Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-12-20

sick, and spoke in glowing terms TO the
dying Of those hopes, that she herself
would not venture to indulge.
The time the funeral was to take place
repaired TO the hermitage with the vii
layers. The mourner was alone ia front
Of his house; serious but not sorrow
stricken. As l approached with the
rest, he recognised me, rose, and offered
his hand. I'VE have net on more JOY
Gus cocasions,' he said, but in this
world we cannot expect always to bask 10
the sunshine
'Truc, for the brightest day may
be overcast before the sun goes down.
'And when the storm RACES, She adj
dcd, the %loltiest oak Of the forest is
most likely to be torn up and rivcn.'
He silently led me TO tho door Of the
cottage; we entered, and he ushored
me into the room where The corpse
lay incofined. lie uncovered its face.
Look lbcre,' he said, you have ga
zed in admiration on that face, IN a
more brilliant scene than this, but trust
mo not IN a happier. The day Of death
may and should be rendered the happi.
est that life affords. How purely beau
tilul she is even in DEATH
observed that her c~ountenance was
placid, and that a sweet smile was on
her lips. He caught my hand and
pressed it convulsively; tears gushed
from his eyes, and he scarcely articula-
ted. Il strove for years reproduce that
smile, and have finally succeeded. There
is nothing in life half SO beautiful or
dear to me as that smile. 1t came over
her lips as last night she told me that
that her soul had cast its burthen,
and she died so easy that death froze the
impression there
He stood gazing at the departed in ST.
lence, until it was time for the funeral
to commence moving. 1t was compos-
ed Of about twenty Of his neighbors.
We took up the body and moved on to-
wards the grave prepared to receive it,
which was in a small cluster of cypress
trees, a short distance from their dwell
ing. 1t had been her f~avorite retreat in
the summer, and rude branches were
hero and there placed from tree to tree.
There was no one to pronounce the i'm
pressive 'dust 10 dust;' but the open
grave; and the mortal remains beside 1t,
awakened feelings in the rude minds of
the spectators, far more eloquent than
words could embody. Eloquence Of
thought is conferred on q greater number
than the powers Of rhetoric. The our
ner stood at the head of the grave, and
with his own hands assisted in deposit
ing the remains Of all that he loved on
earth. He was as careful in his last
duty as il the senseless clay still retain
ed the functions Of vitality, for he still
valued the casket, though the jewel was
gone. He scattered a spade full of
earth upon the coffin; it was the signal,
and the grave was speedily closed. Dur
ing this operation, no stood mute, stifled
one convulsive sigh, but shed not a sim
gle tear. Why should he weep since
the weary was at rest? He returned to
the hermitage. l accompanied him,
aud the rustics withdrew to their respce-
tive pursuits. The transition from life
to death is immediate, but not more so
than from the scene Of death to the ac-
two employments of life, and both ap-
pear to be made with equal uncon-
Germ.
you will now return, I trust,' said I,
80 society again; Tor the object that oc-
casioned your seclusion no longer re-
quircs your caro-, and experience must
have taught you that you are o a fit
subject for a hermitage
|. You appear to forget, The applied,
that l I'm a prescribed man, and that |
must answer for human blood u%nrighte-
ously shed. Remember that he whose
peridy broke the heart and bligbted the
fair fame of her who was with me but
yesterday, fell BY this hand. l neither
condemn nor defend the act, but ss long
as society is organized upon its present
principles, in spite of the cool ~sophistry
of the sluggish in spirit, and the furious
denunciations Of the heated in magma
ton, l would do it again tomorrow upon
similar provocation, though with the Sc
curity of being called forth the next
moment to render an account upon the
scaffold.'
'The magnitude of your injury re-
piled, may obtain a pardon for your Of
fences, even should it not be already for
gotten
Forgotten! and are you so ignorant of
the race with which you daily mingled,
as to suppose it TO be forgotten? True,
the remembrance Of it may sleep, but my
presence would awaken it in all its rrimi-
tive freshness, and with it my poor sisters
shame, aud a thousand attending circum-
stances. - Forgotten! disgrace is never
forgotten while the object lives, and like
n conta0ion.i 1t speads 10 every member of,