Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-10-17

stuff as yoa hear on ordinary occasions from
the pulpit, and therefore never would preach
at all. But should have enjoyed the privi-
lege of pronouncing funeral grafton on the
death of Mrs. Bridges! What subject was
her life for a striking and original sermon -
and if the man who preached upon it, did not
chain the minds of his hearers with sublime
reflections, impressive, moral deductions, and
varied, burning eloquence, it is because NJ had
no imagination to conceive, no fancy to paint.
no heart to understand his theme.
What world of wisdom must the late Mrs
Bridges have accumulated during the period
intervening between her first marriage and her
last widowhood. A work on married life. cum
sisting of advice to young and old, to those in
wedlock, and to those about entering those sa-
cred precincts, of wise injnnctions, and of
frank confessions, drawn from the abundant
sources of her rich and varied experience,
would be the best and most complete of the
thousand books written on the subject.
Moreover, had the late Mrs. Bridges possess
sed literary abilities, she might have produced
book on Consolation which young widows
would have esteemed invaluable.
Now, when Iconsider that Mrs Bridges had
four husbands, belonging to four different pro-
fessions, conclude that her knowledge of hu-
man nature and of life, must, in the end, have
been prodigious. Supposng her to have been
of an inquisitive disposition, what curious facts
must she have treasured mp in her memory,
touching the secrets of the law, of medicine, of
divinity, of trade! She might have learned
enough of all these professions, to have talked
of them with unusual understanding, and with
peculiar profit to her hearers.
While | think of it, my mind is perplexed
with thoughts suggested by the subject. l won
der which Of the professions, of which she hada
taste, the late Mrs. Bridges liked the best,-
Which of her husbands appeared to her the
most amiable, the most worthy of her love i
Which had the most faults-which the most
merit, What study it must have been for
her, when four times widow, to compare the
four companions of her life, and behold, in con-
trast, the peculiar traits in the character of
each!
A strange caprice now governs me, and /
would give much to know if Mrs. Bridges kept
all her wedding rings and put them in box,
as | should have done, as fast as they accumu-
lated. What must have been her sensations,
as one after another, she dropped the pledges
of past vows into this receptacle Did she re-
move from her finger the ring presented by Mr.
Wing, to give place to that of Dr. Calcraft
without regret! Were not old wounds opened
afresh, when she heard the third ring, as she
dropped it into the box, jingle among the 9TH
ers. When the fourth ring was placed upon
her finger, did she not ask herself-'Is this the
last-or are there more to comet Perhaps
she allowed the rings to accumulate upon her
fingers as fast as her husbands were gathered
beneath the sod, choosing to keep the pledges
of vows dissolved by death continually before
her eyes. fancy that see her now, with
four golden baubles before her, gazing at them
with smile, as she finds herself scarcely able
to distinguish one from the other. She has
named this one 'Wing'-this one sCalcraft'-
this one 'Harwood'-this one Bridges But
they are so numerous, that a sort of confusion
of titles is the consequence, and the lawyer
passes for the minister, and the merchant for
the doctor.
wonder if Mrs. Bridges was not accus-
toned to start, when she heard her children
called by their different paternal names, How
must she have felt when called upon by visitors
to sort them out, and tell who was the father
of each. This she would say, lis Calcraft
this is Harwood-no, this is Wing and
that's Harwood, and those are Bridges l
can imagine that she sometimes forgets their
fraternity, and gets their names confused, as in
the case of the rings.
If the late Mrs. Bridges was accustomed to
receiving many letters, and preserved them all,
what collection she must have had, in the
end. Letters to Mary Davis-letters to Mrs
Wing-letters to Mrs Calcraft-letters to Mrs
Harwood-letters to Mrs Bridges-and all
those letters to her Could she realize that
she had enjoyed the possession of such varie-
ty Of names in her brief lifetime1 Five in
number!
think l remember now, that Mary Davis,
to report, had, when a schoolgirl,
a lover, whom she dismissed because of his
poverty. The poor fellow resolved to get rich,
for her sake, and going off to seek his fortune,
never returned. conscientiously believe this
report, all, except the last clause. Something
tells me that Mary's lover did return. He had
become rich man. While his hair was grow
ing gray, and his nature was becoming rough
from contact with the world, his love for Mary
Davis was kept fresh and green in his heart
Although age and care had furrowed his brow
she remained young and beautiful in his imag-
ination, and his love was never chilled. Well
as said, after he had worn out his manhood,
in gaining wealth, he returned to claim his
bride. He met gossip by the wayside, and
said
Can you give me anv news concerning Mary
Davis.'
Mary Davis!' repeated the gossip, doubt
ingly. 4 know Of no such individual, sir
All she that was Mary Dasis-do you mean
herp
The old lover started. He had fondly BE-
lieved that Mary loved him, and that she would