Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1839-12-17
E. B. DRAKE, EDITOR

AS they spoke soft knock was heard
such as kindness gives at the door of
misfortune, and Eveiard started UP to an
swer 1t. Stay said Welberg absently,
where are the servants p Then recol-
Letting himself, he smiled agonizingly, and
waived his hand to his son to 90. Il
was the good priest. He entered and sat
down in silence no one spoke TO him.
II might be truly said, as it is sublimely
sad IN the original, There was neither
speechsor language but voices were heard
among them,' and fell too The worthy
priest prided himself on his orthodoxy of
all matters Of belief and form enioined by
the Catholic church and moreover, had
acquired kind of monastic apathy, of
sanctified stoicism, which priests some
times imagine is the conquest of grace
over the rebellion of nature, when it is
merely the result of a profession which
denies nature its objects and its ties. Yet
so II was, that as he sat among the men,
bers of this afflicted family, after complai-
nng of the keenness Of the morning air,
and wipng away in vain the moisture,
which he said it had brought into his eyes,
he at last yielded to his feelings, aud 'lifted
up his voice and wept,' but tears were not
all he had TO offer. On hearing the plans
of Welberg and his family, he promised
with ialtering voice, his ready assistance
ia promoting them and as he arose to de-
part, observed that he had been entrusted
by the faithful with a small sum for the
| Of fi,o
where it could be better bestowed, he
dropped from the sleeve Of his habit a
well filed purse on the floor and hurried
away.
The family retired to rest as the day
approached, but arose in a few hours with
out having slept; and the remainder OF
that day, and the whole of the three follow
ing, were devoted to applications at every
door where encouragement might be ex-
pected, or employment obtained, the priest
IN person, aiding every application. But
there were many circumstances unfayor-
able to the i'll starred family Of Welborg.
They were strangers, and with the excep-
ton of their mother, who acted as inter-
prefer, ignorant of the language Of the
country. This was a sore evil extend
'ng almost to the total preclusioa of their
exertions as teachers. They were also
heretics-and this alone was a sufficient
bar to their success IN Seville. In some
families the beauty OF the daughters, in
others the son, was gravely debated as an
objection. In others, the recollection of
heir former splendor, suggested mean
and rancorous motive to jealous nferiority
10 insult them By "A rejection. for which no
other cause could be assigned. Unwea-
ried and undismayed, they renewed their
applications every day at every house
where admission could be obtained, and
at many where it was denied and each
day they returned to examine their dimin-
Ished stock, TO divide the scantlcr meal,
calculate how FAR it was possible to re-
duce the claims of nature TO the level of
their ebbing meals, and smiled when they
talked Of the morrow to each other, hut
wept when they thought oft alone. There
is a whitening monotony in the diary of
misery-'one day telleth another But
there came at length day, when the last
coin was expended, the last meal devoured,
the last resource exhausted, the last hope
annihilated, and the friendly priest him
self told them weeping, he had nothing to
give them but his prayers.
"That evening the family sat in pro-
found and Supplied silence together for
some hours, till the aged mother of Wei
berg, who had not for some months utter
cd any thing but indistinct monosylableS,
or appeared conscious of any Thing that
was going on, suddenly with that ominous
energy that announces its effort 10 be the
lasl-ihat bright flash Of parting life that
proceeds IFS total extinction, exclaimed
aloud apparently addressing her husband /:
There is something wrong here-why did
they bring us from Germany They
might have suffered us to die there
Il they have brought us here to mock us