Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1849-01-04
with his paws, fixes his eye upon the up
per rim as if he would look hi,nse out of
his weary priSnn


his weary prison.
thought Of the miserable vermin-
thought Of him as had often watched thus
his dying agonies, when cruel urchin of
eight or ten. Boys are horribly cruel;
boys, women and savages. All Child like
things are cruel; cruel from want of
thought and from perverse ingenuity, al
though by instinct each Of these is tender.
You may not have observed il, but saw
age is as tender to his own young as boy
Is to favorite puppy-the same boy that
VIII torture kitten out of existence. /
thought, then, say, the rat drowning in
halt-hiled cask Of water, and lifting his
size out Of the vessel as he grew more and
more desperate, and flung myself on my
back, and floating thus fixed my eyes upon
the face Of the moon.
The moon is wei! enough, in her way,
however you may look at her; but her APP
pearance is, to say the least of il, peculiar
to amari floating on his back in the centre of
a stone tank, with dead wall Of some tif-
teen or twenty feet rising squarely on ev-
cry side Of him."
The young man smiled bitterly as he
said this and shnddered once or twice be-
fore he went on musinglv:
"'rhe last time had noted the planet
with any emotion, she was on the wane.-
Mary was with me; had brought her out
here one morning to look at the view from
the top of the Reservoir. She said little
OF the scene, but as we talked Of our old
and childish loves, l saw that its fresh fea-
lures were Incorporating themselves with
tender memories o; the past, and l was
content.
There was rich golden haze upon the
landscape and as my own spirits rose amid
the volnptuous atmosphere. she pointed to
the waning planet, discernible like faint
CASH in the welkin, and wondered how
long it would be be. ore the leaves would
fall! Strange girl, did she mean 70 rebnke
my joyous mood, as if we had no right to
be happy while nature, whitening in her
pomp, and the sickly moon wasting in the
blaze Of noontide, were there to remind us
Of the gone forever?' 'They will all re-
new themselves, dear Mary, said L. en-
couragingly and there is one that will
ever trust alike with thee and nature
through all seasons, if thou will: but be
true 10 one of us, and remain as now
child of nature.
A tear sprang to her eye, and then
searching her pocket for her card case,
she remembered an engagement to be pres
ent al Miss Lawson's opening Of fall bon
nets, at two o'clock.
And yet, dear, wild, hayward Mary, I
thought of her now. You have probably
outlived this sort of thing, sir; but l, look
ing at the moon, as floated there upturn-
ed to her yellow light, thought of the low
ed being whose tears knew would flow
when she heard Of my singular fate, al
once so grotesque, yet melancholy to aw-
fulness.
And how often have we talked, too, Of
that Carian shepherd who spent his damp
nights upon the hills, gazing as do on
the lustrous planet? Who will revel
with her amid those old super>titions P
Who, from our own unlegended woods
will evoke their yet unhetected, haunting
spirits who peer with her in prying
scrutiny into natures laws, and challenge
the whispers OF poetry from the voiceless
throat of matters Who laugh merrily
over the stupid guess work of pedahts,
that never mirgle with the infnitude of
nature, through love exhaustless and all
embracing, as we have? Poor girl, she
will be companionless.
Alas F.! companionless forever-save in
the exciting stages Of some brisk Irritation.
She will live hereafter by feeding other
hearts with loves lore she has learned
from me, and then, Pygmalion-like, grow
fond Of the images she has herself endow-
ed with semblance Of divinity, until they
seem TO breathe.back the mystery the soul
can truly catch from only one.
How anxious she will be least the cor
oner should have discovered any Of her
notes in my pocket.
felt chilly as this last reflection eros
sed my Municipality at thought Of the
coroner, partly at the idea of Mary being
unwillingly compelled TO wear mourning
for me, in case of such disclosure Of our
engagements. 1t is provoking thing for
agirl of nineteen to have to go into mourn
ing for deceased lover, at the beginning
OF her second winter in the metropolis.
The water, though, with my mo,ionless
position, must have had something TO do
with my chillness. see, sir, you think
that | tell my story with great leviy; but
indeed. indeed should grow delirious did
! venture TO bold steadily to the awful
ness Of my feelings the greater part of the
night. think indeed, / must have been
most Of the time hysterical with horror,
for the vibrating emotions have recapit-
ulated did pass through my brain even as
have detailed them.
But as / now became calm in thought,
summoned up again some resolution OF
action.
IL will begin at that corner" said ],
s:and swim around the whole enclosure.
Twill swim slow " and again feel the sides
Of the tank with my feet. II die | must;
let me perish at least from well directed
though exhausting effort; not sink from
mere bootless WEAKNESS in sustaining my
self till the morning shall bring relief"
The sides Of the place seemed to grow
higher as | now kept my weary course
beneath them. 1t was not altogether a