Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-02-11
The Deformed Girl.
By JOHN G.. WHITTIER

1Memofy, mysterious memory! holy and
blessed as dream of Heaven to the pure
in spirit-haunter and accuser of the guilty!
Unacceptable presence Lingering through
every .vicissitude, and calling us back to the
past-back to the dim sepulchral images
of departed time-opening anew the deep
fountains Of early passions-the' thrilling
aspirations of after years! While the pres
ent is dark with anguish, and hes-future
sgladdened with no sunboW Of anticipation,
I invoke thy spell Of power. Unroll be-
fore me the chart Of vanished hours; let me
gaze once more ON their sunlight and shad-
ow:
| am an old man; the friends of my youth
are gone from me. Some have perished on
the great deep, others on the battle field ,afar
Oft IN the land of strangers; and many, very
many, have been gathered quietly to the 1ld
church-yard of our native village. They
have left me alone even as the last survivor
of a fallen forest, the hoary representative
of departed generations The chain which
once bound me to existence has been broken
Ambition, Avarice, Pride, even all that
awakens into power the intolerable thirst of
mind. But there are some milder thoughts
some brighter passages in the dreams of
my being, yet living at the fountain Of Mem
ory-thoughts of pure and angelic commu-
nion linked by thousand tender associa-
tions to the Paradise of Love. ss=a -
There was one-a creature of exalted in.
tellect-a being whose thoughts went up
wards like the incense of flowers upon Gods
natural alters, they were so high and unlike
to earth. Yet was she not proud of her high
gift. With the brightest capacities of an
Embodied spirit, there was something more
than woman's meekness in her demeanor.
It was the condescension of seraphic iu-
tellect-the forgiveness and the tears of con-
scious purity extended TO the erring and
passionate earth. @
She was not being to love with an earth
ly affection. Her person had no harmony
with her mind. 1t bore no resemblance
with those beautiful forms which glide be-
fore the eyes of romance in the shadowy
world of dreams. 1t was not like the bright
realities of being-the wealth Of beauty
which is sometimes concentrated TO the
matchless form of woman. It was deform-
ity, relieved only by the Intellectual glory
of dark, soul-like eye.
Yet, strange as it may seem, loved her
deeply, passionately, as the young Heart can
love when it pours itself out like an obla-
tion to his idol There were gentle and
lovely ones around me- creatures Of smiles
and bushes, soft tones and melting glances,
but their beauty male no lasting impression
on my heart Mine was an intellectual
love-yearning after something invisible
and holy--somethng above the ordinary
standard of human desire, set apart and
sanctifed as it were, by the mysteries of
the mind. -i'sf B" $50
Mine was not love to be revealed in
thronged circles of gayety and fashion, it
was avowed underneath the bending heaven
when the perfect stars were alone gazing
upon us. 1t was rejected; but not in scorn,
in pride, nor anger, by that high-thoughted
girl. She would ask my ffien dship, my
sympathy, but besought me-aye with tears,
she besought me, to speak no more of Love
# obeyed her. I fed from her presence
Il mingled once more in the busy tide of be-
ing, and ambition entered my soul. Wealth
came upon me unexpectedly, and the voice
of praise became il familiar sound. | re-
turned at last with the impress Of manhood
upon my brow, and sought again the being
Of my dreams.
She was dying Consumption-pa pale,
ghastly consumption, had taken away her
hold on existence. The deformed and un-
fitting tenement was yielding to the impul-
ses of the soul. as azt.s- 81
Clasping her wasted hand bent over her
in speeehless agony. She raised her eyes to
mine, and in those beautiful emblems of the
soul, read the boarded affection of years
the long smothered emotion of smothered
heart. @Henry," she sale, and bent lower
to catch the faltering tones of her sweet
-voice-"I have loved long and fervently. +
feel that l am dying rejoice at it.. Earth
will cover this wasted and unseemly form,
but the soul will return to that promised and
better land, where no change or circum-
stances-can mar the communion of Spirits.
Oh, Henry, had it been permitted but l
will not murmur You were created with
more than manhood's beauty, and deform-
ed --wretched as am, [ have dared to love
you." q, 80 +ssssaas. ~ sled
knelt down and kissed the pale brow OF
the sufferer. A smile of more than earth
ly. .tendarness stole over her features and
fixed there, like an omen of the spirits hap
piness. She was dead.-Ard they Hurried
her on the spot where she had herself select
ed-a delightful place of sIumber curtained
by green young willows. ] have stood
there thousand times in the quiet moon
light, and fancied that / heard in every
breeze that whispered among the branches,
the voice of the beloved slum berer. -,
Devoted girl! thy beautiful spirit hath
never abandoned me in my weary pilgrim
age Gentle and soothingly thou contest
to watch over my sleeping pillow-to cheer
me midst the trials of humanity-to mingle
thy heavenly sympatbies with my joys and
sorrows, and to make thy wild reprovings
known and felt in the dark moments of ex-
istence; in the tempest Of passion, in the
bitterness Of crime. Even now, in the aw-
full calm which precedes the last change in
my being, in the cold shadow which now
stretches from the grave to the presence Of
the living, ] feel that thou art near me
"Thyself pure and sainted one,
Watching the loved and frail of earth"
Justice is sometimes slow, but always sure.