The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-07-27

lence Of the scene. Elvira arose. The
cloak Of Glenarville, as she had fallen faint
ing and bleeding at his side, had shielded
her from the scalping knife, and the night
winds now came refreshingly over her damp
brow. Her wounds had been slight but the
unseen ministering of sorrow had spared
death a Steiner and more palpable agency,
and Elyira knew that the scroll of her desti-
ny was completed. A strange ecsiacy per-
vaded her soul-earth, with all its horrors
mad become but as a dream, passing away
from her vision. She looked up through the
branches that flung their shadows over that
scene OF blood TO the clear blue heavens
The full moon and the quietly burning stars
were moving serenely on in a brightness
whose fount was eternal and portion of
that glory seemed poured upon the darkened
and polluted chambers of her soul. One
only thought yet chained her upward fight
was Glenaryile among the dead' Calmly
and earnestly she bent over their CHASTITY
heaps, and as yet they bore no lineaments
familiar to her gaze. She passed on to the
extreme verge OF the encampment and low
groan now drew her to form tina, lay partly
concealed by the thick underwood. She
gazed for moment on the features, and the
next she had bent over them and was bathing
the livid lip and brow with the waters Of
near fountain.
Glenarville," she softly whispered, and
the glazed eye at length opened upon her
with faint CLEAN Of recognition.
Ha, Elvira! poor, injured Ekira--comest
thou again to upbraid me with thy ruin l
had thought-but no, Elvira is dead, and it is
well-there are no broken vows upon her
soul. But for me, the hour Of her forgiveness
is now past, and may not die There is
stern account which dare not enter"
No, Glenaryile, no-Elsira lives, but not
to upbraid she comes but to whisper peace,
and then to die with you. The love that sur
wives its wrongs, requires no expiaiion; it is
of Him whose throne is beyond yon purple
heavens, the dying penitent should seek for
giveness. Thither, oh Glenarville, direct
your appeal. Ii shall not be in vain. My
beloved hear mean not sharer Of thy
guilt; and already is the blessed seal of that
high pardon on my soul. and the tempest Of
my heart is still. Yes, Glenarville," and the
darkening eye Of the fair comforter kindled
with an unearthly and holy radiance, and her
lip and cheek, which had already assumed
the ashen hue of DEATH were again colOred
with glowing tint" the brightness OF an
other existence is cleaning on the darkness
and desolation Of my guilty path; and say,
oh Glenarville, thou who hast held with me
the dreadful companionship Of crime, is there
not for thee also, a share Of that light :"
Pray for me, Elyira the voice Of the
betrayed may be heard -not of the betrayer."
And the maiden knelt in prayer-she, the
vile one, from whose communicating touch the
daughters of innocence would have recoiled
and the earnest supplication went up
through The deep Stiffness in the accents Of
strong, passionate, and holy trust. Sublime
beyond human thought, and mysterious as
the grave, is that influence through whose 4
medium the scorned outcast of the earth OBJ
tains access 10 the Fountain of all purity, and
holds high communion with Him whose face
is yelled even 10 the righteous. She PRAYED
for him who bad rendered her in the morning
Of life scathed and blighted thing stricken
out from the fair pages Of crealion-and that
of prayer-so deep, so fervent, fell like dew
on the scorched soul Of the dying. A smile
Of assurance gathered on his features, and as
Evra at last pressed her lips to his cold
forehead, the ,ranquiized spirit passed with
out struggle.
And there he lay, the naughty being who
had moved or with strange power, breaking
the sinuous chords OF early habit and kindred
Affection dssolving as mis-, the pure creation
of years of paternal solicitude, and trampling
in his proud strength on the human heart as
thing of nough, He lay there, a form Of
dust. The spell which beauty had flung upon
it, was for ever broken, and the voice, whose
Establishments had lulled the pure mind into
unhallowed slumber, was hushed in an eter-
nal silence.
Seasons, years passed away, and again an
army whose final victory decided the con-
quest OF those stained forests, was encamped
on that scene Of horror. The scattered dead
were gathered for burial, and beside a tall
frame, on the verge Of the battle ground, there
was found slight skeleton amid thicket of
underwood. The hands were yet clasped, as
if IN prayer, and the long sunny tresses that
lay around the hollow temples. were still
bound with the ornaments that had been
worn in days Of splendid infamy and guilty
pleasure. s