The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1846-09-26
From tho Cincinnati Guest.
Crazy Bessy--A Tale of the
Hospital.
ny MRS. n. 8. NICHOLS.

IN pretty little cottage, sitting IN inc
shadow of n steen, well wooded hill, nj the
edge of one of the neat villages belonging TO
Western State, lived james and Elizabeth
Barton. Over the low and modestly fashion
ed windows crept the morning glory and cy-
press vines, while the front side of the house
was gay with the tmid blossoms ofthe sweet
brnr, and the long aud graceful branches of
the matchmaking jessamine. Tho small
yard in front, with its little patch Of green
sward for bleaching, was carefully and pref
| lily enclosed by white picket fence, while
the garden in the rear was white with the
flowers ofthe early pea. Nentness, taste and
real beauty roigned without the strong prin-
ciple oflifo with its waves, tides, counter
currents, rocks, gales and quick sands, flow
ed calmly within.
Elizabeth Howard was the only child of n
widow, who had lived i'm the shadow of that
old hill for more than twenty years. True,
since her gentle daughters marriage, the old
house had been pulled down, and the cottage
we have described, reared upon its ruins; yet
though the old walls, that had been the silent
witnesses Ofthe JOY ofthe bride, the chief
happiness ofthe wedding couple, then ofthe
after pain, agony, yea, even death, had cruln-
bled and persisted; the gathered memories
oiyears still dwelt in the treasure house of
the heart. Age and man, had destroyed the
work ofman, but the warm passions, the fad
ed hopes, the clingiDg memories of other
years still revealed in the halls of the heart
made desola;e, and persisted only, when
Death laid his hand upon the spirits mansion
When the widow Howard gave her daugh-
ter to James Barton, she besomght him with
II mothers careful love, TO watch and nourish
her lone flower tenderly, warned him of her
constituencies ofspirit that shrank from harsh
ness and reproof, aud n melancholy gloom
which had from chiidhood,at certain seasons
visited her Some months after their union,
the widow laid her hand upon her children's
heads and blessed them. Death was mt her
heart; bat wistfIl look was in her eyes as
they fell upon her daughters face, MS if she
even then had dim foreboding of her future
fate; mud that foreboding added n sharper
ping to the agony of death.
Elizabeth grieved and mourucd for her
mother, who had seemed part of herself,
until her husband grew jealous ofthis ungov-
crnnble sorrow for the dead, and limited in no
very measured terms, that she, who loved
mother so absorbingly, had not that affection
for her husband which it was his right TO
claim. Like n sharp blow from an unseen
hand, fell those cutting words upon the ear
of his gentle wife; il was the first language
approaching unkindness she had ever heard,
and not only stunned but terrified her.
From this time forth, she wcpt in secret,
but the light of happiness had fed her eyes;
her husbands cruel words, so bitter in re-
proach and 50 wanting in feeling, rang ever
in her ear, and the smile that should have
greeted her new born babe, faded from her
lip. Howlooked? how felt the strong man
MS the fragile being he had sworn to cherish
and sustain, dropped hourly before him? An
ger was in his heart, and fierce reproachcs
upon his tongue, for the beauty he had priced
was fading, and the wife who had loved him
so iondly, now feared him only. Ii is true
the wife no longer loved. Hers was gentle
and timid nature, full oftrust confidence and
tenderness. With spirit unequal to the
strife, she bore the increasing unkindmess of
him, TO whom she had looked for support in
her hour of trial, in silence yet with break
ing heart. James Barton, was not, by nature
either cruel or unkind; hut full of health and
strength himself he had no compassion for
what he deemed foolish weakness in others.
had died; had he had his choice about the
matter, Inc would rather that she had lived,
but as there was no help for it, he could not
see the use or the sense ot'the uncomfortable
grief'of' the child for the parent. So instead
of soothing and pouring the balm of sympa-
thy into the wound, he made it yet deeper by
displaying anger and bitterness towards the
lnolrner. When the cheek of his wife grew
pale aud hollow, and her eye lost its brilliant
lustre, then did James Barton turn away with
n curse upon his lips, crushing with an indi-
Gus word the only hope which could have an
mated OF restored her love, or health. Man,
with his indomitable energy, his pride of
strength, his vigor and force of character,
stoops for awhile TO soft daiunce, aud bends
his naughty spirit to WOO gentle, tender and
womanly being, whose very soitnesS aud
weakness are charm in his eyes; but when
the object is won--when the coveted price is
in his own possession, the iorr vanishcs, and
the man appears again. We, then to the
shrinkngs, the delicacies, the refnements
and the sensitiveness Other nature he under |
stands them but rarely ,hs sympathies are not
with them; boldly. tiaringly lie tramples down
the garden ofthe heart,-the blossoms droop,
the buds blight-the leaves wither,-the
garden is desolate, aud its keeper dies; the
unconscious destroyer mourns awhile, brigh
tens his countenancc, and then ieasts ON new
pleasures-such is man!
Weeks dragged heavily on in the cottage,
and matters grew worse daily. From mild,
$ weet tempered and kindly wife, Elizabeth
grew into ffetful, impatient and irritable wo-
man. She hesitated no longer TO reply sharp |
" to sharp words, and her gloom and irrita- |
bility were such as to make his home hateful
to her husband. Their disagreements were
whispered about the village, and many a Sc
cret anathema was pronounced upon the brli-
tai husband as he was called; for Elizabeth
Towards sweet temper and meek disposition
were known throughout the little commune
ty. This being the case, the horror and con-
sternation of the village may be imagined,
when early one morning James Barton came
asking at each house with white and uou-
bed countenance, if the inmates knew aught
of his absent wife. Many dark glance fell
on him, and great, indeed, was the confusion,