The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1850-03-09

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delight as he lisped the evening prayer.
Left at an early age destitute OF maternal
protection, with not even sisters love to
cheer his path Of lite, by the thousand en-
dearing acts, which only sisters love
can dictate; with no companion save
moody father, who, sunk i'll the cares and
perpexlties incident to business career;
cared little about his son, so that he was
prepared for what seemed to him the great
end of mans existance-the counting room:
is it TO be wondered that this young heart
naturally warm and impulsve-a heart
that yearnel toward his fellows and en-
pcctcd to find in their bosoms kindred
affection, should when coming in contact
with such a cold, calculating, selfish being
as his father, feel, that those wild thoughts,
which he had conjured up in his magma
ton, were but idle dreams, and grow as
caIIous and urfeeling as that of his patcr-
nal protector? Just as the ivy twines its
tepdrils round the hardy forest oak, closer
and yet closer until at last it seems to par
take Of its very nature, So the young and
tender heat if thrown by force o. circm-
stanc beside one grown cold and calIous
by the lude blasts of time will, at length
er.wine itsel' around its more sturdy COM
panion, however uncongenial 10 its natu-
raj feelings.
Such was Harry Hare curt. Rash and
lmpetuous, yet generous aud forSiving in
earl life, constant ompanionship with
bis 'ahcr led him both from "precept and
example" TO engraft many OF bis selfish
feelings, and to adopt the character which
we soc him exhibiting in our frs, chapter.
In his hoyish days he and Julia attended
the same school, and many merry romp
had they together on the village green, and
many game of hide and seek among the
tall trees that stood thick'y around the old
log house, where good Dame Welherby by
the aid of stout birchen rod s'tausht their
young IDEAS how to shoot "
Reader did you ever steal for time
from the hurry and strife of business, and
revisit, if only in Imagination, the spot,
where in common with band of naxcn
haired urchins YOU first received the rudl-
ments of that education. aided by which
you are now battling with the stern rcal-
ties of lie for the bread that supplies your
daily wants! And have you ever called
them over one by one, that youthful band,
as they stand enrolled upon the tablet of
your heart! ever and anon deep death
II ~ c,Io w.. ,L,>;
recesscs OF your soul give back the an
swer, GONE, while the dark cold grave
prolongs the hollow sound. Hark. now
gladstone voice rings from the highest
pinnacle of Fame's ETHEREAL pile. And lofty
hill, and silent vale, and craggy rock catch
ing up the joyous shout, as it swels on
ward toward the dark blue sea, proclaim
the mighty praise Of him, whose brow is
testooned with the laurel wreath. Another
name; another answers here am |. But
o God! that voice, so coarse, so husky, so
sepu'chlaj, so like that in which we fain
would think the doomed inhabitants of the
neither world converse. Whence comes it
in yon lonely prison cell, a pale emaclated
being lies extended on bed of straw, his
shrunken limbs can scarce support his
wasted form and can it be the sames 1t
seems but yesterday he mingled in our
boyish sports, the gayest OF the gay, his
dark eye flashing with the quenchless fire
OF hope.
But we are DEPRESSING sadly from our
story. Years passed away and Harry and
Julia both left their native place, to finish
that education of which Dame Wetherby
had laid the foundation. For several
years they saw but little of each other,
Harry always choosing rather to spend the
vacations with some college chum, than
amid the dull society of Il. at
length however the time of hls probation
expired The bright dreams Of hoyhood
must give place to the serious realities of
life. Face to face he must grapple with
the cold selfish world, in the deadly strife
for wealth and power. On his return to
Il, he found the place greatly I'M
proved. The little village which he had
left few years before had now grown in
TO large and popuIous town, owing in a
great measure TO the enterprising spirit Of
his ,~.her, who had settled there in early
life and purchased property, well know
ing, that from its locality it would one
day be place OF considerable trade Nor
was he disappointed; the land which he
had bought Tor trille, gradually increased
in value as the town increased in size, and
the amount of its business until at the time
of Harry's return, Mr.. Harcourt was one
OF its wealthest citizens, as well as one
Of ITS most successful merchants. Like
most men who are engaged in mercantile
pursuits, the desire for wealth grew with
each succeeding year. Gold became the
grand object Tor which he lived, it tngled
in his ears by day, it haunted him in the