The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-12-08


face and form had a bending and statue-nKe
grace, increased by the adjustment OF her sPlen-
did hair, which was parted on her white lore
head, and gathered up behind in a large knot
a natural eorenet Her eyebrows and long eye
lashes were a few shades darker than her halrs
and singularly rich and beautiful. She was
plating straw rapidly and skilfully, and bent
over her work with mild and placid attentions
a sedate pensiveness that did not belong to her
age, and which contrasted strangely and sadly
with the gaiety of her laughing and brilliant
sister, who at this moment darted up to her with
a handfnl of pinks and some groundsel' Jessy
received them with a smile-such smile
spoke few sweet words in a sweet signing
voice; put the flowers in her bosom, and the
grounded in the cage of linnet that hung near
her; and then resumed her seat and her Werk'
initiating better than | have ever heard them
initiated, the various notes of nightingale who
was singing in the opposite hedge; whist Is
ashamed of lettering longer, passed on.
The zext time l saw her, my interest in this
lovely creature was increased tenfold--for l
then knew that Jessy was blind-a misfortune
always touching, especially in early youth,
and in her case rendered peculiarly affecting by
the personal character of the individual. We
soon become acquainted, and even intimate un-
der the benign auspices of the kind mistress OF
the rectory; and every interview served to ln-
crease the interest excited by the whole family,
and most of all by the sweet blind girl
Never was an human being more gentle. gen
eIous, and grateful, or more untelgnedly re
signed TO her great calamity. The penslVeness
that marked her character arose, as soon per-
ceived, from different source, Her blindness
had been of recent occurrence, arising from IN
fammation unskilfully treated, and was pro-
nounced incuIable, bat from coming on so late
IL. sat.o nf Ef-ht ch
she was accustomed 10 speak with devout
and tender gratitude. 'She could work, she
said, 'as well as ever: and cut out, and write,
and dress herself, and keep the keys, and run
errands in the house she knew so well without
making any mistake or confusion. Reading,
to be sure, she had been forced to give up, and
drawing, and some day or other she would
show me, only that it seemed so vain, some
verses which her dear brother William had
written upon group of wild flowers, which
she had begun before her misfortune Oh, 1t
was almost worth while TO be blind to be the
subject of such verse land the object OF such at
fectionl Her dear mamma was very good to
her, and so was Emma; but William-Oh she
wished that knew William! No one could
be so kind as he! 1t was impossible. He read
to her; he talked TO her: he walked with her;
he taught her to feel confidence in walking a.
lone; he had made for her use the wooden steps
up the high bank which led into Kibe's mea-
dew;he had put the hand-rail on the old bridge,
so that now she could get across without dan
ger, even when the brook was flooded. He
had tanned her linnet; he had constructed the
wooden frame by the aid of which she could
write SO comfortably and evenly; could write
letters to him, and say her own self all she felt
of love and gratitude. And that she contln-
ued with deep sigh, was her chief comfort
| now; for William was gone, and they should
never meet again-neveT alive-that she was
sure of-she knew it's "But why Jessy"
sob because William was much too good for
tais world: there was nobody like William!
And he was gone for a soldier. Old General
Lucas, her fathers uncle, had sent for him a
broad, had given him commission IN his regi-
msnt; and he would never come home-at least
they should never meet again-of that she was
sure-she knew"
This persuasion was evidently the master grief
of poor Jessy's life, the cause that far more than
her blindness faded her cheek and saddened
her spirit. How it had arisen no one knew;
partly perhaps, from some lurking superstition,
some Idle word, or idler omen which had taken
root in her mind, nourished by the calamity
which in other respects she bore so calmly, bat
which left her so often in darkness and loneliness
to brood over her own gloomy forebodmg; part
" from her trembling sensibiity, and partly from
the delicacy OF frame and of habit which had al
ways characterized the object of her love-a
slender youth, whose ardent spirit was too apt
to overtask his body.
However it found admittance; there the pre-.
sentiment was, hanging like dark cloud oven
the sunshine of Iessy's ysHng life. Reasoning
! was useless. They know little of the passions
who seek to argue with that most intractable of
them all, the fear that is born of love; so Mrs.
Lucas and Emma tried to amuse away these sad
thoughts, trusting to time, to Williams letters,
and above all, to Williams return to Gradients
the evil.
The letters came punctually and gaily; let
ters that might have quoted the heart OF any
sitter in England except the tiutterlng heart Of
Jessv Lucas. William spoke of improved
health, If increased strength, of actual promo
ton, and expected recall. At last he even an
nounced his return under auspices the most
gratifying TO his mother, and the most beneh-
cial to her family. The regiment was ordered
home, and the old and wealty relation, under
whose protection be had already risen so ra
pidly, had expressed his intention to accom-
pany him to Kibe's farm, to be introduced
TO his nephews widow and daughters, especi-
alIy Jessv. ior whom he expressed himself
greatly interested. A letter from General Luz
cas- himself, which arrived by the same post,
was still more explicit; it adduced the sons
amiable character and exemplary conduct as
reasons for befriending the mother, and avewed
his design of providing for each of his young
relatives, and of making William his heir.
For half an hour after the first hearing Oh these
letters, Jessy was happy-till the peril Of win
ter voyage, 0or it was deep january crossed her
Imagination, and checked her JOY. At length,
long before they were expected, another epistle
arrived dated Portsmouth They had sailed by
the next vessel to that which conveyed their
previous dispatches, and might be expected hour
ly at Kibc's farm. The voyage was past, safely
past, and the weight seemed now really to be
taken from Jessy's heart. She raised her sweet
face and smiled; yet still it was fearful and
trembling joy, and somewhat of joy and some
what of fear was mingled even with the very
intensity Of her hope 1t had been time OF
rain and wind, and the Loddon, the beautiful
Loddon, always so aifluent OF water, had over
flowed its boundaries, and sweiied the smaller
-. mo ,,,b;cl, fod r. into torrents The brook