The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-05-04

anu now tell me, II IN the balance your bless
lngs or your sorrows have the heaviest weight2"
| my blessings! my blessingsw said the hus-
band with fearful emotion you and my chill
dren Could | have greater ?"
should think not,n said the WIFE, Such
| childrenW and she glanced her eye towards
them with face full of the most amiable vanity
IN the world, the vanity of a mother. And such
wIieW she added, with an arch sweet smile
turned upon her husband "such wife %
| Yes, such children, and such wife !" re-
peated the husband sand to see them wanting
the necessaries Of life p! preached 10 others, il
| Is IN vain that repeat the lesson TO myself.
! "sThy bread shall be certain, and thy water
shall be sure,'" repeated the wife.
"Ay, literally bread and water!" said the
husband, with some bitterness.
"As much as we need, and more than we
deserve, resumed the wife. s'Attend my sermon,
SIR"
| Ay, dearest These are bitter sermons; my
own preaching to others brought home to myself
III IS IN vain that repeat il these privaions fell
Eonly on myself, that could cheerfully submit;
tbut this mornng-nay, do not deny it, dearest
! saw you push back the untasted morsel and
4 am weak and impotent TO help; am shut out
I from the common laborer's daily hire, and see
| you, daily, wanting even breado
(" Not absolutely replied the WIFE, "And
now tell me, would you choose TO see our cher
ubs mixing with disease in the midst of luxury,
or thus well and healthy, with hearty appetites
for this same homey bread2n
/ even as it is, replied the husband, seven
as II is, with thankfulness."
"Then smile again" said the wife, " lest
worse thing come upon thee What do you
dare TO look sonowfu in the midst ofhappy faces !!
y believe me that smiling lips are better than
rubles, andJoyous eyes more lustrous than dia-
monds! and can you, can you look sad, with the
blessed sun thus shining full upon you this glori
Gus morning Ofe, fie upon you Let the sun
shine reach your heart See how the waters
sparkling and leaping with JOY and the trees in
their new holiday green, and the birds chirrup
ping from the house tops every thing full of
hope, yet you are sad Take the sunshine as
a happy omen. ! prophesy from it that the
clouds are passing away, and that prosperity
shall come TO US loaded like casted elephant
with sacks of rupees and sacks of gold-dust."
"Look at your type, dearest" said the hus-
band with mournful smile.
Black clouds were gathering over the scene
and one of our April showers began to patter,
down.
BE il my type" replied the wife; be Tiny
type! Unbelieverlook p
/ Even while she spoke, the sun, gathering upa
thousand rays of beaming light, painted with
/ them that glorious bow in the heavens which
hath ever been n covenant Of promise.
| The husband took the little hand Of his wife
within his own. .You are the betterpreacher,"
he said, . and what is more, the better practiser
You know that for these last three months
have gone daily forth TO seek our daily bread.
have offered myself as literary laborer, as a
hireling scribe, as anything and everything that
might not utterly disgrace my sacred functions,
and you know that as often as have gone with
hope, | have returned with disappointment
Nevertheless, at thy word will go forth once
more.n
"If there were a. fate, I" said Helen, "you
know that Queen Elizabeth thought that per
severance might force Fate to change her mind,
but there is something better than a fate--there
is Providence.
The Reverned Benjamin Blythe once more
donned his rusty black coat, and once more
brushed his beaveress hat, aud once more drew
on his well-mended gloves, and once more sal
lied forth in search of the laborers hire.
My dear reader if you happen ever TO have
had wife and halfa dozen children, who hap
pen TO have good appetites, while you happen to
have purse quite unpoluted with filthy lucre
in your possession capable of being trasmuted
either into bread or gold, you NAV be just able to
guess the very comfortable tone of mind upon
which our poor hero sailed forth upon this fore
lorn hope expedition. What mockery TO the
poor man is the luxury of the rich The rolling
equpage, the exravagant attire, the pampered
menlals, the luxurious dwellings, the shops all
arranged to tempt selfindulgence, gttering
trinkets, costly Liquors, and thousand shapes
of tanclful CONNECTIONS made to entce the eye as
well as the appetite-all these are so many snares
to envy for the hungry.
Sorely tried that April morning was the Rev.
BENJAMIN Blythe. 1t seemed to him as if every
body TO whom he applied, every body TO whom
he spoke, had got one maady, an Justification of
the heart malady that affects the voice, the
gestures, the meln, OF every creature under the
infection. The Reverend Benjamin Blythe ri
tied every body he saw, but most OF all he pitied
himself
In fact the Reverend Benjamin Blythe began
to think that some curious fatality OF disease pre-
vailed over every creature with whom he spoke;
some were afflicted with blindness, some with
| deafness, some with dumbness some with loss
| ofmemory for even his former friends did not see
him when he went up to them, did not hear
him when he spoke TO them, did not answer when
they heard him, did not remember when they saw
him; so with the unheaped measure oififty and sew
eral separate disappointments in his heart, with a
mind worn out by anxiety, and body sinking
with fatigue and want OF sustenance our poor
hero tnrned his steps homeward.
| All, home-word that should thrill the heart !!
and it did thrill the heart ofour unfortunate hero
when he thought oil turning his steps thither-
ward, and carrying the great burden of his disap
pointment, that load seemed more than he could
carry there, so he made dead stop in the middle
of the street, and despair at that moment seemed
to have bound up his faculties.
Just at this Jnnctnre the large folding doors Of
a lofty gloomy looking mansion opened, and
young man who seemed TO move like a harlequin
came flying down fight of about dozen steps,
which hasty mode Of FORMULATION brought him
quicker than thought into juxtapostion with the
Reverend Benjamin Blythe Now il seems that
the first impulse of locomoiion would have i'm
PEELED the harequinade TO have leaped over him
in the abundance of his bodily agility, but Just
as this feat seemed to be on the point of accom-
plishment, the actor stopped short, and with