The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1821-1823, 1822-10-09
MISCELLANY.
From " Lights and Shadows Of Scottish Lifs.'
THE OMEN.
DlZZZZZZ11s
Continued.

Days and weeks passed on, while
Jane Nasmyth sat in her cottage, or
walked about the adjacent fields, and
her lover was sailing far and wide upon
the seas. There were many rumours
of an expected engagement, and her
heart f1uttered at the sight of every
stranger. But her lovers letters came,
if not regularly, yet in pleasant num-
bers, and their glad and cheerful tone
infused confidence into her heart. When
he was last away, they were lovers !;
but now their marriage was fixed,
and his letters now were written as
to his bride, overhowing with gratitude
and delighted affection. When she was
reading them, he seemed to be talking
before her-the great distance of land
and sea between them vanished-and as
he spoke of his ship, of which he was
so proud, she almost expected, on lift
ing up-her eyes, to see its mast tower
ing up before her, with all their glori-
Gus flags and ensigns. But they were
streaming to the wind above the foam
of the OCEAN, and her eyes saw only
the green shade of the sheltering syca-
more,-her ears heard only the deep
murmur of the working bees, as if
whole hive had been in that tent-like
tree.
Nor did Jane Nasmyth forget to visit,
many times every day, the two roses
which her lover had planted, and to
which he had told her to look, as an
OMEN of bis state, when far atssea. To
the bank on which they grew, she paid
her earliest visit along with the beams
Of the morning sun and there, too, she
marked the first diamonds of the even
ing dew. They grew to her hearts
desire and now that the year was adj
vanced, they showed few flower-buds,
and seemed about to break out into ro-
ses, slender as were their bending stems.
That one which bore her lovers name
hung over her own, as if sheltering it
with its fexile arch, and when weighed
down by the rain-drops, or by the
breeze, il touched gently the leaves of
Its companion, and seemed to intertwine
with it in balny embrace. The heart
can accumulate love and delight upon
any object whatever; but these plants
were in themselves beautiful, and every
leaf swarmed, not with poetick visions,
but with thoughts of such human tender
ness, that they were seldom looked at
without gush of tears. They were
perfectly unlike all the other shrubs
and flowers in that garden; and had
they been dug up, it would have been
felt as sacrilege; had they withered, the
OMEN would have struck through her
very life. But they did not wither; and
nothing touched them but the bee or but
terfy, or baply for moment the green
hnnet, the chafnch, or the red-cap, half
balanced on the bending spray, and half
supported by his ffnttering wings.
Crofthead was cottage in shelter
ed vale-but it was not far inland, and
by ascending a green bill behind it, Jane
Nasmyth could, ON clear days, get a
glimpse of the blue ocean. The sight
even Of the element on which her low
er now dwelt, was delightful to her eyes;
and if white sail shone forth through
the sunlight, her heart felt touch OF
dear emotion Sometimes, too, when
walking in the vale, she would gaze
with love on the beautiful white sea-mew
that came floating on the sea-born air
into the fields Of the quiet earth. As
The creature alighted on the green turf,
and folding its wings sat there motion.