Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-10-06

mean BY Il communication p replied Mr..
Queer, stirring up his fragrant Mocha, and
laying his newspaper on his knee.
mr.. Queer, there is a crisis in woman's
life, when the fine affections of nature must
find an object on which to lavish themselves,
or else run 10 waste, and water but the de-
sert."
How = exclaimed Mr.. Queer, arresting
his cup midway between his lips and the ia
BILE, What in the deuce is the meaning of
all this Crisis Fine affections ! Fine hum
bug, my dear What silly novel have you
been p%ilfering from, child?"
"A child no longer, Mr.. Queer! That one
passion of our lives-that passion which
makes or mars our happiness-which, if
thwarted, devotes US to misery, compared
with which the woes of the repining captives
are but"
Bah! Don't make me sick entirely, my
little Lofty. Go back to the nursery, and
rebuild your baby house. 1t will be time
for you to talk about fine Affections and all
that, some ten years hence. So be a good
girl and let me read The newspaper"
Charlotte quit the room with great inward
SdtISldSttOUS dItuOuSu uCI duS dttituuC anu
management of her handkerchief, were such
as would have afforded a good study for some
Ophelia Of the stage, where she has to ex-
claim
"Ah! woe is me!
To me what l have seen, see what / see"
Mr.. Queer unused over his wards language,
and soon arrived at a conclusion which was
not far from the truth. 1t was confirmed, a
day or two afterwards, by IA visit from Mr..
Volney Balfour, who coolly told the old gen.
tleman that he was engaged to his ward, and
asked when it would be agreeable to the old
folks 10 see them married. This communi.
cation Was met, on the part of Mr.. Queer,
by a most positive veto upon the whole ar
rangement. The parties were entirely too
young; Charlotle's education was not YET
completed, and Volney was a mere boy, who
knew nothing of the world. Such were the
guardians objections.
Fortunate was it for Balfour that the old
gentleman had raised up these obstacles !; fol
Charlotte had long since settled it as an ami
I'M in her mind, that the "~course of true love
never did run smooth )" and deplorably dis,
appointed would she have been, if there had
been for them an unobslructed road TO mat.
rimony. How kind was it then, of old Mr.
Queer, to play the part of a barbarous guar.
dian, and afrording Charlotte an opportunity
of running away.
An %elopement! There was a ,ranspor,
in the very thought! To be brief, no soon.
err did the young lady learn to her s~atisfac.
ton that her guardian was really e%xertine
his authority to arrest all present hopes o.
an engagement with Balfour, than she readi.
ly and delightedly listened to a proposition
from the latter to elope. A fortnight after.
wards, they returned man and wife from q
visit to Saratoga, and sent word to Mr.. Queer
that they were in the city. The old gentle.
man took 10 notice of The message. lie
was affronted, not without a cause. He re.
fused to surrender a cent of the young la
dy's property /; and as she would not be leg
ally entitled to it TIL she reached the aye Of
eighteen, there was no redress.
Volney had recently, through his father
death, come into possession of what We wOrlt
called a handsome property. His mother
soon afterwards had tho folly to marry a maj
of fashion. and a fortune-hunter, nance
Sneally, who very unceremoaiously laid hi
hands upon her property, and spent 1t in
manner the most agreeable to his taste.
Behold Volney and his youthful bride tn
occupants of an elegant mansion in one O
the pleasantest streets of the city. His apart
ments were sumptnously furnished. Iii
green house alone had cost a little fortune
and his carriage, with its little llveried foot
boy "cut in ebony" is one of the neates
turn-outs that Manhattan had ever seen
And then his dinners and his wines! All
what epicurs who had the good fortune to b,
present at any of those dinners, and taste o
those wines, can r~ecollect their Aavors with
out the prOfoundest and tenderest emotions
Strange as it may seem, the favored cou
pie were in nothing so favored as in thei
troops of dear friends. 1t was a touchln,
sight to sec the parting of Charlotte and SOM
of her affectionate female satellites. How
they would kiss and hug the ''sweet thing,
and beg her to take care Ofherself, and some
times offer Of their own accord to take al
airing with her in her carriage! What host
of aunts and cousins suddenly made them
selves known and heard What shouts O
trinity young ladies, married and unmarried
of certain age, all at once claimed Char
%lotte's acquaintance on the ground of havin,
known her sainted mother? A middle aget
) s%pinster, known to the gay world, as Miss
Auburn, actually took up her quarters witt
the young couple, informing them that sin
was a near relative of the young lady,
fact, which the latter, in the absence of a fam
lily tree, could not galnsay. And then Their
we're the Misses Myrtles, the Furbelows, tn
Carberrys, the Foxes, the Badgers, tn
Whites, the Browns, and the Greens, all o
whom seemed 10 carry on a contest with ON
another as to who should bivouac most com
pletely in the family, avail themselves o
Charlotte's carriage, rifle her greenhouse
and dispose Of invitations to her parties.
'Oh, the felicits of friendship = though
Charlotte. How am beloved BY all thes,
dear friends, and how | love them in return
what would they not do for me, and VIVA
sacrifice would | not make to prove them m,
attachment !!
Not less to DO feliciiated on account of hi
friends, was the husband himself. So devo
ted to him were they, so disinterestedly fon'
Of his society, that there was hardly a day II