Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1850-03-15

ance. Tomorrow, | will look for your
promise TO this effect. Go, now, and think
of it: | am sure you will obey me-
He stopped down, and kissed her ten
derly; and then Caroline still weeping,
rushed from the room
But was it to think, as her father de-
sired, of her duty
Alone, i'll her chamber, she recalled, at
! alternate moments, the words of her pa
rent and the insidious persuasion Of her
lover: and alas the latter had most in
! fluence with her.
! Caroline was not exactly a weak girl,
/ but she had fallen into bad set at school,
+ and from II imbibed many hurtful notions
of chlld's duty to her parents, especially
! III a case Of supposed affection. She had
read not good novels, but visionary roman
I ces; and these had strengthened her mis-
taken ideas Her present suitor was
handsome, designing libertine, who, know
ing her father TO be rich, desired to possess
the daughters hand, as with it, went
large fortune. The finished manners of
Collins, had easily won her liking, for we
cannot call it love, and, imagining herself
10 be IN similar position to her favorite
heroines, she regarded the opposition of
her father as oppressive and unreasonable.
That very day her suitor had urged her
to elope with him, and she had consented
to do so; but her parent kind exposiula-
ton had, now for a time, shook her pur-
pose. Finally, however, the vanity of
being the heroine of a runaway match, as
well as her biased views respecting the
supposed injustice Of her father, induced
her to fulfil her promise and, at the dead
of night, she left her home forever.
We say, left her home, for she never
had another. Mr.. Warren proved true to
his threat, and was the more inhexille.
because Caroline had eloped, on the verv
night he had plead so earnestly with her.
. She left me, with my kiss still warm on
her check" he said; "she preferred
another, and a stranger TO me she treated
me, not like her best friend, but like an
enemy; and hencefor,h she is banished
from my heart"
Yes! she never again had home.
Her husband took her to hotel. where
they remained for several weeks, hoping
daily 10 receive a summons from her faith
er but, as none came, they were forced
at last to retire to a cheap boarding house.
Here, amid indifferent society, Caroline,
who had been tcnderlv nurtured, learned
soon 10 feel acutely the advantages of
which she had deprived herself, and
yearned for her old home.
If her husband had really loved her, or
If she could have continued TO persuade
herself that her father had been unjust,
she might have found some alienation in
her altered fortunes. But her husband,
angry that Mr.. Warren was inexorable,
now began to punish Caroline for her
fathers firmness, by ncglecting her and
left her, evening after evening to amuse
herself, while he spent the hours at the
billiard table. in the theatre, or with some
gay friends over bottle or two of wine.
1t was now that Caroline saw the correct
ness OF the judgement, which her father
had expressed respecting Collins. She
not only soon learned that he was both !
idle and spendthrif, but discovered that
he was Incorporate, passionate, and un-
principled.
Often, when he came home excited by |
wine, he would address her in the most |
brutal manner, charging their present pow
erty on her or rather on her " niggardly !
father" as he called Mr.. Warren, TO her
face. At last, one night, he returned, in a
state of violent excitement, from the gam
ing table, where he had lost largely and, |
finding Caroline weeping, struck her !
blow, in fit Of passion, that felled her to
the floor, where she lay bleeding
I'D 81, Il e / l.. - Z
romance! Into this life of slavery, into
this deep degradation, her vanity had led !
her! Ashamed to tell the truth and .
throw herself on her father for protection,
she endured, for more than a year, every !
variety of insult from her husband her !
health, meanwhile, consuming away, and |
spirits, which had once been so high. |
utterly broken.
Oh how often she repented of her fol-
ly.-llow, when she had heard of Others
of her sex forming clandestine marriages,
she would shudder, and exclaim-'' alas |
the chances are they will be vet as miser-
able as | am. Can they not see, that the
man, who persuades them to disobey their
parents, shows, in that very thing. want
of principle that promises little for their
happiness with him !''
But the cup of her misery was not vet
full. She had been married a little over
a year when her husband left her to visit
neighboring city and, though she wait
ed his return long after the promised
day, he never came. At last a letter from
him was put in her hands; and the mis-
sive announced, in the most unfeelng
terms, that he had left her forever.
She sank in swoon, and Law for hours
before she recovered. When she regained
consciousness, it was to shudder at her con-
ditior. for she was penmless, with board
for many weeks due, and not a friend on
whom. she could call for tho slightest loan.