Madison Whig advocate. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1839-1841, 1839-02-16
Broken Hearts.
BY wAsAINGToN IRWIN

BY wAsAINGT on IRVING.
1t is a common practice with those
who have outIived the susceptibility of
early feeling, or who have been brought
up in the day heartIessness of dissiPated
life, to laugh at all love stories, and to
treat the tales of romantic passion as
mere fiction Of novelists and poets. NV
observations of human nature have in
duced me to think otherwise. They
have convinced me that, however the
surface of the character may be chilled
and frozen by cares of the world. or cuI-
tivated into mere smiles by the art of So
ciety, still there are dormant fires Turk
ing in the breast of the coolest bosoms.
which, when once enkindIed. becomes
impetuous and are, sometimes. desolating
in their effects. Indeed, am true be-
lever in the blind deity, and 90 to the
full extent of his doctrines. Shall |
confess it? | believe in broken hearts,
and the possibility of disappointed love
do not, however, consider It a malady
often fatal to nay own sex; but firmly
believe that it withers down many a love
" woman into an early grave.
Nan Is the creature of interest AM
ambition. His nature leads him forth
into the struggle and hustle Of the world.
Love is but the establishment Of his ear
ly life, or a song piped in the interval Of
the acts. He seeks for fame, for fortune,
for space in the worlds thought, and DO
main over his fellow men; but a wOman's
whole life is a history of the affections.
The heart Is her world, it is there her
ambition strives for empire-.t is there
her avarice seeks for hidden treasures.
She sends forth her sympathies on ad
venture; she cmbarks her whole soul IN
the traffic of affection and. If shipwreck-
ed, her cause is hopeless, for II IS bank
ruptcy for her heart.
To man, the disappointment Of love
may occasion some bitter pangs, II
wounds some feelings Of tenderness
blasts some prospects of felicity. but he
is an active being-he may dissipate his
thoughts IN the whirl of varied occupa-
tions or may plunge in the tide OF pleas
ure-or, if the scene of his tisappolnt-
ment be too full of painful associations.
he can shift his abode at will But wo-
mau's Is comparatively a fixed, a seclu-
ded, and a medtated life. She is more
the companion of her own thoughts and
feelings, and if they are turned to min
listers of sorrow, where shall she look
for consolafion2 If unhappy IN her love,
her heart is like some fortress that has
been captured, and sacked, and abandon
ed and left desoIate. With her the de-
sire of the heart has failed; the great
charm Of existence Is at an end. She
neglects all the cheerful exercises which
gladden. the tide of life in heaIthfal cur
rents through the veins. Her rest Is
broken-the sweet refreshment of sleep
is poisoned by melancholy dreams; sun
til her enlee bled frame sinks under the
slightest external iniury.r Look for
her, after while, and you find frieaj-
ship weeping over her untimeIy grave.
and wondering that one who but lately
glowed with all the radiance Of health
and beauty. should so speedily b. bro't
down to darkness and the worrn-- You
will be told of some wintry chill. some
casual indisposifion that laid her lo.v.
but few know the mental nalady that
previously sapped her strength, aa1
made her so easy prey TO the spoiler-
How many bright eyes grow dim,-how
many son cheeks grow paIe.--how many
lovely forms fade away into the tomb,
victims OF blasted hopes, and wiIhere1
joyss
Woman is like some tender tree. the
pride and beauty of the gravc-graceful
in its form, bright in its foliage, bar with
the worm preying AZ its heart We fiai
it suddenly whitening when il should BE-
most fresh aud Iuxuriant- We see il /
dropping its branches 10 the earth. and
shedding leaf by leaf, until wasted AMI
persisted away, II falls, even IN the still