The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1850-09-04
er. The largest halls could not held the hid.

paper. The largest halls could not held the hid.
eous maskers Congo Green resounded with
roars of internal laughter. The red knife OF
midnight murder rivalled the achievements OF
cholera and yellow fever.
Where were the watchmen? Some were rot.
ten in the graveyard of the swamp, some had
flown in terror from their posts, others DIVING
while, one fittieth part of the population perish
cd weekly. Unparalleled, mortality
Long was the combat between the two dread
contagious. At length victory perched upon
the bloody banner Of the cholera: 1t was deci-
ded to be the most powerful; the yellow fever
abated
And yet still that white forehead, and those
sad brlliants of blue eyes, shone on their wan
dering way-through the rebuking lanes by the
beds OF death, near the Grape shrouded coffns
and around those holes in the swamp where the
poor were buried naked!-for he had received
certain intelligence Of the sweet pale face from
an old woman to whom she had told the story
OF his robbery. She had been in the city but a
month previous. But where was she now? He
would find ont, or leave his bones in the great
swamp graveyard!
One hot, dusty noon, he was toiling along the
hue Levee, then crowded with hearses. He
turned his head casually, and the old cathedral,
with its four grand towers, arrested his attention
One of those whimsical impulses which some
times comes without cause, prompted him to
enter. A deep feeling of solemnity settled on
his soul, when standing within the immense and
massive fabric. The tapers burning their dim
religious light: the dead reposed under the stone
pavement beneath. The pale, unearthly coun-
tenance of the saints, looked down on him from
their inches; while the roll of hearse wheels, and
laundering death carts, reached his ear only in
| confused and gentle Whispers
A kneelng figure arose from the floor As
she adjusted her veil, the youth caught glimse Of
her features.
at is she!' he cried in transports of enthusi-
asm, and The thunders OF thousand echoes from
| Vaulted dome answered sit is she!'
CHE sprang to cast himself at the maiden's feet
but ere he had taken those steps, his limbs LOST
the power of motion. His face grew haggarc
with its expression Of intense suffering All the
hre OF volcano seemed concentrated in his burn
ing brain. His eyes revolved in their orbits
with glarng vivacity. Yellowsh streaks over
spread his features in a moment, as if dashee
there by coarse brush dipped in. Sharp pang
trembled in his marrow. His blood throbbet
like lightning, as hot and quick in every burst
ing vein, and then whirlwind of the wildes
delirium wrapped his soul in dreams of fire.
| cit is hep shrieked the girl, recognizing
him. cit is he! and OH mother of the
ycl1ouf feccr!'
| When the young man regained the light o
rational consciousness, he was stretched on a pal
let of straw in small room. He raised hi
blue eyes bright as ever, although his frame wa.
that OF skeleton and he saw face Of exceed
ing beauty bending over him and wet with tears
1t was the s.sweet pale face!''
"Ihou hast saved me twice!' he murmurec
in scarcely half audible whisper He said the
truth. She had watched over him with the ten
derness of a sister, during many days and nights
while his spirit lowered betwixt life and death
"When the youth was convalescent, the two
were wcdded by the old man with the dark lumi-
nous eye-the Bishop of New Orleans.
"The young lawyer must have been insane;
| for not even gratitude could induce rational
| mind to marry such an one.
| Hear me out, reader-I have but another word
The young girl was not fallen as the man sup,
posed She was poor sewer, and like many o
her class, had kept that soul s-jewel-her pur
ty-amidst rags and wretchedness, while many
many who would have shrunk from the touch o
her worn fingers, were losing theirs beneatl
heaps of shining pearls and drapery gorgeous al
the rainbow.
And to-day the white forehead graces the su
i preme bench Of a western State, and the swee
pale face and serenely dark eyes light one oftht
happiest scenes out Of heaven-the hearth seen.
of love illuminated home. And thus to eter
nifty, now and then doth some kind angel inser
golden leaf of true romance in the cold irol
book of human life.