Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1827-10-06


My youth was joy-a tender mother,
whose loss caused me to drop the only
tears ever shed, directed my youthful
steps in the paths Of virtue. She care
fully instructed me in the religion OF
Christ, and soothed hcr sorrows by its
fancied consultations. Its doctrines do
not believe; its consultations have never
needed Yet when | saw it dry her
tears, and arm her with fortitude, have
almost wished l had been deluded into a
belief of its truth. But it is past, and l
regret not what is past. My father l
never knew; he ceased to exist before l
saw the light. He left us wealth-while
this remained we had professed friends;
but adversely came, our wealth dissolved,
our friends deserted US. My mother, al
though unused to want, felt not for her
self, but grieved to behold her child ex-
posed without friends, or wealth, or in
terest Yet she repined not, but suffer-
ed with calmness, and what is termed re-
signation to the will of heaven. She left
me an orphan at an age when l most re-
quired her care and affection. | was
alone in the world, no one cared for me,
all beheld me with coldness, and uncon-
ccrned, l needed it lightly. Having
ambition, and perhaps talents, deter
mined on ihhe acquisition of knowledge,
and to this object devoted al my ener-
GIGS. saw M, I loved her, and
she returned my passion. Her friends
had wealth and rank-I was poor and
ignorant and naughty, they
would not permit her to receive my ad-
dresses; l could endure poverty but not
indignity; I stiAed my tenderness, al
though it cost mo many pang, remov-
ed from the scene Of painful associations
and endeavoured to forget my sorrow in
the intensity of application. My means
of support were failing, and my. health
decayed, yet had mono to assist me;-
some bebeld me with idle curiosity, 9TH
ers with that cold Indifference, more de-
testible than the look of enmity. My
affairs became desperate. I increased
my application, experiencing kind Of
mad enjoyment, in Fastening my ap-
preaching end. l can endure no lon
ger, my last struggle will soon be over,
and my name forgotten on the earth"
He arose, and wrapping his decayed
mantle around him, descended to the
open air. The wintry blast struck an icy
coldness to his heart, and the feeling of
anguish he experienced, when casting a
reverted look on the window of his de-
serted room, he beheld the last flicker
ings Of his lamp, was such as he had ne
YER before experienced. He sank on
the snow drift, and the tide Of life ceased
to flow. lie was found the next morn
ing s.illened corsc, his countcnance,
even in death, cvinoing that unbending
pride and fatal resolution, which the
fragment he left showed to have been so
predominant in his character. The next
day his remains were conveyed to the
church, and the aged minister, having
learned the character Of the deceased,
delivered pathetic address to his be-
loved audience. He spoke of the ex-
cellency of religion to soothe our sor-
rows, and of the unhappiness of those
who disregarded its precepts; of the Pc
culiar dangers to which men. of strong
passions and superior talents are expos
cd, when uniniluenced by the dictates Of
piety, and exhorted them to take warn
ing from the wretched life and early
1eath Of the deceased, to live in obedi-
snce to the commands Of God, aud oin-
'loy their exertions for the good of man.
The body was placed iu the silent abode
u The dead, and the attendants separa.
ed, but the silence which was preserved,
Ind the tear that dimmed the eye, show
ID that the event, and the address of the |
nan of God, were not without their i'm
'ression, and gave reason to hope that
ruit might spring forth unto eternal life.