Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-03-26
and yet which we shrink from con.cm.

from winch we now strive madly 10
escape, TO which we now revert with
cnthralIing fondncss-it is this, which
has burnt upon our hearts its brand,
and which, be it for good or be it for
evil, never can be elldceJ.
II is.foily to say, we never can love
but once the truth is, we never can
tovc but once thus. Like the rod OF
Aaron, it swallows ali minor attach
ynents bat they have existed never
thelcss. And afterwards, alas ! We
may rush into the thick Of the world !;
we may seek women, and excite our
senses, and iulamc our imaginstions,
ill we almost think we love again -
but there are moments, when we are
alone, when the thoughts Of other days
are revived by something which strikes
upon the eye or the ear, by something
we stumble upon in book, or by the
unaidcd and spontaneous act Of mem
DRY itself, when we find how poor,
how vapid, how false are all the Gc.
iitious feelings we have been foster
ins within Us the sudden panS shoots
across the breast, the choking scnsa-
ton fixes on the throat; the ache
which prcccdc tears is felt behind
our eyes, and we grind our teeth in
agony, as we lift up our voice and
weep aloud.
Oh! it is at such moments, that we
feel the vanity, the folly, The wicked
ness Of the eXcitements, we seek at
ordinary times, so ardcntly What is
the fcvcrish heat produced by these
mental dreams, in comparison with
the fine, generous glow Of early pas
sions What arc these exotics, forced
in the hot-bcd Of society, when thus
brought into contrast with the fresh
aud fragrant fowcrs Of unassistcd na.
turc c? We feel their worthlesspess,
their no,hingness. Our hearts, for
the time, are made purer by their suf-
fcring, for the time we are better
men. Alas can many say that the
effect is lasting? The first sting of re-
collection passes away--we c:.claim,
" This is folly'' We dash the tears
from our eyes, and we rush into the
Charybdis Of exctation and vice, to
shun the Scylla Of accusing con-
science. -~.
Bitter, bitter, indeed, are such
hours, when they recur. Yet who
would resign the memory Of that pas
sion who would resign that heart
throb, though it shakes the whole
frame to agony. When a man lulls
finally to rest, if any man ever can do
so, the feelings springing from that
love, he becomes callous, jaundiced
not misanthropic, but worse-indic-
ferent to all mankind, inaccessible to
all emotions. This is not the calm Of
peacefulness it is the cold, frozen,
stone-likc su,lenness Of Indifference.
If the absence of sympathy, the want
of fellow feeling, as regards the par
licipation Of others in our sensations,
be curse the most dreadful that can
be inflicted on humanity that alb
scnce, that want, as regards our par
ticipatlon in the sensations Of others,
are Gf l may be allowed the express
sion more dreadful still. For they
are certain, and speedily, to produce
the first; and they possess all their
own gloomy, impressive, self.concen-
traton besides. No! "Givc me the
pleasure with the paint Rather
would | have the keen heart-achc and
the fash ofanguish, which such rccol-
lcctlons shoot across the soul, than
that such rccollcctions should exist,
and yet leave me without any emo
ton. ....... ....
And there are few persons, in whom,
after the first flush Of youth is past,
some remembrance Of this kind does
not exist; differing, indeed, vastly, in
point of intensity, as tho countless va
rieties of circumstances and disposi-
ton may occasion, but still there is
some one great chord, which, when
touched, oSerpowcrs all other tones
Of feeling some master tint, whose
hue is ever outbreaking through the
whole picture of life. | have often
thoug hit, when in society, if I were
furnished with talisman, by which to
strike upon this chord, to call into
view this color in every bosom, what
an infinite variety of human passion
would be displayed!-What strong
contrast, in many instances, between