiasm, the poetry, the mental
-excitement, the superstition even of Columbus, the child of the South,
-had sunk in despair, or yielded to first disappointment? Where would the
-close calculation of the North, founded on a philosophical hypothesis,
-have sought for continued animation, after error has resulted from
-experiment?
-
-Where would the literature of the Past have found admirers, and even
-devotees, if the mythology of the East had not been nursed in the soft
-lap of a congenial temperature?
-
-Why is it that the Latin classics yet hold a place as familiar as
-household words, if a Southern sky had not invited to the rich
-developments of the highest mental creations?
-
-Where could the painter and sculptor have sought models and studies, if
-the winter of the Mediterranean had been as relentless and as rigid as
-that of Moscow?
-
-Can it be maintained that Solon and Lycurgus would have alike given
-their fame in trust to immortality, if the genial influences of the land
-of their nativity had not been the same “at Rome as it was at Attica”?
-
-Who will venture to assert that a similar fate would have followed the
-siege of Troy in a land of snows, or that Marathon would have been a
-northern Moscow?
-
-Science, too, has felt the force of the benefit of its more northern
-home. With a temperature unshocked by extremes, the highest mental
-industry yields more, or rather different, fruit than the richest
-intellectual soil. The wheat and the corn of the necessaries to
-progress, are gathered only where the wine and the oil of luxury do not
-grow.
-
-That Tyre and Sidon were marts for the cosmopolite, and now are but the
-refuge for the wanderer, while Boston, New York, New Orleans were the
-seaboards of the savage, and are now the emporiums of a hemisphere, is
-as true as that the causes are to be found in some degree dependent upon
-the influences of climate.
-
-That Rome was the mother of nations, the terror of thrones, and the
-great entrance into eternity, and now is the dismantled wreck of her
-illustrious past—while the hunting-grounds of the “Six Nations” are
-transformed into a mighty empire, is but the melancholy picture of the
-past, gorgeous in its dilapidation, under the luxurious warmth of an
-Italian sky, while the other is the picture of the present, more
-magnificent and vigorous, tinted by the rays of a western sun.
-
-Climate was not alone in producing these changes, yet its influence was
-potent.
-
-The Religion of Nazareth took its metaphors from the land of Aristotle,
-its enthusiasm from the nations on the “seacoast,” its energy from the
-Northmen, but _its divinity from God_!
-
-The songs of labor are heard loudest and sweetest where the valley and
-forest yield an annual tribute over the grave of all that is beautiful,
-born of the spring; while the songs of the sentiments take their
-melodies from the land of soft sunlight, scented with perennial
-perfumes.
-
-In considering the Future let us look at the Past, and among the most
-remarkable of physical causes which have marked their existence on the
-history of nations and of men, climate will be found to have exercised
-by no means an inconsiderable influence.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TO MY WIFE.
-
-
- BY S. D. ANDERSON.
-
-
- Gladly to thee, amid the wreck of years,
- Will memory’s pinions wing their eager way;
- To thee, who ever through this life of tears
- Has lit its darkness with thy sunny ray;
- Thou wast my empress in the morning hours,
- The star amid my dreams of poesy;
- The single rose amid the dewy bowers,
- That lured my soul to thoughts of purity.
-
- As rivers glancing in the glorious sun,
- Voice out their gladness to the perfumed air,
- So ’neath the presence of that treasured one
- My hopes were mirrored in a world more fair;
- A magic world, within whose blesséd light
- All things the richest and the best did come,
- Bringing unto the weary dreams as bright
- As those that flit around our quiet home.
-
- And I did love thee, not a transient flame,
- Burned on the altar of an early dream;
- No, I have dwelt upon that cherished name
- Till it became the priestess and the beam,
- And softly came around our household hearth,
- The angel wings of woman’s ministry,
- Rich hopes, as wild and joyous in their birth
- As were the early dreams of loving thee.
-
- And ever thus has been the full, deep tide,
- Upheaving from this ocean love of mine;
- A memory forever by my side,
- To lead me onward to a nobler shrine;
- The calm, hushed voice still sounding in my sleep,
- Like to a strain of distant melody,
- The holy light from out those eyes so deep,
- That shines on all so clear and tranquilly.
-
- Amid my dreams of human faith and love—
- Of _love_, that stems the tempest and the blast—
- Of _faith_, that in its tenderness shall prove
- Its holy office even to the last,
- Thou hast been present with thy watchful care,
- Guarding a heart too prone to _dream_ at best,
- Too much forgetting _one_ whose sinless prayer
- Has lingered round his home a heavenly guest.
-
- But brightly now the sun of promise shines,
- The dark and stormy waves of time along,
- With all some token of thy virtue twines,
- Sweet as the cadence of the evening song;
- And truly now, when youth’s wild day is o’er,
- And every fancied passion’s hushed to rest,
- I give this song to _thee_ from memory’s shore,
- The echo of the tide within my breast.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE FOUNDLING.
-
-
- BY JESSIE HOWARD.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
-The March winds blew chillingly over a wide and barren moor in the
-Highlands of Scotland, and howled fiercely around the isolated dwelling
-in the middle of it, from whence gleamed a faint light like a beacon in
-the midst of that desolate waste. Black majestic clouds gathered darker
-over head, and the wild whistle of the coming tempest grew every moment
-more shrill; but little were the boding sounds noted within the cottage
-of Donald McLane, for sterner and fiercer was the storm of sorrow
-gathering in the human heart of the one lonely watcher, bending over the
-low pallet where lay, in a still dreamless slumber, the forerunner of
-one more dreamless yet, the form of her only child. Long silken curls
-fell on the white pillow, from the still whiter brow of the little
-sufferer, and pearly lids, with long, dark fringes, drooped over the
-fair cheek. The coverlet had been cast aside, as by some restless
-motion, and the snow-white drapery fell in careless folds,
-half-covering, half-revealing those round and dimpled limbs.
-
-The light from a solitary candle flickered over the child’s face, so
-marble-like in its quiet beauty; oh! there is a touching loveliness that
-waking life never bestows in that death-like slumber which precedes the
-parting hour of a young, sinless spirit! Angels waited to bear it
-upward, and the shining light from their own immortal faces, was
-reflected upon the form of clay it was so soon to leave. Close beside
-the couch, with clasped hands and a fixed gaze, motionless as the object
-of her solicitude, knelt the young mother—so very young and so fair;
-surely it was early for such sorrow to weigh down her happy heart.
-
-The dull moments wore away, and still those two pale faces gleamed in
-the half-darkness, silent and still. The embers on the hearth burned
-low, louder howled the tempest without, and the white snow-flakes dashed
-against the window with a startling sound—but the mother heard it not,
-until the door softly opened, and a light touch upon her arm roused her
-to consciousness.
-
-“Oh, Donald, Donald, I’m glad ye’re come,” was her tremulous salutation.
-
-“And yet, Maggie,” he said, “I’m not so sure o’ that when you see what
-I’ve brought you. I would not add to your cares if I could help it, but
-I could not leave a babe to perish in the cold snow to-night,” and
-unfolding his plaid, he displayed to her astonished eyes, a fair and
-beautiful infant, richly dressed, who, as she took it tenderly in her
-arms, opened its large dark-blue eyes, and smiled in her face.
-
-“Oh, Donald, how lovely!” she exclaimed, almost forgetting for the
-moment her sorrow; but a glance toward the couch again brought the tears
-to her eyes, and again she sunk beside it, with the little stranger in
-her arms.
-
-By the exertions of Donald, a brisk fire was soon burning on the hearth,
-and the bright blaze disclosed the table, with its neat white cloth, on
-which his frugal repast was spread; but he seemed to think little of his
-supper that night, for drawing near to the bedside, he bent over his
-child with an earnest, anxious expression on his manly features.
-
-“How long has she been so, Maggie?” he asked, in a low tone.
-
-“Since noon,” was the reply, and her breath came more quickly as Donald
-bent closer and closer to the quiet face, placing his hand softly on the
-still breast, and his lips to the dimpled mouth whence no breath seemed
-issuing, then, with a stifled sigh as he gazed lingeringly on those
-beautiful features, he turned to his wife, who was looking up in his
-face with that gaze of mute terror which says so much more than words,
-
-“Maggie, God has taken our Ally to be an angel in Heaven.”
-
-No loud exclamation of grief followed his words. Tearless she stood with
-her eyes fixed upon her husband’s face, as if unable to comprehend his
-meaning, but, sinking on his knees beside her, and enfolding her in his
-arms, he prayed from a full heart that God would be with them in this
-their first trial. The low, soothing tones of his voice unlocked the
-fountains of the mother’s heart, and blessed tears came to her relief.
-Long might she have indulged in this luxury, but a faint cry awoke her
-maternal sympathies. She had forgotten the babe so strangely thrown upon
-her care, but now her gentle nature could not think of self, while
-another was suffering and in preparations for the comfort of her charge,
-the first wild burst of anguish was passed through.
-
-“We will call her Ally, after our own lost one, Donald. Surely God has
-sent her to soften this sore trial to us, and we will love her as our
-own. May He help us to submit. Oh, my Ally! my darling, my precious
-one—can any one ever fill thy place? God help us!”
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
-The simple funeral was over; the last look had been taken, and little
-Alice McLane was hidden from the weeping eyes that still turned toward
-her lowly resting-place, as if yet unwilling to leave her alone beneath
-that cold, cold sod.
-
-Donald and Margaret McLane had been very happy until now—too happy
-perhaps. They had loved each other in early years, and when Donald had
-earned enough by his own honest labor to purchase the cottage on
-Burnside Moor, they were married without a shadow on their young,
-hopeful hearts.
-
-Margaret was a careful housewife, and Donald had ever a warm welcome and
-comfortable home when, wearied with his daily toil, he came back to her
-whom he had promised to love and cherish; and when little Alice came to
-gladden the young mother’s lonely hours while he was away, sunshine
-reigned in the household. In all their happiness they never forgot who
-gave them all their blessings, and daily was their morning and evening
-sacrifice of praise sent up to their Heavenly Father in confiding and
-child-like simplicity.
-
-A cherished flower was Ally McLane, with her bright blue eyes sparkling
-with joy and affection, her round, dimpled, rosy cheeks, and baby tones,
-so sweet to a parent’s ear; her mother’s sunny spirit seemed hers from
-her very birth until the heavy hand of sickness came down to hush those
-happy notes, and dim the light of health and joyousness that ever danced
-around her.
-
-Perhaps she was too fondly loved; perhaps their hearts clung with too
-much of idolatry to their only one; and a watchful Father saw that the
-ties must be loosened. While yet her lisping tones seemed ringing in
-their ears; while yet the flush of health lingered on her cheek, the
-dart of the spoiler came, and with scarce a pang of suffering to rend
-the mother’s heart with deeper anguish, little Ally was taken away from
-the ill to come.
-
-Overwhelming as was the blow, a mitigation was sent with it. The
-stranger babe thus thrown upon Margaret’s tenderness, proved a solace
-which nothing else could have afforded, and in the cares attendant upon
-her new charge, the dreary sense of loneliness, following the loss of a
-loved one, was robbed of half its power.
-
-Many were the wondering surmises of Donald and his wife, in reference to
-the manner in which the babe had been thus given to them. The dark
-mantle in which it had been closely enfolded, had first attracted
-Donald’s attention amid the snow-drifts, for the little forsaken one was
-already wrapped in that fatal slumber which, if not soon broken, knows
-no waking—and the young man’s heart was melted with kindly sympathy as
-he thought of his own darling, so he raised the light burden from its
-soft but dangerous resting-place, bore it to gentle and tender
-hands—and as days, and weeks, and months wore away, no one appearing to
-claim the lost one, closer and closer their hearts were wound about her,
-till their love seemed even as that they had borne their _own_ angel
-Ally—as they called her.
-
-Sometimes Margaret would almost forget that her second Ally was not,
-indeed, the very same as that one they had laid with such
-heart-yearnings beneath the snow-clad turf; and yet the two were very
-unlike. The face of the stranger was full of earnest thought. Her large,
-dark, liquid eyes, so full of dreamy tenderness, beamed with almost
-spiritual beauty; and a hasty word would bring the tears to her eyes,
-the warm blush to her cheek, and a strange imploring expression over her
-whole countenance; whereas her elder namesake was ever a joyous child,
-light and graceful, full of the heedlessness so natural to her tender
-age—and few things there were that had power to dim her sunny spirit.
-
-Year after year sped on unmarked, save by the introduction of one little
-stranger after another into the once lonely household of Donald McLane.
-Alice, their eldest and loveliest, had ripened gradually from the
-beautiful child, their pet and plaything, to the gentle, thoughtful girl
-of sixteen, watching with unwearied care the slightest wish of her
-parents, (for she knew not that they were otherwise,) and striving by
-every means in her power to lighten their burdens. The secret of her
-history had been carefully kept from her as well as the fair-haired,
-happy flock around them; for why should they sadden a life so unshadowed
-as hers, with thoughts that must bring suffering to her loving nature?
-
-The promise of rare beauty which her infancy had held out was more than
-realized. There was a spirituality about those dark-blue eyes, in every
-graceful movement—a native ease and sweetness of manner so unusual
-among the classes in which she moved—so unlike the frank, noisy ways
-and ruddy countenances of her younger brothers and sisters, that
-Margaret often gazed upon her with a wondering sigh and a trembling of
-heart, she could not tell why. Alice had been reared with more than
-maternal tenderness—a fond yearning over her deserted helplessness—a
-sympathy for those who must have mourned the loss of such a child,
-together with her own irresistible winningness, had led Margaret
-unconsciously to indulge the child of her adoption even more than the
-members of her own little flock; but Ally was one of those rare natures
-in whom indulgence only brings forth warmer, purer feelings of love and
-gratitude, and even from babyhood, as Margaret would often say, she
-seemed like an angel sent down to them from Heaven.
-
-Sweet Alice McLane had not arrived at the age of sixteen without
-admirers. Lonely as was the situation of the cottage, many had been
-attracted thither by the fame of such a jewel. But there was a quiet
-dignity and purity about the gentle girl that repulsed the most
-presuming; and Ally was still, child-like, happy in her home, without a
-wish to leave it, at least so far as was known to her own heart.
-
-There was, indeed, one, who had been a play-fellow from childhood, being
-the son of their only neighbor within many miles, who was ever a welcome
-guest at the cottage, beneath whose glance her own never drooped, nor
-the painful blush rose to her transparent cheek—and why was it? Because
-Dugald Lindsay had never spoken of the trembling hopes that lay nestling
-at his heart, though they had wandered together for hours over the
-hills, or sat side by side before the bright fire, in the winter
-evenings, while he entertained them with merry tales; and though Ally
-loved him dearly, yet it was with the pure, happy love of a sister. So
-they lived from day to day, unconscious of the cloud that was gathering
-over the future happiness of one, and the brightest hopes of the other.
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
-Donald McLane was a hard-working man, and seldom was any recreation
-beyond the quiet enjoyment of his fire-side and home-circle indulged in.
-It was therefore an occasion of no little joy among the little folks,
-and perhaps not less so with the older heads who showed less boisterous
-happiness, when, on the return of the annual fair, a whole holyday was
-promised with a visit to the village where it was held.
-
-On the evening preceding the day so long and anxiously looked for, a
-handsome traveling-carriage, with servants and outriders, drove up to
-the inn door of the village, creating an excitement among the good
-people unheard of before. A tall, majestic, and beautiful lady was
-assisted from it by a youth whose noble and elegant appearance spoke of
-rank and wealth.
-
-The poor landlord, confused, and almost paralyzed by the unexpected
-honor conferred upon him, with difficulty recalled his scattered senses
-in time to receive his guests, and provide them with the best his poor
-house could afford; but they, smiling at his consternation, retired
-immediately to their apartments, where, at their own request, a simple
-repast was served, and they appeared no more that evening. The servants
-were surrounded and eagerly questioned, but nothing could be elicited
-from them, except that the strangers were the Countess of Weldon and her
-son, who were traveling for the benefit of their health, impaired by the
-close air and dissipation of London.
-
-The next morning, just as the party from Burnside Moor had reached the
-village, after a weary walk of many miles, the coach drove up once more
-to receive its noble inmates. Donald and Margaret were foremost, and had
-already passed by, the younger children following them; but Ally had
-lingered somewhat in the rear, for Dugald was beside her, and in earnest
-conversation they had unconsciously slackened their pace, thus arriving
-opposite the inn door just in time to see the carriage drive up and the
-noble pair preparing to enter it. Surprised out of her usual quiet
-demeanor, Ally gazed eagerly at the novel sight. Her hood had fallen
-back, and her soft brown curls came clustering around her face,
-generally so pale, but now with the warm blood tingeing its snowy
-surface, and her dark, dreamy eyes turned wonderingly toward the
-strangers, she was lovely beyond description. At this moment the
-countess turned her eyes in the direction where Ally stood leaning on
-the arm of her companion, and with a thrilling cry, stretched out her
-arms toward her, then fell back insensible. In an instant all was
-confusion.
-
-The lady was borne into the house, and all intruders waved off; but Ally
-had never yet seen suffering without endeavoring to relieve it, and
-springing impulsively forward, she entered the inn, followed by Dugald.
-
-When the countess again opened her eyes, a sweet, loving face looked
-into hers, and an arm, soft and white as her own, supported her head.
-Another wild exclamation burst from her quivering lips, and again she
-sunk back, murmuring, “Adela, my sister—have you come back from the
-spirit-world to bless me!”
-
-“What ails you, dear lady,” said Ally, tenderly—“can I do any thing for
-you?”
-
-For the first time those who stood around the couch, anxiously waiting
-the solution of this mystery, observed a striking resemblance between
-the noble stranger and the lovely peasant girl, who stood pale and
-bewildered by her manner, yet unwilling to leave her while yet she
-seemed to need assistance.
-
-“Tell me, child,” said the countess, suddenly rising from her recumbent
-position, “tell me, who are you?”
-
-The question was hasty, the tone almost harsh, and Ally’s face flushed
-again, as she replied timidly, “My name is Alice McLane, lady—my father
-lives on Burnside Moor.”
-
-“Where is your father?—I must see him instantly.”
-
-Dugald turned in search of him, but Donald, having quickly missed his
-daughter, had come back in search of her, leaving the rest of his charge
-in a booth near by, and was even now at the inn door.
-
-As soon as his eye fell on the pale, agitated countenance of the
-stranger, and from her to his idolized daughter, every trace of color
-left both cheeks and lips, and unable to support himself, he sunk into a
-chair, covering his face with his hands.
-
-In that brief moment he comprehended it all. Sometimes, in past years,
-the unwelcome thought would painfully force itself upon him, that his
-precious Ally was not, indeed, his own. Hearts that must have mourned
-her loss, might again rejoice over their recovered treasure, but as year
-after year went by undisturbed, Donald grew strong in hope, and had
-almost banished every fear of the kind, when this terrible realization
-of the worst came so suddenly upon him.
-
-No wonder that his strong frame was bowed, and his stout heart wrung
-with anguish, as he felt that even resistance would be vain. No wonder
-that Ally stood by him terrified at the sight of grief such as never in
-her whole peaceful life had met her eyes before. Her arms were thrown
-around him, her warm kisses fell upon his cold brow, as she implored him
-to unfold this mystery. The countess watched him silently, yet a wild
-gleam of triumph flashed from her dark eyes, as she exchanged glances
-with her son, who stood looking on with no less appearance of interest
-than herself. Dugald, fearing he knew not what, only showed by his
-varying color, the thoughts that thronged rapidly upon him.
-
-The story was soon told, and none present could doubt that Alice, the
-poor cottage-girl, was the orphan niece of the proud countess, and
-through her, heiress to untold wealth. And how did Ally receive the news
-of her sudden elevation? With agony that moved the little circle of
-auditors to tears, as she clung wildly to the only father she had ever
-known, and implored him not to send her away from him.
-
-Donald looked up with a sorrow-stricken expression on his manly face,
-saying, “See you not the child’s distress, lady. Say no more now. Let
-her go home with us once more. Time will reconcile her to it, perhaps,
-but do not torture her now. God help us! for He only knows how great is
-the love we bear each other.”
-
-He motioned to Dugald, whose countenance, like his own, was ashy pale,
-but who, summoning the strength that in these few brief moments of
-anguish seemed to have deserted him, raised the almost insensible form
-of the weeping girl, and bore her away without resistance.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
-
-“Forget you, Dugald! and do you think Ally so changeful as to be carried
-away by the high-sounding titles and useless baubles of this wicked
-world? Could I be happier anywhere than I have been in my own dear
-mountain home. My aunt has promised that I shall return if I am not
-satisfied, and in one twelvemonth we will meet again. Nothing shall keep
-me from you if life is mine.”
-
-“Ally, dear Ally, you do not know the world you are about entering. The
-rich and the great will be there to court you, and the splendors that
-will glitter around you, have dazzled many a stronger head, though not a
-purer heart, Ally. But I ought not to murmur, since this parting has
-brought me joy as well as sorrow—since it has told me that you love me,
-darling. God keep you in temptation, and bring you back to us
-unchanged.”
-
-And so they parted. When did they meet again?
-
-Let us now turn back in the page of by-gone years, and trace the history
-of our little foundling so suddenly raided to a station that the
-proudest might envy.
-
-Clara and Adela Dundas were the daughters of an English nobleman; their
-mother dying before they had emerged from the school-room, they were
-left without that guiding hand so necessary to the maiden ignorant of
-the world, and heedless of warning from less beloved lips.
-
-Clara, the eldest, married, at an early age, a wealthy earl, the choice
-of her father, and departed to her princely home, with a father’s
-blessing, leaving her young, gentle sister more lonely than ever. Adela
-had ever been of a clinging, dependent spirit, loving with her whole
-heart the few objects she had as yet found in life worthy or unworthy;
-and was it, then, to be wondered at, when in the solitary hours after
-her sister’s departure, her affectionate nature should pine for some new
-companion on whom to pour out the rich treasures of a heart that could
-not be satisfied in selfish ends. Unhappily, the one on whom her choice
-fell, was a poor, untitled gentleman, holding an honorable office in her
-father’s household, but on whom Lord Dundas looked as so far inferior to
-his beautiful daughter in every respect, as never to dream of danger in
-allowing the occasional intercourse which passed between them.
-
-Knowing as they both did the proud and immoveable spirit of Lord Dundas,
-and hopeless of gaining his consent to what in their own young hearts,
-full of the romance of first love, seemed necessary to their very
-existence, they fled—and the lovely Lady Adela Dundas, who had never
-known one hour’s privation from luxury, became, in a poor Highland
-cottage, the wife of him for whom she had forsaken all—father, friends
-and home. A letter was written more from the warm feelings of affection
-and respect than from any hope of moving the stern parent whom, as Adela
-felt, they had offended past forgiveness—and so it proved—an answer
-came, only to announce her disinheritance, and exile for life from her
-father’s home and heart. Then was it that Adela for the first time felt
-the fearful consequences of her rash step, and it needed all the
-persuasions and soothing caresses of a husband whom she loved tenderly,
-to bring her to any degree of composure.
-
-After many months of suffering and privation, during which time her
-sister had privately sent her aid whenever she could do so with
-impunity, Mr. Moreton obtained employment which again raised them to
-comfort if not affluence. A lovely infant now brought new hopes and new
-feelings into poor Adela’s sorrowful heart, and to her husband’s delight
-she became once more cheerful. Sorely had they suffered for their sin,
-yet kind and gentle and loving to each other they had ever been. Poverty
-had not had power to dampen the pure affection of earlier days, and its
-calm light shone upon their paths with a hopeful radiance even in the
-darkest hours of their probation.
-
-The little Adela was but a few months old when a letter arrived from the
-steward of Lord Dundas, with a hasty summons to the death-bed of the now
-relenting parent. Sorrow and joy struggled for pre-eminence in Lady
-Adela’s bosom, as she hastily prepared to obey; but a new difficulty now
-arose. The winter had just set in with great severity—the journey was a
-long and fatiguing one; Adela spurned all objections on her own part,
-but her babe, how could she expose it to the inclemency of the weather,
-and the dangers that must attend them. Brief and bitter was the
-conflict—but the child was left in the care of a faithful nurse, who
-promised to watch over it as her own.
-
-They arrived only in time to receive the parting blessing of their
-beloved father, and after the requisite arrangements of the estate,
-which was equally divided between the two sisters; it was settled that
-Adela should now remain at the castle, at least until some further
-disposal of the property should be made, and that Mr. Moreton should
-return for the child, as the spring would soon open with sunshine and
-air, balmy enough even for the little traveler.
-
-Days and weeks dragged slowly their way along to the young wife, now,
-for the first time since her hasty marriage, separated from her husband.
-He came at last—but he came alone! Short and terrible was the tale his
-pale lips had to utter.
-
-The woman in whose care the babe had been left, faithfully watched over
-it, never resigning her charge to another, save when necessity required.
-
-One cold but bright, sunshiny day, having occasion to go to the
-neighboring village, she wrapped the child carefully in a heavy mantle,
-and set out with it in her arms on her errand.
-
-From that time neither nurse nor babe had been heard of. A violent
-snow-storm came on toward night, and it was feared that both had
-perished, yet singular to tell, no trace of their bodies had been
-discovered on the road wherein their way led.
-
-Silently the young mother listened to these crushing words. Hope itself
-was extinct, and from that day, though every endearing care that love
-could devise was lavished upon her, sweet Lady Adela drooped like a
-frail lily, growing paler and weaker, yet ever gentle, patient and
-loving to the last—for ere the spring flowers had faded, a husband and
-sister wept bitter tears over her early grave. So young and so lovely,
-thus Ally’s fair mother died.
-
-Comparing this sorrowful tale with Donald’s account, it was inferred
-that the woman, returning from the village, became bewildered by the
-snowstorm, and turned in the direction of Donald’s cottage instead of
-that leading to her own, which was directly opposite, and losing her
-way, had wandered on until wearied with her heavy burden, and hopeless
-of saving both lives, had deserted her charge, and proceeded,
-unencumbered, to find shelter for her own exhausted frame. In this,
-perhaps, she succeeded; but with the consciousness of safety came the
-harrowing reflections of her faithlessness, and unable to meet those she
-had so wronged, she had most probably left the country, for no trace of
-her was ever discovered.
-
-Mr. Moreton did not long survive his idolised wife; and now, when our
-gentle Ally awoke to the proud consciousness of rank, wealth, a new name
-and new relations, the tidings brought only sorrow and suffering to one
-so loving and happy as she had been—for was she not an orphan? Bitter
-tears flowed at the recital of her mother’s history, but turning from
-all the allurements and persuasions that were lavished upon her by her
-new aunt and cousin, she flung herself on Margaret’s bosom, saying, “I
-have one mother still! oh, let me stay—let me stay!”
-
-Yet as we have seen, Ally did go at last, pale and sorrowful, but with a
-kind word for all, and bidding them not to weep, for she would soon
-return—“She knew she would not love the great world of London. Oh, no!
-she would soon be back, never, never to leave them again!”
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
-Twelve months had passed by, lingeringly to the little lonely band on
-Burnside Moor, and sunshine seemed to spring up afresh in every heart
-when the first tiny green leaves and blue-eyed violets peeped through
-the snow. “The spring is coming,” shouted the children, gleefully, “the
-spring is coming, and Ally will soon be here.” The shadow passed off
-from the mother’s thoughtful brow, and Donald looked happier than he had
-yet since the parting, but Dugald grew more and more silent—as each
-budding tree put forth its tiny sprouts and the verdure became brighter
-and fresher on the hill-side, the flush paled on his cheek and his dark
-eyes grew heavy with thought. Week after week glided on, and the
-children wearied with watching turned with eager questions to their
-elders, but mournfully, eyes dim with tears, met theirs—still Ally came
-not.
-
-The warm harvest days stole on—the grain was all gathered in—the cool
-autumn winds blew chillingly—the snow flakes again robed the earth in
-their pure mantle, and still Ally came not.
-
-Bitter as was the disappointment, it fell not on unsubmissive hearts.
-The children alone were clamorous in their expressions of regret, but
-like the summer cloud, the sorrow passed from their memories and they
-found in present amusements that forgetfulness which others sought in
-vain.
-
-“Sick with hope deferred,” they mourned unceasingly their lost one—yet
-upheld by that faith in a Heavenly Guardian, to whose care they had
-given her, and who would be faithful to the trust though all earth
-should conspire against them.
-
-And where was the object of this fond solicitude? What fate had been
-hers since she tore herself away weeping, yet strong in hope and
-confidence, fearless of the temptations, whose power she had yet to
-learn? Was she indeed changed? Could not the shield of love and
-innocence, so close about her, guard every avenue of that guileless
-heart? Alas! no; Ally had been too trustful in her own strength, and so
-insidious was the approach of the evil-spirit that she was unconscious
-of danger until bitterly awakened to self-reproach, to feel that it was
-too late!
-
-As the Lady Adela Moreton, co-heiress with her cousin of their
-grandfather’s broad lands, she was courted, caressed and flattered by
-the noblest and most wealthy—her own rare loveliness adding new
-attractions to her proud triumph, and though at first pained—then
-disgusted—sad to tell—she at length learned to love the adulation that
-followed her steps. Her cheek would flush and her eye brighten with
-conscious pride—yet beautiful as she then was in the eyes of a gazing
-world, Dugald would almost have failed to recognize in her his own
-pure-hearted love.
-
-Her aunt had been steadily pursuing a scheme which had been busy in her
-brain since the first unlooked for recognition of her sister’s long lost
-child, which was the union of her eldest son, Sir Frederic, to his
-beautiful cousin, and thus preserve undivided the family estate. Poor
-Ally little dreamed of the snares that were laid for her. The kindness
-of her aunt won her gentle, affectionate heart to implicit obedience,
-and her handsome cousin, possessed of every art of pleasing—beauty,
-rank, wealth, grace, (few could resist their united influence,) moved
-her by every loving device.
-
-Was Ally happy? Those who saw her in the festive halls, brilliant and
-animated, the centre to which all eyes, all hearts turned, might have
-deemed her happy—but in the solitude of her chamber, when lights and
-flattering tones had fled, pale, sorrowful faces would rise up, as if
-upbraiding her; memories of the past would so flit before her, searing
-her brain as it were fire, and remorseful tears would flow through the
-long sleepless nights, stealing away the freshness from her fair cheek,
-the brightness from her eyes. Was this happiness?
-
-Yet the golden chains were close around her, and Ally asked not to break
-their glittering links.
-
-Donald—Margaret—Dugald—a fearful snare is weaving around your darling
-one—a little longer and she may be lost to you forever—save her if yet
-you may—God speed your efforts, for man is powerless now.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
-Another spring had come. Calmly and gently as on the heart-sick watchers
-fell the last rays of the setting sun on Ally’s weary brow as she sat by
-the window of her boudoir listlessly gazing into the street. Gay dresses
-were strewed around her—jewels flashed from their velvet cushions upon
-the dressing-table beside her, and ornaments of rich and varied style
-lay beside them—yet Ally’s thoughts seemed far away. Her sweet face was
-paler and thinner, and on her dimpled mouth lay that peculiar expression
-of suffering which the lips only can show forth—her dark-blue eyes
-seemed larger, and a wild look had taken the place of the soft dove-like
-glances which had won Dugald’s heart. Oh! Ally was fearfully changed.
-
-Suddenly, as though an ice-bolt had stricken her, the young girl started
-from her dreamy posture. The color faded from her parted lips and she
-clung to the window sill as she gazed at some object below.
-
-A young Highlander, in the garb of his native hills, had just passed by,
-and even now paused before the arched gate-way of that princely mansion.
-Ally looked no longer, but sinking upon her knees, she wept.
-
-A few moments afterward, her slight form might have been seen gliding
-down the wide staircase and entering a small library adjoining the
-drawing-room, with which a glass door communicated—softly the curtain
-was lifted, while with clasped hands and a frame shivering with the
-intensity of her agitation she saw and heard all that passed within.
-
-Dugald, her own wronged Dugald was there—she had not been deceived then
-in that hasty glimpse of his figure from the window. A chill crept over
-Ally’s heart as she saw his pale face and sorrowful look—but this was
-as nothing to the agony that thrilled through her ere long. Dugald sat
-in one of the richly embroidered chairs, with the graceful ease so
-natural to him in any society, while directly opposite, in a large
-arm-chair with a cushion beneath her feet, sat the countess. An air of
-haughty indifference was meant, perhaps, to check the young man’s hopes,
-for well did the proud lady know the object of his long journey, and
-sorely did she tremble lest her plans should yet be defeated. Leaning
-carelessly on a massive table close by, with an air that affected to be
-contemptuously easy, while the working of his fine features betrayed an
-inward conflict, stood Sir Frederic.
-
-“I assure you, sir, Lady Adela is too much indisposed to see any one
-this evening,” were the first words that the trembling girl heard.
-
-“Oh, if she is ill, lady, do not refuse to let me see her. Surely,
-surely, news from home would do her good—oh, never was she too ill yet
-to see Dugald!
-
-“Only let me see her for a moment—let me hear from her own lips that
-she has forgotten us.” And the young man grew eloquent as he pictured in
-the simple language of exquisite pathos, the more touching as it came
-every word from a full heart, the distress of those who loved and
-watched for their absent one till their hearts grew faint within them.
-He told of their bitter disappointments—their home now over-shadowed
-because the sunbeam that once lighted it was gone. He spoke not of his
-own feelings for they were too sacred to be displayed before the cold
-natures that listened unmoved even now—and Dugald ceased with a sinking
-heart as he watched their haughty brows grow darker with suppressed
-anger.
-
-The countess rose and with a frigid salutation left the room, and her
-son, with an expression of withering scorn, demanded how he dared to
-expect that _his_ cousin remembered or wished to know aught of such low
-associations—then followed his mother, leaving Dugald stunned and
-motionless.
-
-In those few brief moments the evil spirit had departed from Ally’s
-misguided soul and the good regained its influence over her.
-
-With the last echoing sound of the departing footsteps, she opened the
-door against which she had been leaning, with that temporary strength
-excitement ever gives—she beckoned to the startled youth, who,
-half-dreaming, obeyed the signal, and found himself face to face with
-her whom he had just deemed lost to him forever.
-
-“Ally, dear Ally, what have they done to change you thus,” he exclaimed
-as he stretched out his arms toward her. She threw herself weeping upon
-his bosom, clinging to him as if fearful of being again torn away. “Take
-me home, Dugald, take me home. Thank God I am not quite heartless yet.”
-
-Tenderly as a mother soothes her restless child, did Dugald caress and
-whisper sweet words of comfort to the trembling one he folded to his
-heart—and at last she looked up through her tears with her old familiar
-smile, so that she seemed almost herself again.
-
-By a side-door Dugald reached the street, unobserved by those who deemed
-him long since gone—a light was in his eye, his step was free and
-elastic, and his whole face beamed with the inward delight that caused
-his heart to throb wildly as he traversed the streets toward his
-temporary residence.
-
-A few hours passed and he came forth again—when he returned he was no
-longer alone. Like her gentle mother, Adela Moreton fled from wealth and
-rank to share the lowlier lot of him who had won her heart. But unlike
-that mother our sweet mountain flower fled from the evil to the stern
-yet blessed path of duty, and the blessing of Heaven followed upon her
-steps.
-
-Great was the amazement of the countess and her too sanguine heir when
-on the following morning they discovered that their dove had escaped
-from the net laid for her. Bitter were the curses that descended on
-Dugald’s now unconscious head, but the affectionate little note left on
-the table of the vacant boudoir, showed too plainly by its gentle but
-decided tenor that further hope was vain.
-
-The sunshine came back into Donald’s cottage—laughter and mirth were no
-longer strangers there, for Ally, their “lost and found,” had returned
-to them, paler and thinner it is true, and with a deeper shadow on her
-fair brow, but with her loving heart and gentle voice unchanged.
-
-Ally well knew the sacrifice she made, but it was made willingly. Her
-wealth was all in the power of her aunt, and she hoped for no concession
-from the disappointed schemers—but Dugald had not been idle during the
-years of his probation, and he was no longer a poor man.
-
-One bright summer’s day when all nature seemed rejoicing and human
-hearts were filled with thankfulness, in her own simple cottage-dress,
-and under her old name of Alice McLane which she had again adopted,
-Ally, now blooming and happy, stood before the altar in their own dear
-kirk, and promised to be the wife of him who had loved her so long and
-so faithfully. Joy beamed from every countenance, as they now felt that
-no power on earth might rend these ties, and Ally, their own beautiful
-Ally, was theirs till death should part them.
-
-Only once did the proud countess seek to recall her flown bird to her
-glittering but uneasy nest, and the day on which she arrived with Sir
-Frederic, eager and hopeful, was Ally’s wedding-day, and so they became
-unwittingly sharers in that beautiful scene—the only angry spirits in
-all that peaceful band of worshipers. Baffled again, they left without
-even seeking an interview with the object of their long journey, and
-Ally never heard of them again until the arrival of a strange-looking
-epistle many years after, announcing the death of her aunt, and her own
-accession by right of birth to the half of Lord Dundas’ princely
-fortune.
-
-Sweet Ally McLane! would that more angels like thee in the likeness of
-sinful flesh might dwell among us—raising our hearts to higher, holier
-purposes, and fitting us while here for a better home above, where envy,
-malice, pride, or sorrow never may be known or felt.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- A DAUGHTER’S MEMORY.
-
-
- BY MARY L. LAWSON.
-
-
- I listened then with eager ear
- The tales of other days to hear,
- For oft thy voice would lead me back,
- From life’s insipid daily track,
- To wild romance and warfare rude,
- That mingle in old Scotland’s mood,
- For thou didst know and paint them well,
- And wandering fancy warmed the spell.
-
- My father, how the tear-drop swells
- As o’er the past my vision dwells,
- When I have stood beside thy chair
- And smoothed and kissed thy silvery hair,
- Whose silken threads are dearer now
- Than hope’s gay dream or lover’s vow,
- For life can hold no joy for me
- More cherished than my thoughts of thee.
-
- And thou hast left a name behind
- That Art must prize and Science find;
- Thy talents to the world are known,
- But dearer memories are my own.
- Though all approve the stainless worth
- That sleeps beneath this spot of earth,
- The kindness that awakens love
- Thy children’s hearts alone can prove.
-
- No gorgeous tomb in words proclaim
- Thine honest truth and well earned fame,
- Nor sculptured urn, nor heartless praise,
- The stranger’s studied care betrays;
- But thou wert fondly laid to rest
- Where tender tears thy grave has blest,
- Embalmed in feelings pure and high
- That soar from earth beyond the sky.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- FROM AMALTHÆUS.
-
-
- BY RICHARD PENN SMITH.
-
-
- There were three distinguished Latin poets of Italy of this
- name, whose compositions were printed at Amsterdam in 1685. The
- following epigram was occasioned by the affliction of two
- children of remarkable beauty, though each had lost an eye:
-
-
- Lumine Acon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro;
- Et poterat forma vincere uterque deos,
- Parve puer, lumen quod habes concede sorori,
- Sic tu cæcus amor, sic erit illa Venus.
-
-
- TRANSLATION.
-
- Of his right eye young Acon was bereft;
- His sister Leonilla lost the left;
- Still each in form can rival with the gods,
- And, though both Cyclops, beat them by all odds.
- Spare her, my boy, your blinker, be not stupid,
- She then will be a Venus, you a Cupid.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TO ——.
-
-
- BY HENRY B. HIRST.
-
-
- I have had my days of sadness: youth, which we review in age,
- Spelling once again its syllables, was a blurred and blotted page.
-
- Drifting down the tide of Time my tiny barque, unguided, passed
- Toward the Mäelstrom of Manhood, puppet both of wave and blast.
-
- But an all-protecting Providence watched the craft, when tempest-tost
- On the Atlantic of Adversity; and the vessel was not lost.
-
- Through the distance, when the clouds were lifted by the eddying
- breeze,
- Sunny sapphire skies shone on me, with, beneath, Pacific seas.
-
- But the gloom came down around me, and the billows rolled and moaned,
- And the little laboring ark with more than human agony groaned.
-
- Shoals and sunken rocks around it,—like a frenzied steed that flies,
- Terror burning, like a beacon, in his wide-distended eyes,—
-
- Through this Archipelago of danger such as no one knows,
- Save the wanderer in a wilderness, filled with savage hungry foes—
-
- Rode the Argo of my Destiny; for what storm could overwhelm
- When God’s holy hand, or else His angel’s, held the fragile helm?
-
- Suddenly from the desperate darkness stole the tender, trembling light
- Of a luminous, blushing planet, gleaming gently on my sight.
-
- And the gloom fell down before it, and the billows knew surcease,
- And the horrid howling winds reclined in slumber, breathing peace.
-
- Night by night the sun descended, and I saw the moon arise,
- With that luminous planet near it, like a deity, in the skies.
-
- Then said I unto my spirit—“Reigning in those realms above,
- O, my soul, behold at last the unassuming star of love.
-
- “Like a queen she walks the infinite, saying softly, ‘Peace; be
- still!’
- And the lion winds and waters crouch, submissive to her will.”
-
- Now in safety rides my vessel, for that luminous, blushing star
- Sits forever in my “House of Life,” a ruling Guardian Lar;
-
- And the haven it has entered lies encircled by a shore
- Green as Eden was, calm as Heaven is; and the storm is known no more.
-
- There with one whose type is Beauty, Adam-like, I dwell in dreams,
- Whose realities were delirium, sleeping by love’s silver streams.
-
- Eve, my angel, always with me, leads my spirit by the hand
- Tenderly from its painful memories toward the Better—Happier Land.
-
- And like ghosts, when, clarion-tongued, proud Chanticleer salutes the
- dawn,
- All my ghastly recollections flit, like shadows, and are gone.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.
-
-
- BY RICHARD COE, JR.
-
-
- Come! Come! Come!
- Nature, teacher sweet, will tell
- Where the Lord of all doth dwell,
- He who doeth all things well,
- And in glory reigns!
-
- In the mountain—in the stream—
- In the hushed and charmed air—
- In the working of a dream—
- God is everywhere!
-
- In the star that decks the sky,
- Shining through the silent air;
- In the cloud that saileth by—
- God is everywhere!
-
- In the lily of the field—
- Or in floweret more rare—
- In the perfume roses yield—
- God is everywhere!
-
- In the sunbeam clear and bright—
- In the rainbow wondrous fair—
- In the darkness of the night—
- God is everywhere!
-
- In the gentle summer breeze—
- In the rushing winter air—
- In the rustling of the trees—
- God is everywhere!
-
- In the organ’s solemn sound—
- Or in music’s lighter air—
- All above—beneath—around—
- God is everywhere!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE NEGLECTED GRAVE-YARD.
-
-
- BY PROFESSOR ALDEN.
-
-
-“Uncle, have you a fowling-piece to lend me?” said Henry Deforest, on
-the morning after his arrival at Beech Grove, whither he had come to
-enjoy a brief interval of rest from his professional studies.
-
-“Yes,” replied Mr. Woolcott, “as fine a one as you ever handled.”
-
-“What do you want to do with it, pray?” said Aunt Martha, Mr. Woolcott’s
-maiden sister and housekeeper, who, like a sensible woman, believed that
-guns and gunpowder were infernal inventions, and dangerous in every
-possible shape and shade of combination.
-
-“I have some thoughts of taking a gunning excursion,” said Henry.
-
-“Are you a good shot?” said Mr. Woolcott.
-
-“About equal to Mr. Winkle.”
-
-“I don’t know him—where does he live?”
-
-Henry was happily relieved from the necessity of replying to the
-question of his matter-of-fact uncle, by Aunt Martha, who declared her
-somewhat exulting belief that the gun was lent.
-
-“No, it is at home—it came home last night. Here it is,” said Mr. W.,
-bringing it forth from a secure hiding-place constructed under Aunt
-Martha’s sole direction and authority.
-
-“Is it loaded?” said Henry.
-
-“No, I guess not,” said his uncle.
-
-“I’ll warrant it is,” said Aunt Martha.
-
-“What is there to shoot in these parts?” said Henry.
-
-“Boys,” replied Aunt M., rather sharply. “Mr. Johns shot one last week.”
-
-“Boys are not good to eat, my dear aunt, and I cannot in conscience
-shoot any thing not good to eat.”
-
-Aunt Martha uttered an inarticulate aspiration which signified that she
-should lose her temper if she said any thing more.
-
-Mr. Woolcott, who had been quite a rustic sportsman in his younger days,
-furnished his nephew with a liberal allowance of powder, shot and
-wadding, and the said nephew sallied forth with murderous intentions
-toward all feathered bipeds possessing the attribute of being good to
-eat.
-
-It was early in June. The sweet breath of the morning spoke so lovingly
-of peace and gentleness, that he began to question the propriety of his
-savage purposes. His conscience, or his good sense, or his humanity, or
-something else, suggested, that to pollute the flower-laden breeze with
-sulphurous vapors, and to hush the sweet music of God’s innocent
-creatures, was not the most fitting employment for one proud of his
-immortality. He had not a very definite idea of the pleasures of
-bird-murder—in fact, that it might be a source of pleasure to him at
-all, it would be necessary for him to “make believe” with as much
-intensity as did “the small servant,” when she used orange-peel water
-for wine.
-
-He soon reached a beautiful meadow. In consequence of his admiration of
-the lilies and daisies which adorned it, he failed to observe the
-meadow-larks that frequently rose before him, and uttered their notes of
-gladness to the mounting sun. At length one rose from his very feet. In
-an instant his finger was upon the trigger; but the sweet note of his
-intended victim charmed him. While he listened, the bird passed beyond
-the range of his weapon. Perhaps he mentally compared the pleasure of
-listening to its song with that of witnessing its dying gaspings.
-
-The murmuring of a streamlet fell upon his ear. In a moment he was
-bending over its pure, bright waters. A large, smooth stone, shaded by a
-clump of willows, invited him to a seat. He laid aside his weapon, and
-sat down, baring his forehead to the breeze, and fixing his eyes upon
-the tiny inhabitants of the rivulet, his thoughts took the peaceful hue
-of the objects around him. It was not till the changing shadows of the
-willows exposed him to the rays of the sun, that he became conscious of
-the flight of time. He then rose and went to a small grove which clothed
-the summit of a gentle elevation in the vicinity. The grove was composed
-of saplings, about twenty feet in height. As he entered it, a false step
-led him to cast his eye downward. He had planted his foot in the hollow
-of a sunken grave. On looking around him, he found he was in the midst
-of an ancient grave-yard. The headstones which marked the resting places
-of the sleepers, had apparently been taken from a neighboring ledge.
-Only one bore an inscription, or had received the impress of the chisel.
-He looked in vain for a new-made grave. It was long since the
-funeral-train had entered that grave-yard—long since the mourner had
-come thither to weep.
-
-Deforest had visited cemeteries in which wealth had lavished its
-treasures, and art exhausted its resources in order to disrobe death of
-his gloom. No splendid mausoleum, no carefully penned epitaph, so
-disposed him to reflection, as did the leaf-filled hollows and rude
-stones of that neglected grave-yard. He spent an hour in serious
-thought, and was about to leave the place, when the sound of approaching
-footsteps arrested his attention. He turned and saw an aged man entering
-the grove. The stranger approached the grave near which Deforest was
-standing. He appeared slightly embarrassed when he perceived that he was
-not alone. He returned the courteous salutation of Deforest, and seemed
-disposed to converse with him.
-
-“You do not live in these parts?” said he.
-
-“I am on a visit to my uncle, Mr. Woolcott. I reside in the city,” said
-Deforest.
-
-“Your uncle came into the place after I left it. I was born here, in a
-house that stood on the knoll yonder. That cluster of bushes stands
-where the hearth-stone used to lie.”
-
-“I noticed, as I passed the spot this morning, that a building once
-stood there. It must have been a long time ago.”
-
-“Sixty-nine years ago, last March, I was born in that house, or rather
-in the house which stood there then. This country then was a wilderness.
-There was one log-house where the village now stands, and one between
-this and the river. I have not lived here for more than forty years.
-Latterly I go through the place once a year, as I go for my pension, and
-I always come to this spot. My father lies here, and—another friend. I
-always come and look upon the place of their rest. They do not know it.
-It does not do them any good, but it does me good. This is the grave of
-my father,” laying his hand on the stone noticed above as being the only
-one which bore an inscription. The inscription was as follows: “James
-Hampton, died July 16, 1777, aged forty-five years.”
-
-The old man uncovered his head as he laid his hand upon the stone, and
-gazed in silence upon the earth which lay above the remains of his
-parent. Deforest felt that he was an intruder, and was about to retire.
-
-“Do not go,” said the stranger. “I never met any one here before. It
-seems like meeting with a friend. That is a feeling which persons as old
-as I am seldom experience.”
-
-Deforest, whose warm heart was strongly interested in the aged stranger,
-gladly accepted his invitation to remain.
-
-“You were young when your father died,” said he, looking again at the
-inscription.
-
-“I was in my fourteenth year. He was killed by a rifle-ball, in an
-attack made upon the house by a party of Indians. I have no doubt they
-were led by a tory who lived in a house which stood behind the ridge
-yonder, to the east. My friends wished to have it put on the tombstone
-that he was shot by the Indians. I believed that the shot which killed
-him was fired by a neighbor. I would not have the stone tell an untruth;
-so nothing is said about the manner of his death.”
-
-“I should be greatly interested in hearing an account of the matter, if
-it be not painful to you to relate it.”
-
-“Come and sit down on this rock and I will tell you all about it. It
-happened more than fifty years ago, yet it is as fresh in my mind as if
-it had happened yesterday.”
-
-He led the way to a large moss-covered rock, which afforded them a
-comfortable seat under the shade of a thicket of young chestnuts. Near
-it was a grave on which the old man’s eyes were fastened. He did not
-seem disposed to resume the conversation. A tear ran down his furrowed
-cheek. Deforest sympathized with him in silence.
-
-“You must ask me questions, my young friend,” said he, somewhat
-abruptly, “or my mind will wander away from the things you wish me to
-speak of.”
-
-“Did your father build the house in which you were born?” said Deforest.
-
-“Yes, he came here about ten years before the war, when, as I said
-before, there was only one house between this and the river. I was born
-the year after the house was built. I was but a little over ten years
-old when the troubles with England came on. My father and mother had
-many consultations upon the question, whether it was best for them to
-return to the east or not. There were no Indians near, and there was
-nothing to call them—for nearly all the people along the river were
-friends to the king. My father was from Massachusetts, and of course,
-liberty was natural to him; but he had said little or nothing about
-matters in dispute, for the very good reason that there were but very
-few persons to converge with. So he concluded to remain here. I could
-see that my mother did not feel easy. She grew thin and pale, and seemed
-unwilling to have us out of her sight.
-
-“Once in a while, a rumor of what was going on reached us, though the
-accounts were always in favor of the king’s troops.
-
-“In June of the year ’77, one day, as my father was in the cornfield, he
-saw an Indian skulking behind a large tree in the woods, that then stood
-where those oats are now growing. He continued at his hoeing for an hour
-or two, and was careful not to indicate by his appearance that he had
-seen any thing unusual.”
-
-“Was he not afraid that the Indian’s bullet might put an end to his
-work?” said Deforest.
-
-“No, he reasoned in this way. If the object of the Indian had been to
-kill him on the spot, he would have done so before he was seen. When my
-father came to the house, he was not disposed to say any thing about
-what had occurred, for he was not willing to give unnecessary alarm to
-his family. His anxious countenance led to inquiries which revealed the
-true state of the case. He began at once to make preparation to resist
-an attack, which he anticipated would be made in the night. I was
-employed in casting bullets, while he was busy in barricading the
-windows, and in making openings between the logs to serve as port-holes.
-Night at length drew near, and we sat down to supper, sad and silent,
-feeling that in all probability it was the last meat we should ever take
-together. The night passed slowly on. None of us were disposed to sleep.
-About midnight my father persuaded my mother to lie down, with my
-sister, who was sleeping unconscious of danger. Very soon there was a
-gentle knocking at the door. We had no light burning. My father had his
-rifle in his hand, while I held a musket, ready to exchange with him as
-soon as he had fired. He crept silently to the port-hole that commanded
-the door. He saw an Indian, with a rifle, standing before the door. The
-moonbeams fell full on his face, the expression of which left no doubt
-on my father’s mind respecting the object of the visit. The knocking was
-repeated. The answer was the discharge of the rifle from the port-hole.
-The Indian bounded high in the air, and fell to the earth a corpse. A
-yell from about half a dozen voices in the vicinity revealed the
-probable number of our foes. We were greatly encouraged, for it seemed
-well-nigh certain that their numbers would be so far diminished ere they
-could effect an entrance, as to render the result of the conflict by no
-means doubtful. The opening from which the shot was fired did not
-command the approach to the door. This was probably observed by our
-enemies, and after some time, apparently spent in consultation, two of
-them took a long, heavy pole from the fence, and drew near with the
-evident purpose of using it as a battering-ram to force the door. My
-father placed himself before an opening which he had made for the
-purpose of commanding the approach to the door, and when they were near
-enough to make the aim sure, he fired, and the hindmost man fell, never
-to rise again. I instantly gave my father the musket, and he fired at
-the other man, who had made a brief halt before he commenced his
-retreat. Either because the smoke prevented a good aim, or the musket
-carried ball less accurately than the rifle, the Indian did not fall,
-but from the blood that marked his retreat, it appeared that he was
-severely wounded.
-
-“We could see a group of four or five persons in the distance. They were
-not quite near enough to make a sure shot, and my father thought it of
-the utmost importance that every ball should tell. While our attention
-was fixed upon them, a light shone in from a crevice on the side of the
-house opposite to the door. On that side there was neither door nor
-window. The enemy had sent one of their number, who had procured a
-bundle of straw from the barn, and placed it against the side of the
-logs, and set fire to it. It was their object to burn us alive, or to
-shoot us down when attempting to extinguish the flames. From the crevice
-which revealed the fire, my father saw an Indian grinning like a demon
-as he watched the progress of the flames. The good rifle soon put him
-out of the way of doing any more mischief. He then seized a pail of
-water, and ran to the chamber, and removed a board from the roof, and
-poured the water upon the fire. He had loosened the board in the course
-of his preparations for defense, thinking it possible that the opening
-might afford a means of escape. Fortunately the opening was immediately
-over the spot where the fire was kindled. Three of our foes had now been
-killed, and one of them wounded, (though we did not know it till the
-next day,) and we hoped they would become discouraged and retire. We
-heard nor saw nothing of them for an hour or more, though we kept watch
-in every direction.
-
-“A new danger revealed itself. The fire had not been wholly
-extinguished; it had caught in the logs, and now began to blaze. My
-father took a bucket of water and went to the roof as before, but the
-moment his head appeared, three or four rifles were discharged from the
-grove near by. One of the balls slightly grazed his cheek. He had the
-presence of mind to make immediate application of the water before they
-had time to reload, but he did not succeed in applying it to the spot
-where it was most needed. Before another pailfull could be procured,
-they had loaded their pieces. He raised his hat above the opening in the
-roof, in hopes that they would all fire, that he might then extinguish
-the flames before they could reload. Only one shot, however, was fired.
-It pierced the hat, which fell. A savage yell of triumph caused our
-blood to curdle. The hat was raised again, and another shot fired, and
-another, both of which missed it. The water was then poured on the fire;
-but just as he was descending the stairs, a ball, apparently fired at
-random, passed through the clay between the logs, and entered his neck.
-He told us that he should bleed to death in a few minutes, but
-encouraged us to hope that the enemy would retire without any further
-efforts. He told me to keep a vigilant watch, and to shoot down those
-that came near the house. ‘Take care of your mother and sister,’ said
-he, ‘take them to the east if—’ he never finished the sentence. He bled
-to death in spite of all we could do.”
-
-The old man paused in his narrative, and again fixed his eyes upon the
-grave noticed above.
-
-“Was the attack renewed?”
-
-“No, they went off before daylight, leaving their dead unburied. I dug a
-grave in the cellar, and buried my father. We then took our horses, and
-were on the other side of the river before night.”
-
-“Were you not afraid of being waylaid and murdered?”
-
-“We were, chiefly from the fact that so many of the Indians had been
-killed. We felt safe when we had crossed the river. We went to my
-mother’s native place, and remained there till the war was over, when we
-returned here. I was in the army during the last year of the war.”
-
-“I should hardly have thought that your mother would have been willing
-to return here.”
-
-“We had a good farm here, and several families from her native place
-concluded to come with us and settle here. By cultivating the farm I
-could fulfill my father’s command to take care of my mother and sister,
-and I did not see how I could do it in any other way. The first thing I
-did was to bury my father in this place. Several years afterward this
-stone, which marks his grave, was brought on from the east.”
-
-“You told me you thought the shot which killed your father was fired by
-a neighbor.”
-
-“We had no suspicion of any such thing at the time. As was natural, I
-kept the ball that caused the death-wound. It was of a peculiar size,
-and had a singular mark upon it. After my return, I happened one day to
-be present where there were a number of persons shooting at a mark.
-Alter they had finished their sport, the boys began to cut the balls out
-of the tree on which the mark had been placed. I was standing near and
-happened to hear one say, ‘that was Sawyer’s ball. I can always tell his
-ball by this mark.’ I looked at the ball, and saw that it bore the same
-mark as the one that was taken from my father’s neck. I put it into my
-pocket, and went home and compared it with the ball I had preserved. The
-size and marks corresponded perfectly. I then went to the boy and found
-that all Sawyer’s balls had the same mark. There was something in the
-bore of the rifle that made a peculiar crease in the ball as it was
-forced out. I then got a neighbor to inquire of Sawyer how long he had
-owned his rifle, and I found that it was in his possession before the
-war came on. My suspicions were then strongly excited. It was not
-probable that there were two rifles that would make the same impression
-upon the ball discharged from them. I remembered, too, that Sawyer had
-expressed great surprise at our return, and had appeared somewhat
-embarrassed when he met me. I met him in the street one day, and took
-the ball out of my pocket and held it before him, and fixing my eye
-fully upon his, asked him if he had ever seen it? He turned very red,
-and then came near fainting. I laid my hand upon him. He trembled like a
-leaf. I repeated the question in a louder tone, for I was sure that the
-murderer of my father was before me. His lips moved, but he could not
-speak. ‘Do you think,’ said I, ‘that it is safe for you to stay in this
-country?’ I flung him from me, and went on my way. The next day he left
-for the west, and some time afterward sent for his family.”
-
-“How long did you live here after your return?”
-
-“Nearly ten years; I lived here till my mother died.”
-
-“Is she buried here?”
-
-“No, she died while we were on a visit to the east. She was buried among
-her kindred. After her death, I returned here and remained till I helped
-fill up that grave,” pointing to the one which he had gazed at so
-earnestly when he took his seat upon the rock. “Then I felt there was
-nothing more to keep me here—in fact, I felt that I could not live
-here. My sister was married at the East; so I sold the farm and became a
-wanderer. I did not visit the place for nearly twenty years. When the
-pension-law was passed, I had occasion to come here, for one who was in
-the same company with me lived here. Since then, I have commonly passed
-through the place once a year, and I always visit this spot. This is the
-first time I ever met any one here. I once thought of having the bushes
-cut down; but on the whole, I concluded to let it grow up to wood. It
-will shield the graves from the gaze of the careless passer-by; and I
-like, too, the idea of having the birds sing over her grave. Farewell,”
-said he, rising and extending his hand. Henry returned the warm pressure
-of his hand, and was retiring, that he might be left alone by the
-sepulchre of his parent. The stranger, however, kept by his side till he
-reached the stone wall which separated the grove from the meadow. He
-seemed unwilling to part with his new acquaintance. Henry laid his hand
-upon his shoulder, and said, “Will you not tell me about _her_?”
-
-After a moment’s silence the stranger replied, “Young man, I will,
-though it is many a year since I have pronounced her name aloud, unless
-I have done so in my dreams. They say I often talk in my sleep. I often
-dream of her, and sometimes it seems so much like reality, that I cannot
-help weeping when I awake, and find it nothing but a dream. She lived in
-a house which stood beyond the hill yonder. I have never seen it since
-the day she was carried out of it, and I shall never see it again.”
-
-“Her name?” whispered Henry.
-
-“Mary Everson lies in that stoneless grave—I wanted no stone to keep
-her in my memory, and I wanted nothing to call strangers to her
-resting-place. The world never contained a purer and warmer heart. She
-came here with her uncle about a year before my mother’s death. Her
-father had been wealthy, and had taken great pains with her education.
-He lost his property in time of the war, and died soon afterward. His
-wife soon followed him, and Mary became dependent upon her uncle, who
-removed here, as I said, about a year before my mother died. I saw her,
-for the first time, at a meeting in a log school-house. She was seated
-opposite me, and I thought I never set eyes on so fair an object. I have
-seen countenances which would form better subjects for description, but
-I never saw one which spoke to the soul like hers. It was transparent.
-It seemed as though you could see the flow of her pure thoughts and the
-beatings of her warm heart.
-
-“It so happened that on the next day I had occasion to see her uncle on
-business. As I drew near the house, I heard the loud and angry voice of
-a female. I soon saw Mary coming down the foot-path. She was sobbing.
-‘O, mother,’ said she, ‘I am glad that you do not know what your poor
-child has to suffer.’ She looked up and saw me with tears in my
-eyes—the words she had spoken brought them there—and felt, as she
-afterward told me, that I sympathized with her. I passed her without
-speaking, transacted my business with her uncle, and took my leave as
-speedily as possible, hoping to meet with her on my return. But I was
-disappointed. She had gone into a retired thicket to unburthen her grief
-by prayer. The truth was, her aunt treated her with great cruelty. Her
-uncle had little power to protect her. I made an errand there the next
-day, and found Mary alone. We sped rapidly in our acquaintance, and our
-parting was like that of old familiar friends. I became a frequent
-visiter at Mr. E.’s house. He received me cordially, but his wife, I
-could see plainly, disapproved my visits, and the more as it became
-evident that Mary and I were attached to each other. When it was known
-to her that we were engaged to be married, she became outrageous in her
-treatment of the poor orphan. She caused her many days of bitterness,
-and many nights of weeping.
-
-“We were to be married on my return from a visit with my mother to the
-east. My mother never returned. As soon as she was buried I hastened
-here, and found Mary ill of an inflammation of the lungs. The disease
-was brought on by exposure occasioned by the cruelty of Mrs. E.
-
-“I watched by her bedside till she died. When she was laid in the grave,
-I felt that there was a void in my heart that could never be filled.
-Nearly half a century has passed—the shadow of no earthly attachment
-has ever fallen for a moment on the place in my heart which belongs to
-her. The grave, as you see, is no longer a hillock—the coffin has
-fallen in—the heart that loved me so truly has mouldered, but her
-memory is as fresh as when I felt the last feeble pressure of her hand,
-or when I passed the whole night on her grave before I left the place.
-Men have called me indolent, irresolute, weak; but they knew not of the
-shadow which rested upon my path.
-
-“Of late, I trust, I have known something of the higher life which her
-dying lips entreated me to live. I am waiting for my appointed time,
-when I shall meet her in a world where affection is never blighted, and
-separation is unknown.
-
-“I have never said as much as I have now to any mortal; you seem to be
-capable of sympathizing with one. May your young heart find one whom it
-may love as entirely as I loved her; and may she be spared to you, that
-your life may not, like mine, be wasted. Farewell!”
-
-He turned and walked into the grove. Henry set out on his return to his
-uncle’s house. On his way, he thought of his gun with which he was to do
-such execution. He returned to the place where he had left it. It had
-fallen into the water, and was apparently an object of great curiosity
-to the shiners who surrounded the lock in great numbers. A frog sat
-resting on his elbows on the opposite bank, surveying the examination.
-When the gun was lifted from the water, he disappeared with a sound
-rather indicative of contempt either for the gun or its possessor.
-
-Aunt Martha received Henry with smiles, when she was assured that he had
-not silenced any innocent songsters, and her complacency was positive
-when she learned the manner in which the gun had been disposed of during
-the morning. She suggested that it would be an improvement if it were
-kept under water all the time.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- NEW YEAR MEDITATION.
-
-
- BY ENNA DUVAL.
-
-
- ’Tis midnight.
- Lo! the Old Year stands upon
- The threshold of the Past. To God it speeds
- Its way, but bears a burden, for I see
- Its form bend drooping with the weary weight
- Of evil deeds, and feelings harsh and cold.
- Farewell, Old Year! With light heart full of joy
- I greeted thee, before thou mad’st thy sad
- And bitter revelations to my soul.
- Temptations, grievous trials thou didst bring,
- And sorrow’s blinding, overwhelming tide.
- And yet I leave thee with a grateful heart,
- Thou stern but blest Instructor! Lessons harsh
- Of thee I’ve learned, but strength’ning have they been:
- And though thou bearest with thee record sad
- Of my poor deeds, and goodness left undone,
- That fills my heart with sorrow for the past,
- Bright blessed hopes like angels hover round
- This coming year.
-
- Hail, then, thou unknown one!
- I see proceeding from thee spirit forms;
- They are my future hours, good or bad.
- Mysterious shapes are they. Their mantles hang
- Around them dark and heavy—hooded, veiled,
- They give no sign of sorrow, nor of joy.
- Slowly each form advances; and to me
- Alone is given the right to raise those veils;
- But as I lift each hood, upon the face
- Beneath, my spirit traces there a mute
- But yet unchanging record of my thoughts—
- A faithful impress of my inner self—
- Then past recall the hour floats away!
-
- A gift these hours have in charge for me.
- My weal or wo they hold—my light—my shade.
- Dark sorrow they may bring me—bitter tears—
- Or sunny joys—bright Laughter’s merry crew
- May playful lurk behind those gloomy folds
- But if to me the right were given to lift
- Those veils, before the ordered time, and know
- The gifts they bring—I’d pause. I do not seek
- To know my future. This I humbly ask,
- In joy or wo, that God may give to me
- A firm, strong faith, and purity of heart.
- With gifts divine like these, my future years
- Might come unfeared, and pass without regret
- Or sad remorse.
-
- And now, my soul, regard
- This new-born year, just launching on the sea
- Of life. Twelve moons will roll around, and thou
- May’st stand as now, with sad and heavy thoughts,
- Upon its brink, and see with hopeless tears
- This year float from thee. Dark and mist-like shapes,
- Dim spirit forms may hover o’er the past.
- Forms that were once, like youth’s sweet visions, bright
- And filled with glory—resolutions, hopes,
- And thoughts of what thou purposed to have been;
- But unfulfilled and fading there may float—
- These are the forms that spectre-like may haunt
- And darken then thy past.
-
- Think well of this,
- My soul, and ere within the portal dark
- Of this unknown and silent future thou
- Dost float, remember that within thyself
- No power lies. Thou may’st have brilliant dreams,
- And aspirations grand and holy thou
- May’st cherish—aimless, futile all, without
- The aid and strength which God alone can give;
- Pray then to Him for faith, confiding, true,
- And strength to make thy resolutions firm—
- For all the good that in thy future thou
- Wouldst purpose to perform ask aid of Him.
- Then with this help divine thou need’st not dread
- Dark Sorrow’s form, nor Pleasure’s tempting smiles,
- And when the future years which God may give,
- Have each their changing cycles rolled around,
- Then floated off unto the solemn Past—
- When life’s last hour comes, with drooping wing,
- And thou art borne unto the judgment seat
- Of God! Eternity’s dread bar! o’er thee
- No shadows dark will hang, but Faith’s bright form,
- And heav’nly Love, will clasp thee round, and bear
- Thee up unto thy Father, God!
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: THE WIDOW OF NAIN.]
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE WIDOW OF NAIN.
-
-
- BY JOSEPH R. CHANDLER.
-
-
- [SEE ENGRAVING.]
-
-How little can we of this latitude, or rather of this country, for
-latitude seems not to rule in all cases with regard to temperature; on
-one side of a continent, that parallel which gives agreeable winters and
-dry, healthful summers, is marked on the other side with cold, snowy
-winters and most unhealthful summers; what the variant circumstances are
-which produce this difference it is not easy to tell; the difference
-_does_ exist, and ingenious theories have been constructed to suit those
-results; we say then again, how little can we of this latitude, or this
-country, judge of the enjoyments which others at a distance from us, but
-with the same shadows, have in the dry coolness of their evenings, or
-lassitude to which they are subject by the peculiar warmth which
-prevails during most of their summer days. The habits and customs among
-us are soon made conformable to the circumstances of our climate; though
-it must be confessed that people will always pertinaciously insist on a
-warm day on the first of May, and a stinging cold one on the 25th of
-December, while actual experience has shown that the thin floral garb
-adopted for the first has often led to consumption, and the winter furs
-and the great Yule-log that have distinguished the latter, have been
-considered rather _seasonable_ than pleasant. So much for a poetical
-conformity, but in the every-day business of life things are better
-disposed of; people do not think in this country of sitting under their
-own _vine_ till mid-summer, and then they look out for spiders; and as
-to their fig-trees, nobody gets under them unless it be the house-cat
-for a summer _siesta_. While eastward of the shores of the
-Mediterranean, people stretch themselves out upon the house-top for a
-comfortable night’s sleep, and spend a warm summer’s day beneath the
-cording shadow of the fig or the olive, and make life itself a blessing,
-not the means of enjoyment, but enjoyment itself; life and its
-accidents, the gratification of simple appetites—eating, drinking, and
-sleeping. Leaving to others the profitless toils that accumulate heaps
-of gold, only a portion of which can ever be used, and that portion will
-buy little more than what may be had and enjoyed without it. In this
-country we retreat away from an oppressive heat or a stinging cold, and
-make the absence of either an excuse for our merriment. In that other
-land to which we have referred, positive enjoyment is had in the uses of
-the evening air, and the contemplation of the heavenly hosts. Stars and
-planets twinkling in the clear blue ether above, not larger than seen
-from this continent, but far, far more intensely brilliant in the
-atmosphere, which allows of little refraction, and whose purity makes an
-upward gaze like the contemplation of some sanctified enclosure.
-
-Sitting on a bank that faced westward were observable two human figures
-in the closing twilight of an autumn day. They were gazing out upon the
-gorgeous west, and marking the successful struggles of the starry host
-to obtain visibility above. In all the rich flush that marked the
-pathway of the sun, and hung a glory around his place of exit, only one
-light had strength enough to be visible; and so pure was the atmosphere,
-that when the flush in the heavens retired, the splendid planet Venus
-seemed a delicate crescent—a diminutive moon, sinking downward to the
-western waters.
-
-“How beautiful, dear Reuben,” said the young female, as she pressed
-closely the hand of her companion; “how beautiful the heavens above us
-are to-night. It seems as if a peculiar brilliancy were observable; and
-I hope it is not sinful for me to say that the glorious array of stars
-seems to have communicated to my bosom something of their own
-transparent light; an unusual serenity seems to descend from them to me,
-and I feel now as if I owed to them sensations of inexpressible
-delight—quiet, gentle, but full. Whence is this, Reuben?”
-
-“May you not, my dear Miriam, have mistaken a cause for an effect? Is it
-not the quiet, peaceful delight of your heart that makes all outward
-objects more lovely to you? And, as the stars are the most brilliant and
-the most distant objects at the present moment, your feelings have
-connected themselves with those ministers of _Him_, and allowed that
-deep, mysterious connection of the planetary world with ours to work
-upon your imagination, as if the stars had a direct influence upon your
-condition.”
-
-“Perhaps so; but I alluded to my feelings and not my condition. How
-beautifully did our Prophet King refer his own elevated sensations to
-the planetary world, ‘The moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained.’”
-
-“True, true, my dearest Miriam; but you will recollect that while he
-made himself, and man generally, small in his _contemplation_ of the
-heavens, it was not in _comparison_ with them, it was comparing or
-contrasting man with Him who garnished the heavens, and wrote ‘all our
-members in a book.’ But are not your feelings, like mine, elevated with
-a hope, nay, with almost a certainty, that the elders will persuade my
-mother that the rights of our family can be retained, even though I
-marry you, or rather that the argument against our union was as
-unsustained by our laws as the attempt to give you to Salathiel was a
-violation of your affection and my rights.”
-
-“I know not but that may be the case. I feel it, Reuben, warmly at my
-heart. Let me say it without violating the delicacy of a maiden’s
-feelings, that such was my love for you, that even the alternative to
-which I consented, though of no moment, gave me a severe pang.”
-
-“What was that alternative?” asked the young man, with importunity.
-
-“Simply, that if you should not live to marry me, then Salathiel might
-take me to wife.”
-
-“I would haunt him with terrible bodings,” said Reuben, “even as Samuel
-frightened the falling Saul.”
-
-“And I, dear Reuben,” said the maiden, with a smile, “should, I suppose,
-be the Witch of Endor to call up your wandering and jealous spirit.”
-
-“And it is settled, then,” said Reuben, “and you are to be mine with the
-consent of our families. And the next new moon shall see us one.”
-
-“It shall be thus if your mother consents. I have none to consent or
-refuse, save my aunt. But let it not wound your feeling or excite
-suspicion in your mind, Reuben, that I ask you not to cherish feelings
-of unkindness against Salathiel. He is my kinsman and my early friend.”
-
-“Has he not sought to supplant me in your possession?”
-
-“Have you not supplanted him in my heart? Is it so much, my dear Reuben,
-for you to fear to lose me, and is it nothing for him to see me given to
-another?”
-
-“He tried for your possessions, Miriam, for your wealth only.”
-
-“Does not my wealth, little as it is, go with my hand—and why may not
-he have designs honorable as well as others?”
-
-“Because he would not leave it to your decision, to the arbitration of
-your affections. He could not love you and be willing to do violence to
-your love.”
-
-“May he not, dear Reuben, say the same of you?”
-
-“Of me! Miriam, you plead the cause of Salathiel. You wish the
-alternative—you would be free.”
-
-“Reuben, you may wound my pride by your injustice, but you cannot make
-me cease to love you. You may hereafter learn that woman may esteem a
-man for his virtues without loving him as a husband; and that for me to
-wish that you were less unkind to Salathiel, is no evidence that I love
-you less. I have heard within a few weeks such lessons of forgiveness,
-such preaching of high virtues—high, though always practical—that I
-desire to conform in some measure to them, and to have him whom I love
-and respect, augment my affection, not by any new _love_ on his part,
-but by a new exhibition of greatness of mind. Reuben, though protracted
-maidenhood is a reproach in Israel, be assured that my love is stronger
-than death—as I feel that your jealousy is more cruel than the grave.”
-
-“I will not be jealous. I will forget what I have deemed the wrongs of
-Salathiel. I will learn of you to respect myself. But, Miriam, what
-teaching is that to which you allude—what lessons of forgiveness have
-you received, and from whom? Is not the law of Moses sufficient for the
-daughters of Israel?”
-
-“I suppose the laws of Moses are not sufficient, else why have kings and
-prophets written and preached? But you know that several times within a
-year the teacher from Nazareth hath been in the synagogues of Nain, and
-has, indeed, spoken in the houses of our relatives, whither he hath come
-and broken bread.”
-
-“I have heard of his visits, and that his teaching had been eminently
-attractive—how _instructive_,” continued Reuben, with a sneer, “how
-instructive may be inferred from the proportion of women among his
-immediate followers.”
-
-“There were more women than men, undoubtedly, at his household
-instruction, because more women had leisure to listen. But let me tell
-the truth, Reuben. There _are_ many women among his followers, for he
-speaks to the heart of woman. He recognizes woman as the equal of man in
-the necessity for salvation, and he appeals to her affections, her
-experience, her wrongs and her neglect. What other prophet has come
-among us, that has thought it needful to recognize even his descent from
-woman, while He of Nazareth soothes our sorrows, elevates our hopes, and
-sanctifies our human relations? As I listened of late to him when he
-reproved but encouraged our sex, my heart said ‘this teacher’s doctrines
-may _save_ man,’ but how they _elevate_ and _purify_ woman. And then the
-lessons of love, of forbearance, of forgiveness, that he inculcates,
-belong to what I have deemed woman’s nature and man’s _necessity_.”
-
-“You have followed the teacher, then, Miriam?”
-
-“He is a prophet, Reuben, and he attests his divine mission by miracles.
-He has healed the sick, he has cured the lame, and made the blind see
-and the deaf hear.”
-
-“Has he raised the dead, as did the bones of Elisha?”
-
-“I have heard that he has wrought _that_ miracle, but do not know it,
-though I have such faith in his mission as to believe he might.”
-
-“_If he would raise me from the dead when I come to die, I would have
-faith too!_”
-
-“I should think, Reuben, that this act would be the consequence rather
-than the cause of faith. Though many others believed, in Jerusalem, as
-my Cousin Jacob says, in consequence of the restoration of blind
-Bartemus to his sight, yet the Master said, ‘_Thy faith_ hath made thee
-whole!’”
-
-“I have, nevertheless, no faith in this teacher as a prophet—why, whose
-son is he, Miriam?”
-
-“He is of the house of David, Reuben, and even though his parents are
-poor, are they much poorer than David’s parents? May there not be
-something in the great truths which he teaches, that is not dependent
-upon the parentage of the teacher?”
-
-“These things are important, Miriam, I confess, and we will confer of
-them together, but not now. We are about to part, let us mark the
-separation by a recurrence to a subject on which we both agree. The next
-new moon sees us united, and my joy at the anticipation is doubled by
-the belief that you share with me in the pleasure.”
-
-Miriam pressed the hand of her lover as they rose to descend the hill;
-and as they entered the gate of Nain, the rising moon poured its strong
-light through the gorges of the mountain, the pair wended their way
-through the broken streets of the city to the residence of Miriam,
-blessed in their mutual affection, and refreshed by the dry, cool breeze
-of evening, which had fanned them on the elevated seat which they had
-just left.
-
-Reuben turned toward home with a resolution to discuss the doctrine
-which he had heard imputed to the new teacher. Miriam, with woman’s
-humility, “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
-
-Miriam and Reuben met daily as espoused people; and frequent allusions
-were made to the doctrines of the teacher; and the pride of a Hebrew man
-was a little touched at the evidences of the elevating effect of a
-doctrine upon women, which Miriam’s language and conduct presented. Yet
-Reuben loved her too well to regret any circumstance which pleased and
-benefited Miriam. The customs of the country were too well fixed to lead
-him to fear the assumption of any inappropriate position by his future
-wife; indeed, it is believed that men do not begin to grow jealous of
-the authority of women until after marriage.
