Daily American telegraph., 1851-12-26

midst of that river and looked down on the
couch where the despairing girl sought her
rest. 1t was hard pillow for so fair head
and so young heart--one, too, that had loved
SO much
| looked up, and all was beautiful The
water nymphs chased each other down the
precipice laughing musically as their white
robes melted into the blue pillows at my feet.
Above, the sun lay cushioned on dreaming
cloud, floating in the blue of June heaven.
What contrasts has earth upon the selfsame
spot
The news Of the suicide flew, as i'll news
always flies, through the little hamlet Con-
fusion and CONSERVATION seized every heart and
household, and thousand vague surmises half
frightened into realities, fitted from one to an
other Only the old postmaster shook his head,
after the first petrifying shock, with a mystify-
ing air, and silently reseating himself on his
high stool, leaned his head upon his wrinkled
hand Even his good, garrulous wife could
gain no more from him
Il thinks likely,n she said, after the group
of gossippers had dispersed, ashe's been going
crazy this long while It amt in natur for q
sensible body to ride SO like wild-fre I; and Pve
| always thought mighty queer Of her coming
here SO, day upon day! Oh! don't tell me she
wasn't out of her head!"
The postmaster turned his head neryously
at the sound of horses hoofs 1t was only
| the post boy, who had come over early with
| the mailbag. The good man sighed, turned
out his packet of letters, and slowly unbound
| it. II shall not have tosay 'No" to her again
to-day, poor thingn thought he
whats the matter John 2" cried his wife,
a minute after, as he dropped the bundle with
a smothered cry, almost of horror. Mercy
on us man ye're as white as if ye'd seen a
| ghost !"
"There!" he pointed to letter below
him, "look hereW
"What is jts don't see nothing-Pve lost
my specs"
ITS her namen answered the old man,
taking up the letter tremulously.
"You don't say so, John ~ cried his wife,
lifting both hands above her head
cts ship-marked, and journey -worn," he
added, scrutinizing it as closely as the haze over
his old eyes would allow. dts had long
way to come, and--too late! too late ~ he
exclaimed solemnly, laying it reyerently by.
q Too late!o The burden of destiny had
been thrown wlfnlly of, and no joy or sorrow
of earth could sink into the cold heart of her
who had borne it. Oh /! if she had been patient
but u little longer!
| That travel-stained letter told its story only
to the unsympathisng hearts of the proud
household, and not lip ever opened to reveal
| it. 1t dropped into the great receptacle of
family reserve, and was lost to the worlds
curiosity 1t was as well what mattered it to
any heart but hers, that it could not warm into
wild beating?
Her relatives rejected even the common kind
Offices of country neighbors, seeming to scorn
all communion in sorrow, until the day Of the
| funeral
1t was grand show-that filneral-so old
ladies, who were young then, have told me
| Heavy, aristocratical carriages from distant
towns and cities draped in black, wound along
the narrow hill-roads The country about
turned out its entire population, old and young
| The coffin was borne slowly along, while young
| girls of her own age, dressed in white with
long shoulder-scarfs of black, held the pail on
! either side, showering it with tears of pity
She lies in q lovely spot on one of the hills
she loved, away from the common throng as
in life, yet among her kindred went there
at moon-rise. once. The green mound of the
small cemetery was girt about with groves,
save on one side, where q small, crystal pond
mirrored the twilight sky. Not breeze
dimpled it then, and the frogs chant came
shrill through the stirless air, blended now
and then with the wall of the whippoorwill far
beyond Young fir trees, larches and willows
kept guard over the costly monuments of the
dead that had been honored in life. turned
from taller monument steeples and unused long
over the white but time-worn slab that bore
this simple inscription
:" To the Memory of ANNE K, Il. H."
Oh! passionate heart be patient with the
Providence that "worketh all things well! !"