The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-09-26

Doubtless there are many people in the world,
who having very salutary fear OF the fate Of
Lots wife before their eyes, 60 hurrying through
life without ever pausing to look around, much
less behind them, yet we are not aware that they
are the exclusive product Of New England AT
least it is not true of village, where the peo-
ole have a saving reverence for the wisdom of
their fathers. walking diligently in their foot
steps, aud where family after family, generation
after generation, vegetste on the same place, like
the grass on their own fields, until they are gath
cred hence into the garner of Death However
favorable the moral atmosphere of such place
may be to integrity of character, it does little to-
wards softening the pride or prejudice which,
like ugly execrescences, sometimes dishgure the
heat. bu..s7 the contrary has tendency 70 pet
rify them So il seems to have been with Harry
/>7-3o"'- f0'bAr Ue was strictly just and honest
m ms NleaATnse, S--->'>,-. -~.>e - -
deemed his duty, ascourge and terror TO all. The
idle and vicious, and probably most of those whom
circumstances had not brought into very close
| relationship with him, would have concurred
in the ten-expressed opinion of one Of his neigh
| bors that q Esq Gordon q righteous man"
| His intellect and win were stronger than his
heart or rather the former were fully developed,
while the latter still slept. If he was unswerv-
! ing in the performance of his duties as mags-
| trate and neghbor, he was equally so in his re-
lations as father; and as justice uutempered by
| love awes even while it excites respect, so Esq
Gordon was feared rather than loved by the in
mates of his own household. His notions offam-
lily government were strictly patriarchsl, and be
diligently strove to train his large family of chill
dren in the "way they should 60" that is, in the
way he deemed right, without any regard to their
individual tastes or dispositions Fortunately for
him and his system, his children, with the excep-
ton of Harry, the youngest, resembled each other
in mind and disposition as nearly as kernels from
the same ear of wheat Most of them were mar
ried and planted round him with their families,
:. = SH4s-:y irDrn she same y3rcS, Nrss: - "
him for counsel and protection. But Harry was a
wild off-shoot lacking almost all Of the indigenous
qualities of the others very beautiful in his rapid
growth, but running to riot" as the Esq.
termed It, in such variety oy%sys as completely
to defy all his long-established notions Of train
ing.
Had he studied more ntently the human heart,
had he as large faith in the power of love and
gentleness to win souls as he had in the strength
of will to force them, he would have seen that
the exuberant animal spirits, the fiery, impetuous
impulses Of the boy needed some wider escape
valve than the quiet, monotonous routine that had
met the wants of his other children; that, If he
sought abroad for the amusement which he could
not find at home, it no proof of "original de-
evidence of failure on his part to satisfy the wants
of his nature
Be this as it may, it cannot be denied that
Harry embraced every opportunity to escape from
the petrifed regularity of his fathers house, and
as every deviation from the established rule was
met with indiscriminating rebuke, spirit of op-
position was reused in the boy, that led him not
unfrequently to defend himself, but to throw con-
tempt upon his fathers system of government
piece of audacity that only confirmed the old
gentleman's faith in the necessity Of stringent
measures, and filled the hearts of his gentle
mother and brothers and sisters with astonish.
ment and alarm.
A few weeks previous to the commencement of
our story, a dancing school had been opened in
the next village, and among the pupils were seve-
raj of the young people of our place. Harry was
very anxious to attend, but ESQ. Gordon neither
pstronized nor listened with patience to any such
scheme of folly and wickedness,n and met his
sons request, not only with point blank refusal,
but command not to set his foot within the ball.
room. on pain nf his displeosnrn
The boy disobeyed, and the knowlsdge of his
disobedience having come to his fathers ears, had
caused the violent scene of which he had spoken
to Amy Averil His father had made violent and
Calling threats in the presence of the assembled
household, and the son had replied in the same
tone and temper.
IL was a sad affair; for when did anger and re-
proach give birth to aught but sorrow? 1t cast q
dark shadow over the whole house. and there were
fewer broad jokes aud far less boisterous laughter
in the harvest field that day than usual, for the
quiet brothers trembled at the thought of Harry's
temerity, and the hired people loved the high
spirited boy too well to be Indifferent to his trou
| bles We will not speak of the anguish Of his
gentle, delicate mother, and how between her rev.
erence for her husband and her love for her child
she tried to exculpate them both from blame
neither will we describe farther the tempest OF
passion that shook Harry Gordon's soul, when he
thought of his fathers violent language; we will
only say, that some hours before daybreak on the
morning of the day after his interview with his
cousin, while yet the orbed moon was high in the
west he crossed his fathers threshold for the last
time. Were there no old memories lingering
about that doorway, to call him back, and soften
his proud hearth
An yes Gods angels never leave us and as
he withdrew bis hand from the latch the childish
form of his little sister before him, pale and
shadowy yet so real did she SEEM wistful was the
expression in her volet-hued eyes, that he almost
forgot that she had lain eight long years beneath
the shadow Of the village church in the silent
graveyard Then came days of his childhood,
crowding around, full of laughter and tears, and
pleading for place and a memory In that heart,
so lately all their own, and the haf-uttered chirp
of the dreaming robin in the grapevine over the
| porch, and the low muttered dream Of the old
| house-dog in the back yard, came to his heart
| with an eloqueuce az once 30 strange and power
| fol. that it almost overawed his proud spirit.
Brushing a tear from his eye he caught up a
small plaid silk scarf of his mothers, which had
been left upon seat in the porch, and thrusting
il into his bosom sprang across the yard and down
the street with the speed Of the wind Perchance
/ IL hui thoyx ara
ever by his side-those old faces and old voices
and clearer and more pleadingly than all the rest
seemed to come the sweet voice Of Amy Averl
calling him TO return. He knew il was an illu
sion--that Amy Averil lay sleeping in her love
lipess under her own fathers roof; yet so rea
did il seem, that once he paused and looked back
There was nothing but the silent road paved with
the golden moonlight and the dark, giant-lik'
shadows of the farmhouse and trees nothing
animate, unless we except the majestic old elm
| BY the gateway under which he had played 81
many hours, as child and boy, which seemed e
stretch forth their long pendulous branches, AND
beckon him back But on he went, until h'
reached the old stone bridge in the Hollow, wher
his feet seemed rooted to the broad stones as i
by some spell Of enchantment, while the angel o
memory struggled nightly with anger AMI pride
How beautifully the dark green alders con
trasted with the old willows, that leaned, hk
sleepy sentinels over the drowsy brook, their sll
very leaves cleaning in the moonlight, which
CHANGING off to the water below, CLEANED AM
quivered and coquetted with the clear waves, her
dancing over the amber-hued pebbles, there sleep
ing quietly on some deep, still pool, like chill
on its mothers breast.
All, that brook course; every bend and curv
TO It's source amid the hills was as well known .
Harry Gordon as the features Of his own mother
face. Many a half HOLIDAY had he spent y
tracing its windings with his fishing takle in hi
hand, and well did be know each deep, cool spo
J where the shy trout balance themselves beneat
the shelving banks and the sun-Aecked shallow
where silly roach turn up their cleaning sides
Between the bridge where he stood and Am