Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1843-10-28

here where she processes never TO conner!
81 come to save a friend dear as a sister
[ come to bid you in Gods ratie feturr
TO your neglected hofbe, and may He for
give you fer this nights work; though you
own concience never will!
Subdued and awed, Sophia followed me
chanically and half an hour found then
within her own dwelling. Julia pausec
not but taking n lamp from the hand of the
evidently terrified servant who had obeyet
the summons of the bell, passed with a
with a light step to the nursery; but when
Sophia saw the direction in which she
was proceeding she rushed onward and
throwing open the door, beheld a scene
which seemed TO still the beatings Of her
heart. On the Gad, insensible toall around
sunk in a drunken sleep, lay her husband
and beside him, pale, cold and still as mon
umental marble, her Willy, her darling.
Calmly she raised him up, and chaied IFS
tiny hands and called him by every en-
d~earing name, and then by degrees the
fearful truth seemed to down upon her and
a death. like trance stole over her. She
shed no tears, she uttered no complainings,
but with her stony eyes sat gazing upon
the dead infant and the powerless man.
On such a scene dawned the morning of a
night begun in the frivoIity ola ballroom.
Life had yet stranger contrasts. Julia
Darwin, strict to extremes In her views,
had learned by rumour Chat many-ton.
gued gossip That her friend had married
a gambler and an incorporate man, and
full of pity she had FASTENED to help and
console her. Not an hour after SophIa's
departure she had reached the house and
found that Mr.. Cameron had administered
what he termed a "a qnietus to the squal.
ling brat" in the shape of brandy. The
result was streng commissions in one of
which the little bay babe adieu to a world
in which he might have lived to emulate
the example of the father who was his
murderer. TO Julia's mind the fact of
Sophia absence under such circumstances
spoke volumes against her, and without
calculating the extent Of the sensibllity she
was operating upon she had summoned
the mother thus unexpectedly into the
presence of her dead babe and its father,
hoping to make an impression, which
| should change the course of her after life.
And that impression was made, for Sophia
Cameron was a maniac. No mourning
| Mother, no Father stricken to the heart of
his first. born, followed the little victim TO
the bosom of our common parent, butstran
gers laid his infant form deep in the earth,
| and turned away unconcerned. But An
| gels clustered around the tiny grave, wait
ing to bear the spirit to that land, "Where
still in hope, affections thoughts may
RISE"
Julia's energies were paralyzed by the
| ruin which she had unintentionally wrought
and with unceasing and bitter self-reproach
did she watch over her friend, while Lewis
returned to himself a childless man, and
worse than widowed husband. Here were
the awful consequences of imprudence on one
! side, and want of principleo on both. Had So
phia listened to the dictates of reason before
uniting her destiny with that of one OF whom
she knew nothing in reality, this had never
been; or had she possessed firm principles
even after such a marriage she might have
been a faithful Mother and Wife, thus possess
sing the treasure of a good conscience and the
affection of a dutiful child, to compensate in
some measure for the unworthiness Of hns-
band. But as it Isl what was left her but des-
pair! Conscience whispered, behold the eff
fects of your folly, your pride and your neg
lect, and reason; unaided by religion and una
Bile to point to any source ofconsolatlon, de-
serted her throne.
Would you, reader; seek farther the fate Of
those whom | have brought before you! A
few words will suffice for her who had
aYoutb; love and rank and wealth-all these
combined,
And vet was wretcfled."
4 lunatic ASYLUM and then a grave. And is
this all, exclaims some one OF my youthful
readers who have hitherto looked upon the flu
ture with the blinded eyes Of her
| who is now numbered with the dwellers of
the tomb. Yes! This Is al, ,ohsre there is no
| sound religious principle. A youth of thought
l-essness, a vain dream, ending suddenly in re-
morse; despair and death. Let no young girl
| persuade herself that the passing fancy of a
moment is that affection which shall bless her
life, and rush upon her destiny guided only
by the ardent impulses of an ili-regulated
| mind and undiscipllned heart. So surely as
| she " sows the, wind, shall she reapthe whirl-
| wind" How often has my heart ached to hear
proud ladies' speak SO lightly Of the character
of those with whom they associated!-Who
has not seen these fair; thoughtless beings ex-
| toll a manly form, a bright eye and persuasive
| tongue, regardless of the mind that animated
or the principle that guided! When and
| where do the young females Of the present
| dav look for virtue and high moral principle?
The answer is with those who have failed to
| ask the question in time. But the blame is
not theirs alone. Society has voted an told
maid a paisance, and Placed its mark upon
her who having numbered the years of woman
hood is still unmarried! American society
cberishes and encourages the Introduction Of
mere bows and girls within its pfeencts,con on
| seouenfly boys and girls must be married be-
fore either are aware of the duties and obliga-
tions of the matrimonial state before they are
possessed Of sufficient judgement to decide
for that judgement a justifyable one. The
woman has no place in our category. 1t is
the child, the girl, and then the wife and mo-
Their. The girl, careless and unheeding, the
mother crushed by the cares of a family be-
fore the DAYS of her girlhood are passed, or
worse than this; the Deglectful and incapable
mistress of a household. And thus it must be
until public opinion shall have been. radically
changed, until American females shaft be al
lowed sufficient time to arrive at what are
misnamed foften most emphatically)th the years
Of discretion,' and taught a different code OF
opinions, viz. that marriage is not the end and
aim of woman's existence, and that an sold
maid, may be a useful and worthy member Of
society. julia Darwin lived TO prove the
truth of this assertion, though her after life
was embittered by the recollection of an error
in judgement which had most probably cosl
the life of a dear friend. The natural abrupt,
49, A~ -- Il L