Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1842-09-30
'Oh, how do love my Pa, l wish every

men, suppose, like Pa, cannot help it,
! do not well see, my dear, how men can
avoid their destiny. You are now reading
Plutarch's Lives. Tell me how could Per-
ccs have been an humble artzan, or a la
borer on the PirRusf'
do not think he could, no more than
Socrates could have been an Alexander
Here the entrance of company broke of
their discourse.
BY frequently listening 10 the praises of
her father, from the dear and partial lips of
connubi,l love, Theodosa became inbued
with an idea of his greatness, which, added
to the love she bore him, kindled in her
heart an affection so enthusiastic as to know
no bounds. The echo too of her fathers
fame, which came waited from the public
halls to the domestic hearth contributed to
inhame her love for him, till she 10 l>ed up
on as little short Of IA divinity, and gloried
in her paternity with pride as unlimited as
her love! Never before did human heart
burn with so holy passion for the author of
its being, AS now throbbed in the bosom of
the lovely Theodasia.
| Thnt IN wears had s,rrwel their roses upon
the blooming cheek of this sweet and hnauti-
| fill girl, when death came to snatch from het
embrace Of love that dear mother whose
praises of her father she took such d,liuht to
listen to. ThrodoSia felt the LInw kcpnlv,
and sobbcd us if her afflicted heart would
burst with its wo; but she restrained her
sorrow, in order to assuage the grief of her
surviving parent, whom she belipld with
alarm, bending beneath its weight. Quick
| l,,L
ed to exhaust all her endrarmenls to co sole
her father. and she succeeded because she SO
much rcsemblcd tina, mother, as to create
the illusion of her yet actual exsipncc-a
sweet yet painful emotion arising in his heart,
AS he gazn1 N the branpouS likeness of his
vanished partner, and listened to the thrilling
notes of love, as they fell from her innocent
lips, in tones Of silver. melting like music on
| the ear.
How rapid, pass tho hours of innocent
Youth, when sleep. uurullrd by care or pas
sion, resembles tie calm rrpose of ang Is
hymned 10 rest by the melody Of celestial
voices. How soon is sorrow for the dead,
even when most beloved, rLlrr:.cd by the
cares Of litj'-especiaIv WHEN avarcc or
ambition divide the soul between affections
more tender and sympathetic. In the bus.
| tie of ii state snan's life, Burr soon forgot the
lost grn that fate had so cruelty torn from
his bosom, and in the progression of nature
10 maturity, Theodosia soon lost all traces
OF the praltiing eir, in the full blown charms
and vivid passions of the perfect woman -
Five years beheII Theodosia "A very differ
enf, but more captivating being than ever.
and m these FIVE years, an eternity of time.
IN the mind of her father, seemed to have
passed wilhon, bringing him nearer to the
darling object Of his hearts inndrst wishes
| the pc session Of supreme pomer. 1t was an
ANXIOUS period, too, for Thcodosia, WHO had
watched with an a.it1,cd spirit, the elb aud
flow of public opinion, in favor Of her sirn's
prclensions 10 the Chair of St.,c--on OH
tanning Which, she knew his entire happi-
ness TO depend.
Ia this period, Thcodosia had excited the
passion Of love II many hearts, without feel
my her own touched by the dangerous infoc-
/ ton. Under the auspices Of her Aunt Mrs
ton, she had been Introduced into the high
est fashionable circles Of the dav. and her
fathers mansion, at the head of which her
Aunt stood, WIS the general resort not only
Of the elite of the society Of New York, but
equally distinguished for elegant hospitality
towards all foreigners Of distinction. who
paid visit to the new world Celebrated
Tor her accpmpli hmenlS as we'll as beauty.
sh" naturally attracted more than common
admiration, and became at once "A marked
object 6t passion and sp' cnlli ion to number
less sul,ors. Yet Throdosia WAS neither too
! rpll ia, ,,rn,.l f,,l In Al.
exalted emot.-ns, whici prepare for the bos-
ON Il flame of rXtinguishabie pnsslon.-
Susceptible and vivid IN her feelings, she
might have been supposed among the first to
| fail ii victim to her acute scnslbiI,v, and
such would doubtless have been her deslin,
but for the unbounded love she-bore her faith,
or, which seemed to engross her whole be-
ing and absorb all her thoughts.
Among her numerous sutors, one was
prr-emlnrnly distinguished for the irrvor of
his passionate love, manifested on every oc-
cdsion by the most unbonnded devotion, and
whose graccs of person, combined with the
highest intellectual qualities, TO inspire a re-.
ciproca passion, and de,hronc the absolute
sway of pa,crnal love.
Charles Alston was native of Charles
ton, South Carolina, whose annie inhrri.
lance from his father, placed him among the
most opnlent men OF the dav. lie " as spend
ing tn" lisIlrsS summer months at the North.
when the accidents of society brought him il
contact with Thcodo>ia, at the house of hc,
father, whose hospiiairips embraced all VIII,
had any professions to fortune, accompisl
ments and repnblranism. Allsion was aiik,
distinguished for all but the latter, and from
the moment he brhrld Thcodosia. he wa
controlled by power as irresistible as tina
OF ihte-ihat power was love.
In AIlston, Theodosia saw but one qnar,
above that Of her other suiors, which cav.
him claim TO her preirrence-and that was
a more marked devotion to her father and
his fame and fortune, than was eyinced b,
his rivals, devotion whose fcryor and zeal
found 'hroh sympathy in her bosom, thar
brought all his excellent qualities of hear
so near to her inspection that it was impos.
'ihlr she could fail to appreciate them, a,
the same ,imc that he became almost a par
OF herself, in the idoatrous affection win,