The Northern star, and farmers' and mechanics' advocate. [volume] (Warren, R.I.) 1830-1834, 1833-04-06

than usual hustle pefvaded the room. -
The stranger had entered il; and there
was something % different in his looks
and manner from those Of any ofthe other
male creaturos. that every body surveyed
him with renewed curiosity, which was at
6rst slightly tinctured with awe.
WHO can he be!" was tho question
ahat simultaneously started up like cro-
Gus in many a throbbing bosom.
He knows nobody, and nobody knows
him; surely he will nes or think Of asking
any body to dance." i
"Danoe !">said Miss Coffin, the apoth-
ecary - daughter, " wonder who would
dance with hims being whom we know
no more about than we do Of the man in
4he moon. Papa says he looks for all the
world like q quack doctor"
:" rather suspect" said Miss Bluebite,
starch spinster Of fifty, who was consid-
cred the Madame de Stael Of the village
81 ratlier suspect that he is an Irisl fort
ane-hunter, come for the express purpose
of running uway with some Of US. We
ought to be upon our guard, l assure
YOU"
Miss Bluebite was said to have prop
erty t. the amount Of seventy pounds per
annum, and, no doubt, concluded that she
was herself the leading object of the id
rveBturer's machipations. HAD u been
so, he must lla~e been bold sdvenlurer
indeed.
For long time the stranger stood o.
ioof from the dancers in corner by him
self, and people were almost beginning TO
forget his Or essence. But he was not idle;
he was observing uttentively every groupc,
md every individual, that passed before
hin. Jvdging by the various expressions
that came over his countenance, one
would haze thought that he could read
character al a single glance-that his per-
ccptiCns were similar to intuiiions. Truth
obligcs me to confess, that it was not with
"a very nvtrable eye that he regarded the
greater majority ofthe inhabitnnts of Hod-
net and its neighborhood. Probably they
did not exactly come up to his expecta-
aions; but what these expectations were
il is difficult to conceive.
At length however, something like a
change seemed to come over the spirit Of
his dreams. His eye fell on Emily Som
mers, and appeared to rest where it fell
with no small degree of pleasure. No
wonder; Emily was not what is generally
styled beautiful; but there was sweet
ness, n modesty, gentleness about her,
that charmed the moro the longer it was
observed. She was the only child Of a
widowed mother. Her father had died
many year ago in battle; and the PEN;
sion OF an officers widow was all the fort
une he had left them. But nature had
bestowed riches of more valuable kind
than those which fortune had denied.
wish could describe Emily Sommers;
but 1 shall not attempt it. She was one
OF those whose virtues are hid from tho
blaze ofthe world, only to, be the more
appreciated by those who can understand
them. She was one Of those who are sell
dom missed in the hour Of festive gaiety,
who pass unobserved in the midst of lnre
and hustle, and whose names are butrare-
ly heard beyond tho limits Of their own
immediate circle. But mingle with that
circle; leave the busy world behind you,
and enter within its circumscribed and
domestic sphere, and then you will dis
cover the value Of being like to her Of
whom speak Without her, the winter
freside, or the sammer-evenIng walk, is
destitute of pleasure. Her winning
smiles, her unclouded temper, her affect
ionate gentleness, must throw their hal
lowed influence over the scenes where
her spirit prcsides, unconscious Of its pow
or, else they become uninteresting and
desolate. Ihave said that she is not miss |
ed in the hour Of festive gaiety; but when /,
she is at length removed from among us,
when the place that knew her knows her
no more, she leaves
"a void and silent place in some sweet homo"
and Il long-re nembered grier' throws
its shadowy gloom over few fond hearts.
1t was to Emily Sommers that the
stranger first spoke. He walked right a
cross the room, and asked her to dance
with him. Emily had never seen him be-
fore; but concluding that he had come
fhere with some other friends, and little
acquainted with the rules of etiquette, she
immediately, With a frank artlessncss,
smiled an ascc cp,anceo his request. just
st that moment young Squire Thorough-
bred came bustIing townrds her; but OBJ
serving her hand already in that OF the
stranger, he looked somewhat wfaihiulIy
al the unknown, and said, with much Dig
nifty, 81, sir, intended to havs been Miss
6ommers's partner" The stranger hxed
his dark eye upon the squire, s''gh'
smile curled on his lip, and without an
swsrirg, he passed on with Ss partner
and t,ok his place in the dance. lhe
squire stood stock still for moment
feeling as if he had just experieaced
elirht shock Of electricity. When h6 re-