The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1848-12-19
MISCELLANY.
Q U A K E R L o V E. .
BY LEITcH RICHIE.

/ tllCtly dF lIIdt luc wall. 1 oil
impression all that day, however erroneous,
that il was Sunday. There was Sunday
silence in The streets, Sunday gravity in The
passers-hy, Sunday order and cleanliness
in their habilire The lines of Houses
were ranged with the most sober decorum,
and The little lawns which many Of them pos
sessed were laid out with the square and COM
pass. The trees were lot beautiful but neat,
for nature was not INDUCED in in any of her
freaks al Elm's Cross and il seemed TO me
that the very leaves had peculiarly quiet
green, and tle flowers a reserved smell.
The majority of the better class OF The inhab-
lants OF this town were Friends; and il ap-
peared--ii' my imagination did not run away
with, me-that, through the influence OF
wealth and numbers, they had been able 10
impress the external characteristics OF their
society upon The whole place.
But no my imagination could not have
run away with me; 10: the moment imagi-
nation enters Elm's Cross, it is taken into
custody as a vagrant, and kept in DURANGO
during its sojurn. There one loses the fac
uty OF daydreaming; and although was
Il young fellow at the lime. half crazy with
sentiment and love OF adventure, even the
fair Quakers, some Of whom were beautiful,
in spite oftheir bonnels, had no more effect
upon me than so many marble statues. But
perhaps il will give beiler idea Of the spir-
II o: the place, il | say thar the only one Of
them on whom | bestowe a second look lad
arrived at that lime Of lille when the contro>
versy begins as TO whether a woman should
be considered as young or an old maid.
This middle aged person mot 10 use the
offensive expression Extensively was like all
Quakers when they are beautiful, beautiful
TO excess. Retaining an exquisite complex
ion, even when her hair WIS beginning 10
change, she seemed personiicaIion of that
autumnal loveliuess which makes one forget
| that Of The spring and summer Her voice,
mellowed by time, was bciter calculated 10
linger in The ear than The lighter tones Of
youth and il harmonised well with her soil,
dove-ike eyes,
That seemed to love whate'cr they looked upon.
| Yet there was no feeling in this love, such rs
we of The world demand in the love Of her
sex; The richness OF her check was cold as
The bloom Of flower and as, with noiseless
step, and demure nun-like air, she glided
past, felt as il had seen portrait walk
out of lis frame, mastery imitation Of wo-
man. but only an imitation.
| This was why turned round and looked
al her again; and as looked. kind Of pity
rose in my inexperienced heart that one 81
lair should pass through lie unstirred by lis
| exctements, untouched by its raptures, even
unIruubled with lis SORROWS. As The novel
~ wore oil, hated the cold, formal air OF
everything around the silence disturbed me;
and The next morning was glad 10 launch
again upon the stormy world, and leave this
lonely oasis To lis enchanted repose.
| Some time alter, when giving the history
of this day 10 friend, who proved 10 be per
sonally acquainted with the place ami The
people, he told me That the lady on whom
mad looked twice had been Tor many years
not only the reigning beauty of Elm's Cross
but the benevolent genius Of The town and
neighborhood; and he related a passage in
her early life which made me qualify little
my opinion as 10 the ?assionless tranquility
of her feelings, and the uneventful blank d
her history. Not that the thing can be called
an adventure, that The incident has any inter
mixture OF romance-that would be absurd
Ii passed over The heart like Il summe cloud,
which leaves the heavens as bright and sc
rene as before; hut somehow or other il IN
fused suspicion into my mind, that however
said the demeanor and decorous The cod
duct, human nature is everywhere alike
that the difference is moi in the feelings, but
in their control.
| Her father was one of the weallhiest in
habiianls OF the town, and Martha Hargrave
was an only child, the expeclant heiress Of
his fortune and likewise possessed, in her
own right, Of $4,000 safely invested. In such
circumstances, it may be supposed tina, when
she grew up from the child into The gill, she
attracted not little the attention Of blushing
striplings and Specializing mammas. These
were, with The exception OF one iamilv,o her
own Socieiy-foi Mr. and Mrs. Hargrave
were Quakcrs of The old school, and confined
themselves almost exclusively within The cir-
Gle Of Friends. The exception was formed
by widow lady and her son; the former an
early intimate OF Mrsr Hargrave. now living
OH small Annuity, from which, by means Of
close economy, she contrived 10 save little
every year 10 pay for her boys outfit in the
world. Richard Temple was we'll cal culat.-
ed TO be thc object of a mothers doing al
ieclion; be was ine, spirited, generous,
handsome lad, two or three years older than
Martha, OF whom he was the playmate in
childhood, the friend 10 youth,and something
more after that. How il came that Penni-
less boy thought as he did Of The Quaker
heiress, may seem mystery but il must be
! recollected that the conventional distinc lions
Of society make little impression upon chill
dren brought up together upon terms Of equal
| ily. Richard lovked upon Martha as his
sister, till he began TO feel as personal in
jury the admiring looks that were thrown
upon her from under the broad brims of the
young Quakers: and even when the fact al
length forced itself upon him that she was
rich, and he poor. that she rolled in car
rage, and he walked on foot,that her parents
were among the fra. people in the place, and
his only one solitary and almost INDECENT
widow, The encouragement of his fond and
unrefiecting mother, and his'own gallant
heart, triumphed over the misgivings Of pru-
dence; and the affection of The boy was suf
fered to ripen, unchecked, into the love Of
the young man.
While this process was going on with
Richard, in Martha the wildness of childhood
sobered gradually down into the demure cir
cumspeciion of the Quaker girl. Her step
became less buoyant, her glance less free, her
speech less frank, her air more reserved; and
81. ~ IL