-
-“I do not find in the teaching of the new master,” said Reuben, one day
-as they were conversing on the subject now so important to her, and so
-generally interesting to him, “I do not discover any denunciations of
-our creed or our system and form of worship—why may not his doctrines
-prevail without danger to the Hierarchy?”
-
-“I cannot guess of that, Reuben; but certainly the teacher, while he
-refers to particular virtues and special sins, seems to desire a
-purification of the motives. He has conformed to all the requirements of
-our religion, but seems at times to be above it. I wish I understood him
-better. And yet how simple, how comprehensible are all his teachings.
-Why should I seek to know more? Why should I desire aught but that which
-shall make me better—happier—more hopeful? How the poor, the afflicted
-in body and in mind seek him out, and sit in joy at his teaching.”
-
-“Miriam, I will hear him—I will hear him soon,” said Reuben.
-
-It was only a few days before the new moon that Miriam had from the
-widow mother of Reuben an intimation that her only son and heir was
-prostrated by sudden and very severe sickness. The young woman hastened
-across the town to be in attendance upon Reuben, and to cheer him into
-health by her presence. But when she reached the house, she learned
-rather by the appearance than the words of the widow, that the sickness
-of Reuben was not of a kind to yield to such remedies as she had to
-offer.
-
-The attention of Miriam to Reuben was all that her feelings would permit
-her to give. She sat by his side and bathed his temples, and moistened
-his feverish hands, and listened with painful satisfaction to his
-unconscious utterance of her name.
-
-On the seventh day of Reuben’s sickness all awaited the crisis, and a
-few hours before sunset he awakened from a protracted sleep, and turned
-his eyes on the hopeful countenance of Miriam. The members of the family
-present saw with inexpressible pleasure that his consciousness had
-returned, and they _hoped_.
-
-But the physician pronounced against them. It was but a restoration of
-mental light before the darkness of death should set in.
-
-“Miriam,” said Reuben, “let me speak to thee alone one moment”—and the
-family retired.
-
-“I am dying, and the truths which you announced to me as we sat upon the
-hill-side some nights since—truths which the new teacher uttered, come
-home with strange distinctness to my heart. But is he, as his disciples
-would have us believe—is he the Messiah?”
-
-“Do you believe it, dear Reuben?”
-
-“I do not know, but I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon
-of all whom I have injured.”
-
-“Surely that is the spirit of the Master’s teaching, Reuben, and what
-can you more.”
-
-“But, oh, Miriam, where are the blessings which I had promised myself in
-thy love? Where the years of happiness in thy possession—when thou
-shouldst have been only mine?”
-
-“Are these regrets, my beloved, suited to one who leans upon the verge
-of the grave? Oh, look forward, Reuben, and look upward. In heaven we
-can meet again—meet without fear of separation, without doubt of love.”
-
-“But in heaven, where, oh, where shalt thou be, Miriam?”
-
-“Reuben, dear Reuben?”
-
-“Nay, my beloved, let me show my affection for you and my sense of duty
-to God at this last moment. I know, my Miriam, that by the customs of
-our people you should have been the wife of Salathiel, and I feel that
-next to me, (I do your love no injustice, my betrothed,) _next_ to me,
-Salathiel has your affection. Hear me out. When I am gone, it must be
-your duty. Oh, then, let it be your pleasure to receive him. Who better
-than he can be your protector? He is your nearest kinsman, and the laws
-and customs of our people are in his favor—promise me.”
-
-“Reuben, shall I call in your mother?”
-
-Reuben turned his eyes again toward the west, and the sun was sinking
-with all his evening glory into the great sea. A gentle breeze swept
-into the window, and blew the hair of the kneeling maid upon the pale
-face of her lover.
-
-“Turn my face, Miriam, to the east, let me pray thitherward. Let me hold
-you thus, ‘though the sorrows of death compass me about—’”
-
-When the widowed mother entered the room the dead form of her son was
-resting in the arms of the unconscious Miriam.
-
-Stricken with grief, and with a sense of her utter loneliness, the widow
-lifted up her voice and wept.
-
-Miriam was conveyed away—to be purified from the legal uncleanness that
-results from contact with the dead.
-
- * * * * *
-
-It was the morning of the third day from the death of Reuben, and Miriam
-was sitting lonely in her chamber.
-
-“And this,” said she, as she looked forth from her darkened room, “this
-was the day appointed for our marriage; and to-day they will take my
-beloved and carry him forth from the city, and lay him in the earth with
-his fathers; and his beautiful form shall moulder into the dust, and the
-worms shall feed sweetly on him. Yes, he shall return to the dust again,
-and his spirit to God who gave it.”
-
-“Oh, Father,” said the anguished maiden, as she kneeled with folded
-hands and upturned, streaming eyes, “oh, Father, receive his spirit!”
-And she poured out her soul in prayer for the dead, “after the custom
-that is among the Jews, even unto this day.”
-
-Shortly afterward the relatives of Miriam came in to comfort her before
-they went to assist in the funeral of Reuben. They respected her grief
-too much to make open allusion to a subject which was occupying their
-minds.
-
-One of the elders of the family, before going out, took aside the
-afflicted girl and attempted to console her with those cold arguments
-that interest suggests, and a want of respect for woman’s position
-warrants.
-
-“Still, Miriam,” continued the old man, after disregarding her requests
-to be left alone, “still the possessions of your father’s family remain
-with you; and these may now, as they ought to have been before, be, with
-you, the property of our Cousin Salathiel.”
-
-“Nay, my Uncle Achan, you trouble me, indeed; spare me that, let the
-possessions of our house go whither you list, to yourself or to
-Salathiel, but let me remain as I am. Give me peace—give me peace and
-time for my tears, and I will endure the reproach of maiden-widowhood,
-and let my name be lost from the family of our fathers.”
-
-Achan and his friends departed to meet at the house of the widow, and to
-be of the company of those who should assist in the funeral of her son.
-
-Miriam sat in her chamber, looking forth from the closed lattice to mark
-the first approach of the funeral-train which would pass her aunt’s
-dwelling on its way to the burying-place that lay beyond the walls of
-the city.
-
-The solemn train at length approached, and the cold, insensible form of
-her lover lay upon a bier, wrapped round with grave-clothes, and borne
-forth by men.
-
-As she gazed down upon the appalling sight, her heart seemed ready to
-burst with the grief that had no utterance, and she fell insensible to
-the floor.
-
-When Miriam opened her eyes, they rested upon the forms of her aunt and
-of Salathiel bending over her.
-
-“Was this well, Salathiel? Could you not have spared me one day for
-grief, must my affections for another be outraged, even in the presence
-of his passing remains?”
-
-“Miriam, my cousin,” said Salathiel, “I came in hither only to assist
-your aunt. No selfish feeling brought me into your presence. I know
-where your affections are, I know how deep-seated is your grief. Let me
-rather, my Miriam, be to you a means of consolation, than an occasion of
-offence, since my love to your person is less than my sympathy in your
-grief.”
-
-Miriam placed her hand in that of Salathiel, and a gentle pressure
-signified her appreciation of his feelings—and such a sign, at such a
-moment, too, told him how hopeless would be his love. He obeyed the
-sign.
-
-“The funeral has passed on,” said she.
-
-“It is now near the gate of the city,” said Salathiel.
-
-“We shall see it once more,” said Miriam, “as it ascends the hill that
-overlooks the valley of tombs.”
-
-“What is that faith, Miriam,” asked her aunt, “of which you spoke to me
-yesterday?”
-
-“It is but confidence in the promises and power of the teacher.”
-
-“Confidence that he will grant your wishes?”
-
-“Yes, if they be right, or that if he grant them not, then confidence
-that the refusal is best.”
-
-“Have you that confidence, Miriam?”
-
-“Oh aunt, oh my mother, do not tempt me. I would believe; my heart tells
-me that miracles such as his, could only be performed to attest a
-momentous truth. But do not tempt me, the body of Reuben is scarcely
-passed, in him my heart, my affections, my hope were centered—and he is
-taken from me. Why? is it good for me to be afflicted?”
-
-“Could the Master have saved his life, my child?”
-
-“Did he not yesterday save the life of the Centurion’s servant at
-Capernaum,” answered Salathiel, struck with the coincidence of the
-woman’s question with the recent fact.
-
-“Did you ask him, Miriam?”
-
-“I saw him not, and if I had seen him, what am I to him?”
-
-“If you had asked him, might he not have done it?”
-
-“I believe, aunt; I believe, Salathiel, that he _could_ have saved the
-life of Reuben.”
-
-“Would he not, then, raise him now?”
-
-“I do believe he _could_—I have faith in his _power_. But I would not
-be presumptuous. Yet, yet—oh, that Reuben might be restored to me?”
-
-“Amen!” said Salathiel, “Amen!” and the deep tone of voice, and the
-upward turn of his eyes, told how truly his heart responded to the
-prayer of his cousin.
-
-Two hearts were then united in solemn petition. There was _faith_, but
-none thought of _hope_.
-
-After a few minutes of solemn silence, the eyes of Miriam were turned
-mournfully, and yet eagerly, toward the hill beyond the city’s wall.
-
-“They are passing upward,” said Deborah to her; “the procession moves
-toward the brow of the hill, but, alas! the dust of the road conceals
-the train.”
-
-They all looked forth to follow with their eyes as long as possible the
-mournful procession.
-
-“But what is there?” exclaimed Deborah, pointing to a column of dust
-which denoted a crowd of people descending the hill toward the funeral.
-
-“The procession has passed,” said Miriam.
-
-“Both parties have stopped,” exclaimed Deborah.
-
-Salathiel looked earnestly out and said, in a low voice, but with much
-feeling, “Do the Romans come to insult us even when we bury our dead? We
-are a _conquered_ people, but we are not _slaves_.”
-
-“Hush!” said Miriam, “hush, my brother! let us not at this moment forget
-the teaching of the Master.”
-
-Salathiel leaned forward and kissed the brow of Miriam.
-
-“I thank you, I thank you, Miriam, for the monition, and I bless you for
-the term, brother; henceforth, my sister, know me for such. But let me
-go forth to learn what hath turned our people from their sepulchral
-rites.”
-
-Salathiel went forth, and Miriam, kneeling, buried her face in the lap
-of her aunt, and poured out her soul in prayer—deep, anguished,
-heart-engendered, heart-and-heaven-moving prayer.
-
-It was some time before the low voice of Miriam ceased. But her feelings
-had been overwrought, and at length she lay silent yet suffering, with
-her head still on Deborah’s knees.
-
-The quiet of the street and even of the chamber was at length disturbed
-by the confused footfall of a multitude who seemed to press onward with
-few words, and those uttered in a subdued tone. The multitude at length
-paused in front of the dwelling of Miriam, and the opening of the front
-door intimated that the procession of the people had some connection
-with the inmates of the house.
-
-The door of Miriam’s chamber at length opened, and Salathiel stood
-before the two women pale and agitated.
-
-“My sister, praise the Lord! A miracle has been wrought.”
-
-The agitated maiden shrunk into the arms of her aunt as she gazed toward
-Salathiel.
-
-“What,” exclaimed the aunt, “what is it, Salathiel? Speak?”
-
-“Reuben—”
-
-“Reuben!” exclaimed Miriam.
-
-“Reuben lives!”
-
-“Where—where is he?”
-
-“He has been borne back to the house of his mother.”
-
-“How has this been wrought?” asked Deborah.
-
-“There is our Cousin Asher, who was a witness of the whole. Shall he
-come in and tell you all?”
-
-Asher was admitted with one or two others of the family, and briefly
-stated the facts.
-
-“The rear of the very long procession that followed the corpse of Reuben
-had scarcely left the gate of the city, when I, who was assisting to
-bear the bier upon which rested the beloved remains, discovered a vast
-crowd of people coming down the hill. I soon, however, perceived that
-there was no intention on the part of the approaching mass to offer any
-offence or discourtesy to the funeral party; and, indeed, the
-expressions of grief by our widowed and bereaved kinswoman were so loud,
-that it was difficult to hear whether any word was uttered by the
-descending party. I have never seen a Hebrew woman so distressed; and
-though few have had such cause for grief, few have been more deeply
-wounded, yet I had hoped that she would have been able to repress her
-feelings. But as we grew nearer the grave, her lamentations were
-increased, and it was heart-rending to hear her exclamations. The whole
-procession seemed to have lost their own sense of bereavement in the
-presence of one the utterance of whose anguish was so impressive. To me
-it seemed almost an arraignment of Providence by our kinswoman. I cannot
-tell you how every one was affected; each seemed to wish silently but
-heartily that some event might occur to soothe the sorrows of the widow.
-
-“At length the descending party, which was very large, met our
-procession; and almost every member of that company manifested deep
-sympathy for the suffering of the chief mourner. In a moment the
-principal of the company stepped forward and took our kinswoman by the
-hand, and whispered to her words of comfort. What they were I could not
-hear, but the effect was instantaneous—the clamor of grief was
-hushed—and our kinswoman walked quietly on, gazing with a sort of rapt
-awe upon the comforter, whose countenance though marked with sympathy
-for her suffering was yet majestic and dignified.
-
-“The mother’s eyes for a moment wandered from the face of the visiter,
-and fell upon the form of her son stretched out before her, and again
-her agony found vent—again the _mother_ was heard, again the mountain
-seemed to echo with her lamentation.
-
-“He who was walking at her side did not rebuke the mourner, but a new
-and more intent feeling of compassion was evident in his look and
-manner, and taking the hand of the afflicted one, he said in a tone of
-deep consolation, ‘Weep not.’
-
-“Almost immediately afterward he left the widow standing where she was,
-and approaching us ‘came and touched the bier,’ and we who were carrying
-it stopped; for there was a sort of authority in the air and movement of
-this person, or let me say the effect rather than the assumption of
-authority. When the eyes of all were turned toward the dead body, and
-toward him that stood by it, the person with a mild tone, with no
-ceremony, with a simple utterance of the words, said,
-
-“‘_Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!_’”
-
-“And Reuben, dear Asher, Reuben!” exclaimed Miriam.
-
-“And Reuben sat up on the bier, and began to speak of the sensations
-which crowded upon him.
-
-“But He who had restored him to life, seemed to comprehend that the
-mother’s feelings should be first consulted, her rights first respected,
-and so ‘_He_ delivered him to his mother.’”
-
-“And he lives now?”
-
-“Yes now, and with his mother. But what an awe came upon those who
-witnessed that august scene. There was no shouting at the success of the
-effort, no cheering that human life had been restored. But with an
-overpowering sense of divine visitation, the people, in devout fear,
-kneeled, and ‘glorified God,’ saying ‘a prophet has risen up among us.’”
-
-It was not deemed safe to the convalescent Reuben that Miriam should
-visit him immediately. His life not his health had been restored. And
-the effect of a too early interview, might be too much for both. A few
-days afterward Salathiel conducted Miriam to the house of Reuben, and as
-they proceeded thither he cautioned her against the indulgence of too
-much feeling, lest her own frame should yield. Leading her to the door
-of the chamber, the young man felt that his presence would be too much
-of a restraint, so knocking lightly he heard a voice from within bidding
-them enter, and he turned and went to the mother in another part of the
-house.
-
-What was said by the young lovers, separated as they had been by death,
-and thus restored this side the grave, we shall not now repeat. It was a
-sublime colloquy, for it included the experience of a heart in which
-hope had contended against hope—and the awful experience of a soul that
-had been freed from the trammels of flesh. But it was still Reuben and
-Miriam. Death had not destroyed the identity, for the same love that had
-animated them in his former life was felt and reciprocated now.
-
-“I did fear, Reuben; indeed, for a moment I feared, when I heard of your
-restoration, that the love which had been a part of _our_ lives, would
-have been quenched in you by death, or sublimated beyond the uses and
-comprehension of earth.”
-
-“Oh, Miriam love is the immortal part of our affections—it is the soul
-of the mind—it is stronger than death—and that which is pure and
-rightly placed on earth is indestructible, and thousands of years, my
-beloved, passed in separation would work no change. We should at our
-renewed communion find the same love that had existed in past centuries
-in full and satisfactory operation. You know that the seeds which our
-travelers bring from the mummies of Egypt are as fruitful as those which
-are sown from the last year’s harvest, so, my beloved one, is the love
-that is worthy the soul’s cherishing.”
-
-“But, Reuben, has it struck you that you have received the testimony
-which you almost impiously challenged as a ground of faith?”
-
-“It has, it has, and while I have been struck with shame at the impiety
-of such a thought, I have yielded the faith which I promised, and am
-henceforth a follower of the teachings of Him of Nazareth.”
-
-“Oh, my prayers, dear Reuben—”
-
-“They were pure, and effective to _your_ good, Miriam, undoubtedly, but
-it was from compassion for my widowed, childless mother that the miracle
-was wrought.”
-
-“Who shall tell the motives of Him that can work miracles? What we call
-ends, dear Reuben, may be means with him, and the babe that is sent in
-answer to the Hebrew mother’s prayer, may be the saviour or the
-destroyer of his people.”
-
-Salathiel then knocked for admittance. He entered and kissing both of
-his cousins he wept with joy—“And this, this is the consummation of my
-highest earthly wish,” said he.
-
-“Is it indeed? Can _you_ rejoice, Salathiel, that I am come to take
-Miriam from you; is it indeed thus, my cousin?”
-
-“I have loved Miriam as dearly as you could love her, Reuben. I will
-yield in that to none. I will not affect to conceal _that_. But the
-miracle that has raised you to life has shown me that I have a higher
-duty to perform, a more glorious mission to fulfill. Be yours, my
-cousin, the enjoyment of domestic love and peace and happiness, which
-virtue ensures; and let your home and your lives illustrate the power of
-the Master’s doctrine to purify and multiply home affections.
-Henceforth, if permitted, I will sit at the feet of the teacher and
-learn; and when _sent_ I will go, and offer his doctrines and my life
-for the good of our people.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-The new moon had again come, and the house of the aunt of Miriam was
-filled with her kinspeople, who had come to the marriage; and when the
-feast was over, and parties had formed in different rooms, and some,
-with the bride and bridegroom, were on the housetop enjoying the
-delightful air of evening, as it swept down the hills loaded with the
-scents of roses and acacia, some drew the attention of the party to the
-brilliancy of the slender moon in the west, and the stars that were
-scattered through the heavens.
-
-“It is a good omen,” said Asher, “when the planet that is so near the
-moon assumes with her the crescent shape at a marriage, or when at this
-season the Pleiads and Orion are peculiarly brilliant.”
-
-The newly married ones looked up smilingly toward the heavens, as if
-they recognized the doctrine of stellar influences.
-
-Salathiel, who had been looking upon the pair with deep interest, then
-stepped forward, and taking a hand of each, he said, “My cousins, I am
-called away—not again to mingle in this delightful scene—called to a
-higher duty; pray that it may be as delightful—it cannot be more
-dangerous. Keep the faith—mark the signs of the times in the conduct of
-man and in the instigations of your passions, but look not to the stars
-for your instruction. Oh, my beloved one,” and he stooped and kissed the
-lips of Miriam, “oh, my dear brother,” and he pressed his lips to the
-forehead of her husband; “oh, Reuben and Miriam, ‘seek Him that maketh
-the Seven Stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into morning,
-and maketh the day dark with night,’—the Lord is his name.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE IMAGE.
-
-
- BY A. J. REQUIER.
-
-
- Thou dwellest in my thoughts
- As shines a jewel in some ocean cave,
- Which the eye marks not and the waters lave;
- A ray of light imprisoned! which none save
- The soul that shrines it knows—its temple and its grave.
-
- Thou bathest in my dreams;
- A form of dainty Beauty—something seen
- At cloudy intervals, through a gauze-like screen—
- A voice of gentle memories—a mien
- Too tender for an angel’s, yet as fair, I ween.
-
- Thou sparklest through my fears;
- A hope which bloometh as an early flower,
- Shines in the sun nor droops beneath the shower;
- A holy star that glides at vesper hour
- Into the dusk-hung sky—and, saintly, seems to lower!
-
- In daylight and in dreams,
- ’Mid hopes that beckon and ’mid fears that frown,
- Thou art the juice that every care can drown;
- A rose amongst the thorns—the azure down
- Of the meek-brooding dove—the halo and the crown!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- A VOICE FROM THE WAYSIDE,
-
-
- ABOUT GRACE GERMAIN’S LIFE-ROMANCE.
-
-
- BY CAROLINE C——.
-
-
- ’Tis as easy for the heart to be true
- As for grass to be green, or skies to be blue—
- _’Tis the natural way of living!_
- Vision of Sir Launfal.
-
-The school was dismissed, and a multitude of boys and girls came rushing
-out from the old frame building, and tore pell-mell down the streets of
-a country village, just like merry, care-naught mad-caps as they were.
-Of all ages and sizes were these little folks—they were the life and
-the care of a great many homes; some heirs of poverty, and some, but
-these were few, heirs of wealth—but each and all had brought with them
-into the world enough of love to secure for themselves a welcome place
-at the board, and by the hearth. They resembled very much any other
-congregation of children in the world—some of them remarkable for their
-stupidity, and presenting always to their teachers the same thick
-skulls, which it appeared nothing could penetrate—others again, quick
-at learning, to whom it was a relief for the weary Mentors to turn, and
-to whose mental wants they attended with a glad alacrity.
-
-But I am not going to generalize any more at this time; and shall only
-add to the foregoing remarks, that this school was a marvel in its
-way—the teachers prodigies in learning, and all the parents thought
-their young children’s acquirements actually verging on to the
-miraculous—which state of things, I will add as a P. S., is remarkably
-pleasant for all parties concerned. Is it not teachers, and parents, and
-you poor little scholars?
-
-Several girls, from nine to twelve years of age, were walking homeward
-leisurely, and talking loudly and earnestly on some important topic, as
-school-girls sometimes will, when a young boy, also one of the scholars,
-passed by them. With singular boldness he turned his handsome face full
-toward the little party as he passed, and one of the girls, whose name
-was Grace Germain, must have seen something remarkably expressive of
-somewhat in the boy’s black eyes, for very suddenly she seemed to have
-lost all interest in the conversation, in which, by the way, she had
-been one of the chief participators the moment before—and the little
-girl’s step grew slower and slower. Finally, taking one of her
-school-books from under her arm, Grace seemed all at once to be seized
-with a decidedly studious fit, (for the first time that week,) and then
-her shoe-strings must needs unloosen, and she must stop to fasten them,
-till at last, as might be expected, her companions were far beyond her
-in the homeward way, and she was left quite alone. When the child passed
-by a little lane her face became quite suddenly and unaccountably
-flushed, and Grace grew decidedly nervous in her movements, and she
-turned away her head, as though it were forbidden, and a sin for her to
-look down that narrow by-way where Dame Corkins and the little lame
-child lived.
-
-But these mysterious movements were all explained when, a moment after,
-some one came marching, to a tune of double-quick time, up the lane, and
-when he appeared on the main-street again, lo and behold! it was that
-same black-eyed urchin Hugh Willson, who had a few moments previous
-passed by her, and he called out,
-
-“Grace, Grace Germain, wait a moment; I want to tell you something!”
-
-Grace of course blushed, and looked sideways, and down, and finally at
-the boy, but for the life of her she could not summon up a look of
-astonishment at his appearance, finally she said,
-
-“Well, what do you want, Hugh?”
-
-“I’m going home, Grace, to-morrow, and—and—I wanted to see you just to
-give you this; perhaps you’ll think I’m a fool for my pains. I wish
-though it was worth its weight in gold!”
-
-Oh! you would have certainly thought that the poor girl’s face was on
-the point of blazing instantly, could you have seen it, and Hugh thought
-there were really tears in her eyes too, as she put out her hand for the
-little package he had brought her. For some distance they walked on
-together, and neither spoke.
-
-At length, as she drew near home, Grace found courage to look up and
-say, “Hugh, what are you going home for?”
-
-“Father has sent for me, I am to go to an academy, but—” Hugh did not
-finish the sentence, and after waiting an unconscionable time, and
-speaking at last as though a “drag” were fastened to every word, Grace
-said,
-
-“You will come to see us again sometime, wont you, Hugh?”
-
-“Yes, if I ever can. I can’t bear to go away now, Grace, but, as father
-says, I _am_ getting old. I’m almost fifteen, and it’s a fact I ought to
-know more than I do. Perhaps I’ve staid in the country too long already;
-but I hate a city, and I shall come back here just as often as I can,
-for I love this place better than all the world.”
-
-And that, reader, was rather a strange confession to be made by a spirit
-so active and stirring as was Hugh Willson’s, for of all country
-villages on the face of the earth, “Romulus” was certainly the dullest,
-and least attractive.
-
-“I’m coming down by here to-night, Grace,” said the lad, as he opened
-the gate for the child, “if you would like to see me, come out here—I
-cannot bid you good-bye now—will you be here?”
-
-“Yes, Hugh,” was the reply given sadly—and this time it was a great
-deal more than she could do to keep back or hide her tears—for Grace
-Germain thought Hugh Willson the handsomest and kindest boy she ever
-knew, and she could not bear to think of his going away. So she left him
-with little ceremony, and went into the house. And the boy saw her
-grief, and he could have wept also—he _loved_ Grace Germain!
-
-Well, what do you think made up that unpretending package—the parting
-gift? First and foremost, there was a little box, and it contained—not
-a gem, not a book, but—a fresh, beautiful rose-bud; and Grace did not
-laugh when she saw it, neither did she smile as she unwound the strip of
-paper from the stem, and read thereon,
-
- “Give _me_ but
- Something whereunto I may bind my heart—
- Something to love, to rest upon, to clasp
- Affection’s tendrils round!”
-
-She did not laugh, I say, for sorrow was in her heart, the first deep
-sorrow she had ever known. Hugh was going away—and how much better she
-liked him than all other boys she had ever known in her life! But the
-rose-bud was not all the contents of the box; there was beside it a
-magnificent sheet of blue paper, gilt edged, and “superfine,” and on it
-Hugh had copied the “Parting Song,” by Mrs. Hemans; and perhaps, good
-reader, though you be not fresh from Yankee land, you may guess how the
-child’s heart beat faster than ever it had before, as she read the
-words—
-
- When will you think of me, dear Grace?
- When will you think of me?
- When the last red light, the farewell of day,
- From the rock and the river is passing away,
- When the air with a deep’ning hush is fraught,
- And the heart goes burdened with tender thought?
- Then let it be!
-
- When will you think of me, sweet Grace?
- When will you think of me?
- When the rose of the rich midsummer time
- Is filled with the hues of its glorious prime,
- When ye gather its bloom, as in bright hours fled,
- From the walks where my footsteps no more may tread;
- Then let it be!
-
- Thus let my memory be with you, Grace—
- Thus ever think of me!
- Kindly, and gently, but as of one
- For whom ’tis well to be fled and gone;
- As of a bird from a chain unbound,
- As of a wanderer whose home is found;
- So let it be!
-
-And what had Grace to give to Hugh? What had she among her few treasured
-possessions a _boy_ would care for? The dolls maimed for life—the
-broken china—the picture-books—the bits of lace and ribbons, what were
-they to him? Grace never realized her poverty before that day—and then
-the very thought was humiliating. If she could only buy a knife, or a
-pocket-book, or a pencil-case; but the child had no purse, and,
-unfortunately, no money either, so that thought was speedily abandoned.
-It grew quite dark while she stood in her little room, still before the
-opened drawer which held all her keepsakes and treasures, but no good
-fairy was nigh at hand to lay before her the thing she wished, and at
-last, quite in despair, she went and stood by the parlor window, and lo,
-there was Hugh already passing by, whistling, and looking for all the
-world as though the inmates of that particular house were nothing in the
-least to him.
-
-In a few moments, side by side, the boy and girl were walking in the
-garden.
-
-“I have read your note, Hugh,” said Grace, for the “shades of evening”
-creeping over them, gave her a wonderful and unnatural boldness to
-speak, “but what shall I give you for a keepsake? I haven’t a book in
-the world _you_ would give a fig for.”
-
-“Don’t talk about books,” replied he, hastily, “there is something that
-wouldn’t cost you much, I’d give more for than for all the books in
-Christendom!”
-
-“What is it, Hugh, tell me quick?”
-
-“Just that curl on your forehead! Give me that, Grace, and I never will
-part with it.”
-
-In a moment it was separated from the thick curls that adorned her head,
-and stooping down, Grace laid a forget-me-not in it, and gave it to
-Hugh. He—what? kissed it, and kissed Grace, and then put the curls
-safely in his vest-pocket, and told the child she was the prettiest and
-best girl he ever knew, and that he should miss her more than all the
-boys and girls of the village together.
-
-But while the lad was in the very midst of his ardent protestations, a
-voice from the house called to Grace, and the children parted—to meet
-again, how and when you shall not be so long learning as they were.
-
-Hugh went to his city home, Grace to her school. He dreaming of Grace
-Germain as a woman, and wondering if she would not then be his wife—she
-to resume her studies with no great interest, to wish day after day that
-Hugh would only come back again, and to wonder if he would be so
-handsome when he was a man as he was then.
-
-Years passed, Grace was no longer a child but a beautiful girl—a bride;
-and yet Hugh Willson was not her bridegroom.
-
-A rich young merchant of a neighboring town, captivated by her
-loveliness and charming manners, had “wooed an won,” and a nine days’
-wonder in the village of Romulus, was the wonderful good fortune of the
-orphan—for of late years Grace had been dependent on her relatives, her
-parents having died while she was yet very young.
-
-Grace had never seen or heard of the boy of rose-bud memory since their
-first parting, but her thoughts of him had always been those we have for
-a pleasant unforgotten dream. And she kept the little gift that Hugh had
-given her most religiously. The very night before her bridal, though she
-had wept happy tears over the noble, tender note that Clarence Lovering
-sent her with a splendid ornament—a wedding-gift—still she had it in
-her heart even then, to look with no ordinary interest on the little
-pasteboard box that held the withered flower, and to read, not
-carelessly, the verses Hugh had written her in a large, boyish hand so
-long ago.
-
-Yet it was not faithlessness to later vows that prompted her to kiss the
-rose-bud, and to preserve still longer the blue note and the little box,
-for Grace with all her heart respected Clarence Lovering, and she loved
-him well, too. She was a lofty, true-spirited girl, and when she married
-the young merchant, for better or for worse, as it might prove, she did
-it with a true and loyal heart; and it was in all respects a union in
-which might well be asked, and without doubt or fear, the blessing of
-Heaven.
-
-But there were bitterer tears to be shed, and deeper griefs to be borne
-than Grace Lovering had yet known; six months after her marriage she
-followed her young husband to the grave, and there was none on earth
-that could sustain or uphold her in that day of terrible visitation.
-Voices and forms with which she was scarcely familiar came to comfort
-her, but the friend whose companionship would have made any place in the
-wide world a pleasant home for her, was dead; and the bereaved woman
-longed to return once again to her early home—the village where all her
-early life was passed—to bury her husband and lover beside her parents,
-under the willow-tree in the old burial-ground, and then to mourn in
-quietness, and alone, away from the scenes of the bustling, noisy town.
-
-And all her desires were speedily complied with—her old guardian and
-uncle from the little village came to her to assist, and conduct her
-back to Romulus; and before the year was passed, Grace was again at home
-in the old house where she was born, and in the grave-yard near by, on
-which she could daily, hourly look, her husband slept.
-
-Kindly and tenderly the old neighbors welcomed back the mourner to their
-midst; and there, where in her childish heart love had first awakened,
-there, where in later years she had watched in agony the dear ones of
-the household “passing away” silently into the “silent land;” there, in
-the old dwelling, which, during the few past years had stood tenantless,
-and looking so broken-hearted; there, in her early womanhood, Grace
-Lovering, the desolate and stricken, came back to make it her
-abiding-place, her lonely _home_. She felt that to her a cold twilight
-of existence only was remaining, that the sunshine which rests so richly
-and revivingly on the young and the beloved, would be henceforth faint
-and weak as her own heart. But it was not wholly so, time the great
-soother, as well as destroyer and chastener, took the sting and the
-poignancy from her grief, and, like the dove with its olive branch,
-there spread through her soul that trust in Heaven’s infinite goodness,
-that makes the wilderness even to blossom.
-
-Placed far above the reach of poverty, the miseries and cares of want
-did not mingle their bitterness with her heart-sorrow. And in all, save
-those few natural but dread experiences, Grace bade fair to be a “babe
-at seventy,” in that unwelcome wisdom which continued misfortunes only
-can impart.
-
-It was her thirtieth birth-day, and the anniversary of her marriage. The
-widow sat alone in the pleasant parlor of her cottage; she had remained
-alone that day, and with tears dedicated it to her heart’s sacred
-memories. Every thing about the room and the house, was pleasantly
-indicative of a refined and peaceful way of living, and of cheerfulness,
-too, save and except the sorrowing woman, who, at nightfall paced the
-room, and looked so sadly into the past. The curtains of the windows
-were drawn and the door closed; Grace had been looking again over the
-treasures of her casket. It was in that very room, twenty years before,
-she had laid down on that night of their parting, to dream about Hugh
-Willson, and to pray for his happiness; and now she stood there a widow,
-sad and desolate, in her prime of life, thinking of the love of her
-later life—and weeping as she thought—for Clarence Lovering was worthy
-to be so remembered and loved.
-
-In the beautiful casket, _his_ gift, were laid the bridal ornaments
-which he had given; she had never worn them since his death, but kept
-them where no eye but her own could gaze upon them, and think of his
-loving kindness, but with them was preserved still a withered flower
-whose fragrance had fled quite away, and _never_ with a heart quite
-calm, had Grace been able to look upon it; neither had she ever been
-able to think with indifference, or a mere _idle_ curiosity of thought,
-on the probable worth of Hugh Willson’s manhood.
-
-At length, as the night came on, the letters, and the jewels, and the
-rose, were laid away, but the miniature of her lost husband was lying
-next her heart then—for the love of the woman was vaster and deeper
-than that of the child; and Grace had dried her tears, for the hope that
-consoles the Christian mourner had conquered the agony of spirit that
-for a time overwhelmed her.
-
-The evening proved dark and stormy, the pattering of the rain upon the
-window-sill, and the still softer and more dream-like sound with which
-it falls upon the grass, which is so pleasant to hear when all within
-the house is bright and cheerful, was a melancholy sound to the lonely
-woman, for it fell upon the graves in the burial-ground, where the damp
-earth was the only shelter of her beloved ones, and its echo fell upon
-that grave in her heart where lay buried the hopes of her youth—she
-might have, and I know not but she did, draw from it a hope and a
-promise of resurrection and of life both for her lamented dead, and for
-her vanished joy in life.
-
-The quiet of the chamber was for a moment broken, a servant entered, a
-letter laid upon the table, and then the door was closed, the post-boy
-gone, and all was still again.
-
-Mechanically the widow tore off the envelope, and opened the epistle.
-Let us read it with her, for Grace Lovering is born to a new life when
-those contents are made known to her—she dwells no longer in the so
-lonely present, or the sad past. For her also the future is alive again.
-She did not look for a resurrection so sudden and so strange—did you?
-
- “Grace, dear Grace Germain, from the sands of the desert my
- voice, perhaps long, long forgotten, comes to you again. It is
- night, ‘night in Arabia,’ and I am for a moment alone; my
- traveling companions are gone to their rest, but I—I cannot
- sleep, and so have come from out my tent to write by the light
- of the burning stars once again to her who _was_ the little girl
- I knew and loved in childhood. You may think my man’s estate has
- been reached unworthily, because I still love to think of boyish
- hours, and long so to recall them—yes, that is it, _long to
- recall them_. Are you yourself unable to think of them as the
- very blessedest days you ever knew? If it is so, Grace, how idly
- will my words fall on your ear.
-
- “I know nothing of what has been the fate of the child I loved
- so well. I know not if you are the bride of another, or,
- perchance, I may be addressing myself to one who no longer has a
- name on the earth; but even if the idol of my boyish years is
- living for, and to another, I can pray for and bless her. Yes, I
- pray God to bless you, Grace Germain. I cannot and will not
- believe that the _woman_ to whom I address myself, is no more.
- There is something whispering to my spirit now, it is not so. I
- feel to-night a strong conviction, an irresistible presentiment
- that you and I will meet again. I dare not think _how_, but this
- I know, if it is not in this world, we shall know one another
- hereafter.
-
- “If you remember me at all, I know it is only as the wild and
- trifling boy who loved you better than his books, better than
- all children he ever knew. You know me not at all as the stern,
- time-tried, care-worn man, who has fought fierce battles with
- fortune and life, who finds himself wasting the powers of his
- manhood, far severed from all domestic, humanizing ties,
- treasuring in his heart only one name that makes the joyful
- recollection of his youth—careless, cold, and selfish perhaps,
- but never losing hold of that one, dear link to the affection,
- the lasting, undying affection that was born of you in my
- youthful soul, and still, still preserves its strength _through_
- you.
-
- “Perhaps, indeed, you do not in the faintest degree remember me.
- You may have to recall with an effort the time of childhood, or
- at least that time when I was your school-companion; nay, it may
- be an effort for you to recall my name. Oh, if that is the
- truth, how very different is it to the memory I have treasured
- of you, dear Grace. My home has been upon the oceans and in the
- deserts, and mid the wilds of nature every where. Many years
- have passed since I left my father’s house, and my feet have
- never from that time touched upon my native shores. During these
- years of absence I have had opportunities to try my heart. I
- have learned who are the friends most dear to me, and over the
- vast sea of the desert sand, across the great ocean, let my
- voice come and whisper in your ear, Grace, there are none, none
- whose memory is so treasured now as is your own! The longing
- which is so often felt by the wanderer for the scenes and
- familiar faces of his native land, has never before pressed so
- heavily on me as this night; and now I wish, oh, how eagerly, to
- revisit, if it be only for an hour, that quiet place where a
- portion of my school-life was passed; and yet it is only because
- it is, or may be still _your_ home; and were I there again, I
- might tread with _you_ along the race-course, and over the old
- bridge to —— Grove, and through all the haunts now treasured
- in my memory. Do you remember the gifts we gave at parting? and
- did you fling away the bud as a worthless, trifling thing, even
- before it was faded? Or—what madness, you will think, prompted
- such an idea—do you keep it still? Perhaps you had not then so
- fully awakened to the life of the heart, you may not have
- dreamed that with that simple memento I gave to you the dreams
- of my boyhood, the hopes of my youth. Grace, I gave you MY HEART
- with the flower. I have never since recalled it. And now, if
- memories are returning again to you, if you are looking half
- tremblingly into the past, you will think of the little curl and
- the frail forget-me-not. Oh, you will not need that I should
- tell now how in danger and in suffering, and through all the
- most varied experiences I have preserved them—and how I have
- _not_ forgotten.
-
- “Last night I dreamed that you kept the rose-bud yet, and, will
- you believe it, when I awakened, and recalled to mind the
- proverb about the truthfulness of dreams, and their
- _contrariness_, it troubled me. Thousands of miles lie between
- us, and we may never meet again, all recollections of my native
- land save those relating to you only, are hateful to me; but,
- could I only hear your voice assuring me this night, or could I
- believe that you would welcome me back, and say to me with your
- own sweet voice that you were glad to see me, oh, I should run
- and could not weary nor grow faint, and neither day nor night
- should look upon my lagging feet until I stood once more beside
- you. Thou, beautiful joy of my childhood, say, wouldst thou
- welcome me?
-
- “Perhaps you will think I have taken an unwarrantable liberty in
- so addressing you, for the friendships and loves of children
- are, I know, usually evanescent as dreams, yet I cannot, will
- not, think that whatever may be your position in life now, or
- whatever may be the relations you sustain in life, I do not
- believe that you will scorn me for the words I have written, or
- that you will read carelessly this record of my thoughts.
-
- “Time has dealt with no light hand to me, he may have given you,
- perhaps, with every passing year, a blessing. He has laid no
- caressing arm on me; possibly he has guided you thus far
- tenderly as a mother would lead her child. I have bowed beneath
- his frown, and you, you may have grown to glorious perfectness
- in the light of his smile. I have known deep sorrows—it may be,
- oh, I pray it may _not_ be—that you also have not escaped the
- universal heritage. It might be far beyond your possibility to
- recognize in _me_ the bright boy filled with glad expectations
- that you once knew; but I cannot but believe that I should know
- you, and recognize you amid a multitude—the mild and beautiful
- blue eyes—the meek, gentle, and so expressive countenance—the
- smile, so sweet and winning, that rested so often on the face of
- the dear child; oh, they are not yet forgotten. I am convinced
- the _woman_ whom I love has a face whose expression is heavenly!
- Do not censure me, I pray, for daring to _tell_ my love. The
- hope of being with you once again, and of speaking with and
- looking upon you, is like the hope of heaven to the pilgrim,
- weary and out-worn with earth-striving.
-
- “Months will pass away before these words, uttered from the
- fullness of my heart, reach you—the heart from which they come
- may have ere then ceased its beating, may be cold and dead; but
- will it be nothing for you to know that its beatings were ever
- true to you, even though you never have, and do not now need my
- homage? Will you care to think that when I wrote these words it
- was my highest hope that I might one day follow them to the home
- of Grace Germain, to beseech at least her friendliness, to hear
- the tones of her dear voice again, and then perhaps to lie down
- to rest in the grave-yard near her home, where it would be no
- wrong for her to come sometimes, even from a circle of beloved
- ones, to think of days gone by, the days of merry childhood.
-
- “I have written too much—too much; the day is dawning, we shall
- journey far through the desert before to-morrow morning, but
- to-night, with every word I have written, thoughts and great
- hopes have awakened which will never be stilled again—they will
- be with me till I stand once more before you; and if there be a
- dearer one on whom your eyes will rest as you lift them from
- this page, to whom you will confide this folly of an old man, as
- you perhaps will call it, yet still remember me, and let him
- think of me with forgiving kindness.
-
- “May the rich blessing of heaven be with you now and ever.
-
- “Hugh Willson.”
-
-And had Hugh Willson, indeed, committed an unpardonable trespass in
-writing thus, after the lapse of so many years, to his old schoolmate?
-No, no! bear witness the sudden flashings of color, and the as sudden
-paleness which swept over the lady’s face as she read on; bear witness
-the occasional smiles, and the long and passionate weeping in which the
-lonely woman indulged, when her eyes rested so tenderly and sadly on the
-name affixed to the strange epistle. They were not tears of anger that
-she shed; it was not a smile of derision and mockery, at the sudden
-betrayal of affection the man had given, after a silence of years; they
-were not words of scorn which escaped her lips when she laid down to
-rest that night; ah, no! he had powerfully touched a chord in her soul,
-that from her childhood had ever vibrated even at the mention of his
-name.
-
-There were eyes that were not closed in sleep during the hours of that
-night—but it was not grief that caused the widow’s wakefulness. There
-was one who listened till the morning to the heavy falling rain—but not
-in sadness; there was a lady who arose when the sunlight streamed once
-more through her chamber, who looked out on the blue heavens whence all
-the clouds had vanished, and hailed then a new era in her life-history.
-
-From that day there was a marked change in the existence of Grace
-Lovering. That message of love which had come to her from the desert, at
-a time when life pressed heavily upon her, and death seemed the only
-hope of relief; that message aroused and cheered her, and made her to
-look more thankfully on the life yet vouchsafed to her, and the
-blessings which had been given along with the sorrows. Though the hope,
-and the thought even, seemed a wild one, that Hugh Willson would ever
-again return, the idea that he even remembered her, and thought still
-with interest on their childish years was grateful to her heart, and
-made her feel that neither for her nor for any one in the wide world is
-life _utterly_ lonely and worthless.
-
-True, the widowed and orphaned woman never forgot that she had _buried
-her dead_, that all her nearest of kin slept the long and quiet
-death-sleep; but a serenity and cheerfulness quite usurped the past
-frequent melancholy, and smiles were oftener seen upon her lovely face
-than tears. And not only in herself was the change visible; her
-household, and the little cottage seemed to share in the awakened
-happiness; and then, too, the poor and the needy had oftener cause to
-bless the widowed woman. The sick and suffering shared her loving care;
-and they blessed her—well might they—when she stood so often like a
-ministering angel beside them. The old and the weary mingled her name in
-their thanksgiving, for she failed not to make their downward path easy,
-and her voice was the voice of a comforter to them.
-
-And this, as it were, instantaneous rousing up to active life, was a
-blessed thing for Grace. Time, after that great change, sped on no
-leaden wing; the clouds began to break, and stars came out, even when
-she had thought nothing but midnight darkness was forever her portion.
-The heart of the widow grew strong then, for she knew that when those
-stars were set, or hid again as they _had_ been from her eyes, that the
-great sun itself would arise, and the never-ending daylight would break
-for her.
-
-Ten years thus passed away. The shadows of forty winters had crept over
-the wife of Clarence Lovering; and still she wore the garments of
-mourning, in remembrance of the husband of her youth; but it was not a
-repining, murmuring spirit that dwelt beneath those doleful robes.
-
- “Her faith had strengthened in Him whose love
- No change or time can ever shock;”
-
-and she dwelt on the earth blessing and blest.
-
-Many times her hand had been sought in marriage; strong-willed men had
-bowed themselves, and sued humbly for her love—but she had none to
-give, and no prospect of increased worldly prosperity could influence
-her to utter with less of truthfulness and honesty of soul than she had
-once spoken them, the marriage vows!
-
-Grace had her treasures still, and there was an unfinished romance
-connected with her life, of which I would not say she did not at times
-long to know the conclusion—for she felt it was not concluded.
-
-There were gray hairs—only a very few, my gentle reader—visible among
-the beautiful brown locks, and the clustering curls Hugh Willson
-treasured the memory of so well, were all vanished; there was no bloom
-upon the pleasant face—the blue eyes were less bright—but the
-“features of the soul” remained unchanged, or if at all changed, only in
-their nearer approach to perfection. And amid her kindly charities, and
-the thousand love-inspired duties had Grace forgotten the letter ten
-years old, and its author! Very far from that; and it had been a source
-of happiness deeper than she cared to acknowledge even to herself, to
-look once again on Hugh Willson, and to hear his voice. But none save
-that one letter had ever reached her from him; he might have forgotten,
-though that to her seemed a thing impossible. The depths of feeling
-revealed in that letter _might_ have existed no longer, or at least
-might have ceased to bear _her_ reflection and image, when he had fully
-exposed it to the light. He might be dead!
-
-Once or twice she harbored the wild idea of answering his letter, to bid
-him come back—to assure him that there was at least one who would most
-heartily welcome him; and at such times Grace could but smile at her own
-folly—for the wanderer had no settled home, and there was no
-possibility of knowing where, even for a moment, his abiding place was;
-and so her natural good sense dispatched that fancy with a multitude of
-others to the land of shadows and dreams.
-
-There came round in the natural order of things a sacrament Sabbath.
-
-It was one of those heavenly days in the month of all months, that is,
-the “month of roses,” when,
-
- ——“If ever come perfect days;
- Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
- And over it softly her warm ear lays;
- Whether we look or whether we listen,
- We hear life murmur, and see it glisten!
- Every clod feels a stir of might,
- An instinct within that reaches and towers,
- And grasping above it blindly for light,
- Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.”
-
-Thus describes Lowell one of those “perfect days” I am speaking of.
-(And, by the way, have you yet read that, the most exquisite poem
-produced in these latter days? If you have not, I prithee leave my
-romance unfinished, and inflict whatever other penance on yourself you
-may deem proper for neglecting so long that “gem of the first water,”
-whether regarded as a _luxuriously printed_ book, or as a poem beyond
-all praise or—criticism!)
-
-Well, it was on a Sabbath in June, as I began to tell you when the
-remembrance of “Sir Launfal” startled me from my story-telling
-proprieties; the windows of the little church were opened wide, and
-doubtless troops of invisible angels had entered in, to see how the
-congregation would commemorate His death—and probably the assembly had
-a faint idea of this, for solemn was the expression of every face, and
-reverent and humble every voice, that joined in the so beautiful and
-appropriate responses of the liturgy of “dear mother church!”
-
-In one of the slips nearest the door, a stranger had seated himself
-shortly after the opening of the service; though his voice joined with
-those of the congregation in the supplications and thanksgivings, he
-seemed at times to be lost in other thoughts than those which _should_
-fill the minds of them who gather themselves together to worship
-Jehovah.
-
-He was a man of middle age, and his hair was slightly tinged with
-gray—exposure, or hardship, or sorrow had made him prematurely old—his
-form was slightly bent, and his face was brown, as though the burning
-sunlight of the East had rested long upon it.
-
-When the priest turned to the people at the conclusion of the service of
-the day, and said—
-
-“Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love
-and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life,
-following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his
-holy ways, draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your
-comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, devoutly
-kneeling”; the stranger arose, but seemed as he did so, overcome with
-strong emotion; but in a moment more he had mastered it, and followed a
-portion of the congregation to the altar. And he knelt there beside
-Grace Lovering, and partook with her the consecrated elements; his hands
-trembled when they grasped the cup filled with the Saviour’s blood, but
-I do not think that was because of the emotion arising from the thought
-that he might be partaking unworthily, so much as from the fact that he
-was once more standing and kneeling in the village church, where since
-his boyhood he had not trod; it was because he was kneeling beside a
-woman who as a child had been his embodied dream of all perfection.
-
-He had sought her amid the many faces totally strange around him; and
-when his eyes had turned from one to another, and he knew that thus far
-they had sought in vain, when they had fallen on her face at last, he
-knew that it was she—the little girl—the woman middle-aged—whom he
-sought, and a thrill, and a thought of thanksgiving swept through his
-soul, as he looked on her still so lovely face. He felt that he had come
-_home_—he dared to hope that he should never be a wanderer again—and
-even in that sacred place his wild thoughts finished the romance which
-had been so long in its narration.
-
-When the congregation went from the little church, and Grace turned
-alone toward her pleasant cottage home, the eyes of the stranger
-followed her—and—his feet, as of necessity, followed too. There was
-very little in the quiet village that seemed familiar and dear to Hugh
-Willson, as he walked down the almost noiseless street. Prosperity had
-not come with its years to Romulus, and the little town had, I confess,
-a decided broken-down appearance; but it was not for love of the village
-Hugh had sought it; it was not because of _its_ beauty he thought it a
-very Paradise! He was dreaming still a dream that had haunted him, or
-rather that he had been dreaming for a score of years, and how, what if
-this day he must awaken from it forever?
-
-When he had reached the house he had seen the lady enter, he paused a
-moment, hesitatingly, for the heart of the stern man beat wildly. If it
-should not prove to be her after all—though he knew _that_ was an idle
-fear—but, would she care to remember him—must he look upon her, and
-see her at last slowly and coldly recognize him? Must he listen to her,
-and then depart again to laugh at his own folly, and to curse at the
-madness and stupidity of his day-dreaming? He might find her bound by
-ties lasting as life to another. But _if_ was never decisive, and Hugh
-Willson must speak with Grace Germain.
-
-He knocked at the door of the cottage, and the widow, who had preceded
-him by a few moments, answered his call immediately.
-
-“Does a lady called Miss Germain live here?” asked the stranger.
-
-“That was once my name,” replied Grace.
-
-_Once_, thought Hugh, and he had but little heart to proceed when he
-heard that answer.
-
-“May I come in and ask of her father and mother? It is many years since
-I left this place, and I do not find many of my old friends here.”
-
-There was a momentary light illumining the face of the lady as she heard
-these words, but it passed, and she did not speak; but leading the way
-into the parlor, she motioned the gentleman to a seat, then she said—
-
-“My father and mother have been dead these many years. I do not wonder
-that the village seems altered to one who has been long a stranger here,
-for the little life it once had is now quite gone, and there are but few
-of the old settlers left here now.”
-
-There was a pause, and the stranger seemed to have forgotten the
-inquiries he had intended making. While she was speaking he seemed lost;
-but he was only living so intensely in the present, and the rush and
-confusion of thought was so great he knew not what to say. The chief
-thing that he longed to know, was not who had grown rich, and who poor,
-who was dead, and who married, and who had moved away, but—did Grace
-Germain remember an old playmate who had given her a rose-bud ever so
-many years ago?
-
-The longer he thought, only the more embarrassing grew the stranger’s
-situation. Would she not laugh to hear that he had come, when the
-summer-time of life was well nigh passed, weary, and worn out with
-worldly trials and sorrows and doubts, to simply ask a woman if she
-remembered him?
-
-“I do not know that you remember,” he said at last—but having proceeded
-thus far he stopped. “Have you ever heard—” he began again, and then he
-broke off suddenly, seemingly forgetful of the question he had meant to
-ask. But this hesitation would not do—and the man knew it would
-not—and so he started up, and, as though the time was short, and they
-the last words he ever intended uttering, he approached the lady,
-exclaiming,
-
-“Grace Germain, don’t you remember a boy who went to school here long
-ago, in the old frame school-house, whose name was Hugh Willson?”
-
-“Yes—yes—I do indeed! How could I have been so stupid! Hugh, I welcome
-you back with all my heart,” was the frank and generous answer, and
-Grace and the _boy_-lover shook hands heartily.
-
-The Rubicon was fairly passed; he was remembered, he was welcome! and in
-his gratitude Hugh forgot to wonder if Grace had a husband living still,
-and if he had gone off on a journey! He forgot all, save that the child
-had grown to be a woman he could both love and honor—and for a moment
-so complete was his happiness, that the words would not have been an
-empty sound from his lips, “Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace!”
-
-And what thought Grace as she looked upon the face of which but one
-feature, the dark and thoughtful eyes, seemed familiar? _She_ thought,
-“Does he remember the letter he wrote me from Arabia—and was it truth
-he wrote?”
-
-The Sabbath bell rung vainly in the ears of the long parted boy and girl
-that afternoon, but at night-fall the wife of Clarence Lovering led the
-way to the old burial-ground, and showed Hugh Willson the graves of her
-parents and of her husband. And he on whose arm she leaned then, felt no
-pang of jealousy when her lip faltered and her eyes wet, as she spoke of
-the bridegroom of her youth—for Grace had not listened coldly or
-carelessly to her companion as he had spoken to her such words as
-these—
-
-“Grace, we are neither of us young any longer. I have grown gray in my
-hard struggle with life—but there is nothing gray or dead about our
-hearts. I know that by the strong and joyous beating of my own, I know
-it by the heavenly peace that marks your life, surrounding you as it
-were with a very halo of glory. But the passionate glow of feeling is, I
-am equally confident, with neither of us any more. The noise of the
-bounding brooks has gone—like the quiet, deep flow of the river is the
-course of our existence now. The waves leap not so brightly in the
-sunlight, but still the broad beams of the sun fall down as warmly and
-as cheerily upon us. And is it too late, because I am old, for me to
-find a realization of that dream which has haunted me so long? I have
-been wild and fickle in the eyes of men; perhaps my way of life, could
-you know it all, has not been such as you would look approvingly upon;
-but, in the midst of all worldly excitements, I have always borne a
-talisman in my heart that has preserved me honorable and true—the
-thought of you, Grace! I have come here, not expecting to find the
-little girl I left, neither altogether a woman who has known nothing of
-sorrow and care; I have come to pray that I may, even at this late hour,
-become your husband, your life-companion. My prayer is fraught with no
-ordinary hope—it is not the bewildering dream of youth I am now
-indulging—it is the highest, strongest, noblest desire of my manhood!
-Have I sought in vain, or must I go forth once more a wanderer, and
-friendless, with another and dearer image than has heretofore been
-impressed on my life, the image of the matchless woman I have lost—or
-rather cannot win?”
-
-And Grace had listened to his words with tears of gratitude; she had
-given him her hand, and nobly said,
-
-“You have not sought in vain, dear Hugh. I thank God that you are here,
-and if you again become a wanderer, a pilgrim, ready to give up all but
-you in this life, will tread beside you! Henceforth, there are no
-mountains, nor deserts, nor oceans that can divide us—the lengthening
-shades of years falling around us are grateful and pleasant—the quiet
-paths of life we will pursue together. Thank God that you are here!”
-
-Grace Lovering was not, it is true, a very youthful bride when she was
-made Hugh Willson’s wife, but had she been more beautiful than “Grace
-Greenwood’s” most exquisite dream of womanly loveliness, she had not
-proved more lovable to the wanderer, who, when the shadows of years were
-folding round him, found in her a friend, and a wife, and a worshiped
-ideal!
-
-There were some who laughed, to be sure—there are always some that
-laugh and poh! at romances in real life—and some there were who said it
-was all fal de ral, the idea of a man and woman of _such_ an age
-marrying for _love_. I only wish in its marvelous “progress” the world
-had not journeyed up to that icy peak whence all human love, and love
-matches among humans, is to be regarded as the folly of fools, and the
-madness of delusion!
-
-Let the miserable woman now reading this page, who in her girlhood
-wedded wealth—or the wretched man who in his youth was led captive by
-the deceitful smiles of beauty—let these, if there be any such—and I
-know very well there are multitudes—look for once within the peaceful
-cottage where our hero and the dear heroine live, and if they do not
-speedily begin to think with amaze on their own paltry lives, and wonder
-when their romance is to begin, then—why then—I will not strive any
-more to teach the people!
-
-Look you, reader, and more especially if you be young and beautiful, do
-not sell your birthright for a tasteless mess of pottage—ah, in that
-case you may as well begin to look for a tragedy, and a fearful kind of
-denouement, instead of a romance and a pleasant closing of the scene!
-
-And furthermore the Wayside Voice saith not.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE PILGRIM’S FAST.[1]
-
-
- BY MRS. MARY G. HORSFORD.
-
-
- ’Twas early morn, the low night-wind
- Had fled the sun’s fierce ray,
- And sluggishly the leaden waves
- Rolled over Plymouth bay.
-
- No mist was on the mountain-top,
- No dew-drop in the vale,
- The thirsting summer-flowers had died,
- Unknelled by autumn’s wale.
-
- The giant woods with yellow leaves
- The blighted turf had paved,
- And o’er the brown and arid fields
- No golden harvest waved.
-
- And calm and blue the cloudless sky
- Arched over earth and sea,
- As in their humble house of prayer
- The Pilgrims bowed the knee.
-
- The gray-haired ministers of God
- In supplication bent,
- And artless words from childhood’s lips
- Sought the Omnipotent.
-
- And many a brave and manly heart,
- And woman’s gentle eye,
- Inured by discipline to wo,
- Were raised in suppliance high.
-
- No wild bird’s joyous song was heard,
- No sound from shore or height,
- With mute but mighty eloquence
- Had Nature joined that rite:
-
- The drooping corn and withering grass
- Upon the hot earth lay:
- The lofty forest-trees had stooped
- Their aged heads to pray.
-
- The sultry noontide came and went
- With steady, fervid glare;
- “Oh! God, our God, be merciful,”
- Was still the Pilgrims’ prayer.
-
- They prayed, as erst Elijah prayed
- Before the sons of Baal,
- When on the waiting sacrifice
- He called the fiery hail.
-
- They prayed, as prayed the prophet seer
- On Carmel’s summit high,
- When the little cloud rose from the sea
- And blackened all the sky.
-
- And when around the spireless church
- Night’s length’ning shadows fell,
- The customary song went up
- With clear and rapturous swell:
-
- And as each heart was thrilling to
- That simple chant sublime,
- The rude, brown rafters of the roof
- Woke to a joyous chime.
-
- The rain! the rain! the blessed rain!
- It came like Hemnon’s dew,
- And watered every field and wood,
- And kissed the surges blue.
-
- Oh! when that Pilgrim band came forth
- And pressed the humid sod,
- Shone not each face as Moses’ shone
- When “face to face” with God?
-
------
-
-[1] For the narrative of the historical fact related in this poem, the
-reader is referred to “Cheever’s Journal of the Pilgrims.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TO MY MOTHER IN HEAVEN.
-
-
- BY THOMAS FIZGERALD, EDITOR CITY ITEM.
-
-
- Dear mother, in the silent hours of night,
- When stars around me shed their chastened light,
- I think of thee, and mourn thou art not here,
- With smile to bless, and kindly word to cheer.
-
- Ah, mother, life is but a thorny way;
- When longest, ’tis at best a little day;
- A gleam of sunshine, and anon a cloud,
- The bridal robe, soon followed by the shroud.
-
- Dear mother, sadness fills my sleepless eye,
- And tears fast follow the unconscious sigh,
- But still the heart, o’erwhelmed with heavy grief,
- In thought of thee, dear mother, finds relief.
-
- Dear mother, be thou still the watchful guide,
- In honor’s path, of him who was thy pride;
- So shall my feet, from snares of error free,
- Tread only paths of truth, toward Heaven and thee.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE DREAM OF MEHEMET.
-
-
- AN APOLOGUE.
-
-
- BY RICHARD PENN SMITH.
-
-
-Thus spoke the gray-haired dervise. Selim was left to my care; his dying
-parents bequeathed him an ample fortune, and their example of virtue and
-affection. Such was his inheritance.
-
-He was a dreamy boy, in whose soul the opposite passions reveled. Gentle
-as the dove, yet, under aggression, fierce as the tiger. He loved as
-angels love; hated as fiends hate. Framed as delicately as the gazelle,
-yet every sinew was endowed with the tenacity of steel. At the age of
-manhood, I, his old preceptor, bowed to the superior endowments of my
-pupil, but knew not the fountain of his knowledge.
-
-I have said he was a dreamy boy, yet he had made the broad pages of
-nature his book of knowledge, even while dreaming. The fertile earth
-presented her abundant lap overflowing with fruit to delight his palate;
-the flowers peered in his face with their variegated eyes, and sent
-forth their incense, even while he trod upon them. The cadence of the
-waterfall, the low twittering of the wearied bird as it flitted to its
-fledglings in the nest, and the murmuring of the passing breeze as it
-struggled through the grove, were to him a lullaby that charmed to sleep
-as the angels sleep. Nature was his mother, and she nursed him with
-play-things as her child.
-
-I have seen him by the small streams composing songs to the music that
-the dimpled waters babbled, until his rosy cheeks dimpled and laughed in
-concert with the rippling brook, as if it were a thing of life,
-rejoicing in its existence, as his own pure heart rejoiced. They laughed
-and babbled together.
-
-On the wood-clad mountains, at midnight, when the elements battled, I
-have seen him straining his feeble voice to sound the master-key that
-attunes to universal harmony; and having caught it, he would spring like
-the antelope to a lofty waterfall to discover the same note there; and
-then turn up his bright face to the stars that smiled upon him, and
-laugh, expecting to hear them respond to his note as they revolved on
-their eternal axes. His dark eyes smiled, and the conscious stars smiled
-back in the heaven of his dark eyes, which danced with delight in the
-diamond rays of the stars.
-
-Flowers were books to him, and from every leaf he read wisdom fragrant
-with truth. He cultivated them as a father would his last child. The
-little birds were his companions, and every morning he joined their
-concert until the tiny minstrels seemed to imagine that he was the
-leader of their orchestra. All nature was to him one mighty minister,
-bestowing all, while he asked from nature no more than the blessed
-privilege of imitating her, by bestowing on his fellow man all in
-return. He had a dog, whose former owner had thrown into a stream to
-drown as worthless. Selim swam and saved the ill-looking cur, who
-followed him ever after until it appeared that instinct trod close upon
-the heel of reason. Selim in his turn, while bathing, became exhausted,
-and sinking beneath the stream, the dog plunged in and saved his dying
-master. Was this instinct or reason? It matters not, but Selim perceived
-that the Prophet had made his humanity toward a friendless dog the means
-of prolonging his own existence here. Despise not little things, cried
-Mehemet, for the smallest is of magnitude in the sight of the Prophet. A
-straw may break the back of the overburthened; one word may consign a
-man to poverty or prosperity, one deed to hell or heaven.
-
-Selim’s wants were few, his fortune ample, which he bestowed upon the
-deserving with as liberal a hand as it had been bestowed upon himself.
-Still he labored in the pursuit he had adopted, not for
-self-aggrandizement, but to assist others; and he knew not why man
-should be a sluggard while all nature is incessantly at work. The bee
-and ant work in their season—and even the spider too.
-
-His garden blossomed as Eden, and the flowers offered up their grateful
-incense even as they faded and died upon the universal altar of Nature’s
-God. His aviary from morn until night was vocal, and when the flaming
-chariot of the bright eye of day was whirled by fiery-footed steeds over
-the eastern hills, I have seen him with his flute, surrounded by
-nature’s tiny choristers pouring forth their matins until some note in
-the universal harmony touched the heart of his poor shaggy cur who
-sported around and tried to bark in unison. Then Selim laughed outright,
-and the birds stopped their hymns, and seemed to laugh with Selim, and
-the poor dog slunk away abashed, and slyly laughed at his miserable
-failure.
-
-He married the dark-eyed Biribi. Selim was a poet; his soul reveled
-alike in tempest or sunshine, and his voice was as musical as the wings
-of the bee when he distills honey. He possessed the sweets of the bee,
-and his sting also. Biribi was abjectly poor, but in Selim’s eyes as
-full of truth and as beautiful as the houries. He exclaimed, I will
-raise poverty above oppression, and place virtue where all her handmaids
-may minister to her enjoyment. Alas! it was but a young poet’s
-dream—and such dreams are too frequently disturbed by palpable agony.
-Thus spoke Mehemet.
-
-He had a friend who was his fellow-student while under my charge. Selim
-loved him as a brother, and when he married he requested Zadak to dwell
-with him. Neither house, garden, nor fields could be more beautiful,
-while his flocks and herds were nature’s ornaments. Such was Selim’s
-Eden.
-
-Zadak borrowed a portion of his fortune, which he squandered; but the
-poor boy simply replied, “no matter, we require but little, and enough
-still remains to make us happy. Thank the Prophet for that which we
-still possess, and repine not for that which we have lost. We can labor
-with our fellow-men.”
-
-Biribi became estranged from the pure being who fancied he had made in
-her bosom a nest for his dove-like heart to sing in. He awoke from a
-dream of repose to battle with the tempest. Zadak had betrayed him, and
-the gentle spirit of my boy was crushed between the sledge and the
-anvil; but the eternal fire that burnt within him, burst forth in one
-mighty blaze as the sledge fell; and even the sledge and the anvil
-rejoiced at the fire they had elicited from his heart’s blood.
-
-What was to be done? The question was soon settled. The dove had winged
-its way to heaven, but left the tiger on earth to punish the injuries
-done to the dove. Selim slew Zadak, and then walked to the tribunal to
-receive his sentence, knowing that an act that was approved by the
-immutable principle of eternal justice in heaven, would be pronounced a
-damning crime by drones who are fed to dole out punishment for breaking
-the conventional rules by which fools and knaves are linked together on
-earth. He confessed all before man as he had already confessed before
-God. Ignominious death was his sentence in the eye of his
-fellow-creature; but God changed his sentence to that of eternal life;
-he died of a broken-heart, and escaped man’s justice, tempered with
-degradation, and flew to the limpid and overflowing fountain—the bosom
-of his Creator for justice—knowing it to be a principle of eternity,
-and not of time.
-
-I buried him beneath a cluster of trees, where he had pursued his
-studies. He had no mourners except myself and his dog. The grave of the
-rich man is seldom bedewed by the tears of his heirs; while the poor
-hard-working man may have many sincere mourners, provided they depended
-upon his daily labor for their bread. It was spring-time; I planted
-flowers from his garden over his grave, and placed his aviary among the
-trees. The birds sang and the flowers smiled as if he were still with
-them. One morning I missed his dog, and searched for him until the
-impulse of nature guided my footsteps to the boy’s grave. The dog was
-there, pillowed on a cluster of fragrant flowers—dying; big tears stood
-in his leadened eyes, while the little birds from the blooming trees,
-warbled his requiem. They knew the dog, and he knew the birds even while
-dying. The flowers were bedewed with his tears, and I buried him beside
-his master, beneath the flowers.
-
-Autumn came; the little birds had taken wing; the grove was no longer
-vocal; the flowers had faded, and their fragrance had passed away. Well,
-I exclaimed, the rosy-fingered spring will return, leading the birds
-back to warble as usual, and the flowers will revive with their former
-fragrance and beauty? “And is my boy dead?” my soul shrieked. “No!”
-replied a voice, kindly, and it seemed to me as if the lips were smiling
-as the judgment passed the lips, “the boy is not dead, but sleepeth,
-awaiting his spring-time, when the birds will sing, and the flowers
-bloom for him again, and bloom for eternity.” Thus spoke the dervise,
-and his old frame chuckled with delight, for he was confident of the
-fulfillment of the promise.
-
-I reposed by his grave, said Mehemet, and had a vision, which was this.
-His grave opened, and he arose more beautiful than when in the bloom of
-manhood. There was a bright star just over his heart, and methought it
-was composed of the tears his dying dog had shed upon his grave, and I
-smiled in my sleep at the fantastic thought. The flowers sent forth
-their incense, and myriads of birds, as he ascended from his tomb,
-fluttered about him, leading the way, warbling their anthems; the gay
-flowers smiled at heaven, as if they were the eyes of the teeming earth,
-laughing their gratitude. The features of Selim became more benign as he
-ascended; the songs of the birds more seraphic, and the fragrance of the
-flowers more refreshing.
-
-Suddenly a cloud of inky darkness covered the face of the earth. Two
-ghastly figures emerged from it, with uplifted eyes, that were rayless,
-and supplicating hands that trembled with terror. Oh! what must that man
-be, exclaimed Mehemet, who trembles before the All-merciful, even while
-supplicating mercy! Selim cast a look of compassion upon the guilty
-pair, and tried to tear the star from his bosom to throw to them, but
-the more he strove, the brighter the star became—it illuminated his
-ascending spirit—and finding his efforts fruitless, he raised his
-radiant face toward the boundless blue canopy, cheered onward by the
-hymns of his little choristers through regions of light, and the teeming
-earth smiled as she poured forth her grateful incense, as if jealous
-that the disembodied spirit might forget the fragrance of this world
-while reveling in the atmosphere of heaven.
-
-I heard a shriek of despair, and turning to the sea of darkness which
-was fearfully troubled, I beheld the guilty pair, desperately struggling
-in their agony against the angry billows. They struggled in vain. With a
-fiendlike shriek they disappeared, and sunk through a rayless abyss of
-doom, without even the tear of a dog to bewail their destiny. Selim
-soared upward, and still more effulgent became the heavens as he
-ascended. There was one mighty strain of seraphic music that filled the
-universe; the blue arch opened, from which issued a stream of light
-strong enough to restore vision to the rayless eyes of the ancient dead;
-then I awoke as I beheld Selim enter the eternal portals.
-
-This, continued the old man, may be but a dream at present, but the time
-will come when it must be verified. He then slowly tottered to his cell
-to dream out the remnant of his existence.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- WILD-BIRDS OF AMERICA.
-
-
- BY PROFESSOR FROST.
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- THE BLUE-BIRD.
-
-The Blue-Bird is a great favorite with the farmer. Its principal food
-being beetles, spiders, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and other insects,
-he affords great assistance to the fruit-trees, and vegetables of all
-kinds. He is one of the earliest spring visiters, appearing in
-Pennsylvania in the latter end of February, and trilling forth his
-feeble though pleasing song more than a week before the other early
-visiters. The species ranges over a large extent of latitude, being
-found in the forty-eighth parallel, and southward to the tropics. They
-probably also migrate to the Bermudas and West Indies, and certainly
-pass the winter in our Southern States and Mexico. The common belief
-that this bird remains dormant during the winter in Pennsylvania,
-appears to be ill-founded; since the few who do not migrate, no doubt
-seek out some warmer shelter near man than is afforded by the bleakness
-of nature.
-
-The early song of the Blue-Bird announces to the farmer the approach of
-spring. So gladdening is this to the rustic villager, that he generally
-takes every method to accommodate his familiar little companion,
-building boxes for him, exposing materials, and imitating his plaintive
-whistle as he hops along the furrow of the plough. The affection of the
-male bird for his mate is remarkable. “When he first begins his amours,”
-says an accurate observer, “it is pleasing to behold his courtship; his
-solicitude to please and to secure the favor of his beloved female. He
-uses the tenderest expressions, sits close by her, caresses, and sings
-to her his most endearing warblings. When seated together, if he espies
-an insect delicious to her taste he takes it up, flies with it to her,
-spreads his wings over her and puts it in her mouth.” On such occasions,
-should a rival stray within the hallowed limits he is treated without
-mercy, and the victor returns to warble out his strain of exultation.
-
-The nest of the Blue-Bird is generally made in the hollow of an old
-tree, or in the free quarters provided by man. The female lays five or
-six eggs, of a pale blue color, and raises two broods in a season. Their
-affection for their young is fully equal to that of the male for his
-mate, and when the hen is sitting the second time, the former brood is
-cherished and reared by the other parent. In the fall, when insect food
-becomes scarce, they eat berries, seeds, persimmons and other fruit.
-Their song is a soft and agreeable warble, uttered with open quivering
-wings. “In his motions and general character,” says Wilson, “he has
-great resemblance to the Robin Redbreast of Britain; and had he the
-brown olive of that bird, instead of his own blue, could scarcely be
-distinguished from him. Like him he is known to almost every child; and
-shows as much confidence in man, by associating with him in summer, as
-the other by his familiarity in winter. He is also of a mild and
-peaceful disposition, seldom fighting or quarreling with other birds.
-His society is courted by the inhabitants of the country, and few
-farmers neglect to provide for him in some suitable place a snug little
-summer-house, ready fitted and rent free. For this he more than
-sufficiently repays them by the cheerfulness of his song, and the
-multitude of injurious insects which he daily destroys. Toward fall,
-that is in the month of October, his song changes to a single plaintive
-note, as he passes over the yellow many-colored woods; and its
-melancholy air recalls to our minds the approaching decay of the face of
-nature. Even after the trees are stripped of their leaves, he still
-lingers over his native fields, as if loath to leave them.”
-
-The Blue-Bird is nearly seven inches in length, with the wings
-remarkably full and broad. The upper part of the body, neck and head are
-sky-blue, inclining to purple. The under parts are chestnut, the bill
-and legs black, with portions of the same color about the wings, tail
-and sides. In the female the colors are less bright. The young are
-hardy, strong, and highly teachable. The Blue-Bird is not often
-subjected to the confinement of the cage.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- THE GROUND-ROBIN.
-
-This bird is also known as the Towee-finch, the Tshe-wink and Pee-wink,
-names derived from its favorite notes. It is found in great numbers in
-woods and overgrown meadows, and sometimes along the banks of streams,
-and is both familiar and playful. A pair will sometimes roam for a great
-distance along a water-course, scratching for insects, worms or seeds,
-and encouraging each other by their simple cry of tow-wee, tow-wee. They
-sometimes forage along gardens or pea-patches. On such occasions, they
-behold the approach of man with but little concern, and fly off only
-when in danger of being taken. The species is found in Canada, and
-probably farther north among the Rocky Mountains, and southward
-throughout the United States. They are, however, more abundant east of
-the Alleghanies than to the west. Sometimes, but not often, they pass
-the winter in Pennsylvania, but are constantly in the milder States
-during that season.
-
-Their manner of building is rather peculiar; the nest being fixed on the
-ground, below the surface, and covered with leaves, or the shelter of an
-adjoining bush. It is rarely raised above the ground. The materials are
-fine bark, leaves, moss, dried grass and down. Sometimes part of the
-adjoining herbage is employed. The eggs are four or five in number,
-white, with a flesh color tint, and spotted with brown. In New England
-they raise but one brood, but in warm States two, the first in June, and
-the second during the following month. During this period they artfully
-draw the intruder from their charge, by pretending lameness, and feebly
-retreating as he pursues.
-
-The Ground-Robin is about eight inches long, and eleven across the
-wings. The throat, neck, and whole upper part of the body is black, with
-feathers of the same color, interspersed with white, in the wings and
-tail. The belly is white, with bay thighs. In the female and young the
-black of the male is changed for olive brown, and there is less pure
-white in the tail and wings.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE FORTIETH SONNET OF PETRARCA.
-
-
- If honest love e’er merited reward,
- If worship win the meed of yore it won,
- I should be blest, since purer than the sun
- The love my sighs and poesy record;
- Yet ’tis not so: unwillingly are heard
- My vows, and all regardlessly are flung
- Her eyes o’er burning lines wherein is sung
- Her matchless beauty, and my grief is bared.
- But yet I hope that some day she may deign
- To hearken to the tribute I have brought
- And smile at least return for all my tears.
- Still it may be I’ll languish here in vain
- Until that dread catastrophe is wrought,
- When time shall harvest all its sheaf of years.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: CROSS PURPOSES.]
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- CROSS PURPOSES.
-
-
- BY KATE.
-
-
- [SEE ENGRAVING.]
-
-It is rather a dangerous experiment, this sporting with the feelings of
-a sweetheart, as many a loving swain has found; as Andy Bell and Harry
-Lee found, when they indulged in a walk home from church with Lilly
-James and Aggy Moore, to the neglect of two sweet sisters, Jane and
-Florence May.
-
-Jane and Florence were the real sweethearts. Of the moonlight rambles
-they had enjoyed together; of the loving words whispered in the maidens’
-ears; of the kisses beneath the shadows of old trees, stolen from half
-shrinking lips, we will say nothing. But such things had been. And even
-more. Mutual pledges of love had passed. Harry had vowed to Jane that,
-as she was the sweetest maiden in all the village, so she was to him the
-dearest; and Jane had drooped her eyes, and leaned closer to him, thus
-silently responding to the declaration of love; and when he took her
-hand, she let it linger in his warm clasp as if he had a right to its
-possession. And the same thing, slightly varied according to
-temperament, had happened with Andy and Florence. For months, the two
-young men were untiring in their attention to the sisters. Invariably,
-when the little congregation that worshiped in the village church on
-Sundays was dismissed, Andy and Harry were at the door, waiting for the
-expectant maidens, whom they as invariably attended home, lingering
-always by the way, to make the distance longer. And when the evening
-shadows fell in the winter, or the sun sunk low toward the western hills
-in the spring and summer time, at the waning of the Sabbath, the young
-men were sure to make their appearance at the quiet cottage home of the
-happy sisters.
-
-Thus it had been for months, and all the village knew that they were
-sweethearts; and it was even said—how the intelligence was gained we
-know not—that, at the next Christmas, there would be a double wedding
-in Heathdale. Thus it was, when, one bright Sunday morning, as Andy Bell
-and Harry Lee were on their way to church, the former, who was in a
-gayer humor than usual, said, laughing as he spoke—
-
-“Suppose we plague the girls a little after meeting?”
