The ladies' garland. [volume] (Harpers-Ferry, Va. [W. Va.]) 1824-1828, 1824-02-14

" In Its true light, this transient life regard
This is a state Of trial, not reward" ex
FROM THE LITERARY coHrAx1ox.


-haA, Rorbsreugh, Pennsylvania,
.angust 9, 1921.
DEAR HowARD--FIow short-sighted are we NOR
tails! Little did you or suppose, when we were
looking upon that delightful scene which so en-
chantcd us the night previous to my departure that
on the following evening should be at miserable
tavern. sitting upon chair the whole night instead
of going to bed, because had not comfortable
place to lie in and least of all ddyou expect
ceive letter from this part of the world. |, who
have been so long accustomed to the noisy din of
the city, hardly realize the stiffness of my pre-
sent situation, disturbed only by the distant sound
of waterfall, and the whispering of the passing
breeze.
Before me, at the distance of one or two hundred
yards, runs Of the most romantic streams that
you perhaps ever saw. Almost surrounded by an
mpenetrabe forest, and hundreds of feet below the
level ofthe ground, it winds its lonely way, seldom
cut by the keel, disturbed by the rude oar.
This spot was once the asylum Of young, but
too romantic couple, who fed hither during the
fever OF 1898; not only from pestilence, but from
the expense Of city life. They loved and were
poor; education had refined their minds, but i'm
prudent reading had infamed their imaginatons
and that love- which is the result of mutual esteem
founded upon long acquaintance, and cemented by
the ties OF vlrtuous sentiment, was unknown to
them. They married clandestinely, and here they
were determined to live only for each other.
The husband, however, was compelled to go to
the city almost every day to attend to his business
there. At first he returned regularly every even
ing. But in a short time the ardour of his passion
cooled, and many anxious night did the still
fond wife retire to her couch, not to sleep, but to
pass it in agony She murmured not-but with
silent anguish she sought better husband, in her
God, and the consultations Of religion.
On one occasion she had waited nearly a week
for the return Of her husband-still he came not.
Determined to remain no longer in suspense, she
left her dwelling and, with her little newborn
infant in her arms, she set out for the city. After
to!isome walk, she arrived there. Where was she
to look the streets were deserted; now and then
She met hearse perhaps it was bearing the dead
body of her husband-horrid thought her nqui-
res were answered by rude insults Two nights
she slept in grave yard on the third, almost
dead with hunger and anxiety, she sunk on the steps
Of aneat looking house, expecting every moment
to be pushed away. But, the contrary, she
heard the door open, she was taken in, she recog-
nized the voice ofthe nurse who had nourshed her
in infancy and there her wretched husband bad q
few moments before, breathed his last Entertained
for some months by her hospitable host, she did
not long survive her husband; her child was brought
up in humble situation of life, which her parents
would once have dcspised.
Thus you have another proof, how important a
circumstance in life is MARRIAGE.
jULtA-THE sEpUcED.