The Arkansas banner., 1849-10-02
THR RARY.

this old house. Sit by me. and will once moEe tell you story, as l used tp do, when you were a little girl. and looked up in brighi-eyed wonder at my tale.
 doubt mt William has tdd you ofien enough that you are all in all 10 him; th.l no ooe human being ever was to another what ypu are to hip; that he leels for you deeper, tehdtrer, parer, disn- terested devotion, than eyer man felt for woman. Don't believe him. Nay, never start and turn pale. the young rascal believes what he says 10 be true, and that ought to be enoushlor you. What mean is, that have in my day sad and felt much for the old woman on the Oher slde of the chimney there.
 But mean something noFe than that. You have yourself been the objec, ofa deeper tenderer purer more disialerestedly devt ed attachment than his. Now. don't grow angry, tough il becomes you too. and bespeaks the sincere csnng spirit of the bride He, too, would be iR towering passion lf he heard me; and yet neither of you have cause.
 You do not understand ne; nor will you, nor can you, till you come 10 be yourself a mother.
 The riddle is out. mssA<hst you were peF- son of much more consequence ih the eyes of two othefs--eh, old dame 'ihat You were the object oi a more profound love than you sver can be again, long, long before you knew how delightful lining it is to repay love with love.
 You have been admired. and have been told that you were admired; and, thought your father say, who ought not to say #, yon are worthy to be admired. And you have been iiatered-by admira. ton; never deny it, girl, IS human nature, and sits pfettiiy npon young woman. But you were wei. cemed home. and admired, and watched over with far more solictude before you were twelve months old than ever you will be again. Strange t ls but it seems to be the unwaverlng r,le of Providence. that the warmesi affection should ever be sqnander ell upon those who unaware olthe wealth which is heaping upon them.
 1, was a proud ahd happy day that of your birth. The ways were mud, and keen hal showers. alter hating with sieet. were borne or the wind, that howed and thumped round the hosse. as fl seeking to force its way in. And the bodiIysuderng of your mother scarcely exceeded the menai anxiety ol the rest of the household. It was teavehly summer time when all was over: wind weather what did heed them, when she looked proudly up al me, as l looked at you lying in her arms !
 After all. any disInteTested pekon must have thought you a sirange-Iooking creature. You had not learned how to make use of yor eyes: one was turned up to your eyebrows, and tie other down to your mouth
 Now, papa"-
 Fact, tact; ask the old woman !here, if you won't believe me.
 But you were beautiful in cur eyes, and in those of your good grandmother. She had been passing back and forward, the whole morning, between your mothers apartment and the psrior, thinking 10 keep up onr spirits, but sinking them rather by her agi- ated looks. Bnt when she cane to tell me that all was well, she could not find her voice, and she did noi need 10 ind f, for her face radiant. You were lamp set down amongst us to enIighten all our faces. We had lived together, and thought we loved each other; but when yos were added to the family group, it as ii new revelation; and Il seemed as if we had been living eody and heart. essly with each other cori was around us drawing us into closer relationship; and you, little unconscious elf, were the tailsman that worked al these wonders.
 I could write big book sbont the first year o your life, and yet moi contrive to say all have tc say, 10 show how much more important baby is than any grown or growing person possibly can be You wilt scarcely rec oectthe day of your christ ening. That too, was memorable day. Mother nurse, grandmnther-l cannot we'll say which looked most consequential; while you, the real heroine O the occasion, took 1t with unparalleled song foid you did not even seetn to mind the beauiul rici lace cap, of which there is family tradition thA your mother christened in 1t too: you positively slept through the ceremony, 10 the great consterna ton Of the nurse who held it bad omen that yol did not squal. But if you thought little though ihe moIe for when turned from the marble font [, ! the altar window. where was painted the dove hoy ering over the cloudy chaos if was commissioned {, impreghate with light and love, fell awed ant subdued, and anxious for my baby. and yet eonsoed felt that II was your inaugural ion into the sorrow of life. The mystic rite the herald oi the sui lerings to which humanity is heir; but t was, al tn same time, the pledge that God would temper th wInd 10 the shorn lamb.
 ] will not tell you how we-for she, there, wen foot for foot in feeling all my joys, cares, hopes, am fears about ynu as indeed, she has been the miro of my life for will not say how many years, bear | ing half my sorrows. and redoubIing all my joys. would not have said half so much for lear of makn her vain Never praise people to their faces. gifl it spolls them; but you she Is asleep. and can hear me. What makes the old woman's head keel nudging at that rate behind her handkerchief: Ha she been listening to us all thIs timei
 will say nothing of cnr care for you even in tri fes, ,-ot the long happy walk We had one day rou bazaar 10 bazaar 10 chose playthings hi for so yer young baby,--of the utter forgetfuInes of my per sopal GigRtty, with which used 10 bring biscuit io the baby from town in my greal-coat pocket You would think l was wishing 10 bribe you 0 these recoections, not to forget the old folks whe yon leave them. It would be unkind 10 do so would look as If thought you could forget them
 You grew up among us like an opening flower Every day we saw something new 10 love and piais in you. To hear Us talk, one would have though there never had been such baby. A strange thin Il IS, child! There is delicate beauty about Il soft eyes, and rosy cheeks, and tiny mouth. IL wa so pretty to see the little monkey examine our hand ailer the other, to see they contained sugar biscuit. And it was so engaging when it held it little mouth to be kissed. And it was sparkling when it dived down into its nurses arms, and hi
 its face in her bosom. when playfuy minded. Bt strangest. oveIiest of all. was its appearance whe
 It seemed to be trying to thInk-when the consci ousness of reason and eternity seemed 10 he dawn ing npon Gods own image. shrinking abashed fror the glories Of its own nature.
 And yet, my daughter, in moments of depression -and such moments come to all,-there was some thing terrible m thy childish glee. When Irefecte how trtng the cause of thy delight,--the absene of any reason why it should give thee delight ,-th
 ransilory nature of the delight it liselt,-I wa tempted 10 think that all human happiness allk unre asonable and unnatural. Life seemed 10 be succession of brief bursts of ecstacy, al long neT vals gradually growing duer and duileF, till ende in inane apathy. l will not dwell on the though it is one which mocks us m our hapPiest hour, an which not reason. faith alone can dispei.
 But more desolate and dangerous emotions wer awakened when illness came spoa thee. There nothing on earth SO painful as 10 witness the sufeI ings of d child. We csnnot divine their cause C nature, and il cannot tell; the impoteDcy of huma desire to give relief IS ever so painfully felt. Tn innocence and too of the l.hsrer cOpiuI