-
-“How?” asked Harry.
-
-“If you’ll walk home with Aggy Moore, I’ll play the gallant to Lilly
-James.”
-
-“Agreed,” was the thoughtless reply.
-
-“And yet,” said Andy, “I wouldn’t give the little finger of Florence for
-Lilly’s whole body.”
-
-“Nor would I give Jane’s little finger for a dozen Aggy Moores.”
-
-Even at this early stage of the affair, both parties half repented; but
-neither felt like proposing to give up the little frolick agreed upon.
-
-During the service the young lovers found their eyes meeting those of
-their sweethearts with accustomed frequency. But neither Andy nor Harry
-felt as comfortable as usual. Besides being about to deprive themselves
-of a long enjoyed pleasure, both felt misgivings as to the effect of
-their temporary desertion and disappointment of the expectant maidens.
-
-At last the benediction was said, and the congregation began moving
-toward the door. Andy and Harry were out before the girls.
-
-“Shall we do it?” asked the former.
-
-“Oh, certainly,” replied Harry. And yet this was not said with the best
-grace in the world.
-
-“There’s Aggy,” whispered Andy.
-
-“I see,” returned Harry, moving forward, as Aggy stepped from the
-church-door. Just behind her was Jane, with her bright, dancing eyes,
-and lips just parting in a smile, as she caught sight of her lover. She
-moved forward more quickly, but stopped suddenly. Harry had spoken to
-Aggy, and was now walking away by her side. Just then Lilly James came
-forth, and Andy, crossing before Florence, who appeared at the same
-time, bowed to the maiden, and seeming not to see Florence, moved away
-from the church-door, smiling and chatting with a free and careless air.
-Neither of the young men looked behind to see the effect of all this
-upon the two young girls. But, to some extent, they imagined their
-feelings, and the picture fancy presented was not the most agreeable to
-contemplate.
-
-It required an effort on the part of both Andy and Harry to continue to
-play the agreeable to the two young ladies they had substituted thus
-temporarily, and in sport, for their sweethearts, long enough to see
-them fairly home. They did not meet again until toward evening, and then
-each was on his way to seek the cottage-home of the one loved most
-dearly of any thing in the wide world.
-
-“I wonder what they will say?” was uttered by Andy, in a doubting tone,
-as they moved along.
-
-“Goodness knows! I’m afraid Jane took it hard,” remarked Harry. “I saw
-her countenance change as I turned to walk with Aggy.”
-
-“It was a foolish prank, to make the best of it. But we must laugh it
-off with them.”
-
-“I rather think we shall be paid back in our own coin,” said Harry.
-“Jane, I know, has a little spice about her.”
-
-And Harry was not far wrong. When the two young men arrived at the
-cottage, and entered in their usual familiar way, the room where the
-maidens sat, they were received in a manner not in the least agreeable
-to their feelings. Both Jane and Florence had been deeply hurt by the
-conduct of their lovers; and both had indulged freely during the
-afternoon in the luxury of tears. The meaning of what had happened, they
-couldn’t tell. Had all this appearance of affection been a mere
-counterfeit? Were they the victims of a heartless coquetry? Or had Lilly
-and Aggy, through some strange influence, won the hearts of their
-lovers?
-
-Great was the relief experienced by the troubled sisters when, on the
-waning of the Sabbath, they saw their truant swains approaching as
-usual. But, with this sense of relief, came a maidenly indignation, and
-a determination to resent the wanton slight that had been put upon them.
-Clouds were on the faces once so smiling and happy, when the young men
-entered, and their presence, so far from dispersing these clouds, only
-caused them to grow darker. It was in vain that every effort was made to
-remove them; not a sun-ray came to dispel their gloomy shadows.
-Explanations were made. The apparent slight was acknowledged as only a
-merry jest. However this relieved the oppressed hearts of the maidens,
-it did not lighten up their sober faces. Forgiveness and smiles were not
-to come so easily.
-
-Andy affected to treat the whole matter lightly, and rather jested with
-Florence; but Harry’s sweetheart seemed so deeply grieved and wounded,
-that he had little to say after the first few efforts at reconciliation.
-Finally, the young men went away, apparently unforgiven; and all
-parties, for the next week, were unhappy enough. Sunday came again; and
-now the doubt in the minds of the young men was, whether, if they
-offered to go home as usual with Jane and Florence, they would be
-permitted by the offended maidens to do so. This doubt was, in a
-measure, dispelled during the morning service, for more than a dozen
-times did Andy catch a stealthy glance from Florence, in which was a
-beam of forgiveness; and the same thing happened to Harry as he turned
-his eyes frequently upon Jane. At last the service ended; and, as the
-young girls passed from the door, their lovers were beside them as
-usual. There was no repulse. The maidens were too glad to have them
-there once more. But, the feelings of each were sobered. Evening came,
-and they met as before. Their intercourse was tender but not joyous as
-it had been. And thus it was for weeks ere their hearts lost a sense of
-oppression. The reader may be sure that there were no more games at
-cross purposes after this. The lovers were cured of all inclination to
-indulge further in that species of pastime.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- LINES
-
-
- ON BURNING SOME OLD JOURNALS AND LETTERS.
-
- BY THE LATE WALTER HERRIES, ESQ.
-
-
- Ay, let them perish—why recall
- Dreams of a by-gone day?
- Why lift Oblivion’s funeral pall
- Only to find decay?
- The heart of youth lies buried there,
- With all its hopes and fears,
- Its burning joys, its wild despair,
- Its agonies and tears.
-
- A light has vanished from the earth,
- A glory left the sky,
- Since first within my soul had birth
- Those visions pure and high;
- Or is it that mine eye, grown dim,
- Hath lost the power to trace
- The glory of the Seraphim
- Within life’s holy place?
-
- Methinks I stand midway between
- The future and the past,
- The onward path is dimly seen,
- Behind me clouds are cast;
- Why should I seek to pierce that gloom
- And call the buried host
- Of haunting memories from the tomb—
- Each one a tortured ghost?
-
- I could not look upon the page,
- With eloquence o’erfraught,
- Where, ere my head had grown so sage,
- My heart its wild will wrought;
- I could not—would not—ponder now
- O’er my youth’s wayward madness,
- Which left no stain on soul or brow,
- Yet shrouded life in sadness.
-
- Ay, let them perish!—from the dream
- Of Passion’s wasted hour
- There comes no retrospective gleam,
- No spectre of the flower:
- The treasured wealth of Eastern kings
- Enriched their burial fire,
- And thus my heart’s most precious things
- Shall build its funeral pyre.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- UNCLE TOM.
-
-
- BY “SIMON.”
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
-A strange old man was my Uncle Tom. He was my father’s only and elder
-brother, and more than all, he was a bachelor; not one of those sour
-specimens of humanity who are continually railing at everybody and every
-thing—more especially “the sex”—but a hearty, hale, good-natured
-gentleman of the old school, straight as a poplar, and his heart had as
-many green leaves withal. He was still a boy in feeling, though winter
-had begun to spread its snows over his head. He was far from hating
-women, though when he talked of them, or thought of them, a look of
-sadness would sometimes overspread his countenance; and when he saw some
-fairy phantom that had not yet escaped her “teens,” in the full flush of
-maiden grace and beauty, old recollections seemed to come over him with
-a deep and maddening influence.
-
-No one ever told me the cause of this temporary dejection, and Uncle Tom
-seemed unwilling to be questioned concerning it. There needed no
-questioning. From our cottage, a smooth-worn path led across the fields
-to the village church-yard, which lay at about a quarter of a mile
-distant. Passing through a gap in the wall, it wound among the
-grass-grown hillocks, and stopped abruptly before a small, gray stone,
-which stood in the corner nearest the church, and on which this simple
-epitaph was engraved: Mary, æt. 18. This told his whole story; for the
-small, gray stone was overgrown with lichens and mosses, and I remember
-the solitary pathway when but a child.
-
-Uncle Tom was not rich, but he had enough to satisfy all his wants. He
-had always lived with us since my remembrance, and we all had a
-mysterious love and veneration for him, which we could but half explain.
-His little room on the south-west corner of the house we never entered
-without a special invitation; not because we stood in any fear of him,
-but because we respected his quiet, half-eccentric manner, and were not
-willing to disturb his solitary studies and meditations. We were often
-invited there of an evening, for Uncle Tom liked to have young, happy
-people around him. He used to say it made him young again, and caused
-his silver hairs to hide themselves; and he thought a man should always
-have the heart of a child, no matter how much experience and life-labor
-had whitened his head.
-
-During our visits to his study, we were at liberty to handle every thing
-which came within our reach, and the room was generally in a sweet
-confusion when we left it. Yet this did not trouble him, it rather
-pleased him the more. In truth he was so good-natured that nothing could
-vex him; and I remember one evening when he pulled sister Ruth’s doll
-out of his great horn inkstand, where it stood, heels upward, like a
-pearl-diver, his only exclamation was, “Just as I used to be—children
-all over!”
-
-Directly opposite the great arm-chair, where he usually sat during the
-day, hung a picture; yet it was not for us to see. A plain blue curtain
-was always drawn over it, which hung as silently, and always in the same
-folds, as if it had not been withdrawn for many years. I knew it was the
-portrait of a young girl, and very beautiful; for one evening, when,
-according to invitation, we were in the study playing the mischief with
-every thing that came under our hands, a slight breeze from the west
-window fluttered and raised the curtain, and revealed the picture to me
-by the dim light of the study-lamp. I, of course, did not know who it
-was intended to represent, but it was always connected in my mind with
-the solitary path to the church-yard; and I always thought of her as the
-Mary of the little gray stone; yet I never spoke of it to any one, not
-even sister Ruth. It seemed something sacred, something which I ought
-not to know, and that the knowledge thus accidentally acquired ought not
-to be divulged by me.
-
-But the pleasantest thing of all was, when Uncle Tom came down into the
-kitchen of a winter’s evening, and told one of the beautiful stories
-which he could relate so well. Ah! no one could tell stories like Uncle
-Tom. He would enter into the subject so earnestly, that we took every
-thing for truth, and laughed or cried, as the nature of the case
-demanded; and many a time in the midst of a sad passage, my father has
-let the fire go out of his pipe before it was half smoked, and I have
-seen the tears stream down sister Ruth’s cheek, and heard her sob as if
-some great misfortune were hanging over some one of us; and I have known
-Uncle Tom’s voice to grow tremulous; and his lip quiver, as if something
-in the narrative lay near his heart, but by a powerful effort he would
-always master his feelings and go calmly on with his story.
-
-I shall try to report some of these stories at second hand, narrating
-carefully as my memory serves, always in Uncle Tom’s words; but they
-will be nothing so good as when he, with his low musical voice and
-earnest manner, related them to our little family, who, in likening
-silence formed a half circle around the huge walnut logs that blazed and
-simmered on the kitchen hearth.
-
-It was the last night of December, and the north wind howled around the
-chimney, and the icicles clattered on the eaves and dropped against the
-casement with a tip-tap, like wayfarers asking admittance. A great fire
-of logs was blazing on the hearth, and the half circle was almost
-formed. On one side of the fire-place sat father, double-shotting his
-black tobacco-pipe. Next him was mother, just turning the heel of a
-stocking. Sister Ruth occupied the next chair, and she was very busy
-working a wash-woman’s register on the top of a bachelor’s pincushion;
-beside her sat the bachelor for whom this piece of domestic goods was
-working. He was a cousin, and bore the family name—Charley, we called
-him. He and Ruth seemed to enjoy each other’s society very much, and
-passed the greater part of their leisure time together. My place was
-next to Cousin Charley, and on my left hand the vacant arm-chair was
-waiting for Uncle Tom—to complete the family circle.
-
-At length the door opened, and the pleasant old man appeared. He entered
-rubbing his hands and smiling most benignantly. Every chair moved about
-an inch, as if to make room for him, though each one knew there was room
-enough already. Father lighted his pipe, and mother turned the heel;
-sister Ruth left off her embroidery in the middle of “shirts,” and
-Cousin Charley gave his chair a hitch nearer to her, while I sat quite
-still. Even the blazing logs on the fire gave an extra hiss and flare,
-as if they, too, were making preparations to listen attentively. Uncle
-Tom, with a few pleasant words, and a great many pleasant smiles, took
-his accustomed seat and commenced the evening entertainment in these
-words:
-
-About five miles from Boston, on one of the great thoroughfares leading
-to the city, there used to stand an old-fashioned country-seat. It was
-placed somewhat back from the road, and screened from the dust by a
-thick-set hawthorn-hedge, which grew as straight and regular as
-brick-work. The walks within were laid out with the same regularity and
-neatness, and lead with many a labyrinthine turn through the whole
-premises. Now it took you by an oval pond, where the bright scales of
-gold fish glanced in the sun; now among flower-beds formed into
-Catharine-wheels and gothic crosses; then away among groves and
-trellises almost impervious to the sun. There were a great many
-beautiful things that I shall not attempt to tell you of. Every thing
-was beautiful, and proclaimed a wealthy proprietor, even to the silver
-plate on the front door, bearing in bold writing-hand, the name, “John
-Maynard.” He was rich—John Maynard was a retired merchant. In the full
-flush of commercial prosperity, his beloved wife had fallen into the
-quiet sleep of death. After that, business grew irksome to him; he could
-not bear the busy hum of the city; the home where he had been happy, was
-so no more to him; and taking with him his oldest and most trusty clerk,
-he, with his only child, Alice, removed to this quiet spot. The care of
-his property was left almost entirely to his tried and honest clerk,
-David Deans; his own time was occupied either in his study or in the
-society of his daughter, who, being an only child, was, of course,
-indulged in all her little whims and fancies, until she had assumed the
-reins of government, and was nearly spoiled.
-
-One evening Mr. Maynard, or Old John, as he was familiarly called, sat
-on the western piazza as the sun was setting. He looked the hale and
-hearty old gentleman, one before whom care and trouble would vanish like
-the thin spiral clouds of cigar smoke, which ever and anon he puffed
-from between his lips. Yet withal he had a look of determination,
-something which said he would have things his own way when he desired
-it; and yet he had a way of gaining his ends so pleasantly and adroitly,
-that no one knew his intentions until they were accomplished.
-
-Puff, puff, there he sat smoking away and thinking of something very
-pleasant, no doubt, for a smile would occasionally play round the
-corners of his mouth, and he would rub his hands together with infinite
-satisfaction.
-
-Soon a light step was heard in the hall, and his daughter, Alice,
-appeared.
-
-Everybody said Alice was a beauty; and so far everybody told the truth.
-Her dark hair and dark eyes, and delicate complexion would win many a
-heart that had sworn eternal hostility to her sex. And then she was as
-full of life as of beauty, and had such winning ways, that nothing could
-resist her. She inherited from her father a slight vein of willfulness,
-and it was really a pleasure to see them contending together, Old John
-in his humorous, quiet way, bringing up irresistible arguments, and she,
-dashing them all to pieces by the most illogical processes imaginable;
-and he would generally laugh and let her have her own way.
-
-“Papa,” said she, “why did you send David Deans away? I’m sure it was
-very cruel of you. He has lived with us so long, and is so quiet and
-industrious! I’m sure it will break his heart. And then, besides, his
-poor sister will have to go into service again. It is too bad, I
-declare—”
-
-“Now don’t, Ally,” said Old John, passing his arm quietly around his
-daughter’s waist, and talking in the best humor imaginable, “don’t
-trouble yourself about David. What do you know about business? You take
-care of the women-servants, and see that we have tea on the table by
-seven o’clock exactly, for I expect the new clerk every minute. I’ll
-take care of David—”
-
-“I know I shan’t like the new clerk,” said she, pouting.
-
-“Well, who wants you to like him, little minx?” said Old John, at the
-same time drawing her closer to him, and giving her a hearty kiss.
-
-“But I shall hate him,” continued she, determined to be obstinate.
-
-“Well, hate him if you will,” replied her father, not in the least
-angry; “but I can tell you he is a very lively fellow, and not
-accustomed to be hated by the ladies. However, you had better hate him.
-You must reserve all your love for Harry Wilson, you know.”
-
-“Oh, that dreadful Harry Wilson,” exclaimed Alice, struggling to throw
-off her father’s arm, by which he still held her in close confinement.
-“Pray don’t talk of him again.”
-
-“And why not?” said Old John; “he is to be your husband, you know.” And
-a smile, half merry, half serious, played over his features as he said
-this. “His father and I were old schoolmates, and he would die of grief
-if he thought we were not to be brothers after all.”
-
-“His son and I were never old schoolmates, at all events,” exclaimed
-Alice, still struggling, but in vain. Old John held her fast, and his
-merry face settled into a serious, earnest expression as he added,
-
-“Besides, he once saved my life.”
-
-Alice answered nothing. There was something in the manner in which he
-said these words, as well as in the meaning of the words themselves,
-which completely subdued her. The tears beamed in her beautiful dark
-eyes; she threw her arms round his neck and rested her head on his
-shoulder; her long, black locks streamed over his bosom—yet she said
-nothing.
-
-Old John drew her closer to him and kissed her tenderly.
-
-“There, Ally, dear,” he said, “we wont talk any more about it now. I
-know you will do all you can to make your old father happy.”
-
-Still she said nothing, but clung very close to him.
-
-She was a good girl, was Alice, only a little willful.
-
-A servant entered, announcing Mr. Davis. This was the new clerk.
-
-“Conduct him this way,” said Mr. Maynard. “Come, Ally, don’t let him
-surprise us in a family quarrel. We must make his first impressions good
-ones.”
-
-Things were put to rights in less time than it takes to tell of it, and
-the new clerk approached them.
-
-“Glad to see you, Walter,” exclaimed Old John, grasping the new comer’s
-hand, and looking a cordial welcome. “Ally, this is Walter Davis, the
-new clerk.”
-
-Notwithstanding her determination to hate him, she smiled very
-pleasantly as he took her hand, and her welcome word was said with a
-very good grace.
-
-The new clerk was apparently about twenty-two years of age, rather tall,
-but well formed; he was dressed in a very plain suit—becoming his
-situation; and yet there was something noble about him for all that. You
-could see it in the firmly compressed lips, the deep, thoughtful eye,
-and the easy, manly bearing. He certainly was not the person one would
-choose to hate.
-
-Alice was much surprised at his general personal appearance and
-demeanor. Her ideas of a clerk were all formed from the quiet,
-unpretending David Deans, who had almost grown old in their service. She
-forgot that the new comer was at present a visiter, not yet having
-entered upon his clerkship. At the tea-table, too, she observed how
-perfectly easy and composed he seemed. He could answer questions without
-blushing, and ask others without stammering. There was a
-straightforwardness about him, which seemed to win upon her father
-wonderfully, and he never seemed in a more pleasant mood than then.
-There was something in his manner so dignified and gentlemanly that she,
-too, could not help reacting him, although in her good-night to her
-father, she added, “I’m sure I shall hate him for taking poor David’s
-place.”
-
-“Wait a bit, Brother Tom,” interrupted father—“pipe’s out.”
-
-“Well,” said Uncle Tom, “while Brother Bill is lighting his pipe, we
-will glide over two months and make ready for a new chapter.”
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
-Two months had passed away, and affairs went on swimmingly at the
-country-seat. Old John seemed to find his new clerk a remarkably
-pleasant companion, and passed much of his time in the little
-counting-room. He was fast growing into the good graces of Miss Alice
-too; for true manliness will always find its way into every heart. She
-began to like him very much, and seemed pleased to have him near her;
-and indeed would sometimes meet his advances more than half way.
-Perhaps, like a dutiful daughter, she followed her father’s example, and
-liked the clerk because he did, or perhaps she thought he must be very
-lonely, and took compassion on him: How this may be I cannot tell; but I
-do know that she liked him, and liked him very well too, as might be
-seen by any one who observed her. She often walked in the direction of
-the counting-room, which stood at some little distance from the house,
-and frequently sat with her embroidery in the trellised arbor that
-overlooked it. The flowers, too, which always ornamented her
-parlor-mantle, were generally gathered from the beds in this part of the
-garden, although they were not half so fragrant or pretty as those which
-grew nearer the house. Indeed, she had found it necessary once or twice
-to open the counting-room, and actually go in when no one but the young
-clerk was there; and at such times he received her with such a frank,
-cordial greeting, and talked so pleasantly to her, that she would gladly
-have changed her arbor boudoir for this little room, crowded with
-business and ponderous ledgers as it was. And once, when the clerk left
-her for a moment, she actually climbed upon the long-legged desk-stool,
-to see if it were really as uncomfortable as it looked to be; at least
-so she said, when he, returning suddenly, surprised her on that high
-perch. But he helped her down so gently, and gallantly, that she would
-have been willing to try the experiment often, even if it were as
-uncomfortable as it looked.
-
-She was always delighted whenever Walter requested the pleasure of her
-company through the grounds. She would take his arm without any
-unnecessary coquetry, and full of life and love they would thread every
-walk of the labyrinth, not excepting the Catharine-wheels and the gothic
-arches. In the grove they would listen to the songs of the birds, and
-together wonder what they were saying to each other, and invent many
-strange translations, interesting to none but themselves. They would
-stand long on the edge of the pond, and Alice leaned heavily on the
-clerk’s arm, you may be sure, as they watched the gold-fish darting
-across the little basin so rapidly that the whole surface of the water
-seemed marked with red lines. He gathered flowers for her, too, as they
-walked leisurely along, and each bouquet thus formed was, to her, a
-whole book of love, each flower telling its own particular tale. As the
-sun touched the horizon they would climb up to the arbor, while the
-birds sung their “good-night,” and watch the bright colors grow and fade
-upon the western sky, and build landscapes and cathedrals and cottages
-of the ever-changing clouds.
-
-Yet in his conversations with her, Walter was never sickly sentimental
-or flattering. He always spoke just what he felt; and sometimes a plump,
-downright honest thought would find itself clothed in words, which many
-would call coarse and ill-bred; but from him they came so frankly that
-she never thought of such a thing, but liked him the more for them. He
-never flattered her, never told her how beautiful she was, but his whole
-manner was a tacit acknowledgment of her beauty, truer and plainer than
-words could express it. And Alice was as simple, and talked as plainly
-to him as if he had been a brother.
-
-O, those evening walks were beautiful to both, but they were laying a
-foundation for something deeper and more lasting than common friendship,
-notwithstanding Harry Wilson and the two good fathers. Their natures
-were gradually blending into each other like two neighboring colors of
-the rainbow, and the line between them would soon become extinct, and a
-separation must be the destruction of both. It was very strange that Old
-John, with his brotherly intentions toward Harry Wilson’s father, didn’t
-observe this, for he often surprised them earnestly conversing in the
-sunset arbor, long after the dews had begun to fall and the birds had
-ceased their evening song.
-
-He must indeed have been very dull and stupid, not to observe that
-something was going on between the two young people, that would play the
-deuce with his darling project. But no, he didn’t seem to; for he was
-never in better spirits than then, never half so talkative or playful.
-He evidently did not think his cherished scheme was about to miscarry.
-
-One evening he and the clerk sat on the piazza together. The parlor
-windows were open, and Alice sat at the piano and played to them. Old
-John began to talk about the business transactions of the day, and
-seemed particularly delighted at certain good news which he had heard,
-and which he had just finished relating to the clerk.
-
-“Remarkable, isn’t it?” he exclaimed.
-
-But he might as well have talked to the plaster statue of Neptune which
-stood on the green before him, as to the young clerk. He was either
-listening attentively to the music, or else his thoughts were far away,
-for he took no notice of what Old John said to him, but sat silent, his
-head leaning upon his hand and his eyes fixed upon vacancy.
-
-“Hey! what’s all this?” exclaimed Old John, starting up and shaking the
-clerk’s arm. “What! dreaming by moonlight! A bad sign—very bad
-sign—too romantic by half! Here, Ally—Ally! come here directly,” he
-continued, shouting to his daughter.
-
-Walter started up and would have prevented him, but he continued to
-call, and soon the piano ceased to sound, and Alice made her appearance.
-
-“What do you want, papa?” she asked.
-
-“Here is this fellow,” he answered, “falling asleep in the midst of our
-conversation; dreaming by moonlight! I want you to keep him awake.”
-
-“I beg pardon, sir,” said the clerk, attempting an excuse, “but I was
-thinking—”
-
-“O, but that wont do,” said Old John, “I was talking. However, I will
-tell you how we will make it up. You shall sing that duet with Alice;
-the one you sung last night, and mind you don’t go to sleep before it is
-finished, or—” and he finished the sentence with a shake of the finger.
-
-“I will undertake it willingly,” said the clerk.
-
-Walter moved his chair closer by the side of Alice, and took his seat.
-But there was still a difficulty; neither of them could determine on the
-right pitch. Alice ran and struck a note on the piano, and returned
-sounding it all the way. She sat down, and her hand involuntarily fell
-upon Walter’s; he pressed it in his own, and the duet commenced.
-
-Both the words and the music were very simple; they were the expression
-of love, pure and holy; and never did they sing better. Walter’s whole
-soul was thrown into the words, and his heart beat to the sounds his
-lips uttered. A slight pressure of her hand expressed to Alice how
-truly, how deeply he felt the beauty of love, and her voice trembled as
-she sung, adding still more to the music.
-
-There was silence for a short time after the sound of their voices had
-ceased. It seemed Old John’s turn to dream now. The beautiful music had
-called up old, happy scenes to his mind; perhaps the thoughts of his
-youth and first-love were leading him far away; for he sat silently,
-with his hand drawn across his eyes, as if to shade them from the
-moonlight.
-
-Alice approached him, and drew her arm around his neck. He started as if
-from a trance, and said—“That was well, very well. I like that music.
-There, now, Ally, you and Walter take a walk through the grounds. I’ll
-light a cigar, and sit here by myself, and—And dream! hey, Walter!”
-
-Alice left him with a kiss, and taking Walter’s arm they disappeared
-round an angle of the building, and walked onward toward their favorite
-arbor. Every thing was silent around them; the glowing leaves hanging
-motionless upon the trees, and the many-colored flowers, all seemed
-listening, as if to some revelation of the night. The fish-pond was one
-entire sheet of silver; not a ripple disturbed its peaceful surface; and
-the soft moonlight streamed through the chinks of the vines and gothic
-trees, and checkered the pathway and the floor of the arbor, as the
-sunbeams shining through stained cathedral windows rest on the pavement.
-The arbor was their chancel, and there the two lovers stood side by side
-as if before an altar; and there Walter told Alice how deeply, how truly
-he loved her; how often he had sat alone since they had known each
-other, and yet not been lonely, for her image had always been present to
-comfort and to counsel him; how he had longed for the time to come when
-he could make this confession to her, when he could press her to his
-bosom as the dearly beloved one.
-
-Alice did not speak. She was always silent when she felt most deeply;
-but her silence was singularly eloquent. She did not attempt to withdraw
-the little hand which he held so tightly. She did not try to remove the
-arm that encircled her waist. Her head lay upon his bosom, and she wept
-for very joy.
-
-Now what had become of Old John’s brotherly scheme? The rainbow hues
-were now completely blended.
-
-Soon after the two lovers had turned toward the house, Old John came
-stealing cautiously through a neighboring path, where he had been an
-accidental, though perhaps not an unwilling listener.
-
-“Good!” he exclaimed in a half whisper, rubbing his hands and smiling
-most merrily. “I shall hate him, I am sure,” he added, mimicking Alice.
-“Good!” And again he rubbed his hands and smiled with infinite
-satisfaction.
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
-The summer had passed away, and autumn was spreading its rich mantle of
-yellow leaves over the trees and shrubs of the old country-seat. The
-birds were collecting together in troops, for their journey to warmer
-lands, and their songs above the arbor were sadder than when we last
-listened to them. The golden fruit hung temptingly upon the trees, and
-on the smooth surface of the fish-pond floated many a withered leaf. The
-year was growing old, and its rich covering of foliage was becoming gray
-and falling off, yet in the hearts of Walter and Alice love was as green
-and as warm as on the bright summer evening when they made their mutual
-confessions.
-
-They had not yet made Old John their confidant; they were waiting for a
-convenient season. And he, though he must have known something of their
-intercourse, never asked any questions, or seemed at all curious about
-the matter, but conducted himself in his usual quiet way. Indeed, he did
-occasionally speak of their close communion, but always in a merry,
-jesting way, and no one could suspect him of knowing how affairs really
-stood with them. At least his knowledge did not make him unhappy, for
-the merry twinkle was still in his eye, and the smiles still played
-round his mouth. In the little walks and excursions which they took
-together, Alice was always assigned to the clerk. Old John said he
-preferred to walk alone; then he could swing his cane in any direction
-without being scolded, and could climb over a fence, instead of going
-half a mile to find a place to crawl through, or a stile, for the
-convenience of a lady companion. Walter, as may be supposed, was very
-willing to free him from this incumbrance, and did not mind the half
-mile walks in search of a stile, as long as Alice was hanging on his
-arm. They had a great many things to talk about, which was of no
-consequence to any but themselves, and were glad of the opportunity to
-remove out of earshot, which this stile hunting afforded.
-
-One morning the clerk appeared equipped for traveling. Business of some
-kind or other called him, for a short time, to another part of the
-country.
-
-He and Alice were alone in the breakfast-room. He explained to her the
-necessity of his departure, and consoled her with the assurance that his
-absence would not continue more than a week at the most. He had just
-time to place a plain ring on her finger, and steal one tender, silent
-kiss from her rosy lips, when Old John entered, announcing the coach at
-the door.
-
-In a few minutes he was seated in the vehicle. Good-byes were repealed,
-and soon he was rolling away on the dusty road toward the city.
-
-Alice stood at the window and watched until the top of the coach had
-disappeared behind an angle of the road, and the last sound of the
-rumbling wheels had died away. Then the thought and feelings that had
-followed him as far as the senses could guide them, seemed to fall back
-upon herself, and she felt oppressed by the silence and utter solitude
-that reigned around.
-
-That was a weary day to Alice. This was her first love, and their first
-separation. Her father was busy with his affairs and could not attend to
-her; so she was thrown entirely upon her own resources, and heavily the
-hours dragged along in mournful procession.
-
-Often days had passed and she had not seen Walter but for a few moments,
-yet then she knew he was near. And now she sat down and tried to fancy
-him sitting quietly at his desk; but it wouldn’t do—she knew better.
-She walked down by the counting-room and gathered the flowers as she had
-often done before, but they had lost their fragrance, and their colors
-seemed faded. The gold-fish stood still in the pond, and she mistook
-them at times for the leaves that lay in the water; they too had faded.
-She sat in the pleasant arbor, and looked westward over the beautiful
-landscape, but a veil seemed drawn before it, and the rich and
-variegated hues which, dolphin-like, the forest had assumed while dying,
-to her eyes, seemed blended into a dead, cold brown. So true it is that
-the sense takes its tone from the soul.
-
-So the day passed and the belated evening came slowly on.
-
-“Do, pray, Ally, put off that sad face,” said Old John to her, as they
-sat at the tea-table. “Why you look ten times more woful than the
-Italian beggars fresh from an eruption of Vesuvius. Do try to smile a
-little.”
-
-She did try to look cheerful, but at first it tasked all her powers, yet
-her father’s raillery and merry laugh were not to be resisted, and in a
-little while the cloud seemed to have passed entirely away, and she was
-as cheerful as ever. Sometimes she would fall back into the silent,
-thoughtful mood, yet it was only for a moment, and the evening passed
-pleasantly. Then came the affectionate kiss, and the kind good-night.
-
-To Alice it was a good-night, indeed. Good angels watched by her pillow,
-and her dreams were beautiful. One time she was walking along the garden
-paths, and heard the birds singing sweetly above her head, and saw the
-flowers in their most beautiful dress. She drew near the pond, and it
-was all alive with gold fish; and the whole surface seemed drawn with
-red lines; sometimes they formed charming pictures—trees, gardens and
-villages seemed to pass over the water like a moving diorama. All the
-people she had ever seen seemed to be moving about there, some doing one
-thing, and some another, but all happy. As she looked attentively, the
-surface seemed to grow mysteriously calm, and the red lines to
-disappear. Then as mysteriously it began to grow troubled, circular
-waves forming at the centre, and rolling toward the shore in every
-direction. Then suddenly from the middle of the pond, a most beautiful
-fairy figure arose and beckoned her near. The fairy gave her a plain,
-gold ring, and told her never to part with it; for she said it was the
-gift of happiness, and while she wore that upon her finger, heavy
-misfortunes should never visit her. Then a loud voice under water seemed
-to call the fairy a “little minx,” and bid her come down immediately,
-for breakfast was waiting. Then she disappeared, the water became calm,
-and Alice awoke.
-
-“Was that a dream?” she asked herself, in amazement. There was the ring
-on her finger—the fairy’s gift of happiness; and the voice was still
-calling some one to breakfast.
-
-It was a long time before she could collect her scattered senses enough
-to realize that she had just waked from a strange dream, and the voice
-was that of her father calling her. When the truth did dawn upon her,
-she laughed immoderately, and could not help saying repeatedly, that “it
-was _very_ funny.”
-
-It was much past her usual hour of rising, when in her simple
-morning-dress she appeared at the breakfast-table.
-
-“Why, Ally, dear, I thought you never would come down,” said her father.
-“I have been waiting this—I don’t know how long, and called you—I
-don’t know how many times. The omelet and coffee are both as cold as
-Greenland, I’ll be bound.”
-
-“It isn’t so very late, papa, is it?” inquired Alice; “besides, I have
-had such a funny dream—O, it was perfectly delightful.”
-
-“Well, never mind, dear, pour out the coffee before it gets later.”
-
-She poured out the coffee, still thinking of her strange dream. It was
-so funny that she could not help thinking of it; but her lips would
-never have wreathed that happy smile if she could have known the trial
-that awaited her.
-
-“Ally, do you know what day to-morrow will be?” he asked, while his face
-wore a very doubtful, half merry, half serious expression. It was
-something like the sun trying to break through a fog, for he tried to
-look cheerful.
-
-Alice paused a moment as if in thought, then suddenly exclaimed, “I
-declare, it is my birthday, and I had almost forgotten it. It was very
-good of my dear papa to remind me of such good news, after I had kept
-him waiting so long for his breakfast,” she added, playfully.
-
-“But do you know who I expect to-morrow?” he continued.
-
-It was her turn now to look doubtful and perplexed.
-
-“Yes, Ally,” he said, “this afternoon Harry Wilson and my old
-schoolmate, his father, will be here. You must save all your good looks
-for Harry, for I expect you will fall in love with him at first sight.”
-
-It was really with much pain that Old John made this announcement,
-though he spoke it in as cheerful a manner as possible, for he knew the
-effect it would have on his daughter. He seemed to make it more from a
-sense of duty than pleasure, as it were something which must be told
-sooner or later; and more clouds gathered about his honest face than had
-been seen there since the death of his wife, when he saw the effect it
-had upon Alice. The cheerful smiles vanished from her face; the color
-came and went, and came and went, and at length left her deadly pale.
-Her hand trembled and her voice quivered, as she attempted in vain to
-make some cheerful remark.
-
-“At least you will try to like him, for my sake, wont you, Ally, dear?”
-said her father.
-
-She uttered a faint “yes”—so faint that it might have been “no,” for
-all Old John heard; and pleading some excuse, left the room.
-
-“Bad business, this,” said her father, after he was left alone, and
-talking as if to some invisible friend. “Bad business!” and whistling a
-doleful strain of a doleful tune, he also left the room.
-
-And Alice, poor Alice, she felt lonely enough as she sat alone in her
-little room. Thoughts of the dream that had made her so cheerful but a
-short time before, now pressed like an incubus upon her breast. She knew
-how much her father was attached to his old schoolmate, Mr. Wilson, and
-how much he desired the union of their two families. It had long been
-talked of, but always as something which was about to happen at some
-distant, indefinite time; and though many years had passed since they
-first began to talk of it, it still seemed as indefinite and far from
-accomplishment as ever; and she never thought to trouble herself about
-it; but now the event seemed to spring up like a phantom directly before
-her; and so sudden had been the announcement that she knew not what to
-do.
-
-And now the hours seemed to glide by as if they were double-winged. The
-old entry clock seemed to her as she sat in her silent chamber, to tick
-faster and faster until at last it broke into an actual gallop. If _he_
-were only here, she thought, as her eye fell upon the ring which the
-clerk had placed on her finger. And more than once she determined to go
-down to her father and confess all; then she thought of the old
-schoolmate that had saved his life, and her courage failed her.
-
-She started as the clock told eleven.
-
-It was past noon, and Old John was waiting anxiously for her appearance
-in the drawing-room; and his heart beat with strange emotions as he
-heard her light footfall on the stairs.
-
-She was very pale when she entered the room, and the traces of recent
-tears were in her eyes. Yet she had never looked more beautiful, never
-more lovely. She was dressed in simple white, and a single white rose
-was braided in her dark hair. Old John could not see her thus dejected
-without being moved, and the dark cloud spread over his countenance. She
-saw it, and assuming a cheerfulness which she did not feel, drew her arm
-around his neck, and kissed him affectionately.
-
-“There, Ally, dear,” he said, “don’t be cast down. It will all come
-right in the end. I say it shall. Do sit down to the piano and sing a
-cheerful song. Yes, sing the one that Walter liked so well.”
-
-It was like asking the Israelites to sing songs of their home, while
-captives in Babylon; yet she did sing, though her voice trembled so much
-that it was with difficulty she finished the song.
-
-“Don’t take it so much to heart, dear,” said Old John. “I say, if you
-don’t like him, he shan’t have you.”
-
-They were interrupted by the sound of wheels rolling up the avenue. How
-her little heart beat and fluttered then. A carriage stopped before the
-door. Old John’s eye glistened with delight, as if relief had come at
-length. A step was heard in the passage. The door opened, and there
-stood—Walter.
-
-Alice started to her feet, and stood gazing vacantly at him, uncertain
-what to do.
-
-“Wont you speak to Harry Wilson?” shouted Old John, at the top of his
-voice, and giving a hysterical kind of laugh.
-
-Then the truth flashed upon her. With a cry of joy she rushed into his
-arms, and nestling her head in his bosom, wept like a child—but they
-were tears of joy. Her overstrained feelings found a happy relief. The
-dark cloud of sorrow passed away and the sun shone in all its glory.
-
-Old John capered round the room like a madman, and declared he had never
-seen any thing half so pleasant in all his life.
-
-“But it was very cruel of you, dear papa,” said Alice, kissing him
-tenderly, after the first effusions of joy were over.
-
-“I know it was, Ally, dear,” exclaimed Old John, willing to be blamed
-for any thing now. “I know it was. But you are such a willful little
-thing that I was afraid you wouldn’t like him, and I had set my heart
-upon it. I have been tempted more than twenty times to confess the whole
-and ask your forgiveness, when I saw you look so miserable. Yes, Ally, I
-came very near spoiling the whole this morning at breakfast. But never
-mind, it’s all right now; confess, isn’t it?”
-
-Yes, indeed, it was all right! And Alice, in her silent, eloquent way,
-soon convinced him that she thought so.
-
-Again the door opened, and Harry Wilson senior entered. He knew the
-whole affair, and had only waited on the outside until the first scene
-should be over.
-
-Cordial was the greeting between the old schoolmates. Smiles,
-congratulations, and merry words passed freely; every eye glistened with
-joy, and all went merry as a marriage bell.
-
-“Shall I enter that note at five or six per cents.?” asked some one at
-the side-door. There stood David Deans, with a pen behind his ear and
-another in his hand—his usual way of ornamenting himself—and looking
-as blank and cool as if nothing had happened.
-
-“Don’t enter it with any per cent., you old miser!” said Old John,
-patting him familiarly on the back. “We don’t charge interest this
-year.”
-
-David walked off with a broad grin operating powerfully upon his
-countenance.
-
-He understood the trick, did David.
-
-There was a sweet dream under each pillow that night; and the birth-day
-on which Alice thought to be miserable, was the happiest of her life.
-
-“Bless me, Brother Bill!” exclaimed Uncle Tom, “if you aint smoking
-nothing but dust and ashes.”
-
-“I declare, I believe you are right,” answered my father, somewhat
-confused, and making a careful examination of his pipe.
-
-“Good-nights!” were passed, and we all went to bed with happy hearts.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: Painted by Brockdon Engraved by F. Humphreys
-
-NATURE’S TRIUMPH.
-
-Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine]
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- EDITOR’S TABLE.
-
-
- NATURE’S TRIUMPH.
-
- [SEE ENGRAVING.]
-
-Great men were they of olden time; men with far-reaching and strong,
-grasping minds—men, too, of discrimination in what they
-gathered—“teach them selection, not collection,” was the word—and they
-prepared for us of this distant age monuments to excite admiration and
-insure awe; monuments which, while they exhibit what man is capable of
-doing, seem, by the perfection of their form and the adaptation of their
-parts, to check all spirit of imitation; monuments which denote all
-variety of mental exercise and all the adaptation of physical powers. It
-is not alone the chisel of Phidias working out the marble in a thousand
-forms, more beautiful than the human pattern—it is not alone the pencil
-of Zeuxis that fixed on canvas the flitting beauties of the field and
-grove—it is not alone the vast machinery that piled stone upon stone to
-finish the pyramids. Mind speaking to mind has uttered its powers, and
-has claimed of the present, wonder for the past; History and Poetry have
-embalmed the actions of the great, or expressed the devotion of the
-good, and assured us of the lofty resolves and great deeds of men of
-other years. The beauty of the ancient mind, however, is to be detected
-by the uses and adaptation of ordinary incidents—bending them to moral
-instruction by making them illustrative of some principle—patriotism,
-religion, social duty and domestic relations, or some deeply hidden
-power, which sudden emotion, strong impulse, or unexpected dilemma, is
-to call into action.
-
-Take the following, which is some where extant. We give only the
-statement of the asserted fact. We have no copy of the narrative.
-
-Leucippe was gathering the small delicate flowers which blossomed over
-the dampness of a rock that beetled far into the sea, and held its cold
-brow high above the waves breaking eternally at its base. It was a
-lovely spot, cool, fragrant, health-giving, and she took with her her
-little child, the only blessing which had been spared. For one moment
-the love of the beautiful of nature, the interest of collecting,
-triumphed over maternal vigilance. She turned, however, from the little
-harvest of sweets, and saw her boy bending over the edge of the rock,
-regardless of all danger, hopeful of only a single beautiful flower that
-blossomed on the very edge of the steep. One word of fear from the
-mother, one sudden movement toward the child would have disturbed his
-balance, and he must have toppled down beyond all hope of recovery even
-of the lifeless form. No time was left for calculation, no good could
-result from active efforts. With unspeakable anguish the mother saw the
-danger, with the promptness of woman’s judgment she rejected the
-ordinary means of safety; with the instincts of a mother’s heart she
-threw herself gently forward, and bared her bosom to the child, and
-lured him gently back to nestle on his own home of comfort, and draw
-life from the sympathetic founts that gushed to his honeyed lips. It was
-the triumph of nature, and the story seems to have inspired the artist
-for this month. A beautiful illustration, while the picture itself has
-suggested a title happily expressive of the idea conveyed in the
-anecdote, “Nature’s Triumph.”
-
-But such a story, so full of instruction, so pregnant with moral hints,
-should not be allowed to pass without an improvement, that may make it
-more and more beneficial. The experiment and the result may be properly
-styled the triumph of nature, for the deep solicitude of the mother, and
-especially her prompt expedient, are as much the movement of nature as
-is the affection in which they originated; and the attraction of the
-exposed bosom for the exposed child, was as much the gift of nature as
-was the hidden food which that bosom secreted and stored.
-
-But we love to consider the success of Leucippe as the “Triumph of
-_Affection_,” not less than the “Triumph of Nature.” It is _both_, as it
-is differently considered; it is either, in many ways regarded.
-
-Would the child, amused as it was with the flowers that jutted out from
-the rock’s impending edge, and pleased with the species of independence
-which its movements and new position signified, would the child have
-been lured by the exhibition of any other bosom than that of its mother?
-Had a stranger discovered the little adventurer, and being like
-Leucippe, conscious of the danger of calling aloud, of startling the
-child by any approach, had she bared her bosom, would not the infant
-have turned away without interest from the exhibition, and pursued its
-new occupation of flower gathering? Undoubtedly the unknown, who had
-from _prudence_ done what _affection_ suggested to Leucippe, would have
-seen at once that she lacked the attractive power, that there was no
-sympathy between her and the child. She might have felt all that a woman
-can feel for the lovely infant of another—thus dangerously
-situated—but the infant itself would not have been influenced by a
-corresponding sympathy; it would have lacked that affection necessary to
-a proper response to the exhibition.
-
-The triumph, then, is one of affection sympathizing with affection;
-corresponding love answering with miraculous organ, and instructing the
-great and good of all subsequent times by the promptings of a mother’s
-instincts, and the sympathies of an infant’s feelings. “Out of the
-mouths of babes and sucklings.”
-
-I was struck a few months since with the distress that was bearing down
-an intimate friend, and he made me the confidant of his sorrows, and of
-their cause. The young offender had forgotten the respect due to his
-parents; he had forgotten or disregarded the _respect_ which he owed to
-the beautiful fame which had come down to him unsullied through several
-generations; family pride, instead of exhibiting itself in supporting
-the long-descended credit, was visible in a sort of obstinate adherence
-to some misconceived ideas of _self_-importance; he was ruining his own
-health, and was fast approaching the precipice over which his passions,
-or rather let me say, his _passion_, would soon hurry him. His father
-had, at times, severely chid the wayward youth, and the mother had, day
-by day, warned him of his danger, so that he had by his false estimate
-of filial duties and parental care, rather been accelerated in his
-progress toward the line of destruction. A change was suggested in the
-mode of dealing—his own danger was not pointed out, but his attention
-was attracted back upon those whom he had loved—and had left; he saw
-whence he had derived all that delight to childhood, and he turned back
-to the fountain of affection which had gushed anew; and the birds of
-prey that had been hovering round the precipice where he hung were
-disappointed of their quarry. Those, who had wheeled around him with
-pliant wing and open beak, hopeful of spoil, screamed their
-disappointment in their filthy eyrie, and confessed their defeat in the
-triumph of nature and affection.
-
-I know well that the voice of kindness, uttered to the erring, is often
-disregarded or despised, but less owing to the want of power in the
-instrument, than in the want of preparation in the object. So much of
-anger is manifested toward the vicious, that they grow suspicious of
-every exhibition of feeling in their behalf. You who would lure them
-back to virtue, must not pause at a single token of kind feeling; repeat
-the words of consolation; remember that the very fault which you would
-correct may have brought a part of the obstinacy which you
-deplore—remove the obstinacy by kindness, and thus open a channel to
-the source of the fault. He who would reclaim the vicious must lay his
-account to find the moral system reached in almost all its parts by
-those faults which by their prominency seem to be the only ones that
-appeal for remedy; and the failure of one measure must invite to
-another; if one experiment lacks effect, strengthen it by another; do
-not work with single means—it is false economy. Leucippe bared both
-breasts to her wandering infant.
-
-Conjugal affection disturbed by some occurrences which are unbecoming,
-and yet seem unavoidable, is not to be lessened by argument to prove
-either party right or wrong. These will, much more readily, create
-acerbity by wounding pride, than restore the lapsed passion. Affection
-has little to do with the logic of an argument—little to derive from
-the temper of discussion. When the evil is evident; when the disturbance
-is most oppressive, let not the parties imagine that any thing like cool
-reflection is to be had, or is to be made available; let the woman look
-back beyond the season of disquietude; let her bare her affections as
-they were when all was sunshine in the domestic circle; let her appeal
-to the undisturbed peace of such a scene, and by her conduct show her
-erring husband that it is possible to make the recollection of early
-delight stronger than the memory of present bitterness. Men learn this
-lesson easily, and practice it willingly. They need a teacher—they need
-precept and example; but they are willing to follow the leadings, and
-exhibit and rejoice in the triumph of affection. It is so, apparently in
-the great things of religion. Awful as are the dangers of neglect, it
-would seem that the terrors of the law are less operative than the
-persuasions of love. Notwithstanding the momentous question propounded,
-and the alternative made manifest, it would seem to an ordinary thinker,
-that the best mode of preventing a course that would incur the terrible
-penalty, would be to present the consequences of neglect, and to drive
-by terrible denunciations the erring one from the path that leads down
-to death. But not so argues the inspired Apostle. “Knowing therefore the
-terrors of the law,” (how appalling that thought,) “we _persuade_ men,”
-(how gentle, how enticing, how successful in such a cause becomes “the
-triumph of affection.”)
-
-Whenever a triumph is to be achieved over evil passions or vicious
-habits, then the appeal to the affections by the affections must be the
-means employed. We may check action or delay execution by fear, but we
-produce no change in the sentiment, no correction of the motive. We may
-prevent the offending one from injuring others, but we do not by such
-means lessen his power or his chance of injuring himself.
-
-Oh, how much of destruction, how much of the waste of human feelings,
-human pride, and glorious self-respect are due to the want of care in
-attempts to draw offenders from the place of moral danger. Go to the
-home of wretchedness and vice, and see how promptly the heart responds
-to the voice of kindness, how one touch of nature awakens the memory of
-early love, and recalls the hour of peace and virtue, until the heart
-aches to contemplate the chasm that vice has placed between the future
-and the terrible present.
-
-Sneer at her who, unable yet to appreciate the consequences of error,
-treads the path of danger or dallies on the borders to gather flowers
-that blossom near destruction. Sneer at her and she falls; call her back
-by the remembrance of home and home joys, by the love of father and
-friend; recall to her mind the unfailing affection of a mother, and she
-will turn willingly from her false position, be saved the crime, and
-only know what the consequences might have been, by marking the fate of
-those who had none to lure them back.
-
-Our picture it is believed will be suggestive beyond our remarks. It
-deserves a careful examination; may we not hope that hundreds who gaze
-at the work of art will take up the moral lesson which it conveys, and
-resolve that vice shall owe no triumph to their unkindness, and that
-virtue shall not lose its followers for a want of the evidences of
-affection in their lives and conduct. It is lessons such as these that
-make art useful. It is lessons such as these that make the pagans
-respected—it is the “triumph of nature” over art, and the prevalence of
-affection over error, that make Christianity beloved. We are happy to
-make this Magazine the vehicle of moral truth, that takes the best of
-ancient sentiment and of modern art for its means, and has for its end
-the cultivation and triumph of purest affection.
-
- C.
-
-
- THE RAINY DAY.
-
-Odd as it may seem, the condition of the atmosphere has a powerful
-influence on the animal spirits. It is the mercury in the thermometer of
-mind, indicating its buoyancy or depression. Who that is an observer of
-human nature under its various peculiarities, has not been forcibly
-struck with the vast difference in any one intimate friend, both as to
-mental activity and sprightliness, on a beautiful, bright, balmy May
-morning, and on a cold, cheerless, comfortless, cloudy, rainy day in the
-same “moon”? The whole man is changed—disposition, manner, mind and
-temperament have undergone some radical metamorphosis. The very mode of
-thought, the sentiments, the opinions even, are inverted. He who was
-amiable, instructive, communicative, and lively, is suddenly, by the
-veering of the wind, changed into a sullen, sombre, morose cynic,
-restless, moody and taciturn. Conversation is abandoned for long sighs,
-deep respiration, involuntary growls and lugubrious interjections. The
-agreeable companion of a clear atmosphere is the thus altered being on
-_a Rainy Day_, and the influence that has wrought a change so inimical
-to individual and domestic economy, is that of the atmosphere. To
-account for the cause is more the province of a scientific pen. Whether
-electricity be most positive or negative in certain conditions of the
-barometer, is a subject for professors of the various “’isms” and
-“’icities” of the day. The effect is too apparent to doubt the existence
-of a cause, and the cause too involved in mystery, to invite discovery
-by one unlearned in the theories of Royal “Societies” or Republican
-“Schools.” “The Atmosphere: _Its Ingredients and Influences_,” by John
-Smith, Fellow of the Royal Society: London 8vo. “Electricity: _Its
-Cause, Combinations and Effects_,” by Charles Jones, M. D., Professor of
-Natural Science in the Kainbridge University—New York: Harper &
-Brothers. “Animal Magnetism Investigated,” by Edward Brown, Member of
-the United States Philosophical Society, Late Professor in the
-Philadelphia Flight School—Philadelphia: Carey & Hart. “The Analogy
-between Mind and Matter, _considered in relation to the Doctrine of
-Transubstantiation and Revealed Religion_,” by the Right Rev. Bishop
-Berdott—Universal Christian Publication Association, Boston: Complete
-in One Volume—Second Edition. These, and the like publications, issuing
-almost daily, lasting monuments of the power of the steam-press, are far
-too repulsive food for the uninitiated in the art of philosophical
-digestion. We leave them to the student, who, with fortitude sufficient
-for the effort, will undertake the study of them on _a Rainy Day_.
-
-But cause undoubtedly there is, existing somewhere; for so powerful an
-agent, revolutionizing our very nature, must surely have “a local
-habitation and a name.” Do not let us suppose that because the various
-Sir John Rosses and Sir John Franklins have failed in their researches
-after this _primum mobile_, that it is hidden from the eyes of science.
-One of these seasons we shall be delighted by an advertisement in all
-the daily papers announcing thus: “Wonderful Discovery! Astounding
-Developments!! Thousands unable to obtain Admission!!! The Reverend
-Neophyte Frisky will deliver a Lecture at the Great Saloon of the
-Chinese Museum. Subject—Atmospheric Influence on Human-Natureology,
-showing its Cause and Effects. Experiments will be made after the
-Lecture. The Secret will be communicated to classes composed of
-Gentlemen and Ladies, at Ten Dollars a ticket. For notice of the hours
-of each class see small bills. Admission (so as to bring it within the
-reach of all) Five Cents—Children half price—Unbelievers admitted
-Free.” Thus faith in the hidden things of science will be made clear to
-the eyes of the million, and the singular phenomenon, exhibiting itself
-in its manifest effects from a hitherto undiscovered cause, will become
-as familiar to men as the horrors of _a Rainy Day_.
-
-We fear that some will naturally regard these remarks as intended to
-cast reproach on scientific investigation, and research into the wide
-fields of pathological—naturo-philosophical—moral-philosophical love.
-Far from it. We beg to invite volunteers to unite in an overland
-expedition after the philosopher’s stone. Let a company be formed on
-shares, armed and equipped with revolvers and rifles of the latest
-theory, to shoot opposition on the way for food for the
-Association—with India Rubber life-boats to cross the streams, and
-Gutta Percha tents to repose in on the march—secure a flying-machine on
-the last model, to transport the enthusiasts over mountains, and stock
-enough at $5 a share to start the _enterprise_, if not the _expedition_.
-We would not only invite the formation of such Associations in all the
-Atlantic cities, but suggest to rural scientificators to leave the
-plough of successful homebred labor, sell out their little all, and
-invest at once. Why drudge longer, alone and single-handed, when these
-combinations and associations insure the journey to be made in six weeks
-from the “Independence” of the first start. But, reader, let us advise
-you, if you are seriously impressed with the propriety of the
-undertaking and its certain success, don’t dwell on the results to be
-attained on _a Rainy Day_.
-
-Suggestions of unbelief in any novelty are more common than should be. A
-course of opposition to the march of mind, camping in its progress at
-startling or astounding discoveries, is detrimental to the developments
-of science, applied to every day use. We do not desire to be regarded as
-cynical or infidel, and therefore avow an attachment to these novelties
-_ex limine_. The utter incomprehensibility of any scheme is no objection
-to its feasibility. Far from it. On the contrary, the less it is
-understood the more it is applauded. Once announced for the
-investigation of the masses, a public meeting is called, as follows:
-“TOWN MEETING. The citizens of the village of Love-Your-Enemies will
-assemble in the Hall where ‘justice is judicially administered,’ on
-Saturday evening next, at 6 o’clock, to consider the propriety of
-memorializing Congress to grant 100,000 acres of the public domain, for
-the purpose of raising a fund to be invested in the capital stock of a
-company about to be formed, to construct an Electro-Magnetic Wire
-Suspension Bridge from the Narrows, at New York, to Tusca Light-House,
-on the English coast. Mr. Amasa Foresight Marblehead, the discoverer of
-this wonderful invention for the benefit of mankind, and patent
-pacification of nations, will be present and explain its principal
-features.” Signed by Hon. Col. Maj. M.D. Rev. Esq. The meeting convenes
-at the appointed time. Speeches are made. Diagrams, models, drawings,
-lithographs, sections are exhibited. The audience are delighted,
-mystified, gratified, magnified, humbuggified, and somnambulified.
-Resolutions are offered. A disciple of Roger Sherman objects, and
-sonorously desires the _Cui Bono_ in facts and figures. Question!
-Question! is shouted by the Esquire who signed the call, the brother of
-the chairman, and the gentleman who organized the meeting. These vocular
-demonstrations become public opinion, and under its supreme potent
-influence the resolutions are adopted, and the assembly adjourns. All is
-wonder, amazement and vacuity. One doubts. He is beleaguered by the
-President, Vice-President and Secretaries of the meeting, and silenced
-with “specific gravity,” “conic sections,” “capillary attraction,”
-“latent pressure,” “malleability of metals,” “attraction of cohesion,”
-“sinuosity of fluxions,” and the superior capacity of the arch over the
-horizontal, to bear weight. The object is accomplished—the probability
-assumes the shape of certainty—the unsophisticated are converted—the
-community is alive to the absolute necessity of the project—the most
-flattering prospects are in the future. The bridge is built on paper,
-and on this mid-air viaduct is represented flour and corn pouring into
-England, and emigrants and their progeny pouring out. How delightful!
-Well, “probably the humbug of the thing” would never have been made
-known, had it not been for the morbid disposition of some skeptic,
-exaggerated by the atmospheric influence of _a Rainy Day_.
-
-The atmospheric influence, then, is savagely detrimental to the mature
-development of extraordinary discoveries. In this it is
-auti-practico-scientific, and will, ere long, be driven from scholastic
-favoritism. Unwelcome as we have shown it to be in individual and
-scientific economy, we trust our researches into the economy of politics
-will prove more favorable.
-
-The State is a comprehensive word, meaning a conglomeration of voters.
-Voters are men presumed to be aged one-and-twenty each—that is, every
-voter must be, by law, in a majority before an election at which he
-votes, but it is not unlawful for him to be in a minority after he has
-voted. At this maturity they are infected with the frailties of
-humanity, consequently they agree and disagree with each other. Thus
-parties are formed on the basis of “principles, not men,” for the one,
-and “men, not principles,” for the other. On the supremacy of one of
-these combinations the safety of the State depends—so each
-conscientiously believes. To test the question, elections have been
-established—a modern republican invention, instead of the old “wager of
-battle.” The note of preparation is sounded. Martial music echoes in
-city, village, town and valley, in token of the peaceful nature of the
-coming contest. The voters of each party are gathered under banners
-inscribed with the poetry of politics Speeches are made by the humble
-aspirant after public fame in the shape of “spoils,” a figurative
-designation for the reward of patriotism. The taverns are filled;
-disquisitions on political principles, qualifications for public
-servants, the past history of nominees, and the future prospects of the
-faithful, are discussed with the blandness and courtesy which mark all
-polemic controversies. In order to purify the political atmosphere of
-such assemblies in those party craniums called “Head Quarters,” the
-fumes of tobacco, flavored with the insensible distillations of “old
-rye” or “Monongahela,” are used _ad libitum_. This, by the aid of music,
-speeches, rum and tobacco, “the great principles of the party” are
-preserved from decay, and made palatable to “generations yet unborn.” As
-the contest progresses, it is more and more marked by enthusiasm,
-sincerity, patriotism, self-devotedness to those abstractions born in
-“’98,” and destined to a green old age, or their immemorial antagonistic
-dogmas of a more northern extraction. Music, meetings, speeches and
-speculations, banners and bantering, polemics and pyrotechnics, rum and
-rows, fights and fabrications, placards and publications, advocates and
-anathemas, multiply in proportion to the chances of success. Committees
-of vigilance are active—window-committees impatient—voters are
-volatile and vicarious—candidates are cajoling, cabaling, convivial,
-cautious, curious and concerned. Thus progresses the campaign. The day
-arrives—Election Day—big with the fate of patronage and place. “To the
-Polls, Freemen, to the Polls!” is conspicuous at every turn, reminding
-those who have just awoke to the objects of the day, after weeks spent
-in fruitless attempts to convince them of the importance of the “Second
-Tuesday” in the political Almanac. Voting is this absorbing business.
-“Vote early,” is announced as of the utmost consequence. “Vote for John
-Smith,” is pronounced the only miracle by which liberty can be
-guaranteed to the nation. Workingmen are informed that John Brown is
-alone advised of the most salutary remedy for all their evils. Business
-men are warned that prosperity will abound under a Tariff, with the
-cabalistic addition of “’42,” and that ruin belongs to that of “’46.”
-The timid are startled by the announcement that the “country is ruined,”
-and the “constitution has been violated,” while anon is proclaimed that
-“the dearest rights of freemen are in jeopardy.” So passes the “Second
-Tuesday”—voting, voting, voting, “on age,” “on papers,” “on tax
-receipts,” and “on principle.” There must be an end to all things. So
-with Election Day. The polls are closed. The counting begins. Majorities
-and victories are cheered as published. One party claims success from
-figures, the other from numbers. One calculates success, the other votes
-it. It is decided, at last, by the indisputable returns. The victors
-attribute their triumph to the people; the defeated find consolation in
-the fact that they would have been triumphant, had it not been—_a Rainy
-Day_.
-
-Atmospheric influences are suicidal, it seems, in politics. And as it
-may seem, the character of the atmosphere has a powerful influence on
-other things beside animal spirits. Reader, pause—our task is done. Of
-a highly mercurial temperament, affected with despondency or hilarity,
-as the sky is cloudy or clear, we were forced to get rid of ourself on
-one of those pluvious phenomena in the temperate zone, and hence we
-wasted our own time and yours by dedicating our reflections to _The
-Rainy Day_.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Our New Volume.—We do not think our patrons can fail to be pleased with
-this the first number of a new volume of “Graham’s Magazine.” We confess
-to feeling proud of it ourselves, and think we fully redeem the promise
-we made to increase the claims of our periodical upon popular favor. No
-similar publication, it may be confidently asserted, ever presented an
-equal array of merits and attractions, whether the artistic
-embellishments or literary contents be considered, and we know that our
-good friends, the public, will award to us the meed of superiority over
-all others, _nem. con._ But excellent as the opening number of the
-volume is, the rest shall fully equal if not surpass it in beauty. We
-have always held our position in advance of all competition, and the
-ground shall be maintained. Let others do as they may, the subscribers
-to “Graham’s Magazine” may rest assured that their favorite publication
-will never degenerate or forfeit the proud distinction long ago
-conferred upon it of being “The Gem of the Monthlies, and the Leading
-Periodical in America.”
-
-Our subscription list is rapidly increasing; new friends sending in
-their names every day. This is an appropriate season to commence taking
-the Magazine, and the novelties and new beauties we have in preparation
-will render the current volume one well worthy of careful preservation.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.
-
-
- _H. Kavanagh. A Tale. By H. W. Longfellow. Boston: Wm. D.
- Ticknor & Co. 1 vol. 12mo._
-
-This volume has been very extensively read, has delighted almost every
-reader, and yet has left on the minds of many a feeling of
-disappointment. Considered as a novel, it must be admitted that the
-story is but slight, the characters hinted rather than developed, and
-the whole frame-work fragile; but it would perhaps be more fair to judge
-it according to the purpose the author had in view in writing it, and
-this purpose was evidently not the production of a consistent novel, but
-the illustration of an idea through the forms of a tale. Mr. Churchill,
-who is always meditating a romance and never producing one, and while
-musing over the idea is unconscious of the romance developing under his
-very eyes, is a good illustration of the motto of the work—
-
- “The flighty purpose never is o’ertook,
- Unless the deed go with it.”
-
-The romance present to Mr. Churchill’s vision, but which he does not
-perceive, is, to be sure, a common one, but none the less affecting
-because it is common. It is a simple but quietly intense representation
-of love in its two great expressions in life—the love which imparadises
-and the love which breaks hearts; and it has no reference at all to
-time, but is the universal fact of all ages.
-
-In addition to his lovers, Mr. Longfellow has sketched with much
-beautiful humor, the characters and characteristics of a country town.
-His mirth is the very poetry of mirth, sly, genial, fanciful, reminding
-the reader of Dickens without suggesting the thought of imitation. All
-the incidents and emotions of the book are enveloped in an atmosphere of
-poetry. It is this magical charm of the poet, investing the commonest
-materials with a drapery of imagination, and sending a rich and golden
-flush through the whole expression, which constitutes the merit of the
-volume. An ideal sweetness, sometimes felt in the music of the words,
-sometimes in the fine felicity of the imagery, and sometimes in the
-“soft, Ausonion air,” breathed upon the characters, pervades equally the
-author’s humor, pathos, sentiment, passion and reflection. The effect of
-the whole is not to thrill or exalt the reader, not to inspire terror or
-awaken thoughts “beyond the reaches of his soul,” but to fill him with
-the highest possible degree of intellectual and moral comfort. There are
-no stings in the author’s mind, and he plants none in the minds of
-others. He is a mortal enemy to unrest, to all haggard and unhandsome
-thoughts and sensibilities, and fuses matter and spirit into a sensuous
-compound, calculated to give poetic pleasure rather than to inspire
-poetic action.
-
-There is one fault to the book more serious, perhaps, than any other,
-and that is its shortness. The characters are well conceived, but
-imperfectly developed. The premises of Kavanagh’s character are
-excellent, but no conclusion is drawn from them except his marriage, and
-that is something of a _non-sequitur_. The ground is fairly broken for a
-long work, for a sort of American Wilhelm Meister, and though the
-author’s plan hardly demands its cultivation to the extent of its
-capacity, we feel rather provoked that he did not make his plan
-commensurate with the elements of his characters. In Kavanagh we have a
-reformer who blends cultivated and sensitive tastes with great
-aspirations, and to have fully developed such a person, by representing
-the modifications of his mind through its contact with the reformers and
-conservatives of New England, would have enabled Mr. Longfellow to
-produce the most original and striking novel of the day, and one which
-would have been a mirror of New England life in its present
-manifestations. The ideas and purposes of Kavanagh alone are given, and
-he, rather than Mr. Churchill spreads a gulf between intentions and
-deeds. To have made the woman he loved non-sympathetic with him as a
-reformer, and the woman he did not love his adherent in that capacity,
-would have finely complicated the matter, and resulted in many original
-agonies, ecstasies, mental struggles, and thrilling situations. Such a
-novel, even if, like Goethe’s, it had cost ten years’ labor, would, as
-treated by Mr. Longfellow, have obtained an instantaneous and enduring
-popularity.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _My Uncle the Curate. A Novel. By the Author of “The Bachelor of
- the Albany” etc. New York: Harper & Brothers._
-
-The mere announcement of any thing from the sparkling brain of the
-Bachelor of the Albany, is sufficient to raise anticipations of brisk
-and business-like satire, of felicitous expression, and of good-natured
-representation of the follies of conventional life. The present work
-evinces more of the novelist, and less of the wit-snapper, than any
-thing the author has previously written. The story and the characters,
-though plentifully bespangled with epigrams, are still not immersed and
-lost in them; and there is not that incessant effort after smartness and
-point which at one period seemed to be the law of the writer’s mind. Mr.
-Woodward, the Curate, has some capital traits of character felicitously
-developed, and his wife, belonging to that kind of women known as
-everybody’s mother, is drawn to the life. In Mrs. Spenser we have one of
-those plagues of mankind, who cause more misery than pestilence and
-war—a nervous, fretful, peevish, unsatisfied, vinegar-souled wife,
-engaged in slaughtering her husband with pins, and making up for the
-weakness of her instruments by the continuity of her attacks. Lucy
-McCracken appears to have been suggested by Thackeray’s Becky Sharp, and
-she is in every way inferior to the latter in the logic of her
-artfulness. Dawson, Sidney Spenser, Markham and Vivyan, are all well
-discriminated delineations of young men, though the lover is the least
-interesting. The author is something of a bungler in handling the
-passions and affections, and considered as a man of wit, is singularly
-blind to the ludicrous effect which his serious scenes often produce. He
-is a capital laugher at the sentimentalities and agonies of other
-novelists, but when he ventures into their region he is as far from
-common sense and natural feeling as any of the dabblers in broken hearts
-and crushed affections whom he ridicules.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield the
- Younger. By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by H. K Browne. New
- York: John Wiley. Part I._
-
-The announcement of a new work by the most popular novelist of the day,
-is quite an event to the famished lovers of his genius. It is difficult
-to judge from the first number whether it will be worthy of the author’s
-fame, but it promises well both in respect to originality and interest.
-With the characteristic traits of Dickens’s style and mode of
-delineating characters and narrating events, it starts a new society of
-individuals, who may rival the old familiar names in popularity. The
-peculiar humor, fancy, sweetness, and verbal felicity, which have
-already delighted so many thousands, appear in this work with their old
-power, and give no signs of decay. For knowledge of the heart we would
-allude to the scene in which Mrs. Copperfield questions Davy as to the
-exact words the gentleman at Lowestoft used in speaking of her beauty,
-as pre-eminently excellent. For quaint humor, bordering continually on
-pathos, the life which Davy led in the queer house on Yarmouth beach,
-with Peggotty’s relations, might be triumphantly quoted to silence all
-doubts of Dickens’s continued fertility. The knowledge evinced
-throughout of the interior workings and external expression of a child’s
-mind, is quite remarkable. Indeed, if the author proceeds as he has
-commenced, there can be little fear of his success. It remains, however,
-to be seen, whether or not his characters will please through twenty
-numbers.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Holydays Abroad; or Europe from the West. By Mrs. Kirkland. New
- York: Baker & Scribner. 2 vols. 12mo._
-
-The accomplished authoress of these elegant volumes has established so
-good a reputation by her previous writings, that we opened her present
-book with some reluctance, fearing that the subject would be too
-threadbare even for her powers to make interesting. Indeed records of
-tours in Europe have become so common, so natural an employment of
-aspiring mediocrity, that to read them is an exercise in yawning, and to
-criticise them an assumption of the office of executioner. We prefer
-dullness in almost any other form. It is due to Mrs. Kirkland, however,
-to acknowledge that she has triumphed over the disadvantages of her
-subject, and produced a really interesting work, avoiding all the
-wearisome topographical inanities and stereotyped opinions of most
-tourists, and giving a new and vivid glimpse of foreign life. She
-appears to understand the wants of her readers, and she tells them the
-very things they most desire to know. Her passage on St. Peter’s is one
-instance among many which the book affords, of her knowledge of the
-ignorance of her readers, and her felicity in suggesting a view of a
-whole subject by fixing on a few important details. She generally
-succeeds in conveying so warm an impression of the objects she
-describes, as to make her readers the companions in the journey.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Adirondack; or Life in the Woods. By J. T. Headley, Author
- of Washington and his Generals, etc. New York: Baker & Scribner.
- 1 vol. 12mo._
-
-In this volume the dashing and brilliant author of Napoleon and his
-Marshals has occupied a new ground. The northern section of the state of
-New York, comprising nearly eight counties, is still an unsubdued
-forest, “crossed by no road, enlivened by no cultivation, not a keel
-disturbing its waters, while bears, panthers, wolves, moose and deer,
-are the only lords of the soil.” Into this region Mr. Headley conducts
-his readers, and certainly few subjects could be better fitted for his
-picturesque pen. The magnificent scenery of the region he has described
-with great force, freshness and pictorial effect, and the various
-adventures incident to a life in the woods, are narrated with the
-author’s accustomed vigor and raciness. The work being in the form of
-familiar letters, admits of every style of verbal expression which truly
-reflects the feeling of the moment, and the reader is therefore not
-troubled by the presence of those occasional audacities of diction
-which, in Mr. Headley’s more elaborate works, sometimes offend a pure
-taste.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Analogy of the Ancient Craft, Masonry, to Revealed Religion.
- Gregg & Elliott._
-
-This is the title of a beautifully printed octavo volume, from the pen,
-and evidently from the heart, of Charles Scott, A. M., Grand Master of
-the Grand Lodge of the State of Mississippi. The literature of the Order
-of Masonry is not extensive, for reasons that the members of the Order
-probably fully comprehend. It is confined to a few volumes of addresses,
-and to some liturgies and handbooks; all, of course, useful to the
-craft, but not all interesting to the world. The volume before us is the
-result of much deep feeling, which manifested and employed itself in
-careful research, close reading, sustained reflection, and an able
-exposition of the results of all those processes.
-
-The Analogy is ably made, and though the uninitiated may not feel the
-same interest as do the “craftsmen” in the Analogy, yet many readers
-will find on its pages much to admire, much that will instruct, much
-that will lead him to reflect and inquire.
-
-The initiated who sits down to the book with a love of the institution,
-will find that love augmented, his respect increased, and his views
-greatly enlarged by the developments of the able author of the volume.
-We commend the work to the attention of general readers, but especially
-to those who share membership with Mr. Scott.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Last Leaves of American History: Comprising Histories of the
- Mexican War and California. By Emma Willard. New York: Geo. P.
- Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo._
-
-Commencing with the inauguration of General Harrison, Mrs. Willard
-presents us with a clear and condensed account of the events which
-followed to the close of the Mexican war. Although most of them are
-familiar to the readers of the newspapers, we suppose that few minds
-possess them in their order and connection, stripped of all exaggeration
-and telegraphic inaccuracies. Mrs. Willard writes in a bold, decisive
-style, without any apparent partisan object, and with no other purpose
-to serve than to glorify the country as far as it can be done without
-any sacrifice of truth. We have found the volume interesting and
-accurate.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Genius of Italy: being Sketches of Italian Life, Literature
- and Religion. By Rev. Robert Turnbull, Author of Genius of
- Scotland, etc. New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo._
-
-This is an exceedingly interesting and well-written volume, full at once
-of discernment and enthusiasm, exhibiting considerable knowledge of
-Italian literature, scenery, manners and character, and showing a true
-Anglo-Saxon sagacity in its views of the present state of Italy. The
-work is both descriptive and critical, and many passages have a
-pictorial distinctness which prove that the objects described were
-visibly mirrored on the writer’s imagination as he wrote. The sketches
-of Dante, Tasso, Ariosto, Petrarch, contain many correct opinions, and
-are well calculated to convey information as well as to inspire
-enthusiasm for the genius of Italy.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _History of King Charles the Second of England. By Jacob Abbott.
- With Engravings. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1 vol. 16mo._
-
-This is a most useful and entertaining biography of a regal roué, whose
-reign is the scoff and jeer of history. Charles was a good-natured
-rascal, whose destitution of principle and indifference to shame,
-approached the marvelous. The record of his reign is full of matter for
-reflection, and Mr. Abbott has presented it with more than his
-accustomed felicity in the selection of events, and graceful simplicity
-of style.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration:
-Anaïs Toudouze
-LE FOLLET
-PARIS, _Boulevart_ S^{t}. Martin, 61
-_Robes de_ Camille
-_Dentelles de_ Violard, _r. Choiseul, 2^{bis}—Fleurs de_ Chagot ainé, _r.
- Richelieu, 81_;
-_Eventail de_ Vagneur Dupré, _r. de la Paix, 19_.
-Graham’s Magazine]
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- WHAT’S A TEAR?
-
-
- A BALLAD.
-
- SUNG BY MRS. SEGUIN,
-
- COMPOSED BY
-
- M. W. BALFE.
-
-
- Presented By GEORGE WILLIG, No. 171 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- What’s a tear? Mother dear!
- Look not thou in sorrow!
- As at dawn, from the thorn,
- Falls the dew my Mother,
-
-[Illustration]
-
- Let this grief find relief,
- I’ll not weep tomorrow!
- His I’ll be, none shall see
- How I love another,
- How I love,—love another!
-
- SECOND VERSE.
-
- As the rose, while it blows,
- Hidden canker weareth;
- Sigh shall ne’er whisper here,
- How this heart despaireth:
- What’s a tear? Mother dear!
- His I’ll be, Oh Mother!
- Though I die, since on high
- I may love another.
- How I love another.
-
- * * * * *
-
-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 iii, Story. Lydia Jane ==> Story. By Lydia Jane
-page 1, Rensellaer who commanded, ==> Rensselaer who commanded,
-page 2, Coffin, an aid of ==> Coffin, an aide of
-page 2, escape occured to ==> escape occurred to
-page 2, promoted) and a gallant ==> promoted) a gallant
-page 2, serve as marines. ==> serve as marine.
