The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-11-27
A seaman's Observations In n crowded
street.

A seaman's Observation. In N crowded
street.
Captain Cutie, also, as a man of business,
took to keeping books. In these he enter
ed observations On the weather and on the
currents Of the wagons and other vehicles,
which he observed, in that quarter, to set
westward in the morning and during the
greater part of the day, and eastward to-
wards the evening. Two or three stragglers
appearing in one week, who spoke him, "
so the captain entered ton the subject
OF spectacles, and who, without positively
purchasing. said they would look in again,
the captain decided that the business was
improving, and made an entry in the day
book TO that effect the wind then blowing
(Which he first recorded) pretty fresh, west
and by north; having changed in the night.
Az ARROGANT HUSBAND THE FIRST
WIFE AND THE sEcoSD.-Towards his first
wife Mr.. Dombey, in his cold and lofty az
rogance, had borne himself like the remov
ed being he almost conceived himself to be.
He had been "Mr. Dombey' with her
when she first saw hun, and he was "Mr.
Dombey" when she died. Iie had asserted
his greatness during her whole married life,
and she had meekly recognized it. He had
kept his distant seat of state on the top Of
his throne, and she her humble station on
its lowest step; and much good it had done
him so to live in solitary bondage to his
own idea. He had imagined that the proud
character of his second wife would have
been added TO his own, would have merged
into it, and exalted his greatness. He had
pictured himself laughter than ever, with
Edith's haughtiness subservient to his. He
had never entertained the possibility Of its
araying itself against him. And now,
when he found it rising in his path at every
step and turn of his daily life, fixing its
cold, defiant, and contemptuous face upon
him, this pride Of his, instead of whitening
or hanging down its head beneath the shock,
put forth new shoots, became more concen-
trated and intense, more gloomy, sullen,
irksome, and unyielding than it had ever
been before.
Who wears such armour, too, bears with
him ever another heavy retribution. Ii is
proof against Cancellation, love, and conf
dence; against all gentle sympathy without,
all trust, all tenderness, all soft emotion
but, to deep stabs in the self-love, it is as
vulnerable as the bare breast TO steel; and
such tormenting testers rankle there as fol-
low on no other wounds, no, though dealt
with the mailed hand of Pride itself, on
weaker pride, disarmed and thrown down.
Such wounds were his. He felt them
sharply in the solitude of his old rooms,
whittier he now began often to retire again
and pass long solitary hours. 1t seemed his
fate to be ever proud and powerful: ever
humbled and powerless where he would be
most strong.
To the moody, stubborn, sullen demon
that possessed him his wife opposed her diff
ferent pride in its full force. They never
could have led happy life together; but
nothing could have made it more unhappy
than the willlul and determined warfare Of
such elements. His pride was set upon
maintaining his magnificent supremacy and
forcing recognition Of it from her. She
would have been racked TO death and have
turned but her naughty glance Of calm in
flexible disdain upon him to the last. Such
recognition from Edith He little knew
through what storm and struggle she had
been driven onward to the crowning honor
of his hand He little knew how much
she thought she had conceded when she SUI
fered him to call her wife.
A DEATH AND BuRIAL.-A shadow
even on that Swallowed face, sharpening
even of the shapened features, and thick
ening Of the veil before the eyes into pail
that shuts out the dim world, is come. Her
wandering hands upon the coverlet Join
ieebly palm to palm, and move towards her
daughter; and voice---not like hers, not
like any voice that speaks our mortal lam
guage-ssys. "For / nursed you !"
Edith, without tear, kneels down to
bring her voice closer to the sinking head,
and answers:
"Mother, can you hear me :"
Staring wide she strives to nod in an
swer.
"Can you recollect the night before |
married 7"
The head is motionless, but it expresses
somehow that she does.
81 told you then that | forgave your part
in il, and prayed God to forgive my own.
| told you that the past was at an end be-
tween us. | say 50 now, again. Kiss me,
mother"