The Litchfield County post., 1826-12-19

neT pure principles and amlaOIe 0ISpOsltIOn.-
There was a Stiffness in all she said and did,
which won my esteem. With the exception
OF her, Aana was to go to those who were
strangers Mg
" For some time her husband conducted as
became the husband of so deserving wifs.--
But Charles, | have limited at his weak side.
The temptations of sense were not resisted
with proper strength. Intemperance was
gradually making terrible inrOads upon his
future peace,and upon the peace of her whose
claims upon his character ought to have ava
kened him to sense of his duty. But how
sadly conscience BECAME scared by habitual
indulgence in vice. Anna was compelled We
ry soon to witness that her husband had en-
tered upon that downward path to ruin, from
winch there is rarely seen a returning foot
step. In an ordinary mind such discov-
cry might be supposed to excite no small
degree OF alarms bat what shall say of the
situation OF her, whose feelings were of SO
nigh an order, SO Ear removed from any thing,
tnat looked like treachery or disgrace! She
now perceived for the first time, that her at.
tectlons had been given away to be the sport
OF cruelty. But no reprOachfll word was ma
med to him, who was treating her SO unkind-
~. The seyerest charge of ingratitude and
Perhdy, the only reproOf she offered for bro
ken voWs, was in her tears. When business
was neglected. for reyelry, when fame and her
happiness were sacrificed on the altar of beast
~ pleasure, when the promises he had made
her were all sighted or forgotten, when the
entreafies of brotherly solicitude were all dis
regarded, and he returned to her from self
qualification as one, who cared or seemed to
care for no wounds he was inflicting, his wife
upbraided him not for the misery she was
suffering, but received him in kindness and
wept over the weakness for which she could
not reproach him.
This was misery but how shall de-
scribe the sufferings of the parental dwelling,
when it was made known there, what was
the character of him with whom the daugh-
ter and sister was connected Charles, have
read OF the pious resignation of the man of
God, who, after all his earthly possessions
were torn from HIM, was at last informed that
IS the wind from the wilderness had "smote
the corners of the house, in which his chill
dren were assembled, and that they were
dead, and who then exclaimed. - Blessed be
the name Of the Lord" but it is harder for
me to conceive Of that resignation-an I
therefore respect it the more,-which can
bow to continued adversely, which can hum
bly, acquiesce in that ordination of Providence,
which, instead of destroying, keeps constant
misery in view. and leEgthens our sufferings
to future years. 500
~ need not say that Annals prospects were
growing more and more distressing, nor speak
of the grief of the father and mother. 1t was
now their only wish that their daughter should
be again restored to their arms in safety, and
then the storms of the world might howl and
vent their fury as they would. No epistolary
persuasion could tear Anna away from her
husband, or induce her to return to her ia
theirs dwelling. With all his failings she
could not desert him-and her child, an in
fant boy, bound her by another tie to his ia
Their.
80 will 60 myself and prevail upon her to
return home with me for time,' said the
anxious father one day to Annals mother
She may be induced to visit her home again
with me, and then we may persuade her to
remain with ustil brighter days shall dawn
And with full heart the father set off to
bring back his daughter. He succeeded in
his undertaking, and Anna found herself once
more beneath the roof which had sheltered
her in the happy years of her childhood
There she was watching the growth of her,
child amidst the scenes and the friends, but SO
lately the Witnesses of her own inexperienced
but guileless youth.
peace was again restored fora time to the
distressed family; but do you imagine, Charles,
that Anna was happy? You know but little
of human nature If you think SO. Her hus-
band was in her daily thoughts, and in the
visions which filed up her sleeping hours
He was no longer engaged in business, and
where he had wandered to no one knew
His friends sought for him, but could not find
him. At last he appeared again in the family
Of his father. His resolutions of amendment,
though repeatedly made, were as often bro
ken. Anna would havesseen him, but her
parents would not consent to it. The treas
ure was too precious to them to he again en-
trusted in faithless hands; and the child was
only permitted to gaze on its fathers face,
and then again to be restored to its mothers
care. Hsss
81 could add many more circumstances
which would touch your heart, but waive
them now to hasten on. Annals husband fed
from the village where his character was SO
well known, and ut last became an inmate Of
a Humane Institution. Hear me but little
longer till Ego through. A disorder of dis
Pressing nature seized upon Anna, and reduced
her to the very borders of the grave. The
anxiety Of the parents was Understandable
The physician, who attended her, assured
them that the case was dangerous one, but
that if their daughters mind was kept calm,
she might yet recover. All attempts to effect
this object proved unavaling; and a sudden
turn ri her thoughts to her husbands fate