Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1845-02-01

Soul Watching suui "iui"'
They tell me am dying; know it;
feel that life is fast fading away
They tell me am dying of disappoint-
ed love; 1t is false! spurn the weak
ness. would not crush the impulses
of soul which God has breathcd into
me; would not paralyze the energies
of a body which was given to me as
ministrant to the immortal spirit. as
the bidding Of an idle passion. No! it
is fllsc. They Judge but by their own
base conceptions; they know not that
in imparting life and light to an inert
soul, / have been compelled to borrow
from nv own the Promethean fire. J
am dyin :; but not vain and selfish de-
sire has worn my life away. am dy-
ING: but it is from exhaustion Of the
the soll, not from yearning OF the
heart. will not be thus misundcr-
stood; | will record my strange and
pliniul expcricncc--not as a warning
10 others. for my fate is too peculiar to
be thus us fll-but rather to redeem
mymcmory fromso dcgradinga charge.
From my boyhood | have been IA
thcorist. and my soul wandered over
the vague ocean of speculative phllo-
sophy, seeking rest, but finding none,
until wcaried with physiological re-
searches. | determined to seek amid
Pathological demonstrations for the
minute links which bind the material
to the spiritual. My fortune placed
me above the necessity of adopting a
profession, BAT | became, from choice,
a student of medicine, and it was du-
ring the year that spent in Dublin,
while in Attendance on public lectures,
that the circumstances occurred which
his thus robbed me of myself.
1t was my daily habit to pass much
of my time in the hospital, where the
effect Of different diseases upon the va
rious phases Of human character, as
well as upon the divers physical consti-
tutions. afforded nc an interesting sub
Jet of speculation. / was one day
passing through one Of the sheltered
walks in the garden. "hcn | heard a
sweet and plaintivc voice singing, what
appeared to me to be snatchcs Of old
ballads. The sounds came from a
strawberry in the grounds appropria-
ted to the lunatic patients. aud scpa-
rated from the rest OF the garden by Il
high wall. Prompted by feeling
which cannot now scarcely understand
i climbed to the top of the wall, and
finding that the thick foliage prevented
me from discerning the singer, jump
cd over the enclosure and entered the
shrubbery. | shall never forget the
picture which then stamped itself up
on my memory. Seated upon "a rus
tic bench. with a single ray OF sunshine
piercing the deep shade, and resting
like halo upon her bright hair, was a
young girl, SO fair, so pale, so ETHEREAL
in the delicate proportions of her fig
urc, that ] almost feared the image was
an Illusion of fancy. Her large blue
eyes were wandering restlessly around
while she sung. and ere had time to
retreat. met thcirf full glance. Instead
of being alarmed at my intrusion, a
sweet smile parted her soft lips, and
raising her finger, she beckoncd me to
approach. "You have waited long
beloved. but you have come at last"
she murmured in low and broken tones
Is she drew me to seat beside her;
then clasping my hand in hers, she fix
ed her gaze on my face, with a look so
full of solemn and earnest tenderness,
that my very soul thrilled beneath it.
soon found thot Tho fsir rirI's ron