Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1844-11-30
H. LANCASTER, SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 3d. 1874

and pure, like the vesper star beaming
in its azure atmosphere. Her brow
was lofty, and like the most delicate
blue veined marble; and her check
wore the heart-tingc of the damask rose.
Her spirit was too pure and high to
converse with the gross and earthen
realities of life, and she poured out its
holy aspirings in the chaste and simple
melody Of natural poesy. Her strains
had many admirers, bus personally she
was known by few, yetthat few regard
ed her as a creature formed TO COM
mand the worship OF the heart. She
loved every creature that the Lord had
made, so that the utmost depravity
could awaken in her mind no harshcr
feeling than sorrowiul pity. And
there was one she had loved all her
lifelong, whose image shrned in her
bosom was crowned with the brightest
gems of manhood, and robed in the
richest tissue of virtue, broidered with
all the glowing affections Of NATURE
And he passed me not stealthily, for
the parents Of Isabel received him as
a beloved son. lsabel's soul was as
an open volume to his eye, ndhe reve-
renccd its purity and admired its love-
illness, but he was not her lover. She
had never dreamed Of possibility Of
his feeling for ner an affection less ar
dent than that she so ardently cherish
ed 70 him. He was the sun Of her ex-
istencc, while she was to him sweet
and lovely flower by the wayside, as
he passed along in search of LIES SUI
preme good. He sought her society
as the wild bird seeks the bower Of the
fountain for rcfreshmcnt and repose ;
while the hours passed in her presence
were her all of life. How, then, came
TO her spirit the consciousness that he
loved another? 1t was like the earth
quake bursting on the stiffness of balmy
summer morning. 1t threw down the
beautiful city Of her hopes, and laid
the temple Of reason low among the
ruins. There could be no saddcr sight
than that young creature, bowed down
by misery, with soulless eye and inco.
hercnt words, betrayed how YEARLY
her mind sought amid its ruins some
traces of the joysit had convcrscd with
there. Then marked with wonder
how the heart Of parent and friend be-
come by degrees alicnated from the
hopelessly insane. First it throbs with
the alterations of anguishcd hope and
fear; then it blceds with pity; then
grows impatient Of its weight and care !;
and finally turns with disgust and loath-
ing from the miserable object who henc-
forth is outcast from all natures SYM
pathics. And yet ! heard some say
The condition of the insane is not SO
much TO be commiserated, since they
are not conscious of what they have
lost This remark may be applicable
TO idiocy, but never to the crazed.-
could you like me enter into the spirit
Of such an one, and feel the horror of
lorn misery, with which, like lost and
benighted traveller, it gropcs amid
thick darkness for the path; tortured
by the voices Of wild beasts, Kissing Of
serpcnts, and thousand hideous phan-
toms of underlined terror; catching
wildly at every CLEAN oflight, or breath
Of music, as indications that the palace
OF all their lost delights is near-if you
could feel this, you would then be able
to appreciate the blessings of sanity.
Poor Isabel! at every knock she hur-
ried to the door, her face beaming with
the struggling light ofa strong though
troubled hope; and the look she cast
on the visiter was painful to bis heart.
The glad expectation of the first glance
fading, and freezing to the stony express
sion Of agonized disappointment and
dispair. And friends began to talk Of
a hospital as the only means Of restore
ing Isabel to herself. And the mother
even she, caught at the feeble hope, for
her heart, though she knew it not, was
weary Of the confinement, and the care
of that lost child. To her mother she
had chung in all her affection, to her
she had ever appealed, and obeyed
like child, all her acquisitions. They
llattered her that she should 90 on a
pleasant excursion, and she consented
mournfully. But when the close car
rage, and the attendant physician ar
rived, a presentment Of evil seized her,
and she refused to 20. 1t was painful
to see her clinging to her mothers neck
tand ;rrnlor;n, nrofacffon from the