Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1849-09-19
The Old House and Young Wife.
A TRUE COPY-BY RAPHAEL.

away from home a week. And somehow it
was, in his absence, old chronic diseases and
rheumatic pains would clinch the tighter. But
what took him there! "Ah there is the rub"
As a set-off to the public grief, however,
Doctor Bell had many, very many virtues. He
was kind to the poor. The needy had often
cause to bless the bounty of his hand. Where
sorrow and sickness We're, there was he, sooth-
ing the one and robbing the other of its pangs.
He was the good angel of many Il heavy heart,
and the feet of infancy grew lighter i'll his pres
ence. Indeed he was a very "darling of Il man."
and it puzzled the wits of all to say which loved
him most, the venerable matrons or the amiable
young misses of his native town.
His parents were long since dead; but the
doctor still lived in the quaint old homestead.
1t was an ancient pile, a gloomy, dlngy looking
pile both out and in. Its dormitories, with
lights of seven by nine; its massive doors of
oak: its low broad chimneys; its t1attened roof
scarcely fifteen feet from smother earth" and
other unmistakeable marks, evinced thatit was
a house OF the olden time-a puritan structure
a monument of other and more honest days.
And the doctor really and truly loved that
homely and dingy house.
The little village of W arose from its
breakfast table one morning, and found itself
III COLnIlOtlOn. " ia cOuIu IL lcdi! way d
painter was seen at work on that old building
of DR.. Lawrence Bell; the carpets We've stretched
upon the garden palings, and the waiting maid
was busting, and washing and cleansing every
thing before her. Conjecture mounted her
swift winged staed, and flew from door to door:
and that most innocent of all innocence, village
gossip, Haunted by in her many colored robes,
in extatic raptures. She new all about it; the
Doctor was about to leave for Boston for the
fortieth time, and desired to have his cottage
renovated whilst away, that he might avoid the
annoyance which necessarily attends such an
operation.
Well, the Doctor went to Resten. A week
rolled by, and SO did adaintg little carriage, and
reigned mp short at the Doctors house. Many
an eye followed it Antil it stepped, eager to dis
cover what it might contain. The blacksmith
poised his hammer in his hand, matron and
maid crowded the windows; the teamster halted
his oxen; the merchant left his counter aa6 the
clerk his q~uill--all, ~anxiens to see what was to
be seen. The Doctor alighted, and the next
thiag that presented was a neat little foot, in a
glossy little CATER, pressing the step of the neat
little carriage: then came a modest little hand,
encased in a ~lustrous little glove, of which the
Doctor took modest possession; next a rose
colsred bonnet, pEnmed and as gay as a bird of
Paradise; then a fashionable shawl, with as many
hues Us a peacock's tail; and finally half a web
of satin containing a woGaant
True the Doctor had thus unceremOniously
taken to himself wife. And a very beauty
she was too, with roguish, big black eyes and
cherry lips, which when parted, displayed two
rows of teeth as white as Ceylon's ivory. A
shower of glossy ringlets deiuged her snowy
neck
"And Diana's graces was in her step,
ApoIlo's music in her voice."
She was in the very spring of life, and never
did the sun unfold a ~lovelier blossom. "Our
future home my DEAR" It was all the Doctor
said, as he handed her into the little parlor of
twelve by fourteen. Charlotte Bell was not
thunder struck by any means, but slightly
bewildered. She looked and probably felt like
a newly Gagged canary bird. There were too
windows with small rigged lights and uncouth
sash. There were mirrors, but barely long
enough to reflect her pretty face, and not encased
in gold at that. The dropping ceiling hung
above with appalling lowness; and a huge eight
day clock, as old as the "oldest inhabitant,"
standing alone in the corner, with a full moon
above its face, was sticking the pulsation of time
as regularly as if no one was execrating it at
all.
OChS d1u iOAlt pdSSCu pletSodiltlf Dy.-
The Doctor pursued the even tenor of his way
healing the sick, and spreading the sunshine of
gladness around the path of poverty. Charlotte,
who was accounted a belle in the city, got along
bravely in her new position. Her visitors were
kindly treated, and her hospitality was the
theme of general praise. All they could say
about her was, that she was a little too proud
just a littie-and this was uttered or whispered
in strict confidence alone.
The doctor was a quiet man. If he said
little, he thoughts great deal; in the common
~parlance of the village "he knew athing or two"
Charlotte was sly and cunning as afox, the little
rogue; and began to hint to him seriously about
afne brick house, with marble front and folding
doors; crown glass windows and full length
portraits; brussels carpet and mahogany chairs,
rosewood tables and yielding diyans, ct cetera, ct
cetera. She served him with dish Of thu in
simple style at first; but as the symptoms be-
came more favorable, increased the dose, until
the Doctor felt himself ready to cry peceapi, and
yield at discretion.
Weeks and months passed by, and poor
Charlotte was beginning to despair of realizing
her pleasant dreams. She Would look at times
a little sad at DR.. Bell. IT'S even said the Doe
tor once surprised her in q food Of tears. But
she was always kind and gentle, and an un-
generous thought towards him were treason in
her breast She loved him with her young
hearts best and punest love, and seemed to live
upon his smiles-yet, when alone, she could not
help contrasting the rough and unseemly house
in which she lived, with the stately mansion of
her father, in which she passed her former
years.
"This won't do" thought DR.. Bell. sImust
school that gentle heart. for know the soil is
there to grow the choicest fowers-fowers
whose fragrance will cheer the dullest hours of
her life, and add sweetness and adornment to
her being, and yield their rich perfumes where
ever she may set her feet" And the Doctor