Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-12-11

tory push 10 the shovel-which would fall
upon the ~tongs-which would animate the
poker-and all together would set in action
Two or three sticks of wood, aud down they
would all come with Just that hearty, socii-
bic sort "A racket, which showed that they
were disposed to make DIS much OF the Oppor-
tunity as possible.
In the same manner, everything that came
into nv hand, or was at all connected with
me, was sure to lose by it. If reioiced in
a clean apron in the morning, | was sure to
make a full-length prostration thereupon on
my way to school, and come home nothing
better, but rather worse. IT was sent on an
erraLd, | was sure either TO lose my money
in going, or my purchases IN returning; and
on these occasions my mother would often
comfort me with the reflection, that it was
well that my ears were fastened to my head,
or [ should lose Them too. OF course, | was
a fair mark for the eXliortatory powers, not
only of my parents, but Of all my auuts, I'M
cles, and cousins, to the third and fourth rem
| e%rations, who ceased not to reprove, rebuke,
and exhort with all long-sulIering and doc
tfine.
All this would have been very well, if ma
ture had no, gifted me with a very unneces-
sary and uncomfortable capacity Of feeling 8;
which, like a refined ear for music, is unde-
sirablc. because in this world, one meets
with d:scord nineiy-nine times where he
meets with harmony once. Much, therefore,
as ! furnished occasion 10 be scolded at, |
never became used to scolding, 50 that | was
just as much CALLED by it the forLY-first time,
as the first. There was no such thing as
philosophy in mel had just that unreasona-
BILE heart which is not CONFIRMED unto the
nature Of things; neither indeed can be. |
was tilnii, and shrinking, and proud was
nothing to any one around me, but an awk-
ward unlucky Bodybuilding to my parents,
but one of half a dozen children, whose ia
ces were to be washed, and stockings mem
ded, on Saturday afternoon. II ] was very
sick, | had medicine and the doctor-If |
was a little sick, | was czhortcd upon pa
tiencc and if | was sick at heart, | was left
to prescribe for myself.
Now all this was very well-what should
a child need but meat and drink and room to
play, and a school to teach him reading and
writing, and somebody to take care Of him
when sick ?-certainly, nothing.
But the feelings Of grown-up children eX-
list in the mind of little ones, oftener than is
supposed and | had even at this early day,
the same keen sense of all that touched the
heart wrong-the same longing for some
thing which would touch it aright-the same
discomfort, with latent, matter-cfcourse aE
fiction, and the same craving for sympathy,
which has been the Improbable fashion OF
this world in all ages. And no human be-
ing, possessing such constitutions, has a
better chance Of being made unhappy by
them tran the backward, uHjnteresting wrong
doing child. We can all sympaihize, to
some extent, with men aud iU1niea but how
few can 90 back to the sympathies of child
hood-can understand the dcsolate insigniii-
canoe Of not being one of gr0lUn-up people
Of being sent to bed, to be ovt Of The JUGy, in
the evening, and to school, TO be out of the
way in the morning-of manifold singular
grievances and distresses, which the child
has no elocution to set forth, and the grown
person no imagination to conceive?
When | was seven years old, | was told
one morning, with considerable domestic ac-
cIamation, that aunt Mary was coming to
make us a visit and so, when the carriage
that brought her stopped at our door | pulled
off my dirty apron and ran in among the
crowd Of brothers and sisters, to see what
was coming. | shall not describe her first
appearance, for as | think of her, | begin to
grow somewhat sentimental, in spite Of my
spectac!es, and might perhaps talk d little
nonsense.
Perhaps every man, whether married or
unmarried, who has lived to the are of fifty,
or thcrcabouts, has seen some woman, who
in his mind is the woman in distinction from
all others. She may not nave been a rela-
tive; she may not have been a wife, she may
simply have shone on him from afar; she
may be remembered in the distance of years
as a star that is set, as music that is hushed,
as beauty and loneliness faded forever; but
remembered she is with interest, with fervor,
with enthusiasm; with all that heart can
feel, and more than words can tell.
To me there has been bat one such, and
that is she whom | describe. Was she beau
tifnl 7 you ask. Il also will ask Won one
question: If an angel from heaven should
dwell in human form and animate any human
face, would not that face he loyaiy! 1t might
not be beauiifuk, but would it not be lovely
She was not beautiful, except after this fash,
ion.
How well ] remember her, as she uset
sometimes 10 sit thinking, with her head rest
ing on her hand-her face mild and placid
with a quiet October sunshine in her blue
eyes, and an ever present smile over heI
whole countenance. | remember the suddei
sweetness of look, when any one spoke tC
her-the prompt attention, the quick compro
hen5ion of things before you uttered them
the obliging readiness to leave whatever sh
was doing, for you.
To those who mistake occasional pensive
ness for melancholy, it might seem strangr
to say that my aunt Mary was always hap
Ply. Yet she was so. Her spirits neveI
/ rose to buoyancy, and never sunk to despon
dency. ! know that it is an article in the
sentimental confession of faith, that such q
character cannot be interesting. For thi.
Impression there is some ground. The pla-
cidity of a medium commonplace mind is
undressing but the pIacidity Of a strong
and well-governed one borders on the sub
lime. Variability of emotion characterizes
inferior orders Of being; but he who COM
bines all interest, all excitement, all perfec-
ton, is the same yesterday, to-day and for
ever And if there be any thing sublime in
the idea of an almighty mind, in perfect
peace itself, and therefore at leisure to be-
stow all its energies on the wants of others,
there is at least a reflection of The same sub,
Unity in the character Of that human heinr