Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1845-06-13

| poverty here ~ more tOIerable than a certain
degree of-of want of ai,ainmcnt-lhat no
to have wealth is a misfortune to be relieved
mot to have some learning is a disgrace
not
No, Mercy, no, do not say not 10 be wi.
ped Out. Let that be the condition, and see
how soon it will be accomplished. Only say
that. Yon shall be the mistress of the less
ons and the Judge of the requirement.
But not here. | LEFT your mother under
a mistake of my meaning. We mus, not
hurt her feelings by disrespect TO her author
ity and posiionlS
The condition., was accepted, and the pro-
gress OF Benjamin in his studies seemed mi
raculous. The powers of his mind had been
enlarged, so that what he heard he comrre-
hended; and his acquisition of the elements
of learning seemed like some scientific man
forming implements for work which he well
understood. In two years Benjamin claim
ed the fulflment Of Mercy's promise. Some
sneered at woman's earning husband by
such labors, and some said dcpenden, or
phan had been sacrificed by her aunt 10 the
vanity ola stupid son.
Mercy felt happy in the happiness which
her conduct afforded her mother-in-law, and
the more than happiness which i, gave her
husband. BENJAMIN could not enjoy socie.
~, but he thought all centred IN his mother
and his wife. The last he regarded as his
better angel, who had redeemed bis mind
! from the waste in which It had been lying,
and stored it with what seemed to him a world
of sweets.
When Benjamin lost his mother, Mercy
remarked some evidences of mental weak
ness, more than he usually exhibited. She
watched with care the movements Of her hus-
BEND, directed his attention from his loss, and
in time restored him to his domestic comforts.
Bot she remarked that she feared that sud-
den calamity would overclcud his reason
again, and il there were none TO watch him
with the solcitude and science Of affection,
he would relapse into his former mental i'm
becility.
Two children, boy and girl, blessed the
domestic circle of Ben amin and Mercy |; -
and the parents found their happiness in i'm
proving the minds of their beautiful children.
Some years passed, and the children grew
in the affections Of their parents and tho re-
CARDS of the neighborhood. Benamins ha-
bits however, were hot changed; his whole
mind was bounded by home and his attach
ments to his wife his cravings for her con-
slant presence seemed to imprison HIM with.
in the walls of her well ordered house--a
species of detention not the most dIsngreea-
BILE to wife, who will generally overlook ma.
Yy Inconvenience that result from the afiec.
Don, Of - i'"-o"na. How undesirable is that
wiir's freciun. which results from the disrc.
gard of husband in all her ways!' People
| deplore the wretched condition of the wife
who, as they say, can never leave her sick
husband. Alas, much more TO be pitied i,
the woman who can seldom find her well hus.
band. The bondage whose Chains are hns.
bands love, will never break the heart of a
wife. have not time to describe the home.
scene of Benjamin and Mercy to me il
seemed ds near perfection as earth can pre-.
sent, and when took leave of them al the;l
door, thought of the rich reward the wife
was reaping for the forbearance, kindness
and sacrifices she had made for the husband
1t was the spring of IS, remarkable IN
that section of tie country for the prevalence
Of the scarlet .ferer, that Benjamn's fam,
of his mother. The little boy was seized
with that scourge of our country, and in few
days the same disease exhibited itself in the
girl. Benjamin stationed himself at the bed
side Of lis children, and assisted his wife r
every office that kindness could suggest. |
is enough 10 say that the body of the boy wa.
, retained one day beyond the usual time o
, sepnlture, that one grave might receive hin
and sister al the same time.
The day after the funeral Benjamin wa
not to be found-he who was so seldom mis-
/ sed from the house or its immediate vicinity
was now looked for in vain.
!. 'Where shah we 60 , said kind.heart
. ed neighbor.
I Let me first go and look said Mercy
: and she opened the gate at the road side an,
stepped hastily down the field toward the ri
yer.
! She was not deceived. Benjamin sat up
on the same grassy mound that he had occu
. pied years before ; he was gazing downwar,
upon the stream and watching the foam as
y tloaied by. Twobubbes that had sprung III
d played along, and H. the sunbcams seemed
' marked by prisma,ic hues, caught The atten
lion Of Benjamin. He gazed at them will
q an apparent deligh, that made the heart Of
wife ache. At length the bubbles burst, tn
4 smile passed from his face, and a tear gath
= cred in his eye. Mercy FASTENED forwar'
: and caught her husband in her arms. Ii wa
some time before she could draw him ava,
!, from the place sanctlded to him by loss o
himself. He returned to the house and min
ged his tears with those OF his wife.
The shock which Mercy had received b.
i the death of her two children was too erea
/ for her strength, in her conditon,an in few
weeks she was driven TO her chamber, sick
dangerously sick. All that human skill conl'
suggest, and all affection could perform wer,
- done TO save her; but in little more than
u month, Mercy was laid beside her two chill
y dren; and on her breast rested the lates
Z born, the little one that knew mono of the pain
& or Joys of that world through which it passed
BENJAMIN returned to his house mo.herles,
: widowed and childless. There was none win
= knew how 10 comfort hm--not one that cou
,, offer consolation--not a being Of all aroun,
At him who knew how his heart had been sus
l. iained--how ii was to be bound up. Their
were enough to pity, enough to mourn wit
IN him, but who should sustain him who no,
ID should draw him back from that dark gulf TO
,r ward which his mind always tended VIII
n was TO people his solitude with thought +
.. She on whom he had leaned was removed
's and he must fall. He fell.
as Il have come said the pious clergyman