Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1836-01-07

old obstacles which 50 necessarily occur in
these heedless attachments. His rank in
liie-the prejudice Of titled connexions
ms dependence upon proud and unyield-
ing Ia'her-aH forbade him TO think Of
matrim0ny: but when he looked down up
on tniS innocent being, SO tender and con-
nding. there was purity in her manners. a
blamelessness in her life, and a heseeching
modesty in her looks, that awed down az.
cry licentious feeling. I,r vain did he trv
to fOrtify himself by a thousand hear,loss
examples Of men Of fashion and to chill
the glow of generous sentiment. with ,he
cold derisive levity with which he mad
heard them talk Of female virtHes when-
ever he came into her presence, she was
still surrounded by that mysterious, but
impressive charm of virgin purity, in whose
hallowed sphere no guilty thought can live.
The sudden arrival Of order from the re-
giment to repair to the continent, compile
ted the confusion Of mind. He remained
for short time in state Of the most pain
full irresolution; he hesitated to communi-
cate the tidings, until the day Of marching
was at hand; when he gave her the in,elli-
gence in the course Of an evening ramble.
The idea of parting had never before
occurred to her. 1t broke at once upon
her dream Of felicity; she looked at once
upon il as sudden and insurmountable evil,
and wept with the guileless simplicity of
child. He drew her to bis bosom, and
kissed the tears from her soft cheek nor
did he meet with repulse; for these are
ofmingled sorrow and tenderness,
which allow the caresses Of affection. He
was naturally impetuous; and the sight Of
beauty. apparently yielding in his arms !;
the confidence Of his power over her: and
the dread of losing her forever; all con-
spired to overwhelm his better feelings
he ventured to propose that she should
eave her home, and become the compan-
ion of his fortune.
He was quite novice in seduction, and
blushed and faltered at his own baseness !;
but so innocent Of mind was his intended
victim, that she was at first at loss to COM
prehend his meaning; and why she should
leave her native village and the humble
roof of her parents? When at last the ma
lure Of his proposal flashed upon her pure
mind, tlie effect was whitening. She did
not weep she did not break forth in re-
said not a word-but she
shrunk back aghast as from viper gave
him look of anguish that pierced to his
very soul and clasping her hands in agony
fed as if for refuge, TO her fathers cottage.
The officer retired, COMPOUNDED, humil-
lated, and repentant. II is uncertain what
might have been the result of the conflict
Of his feelings, had not his thoughts been
diverted by the hustle ofdeparture. New
scenes, new pleasures, and new compan-
:an=, soon dissipated his self reproach, and
stifled his tenderness yet, amidst the stir
Of camps, the revelries of garrisons, the
array Of armies, and even the din of battle,
his thoughts would sometimes steal back
to the scenes Of rural quiet and village sim
cottage-the footpath along
the silver brook and up the hawthorn hodge,
the little village maid loirtering along il,
leaning on his arm, and listening to him
with eyes beaming with unconscious aflec-
ton.
The shock which the poor girl had re-
ceived, in the destruction Of all her ideal
world, had indeed been cruel. Paintings
and Mysteries, had at first shaken her ten
der frame, and were succeeded by settled
and pining melancholy. She had beheld
from her window, the march of tho DEPART
ing troops. Sho had seen her faisliess
lover borne of, as If in triumph amid the
sound Of drum and trumpet. and the pomp
Of arms. She strained last aching gaze
after him, as the morning sun glittered a.
bout his figure, and his plume waved in
the breeze: he passed away like a bright
vision from her sight, and left her all 10
darkness.
1t would be trits to dwell ON the partic-
ulars Of her after story. 1t was like other
tales of love and melancholy. She avoid
ed society, and wandered out alone in the
walks she had most frequented with her
lover. She sought, like the stricken deer,
to weep in silence and Loneliness, and brood
over the barbed sorrow that ranked in her
soul. Sometimes she would be seen late
of an evening sitting in the porch Of the
village church and the milk maids, return
ing from the fields, would now and then
overhear her singing some plaintive ditty
in the hawthorn walk. She became fer
vent in her devotion at church and as
the old people saw her approach, so vast
ed away, yet with hectic gloom, and that
hallowed air, which melancholy diffuses
round the form. they would make way for
her, as for thing spiritual, and. looking
after her, would shake their heads in
gloomy forebodiDgs.
She felt conviction that she was hast
sning to the tomb, but looked forward to it
IS place ofrest. The silver cord that Ind
pound her existence was loosened, aDd
here seemed to be no more pleasure under
ne sun. Ifever her gentle bosom had en-