Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1827-06-09


lin for the want Of which he sought
in vain for such situation as he could
easily have obtained under more ia
vourable circumstances. At length,
havin y exhausted all but his last dol
lar, and seeing no prospect of employ
ment in the city, he resolved to num-
ber himself among the labouring class
of his countrymen. In company with
several he engaged to work on the
Grand Canal, the western section of
which was then sxcavating. To this,
his partner in affection, ready to share
any suffering or deprivation with the
husband Of her love, at once acceded,
and they accordingly proceeded to
the site Of his destined labours. Well
has the poet declared,
That man knew never yet the love Of woman,
Who never had an i'll to share with her.
Those who visited the banks of the
Grand Canal during the period of its
construction, will hardly need be told
that the labourels, engaged in its ex-
cavalion, resided in temporary log
huts, erected near the scene of their
labours. in one Of these cabins did
Henry and Fillmore take up their res
idence. As much as possible, they
remained secluded from the gaze of
the few well bred persons whom curl
osity or necessity brought to the vi
cinity of their humble dwelling; and
as far as propriety would allow, de.
clined the society of his fellow labor
ers, for reasons sufficiently obvious.
Conceive, reader, Of the great and
sudden transition from aflluence to
poverty, experienced by Fillmore. In
exchange for all the refinements that
opulence could command, for all the
ease and elegance Of fashionable life,
for a corresponding circle of friends,
and last, not least, for fathers sump.
tuous mansion-in exchange for these,
she suffered all the distress which pow
erty can inAict, all the hardship which
a life of labour must impose, and all
the discomforts of temporary log
hut, with no furniture but hard bed,
a table, and an old chair or two
Sketch for yourself the two pictures,
and learn thence the extent of woman's
love. In the eyes Of Fillmore, all these
latter vanished with the thought of her
husband, in whose fidelity, tenderness
and love, she found an equivalent for
the ease and comfort Of her early life.
True, in the absence of her husband
at his daily labour, her by-past felici-
ty would sometimes crowd on her
memory, and produce momentary sad
ness but this seemed to be rather as
a dream when he returned. Still she
Has sufferer in mind. To know
that her father had driven her from
him, to encounter the hardship of a
life Of poverty in the wilderness of a
new world, was ample cause of sor-
row. She loved her father but with
difficulty could she excuse his sentence
of banishment. Though she had been
indiscreet and undutiful, she felt that
she had committed no crime while
her punishment could scarce have
been greater. But her fortitude was
equal to her suffering, and her patience
that Of Virtues self.
Such was Fillmore, and thus lived
Henry and herself in the summer OF
1925, little known to their nearest
neighbours. Accidentally learning
something Of their story, when on an
excursion to the Falls Of Niagara, a
lively interest in their fate was felt by
the ladies Of our party, who determine
ed to call on the fair stranger. They
obtained admission to the humble
dwelling of Fillmore, aud found her as
described, with the addition of three
babes, two of them twins, one Of whom
was not noticed till it peered its laugh
ing eyes from beneath its mothers
chair, where it crept OH seeing the la
dies approach the hut. As the visi,
was induced purely by sympathy, Ell.
linore received them with politeness
and treated them with respect. Tha,
she was embarrassed and would rather
not have been intruded on, could no.
be concealed. She replied with some
unwillingness to the enquiries natural
ly made relative to herself and the cir
cumstances of her eventful life, appa
ren,ly no; wishing that her misfor
tunes should become more known il