-page 4, proceeded to Fort Levenworth ==> proceeded to Fort Leavenworth
-page 6, accompanied the cortegé ==> accompanied the cortège
-page 15, his griping fingers, ==> his gripping fingers,
-page 24, them pleasant excursions ==> them on pleasant excursions
-page 29, blood tinging its ==> blood tingeing its
-page 35, my tiny bark, unguided ==> my tiny barque, unguided
-page 41, varient circumstances ==> variant circumstances
-page 43, desire ought but that ==> desire aught but that
-page 45, sort of wrapt awe ==> sort of rapt awe
-page 51, wordly prosperity could ==> worldly prosperity could
-page 60, heartless coquetery? Or ==> heartless coquetry? Or
-page 61, concering it. There ==> concerning it. There
-page 65, John their confident ==> John their confidant
-page 65, irruption of Vesuvius ==> eruption of Vesuvius
-page 66, kissed him affectionatly ==> kissed him affectionately
-page 68, confident of his sorrows ==> confidant of his sorrows
-page 68, by some occurences ==> by some occurrences
-page 68, (how appaling that ==> (how appalling that
-page 70, “mallability of metals,” ==> “malleability of metals,”
-page 70, propotion to the chances ==> proportion to the chances
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 1,
-July 1849, by Various
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1849 ***
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 1, July
-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. XXXV, No. 1, July 1849
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: George R. Graham
- J. R. Chandler
- J. B. Taylor
-
-Release Date: August 15, 2017 [EBook #55362]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JULY 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'>
-<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0000' style='width:375px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i006.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:375px;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>JULY</span><br/><span class='bold'>GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.</span><br/><span class='bold'>1849.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<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. XXXV.</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;July, 1849. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No. 1.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>Table of Contents</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>Fiction, Literature and Articles</p>
-
-<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 25em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 1em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#major'>A Biography of Major-General Stephen Watts Kearny</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#jasper'>Jasper St. Aubyn</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#true'>True Unto Death</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#therm'>Thoughts on the Thermometer</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#fling'>The Foundling</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#grave'>The Neglected Grave-Yard</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#widow'>The Widow of Nain</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#voice'>A Voice from the Wayside</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#dream'>The Dream of Mehemet</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#wild'>Wild-Birds of America</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#cross'>Cross Purposes</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#uncle'>Uncle Tom</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#table'>Editor’s Table</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#review'>Review of New Books </a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>Poetry, Music, and Fashion</p>
-
-<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 25em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 1em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#iwillbe'>I Will Be a Miner Too</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#emigrant'>The Emigrant’s Daughters</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#mary'>Mary</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#thee'>I’m Thinking of Thee!</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#tulip'>The Tulip-Tree</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#wife'>To My Wife</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#mem'>A Daughter’s Memory</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#from'>From Amalthæus.</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#towho'>To ——</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#omni'>The Omnipresence of God</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#newyear'>New Year Meditation</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#image'>The Image</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#pilgrim'>The Pilgrim’s Fast</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#mother'>To My Mother in Heaven</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#petra'>The Fortieth Sonnet of Petrarca</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#lines'>Lines on Burning Some Old Journals and Letters</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#follet'>Le Follet</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'><a href='#tear'>What’s a Tear?</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<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='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1.3em;font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAHAM’S</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:1.5em;font-weight:bold;'>AMERICAN MONTHLY</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:2em;font-weight:bold;'>MAGAZINE</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-weight:bold;'>Of Literature and Art,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:0.8em;'>EMBELLISHED WITH</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1.1em;margin-bottom:1.1em;font-size:1.2em;'>MEZZOTINT AND STEEL ENGRAVINGS, MUSIC, ETC.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>WILLIAM C. BRYANT, J. FENIMORE COOPER, RICHARD H. DANA, JAMES K. PAULDING,</p>
-<p class='line'>HENRY W. LONGFELLOW, N. P. WILLIS, J. R. LOWELL, HENRY B. HIRST.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;'>MRS. LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY, MISS C. M. SEDGWICK, MRS. FRANCES S. OSGOOD,</p>
-<p class='line'>MRS. EMMA C.EMBURY, MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS, MRS. AMELIA B. WELBY,</p>
-<p class='line'>MRS. A. M. F. ANNAN, ETC.</p>
-<p class='line'>PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;'>G. R. GRAHAM, J. R. CHANDLER AND J. B. TAYLOR, EDITORS.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<hr class='tbk100'/>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>VOLUME XXXV</p>
-<hr class='tbk101'/>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;'>PHILADELPHIA:</p>
-<p class='line'>SAMUEL D. PATTERSON &amp; CO. 98 CHESTNUT STREET.</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>1849.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:1.5em;font-weight:bold;'>CONTENTS</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:0.9em;font-weight:bold;'>OF THE</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>THIRTY-FIFTH VOLUME.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>JUNE, 1849, TO JANUARY, 1850.</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='iii' id='Page_iii'></span></p>
-
-<table id='tab3' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 28em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 7.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>A Biography of Major-General Stephen Watts Kearny, U. S. A. By <span class='sc'>Fayette Robinson</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>1</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>A Voice from the Wayside. By <span class='sc'>Caroline C⁠——</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>47</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>A Memory. By <span class='sc'>Jane Taylor Worthington</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>122</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>A Traveler’s Story. <a id='lydia'></a>By <span class='sc'>Lydia Jane Peirson</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>179</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>A Year and a Day. By <span class='sc'>Caroline H. Butler</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>193, 275</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>A Harmless Glass of Wine. By <span class='sc'>Kate Sutherland</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>230</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>An Adventure of Jasper C——,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>239</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>A Case of Gold Fever. By <span class='sc'>John Jones</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>356</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Cross Purposes. By <span class='sc'>Kate</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>59</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Colored Birds. The Bullfinch. By <span class='sc'>Bechstein</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>177</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Editor’s Table,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>67</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Editor’s Table,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>127</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Effie Deans,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>244</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Editor’s Table,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>248</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Editor’s Table,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>307</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Editor’s Table,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>372</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>General Training. By <span class='sc'>Alfred B. Street</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>133</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Homewood. By <span class='sc'>P. C. Shannon</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>286</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Indian Legend. By <span class='sc'>Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>80</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Ibad’s Vision. By <span class='sc'>Richard Penn Smith</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>229</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Jasper St. Aubyn; Or the Course of Passion. By <span class='sc'>Henry W. Herbert</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>7, 82, 140, 204, 253, 322</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Jessie Lincoln. By Miss <span class='sc'>M. J. B. Browne</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>164</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Legend. By <span class='sc'>Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>155</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Love Tests of Halloween. By <span class='sc'>T. S. Arthur</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>158</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Mary Wilson. By <span class='sc'>D. W. Belisle</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>99</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Minnie Clifton. By <span class='sc'>Emma C. Embury</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>222</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Men at Home. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>C. B. Marston</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>266</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Major Anspach. By <span class='sc'>Marc Fournier</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>282, 343</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Mr. Merritt and His Family. By <span class='sc'>F. Summers</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>293</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>My First Love. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>E. F. Ellet</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>360</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Olden Times. By <span class='sc'>J. R. Chandler</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>102</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Sketches of Life in Our Village. By <span class='sc'>Giftie</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>93</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Sketches of Life in Our Village. By <span class='sc'>Giftie</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>151</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Self-Devotion. By <span class='sc'>Giftie</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>349</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>True Unto Death. By <span class='sc'>Caroline H. Butler</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>17</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Thoughts on the Thermometer,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>25</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Foundling. By <span class='sc'>Jessie Howard</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>27</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Neglected Grave-Yard. By <span class='sc'>Prof. Alden</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>36</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Widow of Nain. By <span class='sc'>J. R. Chandler</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>41</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Dream of Mehemet. By <span class='sc'>R. Penn Smith</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>55</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Curtain Lifted. By <span class='sc'>Caroline H. Butler</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>73</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Two Hours of Doom. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Juliet H. L. Campbell</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>110</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Captive of York. By <span class='sc'>Stella Martin</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>113</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Two Paths. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Mary B. Horton</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>185</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Engraver’s Daughter. By <span class='sc'>H. Sunderland</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>201</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Recreant Missionary. By <span class='sc'>Caroline C⁠——</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>215</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Village Schoolmaster. By <span class='sc'>C. M. Farmer</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>233</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Battle of Trenton. By <span class='sc'>C. J. Peterson</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>288</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Life Insurance. By <span class='sc'>Henry G. Lee</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>301</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Balize,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>304</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Conscript. By <span class='sc'>Joseph R. Chandler</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>313</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Three Pictures. By <span class='sc'>Caroline C⁠——</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>334</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>The Two Cousins. By <span class='sc'>Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>365</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Uncle Tom. By <span class='sc'>Simon</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>61</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Unfading Flowers. By <span class='sc'>T. S. Arthur</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>366</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Wild-Birds of America. By <span class='sc'>Professor Frost</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>57</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Wild-Birds of America. By <span class='sc'>Professor Frost</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>126</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Wild-Birds of America. By <span class='sc'>Professor Frost</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>189</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Wild-Birds of America. By <span class='sc'>Professor Frost</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>245</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Wild-Birds of America. By <span class='sc'>Professor Frost</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>304</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab3c1 tdStyle2'>Wild-Birds of America. By <span class='sc'>Professor Frost</span>,</td><td class='tab3c2 tdStyle3'>369</td><td class='tab3c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>POETRY.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='iv' id='Page_iv'></span></p>
-
-<table id='tab4' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 28em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 7.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>A Daughter’s Memory. By <span class='sc'>Mary L. Lawson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>34</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Alice. By <span class='sc'>Thomas Dunn English</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>200</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>A Parting Song. By <span class='sc'>Professor Campbell</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>214</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>A Thought. By <span class='sc'>Isaac Gray Blanchard</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>232</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Alice Vernon. By <span class='sc'>E. Curtiss Hine</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>342</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Bunker-Hill at Midnight. By <span class='sc'>E. Curtiss Hine</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>303</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Communion of the Sea and Sky. By <span class='sc'>E. Jones</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>176</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Dirge. By <span class='sc'>Richard Penn Smith</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>371</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Elim. By <span class='sc'>Virginia</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>91</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Ermengarde’s Awakening. By <span class='sc'>F. S. Osgood</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>112</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>From Amalthæus. By <span class='sc'>Richard Penn Smith</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>34</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Faith’s Warning. By <span class='sc'>Henry T. Tuckerman</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>92</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Fragments of an Unfinished Story. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Frances S. Osgood</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>263</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Flower Fancies. By <span class='sc'>H. Marion Stephens</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>306</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Good-Night. By <span class='sc'>Walter Herries</span>, Esq.</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>139</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>I will be a Miner too. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Juliet H. L. Campbell</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>6</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>I’m Thinking of Thee! By <span class='sc'>A. D. Williams</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>16</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Kubleh. By <span class='sc'>Bayard Taylor</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>120</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Lines. By <span class='sc'>Walter Herries</span>, Esq.</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>60</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Lament of the Gold-Digger. By <span class='sc'>E. C. Hine</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>92</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Little Willie. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>H. Marion Stephens</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>98</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Lily Leslie. By <span class='sc'>Gretta</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>156</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Lines. By <span class='sc'>Forlorn Hope</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>281</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Lines. By <span class='sc'>Sarah Helen Whitman</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>303</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Mary. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>O. M. P. Lord</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>15</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>My Spirit. By <span class='sc'>Henry Morford</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>125</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>New Year Meditation. By <span class='sc'>Enna Duval</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>40</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Northampton. By <span class='sc'>Henry T. Tuckerman</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>232</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Parting. By Miss <span class='sc'>Phœbe Carey</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>265</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Pleasant Words. By <span class='sc'>Caroline May</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>370</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Passing Away. By <span class='sc'>Annie Grey</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>371</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Song. By <span class='sc'>Thomas Fitzgerald</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>228</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Speak Out. By <span class='sc'>S. D. Anderson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>238</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Spiritual Presence. By <span class='sc'>Mary G. Horsford</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>306</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Summer’s Night. By <span class='sc'>Sam. C. Reid, Jr.</span></td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>332</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Song. By <span class='sc'>Agnes</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>342</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Emigrant’s Daughters. By <span class='sc'>Gretta</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>6</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Tulip-Tree. By <span class='sc'>Bayard Taylor</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>16</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To My Wife. By <span class='sc'>S. D. Anderson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>26</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To ——. By <span class='sc'>Henry B. Hirst</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>35</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Omnipresence of God. By <span class='sc'>R. Coe, Jr.</span></td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>35</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Image. By <span class='sc'>A. J. Requier</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>46</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Pilgrim’s Fast. By <span class='sc'>Mary G. Horsford</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>54</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To My Mother in Heaven. By <span class='sc'>T. Fitzgerald</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>54</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Fortieth Sonnet of Petrarca. By <span class='sc'>F. R.</span></td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>58</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Improvisatrice. By <span class='sc'>Mary G. Horsford</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>81</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Eighteenth Sonnet of Petrarca. By <span class='sc'>F. R.</span></td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>81</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To Mary. By <span class='sc'>Lucy Cabell</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>98</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Translation from Sappho. By <span class='sc'>G. Hill</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>109</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>This World of Ours. By <span class='sc'>S. D. Anderson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>124</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To the Lily of the Valley. By <span class='sc'>Prof. Campbell</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>139</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Spanish Maiden. By <span class='sc'>Agnes Coleman</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>150</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Angel’s Visit. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>S. Anna Lewis</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>154</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To a Portrait. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>H. Marion Stephens</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>157</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Odalisque. By <span class='sc'>Bayard Taylor</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>163</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To Inez. By <span class='sc'>S. D. Anderson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>175</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Time and Change. By <span class='sc'>Isaac Gray Blanchard</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>178</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Rain. By <span class='sc'>T. A. Swan</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>188</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Fountain in Winter. By <span class='sc'>Bayard Taylor</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>213</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Light of Life. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>O. M. P. Lord</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>214</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Bride of Broek-in-Waterland. By <span class='sc'>C. P. Shiras</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>220</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Willow by the Spring. By <span class='sc'>J. Hunt</span>, <span class='sc'>Jr.</span></td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>247</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Broken Household. By <span class='sc'>Alice Carey</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>262</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Fear of Death. By <span class='sc'>Mary L. Lawson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>274</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Seminoles’ Last Look. By <span class='sc'>Fayette Robinson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>291</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To My Sister E. By <span class='sc'>Adaliza Cutter</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>300</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>To My Steed. By <span class='sc'>S. Anderson</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>321</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Death of the Year. By <span class='sc'>Henry B. Hirst</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>333</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Cottage. By <span class='sc'>J. Hunt, Jr.</span></td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>333</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Misanthrope. By <span class='sc'>A New Contributor</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>340</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Broken Reed. By <span class='sc'>S. S. Hornor</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>318</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Old Wooden Church on the Green. By <span class='sc'>Henry Morford</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>359</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Death of Cleopatra. By <span class='sc'>W. G. Simms</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>363</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Fairies’ Song. By <span class='sc'>Heinrich</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>364</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>The Undivided Heart. By <span class='sc'>Myrrha</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>371</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Watouska. By <span class='sc'>Kate St. Clair</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>79</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Words of Waywardness. By <span class='sc'>Prof. Campbell</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>100</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>Woman’s Heart. By <span class='sc'>Rufus Henry Bacon</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>178</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab4c1 tdStyle2'>We are Changed. By <span class='sc'>Edith Blythe</span>,</td><td class='tab4c2 tdStyle3'>247</td><td class='tab4c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>REVIEWS.</p>
-
-<table id='tab5' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 28em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 7.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>H. Kavanagh. A Tale. By H. W. Longfellow,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>71</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>My Uncle the Curate. By the Author of “The Bachelor of the Albany,” etc.</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>71</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield the Younger. By Charles Dickens,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>71</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Characteristics of Literature. By Henry T. Tuckerman,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>131</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>The Earth and Man. By Arnold Guyot,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>131</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>The History of the United States of America. By Richard Hildreth,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>191</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Dante’s Divine Comedy: The Inferno. By John A. Carlyle, M. D.</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>192</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>A Second Visit to the United States of North America. By Sir Charles Lyell, F. R. S.</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>251</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>The Liberty of Rome. By Samuel Eliot,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>251</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>The Penance of Roland. By Henry B. Hirst,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>252</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>History of the National Constituent Assembly. By J. F. Corkran,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>252</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography. By Washington Irving,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>311</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Bulwer and Forbes on the Water Treatment,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>311</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>The Child’s First History of Rome. By E. M. Sewell,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>312</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>A Lift for the Lazy,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>312</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Poems. By Robert Browning,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>378</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Physician and Patient. By Worthington Hooker,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>379</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>History of England. By David Hume,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>379</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Success in Life. By Mrs. L. C. Tuthill,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>379</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>Sketches of Life and Character. By T. S. Arthur,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>380</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'>History of the French Revolution of 1848. By A. De Lamartine,</td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>380</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab5c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab5c2 tdStyle3'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab5c3 tdStyle4'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>MUSIC.</p>
-
-<table id='tab6' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 28em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 7.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab6c1 tdStyle2'>What’s a Tear? Composed by M. W. Balfe.</td><td class='tab6c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab6c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab6c1 tdStyle2'>Yes, Let Me Like a Soldier Fall. Written and Adapted by E. R. Johnston.</td><td class='tab6c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab6c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab6c1 tdStyle2'>Oh, Let Thy Locks Unbraided Fall. Words by John W. Watson, Esq. Music by John A. Janke, Jr.</td><td class='tab6c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab6c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab6c1 tdStyle2'>I Love, When the Morning Beams. By D. W. Belisle.</td><td class='tab6c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab6c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab6c1 tdStyle2'>Wake, Lady, Wake. Music Composed and Arranged for the Piano, by B. W. Helfenstein, M. D.</td><td class='tab6c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab6c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab6c1 tdStyle2'>My Life is Like the Summer’s Rose. Words by Hon. Richard Henry Wilde. Music by An Amateur.</td><td class='tab6c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab6c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab6c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab6c2 tdStyle3'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab6c3 tdStyle4'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>ENGRAVINGS.</p>
-
-<table id='tab7' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 28em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 7.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Cross Purposes, engraved by J. M. Butler.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>General Kearny, engraved by T. B. Welch.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Nature’s Triumph, engraved by F. Humphreys.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Widow of Nain.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Title Page, engraved by W. E. Tucker.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Golden Age, engraved by W. E. Tucker.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>La Siesta, engraved by Geo. P. Ellis.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Olden Times.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>No Rose Without a Thorn, engraved by J. M. Butler.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Bullfinch, engraved by F. Humphreys.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Love Tests of Hallowe’en, Nos. 1 and 2.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Effie Deans, engraved by T. B. Welch.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Rose Carlton, engraved by W. H. Egleton.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Baggage Wagon, engraved by A. L. Dick.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Engraver’s Daughter.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Happy as a King, engraved by J. M. Butler.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Head-Quarters of Gen. Knox, engraved by W. H. Ellis.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Balize.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Death of the Year, engraved by Wm. E. Tucker.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Opera Extravagance.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>The Conscript’s Departure and Return, engraved by John M. Butler.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>A Case of Gold Fever.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab7c1 tdStyle2'>Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.</td><td class='tab7c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab7c3 tdStyle4'></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class='tbk102'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i007f.jpg'>
-<img src='images/i007.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0002' style='width:425px;height:auto;'/>
-</a>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='it'>FROM AN ORIGINAL DAGUERREOTYPE.</span></span><br/> <br/><span class='bold'><span style='font-size:x-large'>S. W. KEARNY</span></span><br/> <br/><span class='it'>Engraved by T. B. Welch expressly for Graham’s Magazine.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk103'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.9em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk104'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'><span class='sc'>Vol.</span> XXXV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PHILADELPHIA, JULY, 1849. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class='sc'>No. 1.</span></p>
-
-<hr class='tbk105'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='1' id='Page_1'></span><h1 class='nobreak'><a id='major'></a>A BIOGRAPHY</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.1em;font-weight:bold;'>OF MAJOR-GENERAL STEPHEN WATTS KEARNY, U. S. A.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;font-weight:bold;'>[WITH AN ENGRAVING]</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY FAYETTE ROBINSON.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Few men who have ever been in the service of the
-United States have enjoyed a more enviable reputation
-than Stephen Watts Kearny, or have left behind them
-more admiring friends. The recent death of this excellent
-soldier, and above all his distinguished services,
-covering a space of more than forty years, make his
-career at this time peculiarly an object of interest to
-the country.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Stephen Watts Kearny was born in the year 1793,
-in the town of Newark, New Jersey, in a mansion yet
-the property of his family. Though not prone to admit
-that the adventitious circumstances of birth add any
-real dignity to individuals, either in America or elsewhere,
-it may not be improper to state that the family
-connections of the deceased general were of such a
-character as to have entitled him to a prominent social
-position any where, he being a relation of the well-known
-Lady Mary Watts, and a connection of the
-gallant and noble General Alexander (Lord Stirling)
-of the revolutionary army. The grandson of an emigrant,
-who settled in New Jersey, before the revolution,
-the family of Gen. Kearny had always occupied
-a prominent position in society, and exerted much influence
-in his native state.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the commencement of the war of 1811, young
-Kearny, then about eighteen, was a student at Princeton
-College. Contrary, it is said, to the advice of his
-friends, he obtained a commission from Mr. Madison,
-and reported for duty as a lieutenant in the 13th regiment
-of infantry, in which he was attached to the
-company of which the present very distinguished
-General John E. Wool was the captain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With two companies of his regiment he was present
-at the gallant affair of Queenstown, and with
-Colonel, since Gen. Scott, was surrendered a prisoner
-of war. This was on the 13th of October, 1812. In
-this affair the companies of the thirteenth had been
-long opposed to the greatly celebrated and highly disciplined
-forty-ninth British infantry, a regiment which
-had stood the ordeal of the Peninsula War, and had
-won laurels from the best troops of France. The
-forty-ninth had occupied, with heavy reinforcements
-of Canadian militia, a battery on a commanding position.
-The cannonade and musketry from this point
-was so severe that every commissioned officer was in
-the first assault either killed or wounded, and Col. Van
-<a id='renss'></a>Rensselaer who commanded, was carried from the
-field unable to stand. Before he left, however, he
-ordered every man who could move to storm the
-battery. Three more gallant officers than those who
-carried his order into execution probably never lived.
-They were Captain Wool, Lieutenant Kearny, and
-2nd Lieutenant T. B. Randolph, late of the Virginia
-regiment. By orders of Capt. Wool the two companies
-of the 13th, which originally had numbered but
-one hundred, all told, were extended and ordered to
-close upon the guns. This perilous manœuvre was
-executed with brilliant success, the enemy were driven
-precipitately from his guns, which were the first
-trophies to the United States of the war with Great
-Britain. This field was young Kearny’s first arms,
-and was a brilliant promise of what was to be his
-future career. The battle was important to the United
-States, though, as is well known, Col. Scott and his
-gallant command of regulars were forced to surrender.
-To the English it was most disastrous, Major Gen.
-Sir Isaac Brock, the captor of Detroit, a man thought
-worthy to compete with Wellington for the command
-of the British army in Spain, having been picked off
-by an American marksman. Throughout this trying
-engagement young Kearny sustained himself with the
-firmness which he maintained through life. When
-driven to the hill selected by the present Col. Totten
-as the strongest point, his perseverance was as distinguished
-as his impetuosity had been during the charge.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After the surrender, Kearny, with the other prisoners,
-was marched to the Canadian village of Niagara,
-where, it is said, they were scarcely treated with the
-<span class='pageno' title='2' id='Page_2'></span>
-consideration due such gallant soldiers. There occurred
-a circumstance of thrilling character often told—the
-attempted murder of Col. Scott by the Indian
-chiefs “young Brandt and Captain Jacobs,” which, had
-it proved successful, would have made irreconcilable
-the war between Great Britain and the United States.
-It failed through the great personal courage of Col.
-Scott and the gallantry of Captain Coffin, an <a id='aide'></a>aide of
-Gen. Sheafe, but the would-be murderers were never
-punished by the British government. The recurrence
-of such scenes, and the probability of long confinement,
-exercised a most unhappy effect on the mind of
-Kearny, who saw as the consequence of his captivity
-(at that day there were no exchanges of prisoners) the
-ruin of his professional prospects. After a confinement
-of some weeks at Niagara, Kearny was with the other
-prisoners sent to Quebec. For a long time he continued
-moody and morose, until a circumstance occurred,
-which the present general-in-chief relates, that restored
-his wonted alertness. The prisoners were taken to
-Quebec in a vessel, and from the carelessness incident
-to this mode of travel, the idea of a possible
-escape <a id='occur'></a>occurred to Col. Scott. The plan was to overpower
-the guard, to march at once to the nearest
-division of the United States troops on the frontier, and
-take their conductors with them as captives. Col.
-Scott imparted this plan to Kearny, who at once
-entered into it with his whole soul. His energy returned,
-and he became again the wild subaltern who
-had led the first platoon of the thirteenth at Queenstown.
-Circumstances prevented this plot from being
-carried into execution, but it had gone far enough to
-show that the subject of this memoir had as much prudence
-as valor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The prisoners at last arrived at Quebec, and their
-situation at once became most painful. They were
-confined in the old French castle, and were subjected
-to many indignities. This was before Niagara and
-Lundy’s Lane, and countless other fields had taught
-the British army that the American soldiers were
-worthy antagonists. At that time the British army
-was filled with the aristocracy of the country, which
-could not conceive or imagine the true position of
-a country without a nobility. Countless trivial insults
-were daily given, and which galled to the last degree
-the forbearance of the prisoners. The following anecdote
-may explain what they were.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On one occasion, when the American prisoners dined
-at the garrison mess, an officer of the British staff arose,
-and with a pointed pomposity gave the toast, “Mr.
-Madison, dead or alive.” The faces of the American
-officers flushed with indignation, which was not diminished
-when they saw a young American lieutenant
-rise from his chair, and in the blandest manner, and
-with a most insinuating smile, give thanks for the
-remembrance of the Chief Magistrate of the United
-States. All thought him drunk or mad, as he proceeded
-to say, “he felt the weightiness of the burden
-imposed on him by the silence of his seniors, that he
-would not give thanks for the toast last drunken, but
-would give another in return. He was sure the officers
-of both services present would understand him when
-he gave ‘the health of his royal highness, the Prince
-of Wales, <span style='font-size:smaller'>DRUNK OR SOBER</span>.’” If a shell had exploded
-under the table the surprise could not have been greater,
-and the danger of a collision became imminent, when
-the senior officer of the British army present, a man of
-tact and taste, interfered, and sent the person who had
-given the first toast from the table under arrest. This
-anecdote is variously told in the service, and sometimes
-is attributed to Gen. Kearny, and sometimes to
-the late Mann Page Lomax, major of artillery, who
-was at the time a prisoner in the castle of Quebec.
-It is perfectly characteristic of each of these officers,
-and whether Gen. Kearny be the hero or not, aptly
-enough illustrates this portion of his career. The
-American victories in the West, by which hosts of
-prisoners were acquired, soon placed the men of
-Queenstown in a different position, and they were
-exchanged.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Kearny was with Scott at the time the latter officer
-resisted the attempt to place in confinement the Irishmen
-surrendered at Queenstown, and ably sustained
-him in his energetic action in relation to this high-handed
-measure. He sailed in the cartel to Boston,
-and immediately on his arrival, proceeded to rejoin his
-regiment. He was subsequently stationed at Sacket’s
-Harbor, where he acquired the reputation for discipline
-and soldiership which never deserted him.
-While at this post the British commander, Sir James
-Yoe, and Commodore Chauncy, were manœuvring for
-possession of the lake. On one occasion, when in
-possession of a temporary superiority, Sir James appeared
-in front of the harbor and challenged the commodore
-to a fight. This the latter refused, because
-he had no marines. When the reason was told Capt.
-Kearny, (he had in the interim been promoted) <a id='noand'></a>a
-gallant officer of New York, a captain of artillery,
-named Romain, offered at once to go on board and
-serve as <a id='marine'></a>marine. The offer was not, however, accepted,
-much to the chagrin of Kearny and Romain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Captain Kearny served through the war, and on the
-reductions of 1815 and 1821, was retained in the service
-with his old grade and rank. In 1823 he received
-the usual brevet for ten years faithful service, and was
-assigned to the command of the beautiful post of Bellefontaine,
-near St. Louis, and in that year accompanied
-Brigadier General Atkinson in his famous expedition
-to the Upper Missouri. This was before the introduction
-of steamboats into those waters, and the expedition
-was one of the most tedious imaginable. The
-boats were necessarily to be propelled by poles and
-oars against the rapid current of the Missouri, and not
-unfrequently by the tedious process of <span class='it'>cordelling</span>. This
-is done by extending from the capstan of the boat a
-cable, which is made fast to the shore, and thus the
-vessel must carefully be wound up until the rope is
-exhausted. Then a new rope is stretched, and the
-same tedious process undergone. Often, when in the
-midst of <span class='it'>rapids</span>, the cable would break, and before
-the vessel could be brought up, a greater distance than
-had been gained in a week would be passed over. In
-the course of two years they reached the Yellow
-Stone river, twenty-two hundred miles above St. Louis,
-and displayed the colors of the 1st and 6th infantry
-where the United States flag had never been seen before.
-<span class='pageno' title='3' id='Page_3'></span>
-The Sioux, the Pawnee, the Mandan, and
-Arickra, were made acquainted with the government,
-of which before they had but a vague knowledge, and
-the vast resources of that immense country for the first
-time revealed to the nation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On his return Major Kearny received a full majority
-in the third infantry, and was removed to a new
-sphere, to the southern extremity of the Indian territory.
-While major of this regiment he established the
-post of Towson, on the banks of Red River. To reach
-this place, easy of access as it is at present, it was necessary
-to pass through what was then a wilderness of
-prairie, but which to the soldiers inured to the incessant
-storms of the Upper Missouri, seemed almost an
-Arcadia. After crossing the northern tributaries of
-the Arkansas, they were in the midst of the range of
-the buffalo, and the countless herds of wild horses
-which then abounded even there. The latter, not unfrequently,
-amazed at the novel sight of the marching
-troops, would dash up, as if to charge the columns,
-pause with as much unanimity as if they acted
-by command, encircle it, and tossing their long manes
-and forelocks, hurry out of view. New objects continually
-met his gaze, and the information then amassed
-was among the most valuable ever collected under the
-auspices of the government. On this march Major
-Kearny was accompanied by his accomplished wife,
-a step-daughter of Gen. M. Clark, of St. Louis, whom,
-about the time of his promotion, he had married. With the
-third infantry Major Kearny remained until the Black
-Hawk war, when almost all the troops of the country
-were concentrated in the country of the hostile Indians.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>While a major of the third, an incident occurred,
-which, though often told, will bear repetition. On
-one occasion, while stationed at Jefferson Barracks,
-Major Kearny was drilling a brigade on one of the
-open fields near the post. The manœuvre was the
-simple exercise of marching in line to the front. An
-admirable horseman, he sat with his face toward the
-troops, while the horse he rode, perfectly trained, was
-backed in the same direction, along which the command
-was marched. At once the animal fell, fastening
-the rider to the ground by his whole weight. His
-brigade had been drilled to such a state of insensibility,
-that not one of them came to his assistance; nor was it
-necessary. The line advanced to within about ten
-feet of him, when, in a loud, distinct voice, calmly as
-if he had been in the saddle under no unusual circumstance,
-Major Kearny gave the command, “<span class='it'>Fourth
-company—obstacle—march.</span>” The fourth company,
-which was immediately in front of him, was flanked
-by its captain in the rear of the other half of the grand
-division. The line passed on, and when he was thus
-left in the rear of his men, he gave the command,
-“<span class='it'>Fourth company into line—march.</span>” He was not
-seriously injured—extricated himself from his horse,
-mounted again, passed to the front of the regiment, and
-executed the next manœuvre in the series he had
-marked out for the day’s drill.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We are now, however, to see Major Kearny in a
-new and more important sphere of action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the whole of the last war with Great Britain
-cavalry was not once employed as a battle-piece, and
-in spite of the great services of the horse which had been
-commanded, during the revolution, by Cols. Lee and
-Washington, and by Count Pulaski, this great arm had
-become most unpopular. Consequently, on the reduction,
-no skeleton even of a corps had been retained—the
-sabres were locked up, the saddles and horses sold, and
-the officers and men disbanded. The policy, however,
-of disposing the eastern tribes along the western frontier,
-and the rapid strides of emigration west ward, brought the
-army into contact with the mounted tribes of the prairie,
-who evidently could never be overtaken or punished
-for depredations they at that time used to commit, by
-foot-soldiers, armed with heavy muskets, and laden
-down with knapsacks and camp equipage. Of this
-evident proof had been obtained in the expedition of
-Gen. Atkinson, mentioned above, and other excursions
-which had brought the officers and men of the 6th, 3rd
-and 1st infantry into contact with the nomad tribes of
-the Camanch. If other demonstration were required,
-it was furnished by the events of the Black Hawk war,
-when it became necessary to raise a body of mounted
-gunmen for special service, which was done under the
-auspices of the present distinguished Senator from Wisconsin,
-Mr. Dodge. These troops, called Rangers, did
-good service enough to induce Congress to authorize
-the levy of a strict cavalry corps called Dragoons. The
-whole army, with very few exceptions, was impressed
-with the necessity of this corps, for which the most
-distinguished men in their several grades of the service
-applied. On its organization, Major Kearny was appointed
-lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and on him
-depended almost exclusively the discipline, the colonel,
-Dodge, though a brave man, not having the military
-education or experience requisite to make him
-the active head of a new corps, in the details of which
-not only men but officers were to be instructed. Col.
-Kearny, during his long seclusion in the west, had
-been a patient student, and had made himself master
-of all the theory of his profession, and in a short time
-made his regiment one of the best in the world. Within
-less than a year after the first muster of the regiment,
-it was sent, under its colonel, as a part of the command
-with which the lamented Gen. Leavenworth marched
-to the Spanish Peaks. This disastrous march, in the
-course of which so many men and officers died, was
-most trying to a new corps, which had no guide to direct
-them. Here all the experience of the old world
-was at fault. Cavalry had there to march but from
-one hamlet to another, finding forage and grain everywhere.
-Here eight hundred miles of wilderness were
-to be overcome, and more than once the jaded horses
-were without even water. This proved the perfectness
-of the regiment, and the thoroughness of the discipline
-which induced the gallant and veteran Gen.
-Gaines to speak, in an official letter, of the first dragoons
-as “the best troops I ever saw;” and the officer who
-had defended Fort Erie, beaten back a victorious enemy
-at Chrysler’s Field, and received the keys of St.
-Augustine, certainly knew what a soldier was.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1835, Col. Kearny visited with one wing of his
-regiment, the Sioux, on the Upper Missouri, and had
-the satisfaction at a council to reconcile the long animosity
-between them and the Sauks and Foxes. He
-<span class='pageno' title='4' id='Page_4'></span>
-also made a long march to the head-waters of the Mississippi,
-visiting the village of Wabisha, and effecting
-a cessation of the trespassing of the British subjects,
-from the Earl of Selkirk’s settlement at Pembina, on the
-territories of the United States. In July, 1836, he was
-made colonel of the first dragoons; and from this period
-a sketch of his services would be almost a history of
-the West, not one trouble on the frontier occurred in
-the settlement of which he was not instrumental; and
-with six companies of his regiment he was able to
-protect a line of frontier eight hundred miles long.
-Stationed at Fort Leavenworth, be made himself the
-idol of the West, and devoting himself to his regiment,
-made its discipline perfect. He had now acquired a
-high rank, and the qualities he had always possessed
-became conspicuous. Bland in his manners, but of
-iron firmness, kind to his juniors, his equals, or those
-nearly so, requiring the strictest obedience, measuring
-his expectations by the rank of the officer, his conduct
-became proverbial. To his men he was most considerate,
-so that they looked on him as a protector. It
-is believed that during the whole time he commanded
-the first dragoons no soldier ever received a blow, except
-by the sentence of a general court martial for the
-infamous crime of desertion. The lash disappeared,
-and though probably the strictest disciplinarian in the
-service, there was less punishment in his corps than
-in any other. About this time the system of drill
-of the dragoons was changed, and he was long engrossed
-in the instruction of his regiment, having the
-troublesome task of unlearning them all he had taught
-of the old system, from which the new one differed
-entirely in mode and principle of combination.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the year 1839, the two Ridges, father and son, and
-Elias Boudinot, chiefs of the Cherokees, were murdered
-by a hostile clique of their own tribe, and there
-seemed imminent danger that a war would originate.
-Immediately on the receipt of the news of a possible
-collision, Col. Kearny determined to proceed to the
-scene. The officer of the quarter-master’s department
-on duty with him being unable to furnish the requisite
-funds, the colonel provided them from his own resources,
-and after a very rapid march appeared with
-six companies of his regiment at Fort Wayne. Words
-can not express the difference between his companies
-and those in garrison at that post; the beautiful
-condition of the men and horses of the first, and the
-rough-coated nags and unclean condition of the men
-of the second. After the difficulty had gone by, he
-effected an exchange of garrisons, and with the neglected
-and abused left wing, proceeded to <a id='leaven'></a>Fort Leavenworth,
-where, in a short time these companies became equal
-in discipline to the others of the corps. The companies
-of the Fort Wayne garrison which he took with
-him to Leavenworth, were those which, under the
-command of the gallant and lamented Capt. Burgwin,
-and the excellent soldier, Major Grier, did such good
-service, and so much distinguished themselves in the
-campaign in New Mexico against the revolters and the
-Pueblo and Navajo Indians.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1842, he was appointed to the command of the third
-military department, with head-quarters at St. Louis.
-There he remained until 1846, with the exception of
-his long march to the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains
-in 1845. There is no doubt that this is one of
-the most extraordinary marches on record, both from
-its distance, its rapidity, and the fact that he passed
-among semi-hostile tribes nearly two thousand miles;
-crossed deep and rapid streams by swimming, gave
-protection to the immense army of emigrants <span class='it'>en route</span>
-to California, and returned without losing a man or
-horse.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1846, the war with Mexico began, and he was
-assigned to the command of the army of the West with
-orders to occupy New Mexico and California. To
-reach Santa Fe an immense march was to be undertaken
-across a country but sparsely furnished with wood
-and water, and where no supplies were to be met with
-or obtained until the enemy’s country should be
-reached, and in all probability a battle fought and won.
-To accomplish this, precisely such a man as Col.
-Kearny was required. He was familiar with the
-service, and possessed the unbounded confidence of the
-people of Missouri, from which state the volunteers
-who were to compose the main body of his army were
-to be drawn. In a most unprecedented short time the
-men were enrolled, and all necessaries supplied, and
-before Armijo, the governor of New Mexico was
-aware of his approach, the army was in the capital of
-the province. Like Cæsar, Gen. Kearny might say,
-“I came, I saw, I conquered.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Immediately before the capture of Santa Fe, Col.
-Kearny had received his promotion to the grade of
-Brigadier-General, and abandoned to his successor the
-standard of a regiment he had borne from the Gulf
-of Mexico to the head-waters of the Mississippi, and
-which was to be the first flag of the army which
-waved on the shores of the Pacific. After obeying
-his orders, and providing for the future peace of the
-country, he proceeded to California, across a country
-where an army had never marched before, and which
-was considered impassable. Cold, a wilderness, absolute
-barrenness, were all to be overcome. Scarcely,
-however, had he set out on this expedition than he
-was met by an express, informing him that California
-was conquered. Relying on this, he sent back all his
-troops except one hundred men, and proceeded to the
-valley of the Gila. Of the sufferings of his men, of the
-almost starvation which forced them to eat the flesh of
-the emaciated dragoon-horses which had borne them so
-far we will not speak. When he emerged into the fertile
-country, it was not until after severe contests against
-immense odds, and until he had lost many favorite
-officers and picked men, to all of whom he had become
-endeared by participation in the dangers of a march
-across the American continent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the 2d of December, 1846, Gen. Kearny arrived
-at Warner’s Rancho, one of the extreme eastward
-settlements of California. He there learned certainly
-what he had previously heard from a party of Californians,
-that the population had risen against the invaders
-and that Andreas Pico was near San Diego
-with a superior party, intending to give him battle.
-Though exhausted by a long march, and mounted on
-broken-down mules, Gen. Kearny hurried to attack
-him. On the night of December 5, he heard that Pico
-<span class='pageno' title='5' id='Page_5'></span>
-was at the village of San Pascual, and on the next
-morning met him. At once a charge was ordered,
-which broke Pico’s line and forced it to retreat. After
-a flight of half a mile, however, it was rallied and
-charged the head of the American force, and lanced
-many of the foremost men. A desperate hand to hand
-fight ensued, which resulted in the discomfiture of Pico,
-not, however, until Captains Moore and Johnston, and
-Lieutenant Hammond, and sixteen men had been
-killed, and fourteen persons wounded, including the
-general himself, and all the officers except Captain
-Turner, who, though he greatly distinguished himself,
-escaped untouched. The inequality of the contest
-was immense, when we remember that the Californians,
-the most superb horsemen in the world, were
-mounted on excellent chargers, while the dragoons
-were on mules which had marched from Santa Fe.
-The dead were buried; this sad duty, and the necessity
-of making further arrangements, detained the party
-all day. On the next day the march was resumed,
-but encumbered as they were, they were able to
-proceed but nine miles when the enemy charged them
-again. The needful preparations to receive them were
-made, when the enemy wheeled off, and attempted to
-occupy an eminence which commanded the route.
-From this, after a sharp skirmish, they were driven
-with some loss, and then Gen. Kearny encamped.
-As Pico evidently intended to dispute every pass, the
-general determined to remain where he was until reinforcements,
-for which he had sent to the naval commander
-at San Diego, should arrive. Four days afterward
-a force of marines, under Capt. Zelin, U. S. M. C.
-and of sailors, commanded by Lieutenant Gray, arrived,
-and with this force Gen. Kearny marched without
-molestation to San Diego, a distance of thirty miles.
-A difficulty about the command here arose between
-Commodore Stockton and Gen. Kearny, which could
-not be settled in California, where the naval commander
-had far the superior force. It did not prevent
-their undertaking a joint expedition against Puebla de
-los Angelos, which was in possession of a strong
-Mexican force under Flores.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the 8th of January the Mexicans were met six hundred
-strong, with four guns, in the face of whom the
-American force of sailors, marines, and the remnant of
-the dragoons, forded the river, and after a short, sharp,
-and decisive affair, drove them from the field. On the
-next day the enemy again appeared, and, as usual, were
-beaten, and on the 10th Puebla de los Angelos was occupied.
-At these affairs both the naval and army commanders
-were present, and the question of who was
-commander added somewhat to the difficulty already
-existing between them. At this time Lieut. Col. J. C.
-Fremont, then of the mounted rifles, commanded a numerous
-body of volunteers in California. Gen. Kearny
-ordered this officer to join him. This Col. Fremont did
-not do, but on the contrary, considered Com. Stockton
-as his commander. Consequently, when on the arrival
-of land reinforcements from the United States, Gen.
-Kearny assumed and maintained his command, he
-ordered Col. Fremont to accompany him home. Col.
-Fremont was subsequently arrested and tried for this
-dereliction of duty, found guilty of mutinous conduct,
-and sentenced to be dismissed the service. A portion
-of the court which tried him having recommended the
-remission of the sentence, the President acquiesced, and
-he was ordered to duty, but immediately resigned his
-commission. The prosecution of the charges against
-Col. Fremont detained Gen. Kearny in Washington
-during a portion of the winter of ’47 and ’48, and was,
-doubtless, most painful to him, for no man in the army
-had previously borne a higher character for soldiership
-than Col. Fremont. The court martial fully sustained
-Gen. Kearny in every pretension, and but one
-person has been found in America to cavil at the
-sentence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the spring of 1848, Gen. Kearny was ordered to
-Mexico, whither he proceeded at once. All hostilities
-were, however, then over, and though he was in the
-discharge of his duty, his service there was uneventful.
-On the conclusion of the war he returned home, and
-was assigned to the command of the military division
-of which St. Louis is the head-quarters. He there
-had the proud satisfaction to receive the brevet of major-general
-for his services in New Mexico and California.
-He had, however, brought with him the seeds of an
-insidious disease which soon overcame his strength,
-enfeebled as it was by privations and trials of every
-kind. He died at St. Louis, October 31, 1848, leaving
-a wife and a family of young sons to regret him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the eventful career of Gen. Kearny he had always
-been distinguished as one of the best officers of his
-grade in the service. From a subaltern to the highest
-rank he rose, every step having been won by service.
-He was bland in his manners, dispassionate and calm.
-Quick and ready in forming his opinions, he yet did
-not act hastily, and when once he had decided, was
-immutable in his course. A great student and thinker,
-he never talked except when he had something to say,
-yet possessed a fund of anecdote and universal information
-rarely to be met with. In the West he was a
-popular idol, so that the whole population acquiesced
-in the apparently arbitrary steps he was often called on
-to take in the discharge of his duty. To his subalterns
-he was endeared by a thousand kindnesses, and to the
-whole army by respect and admiration. He left in all
-the army list no one superior to him in personal courage,
-science in his profession, or the minor qualities which
-contribute so much to make the soldier.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Immediately on the receipt of the news of his death,
-the Secretary of War, Mr. Marcy, published an order
-containing the following high tribute to his important
-services.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;'>“<span class='sc'>War Department.</span></p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;'><span class='it'>Washington, Nov. 6, 1848.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The President with feelings of deep regret announces
-to the Army the death of Brigadier-General Stephen
-W. Kearny, Major-General by brevet. The honorable
-and useful career of this gallant officer terminated
-on the 31st of October at St. Louis, in consequence of
-a disease contracted while in the discharge of his
-official duties in Mexico.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>General Kearny entered the army in 1812 as lieutenant,
-and continued in it until his death—a period of
-more than thirty-six years. His character and bearing
-as an accomplished officer were unsurpassed, and
-<span class='pageno' title='6' id='Page_6'></span>
-challenge the admiration of his fellow citizens and the
-emulation of his professional brethren. His conquest of
-New Mexico and valuable services in California have
-inseparably connected his name with the future destiny
-of these territories, and it will be ever held in grateful
-remembrance by the successive generations which will
-inhabit these extensive regions of our confederacy.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was buried in St. Louis by the 7th and 8th regiments
-of infantry and a squadron of that regiment of
-dragoons which he had made so famous, commanded
-by one of his favorite captains, the present Col. E. V.
-Sumner, of the 1st dragoons. All the city of St. Louis
-accompanied the <a id='cort'></a>cortège to pay their last tribute of
-respect to the general and the <span style='font-size:smaller'>MAN</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk106'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='iwillbe'></a>I WILL BE A MINER TOO.</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. JULIET H. L. CAMPBELL.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>All around me men are delving,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Deep within the troubled earth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Searching for the darksome treasures</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Hidden since creation’s birth.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wearying toil and ceaseless effort</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Bring the buried ore to view;⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though I be but feeble woman,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I will be a miner too!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Heart of mine! thou art a cavern,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Sad and silent, dark and deep⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>In thy fathomless recesses</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Spirit gnomes their treasures keep.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Gems of love, and hope, and joyance,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Bury there their flashing beam⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wilder passions fret their prison</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With the fierceness of their gleam.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Though unburnished, prized and precious,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To the enraptured poet’s sight,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As the jewels, proudly flashing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;On the brow of beauty bright.</p>
-<p class='line0'>True, unto the sordid worldling</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;These are gems of little worth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet, for thee, high-hearted poet!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I will strive to bring them forth!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Lamp of truth, my brow adorning,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Lighting up the weary way⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>I, in pain, will probe my bosom,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Bare its treasures to the day.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wearying toil and ceaseless effort</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Bring the buried ore to view;⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though I be but feeble woman,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I will be a miner too!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk107'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='emigrant'></a>THE EMIGRANT’S DAUGHTERS.</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 GRETTA.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I had but two; they were my only treasure,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Two lovely daughters of the imperial isle;</p>
-<p class='line0'>They gave my quiet hearth-stone every pleasure,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;They gave my lone heart every sunny smile,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And to your land I brought them o’er the sea,</p>
-<p class='line0'>To hear the tones which tell of Liberty!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>They were twin lasses; one was like the Rose,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With deep, dark crimson on its opening breast;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The other like the Daisy, when it glows</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With evening’s pearls upon its snowy crest.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And when they nestled near me lovingly,</p>
-<p class='line0'>They were like morn and quiet eve to me.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But she, the golden haired, is with the stars!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;She, the blue-eyed, the fondest of the twain,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For her was opened heaven’s glorious bars,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Just as the sun was sinking in the main,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And flowers less fair, each in its soft green nest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>On the far shore, had sunk like her to rest.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Upon the waves she died—the sounding waves⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The sands her pillow, and the weeds her pall;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And there the deepest, tideless water laves</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The mortal part of half my little all;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And though I know her soul is bright above,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Still earth is desolate without her love.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>She drooped from day to day—within my arms</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I cradled her dear form, so slight, so fair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And gazed with doating love upon her charms,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;While my big tears were glistening in her hair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till o’er her upturned eyes the fringed-lid fell,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And soft she said—I know she said—“Farewell!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>She died without a moan, without a sigh;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A golden day had faded in the west,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And mother Night descending from on high,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Was hushing Nature to her dreamy rest;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And ere another day broke o’er the sea,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Deep rolled the waves between my child and me.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I chanted o’er her lays of her old home⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And she, the stricken mourner by my side,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Mingled her tears with ocean’s moonlit foam,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And sent her wail upon the shoreless tide.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Oh! it was sad to hear that heart-wrung moan</p>
-<p class='line0'>On the wild sea, so vast, so still, so lone!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>On my own native Scotland’s hallowed ground,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In a low glen, from worldly din afar,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The stars look down upon the grassy mound</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Where <span class='it'>she</span> is laid—my young life’s morning star⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>And in the trackless deep, the bud she gave</p>
-<p class='line0'>From her fond bosom, fills a briny grave.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And with this one, all that my heart has left,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I raise my altar where your heaven glows;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Here the lone pair, of all they loved bereft,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Would find in you, Bethesda for their woes.</p>
-<p class='line0'>They’ll think of home, with memory’s burning tear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But turn to meet Hope’s smiling welcome here!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk108'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span><h1><a id='jasper'></a>JASPER ST. AUBYN;</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>OR THE COURSE OF PASSION.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the commencement of the seventeenth century,
-there stood among the woody hills and romantic gorges
-which sweep southwardly down from the bleak expanse
-of Dartmoor, one of those fine old English halls,
-which, dating from the reign of the last of the Tudors,
-united so much of modern comfort with so much of
-antique architectural beauty. Many specimens of this
-style of building are still to be found scattered throughout
-England, with their broad terraces, their quaintly
-sculptured porticoes, their tall projecting oriels, their
-many stacks of richly decorated chimneys, and their
-heraldic bearings adorning every salient point, grotesquely
-carved in the red freestone, which is their
-most usual, as indeed their most appropriate material.
-No one, however, existed, it is probable, at that day,
-more perfect in proportion to its size, or more admirably
-suited to its wild and romantic site, than the
-manor-house of Widecomb-Under-Moor, or, as it was
-more generally called in its somewhat sequestered
-neighborhood, the House in the Woods. Even at the
-present time, that is a very rural and little frequented
-district; its woods are more extensive, its moorlands
-wilder, its streams less often turned to purposes of
-manufacturing utility, than in any other tract of the
-southern counties; but at the time of which I write,
-when all England was comparatively speaking an
-agricultural country; when miles and miles of forest
-existed, where there now can scarcely be found acres;
-when the communications even between the neighboring
-country towns were difficult and tedious, and those
-between the country and metropolis almost impracticable;
-the region of Dartmoor and its surrounding
-woodlands was less known and less frequented, except
-by its own inhabitants, rude for the most part and uncultured
-as their native hills, than the prairies of the
-Far West, or the solitudes of the Rocky Mountains.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The few gentry, and lords of manors who owned
-estates, and had their castellated or Elizabethan dwellings,
-scattered here and there, at long intervals, among
-the sylvan scenery of that lonely region, were for the
-greater part little superior in habits, in refinement, and
-in mental culture, to the boors around them. Staunch
-hunters, and hard drinkers, up with the lark and abed
-before the curfew, loyal to their king, kind and liberal
-to their dependents, and devout before their God, they
-led obscure and blameless lives, careless of the great
-world, a rumor of which rarely wandered so far as to
-reach their ears, unknown to fame, yet neither useless
-nor unhonored within the sphere of their humble influence,
-marked by few faults and many unpretending
-virtues.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To this general rule, however, the lords of Widecomb
-Manor had long been an exception. Endowed
-with larger territorial possessions than most of their
-neighbors, connected with many of the noblest families
-of the realm, the St. Aubyns of Widecomb Manor
-had for several generations held themselves high above
-the squires of the vicinity, and the burghers of the circumjacent
-towns. Not confining themselves to the
-remote limits of their rural possessions, many of them
-had shone in the court and in the camp; several had
-held offices of trust and honor under Elizabeth and
-her successor; and when, in the reign of the unfortunate
-Charles, the troubles between the king and his
-Parliament broke out at length into open war, the St.
-Aubyn of that day, like many another gallant gentleman,
-emptied his patrimonial coffers to replenish the
-exhausted treasury; and melted his old plate and felled
-his older oaks, in order to support the king’s cause in
-the field, at the head of his own regiment of horse.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thence, when the good cause succumbed for a time,
-and democratic license, hardly restrained by puritanic
-rigor, strode rampant over the prerogative of England’s
-crown, and the liberties of England’s people, fines,
-sequestrations, confiscations, fell heavily on the confirmed
-malignancy, as it was then termed, of the Lord
-of Widecomb; and he might well esteem himself fortunate,
-that he escaped beyond the seas with his head
-upon his shoulders, although he certainly had not
-where to lay it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Returning at the restoration with the Second Charles,
-more fortunate than many of his friends, Sir Miles St.
-Aubyn recovered a considerable portion of his demesnes,
-which, though sequestrated, had not been sold,
-and with these the old mansion, now, alas! all too
-grand and stately for the diminished revenues of its
-owner, and the shrunken estates which it overlooked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It would not perhaps have been too late, even then
-for prudence and economy, joined to a resolute will
-and energetic purpose, to retrieve the shaken fortunes
-of the house; but having recovered peace and a settled
-government, the people and the court of England
-appeared simultaneously to have lost their senses.
-The overstrained and somewhat hypocritical morality
-of the Protectorate was succeeded by the wildest
-license, the most extravagant debauchery; and in the
-orgies which followed their restoration to their patrimonial
-honors, too many of the gallant cavaliers discreditably
-squandered the last remnant of fortunes
-which had been half ruined in a cause so noble and
-so holy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Such was the fate of Sir Miles St. Aubyn. The
-brave and generous soldier of the First Charles sank
-into the selfish, dissipated roysterer under his unworthy
-successor. He never visited again the beautiful
-oak-woods and sparkling waters of his native place,
-but frittered away a frivolous and useless life among
-the orgies of Alsatia and the revels of Whitehall; and
-died, unfriended, and almost alone, leaving an only
-<span class='pageno' title='8' id='Page_8'></span>
-son, who had scarce seen his father, the heir to his impoverished
-fortunes and little honored name.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His son, who was born before the commencement
-of the troubles, of a lady highly-bred, and endowed as
-highly, who died—as the highly endowed die but too
-often—in the first prime of womanhood, was already
-a man when the restoration brought his father back to
-his native land, though not to his patrimonial estates or
-his paternal duties.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miles St. Aubyn, the younger, had been educated
-during the period of the civil war, and during the protracted
-absence of his father, by a distant maternal
-relative, whose neutrality and humble position alike
-protected him from persecution by either of the hostile
-parties. He grew up, like his race, strong, active,
-bold and gallant; and if he had not received much of
-that peculiar nurture which renders men graceful and
-courtly-mannered, almost from their cradles, he was
-at least educated under the influence of those traditional
-principles which make them at the bottom, even
-if they lack something of external polish, high-souled
-and honorable gentlemen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After the restoration he was sent abroad, as was the
-habit of the day, to push his fortunes with his sword
-in the Netherlands, then, as in all ages of the world,
-the chosen battle-ground of nations. There he served
-many years, if not with high distinction, at least with
-credit to his name; and if he did not win high fortune
-with his sword—and indeed the day for such winnings
-had already passed in Europe—he at least enjoyed the
-advantage of mingling, during his adventurous career,
-with the great, the noble, and the famous of the age;
-and when, on his return to his native land after his
-father’s death, he turned his sword into a ploughshare,
-and sought repose among the old staghorned oaks at
-Widecomb, he was no longer the enthusiastic, wild
-and headstrong youth of twenty years before; but a
-grave, polished, calm, accomplished man, with something
-of Spanish dignity and sternness engrafted on the
-frankness of his English character, and with the self-possession
-of one used familiarly to courts and camps
-showing itself in every word and motion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was a man moreover of worth, energy and resolution,
-and sitting down peacefully under the shadow
-of his own woods, he applied himself quietly, but with
-an iron steadiness of purpose that ensured success, to
-retrieving in some degree the fortunes of his race.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Soon after he returned he had taken unto himself a
-wife, not perhaps very wisely chosen from a family of
-descent prouder and haughtier even than his own, and
-of fortunes if not as much impoverished, at least so
-greatly diminished, as to render the lady’s dower a
-matter merely nominal. But it was an old affection—a
-long promise, hallowed by love and constancy and
-honor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She was, moreover, a beautiful and charming creature,
-and, so long as she lived, rendered the old soldier
-a very proud and very happy husband, and when she
-died—which, most unhappily for all concerned, was
-but a few months after giving birth to an only son—left
-him so comfortless, and at the same time so wedded
-to the memory of the dead, that he never so much
-as envisaged the idea of a second marriage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This gentleman it was, who, many long years after
-the death of the gentle Lady Alice, dwelt in serene and
-dignified seclusion in the old Hall, which he had never
-quitted since he became a widower; devoting his
-whole abilities to nursing his dilapidated estates, and
-educating his only son, whom he regarded with affection
-bordering on idolatry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With the last Miles St. Aubyn, however, we shall
-have little to do henceforth, for the soldier of the
-Netherlands had departed so far from the traditions of
-his family—the eldest son of which had for generations
-borne the same name of Miles—as to drop that patrimonial
-appellation in the person of his son, whom he
-had caused to be christened Jasper, after a beloved
-friend, a brother of the lady afterward his wife, who
-had fallen by his side on a well-fought field in the
-Luxembourg.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What was the cause which induced the veteran, in
-other respects so severe a stickler for ancient habitudes,
-to swerve from this time-honored custom, it
-would be difficult to state; some of those who knew
-him best, attributing it merely to the desire of perpetuating
-the memory of his best friend in the person of
-his only child; while others ascribed it to a sort of
-superstitious feeling, which, attaching the continued
-decline of the house to the continual recurrence of the
-patronymic, looked forward in some degree to a revival
-of its honors with a new name to its lord.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whatever might have been the cause, the consequences
-of this deviation from old family usage, as
-prognosticated by the dependents of Widecomb, and
-the superstitious inhabitants of the neighboring woods
-and wolds, were any thing but likely to better the fortunes
-of the lords of the manor; for not a few of them
-asserted, with undoubting faith, that the last St. Aubyn
-had seen the light of day, and that in the same generation
-which had seen the extinction of the old name the
-old race should itself pass away. Nor did they lack
-some sage authority to which they might refer for confirmation
-of their dark forebodings; for there existed,
-living yet in the mouths of men, one of those ancient
-saws, which were so common a century or two ago in
-the rural districts of England, as connected with the
-fortunes of the old houses; and which were referred
-to some Mother Shipton, or other equally infallible
-soothsayer of the county, whose dicta to the vulgar
-minds of the feudal tenantry were confirmations strong
-as proofs of Holy Writ.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The prophecy in question was certainly exceeding
-old; and had been handed down through many generations,
-by direct oral tradition, among a race of men
-wholly illiterate and uneducated; to whom perhaps
-alone, owing to the long expatriation of the late and
-present lords of the manor, it was now familiar;
-although in past times it had doubtless been accredited
-by the family to which it related.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It ran as follows, and, not being deficient in a sort of
-wild harmony and rugged solemnity, produced, by no
-means unnaturally, a powerful effect on the minds of
-hearers, when recited in awe-stricken tones and with
-a bended brow beside some feebly glimmering hearth,
-in the lulls of the tempest haply raving without,
-among the leafless trees, under the starless night—It
-<span class='pageno' title='9' id='Page_9'></span>
-ran as follows, and, universally believed by the vassals
-of the house, it remains for us to see how far its predictions
-were confirmed by events, and how far it influenced
-or foretold the course of passion, or the course
-of fate⁠—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>While Miles sits master in Widecomb place,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The cradle shall rock on the oaken floor,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And St. Aubyn rule, where he ruled of yore.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But when Miles departs from the olden race,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The cradle shall rock by the hearth no more,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nor St. Aubyn rule, where he ruled of yore.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk109'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus far it has been necessary for us to tread back
-the path of departed generations, and to retrace the
-fortunes of the Widecomb family, inasmuch as many
-of the events, which we shall have to narrate hereafter,
-and very much of the character of the principal
-personage, to whom our tale relates, have a direct relation
-to these precedents, and would have been to a
-certain degree incomprehensible but for this retrogression.
-If it obtain no other end, it will serve at least
-to explain how, amid scenes so rural and sequestered,
-and dwelling almost in solitude, among neighbors so
-rugged and uncivilized, there should have been found
-a family, deprived of all advantages of intercommunication
-with equals or superiors in intellect and demeanor,
-and even unassisted by the humanizing influence
-of familiar female society, which had yet maintained,
-as if traditionally, all the principles, all the
-ideas, and all the habitudes of the brightest schools of
-knightly courtesy and gentlemanly bearing, all the
-graces and easy dignity of courts, among the remote
-solitudes of the country.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the time when our narrative commences, the
-soldier of the Netherlands, Sir Miles St. Aubyn—for
-though he cared not to bear a foreign title, he had been
-stricken a knight banneret on a bloody battle-field of
-Flanders—had fallen long into the sere, the yellow leaf;
-and though his cheek was still ruddy as a winter pippin,
-his eye bright and clear, and his foot firm as ever,
-his hair was as white as the drifted snow; his arm had
-lost its nervous power; and if his mind was still sane
-and his body sound, he was now more addicted to sit
-beside the glowing hearth in winter, or to bask in the
-summer sunshine, poring over some old chronicle or
-antique legend, than to wake the echoes of the oakwoods
-with his bugle-horn, or to rouse the heathcock
-from the heathy moorland with his blythe springers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not so, however, the child of his heart, Jasper. The
-boy on whom such anxious pains had been bestowed,
-on whom hopes so intense reposed, had reached his
-seventeenth summer. Like all his race, he was unusually
-tall, and admirably formed, both for agility and
-strength. Never, from his childhood upward, having
-mingled with any persons of vulgar station or unpolished
-demeanor, he was, as if by nature, graceful and
-easy. His manners although proud, and marked by
-something of that stern dignity which we have mentioned
-as a characteristic of the father, but which in
-one so youthful appeared strange and out of place,
-were ever those of a high and perfect gentleman. His
-features were marked with all the ancestral beauties,
-which may be traced in unmixed races through so
-many generations; and as it was a matter of notorious
-truth, that from the date of the conquest, no drop of
-Saxon or of Celtic blood had been infused into the pure
-Norman stream which flowed through the veins of the
-proud St. Aubyns, it was no marvel that after the lapse
-of so many ages the youthful Jasper should display,
-both in face and form, the characteristic lines and
-coloring peculiar to the noblest tribe of men that has
-ever issued from the great northern hive of nations.
-Accordingly, he had the rich dark chestnut hair, not
-curled, but waving in loose clusters; the clear gray
-eye; the aquiline nose; the keen and fiery look; the
-resolute mouth, and the iron jaw, which in all ages
-have belonged to the descendant of the Northman.
-While the spare yet sinewy frame, the deep, round
-chest, thin flanks, and limbs long and muscular and singularly
-agile, were not less perfect indications of his
-blood than the sharp, eagle-like expression of the bold
-countenance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Trained in his early boyhood to all those exercises
-of activity and strength, which were in those days held
-essential to the gentleman, it needs not to say that Jasper
-St. Aubyn could ride, swim, fence, shoot, run,
-leap, pitch the bar, and go through every manœuvre
-of the <span class='it'>salle d’armes</span>, the tilt-yard, and the <span class='it'>manège</span>,
-with equal grace and power. Nor had his lighter accomplishments
-been neglected; for the age of his
-father and grandfather, if profligate and dissolute even
-to debauchery, was still refined and polished, and to
-dance gracefully, and touch the lute or sing tastefully,
-was as much expected from the cavalier as to have a
-firm foot in the stirrup, or a strong and supple wrist
-with the backsword and rapier.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His mind had been richly stored also, if not very
-sagely trained and regulated. For Sir Miles, in the
-course of his irregular and adventurous life, had read
-much more than he had meditated; had picked up
-much more of learning than he had of philosophy; and
-what philosophy he had belonged much more to the
-cold self-reliance of the camp than to the sounder
-tenets of the schools.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>While filling his son’s mind, therefore, with much
-curious lore of all sorts; while making him a master
-of many tongues, and laying before him books of all
-kinds, the old banneret had taken little pains—perhaps
-he would not have succeeded had he taken more—to
-point the lessons which the books contained; to draw
-deductions from the facts which he inculcated; or to
-direct the course of the young man’s opinions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Self-taught himself, or taught only in the hard school
-of experience, and having himself arrived at sound
-principles of conduct, he never seemed to recollect
-that the boy would run through no such ordeal, and
-reap no such lessons; nor did he ever reflect that the
-deductions which he had himself drawn from certain
-facts, acquired in one way, and under one set of circumstances,
-would probably be entirely different from
-those at which another would arrive, when his data
-were acquired in a very different manner, and under
-circumstances altogether diverse and dissimilar.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thence it came that Jasper St. Aubyn, at the age of
-seventeen years, was in all qualities of body thoroughly
-trained and disciplined; and in all mental faculties perfectly
-<span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'></span>
-educated, but entirely untrained, uncorrected and
-unchastened.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In manner, he was a perfect gentleman; in body, he
-was a perfect man; in mind, he was almost a perfect
-scholar. And what, our reader will perhaps inquire,
-what could he have been more; or what more could
-education have effected in his behalf?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Much—very much—good friend.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For as there is an education of the body, and an
-education of the brain, so is there also an education of
-the heart. And that is an education which men rarely
-have the faculty of imparting, and which few men
-ever have obtained, who have not enjoyed the inestimable
-advantage of female nurture during their youth,
-as well as their childhood; unless they have learned
-it in the course of painful years, from those severe and
-bitter teachers, those chasteners and purifiers of the
-heart—sorrow and suffering, which two <span class='it'>are</span> experience.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This, then, was the education in which Jasper St.
-Aubyn was altogether deficient; which Sir Miles had
-never so much as attempted to impart to him; and
-which, had he endeavored, he probably would have
-failed to bestow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We do not mean to say that the boy was heartless—boys
-rarely are so, we might almost say never—nor
-that the impulses of his heart were toward evil rather
-than good; far from it. His heart, like all young and
-untainted hearts, was full of noble impulses—but they
-were <span class='it'>impulses</span>; full of fresh springing generous desires,
-of gracious sympathies and lofty aspirations—but
-he had not one principle—he never had been taught
-to question one impulse, before acting upon it—he
-never had learned to check one desire, to doubt the
-genuineness of one sympathy, to moderate the eagerness
-of one aspiration. He never had been brought to
-suspect that there were such virtues as self-control, or
-self-devotion; such vices as selfishness or self-abandonment—in
-a word, he never had so much as heard</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>That Right is right, and that to follow Right</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Were wisdom, in the scorn of consequence⁠—</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>and therefore he was, at the day of which we write,
-even what he was; and thereafter, what we propose
-to show you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the time when the youthful heir had attained his
-seventeenth year, the great object of his father’s life
-was accomplished; the fortunes of the family were so
-far at least retrieved, that if the St. Aubyns no longer
-aspired, as of old, to be the first or wealthiest family
-of the county, they were at least able to maintain the
-household on that footing of generous liberality and
-hospitable ease which has been at all times the pride
-and passion of the English country gentleman.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For many years Sir Miles had undergone the severest
-privations, and it was only by the endurance of
-actual poverty within doors, that he was enabled to
-maintain that footing abroad, without which he could
-scarcely have preserved his position in society.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For many years the park had been neglected, the
-gardens overrun with weeds and brambles, the courts
-grass-grown, and the house itself dilapidated, literally
-from the impossibility of supporting domestics sufficiently
-numerous to perform the necessary labors of
-the estate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During much of this period it was to the beasts of
-the forest, the fowl of the moorland, and the fish of the
-streams, that the household of Widecomb had looked
-for their support; nor did the table of the banneret
-himself boast any liquor more generous than that
-afforded by the ale vats of March and October.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Throughout the whole of this dark and difficult time,
-however, the stout old soldier had never suffered one
-particle of that ceremonial, which he deemed essential
-as well to the formation as the preservation of the
-character of a true gentleman, to be relaxed or neglected
-by his diminished household.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Personally, he was at all times clad point device;
-nor did he ever fail in being mounted, himself and at
-least one attendant, as became a cavalier of honor.
-The hours of the early dinner, and of the more agreeable
-and social supper, were announced duly by the
-clang of trumpets, even when there were no guests to
-be summoned, save the old banneret and his motherless
-child, and perhaps the only visiter for years at
-Widecomb Manor, the gray-haired vicar of the village,
-who had served years before as chaplain of an English
-regiment in the Low Countries, with Sir Miles. Nor
-was the pewter tankard, containing at the best but
-toast and ale, stirred with a sprig of rosemary, handed
-around the board with less solemnity than had it been a
-golden hanap mantling with the first vintages of Burgundy
-or Xeres.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus it was that, as Jasper advanced gradually toward
-years of manhood, the fortunes of the house improving
-in proportion to his growth, seeing no alteration
-in the routine of the household, he scarcely was
-aware that any change had taken place in more essential
-points.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The eye and ear of the child had been taken by the
-banners, the trumpets, and the glittering board, and his
-fancy riveted by the solemnity and grave decorum
-which characterized the meals partaken in the great
-hall; and naturally enough he never knew that the
-pewter platters and tankards had been exchanged,
-since those days, for plate of silver, and the strong ale
-converted into claret or canary.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The consequence of this was simply that he found
-himself a youth of seventeen, surrounded by all the
-means and appliances of luxury, with servants, horses,
-hounds, and falcons at his command, the leading personage,
-beyond all comparison, of the neighborhood,
-highly born, handsome, well bred and accomplished.
-All this, by the way, was entirely uncorrected by any
-memory of past sufferings or sorrows, either on his
-own part or on that of his family, or by any knowledge
-of the privations and exertions on the part of Sir
-Miles, by which this present affluence had been purchased;
-and he became, naturally enough, somewhat
-over confident in his own qualities, somewhat over-bearing
-in his manner, and not a little intolerant and
-inconsiderate as to the opinions and feelings of others.
-He then presented, in a word, the not unusual picture
-of an arrogant, self-sufficient, proud and fiery youth,
-with many generous and noble points, and many high
-qualities, which, duly cultivated, might have rendered
-him a good, a happy, and perhaps even a great man;
-but which, untrained as they were, and suffered to
-<span class='pageno' title='11' id='Page_11'></span>
-run up into a rank and unpruned overgrowth, were
-but too likely to degenerate themselves into vices, and
-to render him at some future day a tormentor of himself,
-and an oppressor of others.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now, however, he was a general favorite, for largely
-endowed with animal spirits, indulged in every wish
-that his fancy could form, never crossed in the least
-particular, it was rarely that his violent temper would
-display itself, or his innate selfishness rise conspicuous
-above the superficial face of good-nature and somewhat
-careless affability, which he presented to the general
-observer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was, perhaps, unfortunate for Jasper, no less than
-for those who were in after days connected with him,
-whether for good or evil, that, at this critical period of
-his adolescence, when the character of the man is developed
-from the accidents of boyhood, in proportion
-as his increasing years and altered habits and pursuits
-led him to be more abroad, and cast him in some degree
-into the world, the advancing years and growing
-infirmities of his father kept him closer to the library
-and the hall.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So that at the very time when his expanding mind
-and nascent passions most needed sage advice and
-moderate coercion, or at least wary guidance, he was
-abandoned almost entirely to his own direction. The
-first outbreaks, therefore, of evil principles, the germs
-of a masterful will, the seeds of fierce and fiery passions,
-and, above all, the growing recklessness with
-regard to the feelings and the rights of others, which
-could scarcely have escaped the notice of the shrewd
-old man had he accompanied his son abroad, and which,
-if noticed, would surely have been repressed, were
-allowed to increase hourly by self-indulgence and the
-want of restraint, unknown and unsuspected to the
-youth himself, for whom one day they were to be the
-cause of so many and so bitter trials.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But it is now time that, turning from this brief retrospect
-of previous events, and this short analysis of the
-early constitution of the mind of him whose singular
-career is to form the subject of this narrative, we should
-introduce our reader to the scene of action, and to the
-person whose adventures in after life will perhaps excuse
-the space which has necessarily been allotted to
-the antecedents of the first marked event which befel
-him, and from which all the rest took their rise in a
-train of connection, which, although difficult to trace
-by a casual observer, was in reality close and perfect.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The manor-house of Widecomb, such as it has been
-slightly sketched above, stood on a broad flat terrace,
-paved with slabs of red freestone, and adorned with a
-massive balustrade of the same material, interspersed
-with grotesque images at the points where it was
-reached from the esplanade below, by three or four
-flights of broad and easy steps.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The mansion itself was large, and singularly picturesque,
-but the beauties of the building were as nothing
-to those of the scenery which it overlooked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was built on the last and lowest slope of one of
-those romantic spurs which trend southerly from the
-wild and heathery heights of Dartmoor. And although
-the broad and beautifully kept lawn was embosomed
-in a very woody and sylvan chase, full of deep glens
-and tangled dingles, which was in turn framed on three
-sides by the deep oak-woods, which covered all the
-rounded hills in the rear of the estate and to the right
-and left hand, yet as the land continued to fall toward
-the south for many and many a mile, the sight could
-range from the oriel windows of the great hall, and of
-the fine old library, situated on either hand of the entrance
-and armory, over a wide expanse of richly cultivated
-country, with more than one navigable river
-winding among the woods and corn-fields, and many a
-village steeple glittering among the hedgerows, until in
-the far distance it was bounded by a blue hazy line,
-which seemed to melt into the sky, but which was in
-truth, though not to be distinguished as such unless by
-a practiced eye, the British Channel.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Hall itself and even the southern verge of the
-chase, which bounded the estate in that direction, lay,
-however, at a very considerable distance from the cultivated
-country, and was divided from it by a vast
-broken chasm, with banks so precipitous and rocky
-that no road had ever been carried through it, while
-its great width had deterred men from the idea of
-bridging it. Through this strange and terrific gorge
-there rushed an impetuous and powerful torrent, broken
-by many falls and rapids, with many a deep and limpid
-pool between them, favorite haunts of the large salmon
-and sea trout which abounded in its waters. This
-brook, for it scarcely can be called a river, although
-after the rains of autumn or the melting snows of
-spring it sent down an immense volume of dark, rust
-colored water, with a roar that could be heard for
-miles, to the distant Tamar, swept down the hills in a
-series of cascades from the right hand side of the park,
-until it reached the brink of the chasm we have described,
-lying at right angles to its former course, down
-which it plunged in an impetuous shoot of nearly three
-hundred feet, and rushed thence easterly away, walled
-on each side by the precipitous rock, until some five
-miles thence it was crossed at a deep and somewhat
-dangerous ford, by the only great road which traversed
-that district, and by which alone strangers could reach
-the Hall and its beautiful demesnes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To the westward or right hand side of the chase the
-country was entirely wild and savage, covered with
-thick woods, interspersed with lonely heaths, and intersected
-by hundreds of clear brawling rills. To the
-eastward, however, although much broken by forest
-ground, there was a wide range of rich pasture fields
-and meadows, divided by great overgrown hawthorn
-hedges, each hedge almost a thicket, and penetrated
-by numerous lanes and horse-roads buried between
-deep banks, and overcanopied by foliage, that, even at
-noonday, was almost impenetrable to the sunshine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here and there lay scattered among the fields and
-woods innumerable farm-houses and granges, the
-abodes of small freeholders, once tenants and vassals
-of the great St. Aubyns; and, at about six miles from
-the Hall, nestled in a green valley, through which ran
-a clear, bright trout-stream to join the turbulent torrent,
-stood the little market town of Widecomb-Under-Moor,
-from their unalienated property in which the
-family of St. Aubyn derived the most valuable portion
-of their incomes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='12' id='Page_12'></span>
-Over the whole of this pleasant and peaceful tract,
-whether it was still owned by themselves, or had
-passed into the hands of the free yeomanry, the Lords
-of Widecomb still held manorial rights, and the few
-feudal privileges which had survived the revolution;
-and, through the whole of it, Sir Miles St. Aubyn was
-regarded with unmixed love and veneration, while the
-boy Jasper was looked upon almost as a son in every
-family, though some old men would shake their heads
-doubtfully, and mutter sage but unregarded saws concerning
-his present disposition and future prospects;
-and some old grandames would prognosticate disasters,
-horrors, and even crimes as hanging over his career,
-in consequence, perhaps, of the inauspicious change in
-the patronymic of his race.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They were a happy and an unsophisticated race
-who inhabited those lonely glens. Sufficiently well
-provided to be above the want of necessaries, or the
-fear of poverty, they were not so far removed from the
-necessity of labor as to have incurred vicious ambitions—moderate,
-frugal, and industrious, they lived uncorrupted,
-and died happy in their unlearned innocence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was the boast of the district that bars and locks
-were appendages to doors entirely unusual and useless;
-that the cage of Widecomb had not held a tenant
-since the days of stiff old Oliver; and that no deed of
-violence or blood had ever tainted those calm vales
-with horror.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alas! how soon was that boast to be annulled; how
-soon were the details of a dread domestic tragedy, full
-of dark horrors, and reproductive of guilt through
-generations, to render the very name of Widecomb a
-terror, and to invest the beauteous scenery with images
-of superstitious awe and hatred. But we must not
-anticipate, nor seek as yet to penetrate the secrets of
-that destiny, which even during the morn of promising
-young life, seemed to overhang the house,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>And hushed in grim repose,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Expects its evening prey.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='it'>The Peril.</span></p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';fs:0.9em;' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I say beware—</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>That way perdition lies, the very path</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Of seeming safety leading to the abyss.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'>—MS.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was as fair a morning of July as ever dawned in the
-blue summer sky; the sun as yet had risen but a little
-way above the waves of fresh green foliage which
-formed the horizon of the woodland scenery surrounding
-Widecomb Manor; and his heat, which promised
-ere midday to become excessive, was tempered now
-by the exhalations of the copious night-dews, and by
-the cool breath of the western breeze, which came
-down through the leafy gorges, in long, soft swells
-from the open moorlands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All nature was alive and joyous; the air was vocal
-with the piping melody of the blackbirds and thrushes,
-caroling in every brake and bosky dingle; the smooth,
-green lawn, before the windows of the old Hall was
-peopled with whole tribes of fat, lazy hares, limping
-about among the dewy herbage, fearless, as it would
-seem, of man’s aggression; and to complete the picture,
-above a score of splendid peacocks were strutting
-to and fro on the paved terraces, or perched upon the
-carved stone balustrades, displaying their gorgeous
-plumage to the early sunshine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The shadowy mists of the first morning twilight had
-not been long dispersed from the lower regions, and
-were suspended still in the middle air in broad fleecy
-masses, though melting rapidly away in the increasing
-warmth and brightness of the day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And still a faint blue line hovered over the bed of
-the long rocky gorge, which divided the chase from
-the open country, floating about it like the steam of a
-seething caldron, and rising here and there into tall
-smoke-like columns, probably where some steeper cataract
-of the mountain-stream sent its foam skyward.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So early, indeed, was the hour, that had my tale been
-recited of these degenerate days, there would have
-been no gentle eyes awake to look upon the loveliness
-of new-awakened nature.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the good days of old, however, when daylight was
-still deemed to be the fitting time for labor and for
-pastime, and night the appointed time for natural and
-healthful sleep, the dawn was wont to brighten beheld
-by other eyes than those of clowns and milkmaids, and
-the gay songs of the matutinal birds were listened to
-by ears that could appreciate their untaught melodies.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now, just as the stable clock was striking four,
-the great oaken door of the old Hall was thrown open
-with a vigorous swing that made it rattle on its hinges,
-and Jasper St. Aubyn came bounding out into the fresh
-morning air, with a foot as elastic as that of the mountain
-roe, singing a snatch of some quaint old ballad.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was dressed simply in a close-fitting jacket and
-tight hose of dark-green cloth, without any lace or
-embroidery, light boots of untanned leather, and a
-broad-leafed hat, with a single eagle’s feather thrust
-carelessly through the band. He wore neither cloak
-nor sword, though it was a period at which gentlemen
-rarely went abroad without both these, their distinctive
-attributes; but in the broad black belt which girt his
-rounded waist he carried a stout wood-knife with a
-buckhorn hilt; and over his shoulder there swung
-from a leathern thong, a large wicker fishing-basket.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nothing, indeed, could be simpler or less indicative
-of any particular rank or station in society than young
-St. Aubyn’s garb, yet it would have been a very dull
-and unobservant eye which should take him for aught
-less than a high-born and high-bred gentleman.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His fine intellectual face, his bearing erect before
-heaven, the graceful ease of his every motion, as he
-hurried down the flagged steps of the terrace, and
-planted his light foot on the dewy greensward, all betokened
-gentle birth and gentle associations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But he thought nothing of himself, nor cared for his
-advantages, acquired or natural. The long and heavy
-salmon-rod which he carried in his right hand, in three
-pieces as yet unconnected, did not more clearly indicate
-his purpose than the quick marking glance which
-he cast toward the half-veiled sun and hazy sky,
-scanning the signs of the weather.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It will do, it will do,” he said to himself, thinking
-as it were aloud, “for three or four hours at least; the
-sun will not shake off those vapors before eight o’clock
-at the earliest, and if he do come out then hot and
-<span class='pageno' title='13' id='Page_13'></span>
-strong, I do not know but the water is dark enough
-after the late rains to serve my turn awhile longer. It
-will blow up, too, I think, from the westward, and
-there will be a brisk curl on the pools. But come, I
-must be moving, if I would reach Darringford to breakfast.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And as he spoke he strode out rapidly across the
-park toward the deep chasm of the stream, crushing a
-thousand aromatic perfumes from the dewy wild-flowers
-with his heedless foot, and thinking little of
-the beauties of nature, as he hastened to the scene of
-his loved exercise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was not long, accordingly, before he reached the
-brink of the steep rocky bank above the stream, which
-he proposed to fish that morning, and paused to select
-the best place for descending to the water’s edge.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was, indeed, a striking and romantic scene as ever
-met the eye of painter or of poet. On the farther side
-of the gorge, scarcely a hundred yards distant, the
-dark limestone rocks rose sheer and precipitous from
-the very brink of the stream, rifted and broken into
-angular blocks and tall columnar masses, from the
-clefts of which, wherever they could find soil enough
-to support their scanty growth, a few stunted oaks
-shot out almost horizontally with their gnarled arms
-and dark-green foliage, and here and there the silvery
-bark and quivering tresses of the birch relieved the
-monotony of color by their gay brightness. Above,
-the cliffs were crowned with the beautiful purple
-heather, now in its very glow of summer bloom, about
-which were buzzing myriads of wild bees sipping
-their nectar from its cups of amethyst.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The hither side, though rough and steep and broken,
-was not in the place where Jasper stood precipitous;
-indeed it seemed as if at some distant period a sort of
-landslip had occurred, by which the fall of the rocky
-wall had been broken into massive fragments, and
-hurled down in an inclined plane into the bed of the
-stream, on which it had encroached with its shattered
-blocks and rounded boulders.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Time, however, had covered all this abrupt and
-broken slope with a beautiful growth of oak and hazel
-coppice, among which, only at distant intervals, could
-the dun weather-beaten flanks of the great stones be
-discovered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the base of this descent, a hundred and fifty feet
-perhaps below the stand of the young sportsman,
-flowed the dark arrowy stream—a wild and perilous
-water. As clear as crystal, yet as dark as the brown
-cairn-gorm, it came pouring down among the broken
-rocks with a rapidity and force which showed what
-must be its fury when swollen by a storm among the
-mountains, here breaking into wreaths of rippling foam
-where some unseen ledge chafed its current, there
-roaring and surging white as December’s snow among
-the great round-headed rocks, and there again wheeling
-in sullen eddies, dark and deceitful, round and round
-some deep rock-brimmed basin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here and there, indeed, it spread out into wide shallow
-rippling rapids, filling the whole bottom of the
-ravine from side to side, but more generally it did not
-occupy above a fourth part of the space below, leaving
-sometimes on this margin, sometimes on that, broad
-pebbly banks, or slaty ledges, affording an easy footing
-and a clear path to the angler in its troubled
-waters.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After a rapid glance over the well-known scene,
-Jasper plunged into the coppice, and following a faint
-track worn by the feet of the wild-deer in the first
-instance, and widened by his own bolder tread, soon
-reached the bottom of the chasm, though not until he
-had flushed from the dense oak covert two noble black
-cocks with their superb forked tails, and glossy purple-lustered
-plumage, which soared away, crowing their
-bold defiance, over the heathery moorlands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Once at the water’s edge, the young man’s tackle
-was speedily made ready, and in a few minutes his
-long line went whistling through the air, as he wielded
-the powerful two-handed rod, as easily as if it had
-been a stripling’s reed, and the large gaudy peacock-fly
-alighted on the wheeling eddies, at the tail of a long
-arrowy shoot, as gently as if it had settled from too
-long a flight. Delicately, deftly, it was made to dance
-and skim the clear, brown surface, until it had crossed
-the pool and neared the hither bank; then again, obedient
-to the pliant wrist, it arose on glittering wing,
-circled half round the angler’s head, and was sent
-thirty yards aloof, straight as a wild bee’s flight, into a
-little mimic whirlpool, scarce larger than the hat of the
-skillful fisherman, which spun round and round just to
-leeward of a gray ledge of limestone. Scarce had it
-reached its mark before the water broke all around
-it, and the gay deceit vanished, the heavy swirl of the
-surface, as the break was closing, indicating the great
-size of the fish which had risen. Just as the swirl
-was subsiding, and the forked tail of the monarch of
-the stream was half seen as he descended, that indescribable
-but well-known turn of the angler’s wrist,
-fixed the barbed hook, and taught the scaly victim the
-nature of the prey he had gorged so heedlessly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With a wild bound he threw himself three feet out
-of the water, showing his silver sides, with the sea-lice
-yet clinging to his scales, a fresh sea-run fish of
-fifteen, ay, eighteen pounds, and perhaps over.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On his broad back he strikes the water, but not as he
-meant the tightened line; for as he leaped the practiced
-hand had lowered the rod’s tip, that it fell in a loose
-bight below him. Again! again! again! and yet a
-fourth time he bounded into the air with desperate and
-vigorous soubresaults, like an unbroken steed that
-would dismount his rider, lashing the eddies of the
-dark stream into bright bubbling streaks, and making
-the heart of his captor beat high with anticipation of
-the desperate struggle that should follow, before the
-monster would lie panting and exhausted on the yellow
-sand or moist greensward.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Away! with the rush of an eagle through the air, he
-is gone like an arrow down the rapids—how the reel
-rings, and the line whistles from the swift working
-wheel; he is too swift, too headstrong to be checked
-as yet; tenfold the strength of that slender tackle might
-not control him in his first fiery rush.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But Jasper, although young in years, was old in the
-art, and skillful as the craftiest of the gentle craftsmen.
