Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1839-03-08
THE TRUANT HUSBAND.

| IL was past midnight, and she sat leaning
! her pale cheek on her hand, counting the
dull ticking OF the French clock tina, stood
on The marble chimney piece and ever and
anon lifting her weary eye TO lis dial to mark
the lapse OF another hour. Ii was midnight,
and yet he returned not2 She arose and Ia.
king up the lamp. whose pale rays alone H..
lumed up the solitary chamber. proceeded
With noiseless step 10 small inner apart.
ment The curtains Of his little bed were
drawn aside and the young mother gazed OH
her sleeping child What vivid contrast
did that glowing check and smiling brow
present as he lay in rosy slumbers, 10 the IA
ded, yet beautiful face that hung over him in
tears Will be resemble his father q was
the thought that passed for a moment
through her devoted bear and sigh was
the only answer
It's .hjsu,yNllbpener ccnoea through
the LOFTY hall, as with a Inurmur on his lip
he uudrew the massy bolts and admitted his
thouphtless muste. Four O'clock Willis is
it moi p and he sprang up the siaircase-a
mother moment he is in her chamber-7in
her arms
No reproaches met the truant husband,
none save those she could not spare him. ia
her heavy eye and fading check-yet these
smoke 10 his heart Julia. have been a
Wandering husband .Bul you are come
now, CHARLES, and all is wellln And all
was well from that hour, Charles Danvers
beca mean altered man. Had his wife met
him with frowns and sullen tears he had be-
come hardened iberine-but affectionate
caresses, the joy that danced in her sunken
eve, the hectic flush that lii up her pallid
cheek at his approach were arguments he
could not withstand Married in early life,
while he felt all The ardor, but not the es-
TEEN of love, possessed of splendid fortune,
and having hitherto had the entire com
mand Of his own pleasures--Danvers ieil
into that common error ofthe newly-marrie.d
the dread Of being controlled. In vain did
his parents who beheld with sorrow The re-
proaches and misery he was heaping up lor
| himselfin afier-life. remons,rate. Charles
Danvers turned deaf ear TO advice, and
pursued with companions every way unwor'
lthy his society the path of folly, II not aoso
lutte guilt The tavern, the club room, the
race.course, TOO often left his wife solitary
mourner, or midnight watcher Thus me
/ first three years Of their welded life had
| nassed-to him in fevered and restless pleas
ure. 10 her in blighted hope, or 10 unmur
muring regret. But this night crowned The
+ palient forebearance Of the neglected julia
with its inst reward. and gave the death
blow to folly in the bosom of Danvers i
Returning with disgust from the losses o
1.-The hazard table, her meekness and long
suffering touched him 10 the soul; the hlu
. fell from his eyes, and Vice in her own hid
cons deformity, stood unmasked before him
Ten years have passed since that solitar,
midnight, when the young maron had ben
, in tears over her sleeping boy. Behold he
E now still in the pride of womanhood, sur
' rounded by other. cherub faces, who are lis
/ tening ere they go to restto her sweet voc'
I as il pours forth TO the accompaniment oil he
: harp, an evening song of JOY and melody
while manly form is bending over the mu
: c-page 10 hide the tear Of happiness and ri
2 umph that springs from a swelling bosom
4 as he contemplates the interesting group
d Youthful marion! We who watch over
wandering. perhaps an erring heart-whe
e reproach tremhes on your lips towards
4 truanl husband, initiate Julia Danverse an
/ remember, though Hymen has chains lik
d the sword Of HarmOdius they may be cover
r ed with flowers that unkindness and irrIla
: bility do but harden. not wholly estrang
!. 1.-The heart-while on the contrary patienc
: end eenteness Of manner las water droI
il ping on the flnty rock viii in time wear
III into soltness.j seldom fail TO reclaim TO hal
piness and virtue the truant husband
nj | love mine ensmies, as the topper said vs
n he huooed inc frufn