Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-08-04
From the Southern Literary Messenger.
Il II E CLAIR WOOD DIS.

young man, who had just issued from the
hall-door, which she held open far enough to
allow his egress, and, as the last sound died
upon her lips, the door was violently closed,
and the young man stood on the pavement,
motionless and alone.
Mr.. and Mrs. Clairwood had been married
many years, and in opposition to the wishes
of their respective parents. Their lie (up
to the period at which this history common
ces) had been one continued scene of bitter
unanticipated. The buoyant and sanguino
hopes with which they had commenced the
career of life, had been thus far unrealized,
The sunny dreams in which youthful imag-
nation is ever prone to indulge, and in which,
they, of all others, had delighted to revel,
had faded, one by one, before the stern real
tiles of everyday existence.
Their fondest anticipations, to the reali-
cation of which they had looked forward as
the completion of that happiness which fate,
or an untoward concurrence OF circumstan-|
ces had denied them, were successfully
withered. Their plans, on the eve of sue
cess, had been frustrated, and again and
again their most cherished objects of pursuit,
with tantaizing subtlety, had eluded their
grasp, leaving them the victims of corrodng
disappointment and cl,agrn. Their impru-
dent marriage eflectually precludcd all hope
OF assistance from those who otherwise would
have been their friends, and they were conn.,
PEELED to endure the bitter stings of pcnury !
enhanced in bitterness by the neglect and
even contumely of kindred.
The contest between life as they had pic
tured it, and life as they experienced it, rem
dered grief, in itself acute, still more poig-
ndnt. Existence was to them an unreal
mockery, with but few relieving or palia-
ting features. They perceived and fell d
deeply, that the cllalice of pleasure is too Of
ted drugged with effective, though unseen
poisons. 1t is not strange that Mr.. and Mrs ]
Clairwood became changed by the constant
suffering it was their lot to encounter. Firm.
err and better disciplined minds could hardly|
have withstood the influence which such suf- !
fering generally exer,s. And they indeed
were changed. Their feelings, sympathes
and thoughts became imbued with the dark
er color of their lives. This change wad
gradually apparent. As the gushings of
youthful ardor and affection were chilled bv|
rude contact with the icy stream of worldly
policy and interest, so did the whole current
of their thoughts and feelings undergo an en-
tire revulsion.
Affection, adversely, and the bufletings of
the world, did not merely chasten them II
they did more, they embittered the very sour
ces of happiness and contentment. Thew
turned into gall and NORWOOD those sympa- J
thes and kindly feelings which, in healthy
mind, difluse their renovdtlng and tranquili1
zlng influences over the soul. A morbid
sensitiveness usurped the place in their minds
Of true delicacy and sensibiity. Envy and
Jealousy succeeded the more liberal and GEN
erous sentiments that once pervaded their
bosoms, until finally, by slow but steady
progress, hatred, malice, and the thousand
darker propenslties and passions of our ma !
lures rested in the recesses of their hearts,
and exerted their unhalowed influences, to
the exclusion of those nobler feeling which
II had been their youthful pride to cherish.
In the secresy of their closets they reviewed
the calender of past misfortune, and brooded
over many an unkind action shown them in
their intercourse with society, unit, thoughts
were engendered and schemes devised which,
moment after, they bushed to have admit
ted to their bosoms. Time flew by. The
tide OF sorrow was unchanged, and they were
transformed into those cold, calculating, sell
fish beings, whom, on their entrance into
life, they had avoided and abhorred.
Such was the change wrought in their
characters, and such is the change which the
operation OF like circumstances is too apt to
effect in the nlirmites of the human mlnds
is IN nature the softer substances are, BY
the continual drippings ola petrifying stream,
converted into stone, so do the feelings be-
come callous and adamantne when wrought
upon by the powerful alchemy of sorrow and
! adversely. 1t is too true that this deadeninc
elect is produced by continued misfortune.
1t benumbs the heart, chils the affections,
and ntuses lethargy and torpor into all the
sensibilities and finer feelings of our natures.
Such is its general tendency; and peculiar
ly was it manifested in the case of Mr.. and
Mrs. Clairwood
There was, however, one remedial, one
renovaling influence left to them. They
were not utterly alone. In their children
they sought an alienation of their sorrow,
and when repulsed in their advances by
scowlng relatives, or slandered by heart
less world, it was in their domestic circle
that they sought and obtained partial relief
and consolation. Four children had been
the result of their marriage, and in the exer-
else of parental love and duty, in the educa-
ton and moral training of those children,
but above all. in watching the unfolding and
/ expansion of their intellects, and in the pros
pect OF their future lives, happiness and USE
fuiness, did they contrive to assuage many a
grief and parry many an adverse stroke of
fortune. Their children were not ex,raordi-
narily beautiful, nor talented, but they were
dutlful, and repaid the care of their parents
with reciprocal love and with gratitude
The eldest, son, evinccd preroci,y of
intellect that would not perhaps have great
y attracted the attention of stranger, vet
that served to excite and nourish the hopes
of his parents. They loved their children,
but him they loved especially. If a peculiar
fondness can exist, and be cherished in pa
rents heart for one child above the rest then
il existed and was cherished by Mr.. and Mrs.
ClairwOod for their son Charles. And thew