-He gives him the butt of his rod steadily, trying the
-strength of his tackle with a delicate and gentle finger,
-<span class='pageno' title='14' id='Page_14'></span>
-giving him line at every rush, yet firmly, cautiously,
-feeling his mouth all the while, and moderating his
-speed even while he yields to his fury.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile, with the eye of intuition and the nerve
-of iron, he bounds along the difficult shore, he leaps
-from rock to rock, alighting on their slippery tops with
-the firm agility of the rope-dancer, he splashes knee
-deep through the slippery shallows, keeping his line
-ever taut, inclining his rod over his shoulder, bearing
-on his fish ever with a killing pull, steering him clear
-of every rock or stump against which he would fain
-smash the tackle, and landing him at length in a fine
-open roomy pool, at the foot of a long stretch of white
-and foamy rapids, down which he has just piloted
-him with the eye of faith, and the foot of instinct.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now the great salmon has turned sulky; like
-a piece of lead he has sunk to the bottom of the deep
-black pool, and lies on the gravel bottom in the sullenness
-of despair.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jasper stooped, gathered up in his left hand a heavy
-pebble, and pitched it into the pool, as nearly as he
-could guess to the whereabout of his game—another—and
-another! Aha! that last has roused him. Again
-he throws himself clear out of water, and again foiled
-in his attempt to smash the tackle, dashes away down
-stream impetuous.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But his strength is departing—the vigor of his rush
-is broken. The angler gives him the butt abundantly,
-strains on him with a heavier pull, yet ever yields a
-little as he exerts his failing powers; see, his broad,
-silver side has thrice turned up, even to the surface,
-and though each time he has recovered himself, each
-time it has been with a heavier and more sickly
-motion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Brave fellow! his last race is run, his last spring
-sprung—no more shall he disport himself in the bright
-reaches of the Tamar; no more shall the Naiads wreathe
-his clear silver scales with river-greens and flowery
-rushes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The cruel gaff is in his side—his cold blood stains
-the eddies for a moment—he flaps out his death-pang
-on the hard limestone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who-whoop! a nineteen pounder!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Meantime the morning had worn onward, and ere
-the great fish was brought to the basket the sun had
-soared clear above the mist-wreaths, and had risen so
-high into the summer heaven that his slant rays poured
-down into the gorge of the stream, and lighted up the
-clear depths with a lustre so transparent that every
-pebble at the bottom might have been discerned, with
-the large fish here and there floating mid depth, with
-their heads up stream, their gills working with a quick
-motion, and their broad tails vibrating at short intervals
-slowly but powerfully, as they lay motionless in opposition
-to the very strongest of the swift current.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The breeze had died away, there was no curl upon
-the water, and the heat was oppressive.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Under such circumstances to whip the stream was
-little better than mere loss of time, yet as he hurried
-with a fleet foot down the gorge, perhaps with some
-ulterior object, beyond the mere love of sport, Jasper
-at times cast his fly across the stream, and drew it
-neatly, and, as he thought, irresistibly right over the
-recusant fish; but though once or twice a large lazy
-salmon would sail up slowly from the depths, and
-almost touch the fly with his nose, he either sunk down
-slowly in disgust, without breaking the water, or flapped
-his broad tail over the shining fraud as if to mark his
-contempt.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It had now got to be near noon, for in the ardor of
-his success the angler had forgotten all about his intended
-breakfast; and, his first fish captured, had contented
-himself with a slender meal furnished from out
-his fishing-basket and his leathern bottle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jasper had traversed by this time some ten miles in
-length, following the sinuosities of the stream, and had
-reached a favorite pool at the head of a long, straight,
-narrow trench, cut by the waters themselves in the
-course of time, through the hard shistous rock which
-walls the torrent on each hand, not leaving the slightest
-ledge or margin between the rapids and the precipice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Through this wild gorge of some fifty yards in length,
-the river shoots like an arrow over a steep inclined
-plane of limestone rock, the surface of which is polished
-by the action of the water, till it is as slippery as ice,
-and at the extremity leaps down a sheer descent of some
-twelve feet into a large, wide basin, surrounded by
-softly swelling banks of greensward, and a fair amphitheatre
-of woodland.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the upper end this pool is so deep as to be vulgarly
-deemed unfathomable; below, however, it expands
-yet wider into a shallow rippling ford, where it
-is crossed by the high-road, down stream of which
-again there is another long, sharp rapid, and another
-fall, over the last steps of the hills; after which the
-nature of the stream becomes changed, and it murmurs
-gently onward through a green pastoral country unrippled
-and uninterrupted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Just in the inner angle of the high road, on the right
-hand of the stream, there stood an old-fashioned, low-browed,
-thatch-covered, stone cottage, with a rude
-portico of rustic woodwork overrun with jassmine and
-virgin-bower, and a pretty flower-garden sloping down
-in successive terraces to the edge of the basin. Beside
-this, there was no other house in sight, unless it were
-part of the roof of a mill which stood in the low ground
-on the brink of the second fall, surrounded with a mass
-of willows. But the tall steeple of a country church
-raising itself heavenward above the brow of the hill,
-seemed to show that, although concealed by the undulations
-of the ground, a village was hard at hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The morning had changed a second time, a hazy
-film had crept up to the zenith, and the sun was now
-covered with a pale golden veil, and a slight current
-of air down the gorge ruffled the water.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a capital pool, famous for being the temporary
-haunt of the very finest fish, which were wont to lie
-there awhile, as if to recruit themselves after the exertions
-of leaping the two falls and stemming the double
-rapid, before attempting to ascend the stream farther.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Few, however, even of the best and boldest fishermen
-cared to wet a line in its waters, in consequence
-of the supposed impossibility of following a heavy fish
-through the gorge below or checking him at the brink
-of the fall. It is true, that throughout the length of the
-pass, the current was broken by bare, slippery rocks
-<span class='pageno' title='15' id='Page_15'></span>
-peering above the waters, at intervals, which might be
-cleared by an active cragsman; and it had been in fact
-reconnoitered by Jasper and others in cool blood, but
-the result of the examination was that it was deemed
-impassable.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thinking, however, little of striking a large fish, and
-perhaps desiring to waste a little time before scaling
-the banks and emerging on the high road, Jasper threw
-a favorite fly of peacock’s back and gold tinsel lightly
-across the water; and, almost before he had time to
-think, had hooked a monstrous fish, which, at the very
-first leap, he set down as weighing at least thirty pounds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thereupon followed a splendid display of piscatory
-skill. Well knowing that his fish must be lost if he
-once should succeed in getting his head down the rapid,
-Jasper exerted every nerve, and exhausted every art
-to humor, to meet, to restrain, to check him. Four
-times the fish rushed for the pass, and four times Jasper
-met him so stoutly with the butt, trying his tackle
-to the very utmost, that he succeeded in forcing him
-from the perilous spot. Round and round the pool he
-had piloted him, and had taken post at length, hoping
-that the worst was already over, close to the opening
-of the rocky chasm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now perhaps waxing too confident he checked
-his fish too sharply. Stung into fury, the monster
-sprang five times in succession into the air, lashing the
-water with his angry tail, and then rushed like an
-arrow down the chasm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was gone—but Jasper’s blood was up, and thinking
-of nothing but his sport, he dashed forward and
-embarked with a fearless foot in the terrible descent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Leap after leap he took with beautiful precision,
-alighting firm and erect on the centre of each slippery
-block, and bounding thence to the next with unerring
-instinct, guiding his fish the while with consummate
-skill through the intricacies of the pass.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were now but three more leaps to be taken
-before he would reach the flat table-rock above the
-fall, which once attained, he would have firm foot-hold
-and a fair field; already he rejoiced, triumphant in the
-success of his bold attainment, and confident in victory,
-when a shrill female shriek reached his ears from the
-pretty flower-garden; caught by the sound he diverted
-his eyes, just as he leaped, toward the place whence
-it came; his foot slipped, and the next instant he was
-flat on his back in the swift stream, where it shot the
-most furiously over the glassy rock. He struggled
-manfully, but in vain. The smooth, slippery surface
-afforded no purchase to his <a id='grip'></a>gripping fingers, no hold to his
-laboring feet. One fearful, agonizing conflict with the
-wild waters, and he was swept helplessly over the
-edge of the fall, his head, as he glanced down foot
-foremost, striking the rocky brink with fearful violence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was plunged into the deep pool, and whirled
-round and round by the dark eddies long before he rose,
-but still, though stunned and half disabled, he strove
-terribly to support himself, but it was all in vain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again he sunk and rose once more, and as he rose
-that wild shriek again reached his ears, and his last
-glance fell upon a female form wringing her hands in
-despair on the bank, and a young man rushing down
-in wild haste from the cottage on the hill.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He felt that aid was at hand, and struck out again
-for life—for dear life!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the water seemed to fail beneath him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A slight flash sprang across his eyes, his brain reeled,
-and all was blackness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He sunk to the bottom, spurned it with his feet, and
-rose once more, but not to the surface.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His quivering blue hands emerged alone above the
-relentless waters, grasped for a little moment at empty
-space, and then disappeared.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The circling ripples closed over him, and subsided
-into stillness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He felt, knew, suffered nothing more.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His young, warm heart was cold and lifeless—his
-soul had lost its consciousness—the vital spark had
-faded into darkness—perhaps was quenched for ever.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;'>[<span class='it'>To be continued.</span></p>
-
-<hr class='tbk110'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='mary'></a>MARY.</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='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Humble Mary! thus in breaking</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Vows I never meant to keep,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who will blame me for forsaking,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Though a love-sick girl may weep?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Humble Mary! high born maiden</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Must my name and honors share,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With ancestral glory laden—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Matters not less good and fair.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Angel Mary! sadly pleading,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Sinking low on bended knee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>See remorse to scorn succeeding⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Mary! Mary! pardon me.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Angel Mary! lost forever!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;What are name and fame to thee?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Cursed the pride that bade us sever⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Angel Mary! pardon me.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Mary! cold the earth above thee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Cold and calm thy broken heart⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Canst thou not to him who loved thee</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Something of thy peace impart?</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk111'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='16' id='Page_16'></span><h1><a id='thee'></a>I’M THINKING OF THEE!</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 A. D. WILLIAMS.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When the wild winds are howling,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Now distant, now nigh,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the storm-king is growling,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And clouds veil the sky;</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the tempest is foaming,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;O’er ocean and lea,</p>
-<p class='line0'>My thoughts are not roaming—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I’m thinking of thee!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When the mild, gentle showers</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Distil from the sky,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the bright blooming flowers</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Delight the glad eye;</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the zephyrs are playing</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;So blandly and free,</p>
-<p class='line0'>My thoughts are not straying—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I’m thinking of thee!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When the beams of Aurora</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Are flooding the earth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With morn’s radiant glory</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And day’s jovial mirth;</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the gay birds are singing</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In innocent glee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As their clear tones are ringing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I’m thinking of thee!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When day’s fading sky-light</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Wanes slow from the west,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the shadows of twilight</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Steal soft o’er its breast;</p>
-<p class='line0'>When Luna is shimmering</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;O’er land and o’er sea—</p>
-<p class='line0'>While the bright stars are glim’ring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I’m thinking of thee!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Amid gay festive pleasure,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Where mirth lends the song,</p>
-<p class='line0'>There my heart has no treasure—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Thou’rt not in the throng.</p>
-<p class='line0'>But forgetting the present,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Its wild merry glee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>My communings are pleasant—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I’m thinking of thee!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk112'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='tulip'></a>THE TULIP-TREE.</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>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Bounds my blood with long-forgotten fleetness</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To the chime of boyhood’s blithest tune,</p>
-<p class='line0'>While I drink a life of brimming sweetness</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;From the glory of the breezy June.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Far above, the fields of ether brighten;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Forest leaves are twinkling in their glee;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the daisy’s snows around me whiten,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Drifted down the sloping lea!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>On the hills he standeth like a tower,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Shining in the morn—the Tulip-Tree!</p>
-<p class='line0'>On his rounded turrets beats the shower,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;While his emerald flags are flapping free:</p>
-<p class='line0'>But when Summer in the fields is standing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And his blood is stirred with light, like wine,</p>
-<p class='line0'>O’er his branches, all at once expanding,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;How the starry blossoms shine!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Through the glossy leaves they burn, unfolded,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Like the breast of some sweet oriole—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Filled with fragrance, as a joy new moulded</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Into being by a poet’s soul!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Violet hills, against the sunrise lying,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;See them kindle when the stars grow dim,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the breeze that drinks their odorous sighing</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Woos the lark’s rejoicing hymn.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then all day, in every opening chalice</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Drains their honey-drops the reveling bee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till the dove-winged Sleep makes thee her palace,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Filled with song-like murmurs, Tulip-Tree!</p>
-<p class='line0'>In thine arms repose the dreams enchanted</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Which in childhood’s heart were nestled long,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And, beneath thee, still my brain is haunted</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With their tones of vanished song.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Oh, while Earth’s full heart is throbbing over</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With its wealth of light and life and joy,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who can dream the seasons that shall cover</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With their frost the visions of the boy?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who can paint the years that downward darken,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;While the splendid morning bids aspire,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or the turf upon his coffin hearken,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When his pulses leap with fire!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Wind of June, that sweep’st the rolling meadow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Thou shalt wail in branches rough and bare,</p>
-<p class='line0'>While the tree, o’erhung with storm and shadow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Writhes and creaks amid the gusty air.</p>
-<p class='line0'>All his leaves, like shields of fairies scattered,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Then shall drop before the Northwind’s spears,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And his limbs, by hail and tempest battered,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Feel the weight of wintry years.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Yet, why cloud the rapture and the glory</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of the Beautiful, that still remains?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Life, alas! will soon reverse the story,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And its sunshine gild forsaken plains.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Let thy blossoms in the morning brighten,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Happy heart, as doth the Tulip-Tree,</p>
-<p class='line0'>While the daisy’s snows around us whiten,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Drifted down the sloping lea!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk113'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='17' id='Page_17'></span><h1><a id='true'></a>TRUE UNTO DEATH.</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. CAROLINE H. BUTLER.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>PART I.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gentle breeze swept through the vine-latticed
-casement of a small apartment, filling it with all the
-balmy odors of a June evening, while the moonbeams
-stealing softly on its track, broke through the leafy
-screen in fitful shadows. The sighing of the wind
-through the long, slender branches of the willows—the
-plaintive cry of the whip-poor-will, and at a little distance
-the murmuring sound of water, as the waves of
-the lake broke gently upon the shore—all were in
-unison with the sad hearts of the two—a youth and
-maiden, who, in that little room bathed by the moonbeams
-and the breeze, were now about to be parted,
-perhaps forever.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Deep anguish was depicted on the countenance of
-the young man—calm resolve and pious resignation on
-that of his companion, who, with her hands clasped
-before her, and her deep mournful eyes fixed tenderly
-upon his, said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, Richard, it cannot be—urge me no more to a
-course which seems to me both cruel and unnatural.
-Think you this sacrifice is not as painful to me as to
-you, dear Richard?” she added, taking his hand and
-pressing it to her lips, while a tear trickled slowly
-down her pale cheek; “then reproach me not—call
-me not heartless, unfeeling; rather encourage me to
-fulfill faithfully the part which duty allots me—will you
-not, Richard?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And thus destroy my own happiness and yours,
-Margaret! It is, indeed, a cruel task you would impose
-on me. No—I cannot make our future life so
-desolate as to sanction your cruel decision. Believe
-me, dearest, your resolution is but the delirium of a
-moment—grief for the loss of your beloved mother, and
-sympathy with your afflicted father renders you morbidly
-sensitive on that point alone. I entreat you, then,
-dearest, beloved Margaret—I entreat you by all our
-hopes of happiness, revoke your cruel words, and reflect
-longer ere you consign us both to misery.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have well deliberated, Richard, and my decision
-is unalterable. Call it not delirium, or the shadow of
-a grief which a moment’s sunshine may dispel; every
-hour, on the contrary, will but strengthen my resolution,
-and convince me I have acted rightly. My poor
-father—can I leave him in his sad bereavement! who
-else has he now to love but me—and shall I selfishly
-turn from him in his loneliness! Ah, Richard, ask me
-not—for never, never will I leave him or forsake him.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And have you, then, no care for my wretchedness?”
-exclaimed her lover with bitterness, as he
-rapidly paced the floor; “no sympathy for my disappointment!
-Think, Margaret, how long I have waited
-to call you mine—how many years I have cheerfully
-toiled, looking to this dear hand as my reward. O,
-Margaret, Margaret!—and now, even now, when that
-joyful hour was so near—when but a few days more
-would have made you mine forever—it is you who
-speak those bitter words—it is you who place a barrier
-between our loves!—cruel, cruel girl!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is the hand of Death, not mine, which has placed
-the barrier between us, Richard—she who would have
-blessed our union is no more! ‘<span class='it'>Forsake not your
-father, my child!</span>’ were her dying words—and so
-long as God gives me breath, I never will! Come
-here, Richard, listen to me, and pity me—for not a pang
-rends your bosom but finds an answering pang in mine;
-nor do I hesitate to confess it to you in this sad moment—there
-shall be no concealment from you—I will
-not wrap my heart in maidenly reserve, but confess
-alike my tenderness and my grief. No longer, then,
-dearest Richard, accuse me of coldly sacrificing your
-love to filial duty—for God knows the agony with
-which I have decided.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Forgive me, my beloved.” said Richard, “I have
-been too selfish. I should have known that pure heart
-better. However my own feelings may dictate, Margaret,
-I will no longer oppose the course to which the
-most devoted filial piety leads you, in thus unselfishly
-renouncing love and happiness that you may devote
-your days to a beloved parent. God bless and reward
-you, dearest.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Richard, how much your words comfort me,” replied
-Margaret; “you no longer oppose but encourage
-me. Thank you, dear Richard; yet one thing more,
-when you leave me, you must be free from all engagement—nay,
-do not interrupt me—many long years
-may intervene ere I shall be free to give you my hand;
-nor would I have its disposal linked with such a
-dreadful alternative as my father’s death. The few
-charms I may possess will ere long have faded, and I
-would not bind you to me when the light of youth has
-passed from cheek and eye. No, Richard—go forth
-into the world, it claims your talents and your usefulness,
-and in time some other will be to you all that I
-would have been.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Margaret, you do not know me,” he replied.
-“Think you another can ever come between me and
-your image. I go, but the memory of our love shall
-go with me—your name shall be my star, and for your
-dear sake I will devote all my energies henceforth to
-the happiness of my fellow-beings; your noble example
-shall not pass without its lesson. But promise
-me one thing, Margaret—let there be one solace for
-my wretchedness—one hope, though faint, to cheer
-my lonely path—promise me that should any thing
-hereafter occur, no matter how long the flight of years,
-which may induce you to wave your present decision,
-you will write to me—will you—will you promise me
-this, my best beloved?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Margaret placed her hand in his: “Yes, Richard, I
-promise you—should that time come you shall be informed;
-and I ask in return this, if your feelings have
-<span class='pageno' title='18' id='Page_18'></span>
-meanwhile changed, if through time and absence I may
-have become indifferent to you, Richard, then make no
-reply to my communication—let there be forever
-<span class='it'>silence</span>—or <span class='it'>joy</span>—between us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And thus parted two fond devoted hearts—a noble
-sacrifice to filial love.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Never, perhaps, was there a more striking illustration
-of the frail basis on which all human hopes are
-placed, than was presented by those sudden events
-overwhelming the inmates of Willow Bank Cottage
-with affliction. Thus our most ardent expectations are
-frequently met by disappointment, and our most promising
-joys blighted. Even when happiness and peace
-irradiate our hearts, and on the buoyant wing of hope
-our fancy soars into a future of unclouded bliss, even
-then desolation and wo may be at our very threshold.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus it proved with those whose history I will
-briefly relate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Willow Bank, for many years the residence of the
-Gardner family, was delightfully situated near the
-borders of a lovely little lake, whose circling waters
-rippled gently to the shore beneath the deep shadows
-of the maple and sycamore—occasionally weeping
-willows swept with their long golden pendants the
-bright water, or the branches of some stately pine in
-green old age, rose proudly above the lowly alder and
-silvery birch here and there skirting the bank. Thus
-rocked in its cradle of green, lay this beautiful little
-lake, as blue as the blue sky above it were its waters,
-now dimpled by the passing breeze, now breaking in
-tiny wavelets, each with its cap of pearly foam, sportively
-chasing each other like a band of merry children
-to lose themselves at the feet of the brave old trees.
-From the windows of the cottage the lake was seen
-spreading itself out like some broad and beautiful mirror,
-and then gently diverging into a narrow rivulet, winding
-through meadow and woodland, until it sprang
-joyously into the bosom of the Ohio. Nature had done
-much to beautify the spot Mr. Gardner had selected
-for his residence—taste and art had also united their
-skill; the three combined had created almost a Paradise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But it is to those who dwelt therein, not to its local
-beauties, my pen must confine itself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Early in life Mr. Gardner had married a lovely and
-amiable woman, and removed from Virginia, his native
-state, to the beautiful residence I have described,
-a few miles from the town of S⁠—⁠—, Ohio. Blending
-his profession of the law with that of agriculture, a
-few years saw him one of the most influential men in
-the country; and had he offered himself as a candidate
-for office, he would have been almost certain of success,
-such was his popularity; but his ambition took
-not that course. Domestic happiness was to him worth
-more than all the perishable honors of public life—to
-Willow Bank and its beloved inmates were all his
-wishes centred; and uninterrupted and continued for
-many years were the smiles of Providence. It seemed,
-indeed, as if this favored spot was exempt from all the
-ordinary ills of life—sickness came not to fright the
-roses from the cheek of health, neither did strife, envy,
-or sullen discontent intrude upon this earthly paradise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. and Mrs. Gardner had but one child—it was
-Margaret. When about seventeen, chance led to an
-acquaintance with Richard Lelland, employed by an
-eminent firm at the South upon business connected with
-the sale of lands in Ohio. Among other letters of introduction
-he brought one to Mr. Gardner, who, favorably
-impressed with his appearance, invited him to
-pass a few days at Willow Bank.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Upon what slight chances does our happiness or
-misery rest. <span class='it'>A few days</span>—how simple their signification;
-and yet from their brief circle how many
-hours of bitter anguish may take their rise. Little did
-Lelland or Margaret dream of the untold future, whose
-all of earthly weal or wo these few days decided.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To know Margaret was to love her—yet she was
-not strictly beautiful; there may be features more
-regular, complexions more dazzling, and forms of more
-perfect symmetry than she possessed. She was one
-of those whose gentle and winning manners stole into
-your heart, and then only you saw her loveliness, or
-acknowledged the light of love and tenderness which
-beamed from her large, dark hazel eyes. Her beauty
-was not that which attracts the eye of every careless
-observer—it was the beauty of the mind and heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Richard Lelland was at that time twenty-one, rather
-above the ordinary height, and of graceful, polished
-manners, with a frank and open countenance, at once
-a passport to your favor and respect. His complexion
-was almost as delicate as a girl’s, a large, full, dark-blue
-eye, and hair of rich wavy brown.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Business detaining young Lelland in the vicinity of
-Willow Bank for some weeks longer than he had first
-anticipated, he took frequent opportunities of improving
-his acquaintance with Miss Gardner, and the interest
-she had first awakened in his heart soon ripened into
-a deep and fervent attachment. But he possessed a
-firmness and decision of character seldom met with in
-one so young; and he resolved to bury his love for
-Margaret in his own breast, until he could produce
-such testimonials as to family, etc., as should warrant
-his openly paying her his addresses. He therefore returned
-to the South leaving his love unspoken; but
-there is a language more eloquent even than words,
-and this had already made known to Margaret the
-sentiments of the young stranger; this, too, had whispered
-in the lover’s ear, thrilling his soul with ecstasy,
-that when he should ask the love of the pure and gentle
-girl, it would be his.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Within the year the lovers were betrothed, with the
-full sanction of Margaret’s parents, with the proviso
-that their marriage should not be consummated until
-Lelland, who had now nothing but his salary to depend
-upon, should be in a situation better calculated for the
-maintenance of a family. This was as much his wish
-as theirs, for he loved Margaret too well to take her
-from all the comforts and luxuries of the paternal roof,
-only to offer in exchange the embarrassments and privations
-attendant upon a narrow and straitened income.
-For three years, therefore, early and late did he cheerfully
-give all his energies to his business, and at the
-end of that time became a partner in the mercantile
-house in whose employ he had so faithfully exerted
-himself. There was no longer, as it would seem, any
-impediment to his union with his adored Margaret.
-The wedding-day was appointed, and the happy Lelland,
-<span class='pageno' title='19' id='Page_19'></span>
-with all the rapture of a bridegroom, flew to
-claim his bride.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Had the hand of misfortune been so long withheld
-but to crush with one fell blow so much of love and
-happiness?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The very evening of his arrival at Willow Bank,
-Mrs. Gardner was seized with a sudden and violent
-illness, which, alas! baffled all medical skill, and in
-less than twenty-four hours the beloved and idolized
-wife and mother was no more. To depict the anguish
-of the bereaved husband and daughter were a vain
-attempt. To those in whose dwellings the destroyer
-has never come, who have never read that fatal
-sentence, “<span class='it'>Thou art mine!</span>” imprinted by his icy
-fingers on the brow of the loved and cherished, or
-followed to the dark and silent chambers the lifeless
-forms of earth’s treasured ones, to them death is, indeed,
-a fearful thing. To <span class='it'>them</span>—yes, to all; and did not our
-Heavenly Father graciously extend to us the hand of
-mercy, and bid us, with smiles of ineffable love, turn
-to him for consolation in this hour of despair, how
-could we sustain the anguish of separation, as one after
-another the loved ones go home.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To Margaret the death of her mother at once opened
-a new path of duty, and however painful the sacrifice
-to herself, she hesitated not a moment as to the course
-she should pursue. But when she thought of Lelland—of
-the anguish her decision would cause him—of the
-bitter disappointment—of fond hopes all blasted—then,
-indeed, she faltered, and her heart shrunk from inflicting
-a blow so terrible. And again as she thought of
-her unhappy father, her resolution strengthened. Could
-she leave him; no! better sacrifice love, happiness, and
-with them perhaps life itself, than forsake him in his
-desolateness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Stupefied as it were with amazement and grief,
-Lelland listened at first in silence to the cruel words
-of his beloved Margaret—then remonstrated—entreated—all
-in vain. Reproaches were alike unavailing to
-alter her decision, until touched at length by her grief,
-and filled with admiration of her self-sacrificing devotion
-to her parent, with an almost breaking heart he
-yielded to her persuasions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A new character must now be introduced. Henry
-Wingate was an orphan nephew of Mr. Gardner, and
-since the death of his parents, which took place when
-he was quite young, Willow Bank had been his home.
-As a boy he was artful and selfish, passionate and
-cruel. As he grew up to manhood he still retained the
-same foibles, with the double art of veiling them under
-the most specious and insinuating address. If he loved
-any one when a child, it was his Cousin Margaret—she
-only had power to quell his wild storms of passion.
-With years this love (if it be not profanation to call it
-so) increased, until it took possession of his whole
-being—yet, characteristic of himself, it was purely
-selfish; so that he could make her his, it little mattered
-to him whether his love was returned.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That he should hate Lelland followed of course, and
-that his soul should be filled with jealousy and rage, as
-he saw the time so rapidly drawing near when another
-should snatch from him the charms he so much coveted.
-The sudden death of her who had ever been as a kind
-and tender mother to him, gave him therefore but a
-momentary pang. Her grave only opened to him new
-hopes, new machinations, and with such joy as filled
-the Tempter at the destruction of Eden, did his heart
-leap at the wretchedness of his hated rival, thus doomed
-to see his long cherished hopes all blasted, and to part,
-perhaps forever, with her he so devotedly loved.
-And now all his sophistry and cunning were brought
-to bear. Carefully concealing his own fiendish joy
-under the mask of deep sympathy and sorrow, he
-breathed only to Margaret words of tender pity—stabbing
-his own ears by dwelling upon the virtues of
-Lelland, and assuring her that his own life would be a
-cheerful sacrifice if thereby he might advance her
-happiness. Thus artfully did he begin his course,
-trusting in time to supplant his rival in her affections.
-But he little understood the heart of a faithful woman,
-or he would not have undertaken a task so hopeless.
-Margaret was grateful for his kindness, and it was a
-relief to unburthen her heart to one who seemed so
-truly to sympathize with her; nor did she hesitate to
-speak of Lelland, or conceal from her cousin the sorrows
-which sometimes oppressed her when reflecting
-upon their reparation. Like hot molten lead did her
-every word seethe and scorch his jealous soul, yet resolved
-to win her, he persevered in the artful course
-he had marked out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus passed two long weary years to Margaret,
-sustained by the consciousness that she was administering
-to the happiness of her father, and by that Higher
-Power to whose never-failing support affliction had
-taught her to look. But now another trial even more
-severe awaited her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ah, poor return for such filial love and piety. A
-thankless boon, young Margaret, did you offer, when
-for a father’s happiness you so devotedly sacrificed
-your own! A sacrifice, however, not the less to be
-admired—for where is the heart that does not reverence
-such a beautiful trait of filial love.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Gardner suddenly announced to Margaret his
-intention of marriage with a young, thoughtless girl of
-rather doubtful reputation, who had been occasionally
-employed to assist in the work of the family. A cruel
-stroke was this, to which all that had gone before
-seemed light in comparison. What though it released
-her from all obligation of duty; what though she was
-now free to accept the hand of Lelland, the thought
-gave her no satisfaction—not a ray of happiness gleamed
-from out the darkness of her despair. To have retained
-her dear father <span class='it'>her own</span>; to feel that in her all
-his happiness was still treasured, she would have
-deemed almost any sacrifice too poor; or had he been
-about to unite himself with one more worthy to fill the
-place of her sainted mother, she would have schooled
-herself to resignation. But that her father should have
-selected for a wife one so unsuited by birth and education,
-and of a character so vain and frivolous, filled her
-with dread for the future.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a strange hallucination of Mr. Gardner.
-There is no way of accounting for a procedure so at
-variance with the whole tenor of his former life, and
-it can only be regarded in the light of insanity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Margaret shrunk not from the task to which duty
-<span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'></span>
-impelled her, namely, to remonstrate and warn her
-father against the step he was taking. The winds
-which hurled the dead leaves of autumn in fitful
-showers against the window, as she thus tearfully besought
-his consideration and forbearance, would have
-yielded to her voice as soon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Passing over the further grief of Margaret, I will
-only say that in a few weeks this ill-assorted marriage
-took place, and a system of petty tyranny and malice
-commenced on the part of the new Mrs. Gardner as
-almost broke her heart. Captive to the arts of an
-intriguing woman, her father heeded neither her tears
-or her complaints, until at length Margaret finding all
-remonstrance vain, passively yielded herself to the
-cruel yoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus repulsed as it were from the affections of her
-father, all her domestic happiness destroyed, and subjected
-more and more to the insults of a low, vulgar-minded
-woman, it would seem the time had come
-when Margaret might redeem the promise made to
-Lelland, that should any thing occur which might induce
-her to waive her decision, she would write to him.
-A doubt of his constancy had never darkened her mind;
-she judged of him by her own true heart, which never
-could know change. If at first she hesitated, it was
-from maidenly timidity, not distrust; but when she
-reflected what happiness those few brief lines would
-cause him, she hesitated no longer. The letter was
-written. To her cousin, the specious Wingate, she
-frankly confided her resolution, and asked his assistance
-in forwarding her letter safely and surely to the
-hands of Lelland. Skillfully as he wore the mask, he
-was almost betrayed as he listened to the artless details
-of Margaret, who faithfully related to him the promise
-each had made at their last sad parting. Recovering
-himself, however, he promised to secure the safety of
-her letter, even if it should include the necessity of
-journeying himself to place it in his hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With thanks warm and sincere for his kindness and
-sympathy, the deceived, trusting girl gave her letter to
-his charge—that precious letter, which thus, like the
-dove, went forth to seek rest for her weary soul.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! think you, my pretty cousin, I value my own
-purposes so lightly as to risk the work of years within
-the delicate folds of this envelope!” exclaimed Wingate,
-as he entered his own apartment, and crushing
-the letter of Margaret in his hand as he spoke. “I
-should be a fool, indeed—no, no, fair lady, content you
-that my eye alone may read this pretty sentimental
-effusion. Now, thanks to my lucky stars, this letter
-proves almost a sure passport to my desires—ha! ha!
-pretty little fool, how she will wait for an answer!
-And what then? Did she not entreat <span class='it'>silence if he no
-longer loved</span>—‘let there be forever silence or joy between
-us’—were her words—<span class='it'>silence</span>—ay, of that I
-will take care, and then she is mine—mine as surely
-as yonder setting sun will rise again! With your
-leave, Mr. Richard Lelland—” and thus violating
-every honorable principle, Wingate tore asunder the
-seal of affection, and ran his eye over the sacred contents:
-“D—n him!” he exclaimed, hurling the letter
-across the table with a look almost demoniacal: “I
-could tear his very heart out—his heart!—why here
-it is—yes, fond fool, why here is his very life—his
-soul!”—once more snatching the letter—“and thus I
-hold him in my power!—if more were needed to spur
-on my revenge of a hated, detested rival, I have it
-here in these tender, trustful lines. By heavens it
-turns my very blood to gall to find with what fidelity
-that man has been loved—while I—but no matter—your
-letter goes no further, fair cousin, and thus do I
-annihilate your fond hopes and devote you mine!”
-thrusting as he spoke poor Margaret’s epistle into the
-flames, and watching it with a fiendish smile until of
-those tender, confiding lines, nothing but a blackened
-scroll remained.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the expiration of a week he informed her that he
-had heard from the friend to whose care he had enclosed
-her letter, stating that he had delivered it into
-Lelland’s own hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Poor deceived girl! O the wretchedness of hope
-deferred, as day after day flew by, and still no answer
-came! It was only by her more pallid cheek, her
-drooping eyelids, and the wan smile by which she
-strove to hide her dejection, that Wingate saw his hellish
-scheme was succeeding, and his victim sinking
-under the belief of her lover’s inconstancy—for she
-never again mentioned to him the name of Lelland.
-Nothing could be kinder, or better calculated to touch
-the heart of Margaret than the demeanor which her
-cousin now assumed. His countenance wore a look
-of such subdued pity—such heavy sighs would now
-and then burst from his heart—and then meeting her
-inquiring glance, he would turn from her, or perhaps
-rush from the room, as if to conceal the tears her sorrows
-called forth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus another six months passed—bringing no change
-for the better in the alienated affections of Mr. Gardner
-for his child—they were all engrossed by the artful
-woman he had so unhappily married. He did not, it
-is true, treat her with visible unkindness, but with a
-coldness and jealousy which stung the heart of Margaret
-perhaps more deeply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Wingate now resolved to delay no longer the avowal
-of his <span class='it'>love</span>! And accordingly most adroitly opened
-the subject to Margaret—he told her for how many
-years he had loved her—of the silent grief which he
-had so long endured under the conviction that her
-affections were given to another—and how by many
-bitter struggles he had schooled his heart to relinquish
-her at last to a happy rival. He did not ask her love
-in return, but the privilege to protect her! Her pity
-and kindness were all he dared to hope for <span class='it'>now</span>—but
-perhaps at a future time his long-tried devotion might
-be rewarded with her affection—and for that he was
-willing to wait—too happy if he might look for such a
-priceless recompense.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not doubting for a moment his sincerity, and touched
-by his kindness, Margaret yielded to the tempter’s
-wiles and became his wife.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And here we must leave her, allowing for the lapse
-of some sixteen years ere we again take up the story.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>PART II.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the summer of 1840, a gentleman embarked at
-Albany, on board one of those magnificent steamers
-<span class='pageno' title='21' id='Page_21'></span>
-which ply between that city and New York. The
-morning was one of unrivaled loveliness. A soft haze
-curtained the landscape, veiling the shores and the
-silvery outline of the river in one dim, undefined perspective
-of beauty, through which the sun like a huge
-ball of fire floated on the verge of the eastern sky. As
-the morning wore on, a gentle breeze was seen curling
-the smooth surface of the river, and then fold after fold
-of the beautiful curtain was lifted from the landscape.
-The silvery vapors circling, dividing, re-uniting, and
-wreathing themselves into a thousand fantastic shapes,
-floated lightly away, leaving the charming scenery of
-the Hudson unveiled to the admiring eye of the
-traveler.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The gentleman to whom allusion has been made,
-was apparently near or over forty years of age, of a
-most prepossessing exterior. He was tall, finely built,
-and his countenance denoting benevolence and peace
-with all men. A shade of sadness, however, evidently
-of no recent origin, was stamped upon his fine features,
-involuntarily claiming your sympathy and respect.
-Such was the person who now slowly paced the deck—now
-stopping to admire some beautiful point of
-scenery, now communing with his own thoughts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The boat was crowded with passengers, presenting
-the usual variety composing the “world” of a steamboat.
-But with these the stranger held no communion—not
-a familiar face met his in all that motley assemblage.
-It was already near the dinner hour, and many
-of the passengers had descended to the dining-saloon,
-or gathered around the companion-way waiting the
-deafening stroke of the gong, when his attention was
-suddenly drawn to a little group seated under the awning
-aft of the ladies’ cabin. Reclining on cushions
-spread over one of the settees was a lady whose hollow,
-racking cough betokened the last stages of consumption.
-A large shawl carefully enveloped her
-figure, and one pale, attenuated hand rested heavily
-upon her bosom, as if to stay the rapid pulsation of her
-heart caused by those violent paroxysms of coughing.
-A thin veil was thrown lightly over her head, screening
-her marble paleness. Two young girls, almost
-children, sat by the couch—the eldest, whose profile
-only could be seen as she sat with her back nearly
-turned to the passengers, was gently fanning her mother,
-and now and then moistening her fevered lips
-with the grateful juice of an orange, or when seized
-with coughing, tenderly supporting her head, and
-wiping the perspiration from her throbbing temples.
-The younger, a sweet little child of perhaps ten years,
-had thrown off her bonnet, and thick masses of rich
-brown ringlets fell over her neck and shoulders. She
-was seated on a low ottoman by the side of the settee,
-reading from a small Bible which she held in her hand—pausing
-whenever the terrible cough racked the poor
-invalid, and then stooping over her would kiss her pale
-lips, and the little white hand, and again in sweet low
-tones resume her book.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The stranger found himself deeply interested in this
-little group—it was in harmony with his own melancholy
-thoughts, and stirred the deep waters of kindness
-in his soul. Mechanically he stopped in his walk,
-and leaning over the rail continued to muse upon the
-sick lady and the affectionate little girls, occasionally
-resting his eyes upon the unconscious objects of his
-meditation. When the deck was nearly deserted for
-the dinner-table, the youngest of the two girls finding
-her mother slept, softly rose and without putting on
-her bonnet drew near the spot where the stranger was
-still standing, and bent down her beautiful head over
-the railing as if to peer into the depths of old Hudson.
-At that moment one of the river gods (possibly) in the
-shape of a large sturgeon, his scaly armor all flashing
-in the bright sunbeams, leaped up some twelve or fifteen
-feet above the surface. An exclamation of surprise
-burst from the little girl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, sir, what was that?” she asked, turning her
-large black eyes upon the stranger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At that sweet face, and those deep, earnest eyes,
-sudden emotion thrilled his heart, and sent the blood
-coursing rapidly through his veins. That face—it was
-so like—so very like one with whose memory both
-happiness and misery held divided sway! Scarcely
-could he command himself to answer her artless question;
-and after having done so, in an agitated voice he
-asked⁠—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Will you tell me your name, my dear?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The child hesitated a moment, as if doubting the
-propriety of giving her name to a stranger, but there
-was something so kind and benevolent in his looks that
-compelled her irresistibly to reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My name is Margaret—Margaret Wingate.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Richard Lelland took her small slender hand, put
-back the beautiful curls from her forehead, and gazed
-long and mournfully into her face, then turning away
-walked slowly to the opposite side of the deck and
-soon disappeared. And the little girl, wondering at
-his strange behaviour, returned to her seat by the side
-of her mother.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was more than an hour ere Lelland again made
-his appearance. He was pale, and it seemed as if
-an age of sorrow had in that brief hour swept over
-his soul. Again he took his station near the little
-group.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the mean time the sick lady had remained quiet,
-and the sisters still retained their position by her side.
-Margaret soon raising her eyes met those of the
-stranger, who smilingly beckoned her to approach.
-Rising very softly, the child glided to his side, and
-placed her little hand confidingly in his.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Will you ask your sister to come to me, my dear,
-I would speak with her a moment?” said Lelland,
-laying his hand tenderly on her head.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Margaret returned to her sister, who, in a few moments,
-timid and blushing, drew near. She seemed
-about fourteen, of a slight, graceful figure, and with
-the same expression of countenance, only more
-thoughtful, as her younger sister.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will excuse the presumption of a stranger,
-young lady,” said Lelland, “but unless I greatly err, I
-see before me the daughter of a much loved friend.
-Tell me, was not your mother’s maiden name Margaret
-Gardner?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, sir, that was her name,” she replied in evident
-surprise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I knew I could not be mistaken,” continued Lelland,
-<span class='pageno' title='22' id='Page_22'></span>
-sighing deeply—then after a pause—“and your—your
-father—is he with you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He is not—but will meet us on our arrival in New
-York.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Has your mother been long ill?” inquired Lelland,
-his voice faltering as he spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She has been declining for several years,” replied
-the young girl, “but for the last six months her strength
-has rapidly failed. O, my dear sir,” she added, bursting
-into tears, “if she should die!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Lelland could not answer—at length he resumed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And are you then traveling alone, my dear young
-lady?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We came as far as Albany under the protection of
-a neighbor, and the captain of the boat has promised to
-take charge of us to the city.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Can I do any thing to aid you? Is there not something
-you would like to have for your mother? if so,
-consider me in the light of an old acquaintance, and
-frankly tell me. My name is Lelland, Richard Lelland—I
-knew your dear mother when she was but a few
-years older than yourself;” he paused, and overcome
-with emotion turned away.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mary took his hand. “I have often heard her mention
-you. O let me tell her at once that such an old
-and valued friend is near—she will be so glad to see
-you!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, my dear girl, not now—the surprise might
-prove too much for her in her present weak state—but
-allow me to be near you, and call upon me if need
-require.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mary thanked him, and then resumed her faithful
-care of her mother, who was now apparently in an
-easy slumber; and walking lightly around the settee,
-Lelland took a seat near the head of the invalid.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Who can describe the anguish of his soul as he thus
-watched over the dying form of his first and only love.
-And yet, with its bitterness was mingled a strange
-feeling of happiness, and his heart rose in thankfulness
-to be near her—even in death!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The day was now nearly spent, and the boat shooting
-rapidly past the beautiful Palisades, when Mrs.
-Wingate awoke, and complaining of a slight chilliness
-proposed retiring to the cabin. With difficulty she
-arose and leaning on the arm of Mary attempted to
-walk, but she was so feeble she could scarcely stand,
-and the slender strength of Mary seemed all too frail a
-support. Lelland immediately advanced, and, averting
-his face, proffered his assistance. Thanking him for
-his kindness, Mrs. Wingate placed her arm in his, and
-carefully supporting her to the cabin, and placing her
-in an easy commodious seat, he left her to the care of
-her children.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ah, little did the poor invalid dream whose arm had
-so tenderly sustained her feeble steps!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the boat was nearing the wharf, Mary came
-out of the cabin and joined Lelland, who was standing
-close by the door, and taking his arm crossed over to
-the side, that she might recognize, and be recognized
-at once by her father, whom she was expecting every
-moment to appear among the crowd collected on the
-wharf. Once or twice she thought she saw him, but
-it proved not. The boat stopped at length, and the
-passengers group after group dispersed, until scarcely
-any one was left on board save the officers of the boat.
-Still Mr. Wingate did not appear, and overcome by
-disappointment and their lonely situation, poor Mary
-burst into tears. Lelland strove to comfort her, and
-having ascertained from her the hotel where her father
-lodged, he offered to go himself in search of him.
-Bidding her return to her mother, and calm any uneasiness
-she might feel at the nonappearance of her
-husband, he left the boat and proceeded to the hotel.
-Mr. Wingate was not there. He had been gone some
-days, nor could they give any information respecting
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What was to be done?—something must be decided
-upon at once. It was getting late—already the street
-lamps were lighted—and hastily retracing his steps to
-the steamboat, Lelland sent for Mary. She turned
-pale when she saw he was alone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My father—where is my father?” she cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No doubt, my dear, your father has been called
-away unexpectedly—you will see him I am sure to-morrow.
-In the mean time don’t be uneasy—you
-are with one who will not desert you for a moment—but
-lest your mother may hesitate to entrust herself to
-the protection of an apparent stranger, I think it will
-be necessary for me to reveal myself to her.” Taking
-a card from his pocket he wrote a few lines upon it,
-and handed them to Mary, who quickly glided back
-into the cabin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Lelland now strove to calm his agitation, that he
-might meet his still beloved Margaret with firmness—without
-betraying more than the pleasure one naturally
-feels at meeting with an old friend.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was half an hour ere Mary again appeared, and
-informed him her mother would be pleased to see
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He entered the cabin. The light of an argand lamp
-fell gently upon the pale countenance of Mrs. Wingate,
-who was partially reclining upon one of the settees,
-with her head resting against the crimson silken
-panels. She had thrown off her little cap, on account
-of the heat, and her jet-black hair was swept back from
-her brow by the slender little hand which pressed her
-temples. Little Margaret was kneeling at her feet,
-and looking up into her face with an expression of
-childish pity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The step of Lelland faltered as he drew near—as
-his eye fell upon that countenance so changed from its
-youthful loveliness,—so pallid, so wan, and on which
-it seemed Death had already stamped his seal—scarcely
-could he command himself to speak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Margaret, you will trust yourself with me?” he
-said at length, forcing a smile and extending his hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A slight color for an instant suffused her pale cheek,
-and her still beautiful eyes were lifted to his—she
-attempted to speak, but could not, and placing her
-thin, feverish hand in his, she burst into tears. For a
-few moments no word was spoken. Mrs. Wingate
-was the first to recover herself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My nerves are very weak, as you see,” she said,
-with a sad smile, pressing his hand, “and the sight of
-an old friend quite overpowers me—but I am very
-glad to see you, and thank you for your kindness.
-<span class='pageno' title='23' id='Page_23'></span>
-Mr. Wingate must have been unexpectedly detained
-from us, or—” she hesitated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you will allow me, I trust, the pleasure of
-attending upon you, and of procuring lodgings for you
-until the arrival of your husband,” said Lelland.
-“You must be very much fatigued—a carriage is in
-waiting, and if you will allow me, I will soon place
-you in a more comfortable situation—if you will point
-out to me your trunks, Miss Mary, I will take care of
-them.” And Lelland gladly left the cabin, that he
-might school himself to more fortitude ere meeting the
-poor invalid again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When all was ready, he tenderly lifted the frail form
-of Mrs. Wingate and placed her in the carriage, Mary
-and little Margaret sprang after, and then giving the
-driver the necessary directions Lelland himself took a
-seat therein. The carriage in a short time stopped before
-one of the large private hotels in the upper part of
-the city, where he was certain both quiet and comforts
-of every kind might be obtained for the invalid.
-They were conducted at once to a pleasant, retired
-little parlor, opening into a commodious sleeping-room,
-and after attending to all their immediate requirements
-Lelland left them for the purpose of again seeking Mr.
-Wingate; resolving to leave a note for him at the hotel
-where he had boarded, and also to drop another into
-the post-office. Meeting the maid-servant in the hall,
-he put some money in her hand, and charged her to
-be very attentive to the sick lady, promising her she
-should be well rewarded for her kindness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Upon returning to the hotel early in the morning, he
-was inexpressibly grieved to find that Mrs. Wingate
-had passed a wretched night, and was now so ill that
-it had been thought advisable to send for a physician.
-Doctor M. soon arrived, and after visiting his patient,
-returned to the saloon where Lelland was anxiously
-awaiting him. His opinion was but a sad confirmation
-of his worst fears—he pronounced Mrs. Wingate in
-the last stage of decline, and that in all probability a
-few days or weeks at furthest must close her life.
-“Was there nothing could be done to save her?”
-Lelland asked—nothing—she was past all human aid;
-and now all there was left to do, was to smooth her
-passage to the grave by kind and tender care. The
-doctor promised to see her every day, and expressing
-much sympathy for the little girls took his leave. That
-day Lelland did not see Mrs. Wingate, yet he heard
-her low stifled moans, and occasionally the faint tones
-of her voice, for he had taken an apartment adjoining
-hers, that he might be near in case his services were
-required. Once or twice during the day and evening
-he passed out the hotel, and jumping into a cab, sought
-the former lodgings of Wingate, in the faint hope of
-meeting him, and then returned to his sad and lonely
-watch.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For some days Mrs. Wingate remained nearly the
-same, during which time nothing was heard of her
-husband. No doubt the agitation of mind this caused
-her had a most injurious effect upon her, and probably
-hastened her death. Finding herself growing weaker,
-Lelland was at length admitted to her room; and from
-that time until her death a portion of every day was
-spent by him at her bedside. He calmed her apprehensions
-when speaking of the strange absence of her
-husband, and strove to remove those delicate scruples
-which she entertained that herself and children were
-so entirely dependent upon him, assuring her he
-thanked God it was in his power to be of service to
-her. He read to her from the sacred Scriptures, and
-as much as her feeble strength would admit conversed
-with her of that unrevealed future into which her soul
-must so soon take its flight. Of her husband she never
-spoke but in terms of kindness, nor by her words gave
-him reason to suppose he was not the best of husbands
-and fathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Days passed on. Mr. Wingate did not come.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now the last sad hour was at hand. Upon going
-into her room one morning, Lelland was shocked
-at the alteration a few hours had made in her appearance.
-Death was there. Not as a tyrant—not armed
-with terrors to seize the shrinking soul—but as some
-gentle messenger, clad in robes of peace and joy, sent
-to bear her to the arms of her Father. Lelland was
-at first too much overcome to speak, and walked to
-the window to recover composure. In a faint voice
-she called him to her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Richard,” she said, pressing his hand, “there is
-but one pang in death—it is that I must leave my poor
-children unprotected.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dearest friend, do not suffer that thought to disturb
-your peace of mind,” he replied tenderly; “they
-shall be mine; until their father’s return I will be a
-parent to them, and if he come not, Margaret—still
-they will be mine. I have wealth, and how freely it
-shall be used for their advantage and happiness you
-surely cannot doubt. My life has been a lonely one—they
-will cheer its decline”—he paused as if irresolute
-whether to proceed—“I waited long and in vain for
-that letter, Margaret—it came not!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was the first allusion made to their former love.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She feebly pressed the hand which held hers: “It
-was written, Richard—there came no answer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It <span class='it'>was</span> written then—thank God for that!” he exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A cold shudder crept over the frame of Margaret.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I see it all,” she said. “Richard, we were
-betrayed! but may God forgive him, as I do!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was no reply; but stooping down Lelland imprinted
-a kiss upon her cold brow, and turning away,
-the strong man wept as a little child!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Once more he approached the bed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Give your children to me, Margaret; I swear to
-you I will faithfully protect and cherish them. I shall
-never marry, and my whole life shall be devoted to
-them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A sweet smile illumined her features. “Yes, Richard,
-they are yours. For my sake forgive their father,
-and should he return, O, I beseech you, lend him your
-counsel, and say to him all that I would say—” she
-paused—“perhaps he will tear the children from you;
-if so, at a distance watch over them, and protect them
-when they require it. Now, my friend, call them to
-me; I would say a few words to them, and I feel my
-strength rapidly failing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mary and Margaret remained with their mother near
-an hour, and then Lelland was hastily summoned to
-<span class='pageno' title='24' id='Page_24'></span>
-the chamber of the dying. She was already speechless,
-but with a look of ineffable sweetness, she turned
-her eyes first upon her children, then upon Lelland;
-with her little strength she placed their hands within
-his, her lips moved as if in prayer, celestial beauty
-overspread her countenance, and the weary soul of
-Margaret was at rest in the bosom of her God.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Soon after the last melancholy rites Lelland placed
-the girls at school, under the care of a most excellent
-woman whom he engaged to accompany them. Not
-a day passed that he did not see them, and on Saturdays
-he took them <a id='tookthem'></a>on pleasant excursions into the country,
-as much as possible striving to divert their minds from
-dwelling upon their recent loss. In the meanwhile he
-took every measure he could possibly devise to discover
-Mr. Wingate—but for many months in vain, his
-disappearance was veiled in impenetrable mystery.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was nearly a year after the death of Margaret,
-that one day business took Mr. Lelland to one of the
-slips on the North river. As he passed along, his attention
-was suddenly drawn to a man who stood leaning
-against one of the piers. He was very shabbily dressed,
-and held in his hand a small faded well-worn carpetbag.
-Giving no heed to the moving crowd around
-him, buried in thought, he stood with his eyes fixed
-vacantly on the river. There was something in his
-features which seemed familiar. Turning, Mr. Lelland
-again passed him, fixing his eyes intently upon him as
-he did so, and more and more confirmed that his suspicions
-were correct, he stepped up to him, and touching
-him lightly on the shoulder, said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Excuse me—but is not your name Wingate?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Suppose it is—what the d——l is yours?” replied the
-man sullenly, without turning his head.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My name is Lelland, Mr. Wingate—for such you
-are, or I greatly err.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With an expression of malignant hate, the man suddenly
-turned, and shook his fist almost in the very
-teeth of Lelland.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So we have met again, Mr. Richard Lelland, have
-we! Well, we shall see who will be the better for the
-meeting, that’s all—d——n you!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your words are idle,” replied Lelland, calmly.
-“Answer me one question—do you know aught of your
-wife and children!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the mention of his family, Wingate grew suddenly
-pale, and seemed much agitated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you—what—what do you know of them?”
-he demanded, but in more subdued tones.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you will go with me into the hotel yonder, I
-may perhaps give you some information respecting
-them,” he replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Without a word Wingate mechanically followed
-Lelland, who, ordering a private room, sat down to
-the melancholy duty before him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You spoke of my wife and children,” exclaimed
-Wingate, the moment they entered the room, “if you
-know any thing of them, for God’s sake tell me, for it
-is many months since I heard from them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Prepare yourself for the most melancholy tidings,”
-said Lelland, in a sympathizing voice and manner.
-“You have no longer a wife—it is now ten months
-since her death.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The wretched man buried his face in his hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dead—dead—dead! and without forgiving me—<span class='it'>dead</span>!”
-he exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“With her latest breath she forgave and blessed you,”
-said Lelland, taking his hand kindly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But my children—where are they—are they
-dead, too!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your children are here—here, in the city; you
-may see them in an hour if you will,” replied Lelland.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Here!</span> here in the city—here, with <span class='it'>you</span>!” cried
-Wingate, starting up, every feature distorted by passion;
-“with <span class='it'>you</span>, do you say! how came <span class='it'>you</span> near
-<span class='it'>her</span> death-bed—ha! <span class='it'>did you dare</span>—” seizing Lelland
-by the breast as he spoke. But shaking him off, Lelland
-placed his hand on his arm, saying,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“First listen to me, Mr. Wingate, and you will see
-how little provocation you have for such anger.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He then briefly related his unexpected and providential
-meeting with Margaret and her children, and
-the painful scene which so soon followed it. He spoke
-of Mary and Margaret—of their loveliness, their sweet
-dispositions, and of the consolation and happiness
-Wingate might yet receive from their affection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When he had done speaking, the unhappy man seized
-the hand of Lelland, and pressing it fervently, said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wretch—wretch that I am! how little have I
-merited such goodness. It is, indeed, more than my
-guilty soul can bear. I had rather you would stab me
-to the heart than thus pierce my soul with deeds of
-kindness—for I deserve it not. It was I, Lelland, who
-robbed you of one of God’s choicest treasures. When
-driven almost to despair by the unjust treatment of her
-father, who should have been to her more than father
-ever was, poor Margaret wrote you that letter which
-would have confirmed your happiness and hers. It
-was <span class='it'>I</span>, who, goaded on by hate for you, and a determination
-to make her mine—it was I who destroyed
-it! I watched the struggle of her pure heart; I saw
-her cheek pale day by day, and yet I repented not—nay,
-I gloried in my revenge. At length she became my
-wife—and an angel she ever was to me, always so kind,
-so patient with my follies; but I knew she loved you—I
-knew her heart was silently breaking, her strength
-wasting, and instead of moving my pity, it only drove
-me to madness. I was jealous even of my sweet
-babes, that they were loved more than me. For years
-I ran a wild career of riot and debauchery, and only
-came to my senses to see my poor injured wife was truly
-dying; then came remorse—but it was too late. My
-business had been neglected—my affairs were in ruin,
-and I saw myself on the brink of poverty. The doctor
-had said that change of air would do much toward
-her restoration; and now, as anxious to restore as I
-had been to destroy, I resolved to come to New York
-and find some employment which should warrant my
-removing my family here. I did so, and was so fortunate
-as to obtain a situation as book-keeper, with a
-handsome salary. In a few months I wrote my wife
-and children to join me. I received for answer that
-she was now too feeble to journey. This made me
-angry, though why, God only knows, except that I
-would not let her die among scenes your love had
-hallowed—and I immediately wrote a peremptory
-<span class='pageno' title='25' id='Page_25'></span>
-command for her to come, naming the day I should
-expect her. In this wicked frame of mind I went out
-into the streets, and, unfortunately meeting a gay companion,
-was induced to enter a gambling-house, and
-ere I left, every dollar I possessed in the world was
-swept from me. In the vain hope of winning back
-my money, I again sought that den of destruction;
-need I say, so far from retrieving, I left it hundreds in
-debt. Then, then, Richard Lelland, I became a <span class='it'>forger</span>—yes,
-forged the name of my worthy employer—was
-detected, and fled with my ill-got gains. The day I
-had appointed my poor Margaret to arrive in the city
-I was on the way to the West Indies. From thence I
-went to Paris, where, as long as my money lasted I
-led a mad career; that expended, I was forced to the
-most menial offices to obtain my daily food. At last
-driven by remorse, I determined to return to my native
-country, see Margaret and my children once more,
-and then give myself up to the laws I had outraged.
-I flattered myself that my wife still lived, and that not
-finding me in the city on her arrival, had gone back to
-Ohio. I arrived last night, and was even now about
-to take passage in a sloop for Albany, thinking I should
-be less likely to meet any acquaintance, when you so
-unexpectedly appeared before me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To this dreadful recital Lelland had listened in
-silence. When it was ended, he took the hand of
-Wingate,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wretched man,” said he, “I forgive you for the
-misery of a lifetime, as did that suffering angel, now in
-heaven; and may God extend to you his peace and
-mercy!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then calling for pen, ink and paper, he drew a check
-for the amount Wingate had forged, and placed it in
-his hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There, Mr. Wingate, take that; in the morning
-see your late employer, and restore him the money of
-which you defrauded him; in the meantime I will see
-what can be done for you—rely upon me as your
-friend. But remain here for the night, and on no account
-leave the room; have patience, for to-morrow
-you shall see your children.” So saying, Lelland took
-leave, promising to call for him in a carriage at an
-early hour in the morning.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Immediately after breakfast, therefore, he proceeded
-to the hotel. But Wingate had already left—had been
-gone some hours. On the table was a letter directed
-to Lelland. Hastily breaking the seal, he read:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Burthened with grief, and overwhelmed with remorse,
-life is insupportable. I can no longer endure
-the torments of self-reproach, and I fly to end alike my
-wretchedness and my life. Heaven is dark—but earth
-is hell! Protect my innocent children!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next day the body of Henry Wingate was exposed
-in the Dead-House. Lelland recognized and
-claimed it for burial.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mary and Margaret were told their father was no
-more—but of the manner of his wretched death they
-never knew.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Facts have often the appearance of fiction—such is
-the story I have given. If it has called forth any interest
-in the minds of my readers, the assurance that its
-principal incidents were gathered from real life, will
-not, I trust, lessen that interest. Names and scene are,
-of course, fictitious.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In a splendid mansion on the banks of the Potomac,
-Mr. Lelland still resides with the two fair daughters
-of his adoption. They are beautiful and accomplished,
-beloved by all who know them, and most tenderly protected
-and cherished by their more than father; while
-those gems of early piety implanted in their minds by
-their mother, have, under the careful culture of Mr.
-Lelland, put forth the most lovely and Christian
-graces.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus in the happiness and the virtues of her children,
-has God rewarded the filial piety of poor
-Margaret.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk114'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='therm'></a>THOUGHTS ON THE THERMOMETER.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Climate is said to have much influence on the physical,
-moral, mental, political and social condition of
-mankind. Experience and observation certainly give
-force to such an opinion. The difference in manners,
-customs and character of the Russ and the Italian is
-as much owing to latitude as lineality. One’s happiness,
-and even one’s destiny in life, depend alike on
-Seasons and on Self.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The iron constitution, the sharp wit, the keen sense,
-the peculiar individuality, the guessing and bartering
-of the man of Maine, contrasts with the singing, siesta-seeking,
-music-loving, rich intellectuality of the Mexican
-of the hacienda. Even in religious sentiment the
-difference is striking. Look upon the cold, austere
-meeting-house worship of the Puritan, and side by
-side behold the rich, voluptuous cathedral service of
-the Catholic. These at least indicate the extremes of
-the influence of the climate. The whole physical,
-mental and moral constitution of man is operated upon
-by the temperature of his location, and thus affecting
-not only his individual existence but the ultimate condition
-of his race.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What would have been the fate of “The Colonists”
-of the “May-Flower” had they landed at San Francisco
-or St. Domingo? If instead of the stern, bracing,
-labor-requiring, excess-denying latitude of Plymouth,
-the Pilgrims had rested in the land of the palmetto and
-the pomegranate? Or who would have ventured on
-an unknown ocean, in search for a new world, if the
-hope, the imagination, the enthusiasm, the poetry, the
-mental excitement, the superstition even of Columbus,
-the child of the South, had sunk in despair, or yielded
-to first disappointment? Where would the close calculation
-of the North, founded on a philosophical hypothesis,
-have sought for continued animation, after
-error has resulted from experiment?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='26' id='Page_26'></span>
-Where would the literature of the Past have found
-admirers, and even devotees, if the mythology of the
-East had not been nursed in the soft lap of a congenial
-temperature?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Why is it that the Latin classics yet hold a place as
-familiar as household words, if a Southern sky had
-not invited to the rich developments of the highest
-mental creations?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Where could the painter and sculptor have sought
-models and studies, if the winter of the Mediterranean
-had been as relentless and as rigid as that of Moscow?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Can it be maintained that Solon and Lycurgus would
-have alike given their fame in trust to immortality, if
-the genial influences of the land of their nativity had
-not been the same “at Rome as it was at Attica”?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Who will venture to assert that a similar fate would
-have followed the siege of Troy in a land of snows,
-or that Marathon would have been a northern Moscow?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Science, too, has felt the force of the benefit of its
-more northern home. With a temperature unshocked
-by extremes, the highest mental industry yields more,
-or rather different, fruit than the richest intellectual
-soil. The wheat and the corn of the necessaries to
-progress, are gathered only where the wine and the
-oil of luxury do not grow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That Tyre and Sidon were marts for the cosmopolite,
-and now are but the refuge for the wanderer,
-while Boston, New York, New Orleans were the seaboards
-of the savage, and are now the emporiums of a
-hemisphere, is as true as that the causes are to be
-found in some degree dependent upon the influences of
-climate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That Rome was the mother of nations, the terror of
-thrones, and the great entrance into eternity, and now
-is the dismantled wreck of her illustrious past—while
-the hunting-grounds of the “Six Nations” are transformed
-into a mighty empire, is but the melancholy
-picture of the past, gorgeous in its dilapidation, under
-the luxurious warmth of an Italian sky, while the other
-is the picture of the present, more magnificent and
-vigorous, tinted by the rays of a western sun.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Climate was not alone in producing these changes,
-yet its influence was potent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Religion of Nazareth took its metaphors from
-the land of Aristotle, its enthusiasm from the nations
-on the “seacoast,” its energy from the Northmen, but
-<span class='it'>its divinity from God</span>!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The songs of labor are heard loudest and sweetest
-where the valley and forest yield an annual tribute
-over the grave of all that is beautiful, born of the
-spring; while the songs of the sentiments take their
-melodies from the land of soft sunlight, scented with
-perennial perfumes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In considering the Future let us look at the Past,
-and among the most remarkable of physical causes
-which have marked their existence on the history of
-nations and of men, climate will be found to have exercised
-by no means an inconsiderable influence.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk115'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='wife'></a>TO MY WIFE.</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 S. D. ANDERSON.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Gladly to thee, amid the wreck of years,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Will memory’s pinions wing their eager way;</p>
-<p class='line0'>To thee, who ever through this life of tears</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Has lit its darkness with thy sunny ray;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thou wast my empress in the morning hours,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The star amid my dreams of poesy;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The single rose amid the dewy bowers,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That lured my soul to thoughts of purity.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>As rivers glancing in the glorious sun,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Voice out their gladness to the perfumed air,</p>
-<p class='line0'>So ’neath the presence of that treasured one</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;My hopes were mirrored in a world more fair;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A magic world, within whose blesséd light</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;All things the richest and the best did come,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bringing unto the weary dreams as bright</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As those that flit around our quiet home.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And I did love thee, not a transient flame,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Burned on the altar of an early dream;</p>
-<p class='line0'>No, I have dwelt upon that cherished name</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Till it became the priestess and the beam,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And softly came around our household hearth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The angel wings of woman’s ministry,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Rich hopes, as wild and joyous in their birth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As were the early dreams of loving thee.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And ever thus has been the full, deep tide,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Upheaving from this ocean love of mine;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A memory forever by my side,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To lead me onward to a nobler shrine;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The calm, hushed voice still sounding in my sleep,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Like to a strain of distant melody,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The holy light from out those eyes so deep,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That shines on all so clear and tranquilly.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Amid my dreams of human faith and love⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of <span class='it'>love</span>, that stems the tempest and the blast⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of <span class='it'>faith</span>, that in its tenderness shall prove</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Its holy office even to the last,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thou hast been present with thy watchful care,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Guarding a heart too prone to <span class='it'>dream</span> at best,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Too much forgetting <span class='it'>one</span> whose sinless prayer</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Has lingered round his home a heavenly guest.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But brightly now the sun of promise shines,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The dark and stormy waves of time along,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With all some token of thy virtue twines,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Sweet as the cadence of the evening song;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And truly now, when youth’s wild day is o’er,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And every fancied passion’s hushed to rest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I give this song to <span class='it'>thee</span> from memory’s shore,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The echo of the tide within my breast.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk116'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='27' id='Page_27'></span><h1><a id='fling'></a>THE FOUNDLING.</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 JESSIE HOWARD.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The March winds blew chillingly over a wide and
-barren moor in the Highlands of Scotland, and howled
-fiercely around the isolated dwelling in the middle of
-it, from whence gleamed a faint light like a beacon
-in the midst of that desolate waste. Black majestic
-clouds gathered darker over head, and the wild
-whistle of the coming tempest grew every moment
-more shrill; but little were the boding sounds noted
-within the cottage of Donald McLane, for sterner
-and fiercer was the storm of sorrow gathering in the
-human heart of the one lonely watcher, bending over
-the low pallet where lay, in a still dreamless slumber,
-the forerunner of one more dreamless yet, the
-form of her only child. Long silken curls fell on the
-white pillow, from the still whiter brow of the little
-sufferer, and pearly lids, with long, dark fringes,
-drooped over the fair cheek. The coverlet had been
-cast aside, as by some restless motion, and the snow-white
-drapery fell in careless folds, half-covering,
-half-revealing those round and dimpled limbs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The light from a solitary candle flickered over the
-child’s face, so marble-like in its quiet beauty; oh!
-there is a touching loveliness that waking life never
-bestows in that death-like slumber which precedes
-the parting hour of a young, sinless spirit! Angels
-waited to bear it upward, and the shining light from
-their own immortal faces, was reflected upon the
-form of clay it was so soon to leave. Close beside
-the couch, with clasped hands and a fixed gaze, motionless
-as the object of her solicitude, knelt the young
-mother—so very young and so fair; surely it was
-early for such sorrow to weigh down her happy
-heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The dull moments wore away, and still those two
-pale faces gleamed in the half-darkness, silent and
-still. The embers on the hearth burned low, louder
-howled the tempest without, and the white snow-flakes
-dashed against the window with a startling
-sound—but the mother heard it not, until the door
-softly opened, and a light touch upon her arm roused
-her to consciousness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Donald, Donald, I’m glad ye’re come,” was
-her tremulous salutation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And yet, Maggie,” he said, “I’m not so sure o’
-that when you see what I’ve brought you. I would
-not add to your cares if I could help it, but I could
-not leave a babe to perish in the cold snow to-night,”
-and unfolding his plaid, he displayed to her astonished
-eyes, a fair and beautiful infant, richly dressed, who,
-as she took it tenderly in her arms, opened its large
-dark-blue eyes, and smiled in her face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Donald, how lovely!” she exclaimed, almost
-forgetting for the moment her sorrow; but a glance
-toward the couch again brought the tears to her eyes,
-and again she sunk beside it, with the little stranger
-in her arms.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By the exertions of Donald, a brisk fire was soon
-burning on the hearth, and the bright blaze disclosed
-the table, with its neat white cloth, on which his
-frugal repast was spread; but he seemed to think
-little of his supper that night, for drawing near to the
-bedside, he bent over his child with an earnest,
-anxious expression on his manly features.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How long has she been so, Maggie?” he asked,
-in a low tone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Since noon,” was the reply, and her breath came
-more quickly as Donald bent closer and closer to
-the quiet face, placing his hand softly on the still
-breast, and his lips to the dimpled mouth whence no
-breath seemed issuing, then, with a stifled sigh as he
-gazed lingeringly on those beautiful features, he
-turned to his wife, who was looking up in his face
-with that gaze of mute terror which says so much
-more than words,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Maggie, God has taken our Ally to be an angel
-in Heaven.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No loud exclamation of grief followed his words.
