Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1838-11-28
WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER Is, lsas

| aNs, Gnu atttouiItiS 10 Her SuIt0r eX-
cellencies that, in him, had only an inn
| aginary existence, gave her hand to him
with all the deyotedness of woman's first
love; and when the clouds of error we're
| dlssiPatcd, and the creations of fancy gave
way to painful truth in the mids, OF un-
Kindness she endeavored to "hope against
hope" and even when he had abandoned
| her AMI her infant, continued to cherish
the recollection Of him who had won her
| early affections as the ivy enfolds the
| ruined, rotten trunk of its early embrace.
| liei bruised spirit would have sunk be-
meath the pressure OF sorrow, but mater.
nal love nerved up her strength, and ena.
bled her to make exertions for her child
that she could not have made for herself.
Often when she would have tainted over
her wash-tu5 with fatigue, the sight of
Clara, as she sported over the green with
a countenance like an angel, inspirited
her, or her innocent laugh as her little
arms FLASHED in the water playing with
the soap-bubbles, or her soft voice as she
hummed the infant hymns her mother had
learned her.
Modest merit is unobtruslve Of its griefs
and is permitted to suffer, while forward.
ness is hearkened to and relieved from its
very Importantly. Although the thin
form Of the heart-broken woman for four
years was seen gliding like spectre
along the streets, during the week, laden
with the clothes of her daily toll, and her
little child with piles Of linen, over which
her bright locks fell in ringlets like sun
beams on flakes of snow; and although
every Sabbath they occupied the same
humble seat at church, no one had nqu.
red into their destitute condition, nor had
endeavored to put them into way ofear-
ming livelihood more suited to the moth
er's falling strength. "The melancholy
washerwoman and her pretty child'' came
from the lips of many, as before, but was
a sentiment of the lips, in which the heart
had no share. 1t created no charitable
desire to cheer the melancholy ofthe one,
or shield the frail, unprotected beauty of
the other from the hardships and snares of
| an evil world.
Paler grew her cheek, slower the step,
and more stopped the figure of the lone
| daughter of sorrow, yet with her wasted
hands, worn through the skin by attrition,
she continued late and early to ply her
accustomed labor, while deeper and dee,
per shadows spread over her countenance
the dull twilight Of life darkening into
the night of death.
1t was morning in May, the sky was
| flushed with the rosy tints of the rising
sun; and the hum of the distant city
with The gush Of waters and the song of
| birIs, came like the music of enchant-
ment on the fresh air, scented with the
| breath of the flowers OF spring. Every
thing around smiled in the beauty and
peacefumess OF Eden. Deeply did Mr.
Letour and his warm-hearted lady drink
the influence of all that surrounded them ::
for the virtuous and charitable alone are
calculated to enjoy the cain beauties of
nature. They had risen earlier than
usual, had continued their walk beyond
tho precincts Of the city, until they came
to the humble suburban habitations of the
poor. The sun had not risen, yet the
smoke was curling up among the cluster
ing boughs of the weeping willows from
the fire in the open air, where, beside the
spring, the slender form ofthe washerwo-
man bent over her daily task. They had
often marked the sorrowlul countenance
of the deserted woman as she and her lit
tie daughter took away weekly and retur-
ned the clothes which they gave her but
the peculiar hardness of her fate had not
presented itselfto them until, in their NOR.
ming ramble, they saw the unmitigated
toll TO which she was subject, and con-
trasted her cherries poverty snd wake
full labors with the extravagant and lndo.
lent 6ay-slumbers ofthe wealthy. If the
luxurious inhabitants of the city would
give to morning exercise the hours they
waste in fever;sh sleep, and witness the
hardships and the tolls which the poor,
late and early, have to undergo for a
scanty subsistence, how often would pride
and haughtiness learn a lesson of humili.
ty--how often would avarice listen to the
dictates Of charity, and the glow of be.
nevolence expand the breast that wraps
itself up in Its own narrow interest.
Ashley approached the humble cottage,
the cries of child, from the thick bower
ofwllows, arrested their attention. They
proceeded hastily TO the spot from which
the noise came. The water was bub-
bling in cauldrons over brisk fire-con-
fused heaps ofdry clothes dotted the green
grass over, like islands-tbere lay mas
ses tina, had already been washed, in twis-
ted rolls piled together there stood the
tub with its contents from which the ex-
cited bubbles had scarcely disappeared,
and beside it lay extended the washerwo-
man ar she had sunk down from exhaus-