Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-05-03
GConcluded.1

We must now be allowed to transport our
readers to the good town of s.. II is
no longer the same as when Mrs. Stanton
| left it to reside with aunt Esther in Llston.
The spirit of "the times" has been there.
The erection of factories and its proximity
to the Boston and Providence railroad, have
greatly sweled its importance. Now 1t not
only boasts of three lawyers Offices and four
physicians, but "the store" has grown TO
twice its former size. Messrs. Gresham aud
Bartlett have been compelled to enlarge it,
in order to compete successfully with numer-
Gus rivals round the green, who threatened
to annihilate them by the superior splendor
oftheir sgn-board and extent of their build
ngs That large white house on the south
corner of the green is the residence of
Squire Benson, attorney aud counsellor at
law as he styles himself That lady who
is peeping from behind the curtain of the
parlor window, and, with an expression of
displeasure on her face, watching the two
young ladies who stand chatting on the side
walk, is Mrs Benson, his wife, That young
lady who has now left her companion and is
coming toward the house is Miss Julia Esther
Benson, his daughter, the woud-be belle Of
the town.
"Julia, my dear" says Mrs. Benson, as
her daughter enters the room, "was not that
Caroline Hawley with whom you spoke just
now p
eyes, ma met her as she was going to
the shop, and stopped her to ask if Mrs.
; Shirley has yet received the latest fashions
from Boston"
"But should think your own sense Of
proprety would teach you that it is not tit
ting for Julia Benson to be seen speaking
famliary to milliner's apprentice in the
public street, directly in front of DR.. Stewards
too; and Mrs. Weldon, his wifes cousin,
) the senator's lady and his daughters, who
, are so exclusive, now visiting thereW
"Why ma, am sure the Weldons did
not see me. Besides, Caroline Hawley
. dresses very genteelly. Only last year you
! were so anxious TO have me intimate with
her that you gave your great Christmas par
, ~ niarnlH-s 1.orer-s -urlnIaIIt phTtIcs. 9
, "True, Julia, but there is some difference
between Caroline lIawley, the reputed heir
ess of a hundred thousand dollars, and
Caroline Hawley the milliner's apprentice.
Really failures are so frequent that it is nee
essary for people of rank and fashion to be
exclusive"
"Well, ma, ] suppose you know BEST
But Caroline was. always so pleasant; |
: liked her very much" said Julia, as she left
the room.
This short conversation will enable the
reader to gain some glmpses of the ruling
D spirit of lawyer Bensons house. Striving,
' ever striving but alas not for the imper-
ishabe, the eternal; not to realize that by
which the pure in heart see God-but for
! the glitter, the glare, the pretension of that
5 contemplate thing called fashion.
Under a soft, complaisant and insnuatng
manner, Mrs. Benson concealed the most
, nhexible villa will that yielded to no
t obstacles and scrupled at no means in at
, tanning her ends, so long as she could con
ceal them from the eyes of the world. She
! was ever ready, and first, to subscribe to all
|, the fashionable charities and popular So
cieties of the day TO do anything, in short,
/ that could tend to place her and her daugh-
t ter in the first rank of gigmanity; while all
7 her household operations, which lay behind
: the curtain, were conducted with all the
e stint of the most penurious retrenchment,
S In his family Mr.. Benson was a complete
7 nonenty. In more ways than one his wife
/ made him feel that she was indeed his better
/ half Julia was pretty, good tempered
), girl, with fair share of intelligence. She
$ would have made an interesting woman il
/ her mother had not been constantly instlling
il into her mind the lessons of vanity and
d pride. In this famiy-a lonely pupil OF
u that stern teacher, poverty--lived Lucy
y Maynard. Ay, Hoed-in the fullest sense
+ of the word-for the pure heart and earnest
e soul, like fair flower struggling for the
l blessed sunlight, amid the weeds which sur
!, round it, will ever stretch upward toward
It the great Father of Light, even when
IS crushed beneath those rank weeds, pride
z and disdain. Yes even in the family oil
# lawyer Benson, Lucy lived. Two years
a after Charles Stanton's departure for the
1t West she was rendered doubly an orphan
= by the death of aunt Esther. Before hen
n death, aunt Esther made every provision in
Is her power to screen her beloved charge
le from want and, after commencing hei
a 1s warmly to the care Of her uncle, brother
Of of Captain Maynard, who resided in D
Massachusetts, and much more strongly
and with far frmer faith, to the care of the
'e Father of the fatherless, she slept the las
sleep, and was laid to rest by the side of hel
sister.
h. That was a sorrowful day for poor Luc!
when the earth closed over that dear face
err and kind heart with which had been he
home so long, when she found herself alone
She needed not the setting sun that night
y as in her utter loneliness she knet between
e. !. the two graves, and passionately wept. A
er length hand was laid gently on her shoul
der-the old pastor stood by her. He as
y s;stad her IN rise and led her quietly with