-Tearless she stood with her eyes fixed upon her husband’s
-face, as if unable to comprehend his meaning,
-but, sinking on his knees beside her, and enfolding
-her in his arms, he prayed from a full heart that God
-would be with them in this their first trial. The
-low, soothing tones of his voice unlocked the fountains
-of the mother’s heart, and blessed tears came
-to her relief. Long might she have indulged in
-this luxury, but a faint cry awoke her maternal
-sympathies. She had forgotten the babe so strangely
-thrown upon her care, but now her gentle nature
-could not think of self, while another was suffering
-and in preparations for the comfort of her charge,
-the first wild burst of anguish was passed through.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will call her Ally, after our own lost one,
-Donald. Surely God has sent her to soften this sore
-trial to us, and we will love her as our own. May
-He help us to submit. Oh, my Ally! my darling, my
-precious one—can any one ever fill thy place? God
-help us!”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The simple funeral was over; the last look had
-been taken, and little Alice McLane was hidden from
-the weeping eyes that still turned toward her lowly
-resting-place, as if yet unwilling to leave her alone
-beneath that cold, cold sod.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Donald and Margaret McLane had been very
-happy until now—too happy perhaps. They had
-loved each other in early years, and when Donald
-had earned enough by his own honest labor to purchase
-the cottage on Burnside Moor, they were married
-<span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'></span>
-without a shadow on their young, hopeful
-hearts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Margaret was a careful housewife, and Donald had
-ever a warm welcome and comfortable home when,
-wearied with his daily toil, he came back to her
-whom he had promised to love and cherish; and
-when little Alice came to gladden the young mother’s
-lonely hours while he was away, sunshine reigned
-in the household. In all their happiness they never
-forgot who gave them all their blessings, and daily
-was their morning and evening sacrifice of praise
-sent up to their Heavenly Father in confiding and
-child-like simplicity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A cherished flower was Ally McLane, with her
-bright blue eyes sparkling with joy and affection, her
-round, dimpled, rosy cheeks, and baby tones, so
-sweet to a parent’s ear; her mother’s sunny spirit
-seemed hers from her very birth until the heavy hand
-of sickness came down to hush those happy notes,
-and dim the light of health and joyousness that ever
-danced around her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Perhaps she was too fondly loved; perhaps their
-hearts clung with too much of idolatry to their only
-one; and a watchful Father saw that the ties must
-be loosened. While yet her lisping tones seemed
-ringing in their ears; while yet the flush of health
-lingered on her cheek, the dart of the spoiler came,
-and with scarce a pang of suffering to rend the
-mother’s heart with deeper anguish, little Ally was
-taken away from the ill to come.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Overwhelming as was the blow, a mitigation was
-sent with it. The stranger babe thus thrown upon
-Margaret’s tenderness, proved a solace which nothing
-else could have afforded, and in the cares
-attendant upon her new charge, the dreary sense of
-loneliness, following the loss of a loved one, was
-robbed of half its power.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Many were the wondering surmises of Donald and
-his wife, in reference to the manner in which the
-babe had been thus given to them. The dark mantle
-in which it had been closely enfolded, had first attracted
-Donald’s attention amid the snow-drifts, for
-the little forsaken one was already wrapped in that
-fatal slumber which, if not soon broken, knows no
-waking—and the young man’s heart was melted with
-kindly sympathy as he thought of his own darling, so
-he raised the light burden from its soft but dangerous
-resting-place, bore it to gentle and tender hands—and
-as days, and weeks, and months wore away, no one
-appearing to claim the lost one, closer and closer
-their hearts were wound about her, till their love
-seemed even as that they had borne their <span class='it'>own</span> angel
-Ally—as they called her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sometimes Margaret would almost forget that her
-second Ally was not, indeed, the very same as that
-one they had laid with such heart-yearnings beneath
-the snow-clad turf; and yet the two were very
-unlike. The face of the stranger was full of earnest
-thought. Her large, dark, liquid eyes, so full of
-dreamy tenderness, beamed with almost spiritual
-beauty; and a hasty word would bring the tears to
-her eyes, the warm blush to her cheek, and a strange
-imploring expression over her whole countenance;
-whereas her elder namesake was ever a joyous child,
-light and graceful, full of the heedlessness so natural
-to her tender age—and few things there were that
-had power to dim her sunny spirit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Year after year sped on unmarked, save by the
-introduction of one little stranger after another into
-the once lonely household of Donald McLane. Alice,
-their eldest and loveliest, had ripened gradually from
-the beautiful child, their pet and plaything, to the
-gentle, thoughtful girl of sixteen, watching with unwearied
-care the slightest wish of her parents, (for
-she knew not that they were otherwise,) and striving
-by every means in her power to lighten their burdens.
-The secret of her history had been carefully kept
-from her as well as the fair-haired, happy flock around
-them; for why should they sadden a life so unshadowed
-as hers, with thoughts that must bring suffering to
-her loving nature?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The promise of rare beauty which her infancy had
-held out was more than realized. There was a
-spirituality about those dark-blue eyes, in every
-graceful movement—a native ease and sweetness
-of manner so unusual among the classes in which
-she moved—so unlike the frank, noisy ways and
-ruddy countenances of her younger brothers and
-sisters, that Margaret often gazed upon her with a
-wondering sigh and a trembling of heart, she could
-not tell why. Alice had been reared with more than
-maternal tenderness—a fond yearning over her deserted
-helplessness—a sympathy for those who must
-have mourned the loss of such a child, together with
-her own irresistible winningness, had led Margaret
-unconsciously to indulge the child of her adoption
-even more than the members of her own little flock;
-but Ally was one of those rare natures in whom indulgence
-only brings forth warmer, purer feelings of
-love and gratitude, and even from babyhood, as
-Margaret would often say, she seemed like an angel
-sent down to them from Heaven.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sweet Alice McLane had not arrived at the age of
-sixteen without admirers. Lonely as was the situation
-of the cottage, many had been attracted thither
-by the fame of such a jewel. But there was a quiet
-dignity and purity about the gentle girl that repulsed
-the most presuming; and Ally was still, child-like,
-happy in her home, without a wish to leave it, at
-least so far as was known to her own heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was, indeed, one, who had been a play-fellow
-from childhood, being the son of their only
-neighbor within many miles, who was ever a welcome
-guest at the cottage, beneath whose glance her
-own never drooped, nor the painful blush rose to her
-transparent cheek—and why was it? Because Dugald
-Lindsay had never spoken of the trembling hopes that
-lay nestling at his heart, though they had wandered
-together for hours over the hills, or sat side by side
-before the bright fire, in the winter evenings, while
-he entertained them with merry tales; and though
-Ally loved him dearly, yet it was with the pure,
-happy love of a sister. So they lived from day to
-day, unconscious of the cloud that was gathering over
-the future happiness of one, and the brightest hopes
-of the other.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='pageno' title='29' id='Page_29'></span>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Donald McLane was a hard-working man, and
-seldom was any recreation beyond the quiet enjoyment
-of his fire-side and home-circle indulged in. It
-was therefore an occasion of no little joy among the
-little folks, and perhaps not less so with the older
-heads who showed less boisterous happiness, when,
-on the return of the annual fair, a whole holyday was
-promised with a visit to the village where it was
-held.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the evening preceding the day so long and
-anxiously looked for, a handsome traveling-carriage,
-with servants and outriders, drove up to the inn door
-of the village, creating an excitement among the
-good people unheard of before. A tall, majestic,
-and beautiful lady was assisted from it by a youth
-whose noble and elegant appearance spoke of rank
-and wealth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The poor landlord, confused, and almost paralyzed
-by the unexpected honor conferred upon him, with
-difficulty recalled his scattered senses in time to receive
-his guests, and provide them with the best his
-poor house could afford; but they, smiling at his
-consternation, retired immediately to their apartments,
-where, at their own request, a simple repast
-was served, and they appeared no more that evening.
-The servants were surrounded and eagerly questioned,
-but nothing could be elicited from them, except
-that the strangers were the Countess of Weldon
-and her son, who were traveling for the benefit of
-their health, impaired by the close air and dissipation
-of London.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next morning, just as the party from Burnside
-Moor had reached the village, after a weary
-walk of many miles, the coach drove up once more
-to receive its noble inmates. Donald and Margaret
-were foremost, and had already passed by, the
-younger children following them; but Ally had
-lingered somewhat in the rear, for Dugald was
-beside her, and in earnest conversation they had unconsciously
-slackened their pace, thus arriving opposite
-the inn door just in time to see the carriage
-drive up and the noble pair preparing to enter it.
-Surprised out of her usual quiet demeanor, Ally
-gazed eagerly at the novel sight. Her hood had
-fallen back, and her soft brown curls came clustering
-around her face, generally so pale, but now with
-the warm blood <a id='tinge'></a>tingeing its snowy surface, and her
-dark, dreamy eyes turned wonderingly toward the
-strangers, she was lovely beyond description. At
-this moment the countess turned her eyes in the
-direction where Ally stood leaning on the arm of
-her companion, and with a thrilling cry, stretched
-out her arms toward her, then fell back insensible.
-In an instant all was confusion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lady was borne into the house, and all intruders
-waved off; but Ally had never yet seen
-suffering without endeavoring to relieve it, and
-springing impulsively forward, she entered the inn,
-followed by Dugald.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the countess again opened her eyes, a sweet,
-loving face looked into hers, and an arm, soft and
-white as her own, supported her head. Another
-wild exclamation burst from her quivering lips, and
-again she sunk back, murmuring, “Adela, my sister—have
-you come back from the spirit-world to bless
-me!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What ails you, dear lady,” said Ally, tenderly—“can
-I do any thing for you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For the first time those who stood around the couch,
-anxiously waiting the solution of this mystery, observed
-a striking resemblance between the noble
-stranger and the lovely peasant girl, who stood pale
-and bewildered by her manner, yet unwilling to leave
-her while yet she seemed to need assistance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell me, child,” said the countess, suddenly
-rising from her recumbent position, “tell me, who
-are you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The question was hasty, the tone almost harsh,
-and Ally’s face flushed again, as she replied timidly,
-“My name is Alice McLane, lady—my father lives
-on Burnside Moor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where is your father?—I must see him instantly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dugald turned in search of him, but Donald, having
-quickly missed his daughter, had come back in search
-of her, leaving the rest of his charge in a booth near
-by, and was even now at the inn door.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As soon as his eye fell on the pale, agitated countenance
-of the stranger, and from her to his idolized
-daughter, every trace of color left both cheeks and
-lips, and unable to support himself, he sunk into a
-chair, covering his face with his hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In that brief moment he comprehended it all.
-Sometimes, in past years, the unwelcome thought
-would painfully force itself upon him, that his
-precious Ally was not, indeed, his own. Hearts that
-must have mourned her loss, might again rejoice
-over their recovered treasure, but as year after year
-went by undisturbed, Donald grew strong in hope,
-and had almost banished every fear of the kind, when
-this terrible realization of the worst came so suddenly
-upon him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No wonder that his strong frame was bowed, and
-his stout heart wrung with anguish, as he felt that even
-resistance would be vain. No wonder that Ally
-stood by him terrified at the sight of grief such as
-never in her whole peaceful life had met her eyes
-before. Her arms were thrown around him, her
-warm kisses fell upon his cold brow, as she implored
-him to unfold this mystery. The countess watched
-him silently, yet a wild gleam of triumph flashed
-from her dark eyes, as she exchanged glances with
-her son, who stood looking on with no less appearance
-of interest than herself. Dugald, fearing he
-knew not what, only showed by his varying color,
-the thoughts that thronged rapidly upon him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The story was soon told, and none present could
-doubt that Alice, the poor cottage-girl, was the
-orphan niece of the proud countess, and through her,
-heiress to untold wealth. And how did Ally receive
-the news of her sudden elevation? With agony
-that moved the little circle of auditors to tears,
-as she clung wildly to the only father she had ever
-known, and implored him not to send her away
-from him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Donald looked up with a sorrow-stricken expression
-<span class='pageno' title='30' id='Page_30'></span>
-on his manly face, saying, “See you not the
-child’s distress, lady. Say no more now. Let her go
-home with us once more. Time will reconcile her to
-it, perhaps, but do not torture her now. God help
-us! for He only knows how great is the love we bear
-each other.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He motioned to Dugald, whose countenance, like
-his own, was ashy pale, but who, summoning the
-strength that in these few brief moments of anguish
-seemed to have deserted him, raised the almost insensible
-form of the weeping girl, and bore her away
-without resistance.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i074.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0003' style='width:500px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Forget you, Dugald! and do you think Ally so
-changeful as to be carried away by the high-sounding
-titles and useless baubles of this wicked world?
-Could I be happier anywhere than I have been in
-my own dear mountain home. My aunt has promised
-that I shall return if I am not satisfied, and in
-one twelvemonth we will meet again. Nothing shall
-keep me from you if life is mine.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ally, dear Ally, you do not know the world you
-are about entering. The rich and the great will be
-there to court you, and the splendors that will glitter
-around you, have dazzled many a stronger head,
-though not a purer heart, Ally. But I ought not to
-murmur, since this parting has brought me joy as
-well as sorrow—since it has told me that you love
-me, darling. God keep you in temptation, and bring
-you back to us unchanged.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And so they parted. When did they meet again?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Let us now turn back in the page of by-gone years,
-and trace the history of our little foundling so suddenly
-raided to a station that the proudest might envy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Clara and Adela Dundas were the daughters of an
-English nobleman; their mother dying before they
-had emerged from the school-room, they were left
-without that guiding hand so necessary to the maiden
-ignorant of the world, and heedless of warning from
-less beloved lips.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Clara, the eldest, married, at an early age, a wealthy
-earl, the choice of her father, and departed to her
-princely home, with a father’s blessing, leaving her
-young, gentle sister more lonely than ever. Adela
-had ever been of a clinging, dependent spirit, loving
-with her whole heart the few objects she had as yet
-found in life worthy or unworthy; and was it, then,
-to be wondered at, when in the solitary hours after
-her sister’s departure, her affectionate nature should
-pine for some new companion on whom to pour out
-the rich treasures of a heart that could not be satisfied
-in selfish ends. Unhappily, the one on whom her
-choice fell, was a poor, untitled gentleman, holding
-an honorable office in her father’s household, but
-on whom Lord Dundas looked as so far inferior to
-his beautiful daughter in every respect, as never to
-dream of danger in allowing the occasional intercourse
-which passed between them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Knowing as they both did the proud and immoveable
-spirit of Lord Dundas, and hopeless of gaining
-his consent to what in their own young hearts, full
-of the romance of first love, seemed necessary to
-their very existence, they fled—and the lovely Lady
-Adela Dundas, who had never known one hour’s
-privation from luxury, became, in a poor Highland
-cottage, the wife of him for whom she had forsaken
-all—father, friends and home. A letter was written
-more from the warm feelings of affection and respect
-than from any hope of moving the stern parent whom,
-as Adela felt, they had offended past forgiveness—and
-so it proved—an answer came, only to announce
-her disinheritance, and exile for life from her father’s
-home and heart. Then was it that Adela for the
-first time felt the fearful consequences of her rash
-step, and it needed all the persuasions and soothing
-caresses of a husband whom she loved tenderly, to
-bring her to any degree of composure.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After many months of suffering and privation,
-<span class='pageno' title='31' id='Page_31'></span>
-during which time her sister had privately sent her
-aid whenever she could do so with impunity, Mr.
-Moreton obtained employment which again raised
-them to comfort if not affluence. A lovely infant
-now brought new hopes and new feelings into poor
-Adela’s sorrowful heart, and to her husband’s delight
-she became once more cheerful. Sorely had they
-suffered for their sin, yet kind and gentle and loving
-to each other they had ever been. Poverty had not
-had power to dampen the pure affection of earlier
-days, and its calm light shone upon their paths with
-a hopeful radiance even in the darkest hours of their
-probation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The little Adela was but a few months old when
-a letter arrived from the steward of Lord Dundas,
-with a hasty summons to the death-bed of the now
-relenting parent. Sorrow and joy struggled for pre-eminence
-in Lady Adela’s bosom, as she hastily prepared
-to obey; but a new difficulty now arose. The
-winter had just set in with great severity—the journey
-was a long and fatiguing one; Adela spurned all
-objections on her own part, but her babe, how could
-she expose it to the inclemency of the weather, and
-the dangers that must attend them. Brief and bitter
-was the conflict—but the child was left in the care
-of a faithful nurse, who promised to watch over it as
-her own.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They arrived only in time to receive the parting
-blessing of their beloved father, and after the requisite
-arrangements of the estate, which was equally
-divided between the two sisters; it was settled that
-Adela should now remain at the castle, at least until
-some further disposal of the property should be made,
-and that Mr. Moreton should return for the child, as
-the spring would soon open with sunshine and air,
-balmy enough even for the little traveler.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Days and weeks dragged slowly their way along
-to the young wife, now, for the first time since her
-hasty marriage, separated from her husband. He
-came at last—but he came alone! Short and terrible
-was the tale his pale lips had to utter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The woman in whose care the babe had been left,
-faithfully watched over it, never resigning her charge
-to another, save when necessity required.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One cold but bright, sunshiny day, having occasion
-to go to the neighboring village, she wrapped the
-child carefully in a heavy mantle, and set out with it
-in her arms on her errand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From that time neither nurse nor babe had been
-heard of. A violent snow-storm came on toward
-night, and it was feared that both had perished, yet
-singular to tell, no trace of their bodies had been discovered
-on the road wherein their way led.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Silently the young mother listened to these crushing
-words. Hope itself was extinct, and from that day,
-though every endearing care that love could devise
-was lavished upon her, sweet Lady Adela drooped
-like a frail lily, growing paler and weaker, yet ever
-gentle, patient and loving to the last—for ere the
-spring flowers had faded, a husband and sister wept
-bitter tears over her early grave. So young and so
-lovely, thus Ally’s fair mother died.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Comparing this sorrowful tale with Donald’s account,
-it was inferred that the woman, returning
-from the village, became bewildered by the snowstorm,
-and turned in the direction of Donald’s cottage
-instead of that leading to her own, which was directly
-opposite, and losing her way, had wandered on until
-wearied with her heavy burden, and hopeless of
-saving both lives, had deserted her charge, and proceeded,
-unencumbered, to find shelter for her own
-exhausted frame. In this, perhaps, she succeeded;
-but with the consciousness of safety came the harrowing
-reflections of her faithlessness, and unable to
-meet those she had so wronged, she had most probably
-left the country, for no trace of her was ever
-discovered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Moreton did not long survive his idolised
-wife; and now, when our gentle Ally awoke to the
-proud consciousness of rank, wealth, a new name
-and new relations, the tidings brought only sorrow
-and suffering to one so loving and happy as she had
-been—for was she not an orphan? Bitter tears
-flowed at the recital of her mother’s history, but
-turning from all the allurements and persuasions that
-were lavished upon her by her new aunt and cousin,
-she flung herself on Margaret’s bosom, saying, “I
-have one mother still! oh, let me stay—let me stay!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet as we have seen, Ally did go at last, pale and
-sorrowful, but with a kind word for all, and bidding
-them not to weep, for she would soon return—“She
-knew she would not love the great world of London.
-Oh, no! she would soon be back, never, never to
-leave them again!”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Twelve months had passed by, lingeringly to the
-little lonely band on Burnside Moor, and sunshine
-seemed to spring up afresh in every heart when the
-first tiny green leaves and blue-eyed violets peeped
-through the snow. “The spring is coming,” shouted
-the children, gleefully, “the spring is coming, and
-Ally will soon be here.” The shadow passed off
-from the mother’s thoughtful brow, and Donald looked
-happier than he had yet since the parting, but Dugald
-grew more and more silent—as each budding tree
-put forth its tiny sprouts and the verdure became
-brighter and fresher on the hill-side, the flush paled
-on his cheek and his dark eyes grew heavy with
-thought. Week after week glided on, and the children
-wearied with watching turned with eager questions
-to their elders, but mournfully, eyes dim with
-tears, met theirs—still Ally came not.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The warm harvest days stole on—the grain was
-all gathered in—the cool autumn winds blew chillingly—the
-snow flakes again robed the earth in their
-pure mantle, and still Ally came not.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Bitter as was the disappointment, it fell not on unsubmissive
-hearts. The children alone were clamorous
-in their expressions of regret, but like the summer
-cloud, the sorrow passed from their memories
-and they found in present amusements that forgetfulness
-which others sought in vain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sick with hope deferred,” they mourned unceasingly
-their lost one—yet upheld by that faith in a
-Heavenly Guardian, to whose care they had given
-<span class='pageno' title='32' id='Page_32'></span>
-her, and who would be faithful to the trust though all
-earth should conspire against them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And where was the object of this fond solicitude?
-What fate had been hers since she tore herself away
-weeping, yet strong in hope and confidence, fearless
-of the temptations, whose power she had yet to
-learn? Was she indeed changed? Could not the
-shield of love and innocence, so close about her,
-guard every avenue of that guileless heart? Alas!
-no; Ally had been too trustful in her own strength,
-and so insidious was the approach of the evil-spirit
-that she was unconscious of danger until bitterly
-awakened to self-reproach, to feel that it was too
-late!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the Lady Adela Moreton, co-heiress with her
-cousin of their grandfather’s broad lands, she was
-courted, caressed and flattered by the noblest and
-most wealthy—her own rare loveliness adding new
-attractions to her proud triumph, and though at first
-pained—then disgusted—sad to tell—she at length
-learned to love the adulation that followed her steps.
-Her cheek would flush and her eye brighten with conscious
-pride—yet beautiful as she then was in the
-eyes of a gazing world, Dugald would almost have
-failed to recognize in her his own pure-hearted
-love.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Her aunt had been steadily pursuing a scheme
-which had been busy in her brain since the first unlooked
-for recognition of her sister’s long lost child,
-which was the union of her eldest son, Sir Frederic,
-to his beautiful cousin, and thus preserve undivided
-the family estate. Poor Ally little dreamed of the
-snares that were laid for her. The kindness of her
-aunt won her gentle, affectionate heart to implicit
-obedience, and her handsome cousin, possessed of
-every art of pleasing—beauty, rank, wealth, grace,
-(few could resist their united influence,) moved her
-by every loving device.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Was Ally happy? Those who saw her in the festive
-halls, brilliant and animated, the centre to which
-all eyes, all hearts turned, might have deemed her
-happy—but in the solitude of her chamber, when
-lights and flattering tones had fled, pale, sorrowful
-faces would rise up, as if upbraiding her; memories of
-the past would so flit before her, searing her brain as
-it were fire, and remorseful tears would flow through
-the long sleepless nights, stealing away the freshness
-from her fair cheek, the brightness from her eyes.
-Was this happiness?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet the golden chains were close around her, and
-Ally asked not to break their glittering links.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Donald—Margaret—Dugald—a fearful snare is
-weaving around your darling one—a little longer and
-she may be lost to you forever—save her if yet you
-may—God speed your efforts, for man is powerless
-now.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i081.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0004' style='width:500px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Another spring had come. Calmly and gently as
-on the heart-sick watchers fell the last rays of the
-setting sun on Ally’s weary brow as she sat by the
-window of her boudoir listlessly gazing into the
-street. Gay dresses were strewed around her—jewels
-flashed from their velvet cushions upon the
-dressing-table beside her, and ornaments of rich and
-varied style lay beside them—yet Ally’s thoughts
-seemed far away. Her sweet face was paler and
-thinner, and on her dimpled mouth lay that peculiar
-expression of suffering which the lips only can show
-forth—her dark-blue eyes seemed larger, and a wild
-look had taken the place of the soft dove-like glances
-which had won Dugald’s heart. Oh! Ally was fearfully
-changed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly, as though an ice-bolt had stricken her,
-the young girl started from her dreamy posture. The
-color faded from her parted lips and she clung to the
-window sill as she gazed at some object below.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='33' id='Page_33'></span>
-A young Highlander, in the garb of his native hills,
-had just passed by, and even now paused before the
-arched gate-way of that princely mansion. Ally
-looked no longer, but sinking upon her knees, she
-wept.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A few moments afterward, her slight form might
-have been seen gliding down the wide staircase and
-entering a small library adjoining the drawing-room,
-with which a glass door communicated—softly the
-curtain was lifted, while with clasped hands and a
-frame shivering with the intensity of her agitation
-she saw and heard all that passed within.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dugald, her own wronged Dugald was there—she
-had not been deceived then in that hasty glimpse of
-his figure from the window. A chill crept over
-Ally’s heart as she saw his pale face and sorrowful
-look—but this was as nothing to the agony that
-thrilled through her ere long. Dugald sat in one of
-the richly embroidered chairs, with the graceful ease
-so natural to him in any society, while directly opposite,
-in a large arm-chair with a cushion beneath
-her feet, sat the countess. An air of haughty indifference
-was meant, perhaps, to check the young
-man’s hopes, for well did the proud lady know the
-object of his long journey, and sorely did she tremble
-lest her plans should yet be defeated. Leaning carelessly
-on a massive table close by, with an air that
-affected to be contemptuously easy, while the working
-of his fine features betrayed an inward conflict,
-stood Sir Frederic.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I assure you, sir, Lady Adela is too much indisposed
-to see any one this evening,” were the first
-words that the trembling girl heard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if she is ill, lady, do not refuse to let me see
-her. Surely, surely, news from home would do her
-good—oh, never was she too ill yet to see Dugald!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Only let me see her for a moment—let me hear
-from her own lips that she has forgotten us.” And
-the young man grew eloquent as he pictured in the
-simple language of exquisite pathos, the more touching
-as it came every word from a full heart, the distress
-of those who loved and watched for their absent
-one till their hearts grew faint within them. He told
-of their bitter disappointments—their home now over-shadowed
-because the sunbeam that once lighted it
-was gone. He spoke not of his own feelings for they
-were too sacred to be displayed before the cold natures
-that listened unmoved even now—and Dugald
-ceased with a sinking heart as he watched their
-haughty brows grow darker with suppressed anger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The countess rose and with a frigid salutation left
-the room, and her son, with an expression of withering
-scorn, demanded how he dared to expect that <span class='it'>his</span>
-cousin remembered or wished to know aught of
-such low associations—then followed his mother,
-leaving Dugald stunned and motionless.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In those few brief moments the evil spirit had departed
-from Ally’s misguided soul and the good regained
-its influence over her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With the last echoing sound of the departing footsteps,
-she opened the door against which she had
-been leaning, with that temporary strength excitement
-ever gives—she beckoned to the startled
-youth, who, half-dreaming, obeyed the signal, and
-found himself face to face with her whom he had just
-deemed lost to him forever.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ally, dear Ally, what have they done to change
-you thus,” he exclaimed as he stretched out his arms
-toward her. She threw herself weeping upon his
-bosom, clinging to him as if fearful of being again
-torn away. “Take me home, Dugald, take me
-home. Thank God I am not quite heartless yet.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tenderly as a mother soothes her restless child, did
-Dugald caress and whisper sweet words of comfort
-to the trembling one he folded to his heart—and at
-last she looked up through her tears with her old familiar
-smile, so that she seemed almost herself
-again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By a side-door Dugald reached the street, unobserved
-by those who deemed him long since gone—a
-light was in his eye, his step was free and elastic,
-and his whole face beamed with the inward delight
-that caused his heart to throb wildly as he traversed
-the streets toward his temporary residence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A few hours passed and he came forth again—when
-he returned he was no longer alone. Like her
-gentle mother, Adela Moreton fled from wealth and
-rank to share the lowlier lot of him who had won
-her heart. But unlike that mother our sweet mountain
-flower fled from the evil to the stern yet blessed
-path of duty, and the blessing of Heaven followed
-upon her steps.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Great was the amazement of the countess and her
-too sanguine heir when on the following morning
-they discovered that their dove had escaped from the
-net laid for her. Bitter were the curses that descended
-on Dugald’s now unconscious head, but the
-affectionate little note left on the table of the vacant
-boudoir, showed too plainly by its gentle but decided
-tenor that further hope was vain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The sunshine came back into Donald’s cottage—laughter
-and mirth were no longer strangers there,
-for Ally, their “lost and found,” had returned to
-them, paler and thinner it is true, and with a deeper
-shadow on her fair brow, but with her loving heart
-and gentle voice unchanged.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ally well knew the sacrifice she made, but it was
-made willingly. Her wealth was all in the power of
-her aunt, and she hoped for no concession from the
-disappointed schemers—but Dugald had not been idle
-during the years of his probation, and he was no
-longer a poor man.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One bright summer’s day when all nature seemed
-rejoicing and human hearts were filled with thankfulness,
-in her own simple cottage-dress, and under her
-old name of Alice McLane which she had again
-adopted, Ally, now blooming and happy, stood before
-the altar in their own dear kirk, and promised to
-be the wife of him who had loved her so long and so
-faithfully. Joy beamed from every countenance, as
-they now felt that no power on earth might rend these
-ties, and Ally, their own beautiful Ally, was theirs till
-death should part them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Only once did the proud countess seek to recall
-her flown bird to her glittering but uneasy nest, and
-the day on which she arrived with Sir Frederic,
-<span class='pageno' title='34' id='Page_34'></span>
-eager and hopeful, was Ally’s wedding-day, and so
-they became unwittingly sharers in that beautiful
-scene—the only angry spirits in all that peaceful band
-of worshipers. Baffled again, they left without even
-seeking an interview with the object of their long
-journey, and Ally never heard of them again until the
-arrival of a strange-looking epistle many years after,
-announcing the death of her aunt, and her own accession
-by right of birth to the half of Lord Dundas’
-princely fortune.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sweet Ally McLane! would that more angels like
-thee in the likeness of sinful flesh might dwell among
-us—raising our hearts to higher, holier purposes, and
-fitting us while here for a better home above, where
-envy, malice, pride, or sorrow never may be known
-or felt.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk117'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='mem'></a>A DAUGHTER’S MEMORY.</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 MARY L. LAWSON.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>My father, by the simple stone</p>
-<p class='line0'>That marks thy grave I stand alone;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The birds with joyous love-notes sing</p>
-<p class='line0'>A welcome to the early spring;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The cloudless skies, the balmy air,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And soft young flowers, proclaim it fair;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But now their gladness can impart</p>
-<p class='line0'>No sense of beauty to thy heart.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Yet first I learnt from thee to trace</p>
-<p class='line0'>Each varying hue on Nature’s face,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Its teachings bade thy spirit move</p>
-<p class='line0'>My heart to deeper truth and love;</p>
-<p class='line0'>For varied lore, arranged, defined,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Was graven in thine active mind,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And every path thy footstep trod</p>
-<p class='line0'>Seemed written with the name of God.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And well remembrance wakes for me</p>
-<p class='line0'>My ne’er forgotten walks with thee;</p>
-<p class='line0'>How oft we paused with thoughtful eye</p>
-<p class='line0'>To mark the changes of the sky,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or idly lingered, to inhale</p>
-<p class='line0'>The breathings of the summer gale,</p>
-<p class='line0'>On bird and tree and flower to look—</p>
-<p class='line0'>As pages in Creation’s book.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then questions of thy boyhood’s day</p>
-<p class='line0'>Would lead thy musing soul away,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And borne along by memory’s tide</p>
-<p class='line0'>Came visions of thy native Clyde,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The ripple of the mountain rills,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The heather scent from breezy hills,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Until thy glance would brightly beam</p>
-<p class='line0'>With interest in thy chosen theme.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I listened then with eager ear</p>
-<p class='line0'>The tales of other days to hear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For oft thy voice would lead me back,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From life’s insipid daily track,</p>
-<p class='line0'>To wild romance and warfare rude,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That mingle in old Scotland’s mood,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For thou didst know and paint them well,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And wandering fancy warmed the spell.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>My father, how the tear-drop swells</p>
-<p class='line0'>As o’er the past my vision dwells,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When I have stood beside thy chair</p>
-<p class='line0'>And smoothed and kissed thy silvery hair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whose silken threads are dearer now</p>
-<p class='line0'>Than hope’s gay dream or lover’s vow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For life can hold no joy for me</p>
-<p class='line0'>More cherished than my thoughts of thee.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And thou hast left a name behind</p>
-<p class='line0'>That Art must prize and Science find;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thy talents to the world are known,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But dearer memories are my own.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though all approve the stainless worth</p>
-<p class='line0'>That sleeps beneath this spot of earth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The kindness that awakens love</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thy children’s hearts alone can prove.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>No gorgeous tomb in words proclaim</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thine honest truth and well earned fame,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nor sculptured urn, nor heartless praise,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The stranger’s studied care betrays;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But thou wert fondly laid to rest</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where tender tears thy grave has blest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Embalmed in feelings pure and high</p>
-<p class='line0'>That soar from earth beyond the sky.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk118'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='from'></a>FROM AMALTHÆUS.</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 RICHARD PENN SMITH.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were three distinguished Latin poets of Italy of
-this name, whose compositions were printed at Amsterdam
-in 1685. The following epigram was occasioned by
-the affliction of two children of remarkable beauty, though
-each had lost an eye:</p>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Lumine Acon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Et poterat forma vincere uterque deos,</p>
-<p class='line'>Parve puer, lumen quod habes concede sorori,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Sic tu cæcus amor, sic erit illa Venus.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>TRANSLATION.</h2>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Of his right eye young Acon was bereft;</p>
-<p class='line'>His sister Leonilla lost the left;</p>
-<p class='line'>Still each in form can rival with the gods,</p>
-<p class='line'>And, though both Cyclops, beat them by all odds.</p>
-<p class='line'>Spare her, my boy, your blinker, be not stupid,</p>
-<p class='line'>She then will be a Venus, you a Cupid.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk119'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='35' id='Page_35'></span><h1><a id='towho'></a>TO ——.</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 B. HIRST.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I have had my days of sadness: youth, which we review in age,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Spelling once again its syllables, was a blurred and blotted page.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Drifting down the tide of Time my tiny <a id='bark'></a>barque, unguided, passed</p>
-<p class='line0'>Toward the Mäelstrom of Manhood, puppet both of wave and blast.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But an all-protecting Providence watched the craft, when tempest-tost</p>
-<p class='line0'>On the Atlantic of Adversity; and the vessel was not lost.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Through the distance, when the clouds were lifted by the eddying breeze,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sunny sapphire skies shone on me, with, beneath, Pacific seas.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But the gloom came down around me, and the billows rolled and moaned,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the little laboring ark with more than human agony groaned.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Shoals and sunken rocks around it,—like a frenzied steed that flies,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Terror burning, like a beacon, in his wide-distended eyes,⁠—</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Through this Archipelago of danger such as no one knows,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Save the wanderer in a wilderness, filled with savage hungry foes⁠—</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Rode the Argo of my Destiny; for what storm could overwhelm</p>
-<p class='line0'>When God’s holy hand, or else His angel’s, held the fragile helm?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Suddenly from the desperate darkness stole the tender, trembling light</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of a luminous, blushing planet, gleaming gently on my sight.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And the gloom fell down before it, and the billows knew surcease,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the horrid howling winds reclined in slumber, breathing peace.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Night by night the sun descended, and I saw the moon arise,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With that luminous planet near it, like a deity, in the skies.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then said I unto my spirit—“Reigning in those realms above,</p>
-<p class='line0'>O, my soul, behold at last the unassuming star of love.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Like a queen she walks the infinite, saying softly, ‘Peace; be still!’</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the lion winds and waters crouch, submissive to her will.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Now in safety rides my vessel, for that luminous, blushing star</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sits forever in my “House of Life,” a ruling Guardian Lar;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And the haven it has entered lies encircled by a shore</p>
-<p class='line0'>Green as Eden was, calm as Heaven is; and the storm is known no more.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>There with one whose type is Beauty, Adam-like, I dwell in dreams,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whose realities were delirium, sleeping by love’s silver streams.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Eve, my angel, always with me, leads my spirit by the hand</p>
-<p class='line0'>Tenderly from its painful memories toward the Better—Happier Land.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And like ghosts, when, clarion-tongued, proud Chanticleer salutes the dawn,</p>
-<p class='line0'>All my ghastly recollections flit, like shadows, and are gone.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk120'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='omni'></a>THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.</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 RICHARD COE, JR.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Come! Come! Come!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nature, teacher sweet, will tell</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where the Lord of all doth dwell,</p>
-<p class='line0'>He who doeth all things well,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And in glory reigns!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In the mountain—in the stream—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In the hushed and charmed air—</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the working of a dream—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;God is everywhere!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In the star that decks the sky,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Shining through the silent air;</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the cloud that saileth by—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;God is everywhere!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In the lily of the field—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or in floweret more rare—</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the perfume roses yield—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;God is everywhere!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In the sunbeam clear and bright—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In the rainbow wondrous fair—</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the darkness of the night—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;God is everywhere!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In the gentle summer breeze—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In the rushing winter air—</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the rustling of the trees—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;God is everywhere!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In the organ’s solemn sound—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or in music’s lighter air—</p>
-<p class='line0'>All above—beneath—around—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;God is everywhere!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk121'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='36' id='Page_36'></span><h1><a id='grave'></a>THE NEGLECTED GRAVE-YARD.</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 ALDEN.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Uncle, have you a fowling-piece to lend me?”
-said Henry Deforest, on the morning after his arrival
-at Beech Grove, whither he had come to enjoy a brief
-interval of rest from his professional studies.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” replied Mr. Woolcott, “as fine a one as you
-ever handled.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What do you want to do with it, pray?” said
-Aunt Martha, Mr. Woolcott’s maiden sister and housekeeper,
-who, like a sensible woman, believed that
-guns and gunpowder were infernal inventions, and
-dangerous in every possible shape and shade of combination.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have some thoughts of taking a gunning excursion,”
-said Henry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are you a good shot?” said Mr. Woolcott.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“About equal to Mr. Winkle.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know him—where does he live?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Henry was happily relieved from the necessity of
-replying to the question of his matter-of-fact uncle, by
-Aunt Martha, who declared her somewhat exulting
-belief that the gun was lent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, it is at home—it came home last night. Here it
-is,” said Mr. W., bringing it forth from a secure hiding-place
-constructed under Aunt Martha’s sole direction
-and authority.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is it loaded?” said Henry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, I guess not,” said his uncle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll warrant it is,” said Aunt Martha.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is there to shoot in these parts?” said Henry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Boys,” replied Aunt M., rather sharply. “Mr.
-Johns shot one last week.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Boys are not good to eat, my dear aunt, and I cannot
-in conscience shoot any thing not good to eat.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Aunt Martha uttered an inarticulate aspiration which
-signified that she should lose her temper if she said any
-thing more.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Woolcott, who had been quite a rustic sportsman
-in his younger days, furnished his nephew with a
-liberal allowance of powder, shot and wadding, and
-the said nephew sallied forth with murderous intentions
-toward all feathered bipeds possessing the attribute
-of being good to eat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was early in June. The sweet breath of the
-morning spoke so lovingly of peace and gentleness,
-that he began to question the propriety of his savage
-purposes. His conscience, or his good sense, or his
-humanity, or something else, suggested, that to pollute
-the flower-laden breeze with sulphurous vapors, and
-to hush the sweet music of God’s innocent creatures,
-was not the most fitting employment for one proud of
-his immortality. He had not a very definite idea of the
-pleasures of bird-murder—in fact, that it might be a
-source of pleasure to him at all, it would be necessary
-for him to “make believe” with as much intensity as
-did “the small servant,” when she used orange-peel
-water for wine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He soon reached a beautiful meadow. In consequence
-of his admiration of the lilies and daisies which
-adorned it, he failed to observe the meadow-larks that
-frequently rose before him, and uttered their notes of
-gladness to the mounting sun. At length one rose from
-his very feet. In an instant his finger was upon the
-trigger; but the sweet note of his intended victim
-charmed him. While he listened, the bird passed beyond
-the range of his weapon. Perhaps he mentally
-compared the pleasure of listening to its song with that
-of witnessing its dying gaspings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The murmuring of a streamlet fell upon his ear. In
-a moment he was bending over its pure, bright waters.
-A large, smooth stone, shaded by a clump of willows,
-invited him to a seat. He laid aside his weapon, and
-sat down, baring his forehead to the breeze, and fixing
-his eyes upon the tiny inhabitants of the rivulet, his
-thoughts took the peaceful hue of the objects around
-him. It was not till the changing shadows of the willows
-exposed him to the rays of the sun, that he became
-conscious of the flight of time. He then rose and
-went to a small grove which clothed the summit of a
-gentle elevation in the vicinity. The grove was composed
-of saplings, about twenty feet in height. As he
-entered it, a false step led him to cast his eye downward.
-He had planted his foot in the hollow of a
-sunken grave. On looking around him, he found he
-was in the midst of an ancient grave-yard. The headstones
-which marked the resting places of the sleepers,
-had apparently been taken from a neighboring ledge.
-Only one bore an inscription, or had received the impress
-of the chisel. He looked in vain for a new-made
-grave. It was long since the funeral-train had entered
-that grave-yard—long since the mourner had come
-thither to weep.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Deforest had visited cemeteries in which wealth had
-lavished its treasures, and art exhausted its resources
-in order to disrobe death of his gloom. No splendid
-mausoleum, no carefully penned epitaph, so disposed
-him to reflection, as did the leaf-filled hollows and rude
-stones of that neglected grave-yard. He spent an hour
-in serious thought, and was about to leave the place,
-when the sound of approaching footsteps arrested his
-attention. He turned and saw an aged man entering
-the grove. The stranger approached the grave near
-which Deforest was standing. He appeared slightly
-embarrassed when he perceived that he was not alone.
-He returned the courteous salutation of Deforest, and
-seemed disposed to converse with him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You do not live in these parts?” said he.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am on a visit to my uncle, Mr. Woolcott. I reside
-in the city,” said Deforest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='37' id='Page_37'></span>
-“Your uncle came into the place after I left it. I was
-born here, in a house that stood on the knoll yonder.
-That cluster of bushes stands where the hearth-stone
-used to lie.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I noticed, as I passed the spot this morning, that a
-building once stood there. It must have been a long
-time ago.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sixty-nine years ago, last March, I was born in that
-house, or rather in the house which stood there then.
-This country then was a wilderness. There was one
-log-house where the village now stands, and one between
-this and the river. I have not lived here for more
-than forty years. Latterly I go through the place once a
-year, as I go for my pension, and I always come to this
-spot. My father lies here, and—another friend. I always
-come and look upon the place of their rest. They do not
-know it. It does not do them any good, but it does
-me good. This is the grave of my father,” laying his
-hand on the stone noticed above as being the only one
-which bore an inscription. The inscription was as
-follows: “James Hampton, died July 16, 1777, aged
-forty-five years.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man uncovered his head as he laid his hand
-upon the stone, and gazed in silence upon the earth
-which lay above the remains of his parent. Deforest
-felt that he was an intruder, and was about to retire.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not go,” said the stranger. “I never met any
-one here before. It seems like meeting with a friend.
-That is a feeling which persons as old as I am seldom
-experience.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Deforest, whose warm heart was strongly interested
-in the aged stranger, gladly accepted his invitation to
-remain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You were young when your father died,” said he,
-looking again at the inscription.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was in my fourteenth year. He was killed by a
-rifle-ball, in an attack made upon the house by a party
-of Indians. I have no doubt they were led by a tory
-who lived in a house which stood behind the ridge
-yonder, to the east. My friends wished to have it put
-on the tombstone that he was shot by the Indians. I
-believed that the shot which killed him was fired by a
-neighbor. I would not have the stone tell an untruth;
-so nothing is said about the manner of his death.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I should be greatly interested in hearing an account
-of the matter, if it be not painful to you to relate it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come and sit down on this rock and I will tell you
-all about it. It happened more than fifty years ago, yet
-it is as fresh in my mind as if it had happened yesterday.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He led the way to a large moss-covered rock, which
-afforded them a comfortable seat under the shade of a
-thicket of young chestnuts. Near it was a grave on
-which the old man’s eyes were fastened. He did not
-seem disposed to resume the conversation. A tear
-ran down his furrowed cheek. Deforest sympathized
-with him in silence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You must ask me questions, my young friend,”
-said he, somewhat abruptly, “or my mind will wander
-away from the things you wish me to speak of.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Did your father build the house in which you were
-born?” said Deforest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, he came here about ten years before the war,
-when, as I said before, there was only one house between
-this and the river. I was born the year after
-the house was built. I was but a little over ten years
-old when the troubles with England came on. My
-father and mother had many consultations upon the
-question, whether it was best for them to return to the
-east or not. There were no Indians near, and there
-was nothing to call them—for nearly all the people
-along the river were friends to the king. My father
-was from Massachusetts, and of course, liberty was
-natural to him; but he had said little or nothing about
-matters in dispute, for the very good reason that there
-were but very few persons to converge with. So he
-concluded to remain here. I could see that my mother
-did not feel easy. She grew thin and pale, and seemed
-unwilling to have us out of her sight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Once in a while, a rumor of what was going on
-reached us, though the accounts were always in favor
-of the king’s troops.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In June of the year ’77, one day, as my father was
-in the cornfield, he saw an Indian skulking behind a
-large tree in the woods, that then stood where those
-oats are now growing. He continued at his hoeing
-for an hour or two, and was careful not to indicate by
-his appearance that he had seen any thing unusual.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Was he not afraid that the Indian’s bullet might
-put an end to his work?” said Deforest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, he reasoned in this way. If the object of the
-Indian had been to kill him on the spot, he would have
-done so before he was seen. When my father came
-to the house, he was not disposed to say any thing about
-what had occurred, for he was not willing to give unnecessary
-alarm to his family. His anxious countenance
-led to inquiries which revealed the true state of
-the case. He began at once to make preparation to
-resist an attack, which he anticipated would be made
-in the night. I was employed in casting bullets, while
-he was busy in barricading the windows, and in making
-openings between the logs to serve as port-holes.
-Night at length drew near, and we sat down to supper,
-sad and silent, feeling that in all probability it was the
-last meat we should ever take together. The night
-passed slowly on. None of us were disposed to sleep.
-About midnight my father persuaded my mother to lie
-down, with my sister, who was sleeping unconscious
-of danger. Very soon there was a gentle knocking at
-the door. We had no light burning. My father had
-his rifle in his hand, while I held a musket, ready to
-exchange with him as soon as he had fired. He crept
-silently to the port-hole that commanded the door. He
-saw an Indian, with a rifle, standing before the door.
-The moonbeams fell full on his face, the expression of
-which left no doubt on my father’s mind respecting the
-object of the visit. The knocking was repeated. The
-answer was the discharge of the rifle from the port-hole.
-The Indian bounded high in the air, and fell to
-the earth a corpse. A yell from about half a dozen
-voices in the vicinity revealed the probable number of
-our foes. We were greatly encouraged, for it seemed
-well-nigh certain that their numbers would be so far
-diminished ere they could effect an entrance, as to
-render the result of the conflict by no means doubtful.
-The opening from which the shot was fired did not
-<span class='pageno' title='38' id='Page_38'></span>
-command the approach to the door. This was probably
-observed by our enemies, and after some time,
-apparently spent in consultation, two of them took a
-long, heavy pole from the fence, and drew near with
-the evident purpose of using it as a battering-ram to
-force the door. My father placed himself before an
-opening which he had made for the purpose of commanding
-the approach to the door, and when they were
-near enough to make the aim sure, he fired, and the
-hindmost man fell, never to rise again. I instantly
-gave my father the musket, and he fired at the other
-man, who had made a brief halt before he commenced
-his retreat. Either because the smoke prevented a
-good aim, or the musket carried ball less accurately
-than the rifle, the Indian did not fall, but from the blood
-that marked his retreat, it appeared that he was
-severely wounded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We could see a group of four or five persons in the
-distance. They were not quite near enough to make
-a sure shot, and my father thought it of the utmost importance
-that every ball should tell. While our attention
-was fixed upon them, a light shone in from a
-crevice on the side of the house opposite to the door.
-On that side there was neither door nor window. The
-enemy had sent one of their number, who had procured
-a bundle of straw from the barn, and placed it
-against the side of the logs, and set fire to it. It was
-their object to burn us alive, or to shoot us down when
-attempting to extinguish the flames. From the crevice
-which revealed the fire, my father saw an Indian
-grinning like a demon as he watched the progress of
-the flames. The good rifle soon put him out of the
-way of doing any more mischief. He then seized a
-pail of water, and ran to the chamber, and removed a
-board from the roof, and poured the water upon the
-fire. He had loosened the board in the course of his
-preparations for defense, thinking it possible that the
-opening might afford a means of escape. Fortunately
-the opening was immediately over the spot where the
-fire was kindled. Three of our foes had now been
-killed, and one of them wounded, (though we did not
-know it till the next day,) and we hoped they would
-become discouraged and retire. We heard nor saw
-nothing of them for an hour or more, though we kept
-watch in every direction.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A new danger revealed itself. The fire had not
-been wholly extinguished; it had caught in the logs,
-and now began to blaze. My father took a bucket of
-water and went to the roof as before, but the moment
-his head appeared, three or four rifles were discharged
-from the grove near by. One of the balls slightly
-grazed his cheek. He had the presence of mind to
-make immediate application of the water before they
-had time to reload, but he did not succeed in applying
-it to the spot where it was most needed. Before another
-pailfull could be procured, they had loaded their
-pieces. He raised his hat above the opening in the
-roof, in hopes that they would all fire, that he might
-then extinguish the flames before they could reload.
-Only one shot, however, was fired. It pierced the hat,
-which fell. A savage yell of triumph caused our blood
-to curdle. The hat was raised again, and another shot
-fired, and another, both of which missed it. The
-water was then poured on the fire; but just as he was
-descending the stairs, a ball, apparently fired at random,
-passed through the clay between the logs, and
-entered his neck. He told us that he should bleed
-to death in a few minutes, but encouraged us to hope
-that the enemy would retire without any further efforts.
-He told me to keep a vigilant watch, and to shoot down
-those that came near the house. ‘Take care of your
-mother and sister,’ said he, ‘take them to the east
-if—’ he never finished the sentence. He bled to death
-in spite of all we could do.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man paused in his narrative, and again
-fixed his eyes upon the grave noticed above.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Was the attack renewed?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, they went off before daylight, leaving their
-dead unburied. I dug a grave in the cellar, and buried
-my father. We then took our horses, and were on
-the other side of the river before night.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Were you not afraid of being waylaid and murdered?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We were, chiefly from the fact that so many of
-the Indians had been killed. We felt safe when we
-had crossed the river. We went to my mother’s
-native place, and remained there till the war was over,
-when we returned here. I was in the army during
-the last year of the war.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I should hardly have thought that your mother
-would have been willing to return here.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We had a good farm here, and several families
-from her native place concluded to come with us and
-settle here. By cultivating the farm I could fulfill my
-father’s command to take care of my mother and
-sister, and I did not see how I could do it in any other
-way. The first thing I did was to bury my father in
-this place. Several years afterward this stone, which
-marks his grave, was brought on from the east.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You told me you thought the shot which killed
-your father was fired by a neighbor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We had no suspicion of any such thing at the
-time. As was natural, I kept the ball that caused the
-death-wound. It was of a peculiar size, and had a
-singular mark upon it. After my return, I happened
-one day to be present where there were a number of
-persons shooting at a mark. Alter they had finished
-their sport, the boys began to cut the balls out of the
-tree on which the mark had been placed. I was standing
-near and happened to hear one say, ‘that was
-Sawyer’s ball. I can always tell his ball by this mark.’
-I looked at the ball, and saw that it bore the same
-mark as the one that was taken from my father’s neck.
-I put it into my pocket, and went home and compared
-it with the ball I had preserved. The size and marks
-corresponded perfectly. I then went to the boy and
-found that all Sawyer’s balls had the same mark.
-There was something in the bore of the rifle that made
-a peculiar crease in the ball as it was forced out. I
-then got a neighbor to inquire of Sawyer how long he
-had owned his rifle, and I found that it was in his possession
-before the war came on. My suspicions were
-then strongly excited. It was not probable that there
-were two rifles that would make the same impression
-upon the ball discharged from them. I remembered,
-too, that Sawyer had expressed great surprise at our
-<span class='pageno' title='39' id='Page_39'></span>
-return, and had appeared somewhat embarrassed when
-he met me. I met him in the street one day, and took
-the ball out of my pocket and held it before him, and
-fixing my eye fully upon his, asked him if he had ever
-seen it? He turned very red, and then came near
-fainting. I laid my hand upon him. He trembled
-like a leaf. I repeated the question in a louder tone,
-for I was sure that the murderer of my father was before
-me. His lips moved, but he could not speak.
-‘Do you think,’ said I, ‘that it is safe for you to stay
-in this country?’ I flung him from me, and went on
-my way. The next day he left for the west, and some
-time afterward sent for his family.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How long did you live here after your return?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nearly ten years; I lived here till my mother
-died.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is she buried here?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, she died while we were on a visit to the east.
-She was buried among her kindred. After her death,
-I returned here and remained till I helped fill up that
-grave,” pointing to the one which he had gazed at so
-earnestly when he took his seat upon the rock.
-“Then I felt there was nothing more to keep me here—in
-fact, I felt that I could not live here. My sister
-was married at the East; so I sold the farm and became
-a wanderer. I did not visit the place for nearly twenty
-years. When the pension-law was passed, I had occasion
-to come here, for one who was in the same company
-with me lived here. Since then, I have commonly
-passed through the place once a year, and I
-always visit this spot. This is the first time I ever
-met any one here. I once thought of having the bushes
-cut down; but on the whole, I concluded to let it grow
-up to wood. It will shield the graves from the gaze
-of the careless passer-by; and I like, too, the idea of
-having the birds sing over her grave. Farewell,”
-said he, rising and extending his hand. Henry returned
-the warm pressure of his hand, and was retiring,
-that he might be left alone by the sepulchre of his
-parent. The stranger, however, kept by his side till
-he reached the stone wall which separated the grove
-from the meadow. He seemed unwilling to part with
-his new acquaintance. Henry laid his hand upon his
-shoulder, and said, “Will you not tell me about <span class='it'>her</span>?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After a moment’s silence the stranger replied,
-“Young man, I will, though it is many a year since I
-have pronounced her name aloud, unless I have done
-so in my dreams. They say I often talk in my sleep.
-I often dream of her, and sometimes it seems so much
-like reality, that I cannot help weeping when I awake,
-and find it nothing but a dream. She lived in a house
-which stood beyond the hill yonder. I have never
-seen it since the day she was carried out of it, and I
-shall never see it again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Her name?” whispered Henry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mary Everson lies in that stoneless grave—I
-wanted no stone to keep her in my memory, and I
-wanted nothing to call strangers to her resting-place.
-The world never contained a purer and warmer heart.
-She came here with her uncle about a year before my
-mother’s death. Her father had been wealthy, and
-had taken great pains with her education. He lost his
-property in time of the war, and died soon afterward.
-His wife soon followed him, and Mary became dependent
-upon her uncle, who removed here, as I said,
-about a year before my mother died. I saw her, for
-the first time, at a meeting in a log school-house. She
-was seated opposite me, and I thought I never set eyes
-on so fair an object. I have seen countenances which
-would form better subjects for description, but I never
-saw one which spoke to the soul like hers. It was
-transparent. It seemed as though you could see the flow
-of her pure thoughts and the beatings of her warm heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It so happened that on the next day I had occasion
-to see her uncle on business. As I drew near the
-house, I heard the loud and angry voice of a female.
-I soon saw Mary coming down the foot-path. She
-was sobbing. ‘O, mother,’ said she, ‘I am glad that
-you do not know what your poor child has to suffer.’
-She looked up and saw me with tears in my eyes—the
-words she had spoken brought them there—and felt,
-as she afterward told me, that I sympathized with
-her. I passed her without speaking, transacted my
-business with her uncle, and took my leave as speedily
-as possible, hoping to meet with her on my return.
-But I was disappointed. She had gone into a retired
-thicket to unburthen her grief by prayer. The truth
-was, her aunt treated her with great cruelty. Her
-uncle had little power to protect her. I made an errand
-there the next day, and found Mary alone. We sped
-rapidly in our acquaintance, and our parting was like
-that of old familiar friends. I became a frequent
-visiter at Mr. E.’s house. He received me cordially,
-but his wife, I could see plainly, disapproved my visits,
-and the more as it became evident that Mary and I
-were attached to each other. When it was known to
-her that we were engaged to be married, she became
-outrageous in her treatment of the poor orphan. She
-caused her many days of bitterness, and many nights
-of weeping.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We were to be married on my return from a visit
-with my mother to the east. My mother never returned.
-As soon as she was buried I hastened here,
-and found Mary ill of an inflammation of the lungs.
-The disease was brought on by exposure occasioned
-by the cruelty of Mrs. E.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I watched by her bedside till she died. When she
-was laid in the grave, I felt that there was a void in
-my heart that could never be filled. Nearly half a
-century has passed—the shadow of no earthly attachment
-has ever fallen for a moment on the place in my
-heart which belongs to her. The grave, as you see,
-is no longer a hillock—the coffin has fallen in—the
-heart that loved me so truly has mouldered, but her
-memory is as fresh as when I felt the last feeble pressure
-of her hand, or when I passed the whole night on
-her grave before I left the place. Men have called
-me indolent, irresolute, weak; but they knew not of
-the shadow which rested upon my path.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of late, I trust, I have known something of the
-higher life which her dying lips entreated me to live.
-I am waiting for my appointed time, when I shall meet
-her in a world where affection is never blighted, and
-separation is unknown.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have never said as much as I have now to any
-mortal; you seem to be capable of sympathizing with
-<span class='pageno' title='40' id='Page_40'></span>
-one. May your young heart find one whom it may
-love as entirely as I loved her; and may she be spared
-to you, that your life may not, like mine, be wasted.
-Farewell!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned and walked into the grove. Henry set
-out on his return to his uncle’s house. On his way,
-he thought of his gun with which he was to do such
-execution. He returned to the place where he had
-left it. It had fallen into the water, and was apparently
-an object of great curiosity to the shiners who surrounded
-the lock in great numbers. A frog sat resting
-on his elbows on the opposite bank, surveying the examination.
-When the gun was lifted from the water,
-he disappeared with a sound rather indicative of contempt
-either for the gun or its possessor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Aunt Martha received Henry with smiles, when she
-was assured that he had not silenced any innocent
-songsters, and her complacency was positive when she
-learned the manner in which the gun had been disposed
-of during the morning. She suggested that it
-would be an improvement if it were kept under water
-all the time.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk122'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='newyear'></a>NEW YEAR MEDITATION.</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 ENNA DUVAL.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>’Tis midnight.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Lo! the Old Year stands upon</p>
-<p class='line0'>The threshold of the Past. To God it speeds</p>
-<p class='line0'>Its way, but bears a burden, for I see</p>
-<p class='line0'>Its form bend drooping with the weary weight</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of evil deeds, and feelings harsh and cold.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Farewell, Old Year! With light heart full of joy</p>
-<p class='line0'>I greeted thee, before thou mad’st thy sad</p>
-<p class='line0'>And bitter revelations to my soul.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Temptations, grievous trials thou didst bring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And sorrow’s blinding, overwhelming tide.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And yet I leave thee with a grateful heart,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thou stern but blest Instructor! Lessons harsh</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of thee I’ve learned, but strength’ning have they been:</p>
-<p class='line0'>And though thou bearest with thee record sad</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of my poor deeds, and goodness left undone,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That fills my heart with sorrow for the past,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bright blessed hopes like angels hover round</p>
-<p class='line0'>This coming year.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Hail, then, thou unknown one!</p>
-<p class='line0'>I see proceeding from thee spirit forms;</p>
-<p class='line0'>They are my future hours, good or bad.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Mysterious shapes are they. Their mantles hang</p>
-<p class='line0'>Around them dark and heavy—hooded, veiled,</p>
-<p class='line0'>They give no sign of sorrow, nor of joy.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Slowly each form advances; and to me</p>
-<p class='line0'>Alone is given the right to raise those veils;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But as I lift each hood, upon the face</p>
-<p class='line0'>Beneath, my spirit traces there a mute</p>
-<p class='line0'>But yet unchanging record of my thoughts⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>A faithful impress of my inner self⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Then past recall the hour floats away!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A gift these hours have in charge for me.</p>
-<p class='line0'>My weal or wo they hold—my light—my shade.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dark sorrow they may bring me—bitter tears⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or sunny joys—bright Laughter’s merry crew</p>
-<p class='line0'>May playful lurk behind those gloomy folds</p>
-<p class='line0'>But if to me the right were given to lift</p>
-<p class='line0'>Those veils, before the ordered time, and know</p>
-<p class='line0'>The gifts they bring—I’d pause. I do not seek</p>
-<p class='line0'>To know my future. This I humbly ask,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In joy or wo, that God may give to me</p>
-<p class='line0'>A firm, strong faith, and purity of heart.</p>
-<p class='line0'>With gifts divine like these, my future years</p>
-<p class='line0'>Might come unfeared, and pass without regret</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or sad remorse.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And now, my soul, regard</p>
-<p class='line0'>This new-born year, just launching on the sea</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of life. Twelve moons will roll around, and thou</p>
-<p class='line0'>May’st stand as now, with sad and heavy thoughts,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Upon its brink, and see with hopeless tears</p>
-<p class='line0'>This year float from thee. Dark and mist-like shapes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dim spirit forms may hover o’er the past.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Forms that were once, like youth’s sweet visions, bright</p>
-<p class='line0'>And filled with glory—resolutions, hopes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And thoughts of what thou purposed to have been;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But unfulfilled and fading there may float⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>These are the forms that spectre-like may haunt</p>
-<p class='line0'>And darken then thy past.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Think well of this,</p>
-<p class='line0'>My soul, and ere within the portal dark</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of this unknown and silent future thou</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dost float, remember that within thyself</p>
-<p class='line0'>No power lies. Thou may’st have brilliant dreams,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And aspirations grand and holy thou</p>
-<p class='line0'>May’st cherish—aimless, futile all, without</p>
-<p class='line0'>The aid and strength which God alone can give;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Pray then to Him for faith, confiding, true,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And strength to make thy resolutions firm⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>For all the good that in thy future thou</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wouldst purpose to perform ask aid of Him.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Then with this help divine thou need’st not dread</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dark Sorrow’s form, nor Pleasure’s tempting smiles,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And when the future years which God may give,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Have each their changing cycles rolled around,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Then floated off unto the solemn Past⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>When life’s last hour comes, with drooping wing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And thou art borne unto the judgment seat</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of God! Eternity’s dread bar! o’er thee</p>
-<p class='line0'>No shadows dark will hang, but Faith’s bright form,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And heav’nly Love, will clasp thee round, and bear</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thee up unto thy Father, God!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk123'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i102.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0005' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>THE WIDOW OF NAIN.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk124'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='41' id='Page_41'></span><h1><a id='widow'></a>THE WIDOW OF NAIN.</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 JOSEPH R. CHANDLER.</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;font-size:0.9em;'>[SEE ENGRAVING.]</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How little can we of this latitude, or rather of this
-country, for latitude seems not to rule in all cases with regard
-to temperature; on one side of a continent, that
-parallel which gives agreeable winters and dry, healthful
-summers, is marked on the other side with cold,
-snowy winters and most unhealthful summers; what the
-<a id='var'></a>variant circumstances are which produce this difference
-it is not easy to tell; the difference <span class='it'>does</span> exist, and
-ingenious theories have been constructed to suit those
-results; we say then again, how little can we of this
-latitude, or this country, judge of the enjoyments which
-others at a distance from us, but with the same shadows,
-have in the dry coolness of their evenings, or lassitude
-to which they are subject by the peculiar warmth
-which prevails during most of their summer days.
-The habits and customs among us are soon made conformable
-to the circumstances of our climate; though
-it must be confessed that people will always pertinaciously
-insist on a warm day on the first of May, and a
-stinging cold one on the 25th of December, while actual
-experience has shown that the thin floral garb adopted
-for the first has often led to consumption, and the
-winter furs and the great Yule-log that have distinguished
-the latter, have been considered rather <span class='it'>seasonable</span>
-than pleasant. So much for a poetical conformity,
-but in the every-day business of life things are
-better disposed of; people do not think in this country
-of sitting under their own <span class='it'>vine</span> till mid-summer, and
-then they look out for spiders; and as to their fig-trees,
-nobody gets under them unless it be the house-cat for
-a summer <span class='it'>siesta</span>. While eastward of the shores of
-the Mediterranean, people stretch themselves out upon
-the house-top for a comfortable night’s sleep, and
-spend a warm summer’s day beneath the cording
-shadow of the fig or the olive, and make life itself a
-blessing, not the means of enjoyment, but enjoyment
-itself; life and its accidents, the gratification of simple
-appetites—eating, drinking, and sleeping. Leaving
-to others the profitless toils that accumulate heaps of
-gold, only a portion of which can ever be used, and
-that portion will buy little more than what may be had
-and enjoyed without it. In this country we retreat
-away from an oppressive heat or a stinging cold, and
-make the absence of either an excuse for our merriment.
-In that other land to which we have referred,
-positive enjoyment is had in the uses of the evening
-air, and the contemplation of the heavenly hosts. Stars
-and planets twinkling in the clear blue ether above,
-not larger than seen from this continent, but far, far
-more intensely brilliant in the atmosphere, which
-allows of little refraction, and whose purity makes an
-upward gaze like the contemplation of some sanctified
-enclosure.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sitting on a bank that faced westward were observable
-two human figures in the closing twilight of an
-autumn day. They were gazing out upon the gorgeous
-west, and marking the successful struggles of the
-starry host to obtain visibility above. In all the rich
-flush that marked the pathway of the sun, and hung a
-glory around his place of exit, only one light had
-strength enough to be visible; and so pure was the
-atmosphere, that when the flush in the heavens retired,
-the splendid planet Venus seemed a delicate crescent—a
-diminutive moon, sinking downward to the western
-waters.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How beautiful, dear Reuben,” said the young
-female, as she pressed closely the hand of her companion;
-“how beautiful the heavens above us are to-night.
-It seems as if a peculiar brilliancy were observable;
-and I hope it is not sinful for me to say that
-the glorious array of stars seems to have communicated
-to my bosom something of their own transparent
-light; an unusual serenity seems to descend from them
-to me, and I feel now as if I owed to them sensations
-of inexpressible delight—quiet, gentle, but full. Whence
-is this, Reuben?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May you not, my dear Miriam, have mistaken a
-cause for an effect? Is it not the quiet, peaceful delight
-of your heart that makes all outward objects more
-lovely to you? And, as the stars are the most brilliant
-and the most distant objects at the present moment,
-your feelings have connected themselves with those
-ministers of <span class='it'>Him</span>, and allowed that deep, mysterious
-connection of the planetary world with ours to work
-upon your imagination, as if the stars had a direct influence
-upon your condition.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps so; but I alluded to my feelings and not
-my condition. How beautifully did our Prophet King
-refer his own elevated sensations to the planetary
-world, ‘The moon and the stars which <span class='sc'>Thou</span> hast
-ordained.’”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“True, true, my dearest Miriam; but you will recollect
-that while he made himself, and man generally,
-small in his <span class='it'>contemplation</span> of the heavens, it was not
-in <span class='it'>comparison</span> with them, it was comparing or contrasting
-man with <span class='sc'>Him</span> who garnished the heavens,
-and wrote ‘all our members in a book.’ But are not
-your feelings, like mine, elevated with a hope, nay,
-with almost a certainty, that the elders will persuade
-my mother that the rights of our family can be retained,
-even though I marry you, or rather that the argument
-against our union was as unsustained by our laws as
-the attempt to give you to Salathiel was a violation of
-your affection and my rights.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know not but that may be the case. I feel it,
-Reuben, warmly at my heart. Let me say it without
-violating the delicacy of a maiden’s feelings, that such
-was my love for you, that even the alternative to which
-<span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'></span>
-I consented, though of no moment, gave me a severe
-pang.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What was that alternative?” asked the young
-man, with importunity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Simply, that if you should not live to marry me,
-then Salathiel might take me to wife.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would haunt him with terrible bodings,” said
-Reuben, “even as Samuel frightened the falling Saul.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And I, dear Reuben,” said the maiden, with a
-smile, “should, I suppose, be the Witch of Endor to
-call up your wandering and jealous spirit.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And it is settled, then,” said Reuben, “and you
-are to be mine with the consent of our families. And
-the next new moon shall see us one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It shall be thus if your mother consents. I have
-none to consent or refuse, save my aunt. But let it
-not wound your feeling or excite suspicion in your
-mind, Reuben, that I ask you not to cherish feelings
-of unkindness against Salathiel. He is my kinsman
-and my early friend.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Has he not sought to supplant me in your possession?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have you not supplanted him in my heart? Is it
-so much, my dear Reuben, for you to fear to lose me,
-and is it nothing for him to see me given to another?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He tried for your possessions, Miriam, for your
-wealth only.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Does not my wealth, little as it is, go with my
-hand—and why may not he have designs honorable
-as well as others?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Because he would not leave it to your decision, to
-the arbitration of your affections. He could not love
-you and be willing to do violence to your love.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May he not, dear Reuben, say the same of you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of me! Miriam, you plead the cause of Salathiel.
-You wish the alternative—you would be free.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Reuben, you may wound my pride by your injustice,
-but you cannot make me cease to love you. You may
-hereafter learn that woman may esteem a man for his
-virtues without loving him as a husband; and that for
-me to wish that you were less unkind to Salathiel, is
-no evidence that I love you less. I have heard within
-a few weeks such lessons of forgiveness, such preaching
-of high virtues—high, though always practical—that
-I desire to conform in some measure to them, and
-to have him whom I love and respect, augment my
-affection, not by any new <span class='it'>love</span> on his part, but by a
-new exhibition of greatness of mind. Reuben, though
-protracted maidenhood is a reproach in Israel, be assured
-that my love is stronger than death—as I feel
-that your jealousy is more cruel than the grave.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will not be jealous. I will forget what I have
-deemed the wrongs of Salathiel. I will learn of you
-to respect myself. But, Miriam, what teaching is that
-to which you allude—what lessons of forgiveness have
-you received, and from whom? Is not the law of
-Moses sufficient for the daughters of Israel?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I suppose the laws of Moses are not sufficient, else
-why have kings and prophets written and preached?
-But you know that several times within a year the
-teacher from Nazareth hath been in the synagogues of
-Nain, and has, indeed, spoken in the houses of our relatives,
-whither he hath come and broken bread.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have heard of his visits, and that his teaching
-had been eminently attractive—how <span class='it'>instructive</span>,”
-continued Reuben, with a sneer, “how instructive
-may be inferred from the proportion of women among
-his immediate followers.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There were more women than men, undoubtedly,
-at his household instruction, because more women had
-leisure to listen. But let me tell the truth, Reuben.
-There <span class='it'>are</span> many women among his followers, for he
-speaks to the heart of woman. He recognizes woman
-as the equal of man in the necessity for salvation, and
-he appeals to her affections, her experience, her wrongs
-and her neglect. What other prophet has come among
-us, that has thought it needful to recognize even his
-descent from woman, while He of Nazareth soothes
-our sorrows, elevates our hopes, and sanctifies our
-human relations? As I listened of late to him when he
-reproved but encouraged our sex, my heart said ‘this
-teacher’s doctrines may <span class='it'>save</span> man,’ but how they
-<span class='it'>elevate</span> and <span class='it'>purify</span> woman. And then the lessons
-of love, of forbearance, of forgiveness, that he inculcates,
-belong to what I have deemed woman’s nature
-and man’s <span class='it'>necessity</span>.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have followed the teacher, then, Miriam?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He is a prophet, Reuben, and he attests his divine
-mission by miracles. He has healed the sick, he has
-cured the lame, and made the blind see and the deaf
-hear.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Has he raised the dead, as did the bones of Elisha?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have heard that he has wrought <span class='it'>that</span> miracle, but
-do not know it, though I have such faith in his mission
-as to believe he might.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>If he would raise me from the dead when I come
-to die, I would have faith too!</span>”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I should think, Reuben, that this act would be the
-consequence rather than the cause of faith. Though
-many others believed, in Jerusalem, as my Cousin
-Jacob says, in consequence of the restoration of blind
-Bartemus to his sight, yet the Master said, ‘<span class='it'>Thy faith</span>
-hath made thee whole!’”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have, nevertheless, no faith in this teacher as a
-prophet—why, whose son is he, Miriam?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He is of the house of David, Reuben, and even
-though his parents are poor, are they much poorer than
-David’s parents? May there not be something in the
-great truths which he teaches, that is not dependent
-upon the parentage of the teacher?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These things are important, Miriam, I confess, and
-we will confer of them together, but not now. We
-are about to part, let us mark the separation by a recurrence
-to a subject on which we both agree. The
-next new moon sees us united, and my joy at the anticipation
-is doubled by the belief that you share with
-me in the pleasure.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miriam pressed the hand of her lover as they rose
-to descend the hill; and as they entered the gate of
-Nain, the rising moon poured its strong light through
-the gorges of the mountain, the pair wended their way
-through the broken streets of the city to the residence
-of Miriam, blessed in their mutual affection, and refreshed
-by the dry, cool breeze of evening, which had
-fanned them on the elevated seat which they had just
-left.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='43' id='Page_43'></span>
-Reuben turned toward home with a resolution to
-discuss the doctrine which he had heard imputed to the
-new teacher. Miriam, with woman’s humility, “kept
-all these things and pondered them in her heart.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miriam and Reuben met daily as espoused people;
-and frequent allusions were made to the doctrines of
-the teacher; and the pride of a Hebrew man was a little
-touched at the evidences of the elevating effect of a
-doctrine upon women, which Miriam’s language and
-conduct presented. Yet Reuben loved her too well to
-regret any circumstance which pleased and benefited
-Miriam. The customs of the country were too well
-fixed to lead him to fear the assumption of any inappropriate
-position by his future wife; indeed, it is believed
-that men do not begin to grow jealous of the
-authority of women until after marriage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not find in the teaching of the new master,”
-said Reuben, one day as they were conversing on the
-subject now so important to her, and so generally interesting
-to him, “I do not discover any denunciations
-of our creed or our system and form of worship—why
-may not his doctrines prevail without danger to the
-Hierarchy?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I cannot guess of that, Reuben; but certainly the
-teacher, while he refers to particular virtues and special
-sins, seems to desire a purification of the motives. He
-has conformed to all the requirements of our religion,
-but seems at times to be above it. I wish I understood
-him better. And yet how simple, how comprehensible
-are all his teachings. Why should I seek to
-know more? Why should I desire <a id='aught'></a>aught but that
-which shall make me better—happier—more hopeful?
-How the poor, the afflicted in body and in mind seek
-him out, and sit in joy at his teaching.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Miriam, I will hear him—I will hear him soon,”
-said Reuben.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was only a few days before the new moon that
-Miriam had from the widow mother of Reuben an
-intimation that her only son and heir was prostrated by
-sudden and very severe sickness. The young woman
-hastened across the town to be in attendance upon
-Reuben, and to cheer him into health by her presence.
-But when she reached the house, she learned rather by
-the appearance than the words of the widow, that the
-sickness of Reuben was not of a kind to yield to such
-remedies as she had to offer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The attention of Miriam to Reuben was all that her
-feelings would permit her to give. She sat by his side
-and bathed his temples, and moistened his feverish
-hands, and listened with painful satisfaction to his unconscious
-utterance of her name.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the seventh day of Reuben’s sickness all awaited
-the crisis, and a few hours before sunset he awakened
-from a protracted sleep, and turned his eyes on the
-hopeful countenance of Miriam. The members of the
-family present saw with inexpressible pleasure that his
-consciousness had returned, and they <span class='it'>hoped</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the physician pronounced against them. It was
-but a restoration of mental light before the darkness of
-death should set in.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Miriam,” said Reuben, “let me speak to thee alone
-one moment”—and the family retired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am dying, and the truths which you announced
-to me as we sat upon the hill-side some nights since—truths
-which the new teacher uttered, come home with
-strange distinctness to my heart. But is he, as his
-disciples would have us believe—is he the Messiah?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you believe it, dear Reuben?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not know, but I forgive all who have injured
-me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Surely that is the spirit of the Master’s teaching,
-Reuben, and what can you more.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, oh, Miriam, where are the blessings which I
-had promised myself in thy love? Where the years of
-happiness in thy possession—when thou shouldst have
-been only mine?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are these regrets, my beloved, suited to one who
-leans upon the verge of the grave? Oh, look forward,
-Reuben, and look upward. In heaven we can meet
-again—meet without fear of separation, without doubt
-of love.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But in heaven, where, oh, where shalt thou be,
-Miriam?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Reuben, dear Reuben?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nay, my beloved, let me show my affection for
-you and my sense of duty to God at this last moment.
-I know, my Miriam, that by the customs of our people
-you should have been the wife of Salathiel, and I feel
-that next to me, (I do your love no injustice, my betrothed,)
-<span class='it'>next</span> to me, Salathiel has your affection. Hear
-me out. When I am gone, it must be your duty. Oh,
-then, let it be your pleasure to receive him. Who
-better than he can be your protector? He is your
-nearest kinsman, and the laws and customs of our
-people are in his favor—promise me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Reuben, shall I call in your mother?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Reuben turned his eyes again toward the west, and
-the sun was sinking with all his evening glory into the
-great sea. A gentle breeze swept into the window,
-and blew the hair of the kneeling maid upon the pale
-face of her lover.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Turn my face, Miriam, to the east, let me pray
-thitherward. Let me hold you thus, ‘though the sorrows
-of death compass me about⁠—’”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the widowed mother entered the room the
-dead form of her son was resting in the arms of the
-unconscious Miriam.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Stricken with grief, and with a sense of her utter
-loneliness, the widow lifted up her voice and wept.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miriam was conveyed away—to be purified from the
-legal uncleanness that results from contact with the dead.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk125'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was the morning of the third day from the death
-of Reuben, and Miriam was sitting lonely in her
-chamber.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And this,” said she, as she looked forth from her
-darkened room, “this was the day appointed for our
-marriage; and to-day they will take my beloved and
-carry him forth from the city, and lay him in the earth
-with his fathers; and his beautiful form shall moulder
-into the dust, and the worms shall feed sweetly on
-him. Yes, he shall return to the dust again, and his
-spirit to God who gave it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Father,” said the
-anguished maiden, as she kneeled with folded hands
-and upturned, streaming eyes, “oh, Father, receive his
-spirit!” And she poured out her soul in prayer for
-<span class='pageno' title='44' id='Page_44'></span>
-the dead, “after the custom that is among the Jews,
-even unto this day.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Shortly afterward the relatives of Miriam came in
-to comfort her before they went to assist in the funeral
-of Reuben. They respected her grief too much to
-make open allusion to a subject which was occupying
-their minds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One of the elders of the family, before going out, took
-aside the afflicted girl and attempted to console her
-with those cold arguments that interest suggests, and a
-want of respect for woman’s position warrants.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Still, Miriam,” continued the old man, after disregarding
-her requests to be left alone, “still the possessions
-of your father’s family remain with you; and
-these may now, as they ought to have been before, be,
-with you, the property of our Cousin Salathiel.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nay, my Uncle Achan, you trouble me, indeed;
-spare me that, let the possessions of our house go
-whither you list, to yourself or to Salathiel, but let me
-remain as I am. Give me peace—give me peace and
-time for my tears, and I will endure the reproach of
-maiden-widowhood, and let my name be lost from the
-family of our fathers.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Achan and his friends departed to meet at the house
-of the widow, and to be of the company of those who
-should assist in the funeral of her son.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miriam sat in her chamber, looking forth from the
-closed lattice to mark the first approach of the funeral-train
-which would pass her aunt’s dwelling on its
-way to the burying-place that lay beyond the walls of
-the city.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The solemn train at length approached, and the cold,
-insensible form of her lover lay upon a bier, wrapped
-round with grave-clothes, and borne forth by men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she gazed down upon the appalling sight, her
-heart seemed ready to burst with the grief that had no
-utterance, and she fell insensible to the floor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When Miriam opened her eyes, they rested upon the
-forms of her aunt and of Salathiel bending over her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Was this well, Salathiel? Could you not have
-spared me one day for grief, must my affections for
-another be outraged, even in the presence of his
-passing remains?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Miriam, my cousin,” said Salathiel, “I came in
-hither only to assist your aunt. No selfish feeling
-brought me into your presence. I know where your
-affections are, I know how deep-seated is your grief.
