Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1846-09-12
HEART HISTORIES.
~ GRACE d.

THERE Is a mnItitndInouH amount Of Aunt
MHfy's ~ tho world, yGt ho who has not seen
arr Aunt Mary, though he may remain in
bIlFEIul ignorance Of his loss. has nevc lbrlees
Sustained one. She has Just sailed for tho old
country, and, dear reader, | intend 10 take ad.
vantage 81 her absence, 10 tell YOU ali about
her Sbo Ia NOW, alas in the Indian summer
ol her beaniy-that H., in her forty. first yrar.
Now, don't turn away from NY heroine with
a " pbhaw - aud call her "pusare." Sbn IL
u most I1scinailug woman still, / Give you nv
word for il, and il IL scarcely nccresarv tn
ADA upon Aat you may lean aa on u staff
declare that she Is yet beautiful enonpI io
grace rather than To be gracgd by " Narv,"
that roHe-bud among names yet elegant and
accomplished enough 10 turn the heads Of
half-a- dozen young colleriaug in a weed: vet
m|ribInl aud llght-heaftcd enough 10 drive
the bIuc~deVljs from the chamber Of Il con-
hrncd hyporhOndriac. There il some secret
~ this which docs not lie in mere personal
gIlta. True, she was very lovely from her
earliest chlIdbOod, but many who arc fairies
at thirteen are rights at Firrfy. in the first
place., she has always cherished a spirit Of
hopeful ChccrfuIncss, 10 itself a greater beat
illler than all tho cosmetics Of Gpuraud. #
IL her earnest and u]ntiring activity which has
preserved form and feature within the line
OF grace ard beauty, while "A genuine love Of
hone-ioys has kept them from the wear and
tear Of dissipation. The solo secret Of her
ioveabIGneas lies in htr i0Ging. M fItrourh
her life, with the fearless Independence of a
pure and lofty spirit, she has dared dixie the
angels) 10 love whatever and whoever she
found worthy Of that adorable sentiment.
She has never presumed TO care in narrow
preIudlces that dove flown TO us from The bo.
som Of God, to bind down its restless wing
with the harsh gtaXlms Of a selfish DhIIoao.
ply, but has sent it forth again and again to
fly from heart TO heart, and it has always re-
turned 10 her unwearied and un.uIIied. Yet
IL she 10 visionary, no wild enthusiast, for her !
whole mind and soul are deeply imbued with
that true spirit Of poetry which is both the
cIearest sense and the highest reason.
viii now, after this long Introduction, let
her reveal herself farther TO YOU, reader
mine, in a letter which she wrote for nv eve
alone, and placed in my hand on the morning
OF my seventeenth birthday. 1t was suggest
ed by a remark made by me the evening be-
fore-in all the confident wisdom Of a school
expression of my belief that first
love is the only love which we poor mortaIs
may ever experience, the Alpha and Omega
Of all we may ever know Of the divine pas
sion.
The letter will be found to be quite frar-
mentary. II vas a style Of writing p~ecuIIar
to her her conversation had something Of
the same character.
"And 50, dear Grace, you believe in first
and only love! And how have you, while
yet SO young, formed So sage an opinion!
poetry and romances, not from expert
snce or even observation, / must believe. But
Is / know such a sentiment 10 be sometimes
productive of error and unbappiness, have
'es0lved TO unfold to you the history of one
al womanly heart. Grace, | have taice loved;
Jnce IN my early g~irlhood, and once in nv
naturity-the unsettled April and the rich
Iune Of my exislance. Well do | remember
he object OF nay first and passionate love-.
lis was a dark, stern face, of wondrous clas-
beauty, illuminated with the fire of a rest
and aspiring genius a face where mind
at enthrOned, but whence heart was banished.
There was no 'loye-Iight' ia his eve, no neo-
nan about the mouth, but all was calm.
Proud, imperial manhood. His stature was
ow, his form slight, but in his loltier moods
le seemed to tower far above me, and nv
weak eyelids trembled and dropped beneath
he descending lightning of his glance. His