Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-10-20
LUCY OF THE FOLD.

oenius has allied no gen raj emotion, fades like
The mist. and leaves heart-rending grief unde-
Dlored. Elements and dirges might indeed nave
well been sung amidst the green ruins oil yon-
der cottage. that looks now almost like fallen
,vall-at hest. the. remnants Of cattle-shed sha-
Ken down by the storm. Twenty years ago
how short a time in National history-how long
IN ,batof priya,e sorrows!-al tongues were
xneaking of the death that there befel: and to
have seen the weeping, you would have thought
that the funeral could have never been forgot
ten. But stop now the shepherd on the hill,
and ask him who lived of old in that nook, and
chance is, he knows not even their name, much
less the story Of their Affections. That farm
house was inhabited by Allan Fleming, his
wife. and an only child, known familiarly in her
own small world, by the name OF Lucy OF the
Fold. In almost every vale among the noun
tains there is its peculiar prIde-some one crea-
ture to whom nature has been especially kind,
and whose personal beauty, sweetness OF dispo-
sition. and felt superiority Of mind and manner,
single her out, unconsciously, as an object OF
attraction and praise, making her the May-day
Queen Of the unending year Such darling
was Lucy Fleming, ere she had finished her
thirteenth year; and strangers, who had heard
of her loneliness, often dropped in, as if by ac-
cident, to see the Beauty OF Rydalmere. Her
parents reioiced in their child; nor was there a
nv reason why they should dislike the express
sion of deligh: and onder, with which so ma
nv regarded her. Shy was she as woodland
bird. but as fond of her nest TOO; and when there
was nothing near to disturb, her life was almost
a perpetual hymn. From Joy to sadness, and
from sadness to Joy; from silence 10 song, and
from song to silence; from stiffness like that OF
the butterfly on the flower, to motion like that
Of the same creature, wavering in the sunshine
over the wood-top, was to Lucy as welcome a
change, as the change of lights and shadows,
breezes and Gains, In the mountaineering OF
her birth.
One summerday, youthful stranger appear
ed al the door Of the house, and after an hours
stay, during which Lucy was from home, ask
ed il they would let him have lodgings with
them for few months: single room for bed
and books: and that he would take his meals
with the family. Enthusiastic boy! TO him po-
etry had been the light of life, nor did ever he
70 of poetry belong more entirely than he TO the
world of imagination He come into the free
mountain region, from the confinement of col
lege wallis and his spirit was expanded within
him like rainbow. No eyes had he for reali
ties: all nature was seen in the light Of fancy;
not single object a: sunrise and sunset the
same. All was beautiful within the circle OF
the green hill tops, whether shrouded in the
soft mists, or clearly outlined in cloudless
sky. Home, friends, cottages, cities, all sunk
away into oblivion, and Harry Howard felt as
If waited off on the wings OF spirit, and set
down in land beyond the sea, foreign 10 all he
had before experienced, yet in its perfect and
endless beauty appealing every hour more ZEN
DERBY and strongly TO a spirit awakened to new
power, and revealing in new emotion. In that
cottage he took up his abode. In few weeks
came library of books, in all languages; and
there was much wondering talk over all the
countryside, about the mysterious young slran-
ger who now lived at the Fold
Every day, and when he chose to absent him
self from bis hauns among the hills, every
hour, was Lucy before the young poets eyes:
and every hour did her beauty wax more beau
tiful in his imagination Who MIR Howard
was, or even il thar were indeed his real name,
no ore knew; out none doubted that he was OF
gentle birth, and all with whom he had ever
conyersed in his elegant amenlty, could nave
sworn that youth so bland and free, and with
such voice. and such ewes, would not have IN
iured the humbest o. Gods creatures, much
indeed even so--for, before the long summer
days were gone, he, who had never had sister,
loved her even as il he had slept on the same
.naternaI bosom. Father or mother he now
had none-iadeed scarcely one near relation;
although he was rich in this worlds riches, but
in them poor, in comparison with the noble
endowments that nature had lavished upon his
mind. His guardians took little heed OF the
splendid. but hayward youth; and knew not
now whittier his fancies had carried him; were
il even 10 some savage land. Thus, the Fold
bee ame 10 him the one dearest roof under the
roof Of Heaven. All the simple on-golngs OF
that humble home, love and imagination beau
tified into poesy; * all the rough or coarse edg-
es Of lowly life, were softened away In the hight
of genius that transmitted every thing on which
i, fell; while all the silent limitations winch
nature gave there of her primal sympathies' IN
the hut as fine an6 forceful as in the hall, snow
ed TO his excited spirit pre-eminently beau'itui,
and chained il to the hearth, around which was
read the morning and evening prayer
What wild schemes does not love imagine,
and in the face of every impossibility, achieve!