-Let me rather, my Miriam, be to you a means of consolation,
-than an occasion of offence, since my love to
-your person is less than my sympathy in your grief.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miriam placed her hand in that of Salathiel, and a
-gentle pressure signified her appreciation of his feelings—and
-such a sign, at such a moment, too, told him
-how hopeless would be his love. He obeyed the sign.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The funeral has passed on,” said she.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is now near the gate of the city,” said Salathiel.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We shall see it once more,” said Miriam, “as it
-ascends the hill that overlooks the valley of tombs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is that faith, Miriam,” asked her aunt, “of
-which you spoke to me yesterday?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is but confidence in the promises and power of
-the teacher.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Confidence that he will grant your wishes?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, if they be right, or that if he grant them not,
-then confidence that the refusal is best.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have you that confidence, Miriam?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh aunt, oh my mother, do not tempt me. I would
-believe; my heart tells me that miracles such as his,
-could only be performed to attest a momentous truth.
-But do not tempt me, the body of Reuben is scarcely
-passed, in him my heart, my affections, my hope were
-centered—and he is taken from me. Why? is it good
-for me to be afflicted?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Could the Master have saved his life, my child?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Did he not yesterday save the life of the Centurion’s
-servant at Capernaum,” answered Salathiel,
-struck with the coincidence of the woman’s question
-with the recent fact.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Did you ask him, Miriam?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I saw him not, and if I had seen him, what am I
-to him?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you had asked him, might he not have done it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I believe, aunt; I believe, Salathiel, that he <span class='it'>could</span>
-have saved the life of Reuben.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Would he not, then, raise him now?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do believe he <span class='it'>could</span>—I have faith in his <span class='it'>power</span>.
-But I would not be presumptuous. Yet, yet—oh, that
-Reuben might be restored to me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Amen!” said Salathiel, “Amen!” and the deep
-tone of voice, and the upward turn of his eyes, told
-how truly his heart responded to the prayer of his
-cousin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Two hearts were then united in solemn petition.
-There was <span class='it'>faith</span>, but none thought of <span class='it'>hope</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After a few minutes of solemn silence, the eyes of
-Miriam were turned mournfully, and yet eagerly, toward
-the hill beyond the city’s wall.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They are passing upward,” said Deborah to her;
-“the procession moves toward the brow of the hill, but,
-alas! the dust of the road conceals the train.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They all looked forth to follow with their eyes as
-long as possible the mournful procession.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But what is there?” exclaimed Deborah, pointing
-to a column of dust which denoted a crowd of people
-descending the hill toward the funeral.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The procession has passed,” said Miriam.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Both parties have stopped,” exclaimed Deborah.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Salathiel looked earnestly out and said, in a low
-voice, but with much feeling, “Do the Romans come
-to insult us even when we bury our dead? We are a
-<span class='it'>conquered</span> people, but we are not <span class='it'>slaves</span>.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hush!” said Miriam, “hush, my brother! let us
-not at this moment forget the teaching of the Master.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Salathiel leaned forward and kissed the brow of
-Miriam.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I thank you, I thank you, Miriam, for the monition,
-and I bless you for the term, brother; henceforth, my
-sister, know me for such. But let me go forth to learn
-what hath turned our people from their sepulchral
-rites.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Salathiel went forth, and Miriam, kneeling, buried
-her face in the lap of her aunt, and poured out her soul
-in prayer—deep, anguished, heart-engendered, heart-and-heaven-moving
-prayer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was some time before the low voice of Miriam
-ceased. But her feelings had been overwrought, and
-<span class='pageno' title='45' id='Page_45'></span>
-at length she lay silent yet suffering, with her head still
-on Deborah’s knees.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The quiet of the street and even of the chamber was
-at length disturbed by the confused footfall of a multitude
-who seemed to press onward with few words,
-and those uttered in a subdued tone. The multitude
-at length paused in front of the dwelling of Miriam, and
-the opening of the front door intimated that the procession
-of the people had some connection with the
-inmates of the house.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The door of Miriam’s chamber at length opened, and
-Salathiel stood before the two women pale and agitated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My sister, praise the Lord! A miracle has been
-wrought.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The agitated maiden shrunk into the arms of her
-aunt as she gazed toward Salathiel.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What,” exclaimed the aunt, “what is it, Salathiel?
-Speak?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Reuben—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Reuben!” exclaimed Miriam.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Reuben lives!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where—where is he?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He has been borne back to the house of his mother.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How has this been wrought?” asked Deborah.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is our Cousin Asher, who was a witness of
-the whole. Shall he come in and tell you all?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Asher was admitted with one or two others of the
-family, and briefly stated the facts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The rear of the very long procession that followed
-the corpse of Reuben had scarcely left the gate of the
-city, when I, who was assisting to bear the bier upon
-which rested the beloved remains, discovered a vast
-crowd of people coming down the hill. I soon, however,
-perceived that there was no intention on the part
-of the approaching mass to offer any offence or discourtesy
-to the funeral party; and, indeed, the expressions
-of grief by our widowed and bereaved kinswoman
-were so loud, that it was difficult to hear whether any
-word was uttered by the descending party. I have
-never seen a Hebrew woman so distressed; and though
-few have had such cause for grief, few have been
-more deeply wounded, yet I had hoped that she would
-have been able to repress her feelings. But as we
-grew nearer the grave, her lamentations were increased,
-and it was heart-rending to hear her exclamations. The
-whole procession seemed to have lost their own sense
-of bereavement in the presence of one the utterance of
-whose anguish was so impressive. To me it seemed
-almost an arraignment of Providence by our kinswoman.
-I cannot tell you how every one was affected;
-each seemed to wish silently but heartily that some
-event might occur to soothe the sorrows of the
-widow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At length the descending party, which was very
-large, met our procession; and almost every member
-of that company manifested deep sympathy for the
-suffering of the chief mourner. In a moment the principal
-of the company stepped forward and took our
-kinswoman by the hand, and whispered to her words
-of comfort. What they were I could not hear, but
-the effect was instantaneous—the clamor of grief was
-hushed—and our kinswoman walked quietly on, gazing
-with a sort of <a id='rapt'></a>rapt awe upon the comforter, whose
-countenance though marked with sympathy for her
-suffering was yet majestic and dignified.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The mother’s eyes for a moment wandered from
-the face of the visiter, and fell upon the form of her
-son stretched out before her, and again her agony
-found vent—again the <span class='it'>mother</span> was heard, again the
-mountain seemed to echo with her lamentation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He who was walking at her side did not rebuke
-the mourner, but a new and more intent feeling of
-compassion was evident in his look and manner, and
-taking the hand of the afflicted one, he said in a tone
-of deep consolation, ‘<span class='sc'>Weep not</span>.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Almost immediately afterward he left the widow
-standing where she was, and approaching us ‘came
-and touched the bier,’ and we who were carrying it
-stopped; for there was a sort of authority in the air
-and movement of this person, or let me say the effect
-rather than the assumption of authority. When the
-eyes of all were turned toward the dead body, and toward
-him that stood by it, the person with a mild tone,
-with no ceremony, with a simple utterance of the
-words, said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘<span class='it'>Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!</span>’ ”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And Reuben, dear Asher, Reuben!” exclaimed
-Miriam.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And Reuben sat up on the bier, and began to speak
-of the sensations which crowded upon him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But He who had restored him to life, seemed to
-comprehend that the mother’s feelings should be first
-consulted, her rights first respected, and so ‘<span class='it'>He</span> delivered
-him to his mother.’”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And he lives now?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes now, and with his mother. But what an awe
-came upon those who witnessed that august scene.
-There was no shouting at the success of the effort, no
-cheering that human life had been restored. But with
-an overpowering sense of divine visitation, the people,
-in devout fear, kneeled, and ‘glorified God,’ saying ‘a
-prophet has risen up among us.’”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was not deemed safe to the convalescent Reuben
-that Miriam should visit him immediately. His life
-not his health had been restored. And the effect of a
-too early interview, might be too much for both. A
-few days afterward Salathiel conducted Miriam to the
-house of Reuben, and as they proceeded thither he
-cautioned her against the indulgence of too much feeling,
-lest her own frame should yield. Leading her to
-the door of the chamber, the young man felt that his
-presence would be too much of a restraint, so knocking
-lightly he heard a voice from within bidding them
-enter, and he turned and went to the mother in another
-part of the house.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What was said by the young lovers, separated as
-they had been by death, and thus restored this side the
-grave, we shall not now repeat. It was a sublime
-colloquy, for it included the experience of a heart in
-which hope had contended against hope—and the awful
-experience of a soul that had been freed from the
-trammels of flesh. But it was still Reuben and Miriam.
-Death had not destroyed the identity, for the
-same love that had animated them in his former life
-was felt and reciprocated now.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I did fear, Reuben; indeed, for a moment I feared,
-<span class='pageno' title='46' id='Page_46'></span>
-when I heard of your restoration, that the love which
-had been a part of <span class='it'>our</span> lives, would have been quenched
-in you by death, or sublimated beyond the uses and
-comprehension of earth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Miriam love is the immortal part of our affections—it
-is the soul of the mind—it is stronger than
-death—and that which is pure and rightly placed on
-earth is indestructible, and thousands of years, my beloved,
-passed in separation would work no change.
-We should at our renewed communion find the same
-love that had existed in past centuries in full and satisfactory
-operation. You know that the seeds which
-our travelers bring from the mummies of Egypt are as
-fruitful as those which are sown from the last year’s
-harvest, so, my beloved one, is the love that is worthy
-the soul’s cherishing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, Reuben, has it struck you that you have received
-the testimony which you almost impiously
-challenged as a ground of faith?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It has, it has, and while I have been struck with
-shame at the impiety of such a thought, I have yielded
-the faith which I promised, and am henceforth a
-follower of the teachings of Him of Nazareth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, my prayers, dear Reuben⁠—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They were pure, and effective to <span class='it'>your</span> good, Miriam,
-undoubtedly, but it was from compassion for my
-widowed, childless mother that the miracle was
-wrought.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who shall tell the motives of Him that can work
-miracles? What we call ends, dear Reuben, may be
-means with him, and the babe that is sent in answer to
-the Hebrew mother’s prayer, may be the saviour or
-the destroyer of his people.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Salathiel then knocked for admittance. He entered
-and kissing both of his cousins he wept with joy—“And
-this, this is the consummation of my highest
-earthly wish,” said he.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is it indeed? Can <span class='it'>you</span> rejoice, Salathiel, that I am
-come to take Miriam from you; is it indeed thus, my
-cousin?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have loved Miriam as dearly as you could love
-her, Reuben. I will yield in that to none. I will not
-affect to conceal <span class='it'>that</span>. But the miracle that has raised
-you to life has shown me that I have a higher duty to
-perform, a more glorious mission to fulfill. Be yours,
-my cousin, the enjoyment of domestic love and peace
-and happiness, which virtue ensures; and let your
-home and your lives illustrate the power of the Master’s
-doctrine to purify and multiply home affections.
-Henceforth, if permitted, I will sit at the feet of the
-teacher and learn; and when <span class='it'>sent</span> I will go, and offer
-his doctrines and my life for the good of our people.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk126'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The new moon had again come, and the house of
-the aunt of Miriam was filled with her kinspeople,
-who had come to the marriage; and when the feast
-was over, and parties had formed in different rooms,
-and some, with the bride and bridegroom, were on the
-housetop enjoying the delightful air of evening, as it
-swept down the hills loaded with the scents of roses
-and acacia, some drew the attention of the party to the
-brilliancy of the slender moon in the west, and the
-stars that were scattered through the heavens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is a good omen,” said Asher, “when the planet
-that is so near the moon assumes with her the crescent
-shape at a marriage, or when at this season the Pleiads
-and Orion are peculiarly brilliant.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The newly married ones looked up smilingly toward
-the heavens, as if they recognized the doctrine of stellar
-influences.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Salathiel, who had been looking upon the pair with
-deep interest, then stepped forward, and taking a hand
-of each, he said, “My cousins, I am called away—not
-again to mingle in this delightful scene—called to a
-higher duty; pray that it may be as delightful—it cannot
-be more dangerous. Keep the faith—mark the
-signs of the times in the conduct of man and in the instigations
-of your passions, but look not to the stars for
-your instruction. Oh, my beloved one,” and he stooped
-and kissed the lips of Miriam, “oh, my dear brother,”
-and he pressed his lips to the forehead of her husband;
-“oh, Reuben and Miriam, ‘seek Him that maketh the
-Seven Stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death
-into morning, and maketh the day dark with night,’—the
-<span class='sc'>Lord</span> is his name.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk127'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='image'></a>THE IMAGE.</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 A. J. REQUIER.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou dwellest in my thoughts</p>
-<p class='line0'>As shines a jewel in some ocean cave,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Which the eye marks not and the waters lave;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A ray of light imprisoned! which none save</p>
-<p class='line0'>The soul that shrines it knows—its temple and its grave.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou bathest in my dreams;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A form of dainty Beauty—something seen</p>
-<p class='line0'>At cloudy intervals, through a gauze-like screen⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>A voice of gentle memories—a mien</p>
-<p class='line0'>Too tender for an angel’s, yet as fair, I ween.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou sparklest through my fears;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A hope which bloometh as an early flower,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Shines in the sun nor droops beneath the shower;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A holy star that glides at vesper hour</p>
-<p class='line0'>Into the dusk-hung sky—and, saintly, seems to lower!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;In daylight and in dreams,</p>
-<p class='line0'>’Mid hopes that beckon and ’mid fears that frown,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thou art the juice that every care can drown;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A rose amongst the thorns—the azure down</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of the meek-brooding dove—the halo and the crown!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk128'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='47' id='Page_47'></span><h1><a id='voice'></a>A VOICE FROM THE WAYSIDE,</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>ABOUT GRACE GERMAIN’S LIFE-ROMANCE.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY CAROLINE 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;'>’Tis as easy for the heart to be true</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>As for grass to be green, or skies to be blue⁠—</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'><span class='it'>’Tis the natural way of living!</span></p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='sc'>Vision of Sir Launfal.</span></p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>The school was dismissed, and a multitude of boys
-and girls came rushing out from the old frame building,
-and tore pell-mell down the streets of a country village,
-just like merry, care-naught mad-caps as they were.
-Of all ages and sizes were these little folks—they were
-the life and the care of a great many homes; some
-heirs of poverty, and some, but these were few, heirs
-of wealth—but each and all had brought with them
-into the world enough of love to secure for themselves
-a welcome place at the board, and by the hearth.
-They resembled very much any other congregation of
-children in the world—some of them remarkable for
-their stupidity, and presenting always to their teachers
-the same thick skulls, which it appeared nothing could
-penetrate—others again, quick at learning, to whom it
-was a relief for the weary Mentors to turn, and to
-whose mental wants they attended with a glad alacrity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But I am not going to generalize any more at this
-time; and shall only add to the foregoing remarks, that
-this school was a marvel in its way—the teachers
-prodigies in learning, and all the parents thought their
-young children’s acquirements actually verging on to
-the miraculous—which state of things, I will add as a
-P. S., is remarkably pleasant for all parties concerned.
-Is it not teachers, and parents, and you poor little
-scholars?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Several girls, from nine to twelve years of age, were
-walking homeward leisurely, and talking loudly and
-earnestly on some important topic, as school-girls
-sometimes will, when a young boy, also one of the
-scholars, passed by them. With singular boldness he
-turned his handsome face full toward the little party as
-he passed, and one of the girls, whose name was Grace
-Germain, must have seen something remarkably expressive
-of somewhat in the boy’s black eyes, for very
-suddenly she seemed to have lost all interest in the
-conversation, in which, by the way, she had been one
-of the chief participators the moment before—and the
-little girl’s step grew slower and slower. Finally,
-taking one of her school-books from under her arm,
-Grace seemed all at once to be seized with a decidedly
-studious fit, (for the first time that week,) and then her
-shoe-strings must needs unloosen, and she must stop
-to fasten them, till at last, as might be expected, her
-companions were far beyond her in the homeward
-way, and she was left quite alone. When the child
-passed by a little lane her face became quite suddenly
-and unaccountably flushed, and Grace grew decidedly
-nervous in her movements, and she turned away her
-head, as though it were forbidden, and a sin for her to
-look down that narrow by-way where Dame Corkins
-and the little lame child lived.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But these mysterious movements were all explained
-when, a moment after, some one came marching, to a
-tune of double-quick time, up the lane, and when he
-appeared on the main-street again, lo and behold! it
-was that same black-eyed urchin Hugh Willson, who
-had a few moments previous passed by her, and he
-called out,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Grace, Grace Germain, wait a moment; I want to
-tell you something!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace of course blushed, and looked sideways, and
-down, and finally at the boy, but for the life of her she
-could not summon up a look of astonishment at his
-appearance, finally she said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, what do you want, Hugh?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’m going home, Grace, to-morrow, and—and—I
-wanted to see you just to give you this; perhaps you’ll
-think I’m a fool for my pains. I wish though it was
-worth its weight in gold!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Oh! you would have certainly thought that the poor
-girl’s face was on the point of blazing instantly, could
-you have seen it, and Hugh thought there were really
-tears in her eyes too, as she put out her hand for the
-little package he had brought her. For some distance
-they walked on together, and neither spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length, as she drew near home, Grace found
-courage to look up and say, “Hugh, what are you going
-home for?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Father has sent for me, I am to go to an academy,
-but—” Hugh did not finish the sentence, and after
-waiting an unconscionable time, and speaking at last
-as though a “drag” were fastened to every word,
-Grace said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will come to see us again sometime, wont you,
-Hugh?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, if I ever can. I can’t bear to go away now,
-Grace, but, as father says, I <span class='it'>am</span> getting old. I’m
-almost fifteen, and it’s a fact I ought to know more
-than I do. Perhaps I’ve staid in the country too long
-already; but I hate a city, and I shall come back here
-just as often as I can, for I love this place better than
-all the world.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And that, reader, was rather a strange confession to
-be made by a spirit so active and stirring as was Hugh
-Willson’s, for of all country villages on the face of the
-earth, “Romulus” was certainly the dullest, and least
-attractive.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’m coming down by here to-night, Grace,” said
-the lad, as he opened the gate for the child, “if you
-<span class='pageno' title='48' id='Page_48'></span>
-would like to see me, come out here—I cannot bid
-you good-bye now—will you be here?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Hugh,” was the reply given sadly—and this
-time it was a great deal more than she could do to
-keep back or hide her tears—for Grace Germain
-thought Hugh Willson the handsomest and kindest boy
-she ever knew, and she could not bear to think of his
-going away. So she left him with little ceremony,
-and went into the house. And the boy saw her grief,
-and he could have wept also—he <span class='it'>loved</span> Grace Germain!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, what do you think made up that unpretending
-package—the parting gift? First and foremost, there
-was a little box, and it contained—not a gem, not a
-book, but—a fresh, beautiful rose-bud; and Grace did
-not laugh when she saw it, neither did she smile as
-she unwound the strip of paper from the stem, and
-read thereon,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Give <span class='it'>me</span> but</p>
-<p class='line0'>Something whereunto I may bind my heart⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Something to love, to rest upon, to clasp</p>
-<p class='line0'>Affection’s tendrils round!”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She did not laugh, I say, for sorrow was in her heart,
-the first deep sorrow she had ever known. Hugh was
-going away—and how much better she liked him than
-all other boys she had ever known in her life! But
-the rose-bud was not all the contents of the box; there
-was beside it a magnificent sheet of blue paper, gilt
-edged, and “superfine,” and on it Hugh had copied the
-“Parting Song,” by Mrs. Hemans; and perhaps, good
-reader, though you be not fresh from Yankee land, you
-may guess how the child’s heart beat faster than ever
-it had before, as she read the words—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When will you think of me, dear Grace?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;When will you think of me?</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the last red light, the farewell of day,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From the rock and the river is passing away,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the air with a deep’ning hush is fraught,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the heart goes burdened with tender thought?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Then let it be!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When will you think of me, sweet Grace?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;When will you think of me?</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the rose of the rich midsummer time</p>
-<p class='line0'>Is filled with the hues of its glorious prime,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When ye gather its bloom, as in bright hours fled,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From the walks where my footsteps no more may tread;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Then let it be!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Thus let my memory be with you, Grace⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thus ever think of me!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Kindly, and gently, but as of one</p>
-<p class='line0'>For whom ’tis well to be fled and gone;</p>
-<p class='line0'>As of a bird from a chain unbound,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As of a wanderer whose home is found;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;So let it be!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And what had Grace to give to Hugh? What had
-she among her few treasured possessions a <span class='it'>boy</span> would
-care for? The dolls maimed for life—the broken
-china—the picture-books—the bits of lace and ribbons,
-what were they to him? Grace never realized her
-poverty before that day—and then the very thought
-was humiliating. If she could only buy a knife,
-or a pocket-book, or a pencil-case; but the child
-had no purse, and, unfortunately, no money either, so
-that thought was speedily abandoned. It grew quite
-dark while she stood in her little room, still before the
-opened drawer which held all her keepsakes and
-treasures, but no good fairy was nigh at hand to lay before
-her the thing she wished, and at last, quite in despair,
-she went and stood by the parlor window, and
-lo, there was Hugh already passing by, whistling, and
-looking for all the world as though the inmates of that
-particular house were nothing in the least to him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In a few moments, side by side, the boy and girl
-were walking in the garden.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have read your note, Hugh,” said Grace, for the
-“shades of evening” creeping over them, gave her a
-wonderful and unnatural boldness to speak, “but what
-shall I give you for a keepsake? I haven’t a book in
-the world <span class='it'>you</span> would give a fig for.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t talk about books,” replied he, hastily, “there
-is something that wouldn’t cost you much, I’d give
-more for than for all the books in Christendom!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is it, Hugh, tell me quick?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Just that curl on your forehead! Give me that,
-Grace, and I never will part with it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In a moment it was separated from the thick curls
-that adorned her head, and stooping down, Grace laid
-a forget-me-not in it, and gave it to Hugh. He—what?
-kissed it, and kissed Grace, and then put the curls safely
-in his vest-pocket, and told the child she was the prettiest
-and best girl he ever knew, and that he should
-miss her more than all the boys and girls of the village
-together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But while the lad was in the very midst of his ardent
-protestations, a voice from the house called to Grace,
-and the children parted—to meet again, how and
-when you shall not be so long learning as they were.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hugh went to his city home, Grace to her school.
-He dreaming of Grace Germain as a woman, and
-wondering if she would not then be his wife—she to
-resume her studies with no great interest, to wish day
-after day that Hugh would only come back again, and
-to wonder if he would be so handsome when he was a
-man as he was then.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Years passed, Grace was no longer a child but a
-beautiful girl—a bride; and yet Hugh Willson was not
-her bridegroom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A rich young merchant of a neighboring town, captivated
-by her loveliness and charming manners, had
-“wooed an won,” and a nine days’ wonder in the village
-of Romulus, was the wonderful good fortune of the
-orphan—for of late years Grace had been dependent
-on her relatives, her parents having died while she
-was yet very young.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace had never seen or heard of the boy of rose-bud
-memory since their first parting, but her thoughts
-of him had always been those we have for a pleasant
-unforgotten dream. And she kept the little gift that
-Hugh had given her most religiously. The very night
-before her bridal, though she had wept happy tears
-over the noble, tender note that Clarence Lovering
-sent her with a splendid ornament—a wedding-gift—still
-she had it in her heart even then, to look with no
-ordinary interest on the little pasteboard box that held
-the withered flower, and to read, not carelessly, the
-verses Hugh had written her in a large, boyish hand
-so long ago.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet it was not faithlessness to later vows that
-prompted her to kiss the rose-bud, and to preserve still
-longer the blue note and the little box, for Grace with
-all her heart respected Clarence Lovering, and she
-<span class='pageno' title='49' id='Page_49'></span>
-loved him well, too. She was a lofty, true-spirited
-girl, and when she married the young merchant, for
-better or for worse, as it might prove, she did it with
-a true and loyal heart; and it was in all respects a
-union in which might well be asked, and without doubt
-or fear, the blessing of Heaven.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But there were bitterer tears to be shed, and deeper
-griefs to be borne than Grace Lovering had yet known;
-six months after her marriage she followed her young
-husband to the grave, and there was none on earth
-that could sustain or uphold her in that day of terrible
-visitation. Voices and forms with which she was
-scarcely familiar came to comfort her, but the friend
-whose companionship would have made any place in
-the wide world a pleasant home for her, was dead;
-and the bereaved woman longed to return once again
-to her early home—the village where all her early
-life was passed—to bury her husband and lover beside
-her parents, under the willow-tree in the old burial-ground,
-and then to mourn in quietness, and alone,
-away from the scenes of the bustling, noisy town.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And all her desires were speedily complied with—her
-old guardian and uncle from the little village came
-to her to assist, and conduct her back to Romulus;
-and before the year was passed, Grace was again at
-home in the old house where she was born, and in the
-grave-yard near by, on which she could daily, hourly
-look, her husband slept.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Kindly and tenderly the old neighbors welcomed
-back the mourner to their midst; and there, where in
-her childish heart love had first awakened, there,
-where in later years she had watched in agony the
-dear ones of the household “passing away” silently
-into the “silent land;” there, in the old dwelling,
-which, during the few past years had stood tenantless,
-and looking so broken-hearted; there, in her early
-womanhood, Grace Lovering, the desolate and stricken,
-came back to make it her abiding-place, her lonely
-<span class='it'>home</span>. She felt that to her a cold twilight of existence
-only was remaining, that the sunshine which rests so
-richly and revivingly on the young and the beloved,
-would be henceforth faint and weak as her own heart.
-But it was not wholly so, time the great soother, as
-well as destroyer and chastener, took the sting and the
-poignancy from her grief, and, like the dove with its
-olive branch, there spread through her soul that trust
-in Heaven’s infinite goodness, that makes the wilderness
-even to blossom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Placed far above the reach of poverty, the miseries
-and cares of want did not mingle their bitterness with
-her heart-sorrow. And in all, save those few natural
-but dread experiences, Grace bade fair to be a “babe
-at seventy,” in that unwelcome wisdom which continued
-misfortunes only can impart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was her thirtieth birth-day, and the anniversary of
-her marriage. The widow sat alone in the pleasant
-parlor of her cottage; she had remained alone that day,
-and with tears dedicated it to her heart’s sacred memories.
-Every thing about the room and the house,
-was pleasantly indicative of a refined and peaceful way
-of living, and of cheerfulness, too, save and except the
-sorrowing woman, who, at nightfall paced the room,
-and looked so sadly into the past. The curtains of the
-windows were drawn and the door closed; Grace had
-been looking again over the treasures of her casket.
-It was in that very room, twenty years before, she
-had laid down on that night of their parting, to dream
-about Hugh Willson, and to pray for his happiness; and
-now she stood there a widow, sad and desolate, in her
-prime of life, thinking of the love of her later life—and
-weeping as she thought—for Clarence Lovering was
-worthy to be so remembered and loved.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the beautiful casket, <span class='it'>his</span> gift, were laid the bridal
-ornaments which he had given; she had never worn
-them since his death, but kept them where no eye but
-her own could gaze upon them, and think of his loving
-kindness, but with them was preserved still a withered
-flower whose fragrance had fled quite away, and <span class='it'>never</span>
-with a heart quite calm, had Grace been able to look
-upon it; neither had she ever been able to think with
-indifference, or a mere <span class='it'>idle</span> curiosity of thought, on the
-probable worth of Hugh Willson’s manhood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length, as the night came on, the letters, and the
-jewels, and the rose, were laid away, but the miniature
-of her lost husband was lying next her heart then—for
-the love of the woman was vaster and deeper than
-that of the child; and Grace had dried her tears, for
-the hope that consoles the Christian mourner had conquered
-the agony of spirit that for a time overwhelmed
-her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The evening proved dark and stormy, the pattering
-of the rain upon the window-sill, and the still softer
-and more dream-like sound with which it falls upon
-the grass, which is so pleasant to hear when all within
-the house is bright and cheerful, was a melancholy
-sound to the lonely woman, for it fell upon the graves
-in the burial-ground, where the damp earth was the
-only shelter of her beloved ones, and its echo fell upon
-that grave in her heart where lay buried the hopes of
-her youth—she might have, and I know not but she
-did, draw from it a hope and a promise of resurrection
-and of life both for her lamented dead, and for her
-vanished joy in life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The quiet of the chamber was for a moment broken,
-a servant entered, a letter laid upon the table, and then
-the door was closed, the post-boy gone, and all was
-still again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mechanically the widow tore off the envelope, and
-opened the epistle. Let us read it with her, for Grace
-Lovering is born to a new life when those contents
-are made known to her—she dwells no longer in the
-so lonely present, or the sad past. For her also the
-future is alive again. She did not look for a resurrection
-so sudden and so strange—did you?</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Grace, dear Grace Germain, from the sands of the
-desert my voice, perhaps long, long forgotten, comes
-to you again. It is night, ‘night in Arabia,’ and I am
-for a moment alone; my traveling companions are gone
-to their rest, but I—I cannot sleep, and so have come
-from out my tent to write by the light of the burning
-stars once again to her who <span class='it'>was</span> the little girl I knew
-and loved in childhood. You may think my man’s
-estate has been reached unworthily, because I still love
-to think of boyish hours, and long so to recall them—yes,
-that is it, <span class='it'>long to recall them</span>. Are you yourself
-unable to think of them as the very blessedest days
-<span class='pageno' title='50' id='Page_50'></span>
-you ever knew? If it is so, Grace, how idly will my
-words fall on your ear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know nothing of what has been the fate of the child
-I loved so well. I know not if you are the bride of
-another, or, perchance, I may be addressing myself to
-one who no longer has a name on the earth; but even
-if the idol of my boyish years is living for, and to another,
-I can pray for and bless her. Yes, I pray God
-to bless you, Grace Germain. I cannot and will not
-believe that the <span class='it'>woman</span> to whom I address myself, is
-no more. There is something whispering to my spirit
-now, it is not so. I feel to-night a strong conviction,
-an irresistible presentiment that you and I will meet
-again. I dare not think <span class='it'>how</span>, but this I know, if it is
-not in this world, we shall know one another hereafter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you remember me at all, I know it is only as the
-wild and trifling boy who loved you better than his
-books, better than all children he ever knew. You
-know me not at all as the stern, time-tried, care-worn
-man, who has fought fierce battles with fortune and
-life, who finds himself wasting the powers of his manhood,
-far severed from all domestic, humanizing ties,
-treasuring in his heart only one name that makes the
-joyful recollection of his youth—careless, cold, and
-selfish perhaps, but never losing hold of that one, dear
-link to the affection, the lasting, undying affection that
-was born of you in my youthful soul, and still, still
-preserves its strength <span class='it'>through</span> you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps, indeed, you do not in the faintest degree
-remember me. You may have to recall with an effort
-the time of childhood, or at least that time when I was
-your school-companion; nay, it may be an effort for
-you to recall my name. Oh, if that is the truth, how
-very different is it to the memory I have treasured of
-you, dear Grace. My home has been upon the oceans
-and in the deserts, and mid the wilds of nature every
-where. Many years have passed since I left my
-father’s house, and my feet have never from that time
-touched upon my native shores. During these years
-of absence I have had opportunities to try my heart.
-I have learned who are the friends most dear to me,
-and over the vast sea of the desert sand, across the
-great ocean, let my voice come and whisper in your
-ear, Grace, there are none, none whose memory is so
-treasured now as is your own! The longing which is
-so often felt by the wanderer for the scenes and familiar
-faces of his native land, has never before pressed so
-heavily on me as this night; and now I wish, oh, how
-eagerly, to revisit, if it be only for an hour, that quiet
-place where a portion of my school-life was passed;
-and yet it is only because it is, or may be still <span class='it'>your</span>
-home; and were I there again, I might tread with <span class='it'>you</span>
-along the race-course, and over the old bridge to
-—— Grove, and through all the haunts now treasured
-in my memory. Do you remember the gifts we gave
-at parting? and did you fling away the bud as a worthless,
-trifling thing, even before it was faded? Or—what
-madness, you will think, prompted such an idea—do
-you keep it still? Perhaps you had not then so fully
-awakened to the life of the heart, you may not have
-dreamed that with that simple memento I gave to you the
-dreams of my boyhood, the hopes of my youth. Grace,
-I gave you <span style='font-size:smaller'>MY HEART</span> with the flower. I have never
-since recalled it. And now, if memories are returning
-again to you, if you are looking half tremblingly into
-the past, you will think of the little curl and the frail
-forget-me-not. Oh, you will not need that I should
-tell now how in danger and in suffering, and through
-all the most varied experiences I have preserved them—and
-how I have <span class='it'>not</span> forgotten.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Last night I dreamed that you kept the rose-bud
-yet, and, will you believe it, when I awakened, and
-recalled to mind the proverb about the truthfulness of
-dreams, and their <span class='it'>contrariness</span>, it troubled me. Thousands
-of miles lie between us, and we may never
-meet again, all recollections of my native land save
-those relating to you only, are hateful to me; but,
-could I only hear your voice assuring me this night,
-or could I believe that you would welcome me back,
-and say to me with your own sweet voice that you
-were glad to see me, oh, I should run and could not
-weary nor grow faint, and neither day nor night should
-look upon my lagging feet until I stood once more
-beside you. Thou, beautiful joy of my childhood, say,
-wouldst thou welcome me?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps you will think I have taken an unwarrantable
-liberty in so addressing you, for the friendships
-and loves of children are, I know, usually evanescent
-as dreams, yet I cannot, will not, think that whatever
-may be your position in life now, or whatever may be
-the relations you sustain in life, I do not believe that
-you will scorn me for the words I have written, or
-that you will read carelessly this record of my thoughts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Time has dealt with no light hand to me, he may
-have given you, perhaps, with every passing year, a
-blessing. He has laid no caressing arm on me; possibly
-he has guided you thus far tenderly as a mother
-would lead her child. I have bowed beneath his
-frown, and you, you may have grown to glorious perfectness
-in the light of his smile. I have known deep
-sorrows—it may be, oh, I pray it may <span class='it'>not</span> be—that
-you also have not escaped the universal heritage. It
-might be far beyond your possibility to recognize in
-<span class='it'>me</span> the bright boy filled with glad expectations that you
-once knew; but I cannot but believe that I should
-know you, and recognize you amid a multitude—the
-mild and beautiful blue eyes—the meek, gentle, and
-so expressive countenance—the smile, so sweet and
-winning, that rested so often on the face of the dear
-child; oh, they are not yet forgotten. I am convinced
-the <span class='it'>woman</span> whom I love has a face whose expression
-is heavenly! Do not censure me, I pray, for daring
-to <span class='it'>tell</span> my love. The hope of being with you once
-again, and of speaking with and looking upon you, is
-like the hope of heaven to the pilgrim, weary and out-worn
-with earth-striving.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Months will pass away before these words, uttered
-from the fullness of my heart, reach you—the heart
-from which they come may have ere then ceased its
-beating, may be cold and dead; but will it be nothing for
-you to know that its beatings were ever true to you,
-even though you never have, and do not now need my
-homage? Will you care to think that when I wrote
-these words it was my highest hope that I might one
-day follow them to the home of Grace Germain, to
-beseech at least her friendliness, to hear the tones of
-<span class='pageno' title='51' id='Page_51'></span>
-her dear voice again, and then perhaps to lie down to
-rest in the grave-yard near her home, where it would
-be no wrong for her to come sometimes, even from a
-circle of beloved ones, to think of days gone by, the
-days of merry childhood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have written too much—too much; the day is
-dawning, we shall journey far through the desert before
-to-morrow morning, but to-night, with every word I
-have written, thoughts and great hopes have awakened
-which will never be stilled again—they will be with me
-till I stand once more before you; and if there be a
-dearer one on whom your eyes will rest as you lift
-them from this page, to whom you will confide this
-folly of an old man, as you perhaps will call it, yet still
-remember me, and let him think of me with forgiving
-kindness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May the rich blessing of heaven be with you now
-and ever.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“<span class='sc'>Hugh Willson.</span>”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And had Hugh Willson, indeed, committed an unpardonable
-trespass in writing thus, after the lapse of
-so many years, to his old schoolmate? No, no! bear
-witness the sudden flashings of color, and the as sudden
-paleness which swept over the lady’s face as she
-read on; bear witness the occasional smiles, and the
-long and passionate weeping in which the lonely woman
-indulged, when her eyes rested so tenderly and
-sadly on the name affixed to the strange epistle. They
-were not tears of anger that she shed; it was not a
-smile of derision and mockery, at the sudden betrayal
-of affection the man had given, after a silence of years;
-they were not words of scorn which escaped her lips
-when she laid down to rest that night; ah, no! he had
-powerfully touched a chord in her soul, that from her
-childhood had ever vibrated even at the mention of his
-name.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were eyes that were not closed in sleep during
-the hours of that night—but it was not grief that caused
-the widow’s wakefulness. There was one who
-listened till the morning to the heavy falling rain—but
-not in sadness; there was a lady who arose when the
-sunlight streamed once more through her chamber, who
-looked out on the blue heavens whence all the clouds
-had vanished, and hailed then a new era in her life-history.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From that day there was a marked change in the
-existence of Grace Lovering. That message of love
-which had come to her from the desert, at a time when
-life pressed heavily upon her, and death seemed the
-only hope of relief; that message aroused and cheered
-her, and made her to look more thankfully on the life
-yet vouchsafed to her, and the blessings which had
-been given along with the sorrows. Though the hope,
-and the thought even, seemed a wild one, that Hugh
-Willson would ever again return, the idea that he even
-remembered her, and thought still with interest on
-their childish years was grateful to her heart, and made
-her feel that neither for her nor for any one in the
-wide world is life <span class='it'>utterly</span> lonely and worthless.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>True, the widowed and orphaned woman never
-forgot that she had <span class='it'>buried her dead</span>, that all her nearest
-of kin slept the long and quiet death-sleep; but a serenity
-and cheerfulness quite usurped the past frequent
-melancholy, and smiles were oftener seen upon her
-lovely face than tears. And not only in herself was
-the change visible; her household, and the little cottage
-seemed to share in the awakened happiness; and then,
-too, the poor and the needy had oftener cause to bless the
-widowed woman. The sick and suffering shared her
-loving care; and they blessed her—well might they—when
-she stood so often like a ministering angel beside
-them. The old and the weary mingled her name in
-their thanksgiving, for she failed not to make their
-downward path easy, and her voice was the voice of
-a comforter to them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And this, as it were, instantaneous rousing up to
-active life, was a blessed thing for Grace. Time, after
-that great change, sped on no leaden wing; the clouds
-began to break, and stars came out, even when she
-had thought nothing but midnight darkness was forever
-her portion. The heart of the widow grew strong
-then, for she knew that when those stars were set, or
-hid again as they <span class='it'>had</span> been from her eyes, that the
-great sun itself would arise, and the never-ending daylight
-would break for her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ten years thus passed away. The shadows of forty
-winters had crept over the wife of Clarence Lovering;
-and still she wore the garments of mourning, in remembrance
-of the husband of her youth; but it was not a
-repining, murmuring spirit that dwelt beneath those
-doleful robes.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Her faith had strengthened in Him whose love</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;No change or time can ever shock;”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>and she dwelt on the earth blessing and blest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Many times her hand had been sought in marriage;
-strong-willed men had bowed themselves, and sued
-humbly for her love—but she had none to give, and no
-prospect of increased <a id='world'></a>worldly prosperity could influence
-her to utter with less of truthfulness and honesty of
-soul than she had once spoken them, the marriage
-vows!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace had her treasures still, and there was an unfinished
-romance connected with her life, of which I
-would not say she did not at times long to know the
-conclusion—for she felt it was not concluded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were gray hairs—only a very few, my gentle
-reader—visible among the beautiful brown locks, and
-the clustering curls Hugh Willson treasured the memory
-of so well, were all vanished; there was no bloom
-upon the pleasant face—the blue eyes were less bright—but
-the “features of the soul” remained unchanged,
-or if at all changed, only in their nearer approach to
-perfection. And amid her kindly charities, and the
-thousand love-inspired duties had Grace forgotten the
-letter ten years old, and its author! Very far from that;
-and it had been a source of happiness deeper than she
-cared to acknowledge even to herself, to look once
-again on Hugh Willson, and to hear his voice. But
-none save that one letter had ever reached her from
-him; he might have forgotten, though that to her
-seemed a thing impossible. The depths of feeling revealed
-in that letter <span class='it'>might</span> have existed no longer, or
-at least might have ceased to bear <span class='it'>her</span> reflection and
-image, when he had fully exposed it to the light. He
-might be dead!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Once or twice she harbored the wild idea of answering
-<span class='pageno' title='52' id='Page_52'></span>
-his letter, to bid him come back—to assure
-him that there was at least one who would most
-heartily welcome him; and at such times Grace could
-but smile at her own folly—for the wanderer had no
-settled home, and there was no possibility of knowing
-where, even for a moment, his abiding place was; and
-so her natural good sense dispatched that fancy with a
-multitude of others to the land of shadows and dreams.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There came round in the natural order of things a
-sacrament Sabbath.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was one of those heavenly days in the month of
-all months, that is, the “month of roses,” when,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;——“If ever come perfect days;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And over it softly her warm ear lays;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whether we look or whether we listen,</p>
-<p class='line0'>We hear life murmur, and see it glisten!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Every clod feels a stir of might,</p>
-<p class='line0'>An instinct within that reaches and towers,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And grasping above it blindly for light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus describes Lowell one of those “perfect days”
-I am speaking of. (And, by the way, have you yet
-read that, the most exquisite poem produced in these
-latter days? If you have not, I prithee leave my
-romance unfinished, and inflict whatever other penance
-on yourself you may deem proper for neglecting so
-long that “gem of the first water,” whether regarded
-as a <span class='it'>luxuriously printed</span> book, or as a poem beyond
-all praise or—criticism!)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, it was on a Sabbath in June, as I began to tell
-you when the remembrance of “Sir Launfal” startled
-me from my story-telling proprieties; the windows
-of the little church were opened wide, and doubtless
-troops of invisible angels had entered in, to see how
-the congregation would commemorate His death—and
-probably the assembly had a faint idea of this, for
-solemn was the expression of every face, and reverent
-and humble every voice, that joined in the so beautiful
-and appropriate responses of the liturgy of “dear mother
-church!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In one of the slips nearest the door, a stranger had
-seated himself shortly after the opening of the service;
-though his voice joined with those of the congregation
-in the supplications and thanksgivings, he seemed at
-times to be lost in other thoughts than those which
-<span class='it'>should</span> fill the minds of them who gather themselves
-together to worship Jehovah.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was a man of middle age, and his hair was
-slightly tinged with gray—exposure, or hardship, or
-sorrow had made him prematurely old—his form was
-slightly bent, and his face was brown, as though the
-burning sunlight of the East had rested long upon it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the priest turned to the people at the conclusion
-of the service of the day, and said⁠—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your
-sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors,
-and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments
-of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy
-ways, draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament
-to your comfort; and make your humble confession
-to Almighty God, devoutly kneeling”; the stranger
-arose, but seemed as he did so, overcome with strong
-emotion; but in a moment more he had mastered it,
-and followed a portion of the congregation to the altar.
-And he knelt there beside Grace Lovering, and partook
-with her the consecrated elements; his hands trembled
-when they grasped the cup filled with the Saviour’s
-blood, but I do not think that was because of the emotion
-arising from the thought that he might be partaking
-unworthily, so much as from the fact that he was once
-more standing and kneeling in the village church,
-where since his boyhood he had not trod; it was because
-he was kneeling beside a woman who as a child
-had been his embodied dream of all perfection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He had sought her amid the many faces totally
-strange around him; and when his eyes had turned
-from one to another, and he knew that thus far they
-had sought in vain, when they had fallen on her face
-at last, he knew that it was she—the little girl—the
-woman middle-aged—whom he sought, and a thrill,
-and a thought of thanksgiving swept through his soul,
-as he looked on her still so lovely face. He felt that
-he had come <span class='it'>home</span>—he dared to hope that he should
-never be a wanderer again—and even in that sacred
-place his wild thoughts finished the romance which had
-been so long in its narration.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the congregation went from the little church,
-and Grace turned alone toward her pleasant cottage
-home, the eyes of the stranger followed her—and—his
-feet, as of necessity, followed too. There was very
-little in the quiet village that seemed familiar and dear
-to Hugh Willson, as he walked down the almost noiseless
-street. Prosperity had not come with its years to
-Romulus, and the little town had, I confess, a decided
-broken-down appearance; but it was not for love of
-the village Hugh had sought it; it was not because of
-<span class='it'>its</span> beauty he thought it a very Paradise! He was
-dreaming still a dream that had haunted him, or rather
-that he had been dreaming for a score of years, and
-how, what if this day he must awaken from it forever?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When he had reached the house he had seen the
-lady enter, he paused a moment, hesitatingly, for the
-heart of the stern man beat wildly. If it should not
-prove to be her after all—though he knew <span class='it'>that</span> was an
-idle fear—but, would she care to remember him—must
-he look upon her, and see her at last slowly and coldly
-recognize him? Must he listen to her, and then depart
-again to laugh at his own folly, and to curse at the
-madness and stupidity of his day-dreaming? He
-might find her bound by ties lasting as life to another.
-But <span class='it'>if</span> was never decisive, and Hugh Willson must
-speak with Grace Germain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He knocked at the door of the cottage, and the
-widow, who had preceded him by a few moments,
-answered his call immediately.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Does a lady called Miss Germain live here?”
-asked the stranger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That was once my name,” replied Grace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Once</span>, thought Hugh, and he had but little heart to
-proceed when he heard that answer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May I come in and ask of her father and mother?
-It is many years since I left this place, and I do not
-find many of my old friends here.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was a momentary light illumining the face of
-the lady as she heard these words, but it passed, and
-she did not speak; but leading the way into the parlor,
-she motioned the gentleman to a seat, then she said⁠—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'></span>
-“My father and mother have been dead these many
-years. I do not wonder that the village seems altered
-to one who has been long a stranger here, for the little
-life it once had is now quite gone, and there are but
-few of the old settlers left here now.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was a pause, and the stranger seemed to have
-forgotten the inquiries he had intended making. While
-she was speaking he seemed lost; but he was only
-living so intensely in the present, and the rush and
-confusion of thought was so great he knew not what
-to say. The chief thing that he longed to know, was
-not who had grown rich, and who poor, who was
-dead, and who married, and who had moved away,
-but—did Grace Germain remember an old playmate
-who had given her a rose-bud ever so many years ago?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The longer he thought, only the more embarrassing
-grew the stranger’s situation. Would she not laugh
-to hear that he had come, when the summer-time of
-life was well nigh passed, weary, and worn out with
-worldly trials and sorrows and doubts, to simply ask a
-woman if she remembered him?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not know that you remember,” he said at last—but
-having proceeded thus far he stopped. “Have
-you ever heard—” he began again, and then he broke
-off suddenly, seemingly forgetful of the question he
-had meant to ask. But this hesitation would not do—and
-the man knew it would not—and so he started up,
-and, as though the time was short, and they the last
-words he ever intended uttering, he approached the
-lady, exclaiming,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Grace Germain, don’t you remember a boy who
-went to school here long ago, in the old frame school-house,
-whose name was Hugh Willson?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes—yes—I do indeed! How could I have been
-so stupid! Hugh, I welcome you back with all my
-heart,” was the frank and generous answer, and Grace
-and the <span class='it'>boy</span>-lover shook hands heartily.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Rubicon was fairly passed; he was remembered,
-he was welcome! and in his gratitude Hugh forgot
-to wonder if Grace had a husband living still, and if he
-had gone off on a journey! He forgot all, save that
-the child had grown to be a woman he could both love
-and honor—and for a moment so complete was his
-happiness, that the words would not have been an
-empty sound from his lips, “Lord, now let thy servant
-depart in peace!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And what thought Grace as she looked upon the
-face of which but one feature, the dark and thoughtful
-eyes, seemed familiar? <span class='it'>She</span> thought, “Does he remember
-the letter he wrote me from Arabia—and was
-it truth he wrote?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Sabbath bell rung vainly in the ears of the long
-parted boy and girl that afternoon, but at night-fall the
-wife of Clarence Lovering led the way to the old
-burial-ground, and showed Hugh Willson the graves
-of her parents and of her husband. And he on whose
-arm she leaned then, felt no pang of jealousy when her
-lip faltered and her eyes wet, as she spoke of the
-bridegroom of her youth—for Grace had not listened
-coldly or carelessly to her companion as he had spoken
-to her such words as these⁠—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Grace, we are neither of us young any longer. I
-have grown gray in my hard struggle with life—but
-there is nothing gray or dead about our hearts. I
-know that by the strong and joyous beating of my own,
-I know it by the heavenly peace that marks your life,
-surrounding you as it were with a very halo of glory.
-But the passionate glow of feeling is, I am equally confident,
-with neither of us any more. The noise of the
-bounding brooks has gone—like the quiet, deep flow
-of the river is the course of our existence now. The
-waves leap not so brightly in the sunlight, but still the
-broad beams of the sun fall down as warmly and as
-cheerily upon us. And is it too late, because I am old,
-for me to find a realization of that dream which has
-haunted me so long? I have been wild and fickle in
-the eyes of men; perhaps my way of life, could you
-know it all, has not been such as you would look approvingly
-upon; but, in the midst of all worldly excitements,
-I have always borne a talisman in my heart
-that has preserved me honorable and true—the thought
-of you, Grace! I have come here, not expecting to
-find the little girl I left, neither altogether a woman
-who has known nothing of sorrow and care; I have
-come to pray that I may, even at this late hour, become
-your husband, your life-companion. My prayer
-is fraught with no ordinary hope—it is not the bewildering
-dream of youth I am now indulging—it is the
-highest, strongest, noblest desire of my manhood!
-Have I sought in vain, or must I go forth once more a
-wanderer, and friendless, with another and dearer
-image than has heretofore been impressed on my life,
-the image of the matchless woman I have lost—or
-rather cannot win?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And Grace had listened to his words with tears of
-gratitude; she had given him her hand, and nobly said,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have not sought in vain, dear Hugh. I thank
-God that you are here, and if you again become a
-wanderer, a pilgrim, ready to give up all but you in
-this life, will tread beside you! Henceforth, there are
-no mountains, nor deserts, nor oceans that can divide
-us—the lengthening shades of years falling around us
-are grateful and pleasant—the quiet paths of life we
-will pursue together. Thank God that you are here!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grace Lovering was not, it is true, a very youthful
-bride when she was made Hugh Willson’s wife, but
-had she been more beautiful than “Grace Greenwood’s”
-most exquisite dream of womanly loveliness,
-she had not proved more lovable to the wanderer,
-who, when the shadows of years were folding round
-him, found in her a friend, and a wife, and a worshiped
-ideal!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were some who laughed, to be sure—there
-are always some that laugh and poh! at romances in
-real life—and some there were who said it was all fal
-de ral, the idea of a man and woman of <span class='it'>such</span> an age
-marrying for <span class='it'>love</span>. I only wish in its marvelous “progress”
-the world had not journeyed up to that icy peak
-whence all human love, and love matches among humans,
-is to be regarded as the folly of fools, and the
-madness of delusion!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Let the miserable woman now reading this page,
-who in her girlhood wedded wealth—or the wretched
-man who in his youth was led captive by the deceitful
-smiles of beauty—let these, if there be any such—and
-I know very well there are multitudes—look for once
-<span class='pageno' title='54' id='Page_54'></span>
-within the peaceful cottage where our hero and the
-dear heroine live, and if they do not speedily begin to
-think with amaze on their own paltry lives, and wonder
-when their romance is to begin, then—why then—I
-will not strive any more to teach the people!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Look you, reader, and more especially if you be
-young and beautiful, do not sell your birthright for a
-tasteless mess of pottage—ah, in that case you may as
-well begin to look for a tragedy, and a fearful kind of
-denouement, instead of a romance and a pleasant closing
-of the scene!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And furthermore the Wayside Voice saith not.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk129'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='pilgrim'></a>THE PILGRIM’S FAST.<a id='r1'/><a href='#f1' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[1]</span></sup></a></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. MARY G. HORSFORD.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>’Twas early morn, the low night-wind</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Had fled the sun’s fierce ray,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And sluggishly the leaden waves</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Rolled over Plymouth bay.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>No mist was on the mountain-top,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;No dew-drop in the vale,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The thirsting summer-flowers had died,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Unknelled by autumn’s wale.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The giant woods with yellow leaves</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The blighted turf had paved,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And o’er the brown and arid fields</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;No golden harvest waved.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And calm and blue the cloudless sky</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Arched over earth and sea,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As in their humble house of prayer</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The Pilgrims bowed the knee.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The gray-haired ministers of God</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In supplication bent,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And artless words from childhood’s lips</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Sought the Omnipotent.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And many a brave and manly heart,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And woman’s gentle eye,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Inured by discipline to wo,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Were raised in suppliance high.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>No wild bird’s joyous song was heard,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;No sound from shore or height,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With mute but mighty eloquence</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Had Nature joined that rite:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The drooping corn and withering grass</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Upon the hot earth lay:</p>
-<p class='line0'>The lofty forest-trees had stooped</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Their aged heads to pray.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The sultry noontide came and went</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With steady, fervid glare;</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Oh! God, our God, be merciful,”</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Was still the Pilgrims’ prayer.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>They prayed, as erst Elijah prayed</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Before the sons of Baal,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When on the waiting sacrifice</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;He called the fiery hail.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>They prayed, as prayed the prophet seer</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;On Carmel’s summit high,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the little cloud rose from the sea</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And blackened all the sky.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And when around the spireless church</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Night’s length’ning shadows fell,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The customary song went up</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With clear and rapturous swell:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And as each heart was thrilling to</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That simple chant sublime,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The rude, brown rafters of the roof</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Woke to a joyous chime.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The rain! the rain! the blessed rain!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;It came like Hemnon’s dew,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And watered every field and wood,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And kissed the surges blue.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Oh! when that Pilgrim band came forth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And pressed the humid sod,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Shone not each face as Moses’ shone</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When “face to face” with God?</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_1'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f1'><a href='#r1'>[1]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For the narrative of the historical fact related in
-this poem, the reader is referred to “Cheever’s Journal
-of the Pilgrims.”</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk130'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='mother'></a>TO MY MOTHER IN 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 THOMAS FIZGERALD, EDITOR CITY ITEM.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Dear mother, in the silent hours of night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When stars around me shed their chastened light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I think of thee, and mourn thou art not here,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With smile to bless, and kindly word to cheer.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Ah, mother, life is but a thorny way;</p>
-<p class='line0'>When longest, ’tis at best a little day;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A gleam of sunshine, and anon a cloud,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The bridal robe, soon followed by the shroud.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Dear mother, sadness fills my sleepless eye,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And tears fast follow the unconscious sigh,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But still the heart, o’erwhelmed with heavy grief,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In thought of thee, dear mother, finds relief.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Dear mother, be thou still the watchful guide,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In honor’s path, of him who was thy pride;</p>
-<p class='line0'>So shall my feet, from snares of error free,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Tread only paths of truth, toward Heaven and thee.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk131'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='55' id='Page_55'></span><h1><a id='dream'></a>THE DREAM OF MEHEMET.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>AN APOLOGUE.</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>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus spoke the gray-haired dervise. Selim was
-left to my care; his dying parents bequeathed him an
-ample fortune, and their example of virtue and affection.
-Such was his inheritance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was a dreamy boy, in whose soul the opposite
-passions reveled. Gentle as the dove, yet, under
-aggression, fierce as the tiger. He loved as angels
-love; hated as fiends hate. Framed as delicately as
-the gazelle, yet every sinew was endowed with the
-tenacity of steel. At the age of manhood, I, his old
-preceptor, bowed to the superior endowments of my
-pupil, but knew not the fountain of his knowledge.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I have said he was a dreamy boy, yet he had made
-the broad pages of nature his book of knowledge, even
-while dreaming. The fertile earth presented her abundant
-lap overflowing with fruit to delight his palate;
-the flowers peered in his face with their variegated
-eyes, and sent forth their incense, even while he trod
-upon them. The cadence of the waterfall, the low
-twittering of the wearied bird as it flitted to its fledglings
-in the nest, and the murmuring of the passing
-breeze as it struggled through the grove, were to him
-a lullaby that charmed to sleep as the angels sleep.
-Nature was his mother, and she nursed him with play-things
-as her child.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I have seen him by the small streams composing
-songs to the music that the dimpled waters babbled,
-until his rosy cheeks dimpled and laughed in concert
-with the rippling brook, as if it were a thing of life,
-rejoicing in its existence, as his own pure heart rejoiced.
-They laughed and babbled together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the wood-clad mountains, at midnight, when the
-elements battled, I have seen him straining his feeble
-voice to sound the master-key that attunes to universal
-harmony; and having caught it, he would spring like
-the antelope to a lofty waterfall to discover the same
-note there; and then turn up his bright face to the stars
-that smiled upon him, and laugh, expecting to hear
-them respond to his note as they revolved on their
-eternal axes. His dark eyes smiled, and the conscious
-stars smiled back in the heaven of his dark eyes, which
-danced with delight in the diamond rays of the stars.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Flowers were books to him, and from every leaf he
-read wisdom fragrant with truth. He cultivated them
-as a father would his last child. The little birds were
-his companions, and every morning he joined their
-concert until the tiny minstrels seemed to imagine that
-he was the leader of their orchestra. All nature was
-to him one mighty minister, bestowing all, while he
-asked from nature no more than the blessed privilege
-of imitating her, by bestowing on his fellow man all in
-return. He had a dog, whose former owner had
-thrown into a stream to drown as worthless. Selim
-swam and saved the ill-looking cur, who followed him
-ever after until it appeared that instinct trod close upon
-the heel of reason. Selim in his turn, while bathing,
-became exhausted, and sinking beneath the stream, the
-dog plunged in and saved his dying master. Was this
-instinct or reason? It matters not, but Selim perceived
-that the Prophet had made his humanity toward a
-friendless dog the means of prolonging his own existence
-here. Despise not little things, cried Mehemet,
-for the smallest is of magnitude in the sight of the Prophet.
-A straw may break the back of the overburthened;
-one word may consign a man to poverty or
-prosperity, one deed to hell or heaven.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Selim’s wants were few, his fortune ample, which
-he bestowed upon the deserving with as liberal a hand
-as it had been bestowed upon himself. Still he labored
-in the pursuit he had adopted, not for self-aggrandizement,
-but to assist others; and he knew not why
-man should be a sluggard while all nature is incessantly
-at work. The bee and ant work in their season—and
-even the spider too.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His garden blossomed as Eden, and the flowers
-offered up their grateful incense even as they faded
-and died upon the universal altar of Nature’s God.
-His aviary from morn until night was vocal, and when
-the flaming chariot of the bright eye of day was
-whirled by fiery-footed steeds over the eastern hills, I
-have seen him with his flute, surrounded by nature’s
-tiny choristers pouring forth their matins until some
-note in the universal harmony touched the heart of his
-poor shaggy cur who sported around and tried to bark
-in unison. Then Selim laughed outright, and the birds
-stopped their hymns, and seemed to laugh with Selim,
-and the poor dog slunk away abashed, and slyly laughed
-at his miserable failure.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He married the dark-eyed Biribi. Selim was a
-poet; his soul reveled alike in tempest or sunshine, and
-his voice was as musical as the wings of the bee when
-he distills honey. He possessed the sweets of the
-bee, and his sting also. Biribi was abjectly poor, but
-in Selim’s eyes as full of truth and as beautiful as the
-houries. He exclaimed, I will raise poverty above oppression,
-and place virtue where all her handmaids may
-minister to her enjoyment. Alas! it was but a young
-poet’s dream—and such dreams are too frequently disturbed
-by palpable agony. Thus spoke Mehemet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He had a friend who was his fellow-student while
-under my charge. Selim loved him as a brother, and
-when he married he requested Zadak to dwell with
-him. Neither house, garden, nor fields could be more
-beautiful, while his flocks and herds were nature’s
-ornaments. Such was Selim’s Eden.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Zadak borrowed a portion of his fortune, which he
-squandered; but the poor boy simply replied, “no
-matter, we require but little, and enough still remains
-<span class='pageno' title='56' id='Page_56'></span>
-to make us happy. Thank the Prophet for that which
-we still possess, and repine not for that which we
-have lost. We can labor with our fellow-men.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Biribi became estranged from the pure being who
-fancied he had made in her bosom a nest for his dove-like
-heart to sing in. He awoke from a dream of repose
-to battle with the tempest. Zadak had betrayed him,
-and the gentle spirit of my boy was crushed between
-the sledge and the anvil; but the eternal fire that burnt
-within him, burst forth in one mighty blaze as the
-sledge fell; and even the sledge and the anvil rejoiced
-at the fire they had elicited from his heart’s blood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What was to be done? The question was soon
-settled. The dove had winged its way to heaven, but
-left the tiger on earth to punish the injuries done to the
-dove. Selim slew Zadak, and then walked to the
-tribunal to receive his sentence, knowing that an act
-that was approved by the immutable principle of eternal
-justice in heaven, would be pronounced a damning
-crime by drones who are fed to dole out punishment
-for breaking the conventional rules by which fools and
-knaves are linked together on earth. He confessed all
-before man as he had already confessed before God.
-Ignominious death was his sentence in the eye of his
-fellow-creature; but God changed his sentence to that
-of eternal life; he died of a broken-heart, and escaped
-man’s justice, tempered with degradation, and flew to
-the limpid and overflowing fountain—the bosom of his
-Creator for justice—knowing it to be a principle of
-eternity, and not of time.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I buried him beneath a cluster of trees, where he
-had pursued his studies. He had no mourners except
-myself and his dog. The grave of the rich man
-is seldom bedewed by the tears of his heirs; while
-the poor hard-working man may have many sincere
-mourners, provided they depended upon his daily labor
-for their bread. It was spring-time; I planted flowers
-from his garden over his grave, and placed his aviary
-among the trees. The birds sang and the flowers
-smiled as if he were still with them. One morning I
-missed his dog, and searched for him until the impulse
-of nature guided my footsteps to the boy’s grave. The
-dog was there, pillowed on a cluster of fragrant flowers—dying;
-big tears stood in his leadened eyes, while
-the little birds from the blooming trees, warbled his
-requiem. They knew the dog, and he knew the birds
-even while dying. The flowers were bedewed with
-his tears, and I buried him beside his master, beneath
-the flowers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Autumn came; the little birds had taken wing; the
-grove was no longer vocal; the flowers had faded, and
-their fragrance had passed away. Well, I exclaimed,
-the rosy-fingered spring will return, leading the birds
-back to warble as usual, and the flowers will revive
-with their former fragrance and beauty? “And is my
-boy dead?” my soul shrieked. “No!” replied a voice,
-kindly, and it seemed to me as if the lips were smiling
-as the judgment passed the lips, “the boy is not dead,
-but sleepeth, awaiting his spring-time, when the birds
-will sing, and the flowers bloom for him again, and
-bloom for eternity.” Thus spoke the dervise, and his
-old frame chuckled with delight, for he was confident
-of the fulfillment of the promise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I reposed by his grave, said Mehemet, and had a
-vision, which was this. His grave opened, and he
-arose more beautiful than when in the bloom of manhood.
-There was a bright star just over his heart,
-and methought it was composed of the tears his dying
-dog had shed upon his grave, and I smiled in my sleep
-at the fantastic thought. The flowers sent forth their
-incense, and myriads of birds, as he ascended from his
-tomb, fluttered about him, leading the way, warbling
-their anthems; the gay flowers smiled at heaven, as
-if they were the eyes of the teeming earth, laughing
-their gratitude. The features of Selim became more
-benign as he ascended; the songs of the birds more
-seraphic, and the fragrance of the flowers more refreshing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly a cloud of inky darkness covered the face
-of the earth. Two ghastly figures emerged from it,
-with uplifted eyes, that were rayless, and supplicating
-hands that trembled with terror. Oh! what must that
-man be, exclaimed Mehemet, who trembles before the
-All-merciful, even while supplicating mercy! Selim
-cast a look of compassion upon the guilty pair, and
-tried to tear the star from his bosom to throw to them,
-but the more he strove, the brighter the star became—it
-illuminated his ascending spirit—and finding his
-efforts fruitless, he raised his radiant face toward the
-boundless blue canopy, cheered onward by the hymns
-of his little choristers through regions of light, and
-the teeming earth smiled as she poured forth her grateful
-incense, as if jealous that the disembodied spirit
-might forget the fragrance of this world while reveling
-in the atmosphere of heaven.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I heard a shriek of despair, and turning to the sea of
-darkness which was fearfully troubled, I beheld the
-guilty pair, desperately struggling in their agony against
-the angry billows. They struggled in vain. With a
-fiendlike shriek they disappeared, and sunk through a
-rayless abyss of doom, without even the tear of a dog
-to bewail their destiny. Selim soared upward, and
-still more effulgent became the heavens as he ascended.
-There was one mighty strain of seraphic music that
-filled the universe; the blue arch opened, from which
-issued a stream of light strong enough to restore vision
-to the rayless eyes of the ancient dead; then I awoke
-as I beheld Selim enter the eternal portals.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This, continued the old man, may be but a dream at
-present, but the time will come when it must be
-verified. He then slowly tottered to his cell to dream
-out the remnant of his existence.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk132'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='57' id='Page_57'></span><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/i138.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0006' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE BLUE-BIRD.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Blue-Bird is a great favorite with the farmer.
-Its principal food being beetles, spiders, grasshoppers,
-caterpillars, and other insects, he affords great assistance
-to the fruit-trees, and vegetables of all kinds. He
-is one of the earliest spring visiters, appearing in Pennsylvania
-in the latter end of February, and trilling forth
-his feeble though pleasing song more than a week before
-the other early visiters. The species ranges over
-a large extent of latitude, being found in the forty-eighth
-parallel, and southward to the tropics. They
-probably also migrate to the Bermudas and West
-Indies, and certainly pass the winter in our Southern
-States and Mexico. The common belief that this bird
-remains dormant during the winter in Pennsylvania,
-appears to be ill-founded; since the few who do not
-migrate, no doubt seek out some warmer shelter near
-man than is afforded by the bleakness of nature.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The early song of the Blue-Bird announces to the
-farmer the approach of spring. So gladdening is this
-to the rustic villager, that he generally takes every
-method to accommodate his familiar little companion,
-building boxes for him, exposing materials, and imitating
-his plaintive whistle as he hops along the furrow
-of the plough. The affection of the male bird for his
-mate is remarkable. “When he first begins his
-amours,” says an accurate observer, “it is pleasing to
-behold his courtship; his solicitude to please and to
-secure the favor of his beloved female. He uses the
-tenderest expressions, sits close by her, caresses, and
-sings to her his most endearing warblings. When
-seated together, if he espies an insect delicious to her
-taste he takes it up, flies with it to her, spreads his
-wings over her and puts it in her mouth.” On such
-occasions, should a rival stray within the hallowed
-limits he is treated without mercy, and the victor returns
-to warble out his strain of exultation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The nest of the Blue-Bird is generally made in the
-hollow of an old tree, or in the free quarters provided
-by man. The female lays five or six eggs, of a pale
-blue color, and raises two broods in a season. Their
-affection for their young is fully equal to that of the
-male for his mate, and when the hen is sitting the
-second time, the former brood is cherished and reared
-by the other parent. In the fall, when insect food becomes
-scarce, they eat berries, seeds, persimmons and
-other fruit. Their song is a soft and agreeable warble,
-uttered with open quivering wings. “In his motions
-and general character,” says Wilson, “he has great
-resemblance to the Robin Redbreast of Britain; and
-had he the brown olive of that bird, instead of his own
-blue, could scarcely be distinguished from him. Like
-him he is known to almost every child; and shows as
-much confidence in man, by associating with him in
-summer, as the other by his familiarity in winter. He
-is also of a mild and peaceful disposition, seldom fighting
-or quarreling with other birds. His society is
-courted by the inhabitants of the country, and few
-farmers neglect to provide for him in some suitable
-place a snug little summer-house, ready fitted and rent
-free. For this he more than sufficiently repays them
-by the cheerfulness of his song, and the multitude of
-injurious insects which he daily destroys. Toward
-fall, that is in the month of October, his song changes
-to a single plaintive note, as he passes over the yellow
-many-colored woods; and its melancholy air recalls to
-our minds the approaching decay of the face of nature.
-Even after the trees are stripped of their leaves, he
-still lingers over his native fields, as if loath to leave
-them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Blue-Bird is nearly seven inches in length,
-with the wings remarkably full and broad. The
-upper part of the body, neck and head are sky-blue,
-<span class='pageno' title='58' id='Page_58'></span>
-inclining to purple. The under parts are chestnut, the
-bill and legs black, with portions of the same color
-about the wings, tail and sides. In the female the
-colors are less bright. The young are hardy, strong,
-and highly teachable. The Blue-Bird is not often subjected
-to the confinement of the cage.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i141.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0007' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE GROUND-ROBIN.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This bird is also known as the Towee-finch, the
-Tshe-wink and Pee-wink, names derived from its
-favorite notes. It is found in great numbers in woods
-and overgrown meadows, and sometimes along the
-banks of streams, and is both familiar and playful. A
-pair will sometimes roam for a great distance along a
-water-course, scratching for insects, worms or seeds,
-and encouraging each other by their simple cry of
-tow-wee, tow-wee. They sometimes forage along gardens
-or pea-patches. On such occasions, they behold
-the approach of man with but little concern, and fly
-off only when in danger of being taken. The species
-is found in Canada, and probably farther north among
-the Rocky Mountains, and southward throughout the
-United States. They are, however, more abundant
-east of the Alleghanies than to the west. Sometimes,
-but not often, they pass the winter in Pennsylvania,
-but are constantly in the milder States during that
-season.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Their manner of building is rather peculiar; the
-nest being fixed on the ground, below the surface, and
-covered with leaves, or the shelter of an adjoining
-bush. It is rarely raised above the ground. The
-materials are fine bark, leaves, moss, dried grass and
-down. Sometimes part of the adjoining herbage is
-employed. The eggs are four or five in number, white,
-with a flesh color tint, and spotted with brown. In
-New England they raise but one brood, but in warm
-States two, the first in June, and the second during the
-following month. During this period they artfully
-draw the intruder from their charge, by pretending
-lameness, and feebly retreating as he pursues.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Ground-Robin is about eight inches long, and
-eleven across the wings. The throat, neck, and whole
-upper part of the body is black, with feathers of the
-same color, interspersed with white, in the wings and
-tail. The belly is white, with bay thighs. In the
-female and young the black of the male is changed for
-olive brown, and there is less pure white in the tail
-and wings.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk133'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='petra'></a>THE FORTIETH SONNET OF PETRARCA.</h1></div>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>If honest love e’er merited reward,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;If worship win the meed of yore it won,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I should be blest, since purer than the sun</p>
-<p class='line0'>The love my sighs and poesy record;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet ’tis not so: unwillingly are heard</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;My vows, and all regardlessly are flung</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Her eyes o’er burning lines wherein is sung</p>
-<p class='line0'>Her matchless beauty, and my grief is bared.</p>
-<p class='line0'>But yet I hope that some day she may deign</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To hearken to the tribute I have brought</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And smile at least return for all my tears.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Still it may be I’ll languish here in vain</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Until that dread catastrophe is wrought,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;When time shall harvest all its sheaf of years.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk134'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i144.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0008' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>CROSS PURPOSES.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk135'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='59' id='Page_59'></span><h1><a id='cross'></a>CROSS PURPOSES.</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 KATE.</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;font-size:0.9em;'>[SEE ENGRAVING.]</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is rather a dangerous experiment, this sporting
-with the feelings of a sweetheart, as many a loving
-swain has found; as Andy Bell and Harry Lee found,
-when they indulged in a walk home from church with
-Lilly James and Aggy Moore, to the neglect of two
-sweet sisters, Jane and Florence May.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jane and Florence were the real sweethearts. Of
-the moonlight rambles they had enjoyed together; of
-the loving words whispered in the maidens’ ears; of
-the kisses beneath the shadows of old trees, stolen
-from half shrinking lips, we will say nothing. But
-such things had been. And even more. Mutual
-pledges of love had passed. Harry had vowed to
-Jane that, as she was the sweetest maiden in all the
-village, so she was to him the dearest; and Jane had
-drooped her eyes, and leaned closer to him, thus silently
-responding to the declaration of love; and when
-he took her hand, she let it linger in his warm clasp
-as if he had a right to its possession. And the same
-thing, slightly varied according to temperament, had
-happened with Andy and Florence. For months, the
-two young men were untiring in their attention to the
-sisters. Invariably, when the little congregation that
-worshiped in the village church on Sundays was dismissed,
-Andy and Harry were at the door, waiting for
-the expectant maidens, whom they as invariably attended
-home, lingering always by the way, to make
-the distance longer. And when the evening shadows
-fell in the winter, or the sun sunk low toward the
-western hills in the spring and summer time, at the
-waning of the Sabbath, the young men were sure to
-make their appearance at the quiet cottage home of the
-happy sisters.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus it had been for months, and all the village knew
-that they were sweethearts; and it was even said—how
-the intelligence was gained we know not—that,
-at the next Christmas, there would be a double
-wedding in Heathdale. Thus it was, when, one bright
-Sunday morning, as Andy Bell and Harry Lee were
-on their way to church, the former, who was in a gayer
-humor than usual, said, laughing as he spoke⁠—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Suppose we plague the girls a little after meeting?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How?” asked Harry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you’ll walk home with Aggy Moore, I’ll play
-the gallant to Lilly James.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Agreed,” was the thoughtless reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And yet,” said Andy, “I wouldn’t give the little
-finger of Florence for Lilly’s whole body.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nor would I give Jane’s little finger for a dozen
-Aggy Moores.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Even at this early stage of the affair, both parties
-half repented; but neither felt like proposing to give
-up the little frolick agreed upon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the service the young lovers found their eyes
-meeting those of their sweethearts with accustomed
-frequency. But neither Andy nor Harry felt as comfortable
-as usual. Besides being about to deprive
-themselves of a long enjoyed pleasure, both felt misgivings
-as to the effect of their temporary desertion and
-disappointment of the expectant maidens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last the benediction was said, and the congregation
-began moving toward the door. Andy and Harry were
-out before the girls.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Shall we do it?” asked the former.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, certainly,” replied Harry. And yet this was
-not said with the best grace in the world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There’s Aggy,” whispered Andy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I see,” returned Harry, moving forward, as Aggy
-stepped from the church-door. Just behind her was
-Jane, with her bright, dancing eyes, and lips just parting
-in a smile, as she caught sight of her lover. She
-moved forward more quickly, but stopped suddenly.
-Harry had spoken to Aggy, and was now walking
-away by her side. Just then Lilly James came forth,
-and Andy, crossing before Florence, who appeared at
-the same time, bowed to the maiden, and seeming not
-to see Florence, moved away from the church-door,
-smiling and chatting with a free and careless air.
-Neither of the young men looked behind to see the
-effect of all this upon the two young girls. But, to
-some extent, they imagined their feelings, and the picture
-fancy presented was not the most agreeable to
-contemplate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It required an effort on the part of both Andy and
-Harry to continue to play the agreeable to the two
-young ladies they had substituted thus temporarily, and
-in sport, for their sweethearts, long enough to see them
-fairly home. They did not meet again until toward
-evening, and then each was on his way to seek the
-cottage-home of the one loved most dearly of any thing
-in the wide world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder what they will say?” was uttered by
-Andy, in a doubting tone, as they moved along.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Goodness knows! I’m afraid Jane took it hard,”
-remarked Harry. “I saw her countenance change as
-I turned to walk with Aggy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was a foolish prank, to make the best of it. But
-we must laugh it off with them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I rather think we shall be paid back in our own
-coin,” said Harry. “Jane, I know, has a little spice
-about her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And Harry was not far wrong. When the two
-<span class='pageno' title='60' id='Page_60'></span>
-young men arrived at the cottage, and entered in their
-usual familiar way, the room where the maidens sat,
-they were received in a manner not in the least agreeable
-to their feelings. Both Jane and Florence had
-been deeply hurt by the conduct of their lovers; and
-both had indulged freely during the afternoon in the
-luxury of tears. The meaning of what had happened,
-they couldn’t tell. Had all this appearance of affection
-been a mere counterfeit? Were they the victims of a
-heartless <a id='coquet'></a>coquetry? Or had Lilly and Aggy, through
-some strange influence, won the hearts of their lovers?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Great was the relief experienced by the troubled
-sisters when, on the waning of the Sabbath, they saw
-their truant swains approaching as usual. But, with
-this sense of relief, came a maidenly indignation, and a
-determination to resent the wanton slight that had been
-put upon them. Clouds were on the faces once so
-smiling and happy, when the young men entered, and
-their presence, so far from dispersing these clouds, only
-caused them to grow darker. It was in vain that
-every effort was made to remove them; not a sun-ray
-came to dispel their gloomy shadows. Explanations
-were made. The apparent slight was acknowledged
-as only a merry jest. However this relieved the oppressed
-hearts of the maidens, it did not lighten up
-their sober faces. Forgiveness and smiles were not
-to come so easily.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Andy affected to treat the whole matter lightly, and
-rather jested with Florence; but Harry’s sweetheart
-seemed so deeply grieved and wounded, that he had
-little to say after the first few efforts at reconciliation.
