Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-10-27

as ne sal, in No. a, Chapel Buildings Of
i College, Itwas on the eve of the
last day Of the fourth year he had passed
within those. venerable. walls, and to-mor-
row he was 70 throw off the restraints inn
posed upon student, bid farewell to- Pro
fessors and Classmates, and go forth into
the world, to mingle in scenes, which his
Imagination had painted in tints too ight
and bea utifuI for earth. He had left the
little sillage Of L: at the age of fourteen,
foilowed:by ths smiiss, the tears and -she,
blessings of mother, sisters and friehds.s
But rihere was one laughed lightly and
seemed really rejoiced at his departure;
who rallied him on his sorrowful face, while
she could hardly keep rebellious tenr from
struggling intosbeing. Harry Melville and
Frances Brooks'had been classnates in the
village school and! had pursued the same
branches in thesAeademy. Together they
had gathered flowers in the month Of May
for botanicahanalyses, while Harry thought
the search all nonsense, as the fairest flow
er Of all was by his. side. /. Together they
had traced the consultations; and Harry
had more than once caught himself looking
into Franks eyes, mistakiag them, intact,
for couple Of bright, particular stars.' So
it went, until he was as decidedly IN love,
as novelist would have him. When he
won the prize for composition, or received
the plaudits ola delighted audience for dec
lamation, boy as he was, Frances was quite
as glad as he, and one approving smile
from, her, -quickened his hearts beating,
more than the cheers Of q multitude. There
was in the same school, rival for the
honors Of scholarship and the heart of
Frances. Charles Miller was that rival, a
noble little fellow Of fifteen, the son of q
widow, her only earthly joy, and almost her
only possession. Susceptible ofdeep impress
sion, he had seen Frances, and to see her was
to love her. Those bright looks haunted
him, and in the simplicity of;his heart he
told his mother, the new motives to live
that had found place in his soul. She
checked the rising hope that the heiress of
"W Woodland Height" would ever. stoop to
wed the widows son. Long and severe
was the struggle ere the undetermined
youth could dispel the vision of loveliness
that had become the tenant of his soul; but
it was done: the spell that bound him was
broken, and if he had before striyen to ex-
eel from the thought Of Frances, his efforts
from very hopelesness. were not now re.
mitted; while the pure presence of his moths
or shrined in.the place Of the idol of pas
sion, excited a constant and subduing infu-
ence upon him, that purified and consecrat-
ed every energy of intellect. What he
had before done with an expectation Of q
reward in one smile from Frances, that
amply compensated him for long hours of
intense and painful thought, he now mas
tered for the love Of it.l Enthusinsm had
dethroned ambition, and SO perfect was its
sway, that had there been no eye to cheer
and no lip to breathe approval, he would
have continued the same devoted and sue.
cessful student. Harry Melville, on the
contrary, was the slave of ambition; be
painted for the prize and the reward; he
eagerly sought the approval Of the world;
expansion Of mind, the development. of the
powers that God had given, the attainment
Of truth, the benefit Of his fellows were no.
thing to him, only so far as they enabled
him to pluck the star,high'. honor and
wreathe it round his own brow. He loved
Frances, but it was as reward; no tho,
Of her as an independent being with happi
ness and misery Of her own, ever. entered
his mind; he only regarded her as mean:
of promoting his own interest; as such he
valued her, and as such alone. He would
unhesitatingly turned traitor had it been nee
essary to obtain her hand. In o word, HI
was exactly like the thousands who nov
struggle for the acclaim Of the world-th.
thousands who only want the bribe,t to prov,
recreant to everything noble and true
Slaves in gilded chains, they are bound +
the glowing wheels, of the triumphant ca
Of popularity, or prostrated before it, lik
the victims of the Juggernaut, are crushe'
to the dust. Such were the rivals who's
superiority all minor competitors acknowl
edged. Each had his admirers, but the,
differed as widely as the youthful partizan
themselves. Frances admired the grac
with which Harry sometimes bore ava
the honor; she admired his elegant person
and his eloquent eye, but there was some
thing about Charles that commanded th,
lofiier sentiment of respect. Seldom wa
his pale countenance lighted with a smile
but there were the tracings Of q great in
tellect that struggled to telegraph itself VI
on his features. Reserved and retiring ,
mong his companions, there was somethin
that awakened an interest to know more {
the heart that beat, and the hopes th'
were rocked within that quiet breast Sh
could rejoice with Harry in his triumph
. but it would have been sweeter far to hay
J. sympathised with Charles in his sorrow.-
i Term after term Of Academic life fled ava,
i and but six weeks intervened, ere the littl
band were to assemble for the last time
d the halls SO rich in the recoilections of til
2 past; TO grasp each others hand for ii
!! last time as fellow pupils; TO hear the la.
Il words OF council from his lips who had
J, rected all their efforts. and to cross tn
J. well-worn threshold, to return thither, I
p more. OH if there is o bright green SD
!. in the waste Of life, it is away there in Il
y SCHOOL, boy days! Many and many a tim
q when life's length'ning shadows betoken
$ close, has the weary traveller, leaning up.
]; his staff, turned to view the dim path
IS had trodden, and the recollecions Of the
'e1 hours have lighted his fading eyes, and !
'el thought Of them appeared like those dista
a. n a