-Finally, the young men went away, apparently unforgiven;
-and all parties, for the next week, were unhappy
-enough. Sunday came again; and now the
-doubt in the minds of the young men was, whether, if
-they offered to go home as usual with Jane and Florence,
-they would be permitted by the offended maidens to do
-so. This doubt was, in a measure, dispelled during
-the morning service, for more than a dozen times did
-Andy catch a stealthy glance from Florence, in which
-was a beam of forgiveness; and the same thing happened
-to Harry as he turned his eyes frequently upon
-Jane. At last the service ended; and, as the young
-girls passed from the door, their lovers were beside
-them as usual. There was no repulse. The maidens
-were too glad to have them there once more. But,
-the feelings of each were sobered. Evening came, and
-they met as before. Their intercourse was tender but
-not joyous as it had been. And thus it was for weeks
-ere their hearts lost a sense of oppression. The reader
-may be sure that there were no more games at
-cross purposes after this. The lovers were cured of
-all inclination to indulge further in that species of
-pastime.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk136'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='lines'></a>LINES</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>ON BURNING SOME OLD JOURNALS AND LETTERS.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY THE LATE WALTER HERRIES, ESQ.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Ay, let them perish—why recall</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Dreams of a by-gone day?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why lift Oblivion’s funeral pall</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Only to find decay?</p>
-<p class='line0'>The heart of youth lies buried there,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With all its hopes and fears,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Its burning joys, its wild despair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Its agonies and tears.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A light has vanished from the earth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A glory left the sky,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Since first within my soul had birth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Those visions pure and high;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or is it that mine eye, grown dim,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Hath lost the power to trace</p>
-<p class='line0'>The glory of the Seraphim</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Within life’s holy place?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Methinks I stand midway between</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The future and the past,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The onward path is dimly seen,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Behind me clouds are cast;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why should I seek to pierce that gloom</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And call the buried host</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of haunting memories from the tomb⁠—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Each one a tortured ghost?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I could not look upon the page,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With eloquence o’erfraught,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where, ere my head had grown so sage,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;My heart its wild will wrought;</p>
-<p class='line0'>I could not—would not—ponder now</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;O’er my youth’s wayward madness,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Which left no stain on soul or brow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Yet shrouded life in sadness.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Ay, let them perish!—from the dream</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of Passion’s wasted hour</p>
-<p class='line0'>There comes no retrospective gleam,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;No spectre of the flower:</p>
-<p class='line0'>The treasured wealth of Eastern kings</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Enriched their burial fire,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And thus my heart’s most precious things</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Shall build its funeral pyre.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk137'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'></span><h1><a id='uncle'></a>UNCLE TOM.</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 “SIMON.”</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A strange old man was my Uncle Tom. He was
-my father’s only and elder brother, and more than all,
-he was a bachelor; not one of those sour specimens of
-humanity who are continually railing at everybody
-and every thing—more especially “the sex”—but a
-hearty, hale, good-natured gentleman of the old school,
-straight as a poplar, and his heart had as many green
-leaves withal. He was still a boy in feeling, though
-winter had begun to spread its snows over his head.
-He was far from hating women, though when he talked
-of them, or thought of them, a look of sadness would
-sometimes overspread his countenance; and when he
-saw some fairy phantom that had not yet escaped her
-“teens,” in the full flush of maiden grace and beauty,
-old recollections seemed to come over him with a deep
-and maddening influence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No one ever told me the cause of this temporary dejection,
-and Uncle Tom seemed unwilling to be questioned
-<a id='concern'></a>concerning it. There needed no questioning. From
-our cottage, a smooth-worn path led across the fields
-to the village church-yard, which lay at about a quarter
-of a mile distant. Passing through a gap in the wall,
-it wound among the grass-grown hillocks, and stopped
-abruptly before a small, gray stone, which stood in the
-corner nearest the church, and on which this simple
-epitaph was engraved: Mary, æt. 18. This told his
-whole story; for the small, gray stone was overgrown
-with lichens and mosses, and I remember the
-solitary pathway when but a child.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Uncle Tom was not rich, but he had enough to
-satisfy all his wants. He had always lived with us
-since my remembrance, and we all had a mysterious
-love and veneration for him, which we could but half
-explain. His little room on the south-west corner of
-the house we never entered without a special invitation;
-not because we stood in any fear of him, but because
-we respected his quiet, half-eccentric manner,
-and were not willing to disturb his solitary studies and
-meditations. We were often invited there of an
-evening, for Uncle Tom liked to have young, happy
-people around him. He used to say it made him young
-again, and caused his silver hairs to hide themselves;
-and he thought a man should always have the heart
-of a child, no matter how much experience and life-labor
-had whitened his head.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During our visits to his study, we were at liberty to
-handle every thing which came within our reach, and
-the room was generally in a sweet confusion when we
-left it. Yet this did not trouble him, it rather pleased
-him the more. In truth he was so good-natured that
-nothing could vex him; and I remember one evening
-when he pulled sister Ruth’s doll out of his great horn
-inkstand, where it stood, heels upward, like a pearl-diver,
-his only exclamation was, “Just as I used to be—children
-all over!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Directly opposite the great arm-chair, where he
-usually sat during the day, hung a picture; yet it was
-not for us to see. A plain blue curtain was always
-drawn over it, which hung as silently, and always in
-the same folds, as if it had not been withdrawn for
-many years. I knew it was the portrait of a young
-girl, and very beautiful; for one evening, when, according
-to invitation, we were in the study playing the
-mischief with every thing that came under our hands,
-a slight breeze from the west window fluttered and
-raised the curtain, and revealed the picture to me by
-the dim light of the study-lamp. I, of course, did
-not know who it was intended to represent, but it
-was always connected in my mind with the solitary
-path to the church-yard; and I always thought of her
-as the Mary of the little gray stone; yet I never spoke
-of it to any one, not even sister Ruth. It seemed
-something sacred, something which I ought not to
-know, and that the knowledge thus accidentally acquired
-ought not to be divulged by me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the pleasantest thing of all was, when Uncle
-Tom came down into the kitchen of a winter’s evening,
-and told one of the beautiful stories which he could
-relate so well. Ah! no one could tell stories like
-Uncle Tom. He would enter into the subject so
-earnestly, that we took every thing for truth, and
-laughed or cried, as the nature of the case demanded;
-and many a time in the midst of a sad passage, my
-father has let the fire go out of his pipe before it was
-half smoked, and I have seen the tears stream down
-sister Ruth’s cheek, and heard her sob as if some great
-misfortune were hanging over some one of us; and I
-have known Uncle Tom’s voice to grow tremulous;
-and his lip quiver, as if something in the narrative lay
-near his heart, but by a powerful effort he would always
-master his feelings and go calmly on with his story.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I shall try to report some of these stories at second
-hand, narrating carefully as my memory serves, always
-in Uncle Tom’s words; but they will be nothing so
-good as when he, with his low musical voice and
-earnest manner, related them to our little family, who,
-in likening silence formed a half circle around the
-huge walnut logs that blazed and simmered on the
-kitchen hearth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was the last night of December, and the north
-wind howled around the chimney, and the icicles
-clattered on the eaves and dropped against the casement
-with a tip-tap, like wayfarers asking admittance.
-A great fire of logs was blazing on the hearth, and the
-half circle was almost formed. On one side of the
-fire-place sat father, double-shotting his black tobacco-pipe.
-Next him was mother, just turning the heel of
-a stocking. Sister Ruth occupied the next chair, and
-she was very busy working a wash-woman’s register
-on the top of a bachelor’s pincushion; beside her sat
-the bachelor for whom this piece of domestic goods
-was working. He was a cousin, and bore the family
-name—Charley, we called him. He and Ruth seemed
-<span class='pageno' title='62' id='Page_62'></span>
-to enjoy each other’s society very much, and passed
-the greater part of their leisure time together. My
-place was next to Cousin Charley, and on my left hand
-the vacant arm-chair was waiting for Uncle Tom—to
-complete the family circle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length the door opened, and the pleasant old man
-appeared. He entered rubbing his hands and smiling
-most benignantly. Every chair moved about an inch,
-as if to make room for him, though each one knew
-there was room enough already. Father lighted his
-pipe, and mother turned the heel; sister Ruth left off
-her embroidery in the middle of “shirts,” and Cousin
-Charley gave his chair a hitch nearer to her, while I
-sat quite still. Even the blazing logs on the fire gave
-an extra hiss and flare, as if they, too, were making
-preparations to listen attentively. Uncle Tom, with a
-few pleasant words, and a great many pleasant smiles,
-took his accustomed seat and commenced the evening
-entertainment in these words:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>About five miles from Boston, on one of the great
-thoroughfares leading to the city, there used to stand
-an old-fashioned country-seat. It was placed somewhat
-back from the road, and screened from the dust
-by a thick-set hawthorn-hedge, which grew as straight
-and regular as brick-work. The walks within were
-laid out with the same regularity and neatness, and
-lead with many a labyrinthine turn through the whole
-premises. Now it took you by an oval pond, where
-the bright scales of gold fish glanced in the sun; now
-among flower-beds formed into Catharine-wheels and
-gothic crosses; then away among groves and trellises
-almost impervious to the sun. There were a great
-many beautiful things that I shall not attempt to tell you
-of. Every thing was beautiful, and proclaimed a
-wealthy proprietor, even to the silver plate on the front
-door, bearing in bold writing-hand, the name, “John
-Maynard.” He was rich—John Maynard was a retired
-merchant. In the full flush of commercial prosperity,
-his beloved wife had fallen into the quiet sleep
-of death. After that, business grew irksome to him;
-he could not bear the busy hum of the city; the home
-where he had been happy, was so no more to him;
-and taking with him his oldest and most trusty clerk,
-he, with his only child, Alice, removed to this quiet
-spot. The care of his property was left almost entirely
-to his tried and honest clerk, David Deans; his
-own time was occupied either in his study or in the
-society of his daughter, who, being an only child, was,
-of course, indulged in all her little whims and fancies,
-until she had assumed the reins of government, and
-was nearly spoiled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One evening Mr. Maynard, or Old John, as he was
-familiarly called, sat on the western piazza as the sun
-was setting. He looked the hale and hearty old gentleman,
-one before whom care and trouble would
-vanish like the thin spiral clouds of cigar smoke, which
-ever and anon he puffed from between his lips. Yet
-withal he had a look of determination, something
-which said he would have things his own way when
-he desired it; and yet he had a way of gaining his ends
-so pleasantly and adroitly, that no one knew his intentions
-until they were accomplished.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Puff, puff, there he sat smoking away and thinking
-of something very pleasant, no doubt, for a smile would
-occasionally play round the corners of his mouth, and
-he would rub his hands together with infinite satisfaction.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Soon a light step was heard in the hall, and his
-daughter, Alice, appeared.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Everybody said Alice was a beauty; and so far
-everybody told the truth. Her dark hair and dark
-eyes, and delicate complexion would win many a
-heart that had sworn eternal hostility to her sex. And
-then she was as full of life as of beauty, and had such
-winning ways, that nothing could resist her. She inherited
-from her father a slight vein of willfulness, and
-it was really a pleasure to see them contending together,
-Old John in his humorous, quiet way, bringing up irresistible
-arguments, and she, dashing them all to pieces
-by the most illogical processes imaginable; and he
-would generally laugh and let her have her own way.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Papa,” said she, “why did you send David Deans
-away? I’m sure it was very cruel of you. He has
-lived with us so long, and is so quiet and industrious!
-I’m sure it will break his heart. And then, besides,
-his poor sister will have to go into service again. It is
-too bad, I declare⁠—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now don’t, Ally,” said Old John, passing his
-arm quietly around his daughter’s waist, and talking
-in the best humor imaginable, “don’t trouble yourself
-about David. What do you know about business?
-You take care of the women-servants, and see that
-we have tea on the table by seven o’clock exactly, for
-I expect the new clerk every minute. I’ll take care
-of David⁠—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know I shan’t like the new clerk,” said she,
-pouting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, who wants you to like him, little minx?”
-said Old John, at the same time drawing her closer to
-him, and giving her a hearty kiss.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But I shall hate him,” continued she, determined
-to be obstinate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, hate him if you will,” replied her father, not
-in the least angry; “but I can tell you he is a very
-lively fellow, and not accustomed to be hated by the
-ladies. However, you had better hate him. You must
-reserve all your love for Harry Wilson, you know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that dreadful Harry Wilson,” exclaimed Alice,
-struggling to throw off her father’s arm, by which he
-still held her in close confinement. “Pray don’t talk
-of him again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And why not?” said Old John; “he is to be your
-husband, you know.” And a smile, half merry, half
-serious, played over his features as he said this. “His
-father and I were old schoolmates, and he would die
-of grief if he thought we were not to be brothers
-after all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“His son and I were never old schoolmates, at all
-events,” exclaimed Alice, still struggling, but in vain.
-Old John held her fast, and his merry face settled into
-a serious, earnest expression as he added,</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Besides, he once saved my life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice answered nothing. There was something in
-the manner in which he said these words, as well as
-in the meaning of the words themselves, which completely
-subdued her. The tears beamed in her beautiful
-<span class='pageno' title='63' id='Page_63'></span>
-dark eyes; she threw her arms round his neck
-and rested her head on his shoulder; her long, black
-locks streamed over his bosom—yet she said nothing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Old John drew her closer to him and kissed her
-tenderly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There, Ally, dear,” he said, “we wont talk any
-more about it now. I know you will do all you can
-to make your old father happy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Still she said nothing, but clung very close to him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She was a good girl, was Alice, only a little willful.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A servant entered, announcing Mr. Davis. This was
-the new clerk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Conduct him this way,” said Mr. Maynard.
-“Come, Ally, don’t let him surprise us in a family
-quarrel. We must make his first impressions good
-ones.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Things were put to rights in less time than it takes
-to tell of it, and the new clerk approached them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Glad to see you, Walter,” exclaimed Old John,
-grasping the new comer’s hand, and looking a cordial
-welcome. “Ally, this is Walter Davis, the new clerk.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Notwithstanding her determination to hate him, she
-smiled very pleasantly as he took her hand, and her
-welcome word was said with a very good grace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The new clerk was apparently about twenty-two
-years of age, rather tall, but well formed; he was
-dressed in a very plain suit—becoming his situation;
-and yet there was something noble about him for all
-that. You could see it in the firmly compressed lips,
-the deep, thoughtful eye, and the easy, manly bearing.
-He certainly was not the person one would choose
-to hate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice was much surprised at his general personal
-appearance and demeanor. Her ideas of a clerk were
-all formed from the quiet, unpretending David Deans,
-who had almost grown old in their service. She forgot
-that the new comer was at present a visiter, not yet
-having entered upon his clerkship. At the tea-table,
-too, she observed how perfectly easy and composed he
-seemed. He could answer questions without blushing,
-and ask others without stammering. There was a
-straightforwardness about him, which seemed to win
-upon her father wonderfully, and he never seemed in
-a more pleasant mood than then. There was something
-in his manner so dignified and gentlemanly that
-she, too, could not help reacting him, although in
-her good-night to her father, she added, “I’m sure I
-shall hate him for taking poor David’s place.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wait a bit, Brother Tom,” interrupted father—“pipe’s
-out.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said Uncle Tom, “while Brother Bill is
-lighting his pipe, we will glide over two months and
-make ready for a new chapter.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Two months had passed away, and affairs went on
-swimmingly at the country-seat. Old John seemed to
-find his new clerk a remarkably pleasant companion,
-and passed much of his time in the little counting-room.
-He was fast growing into the good graces of
-Miss Alice too; for true manliness will always find
-its way into every heart. She began to like him very
-much, and seemed pleased to have him near her; and
-indeed would sometimes meet his advances more than
-half way. Perhaps, like a dutiful daughter, she followed
-her father’s example, and liked the clerk because
-he did, or perhaps she thought he must be very
-lonely, and took compassion on him: How this may
-be I cannot tell; but I do know that she liked him, and
-liked him very well too, as might be seen by any one
-who observed her. She often walked in the direction
-of the counting-room, which stood at some little distance
-from the house, and frequently sat with her embroidery
-in the trellised arbor that overlooked it. The
-flowers, too, which always ornamented her parlor-mantle,
-were generally gathered from the beds in this
-part of the garden, although they were not half so
-fragrant or pretty as those which grew nearer the
-house. Indeed, she had found it necessary once or
-twice to open the counting-room, and actually go in
-when no one but the young clerk was there; and at such
-times he received her with such a frank, cordial greeting,
-and talked so pleasantly to her, that she would
-gladly have changed her arbor boudoir for this little
-room, crowded with business and ponderous ledgers
-as it was. And once, when the clerk left her for a
-moment, she actually climbed upon the long-legged
-desk-stool, to see if it were really as uncomfortable as
-it looked to be; at least so she said, when he, returning
-suddenly, surprised her on that high perch. But
-he helped her down so gently, and gallantly, that she
-would have been willing to try the experiment often,
-even if it were as uncomfortable as it looked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She was always delighted whenever Walter requested
-the pleasure of her company through the
-grounds. She would take his arm without any unnecessary
-coquetry, and full of life and love they would
-thread every walk of the labyrinth, not excepting the
-Catharine-wheels and the gothic arches. In the grove
-they would listen to the songs of the birds, and together
-wonder what they were saying to each other,
-and invent many strange translations, interesting to
-none but themselves. They would stand long on the
-edge of the pond, and Alice leaned heavily on the
-clerk’s arm, you may be sure, as they watched the
-gold-fish darting across the little basin so rapidly that
-the whole surface of the water seemed marked with
-red lines. He gathered flowers for her, too, as they
-walked leisurely along, and each bouquet thus formed
-was, to her, a whole book of love, each flower telling
-its own particular tale. As the sun touched the horizon
-they would climb up to the arbor, while the birds
-sung their “good-night,” and watch the bright colors
-grow and fade upon the western sky, and build landscapes
-and cathedrals and cottages of the ever-changing
-clouds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet in his conversations with her, Walter was never
-sickly sentimental or flattering. He always spoke just
-what he felt; and sometimes a plump, downright
-honest thought would find itself clothed in words,
-which many would call coarse and ill-bred; but from
-him they came so frankly that she never thought of
-such a thing, but liked him the more for them. He
-never flattered her, never told her how beautiful she
-was, but his whole manner was a tacit acknowledgment
-of her beauty, truer and plainer than words could
-<span class='pageno' title='64' id='Page_64'></span>
-express it. And Alice was as simple, and talked as
-plainly to him as if he had been a brother.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>O, those evening walks were beautiful to both, but
-they were laying a foundation for something deeper
-and more lasting than common friendship, notwithstanding
-Harry Wilson and the two good fathers.
-Their natures were gradually blending into each other
-like two neighboring colors of the rainbow, and the
-line between them would soon become extinct, and a
-separation must be the destruction of both. It was
-very strange that Old John, with his brotherly intentions
-toward Harry Wilson’s father, didn’t observe
-this, for he often surprised them earnestly conversing
-in the sunset arbor, long after the dews had begun to
-fall and the birds had ceased their evening song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He must indeed have been very dull and stupid, not
-to observe that something was going on between the
-two young people, that would play the deuce with his
-darling project. But no, he didn’t seem to; for he
-was never in better spirits than then, never half so
-talkative or playful. He evidently did not think his
-cherished scheme was about to miscarry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One evening he and the clerk sat on the piazza together.
-The parlor windows were open, and Alice
-sat at the piano and played to them. Old John began
-to talk about the business transactions of the day, and
-seemed particularly delighted at certain good news
-which he had heard, and which he had just finished
-relating to the clerk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Remarkable, isn’t it?” he exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But he might as well have talked to the plaster statue
-of Neptune which stood on the green before him,
-as to the young clerk. He was either listening attentively
-to the music, or else his thoughts were far away,
-for he took no notice of what Old John said to him,
-but sat silent, his head leaning upon his hand and his
-eyes fixed upon vacancy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hey! what’s all this?” exclaimed Old John, starting
-up and shaking the clerk’s arm. “What! dreaming
-by moonlight! A bad sign—very bad sign—too
-romantic by half! Here, Ally—Ally! come here directly,”
-he continued, shouting to his daughter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Walter started up and would have prevented him,
-but he continued to call, and soon the piano ceased to
-sound, and Alice made her appearance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What do you want, papa?” she asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here is this fellow,” he answered, “falling asleep
-in the midst of our conversation; dreaming by moonlight!
-I want you to keep him awake.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I beg pardon, sir,” said the clerk, attempting an
-excuse, “but I was thinking⁠—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, but that wont do,” said Old John, “I was talking.
-However, I will tell you how we will make it
-up. You shall sing that duet with Alice; the one you
-sung last night, and mind you don’t go to sleep before
-it is finished, or—” and he finished the sentence with
-a shake of the finger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will undertake it willingly,” said the clerk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Walter moved his chair closer by the side of Alice,
-and took his seat. But there was still a difficulty;
-neither of them could determine on the right pitch.
-Alice ran and struck a note on the piano, and returned
-sounding it all the way. She sat down, and her hand
-involuntarily fell upon Walter’s; he pressed it in his
-own, and the duet commenced.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Both the words and the music were very simple;
-they were the expression of love, pure and holy; and
-never did they sing better. Walter’s whole soul was
-thrown into the words, and his heart beat to the sounds
-his lips uttered. A slight pressure of her hand expressed
-to Alice how truly, how deeply he felt the
-beauty of love, and her voice trembled as she sung,
-adding still more to the music.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was silence for a short time after the sound
-of their voices had ceased. It seemed Old John’s turn
-to dream now. The beautiful music had called up old,
-happy scenes to his mind; perhaps the thoughts of his
-youth and first-love were leading him far away; for
-he sat silently, with his hand drawn across his eyes,
-as if to shade them from the moonlight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice approached him, and drew her arm around
-his neck. He started as if from a trance, and said—“That
-was well, very well. I like that music. There,
-now, Ally, you and Walter take a walk through the
-grounds. I’ll light a cigar, and sit here by myself, and—And
-dream! hey, Walter!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice left him with a kiss, and taking Walter’s arm
-they disappeared round an angle of the building, and
-walked onward toward their favorite arbor. Every
-thing was silent around them; the glowing leaves
-hanging motionless upon the trees, and the many-colored
-flowers, all seemed listening, as if to some
-revelation of the night. The fish-pond was one entire
-sheet of silver; not a ripple disturbed its peaceful surface;
-and the soft moonlight streamed through the
-chinks of the vines and gothic trees, and checkered the
-pathway and the floor of the arbor, as the sunbeams
-shining through stained cathedral windows rest on the
-pavement. The arbor was their chancel, and there
-the two lovers stood side by side as if before an altar;
-and there Walter told Alice how deeply, how truly he
-loved her; how often he had sat alone since they had
-known each other, and yet not been lonely, for her
-image had always been present to comfort and to
-counsel him; how he had longed for the time to come
-when he could make this confession to her, when he
-could press her to his bosom as the dearly beloved
-one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice did not speak. She was always silent when
-she felt most deeply; but her silence was singularly
-eloquent. She did not attempt to withdraw the little
-hand which he held so tightly. She did not try to remove
-the arm that encircled her waist. Her head lay
-upon his bosom, and she wept for very joy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now what had become of Old John’s brotherly
-scheme? The rainbow hues were now completely
-blended.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Soon after the two lovers had turned toward the
-house, Old John came stealing cautiously through a
-neighboring path, where he had been an accidental,
-though perhaps not an unwilling listener.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” he exclaimed in a half whisper, rubbing
-his hands and smiling most merrily. “I shall hate
-him, I am sure,” he added, mimicking Alice. “Good!”
-And again he rubbed his hands and smiled with infinite
-satisfaction.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='pageno' title='65' id='Page_65'></span>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The summer had passed away, and autumn was
-spreading its rich mantle of yellow leaves over the
-trees and shrubs of the old country-seat. The birds
-were collecting together in troops, for their journey to
-warmer lands, and their songs above the arbor were
-sadder than when we last listened to them. The
-golden fruit hung temptingly upon the trees, and on the
-smooth surface of the fish-pond floated many a withered
-leaf. The year was growing old, and its rich covering
-of foliage was becoming gray and falling off, yet in
-the hearts of Walter and Alice love was as green and
-as warm as on the bright summer evening when they
-made their mutual confessions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They had not yet made Old John their <a id='conf'></a>confidant;
-they were waiting for a convenient season. And he,
-though he must have known something of their intercourse,
-never asked any questions, or seemed at all
-curious about the matter, but conducted himself in his
-usual quiet way. Indeed, he did occasionally speak
-of their close communion, but always in a merry, jesting
-way, and no one could suspect him of knowing
-how affairs really stood with them. At least his
-knowledge did not make him unhappy, for the merry
-twinkle was still in his eye, and the smiles still played
-round his mouth. In the little walks and excursions
-which they took together, Alice was always assigned
-to the clerk. Old John said he preferred to walk alone;
-then he could swing his cane in any direction without
-being scolded, and could climb over a fence, instead of
-going half a mile to find a place to crawl through, or a
-stile, for the convenience of a lady companion. Walter,
-as may be supposed, was very willing to free him
-from this incumbrance, and did not mind the half mile
-walks in search of a stile, as long as Alice was hanging
-on his arm. They had a great many things to talk
-about, which was of no consequence to any but themselves,
-and were glad of the opportunity to remove
-out of earshot, which this stile hunting afforded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One morning the clerk appeared equipped for traveling.
-Business of some kind or other called him, for a
-short time, to another part of the country.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He and Alice were alone in the breakfast-room.
-He explained to her the necessity of his departure, and
-consoled her with the assurance that his absence would
-not continue more than a week at the most. He had
-just time to place a plain ring on her finger, and steal
-one tender, silent kiss from her rosy lips, when Old
-John entered, announcing the coach at the door.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In a few minutes he was seated in the vehicle.
-Good-byes were repealed, and soon he was rolling
-away on the dusty road toward the city.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice stood at the window and watched until the
-top of the coach had disappeared behind an angle of
-the road, and the last sound of the rumbling wheels
-had died away. Then the thought and feelings that
-had followed him as far as the senses could guide
-them, seemed to fall back upon herself, and she felt
-oppressed by the silence and utter solitude that reigned
-around.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That was a weary day to Alice. This was her first
-love, and their first separation. Her father was busy
-with his affairs and could not attend to her; so she
-was thrown entirely upon her own resources, and
-heavily the hours dragged along in mournful procession.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Often days had passed and she had not seen Walter
-but for a few moments, yet then she knew he was
-near. And now she sat down and tried to fancy him
-sitting quietly at his desk; but it wouldn’t do—she
-knew better. She walked down by the counting-room
-and gathered the flowers as she had often done before,
-but they had lost their fragrance, and their colors
-seemed faded. The gold-fish stood still in the pond,
-and she mistook them at times for the leaves that lay
-in the water; they too had faded. She sat in the pleasant
-arbor, and looked westward over the beautiful
-landscape, but a veil seemed drawn before it, and the
-rich and variegated hues which, dolphin-like, the forest
-had assumed while dying, to her eyes, seemed blended
-into a dead, cold brown. So true it is that the sense
-takes its tone from the soul.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So the day passed and the belated evening came
-slowly on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do, pray, Ally, put off that sad face,” said Old
-John to her, as they sat at the tea-table. “Why you
-look ten times more woful than the Italian beggars fresh
-from an <a id='erupt'></a>eruption of Vesuvius. Do try to smile a little.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She did try to look cheerful, but at first it tasked all
-her powers, yet her father’s raillery and merry laugh
-were not to be resisted, and in a little while the cloud
-seemed to have passed entirely away, and she was as
-cheerful as ever. Sometimes she would fall back into
-the silent, thoughtful mood, yet it was only for a moment,
-and the evening passed pleasantly. Then came
-the affectionate kiss, and the kind good-night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To Alice it was a good-night, indeed. Good angels
-watched by her pillow, and her dreams were beautiful.
-One time she was walking along the garden paths, and
-heard the birds singing sweetly above her head, and
-saw the flowers in their most beautiful dress. She
-drew near the pond, and it was all alive with gold
-fish; and the whole surface seemed drawn with red
-lines; sometimes they formed charming pictures—trees,
-gardens and villages seemed to pass over the
-water like a moving diorama. All the people she had
-ever seen seemed to be moving about there, some
-doing one thing, and some another, but all happy. As
-she looked attentively, the surface seemed to grow
-mysteriously calm, and the red lines to disappear.
-Then as mysteriously it began to grow troubled, circular
-waves forming at the centre, and rolling toward
-the shore in every direction. Then suddenly from the
-middle of the pond, a most beautiful fairy figure arose
-and beckoned her near. The fairy gave her a plain,
-gold ring, and told her never to part with it; for she
-said it was the gift of happiness, and while she wore
-that upon her finger, heavy misfortunes should never
-visit her. Then a loud voice under water seemed to
-call the fairy a “little minx,” and bid her come down
-immediately, for breakfast was waiting. Then she
-disappeared, the water became calm, and Alice awoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Was that a dream?” she asked herself, in amazement.
-There was the ring on her finger—the fairy’s
-gift of happiness; and the voice was still calling some
-one to breakfast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a long time before she could collect her scattered
-<span class='pageno' title='66' id='Page_66'></span>
-senses enough to realize that she had just waked
-from a strange dream, and the voice was that of her
-father calling her. When the truth did dawn upon her,
-she laughed immoderately, and could not help saying
-repeatedly, that “it was <span class='it'>very</span> funny.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was much past her usual hour of rising, when in
-her simple morning-dress she appeared at the breakfast-table.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, Ally, dear, I thought you never would come
-down,” said her father. “I have been waiting this—I
-don’t know how long, and called you—I don’t know
-how many times. The omelet and coffee are both
-as cold as Greenland, I’ll be bound.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It isn’t so very late, papa, is it?” inquired Alice;
-“besides, I have had such a funny dream—O, it was
-perfectly delightful.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, never mind, dear, pour out the coffee before
-it gets later.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She poured out the coffee, still thinking of her strange
-dream. It was so funny that she could not help thinking
-of it; but her lips would never have wreathed that
-happy smile if she could have known the trial that
-awaited her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ally, do you know what day to-morrow will be?”
-he asked, while his face wore a very doubtful, half
-merry, half serious expression. It was something like
-the sun trying to break through a fog, for he tried to
-look cheerful.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice paused a moment as if in thought, then suddenly
-exclaimed, “I declare, it is my birthday, and I
-had almost forgotten it. It was very good of my dear
-papa to remind me of such good news, after I had kept
-him waiting so long for his breakfast,” she added,
-playfully.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But do you know who I expect to-morrow?” he
-continued.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was her turn now to look doubtful and perplexed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Ally,” he said, “this afternoon Harry Wilson
-and my old schoolmate, his father, will be here. You
-must save all your good looks for Harry, for I expect
-you will fall in love with him at first sight.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was really with much pain that Old John made
-this announcement, though he spoke it in as cheerful
-a manner as possible, for he knew the effect it would
-have on his daughter. He seemed to make it more
-from a sense of duty than pleasure, as it were something
-which must be told sooner or later; and more
-clouds gathered about his honest face than had been
-seen there since the death of his wife, when he saw
-the effect it had upon Alice. The cheerful smiles
-vanished from her face; the color came and went, and
-came and went, and at length left her deadly pale.
-Her hand trembled and her voice quivered, as she attempted
-in vain to make some cheerful remark.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At least you will try to like him, for my sake,
-wont you, Ally, dear?” said her father.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She uttered a faint “yes”—so faint that it might have
-been “no,” for all Old John heard; and pleading some
-excuse, left the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bad business, this,” said her father, after he was
-left alone, and talking as if to some invisible friend.
-“Bad business!” and whistling a doleful strain of a
-doleful tune, he also left the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And Alice, poor Alice, she felt lonely enough as she
-sat alone in her little room. Thoughts of the dream
-that had made her so cheerful but a short time before,
-now pressed like an incubus upon her breast. She
-knew how much her father was attached to his old
-schoolmate, Mr. Wilson, and how much he desired
-the union of their two families. It had long been
-talked of, but always as something which was about
-to happen at some distant, indefinite time; and though
-many years had passed since they first began to talk
-of it, it still seemed as indefinite and far from accomplishment
-as ever; and she never thought to trouble
-herself about it; but now the event seemed to spring
-up like a phantom directly before her; and so sudden
-had been the announcement that she knew not what
-to do.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now the hours seemed to glide by as if they
-were double-winged. The old entry clock seemed to
-her as she sat in her silent chamber, to tick faster and
-faster until at last it broke into an actual gallop. If <span class='it'>he</span>
-were only here, she thought, as her eye fell upon the
-ring which the clerk had placed on her finger. And
-more than once she determined to go down to her
-father and confess all; then she thought of the old
-schoolmate that had saved his life, and her courage
-failed her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She started as the clock told eleven.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was past noon, and Old John was waiting anxiously
-for her appearance in the drawing-room; and
-his heart beat with strange emotions as he heard her
-light footfall on the stairs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She was very pale when she entered the room, and
-the traces of recent tears were in her eyes. Yet she
-had never looked more beautiful, never more lovely.
-She was dressed in simple white, and a single white
-rose was braided in her dark hair. Old John could not
-see her thus dejected without being moved, and the
-dark cloud spread over his countenance. She saw it, and
-assuming a cheerfulness which she did not feel, drew
-her arm around his neck, and kissed him <a id='affect'></a>affectionately.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There, Ally, dear,” he said, “don’t be cast down.
-It will all come right in the end. I say it shall. Do
-sit down to the piano and sing a cheerful song. Yes,
-sing the one that Walter liked so well.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was like asking the Israelites to sing songs of their
-home, while captives in Babylon; yet she did sing,
-though her voice trembled so much that it was with
-difficulty she finished the song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t take it so much to heart, dear,” said Old
-John. “I say, if you don’t like him, he shan’t have
-you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They were interrupted by the sound of wheels rolling
-up the avenue. How her little heart beat and
-fluttered then. A carriage stopped before the door.
-Old John’s eye glistened with delight, as if relief had
-come at length. A step was heard in the passage.
-The door opened, and there stood—Walter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Alice started to her feet, and stood gazing vacantly
-at him, uncertain what to do.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wont you speak to Harry Wilson?” shouted Old
-John, at the top of his voice, and giving a hysterical
-kind of laugh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then the truth flashed upon her. With a cry of joy
-<span class='pageno' title='67' id='Page_67'></span>
-she rushed into his arms, and nestling her head in his
-bosom, wept like a child—but they were tears of joy.
-Her overstrained feelings found a happy relief. The
-dark cloud of sorrow passed away and the sun shone
-in all its glory.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Old John capered round the room like a madman,
-and declared he had never seen any thing half so pleasant
-in all his life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But it was very cruel of you, dear papa,” said
-Alice, kissing him tenderly, after the first effusions of
-joy were over.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know it was, Ally, dear,” exclaimed Old John,
-willing to be blamed for any thing now. “I know it
-was. But you are such a willful little thing that I was
-afraid you wouldn’t like him, and I had set my heart
-upon it. I have been tempted more than twenty times
-to confess the whole and ask your forgiveness, when I
-saw you look so miserable. Yes, Ally, I came very
-near spoiling the whole this morning at breakfast. But
-never mind, it’s all right now; confess, isn’t it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yes, indeed, it was all right! And Alice, in her silent,
-eloquent way, soon convinced him that she thought so.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again the door opened, and Harry Wilson senior entered.
-He knew the whole affair, and had only waited
-on the outside until the first scene should be over.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Cordial was the greeting between the old schoolmates.
-Smiles, congratulations, and merry words
-passed freely; every eye glistened with joy, and all
-went merry as a marriage bell.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Shall I enter that note at five or six per cents.?”
-asked some one at the side-door. There stood David
-Deans, with a pen behind his ear and another in his
-hand—his usual way of ornamenting himself—and
-looking as blank and cool as if nothing had happened.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t enter it with any per cent., you old miser!”
-said Old John, patting him familiarly on the back.
-“We don’t charge interest this year.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>David walked off with a broad grin operating powerfully
-upon his countenance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He understood the trick, did David.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was a sweet dream under each pillow that
-night; and the birth-day on which Alice thought to be
-miserable, was the happiest of her life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bless me, Brother Bill!” exclaimed Uncle Tom,
-“if you aint smoking nothing but dust and ashes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I declare, I believe you are right,” answered my
-father, somewhat confused, and making a careful examination
-of his pipe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good-nights!” were passed, and we all went to
-bed with happy hearts.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk138'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i163.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0009' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Painted by Brockdon</span> &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'>NATURE’S TRIUMPH.</span><br/><br/>Engraved Expressly for Graham’s Magazine</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk139'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='table'></a>EDITOR’S TABLE.</h1></div>
-
-<hr class='tbk140'/>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>NATURE’S TRIUMPH.</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'>[SEE ENGRAVING.]</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Great men were they of olden time; men with far-reaching
-and strong, grasping minds—men, too, of discrimination
-in what they gathered—“teach them selection,
-not collection,” was the word—and they prepared for us
-of this distant age monuments to excite admiration and
-insure awe; monuments which, while they exhibit what
-man is capable of doing, seem, by the perfection of their
-form and the adaptation of their parts, to check all spirit
-of imitation; monuments which denote all variety of
-mental exercise and all the adaptation of physical powers.
-It is not alone the chisel of Phidias working out the marble
-in a thousand forms, more beautiful than the human
-pattern—it is not alone the pencil of Zeuxis that fixed on
-canvas the flitting beauties of the field and grove—it is not
-alone the vast machinery that piled stone upon stone to
-finish the pyramids. Mind speaking to mind has uttered
-its powers, and has claimed of the present, wonder for the
-past; History and Poetry have embalmed the actions of
-the great, or expressed the devotion of the good, and
-assured us of the lofty resolves and great deeds of men of
-other years. The beauty of the ancient mind, however,
-is to be detected by the uses and adaptation of ordinary
-incidents—bending them to moral instruction by making
-them illustrative of some principle—patriotism, religion,
-social duty and domestic relations, or some deeply hidden
-power, which sudden emotion, strong impulse, or unexpected
-dilemma, is to call into action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Take the following, which is some where extant. We
-give only the statement of the asserted fact. We have
-no copy of the narrative.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Leucippe was gathering the small delicate flowers which
-blossomed over the dampness of a rock that beetled far
-into the sea, and held its cold brow high above the waves
-breaking eternally at its base. It was a lovely spot, cool,
-fragrant, health-giving, and she took with her her little
-child, the only blessing which had been spared. For one
-moment the love of the beautiful of nature, the interest
-of collecting, triumphed over maternal vigilance. She
-turned, however, from the little harvest of sweets, and
-saw her boy bending over the edge of the rock, regardless
-of all danger, hopeful of only a single beautiful flower
-that blossomed on the very edge of the steep. One word
-of fear from the mother, one sudden movement toward
-the child would have disturbed his balance, and he must
-have toppled down beyond all hope of recovery even of
-the lifeless form. No time was left for calculation, no
-good could result from active efforts. With unspeakable
-anguish the mother saw the danger, with the promptness
-of woman’s judgment she rejected the ordinary means of
-safety; with the instincts of a mother’s heart she threw
-herself gently forward, and bared her bosom to the child,
-and lured him gently back to nestle on his own home of
-comfort, and draw life from the sympathetic founts that
-gushed to his honeyed lips. It was the triumph of nature,
-and the story seems to have inspired the artist for this
-month. A beautiful illustration, while the picture itself
-has suggested a title happily expressive of the idea conveyed
-in the anecdote, “Nature’s Triumph.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But such a story, so full of instruction, so pregnant
-with moral hints, should not be allowed to pass without
-an improvement, that may make it more and more beneficial.
-The experiment and the result may be properly
-styled the triumph of nature, for the deep solicitude of
-the mother, and especially her prompt expedient, are as
-much the movement of nature as is the affection in
-which they originated; and the attraction of the exposed
-bosom for the exposed child, was as much the gift
-of nature as was the hidden food which that bosom secreted
-and stored.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But we love to consider the success of Leucippe as the
-“Triumph of <span class='it'>Affection</span>,” not less than the “Triumph of
-<span class='pageno' title='68' id='Page_68'></span>
-Nature.” It is <span class='it'>both</span>, as it is differently considered; it is
-either, in many ways regarded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Would the child, amused as it was with the flowers
-that jutted out from the rock’s impending edge, and
-pleased with the species of independence which its movements
-and new position signified, would the child have
-been lured by the exhibition of any other bosom than that
-of its mother? Had a stranger discovered the little adventurer,
-and being like Leucippe, conscious of the danger
-of calling aloud, of startling the child by any approach,
-had she bared her bosom, would not the infant have turned
-away without interest from the exhibition, and pursued
-its new occupation of flower gathering? Undoubtedly
-the unknown, who had from <span class='it'>prudence</span> done what <span class='it'>affection</span>
-suggested to Leucippe, would have seen at once that she
-lacked the attractive power, that there was no sympathy
-between her and the child. She might have felt all that a
-woman can feel for the lovely infant of another—thus dangerously
-situated—but the infant itself would not have
-been influenced by a corresponding sympathy; it would
-have lacked that affection necessary to a proper response
-to the exhibition.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The triumph, then, is one of affection sympathizing with
-affection; corresponding love answering with miraculous
-organ, and instructing the great and good of all subsequent
-times by the promptings of a mother’s instincts, and the
-sympathies of an infant’s feelings. “Out of the mouths
-of babes and sucklings.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was struck a few months since with the distress that
-was bearing down an intimate friend, and he made me the
-<a id='dant'></a>confidant of his sorrows, and of their cause. The young
-offender had forgotten the respect due to his parents; he
-had forgotten or disregarded the <span class='it'>respect</span> which he owed to
-the beautiful fame which had come down to him unsullied
-through several generations; family pride, instead of exhibiting
-itself in supporting the long-descended credit, was
-visible in a sort of obstinate adherence to some misconceived
-ideas of <span class='it'>self</span>-importance; he was ruining his own
-health, and was fast approaching the precipice over which
-his passions, or rather let me say, his <span class='it'>passion</span>, would soon
-hurry him. His father had, at times, severely chid the
-wayward youth, and the mother had, day by day, warned
-him of his danger, so that he had by his false estimate of
-filial duties and parental care, rather been accelerated in
-his progress toward the line of destruction. A change
-was suggested in the mode of dealing—his own danger
-was not pointed out, but his attention was attracted back
-upon those whom he had loved—and had left; he saw
-whence he had derived all that delight to childhood, and
-he turned back to the fountain of affection which had
-gushed anew; and the birds of prey that had been hovering
-round the precipice where he hung were disappointed of
-their quarry. Those, who had wheeled around him with
-pliant wing and open beak, hopeful of spoil, screamed
-their disappointment in their filthy eyrie, and confessed
-their defeat in the triumph of nature and affection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I know well that the voice of kindness, uttered to the
-erring, is often disregarded or despised, but less owing to
-the want of power in the instrument, than in the want of
-preparation in the object. So much of anger is manifested
-toward the vicious, that they grow suspicious of every
-exhibition of feeling in their behalf. You who would lure
-them back to virtue, must not pause at a single token of
-kind feeling; repeat the words of consolation; remember
-that the very fault which you would correct may have
-brought a part of the obstinacy which you deplore—remove
-the obstinacy by kindness, and thus open a channel
-to the source of the fault. He who would reclaim the
-vicious must lay his account to find the moral system
-reached in almost all its parts by those faults which by their
-prominency seem to be the only ones that appeal for
-remedy; and the failure of one measure must invite to another;
-if one experiment lacks effect, strengthen it by
-another; do not work with single means—it is false
-economy. Leucippe bared both breasts to her wandering
-infant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Conjugal affection disturbed by some <a id='occ'></a>occurrences which
-are unbecoming, and yet seem unavoidable, is not to be
-lessened by argument to prove either party right or wrong.
-These will, much more readily, create acerbity by wounding
-pride, than restore the lapsed passion. Affection has
-little to do with the logic of an argument—little to derive
-from the temper of discussion. When the evil is evident;
-when the disturbance is most oppressive, let not the parties
-imagine that any thing like cool reflection is to be had, or
-is to be made available; let the woman look back beyond
-the season of disquietude; let her bare her affections as
-they were when all was sunshine in the domestic circle;
-let her appeal to the undisturbed peace of such a scene, and
-by her conduct show her erring husband that it is possible
-to make the recollection of early delight stronger than the
-memory of present bitterness. Men learn this lesson
-easily, and practice it willingly. They need a teacher—they
-need precept and example; but they are willing to
-follow the leadings, and exhibit and rejoice in the triumph
-of affection. It is so, apparently in the great things of
-religion. Awful as are the dangers of neglect, it would seem
-that the terrors of the law are less operative than the persuasions
-of love. Notwithstanding the momentous question
-propounded, and the alternative made manifest, it
-would seem to an ordinary thinker, that the best mode of
-preventing a course that would incur the terrible penalty,
-would be to present the consequences of neglect, and to
-drive by terrible denunciations the erring one from the
-path that leads down to death. But not so argues the
-inspired Apostle. “Knowing therefore the terrors of the
-law,” (how <a id='appall'></a>appalling that thought,) “we <span class='it'>persuade</span> men,”
-(how gentle, how enticing, how successful in such a cause
-becomes “the triumph of affection.”)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whenever a triumph is to be achieved over evil passions
-or vicious habits, then the appeal to the affections by the
-affections must be the means employed. We may check
-action or delay execution by fear, but we produce no
-change in the sentiment, no correction of the motive.
-We may prevent the offending one from injuring others,
-but we do not by such means lessen his power or his
-chance of injuring himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Oh, how much of destruction, how much of the waste of
-human feelings, human pride, and glorious self-respect
-are due to the want of care in attempts to draw offenders
-from the place of moral danger. Go to the home of
-wretchedness and vice, and see how promptly the heart
-responds to the voice of kindness, how one touch of nature
-awakens the memory of early love, and recalls the hour of
-peace and virtue, until the heart aches to contemplate the
-chasm that vice has placed between the future and the
-terrible present.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sneer at her who, unable yet to appreciate the consequences
-of error, treads the path of danger or dallies on the
-borders to gather flowers that blossom near destruction.
-Sneer at her and she falls; call her back by the remembrance
-of home and home joys, by the love of father and
-friend; recall to her mind the unfailing affection of a
-mother, and she will turn willingly from her false position,
-be saved the crime, and only know what the consequences
-might have been, by marking the fate of those who had
-none to lure them back.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our picture it is believed will be suggestive beyond our
-remarks. It deserves a careful examination; may we not
-hope that hundreds who gaze at the work of art will take
-<span class='pageno' title='69' id='Page_69'></span>
-up the moral lesson which it conveys, and resolve that
-vice shall owe no triumph to their unkindness, and that
-virtue shall not lose its followers for a want of the evidences
-of affection in their lives and conduct. It is lessons
-such as these that make art useful. It is lessons such
-as these that make the pagans respected—it is the “triumph
-of nature” over art, and the prevalence of affection over
-error, that make Christianity beloved. We are happy to
-make this Magazine the vehicle of moral truth, that takes
-the best of ancient sentiment and of modern art for its
-means, and has for its end the cultivation and triumph of
-purest affection.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>C.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE RAINY DAY.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Odd as it may seem, the condition of the atmosphere has
-a powerful influence on the animal spirits. It is the mercury
-in the thermometer of mind, indicating its buoyancy
-or depression. Who that is an observer of human nature
-under its various peculiarities, has not been forcibly struck
-with the vast difference in any one intimate friend, both
-as to mental activity and sprightliness, on a beautiful,
-bright, balmy May morning, and on a cold, cheerless,
-comfortless, cloudy, rainy day in the same “moon”? The
-whole man is changed—disposition, manner, mind and
-temperament have undergone some radical metamorphosis.
-The very mode of thought, the sentiments, the opinions
-even, are inverted. He who was amiable, instructive,
-communicative, and lively, is suddenly, by the veering of
-the wind, changed into a sullen, sombre, morose cynic,
-restless, moody and taciturn. Conversation is abandoned
-for long sighs, deep respiration, involuntary growls and
-lugubrious interjections. The agreeable companion of a
-clear atmosphere is the thus altered being on <span class='it'>a Rainy Day</span>,
-and the influence that has wrought a change so inimical
-to individual and domestic economy, is that of the atmosphere.
-To account for the cause is more the province of
-a scientific pen. Whether electricity be most positive or
-negative in certain conditions of the barometer, is a subject
-for professors of the various “’isms” and “’icities”
-of the day. The effect is too apparent to doubt the existence
-of a cause, and the cause too involved in mystery,
-to invite discovery by one unlearned in the theories of
-Royal “Societies” or Republican “Schools.” “<span class='sc'>The
-Atmosphere</span>: <span class='it'>Its Ingredients and Influences</span>,” by John
-Smith, Fellow of the Royal Society: London 8vo.
-“<span class='sc'>Electricity</span>: <span class='it'>Its Cause, Combinations and Effects</span>,”
-by Charles Jones, M. D., Professor of Natural Science in
-the Kainbridge University—New York: Harper &amp; Brothers.
-“<span class='sc'>Animal Magnetism Investigated</span>,” by Edward
-Brown, Member of the United States Philosophical
-Society, Late Professor in the Philadelphia Flight School—Philadelphia:
-Carey &amp; Hart. “<span class='sc'>The Analogy between
-Mind and Matter</span>, <span class='it'>considered in relation to the
-Doctrine of Transubstantiation and Revealed Religion</span>,”
-by the Right Rev. Bishop Berdott—Universal Christian
-Publication Association, Boston: Complete in One Volume—Second
-Edition. These, and the like publications,
-issuing almost daily, lasting monuments of the power of
-the steam-press, are far too repulsive food for the uninitiated
-in the art of philosophical digestion. We leave
-them to the student, who, with fortitude sufficient for the
-effort, will undertake the study of them on <span class='it'>a Rainy Day</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But cause undoubtedly there is, existing somewhere;
-for so powerful an agent, revolutionizing our very nature,
-must surely have “a local habitation and a name.” Do
-not let us suppose that because the various Sir John Rosses
-and Sir John Franklins have failed in their researches after
-this <span class='it'>primum mobile</span>, that it is hidden from the eyes of
-science. One of these seasons we shall be delighted by
-an advertisement in all the daily papers announcing thus:
-“Wonderful Discovery! Astounding Developments!!
-Thousands unable to obtain Admission!!! The Reverend
-Neophyte Frisky will deliver a Lecture at the Great Saloon
-of the Chinese Museum. Subject—Atmospheric Influence
-on Human-Natureology, showing its Cause and
-Effects. Experiments will be made after the Lecture.
-The Secret will be communicated to classes composed of
-Gentlemen and Ladies, at Ten Dollars a ticket. For
-notice of the hours of each class see small bills. Admission
-(so as to bring it within the reach of all) Five Cents—Children
-half price—Unbelievers admitted Free.” Thus
-faith in the hidden things of science will be made clear to
-the eyes of the million, and the singular phenomenon, exhibiting
-itself in its manifest effects from a hitherto undiscovered
-cause, will become as familiar to men as the
-horrors of <span class='it'>a Rainy Day</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We fear that some will naturally regard these remarks
-as intended to cast reproach on scientific investigation, and
-research into the wide fields of pathological—naturo-philosophical—moral-philosophical
-love. Far from it. We
-beg to invite volunteers to unite in an overland expedition
-after the philosopher’s stone. Let a company be formed
-on shares, armed and equipped with revolvers and rifles
-of the latest theory, to shoot opposition on the way for
-food for the Association—with India Rubber life-boats to
-cross the streams, and Gutta Percha tents to repose in on
-the march—secure a flying-machine on the last model, to
-transport the enthusiasts over mountains, and stock enough
-at $5 a share to start the <span class='it'>enterprise</span>, if not the <span class='it'>expedition</span>.
-We would not only invite the formation of such Associations
-in all the Atlantic cities, but suggest to rural scientificators
-to leave the plough of successful homebred labor,
-sell out their little all, and invest at once. Why drudge
-longer, alone and single-handed, when these combinations
-and associations insure the journey to be made in six
-weeks from the “Independence” of the first start. But,
-reader, let us advise you, if you are seriously impressed
-with the propriety of the undertaking and its certain success,
-don’t dwell on the results to be attained on <span class='it'>a Rainy
-Day</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suggestions of unbelief in any novelty are more common
-than should be. A course of opposition to the march
-of mind, camping in its progress at startling or astounding
-discoveries, is detrimental to the developments of
-science, applied to every day use. We do not desire to
-be regarded as cynical or infidel, and therefore avow an
-attachment to these novelties <span class='it'>ex limine</span>. The utter incomprehensibility
-of any scheme is no objection to its
-feasibility. Far from it. On the contrary, the less it is
-understood the more it is applauded. Once announced for
-the investigation of the masses, a public meeting is called,
-as follows: “TOWN MEETING. The citizens of the
-village of Love-Your-Enemies will assemble in the Hall
-where ‘justice is judicially administered,’ on Saturday
-evening next, at 6 o’clock, to consider the propriety of
-memorializing Congress to grant 100,000 acres of the
-public domain, for the purpose of raising a fund to be invested
-in the capital stock of a company about to be
-formed, to construct an Electro-Magnetic Wire Suspension
-Bridge from the Narrows, at New York, to Tusca
-Light-House, on the English coast. Mr. Amasa Foresight
-Marblehead, the discoverer of this wonderful invention
-for the benefit of mankind, and patent pacification of nations,
-will be present and explain its principal features.”
-Signed by Hon. Col. Maj. M.D. Rev. Esq. The meeting
-convenes at the appointed time. Speeches are made.
-Diagrams, models, drawings, lithographs, sections are exhibited.
-The audience are delighted, mystified, gratified,
-magnified, humbuggified, and somnambulified. Resolutions
-are offered. A disciple of Roger Sherman objects,
-<span class='pageno' title='70' id='Page_70'></span>
-and sonorously desires the <span class='it'>Cui Bono</span> in facts and figures.
-Question! Question! is shouted by the Esquire who
-signed the call, the brother of the chairman, and the gentleman
-who organized the meeting. These vocular demonstrations
-become public opinion, and under its
-supreme potent influence the resolutions are adopted, and
-the assembly adjourns. All is wonder, amazement and
-vacuity. One doubts. He is beleaguered by the President,
-Vice-President and Secretaries of the meeting, and silenced
-with “specific gravity,” “conic sections,” “capillary
-attraction,” “latent pressure,” “<a id='mall'></a>malleability of metals,”
-“attraction of cohesion,” “sinuosity of fluxions,” and
-the superior capacity of the arch over the horizontal, to
-bear weight. The object is accomplished—the probability
-assumes the shape of certainty—the unsophisticated are
-converted—the community is alive to the absolute necessity
-of the project—the most flattering prospects are in
-the future. The bridge is built on paper, and on this mid-air
-viaduct is represented flour and corn pouring into
-England, and emigrants and their progeny pouring out.
-How delightful! Well, “probably the humbug of the
-thing” would never have been made known, had it not
-been for the morbid disposition of some skeptic, exaggerated
-by the atmospheric influence of <span class='it'>a Rainy Day</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The atmospheric influence, then, is savagely detrimental
-to the mature development of extraordinary discoveries.
-In this it is auti-practico-scientific, and will, ere long, be
-driven from scholastic favoritism. Unwelcome as we have
-shown it to be in individual and scientific economy, we
-trust our researches into the economy of politics will
-prove more favorable.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The State is a comprehensive word, meaning a conglomeration
-of voters. Voters are men presumed to be
-aged one-and-twenty each—that is, every voter must be,
-by law, in a majority before an election at which he votes,
-but it is not unlawful for him to be in a minority after he
-has voted. At this maturity they are infected with the
-frailties of humanity, consequently they agree and disagree
-with each other. Thus parties are formed on the
-basis of “principles, not men,” for the one, and “men,
-not principles,” for the other. On the supremacy of one
-of these combinations the safety of the State depends—so
-each conscientiously believes. To test the question, elections
-have been established—a modern republican invention,
-instead of the old “wager of battle.” The note of
-preparation is sounded. Martial music echoes in city,
-village, town and valley, in token of the peaceful nature
-of the coming contest. The voters of each party are
-gathered under banners inscribed with the poetry of
-politics Speeches are made by the humble aspirant after
-public fame in the shape of “spoils,” a figurative designation
-for the reward of patriotism. The taverns are filled;
-disquisitions on political principles, qualifications for
-public servants, the past history of nominees, and the future
-prospects of the faithful, are discussed with the blandness
-and courtesy which mark all polemic controversies.
-In order to purify the political atmosphere of such assemblies
-in those party craniums called “Head Quarters,”
-the fumes of tobacco, flavored with the insensible distillations
-of “old rye” or “Monongahela,” are used <span class='it'>ad
-libitum</span>. This, by the aid of music, speeches, rum and
-tobacco, “the great principles of the party” are preserved
-from decay, and made palatable to “generations yet unborn.”
-As the contest progresses, it is more and more
-marked by enthusiasm, sincerity, patriotism, self-devotedness
-to those abstractions born in “’98,” and destined to
-a green old age, or their immemorial antagonistic dogmas
-of a more northern extraction. Music, meetings, speeches
-and speculations, banners and bantering, polemics and
-pyrotechnics, rum and rows, fights and fabrications,
-placards and publications, advocates and anathemas, multiply
-in <a id='prop'></a>proportion to the chances of success. Committees
-of vigilance are active—window-committees impatient—voters
-are volatile and vicarious—candidates are cajoling,
-cabaling, convivial, cautious, curious and concerned. Thus
-progresses the campaign. The day arrives—Election
-Day—big with the fate of patronage and place. “To the
-Polls, Freemen, to the Polls!” is conspicuous at every
-turn, reminding those who have just awoke to the objects
-of the day, after weeks spent in fruitless attempts to convince
-them of the importance of the “Second Tuesday”
-in the political Almanac. Voting is this absorbing business.
-“Vote early,” is announced as of the utmost consequence.
-“Vote for John Smith,” is pronounced the
-only miracle by which liberty can be guaranteed to the
-nation. Workingmen are informed that John Brown is
-alone advised of the most salutary remedy for all their
-evils. Business men are warned that prosperity will
-abound under a Tariff, with the cabalistic addition of
-“’42,” and that ruin belongs to that of “’46.” The timid
-are startled by the announcement that the “country is
-ruined,” and the “constitution has been violated,” while
-anon is proclaimed that “the dearest rights of freemen are
-in jeopardy.” So passes the “Second Tuesday”—voting,
-voting, voting, “on age,” “on papers,” “on tax receipts,”
-and “on principle.” There must be an end to
-all things. So with Election Day. The polls are closed.
-The counting begins. Majorities and victories are cheered
-as published. One party claims success from figures, the
-other from numbers. One calculates success, the other
-votes it. It is decided, at last, by the indisputable returns.
-The victors attribute their triumph to the people; the defeated
-find consolation in the fact that they would have
-been triumphant, had it not been—<span class='it'>a Rainy Day</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Atmospheric influences are suicidal, it seems, in politics.
-And as it may seem, the character of the atmosphere has
-a powerful influence on other things beside animal spirits.
-Reader, pause—our task is done. Of a highly mercurial
-temperament, affected with despondency or hilarity, as
-the sky is cloudy or clear, we were forced to get rid of ourself
-on one of those pluvious phenomena in the temperate
-zone, and hence we wasted our own time and yours by
-dedicating our reflections to <span class='it'>The Rainy Day</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk141'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Our New Volume.</span>—We do not think our patrons can
-fail to be pleased with this the first number of a new
-volume of “Graham’s Magazine.” We confess to feeling
-proud of it ourselves, and think we fully redeem the
-promise we made to increase the claims of our periodical
-upon popular favor. No similar publication, it may be
-confidently asserted, ever presented an equal array of
-merits and attractions, whether the artistic embellishments
-or literary contents be considered, and we know
-that our good friends, the public, will award to us the
-meed of superiority over all others, <span class='it'>nem. con.</span> But excellent
-as the opening number of the volume is, the rest
-shall fully equal if not surpass it in beauty. We have
-always held our position in advance of all competition,
-and the ground shall be maintained. Let others do as they
-may, the subscribers to “Graham’s Magazine” may rest
-assured that their favorite publication will never degenerate
-or forfeit the proud distinction long ago conferred
-upon it of being “The Gem of the Monthlies, and the
-Leading Periodical in America.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our subscription list is rapidly increasing; new friends
-sending in their names every day. This is an appropriate
-season to commence taking the Magazine, and the novelties
-and new beauties we have in preparation will render
-the current volume one well worthy of careful preservation.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk142'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='71' id='Page_71'></span><h1><a id='review'></a>REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.</h1></div>
-
-<hr class='tbk143'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>H. Kavanagh. A Tale. By H. W. Longfellow. Boston:
-Wm. D. Ticknor &amp; Co. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This volume has been very extensively read, has delighted
-almost every reader, and yet has left on the minds
-of many a feeling of disappointment. Considered as a
-novel, it must be admitted that the story is but slight, the
-characters hinted rather than developed, and the whole
-frame-work fragile; but it would perhaps be more fair to
-judge it according to the purpose the author had in view
-in writing it, and this purpose was evidently not the production
-of a consistent novel, but the illustration of an
-idea through the forms of a tale. Mr. Churchill, who is
-always meditating a romance and never producing one,
-and while musing over the idea is unconscious of the
-romance developing under his very eyes, is a good illustration
-of the motto of the work⁠—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“The flighty purpose never is o’ertook,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;Unless the deed go with it.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The romance present to Mr. Churchill’s vision, but which
-he does not perceive, is, to be sure, a common one, but
-none the less affecting because it is common. It is a
-simple but quietly intense representation of love in its two
-great expressions in life—the love which imparadises and
-the love which breaks hearts; and it has no reference at
-all to time, but is the universal fact of all ages.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In addition to his lovers, Mr. Longfellow has sketched
-with much beautiful humor, the characters and characteristics
-of a country town. His mirth is the very poetry of
-mirth, sly, genial, fanciful, reminding the reader of Dickens
-without suggesting the thought of imitation. All the incidents
-and emotions of the book are enveloped in an
-atmosphere of poetry. It is this magical charm of the poet,
-investing the commonest materials with a drapery of imagination,
-and sending a rich and golden flush through the
-whole expression, which constitutes the merit of the
-volume. An ideal sweetness, sometimes felt in the music
-of the words, sometimes in the fine felicity of the imagery,
-and sometimes in the “soft, Ausonion air,” breathed
-upon the characters, pervades equally the author’s humor,
-pathos, sentiment, passion and reflection. The effect of
-the whole is not to thrill or exalt the reader, not to inspire
-terror or awaken thoughts “beyond the reaches of
-his soul,” but to fill him with the highest possible degree
-of intellectual and moral comfort. There are no stings in
-the author’s mind, and he plants none in the minds of
-others. He is a mortal enemy to unrest, to all haggard
-and unhandsome thoughts and sensibilities, and fuses
-matter and spirit into a sensuous compound, calculated
-to give poetic pleasure rather than to inspire poetic action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There is one fault to the book more serious, perhaps, than
-any other, and that is its shortness. The characters are
-well conceived, but imperfectly developed. The premises
-of Kavanagh’s character are excellent, but no conclusion
-is drawn from them except his marriage, and that is something
-of a <span class='it'>non-sequitur</span>. The ground is fairly broken for a
-long work, for a sort of American Wilhelm Meister, and
-though the author’s plan hardly demands its cultivation to
-the extent of its capacity, we feel rather provoked that he
-did not make his plan commensurate with the elements of
-his characters. In Kavanagh we have a reformer who
-blends cultivated and sensitive tastes with great aspirations,
-and to have fully developed such a person, by representing
-the modifications of his mind through its contact
-with the reformers and conservatives of New England,
-would have enabled Mr. Longfellow to produce the
-most original and striking novel of the day, and one which
-would have been a mirror of New England life in its present
-manifestations. The ideas and purposes of Kavanagh
-alone are given, and he, rather than Mr. Churchill spreads
-a gulf between intentions and deeds. To have made the
-woman he loved non-sympathetic with him as a reformer,
-and the woman he did not love his adherent in that capacity,
-would have finely complicated the matter, and resulted
-in many original agonies, ecstasies, mental struggles,
-and thrilling situations. Such a novel, even if, like
-Goethe’s, it had cost ten years’ labor, would, as treated
-by Mr. Longfellow, have obtained an instantaneous and
-enduring popularity.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk144'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>My Uncle the Curate. A Novel. By the Author of “The
-Bachelor of the Albany” etc. New York: Harper &amp;
-Brothers.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The mere announcement of any thing from the sparkling
-brain of the Bachelor of the Albany, is sufficient to raise
-anticipations of brisk and business-like satire, of felicitous
-expression, and of good-natured representation of the follies
-of conventional life. The present work evinces more of
-the novelist, and less of the wit-snapper, than any thing
-the author has previously written. The story and the
-characters, though plentifully bespangled with epigrams,
-are still not immersed and lost in them; and there is not
-that incessant effort after smartness and point which at
-one period seemed to be the law of the writer’s mind. Mr.
-Woodward, the Curate, has some capital traits of character
-felicitously developed, and his wife, belonging to
-that kind of women known as everybody’s mother, is
-drawn to the life. In Mrs. Spenser we have one of those
-plagues of mankind, who cause more misery than pestilence
-and war—a nervous, fretful, peevish, unsatisfied,
-vinegar-souled wife, engaged in slaughtering her husband
-with pins, and making up for the weakness of her instruments
-by the continuity of her attacks. Lucy McCracken
-appears to have been suggested by Thackeray’s Becky
-Sharp, and she is in every way inferior to the latter in the
-logic of her artfulness. Dawson, Sidney Spenser, Markham
-and Vivyan, are all well discriminated delineations
-of young men, though the lover is the least interesting.
-The author is something of a bungler in handling the
-passions and affections, and considered as a man of wit, is
-singularly blind to the ludicrous effect which his serious
-scenes often produce. He is a capital laugher at the sentimentalities
-and agonies of other novelists, but when he
-ventures into their region he is as far from common sense
-and natural feeling as any of the dabblers in broken hearts
-and crushed affections whom he ridicules.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk145'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield
-the Younger. By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by
-H. K Browne. New York: John Wiley. Part I.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The announcement of a new work by the most popular
-novelist of the day, is quite an event to the famished lovers
-of his genius. It is difficult to judge from the first number
-whether it will be worthy of the author’s fame, but it
-promises well both in respect to originality and interest.
-With the characteristic traits of Dickens’s style and mode
-of delineating characters and narrating events, it starts a
-new society of individuals, who may rival the old familiar
-names in popularity. The peculiar humor, fancy, sweetness,
-<span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'></span>
-and verbal felicity, which have already delighted so
-many thousands, appear in this work with their old power,
-and give no signs of decay. For knowledge of the heart
-we would allude to the scene in which Mrs. Copperfield
-questions Davy as to the exact words the gentleman at
-Lowestoft used in speaking of her beauty, as pre-eminently
-excellent. For quaint humor, bordering continually on
-pathos, the life which Davy led in the queer house on
-Yarmouth beach, with Peggotty’s relations, might be
-triumphantly quoted to silence all doubts of Dickens’s
-continued fertility. The knowledge evinced throughout
-of the interior workings and external expression of a
-child’s mind, is quite remarkable. Indeed, if the author
-proceeds as he has commenced, there can be little fear of
-his success. It remains, however, to be seen, whether or
-not his characters will please through twenty numbers.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk146'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Holydays Abroad; or Europe from the West. By Mrs.
-Kirkland. New York: Baker &amp; Scribner. 2 vols. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The accomplished authoress of these elegant volumes
-has established so good a reputation by her previous
-writings, that we opened her present book with some reluctance,
-fearing that the subject would be too threadbare
-even for her powers to make interesting. Indeed records
-of tours in Europe have become so common, so natural an
-employment of aspiring mediocrity, that to read them is
-an exercise in yawning, and to criticise them an assumption
-of the office of executioner. We prefer dullness in
-almost any other form. It is due to Mrs. Kirkland, however,
-to acknowledge that she has triumphed over the
-disadvantages of her subject, and produced a really interesting
-work, avoiding all the wearisome topographical
-inanities and stereotyped opinions of most tourists, and
-giving a new and vivid glimpse of foreign life. She appears
-to understand the wants of her readers, and she tells
-them the very things they most desire to know. Her
-passage on St. Peter’s is one instance among many which
-the book affords, of her knowledge of the ignorance of her
-readers, and her felicity in suggesting a view of a whole
-subject by fixing on a few important details. She generally
-succeeds in conveying so warm an impression of the
-objects she describes, as to make her readers the companions
-in the journey.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk147'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Adirondack; or Life in the Woods. By J. T. Headley,
-Author of Washington and his Generals, etc. New York:
-Baker &amp; Scribner. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In this volume the dashing and brilliant author of Napoleon
-and his Marshals has occupied a new ground. The
-northern section of the state of New York, comprising
-nearly eight counties, is still an unsubdued forest, “crossed
-by no road, enlivened by no cultivation, not a keel disturbing
-its waters, while bears, panthers, wolves, moose and
-deer, are the only lords of the soil.” Into this region Mr.
-Headley conducts his readers, and certainly few subjects
-could be better fitted for his picturesque pen. The magnificent
-scenery of the region he has described with great
-force, freshness and pictorial effect, and the various adventures
-incident to a life in the woods, are narrated with the
-author’s accustomed vigor and raciness. The work being
-in the form of familiar letters, admits of every style of verbal
-expression which truly reflects the feeling of the moment,
-and the reader is therefore not troubled by the presence of
-those occasional audacities of diction which, in Mr. Headley’s
-more elaborate works, sometimes offend a pure taste.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk148'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Analogy of the Ancient Craft, Masonry, to Revealed Religion.
-Gregg &amp; Elliott.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is the title of a beautifully printed octavo volume,
-from the pen, and evidently from the heart, of Charles
-Scott, A. M., Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the
-State of Mississippi. The literature of the Order of
-Masonry is not extensive, for reasons that the members of
-the Order probably fully comprehend. It is confined to a
-few volumes of addresses, and to some liturgies and handbooks;
-all, of course, useful to the craft, but not all interesting
-to the world. The volume before us is the result
-of much deep feeling, which manifested and employed
-itself in careful research, close reading, sustained reflection,
-and an able exposition of the results of all those
-processes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Analogy is ably made, and though the uninitiated
-may not feel the same interest as do the “craftsmen” in
-the Analogy, yet many readers will find on its pages much
-to admire, much that will instruct, much that will lead
-him to reflect and inquire.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The initiated who sits down to the book with a love of
-the institution, will find that love augmented, his respect
-increased, and his views greatly enlarged by the developments
-of the able author of the volume. We commend
-the work to the attention of general readers, but especially
-to those who share membership with Mr. Scott.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk149'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Last Leaves of American History: Comprising Histories
-of the Mexican War and California. By Emma Willard.
-New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Commencing with the inauguration of General Harrison,
-Mrs. Willard presents us with a clear and condensed account
-of the events which followed to the close of the
-Mexican war. Although most of them are familiar to the
-readers of the newspapers, we suppose that few minds
-possess them in their order and connection, stripped of all
-exaggeration and telegraphic inaccuracies. Mrs. Willard
-writes in a bold, decisive style, without any apparent
-partisan object, and with no other purpose to serve than
-to glorify the country as far as it can be done without any
-sacrifice of truth. We have found the volume interesting
-and accurate.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk150'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Genius of Italy: being Sketches of Italian Life, Literature
-and Religion. By Rev. Robert Turnbull, Author
-of Genius of Scotland, etc. New York: Geo. P. Putnam.
-1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is an exceedingly interesting and well-written
-volume, full at once of discernment and enthusiasm, exhibiting
-considerable knowledge of Italian literature,
-scenery, manners and character, and showing a true Anglo-Saxon
-sagacity in its views of the present state of Italy.
-The work is both descriptive and critical, and many passages
-have a pictorial distinctness which prove that the
-objects described were visibly mirrored on the writer’s
-imagination as he wrote. The sketches of Dante, Tasso,
-Ariosto, Petrarch, contain many correct opinions, and are
-well calculated to convey information as well as to inspire
-enthusiasm for the genius of Italy.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk151'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>History of King Charles the Second of England. By Jacob
-Abbott. With Engravings. New York: Harper &amp; Brothers.
-1 vol. 16mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is a most useful and entertaining biography of a
-regal roué, whose reign is the scoff and jeer of history.
-Charles was a good-natured rascal, whose destitution of
-principle and indifference to shame, approached the marvelous.
-The record of his reign is full of matter for reflection,
-and Mr. Abbott has presented it with more than
-his accustomed felicity in the selection of events, and
-graceful simplicity of style.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk152'/>
-
-<div><h1 style='visibility:hidden; margin:0; font-size:0;' >LE FOLLET</h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='follet'></a></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i178f.jpg'>
-<img src='images/i178.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0010' style='width:400px;height:auto;'/>
-</a>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:10em;'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Anaïs Toudouze</span></p>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'><span style='font-size:larger'><span class='bold'>LE FOLLET</span></span></p>
-<p class='line'><span class='bold'>PARIS</span>, <span class='it'>Boulevart</span> S<sup>t</sup>. Martin, 61</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Robes de</span> Camille</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Dentelles de</span> Violard, <span class='it'>r. Choiseul, 2<sup>bis</sup>—Fleurs de</span> Chagot ainé, <span class='it'>r. Richelieu, 81</span>;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Eventail de</span> Vagneur Dupré, <span class='it'>r. de la Paix, 19</span>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Graham’s Magazine</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk153'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='tear'></a>WHAT’S A TEAR?</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.9em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>A BALLAD.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:1.1em;'>SUNG BY MRS. SEGUIN,</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.2em;'>COMPOSED BY</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>M. W. BALFE.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'>Presented By GEORGE WILLIG, No. 171 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i179f.jpg'>
-<img src='images/i179.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0011' style='width:500px;height:auto;'/>
-</a>
-</div>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>What’s a tear? Mother dear!</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Look not thou in sorrow!</p>
-<p class='line'>As at dawn, from the thorn,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Falls the dew my Mother,</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<a href='images/i180f.jpg'>
-<img src='images/i180.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0012' style='width:500px;height:auto;'/>
-</a>
-</div>
-
-<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Let this grief find relief,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;I’ll not weep tomorrow!</p>
-<p class='line'>His I’ll be, none shall see</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;How I love another,</p>
-<p class='line'>How I love,—love another!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;SECOND VERSE.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>As the rose, while it blows,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;Hidden canker weareth;</p>
-<p class='line'>Sigh shall ne’er whisper here,</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;How this heart despaireth:</p>
-<p class='line'>What’s a tear? Mother dear!</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;His I’ll be, Oh Mother!</p>
-<p class='line'>Though I die, since on high</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;I may love another.</p>
-<p class='line'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;How I love another.</p>
-</div></div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk154'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:1.1em;font-weight:bold;'><a id='notes'></a>Transcriber’s Notes:</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 iii, Story. <span class='sc'>Lydia Jane</span> ==> Story. <a href='#lydia'>By</a> <span class='sc'>Lydia Jane</span></p>
-<p class='line'>page 1, Rensellaer who commanded, ==> <a href='#renss'>Rensselaer</a> who commanded,</p>
-<p class='line'>page 2, Coffin, an aid of ==> Coffin, an <a href='#aide'>aide</a> of</p>
-<p class='line'>page 2, escape occured to ==> escape <a href='#occur'>occurred</a> to</p>
-<p class='line'>page 2, promoted) and a gallant ==> promoted) <a href='#noand'>a gallant</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 2, serve as marines. ==> serve as <a href='#marine'>marine</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>page 4, proceeded to Fort Levenworth ==> proceeded to Fort <a href='#leaven'>Leavenworth</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 6, accompanied the cortegé ==> accompanied the <a href='#cort'>cortège</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 15, his griping fingers, ==> his <a href='#grip'>gripping</a> fingers,</p>
-<p class='line'>page 24, them pleasant excursions ==> them <a href='#tookthem'>on</a> pleasant excursions</p>
-<p class='line'>page 29, blood tinging its ==> blood <a href='#tinge'>tingeing</a> its</p>
-<p class='line'>page 35, my tiny bark, unguided ==> my tiny <a href='#bark'>barque</a>, unguided</p>
-<p class='line'>page 41, varient circumstances ==> <a href='#var'>variant</a> circumstances</p>
-<p class='line'>page 43, desire ought but that ==> desire <a href='#aught'>aught</a> but that</p>
-<p class='line'>page 45, sort of wrapt awe ==> sort of <a href='#rapt'>rapt</a> awe</p>
-<p class='line'>page 51, wordly prosperity could ==> <a href='#world'>worldly</a> prosperity could</p>
-<p class='line'>page 60, heartless coquetery? Or ==> heartless <a href='#coquet'>coquetry</a>? Or</p>
-<p class='line'>page 61, concering it. There ==> <a href='#concern'>concerning</a> it. There</p>
-<p class='line'>page 65, John their confident ==> John their <a href='#conf'>confidant</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 65, irruption of Vesuvius ==> <a href='#erupt'>eruption</a> of Vesuvius</p>
-<p class='line'>page 66, kissed him affectionatly ==> kissed him <a href='#affect'>affectionately</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 68, confident of his sorrows ==> <a href='#dant'>confidant</a> of his sorrows</p>
-<p class='line'>page 68, by some occurences ==> by some <a href='#occ'>occurrences</a></p>
-<p class='line'>page 68, (how appaling that ==> (how <a href='#appall'>appalling</a> that</p>
-<p class='line'>page 70, “mallability of metals,” ==> “<a href='#mall'>malleability</a> of metals,”</p>
-<p class='line'>page 70, propotion to the chances ==> <a href='#prop'>proportion</a> to the chances</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 1,
-July 1849, by Various
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