Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1851-06-13

he poured forth such torrent Of love-.
bewitching eloquence into the ears o
the gentle and coniding Alice Morley
that she would exclaim, with Ruth ol
old, as she laid her head upon his man.
ly bosom in voice low and sweet as the
exquisite vibration of the Lutte
"Roland, dear Roland, whittier thou
goest | will go; and where thou lodgest
| will lodge, thy people shall be my peo-
pie and thy God my Cod"
Roland then thought only Of his be.
,rothed-she only of his proud and no.
BILE bearing. Thus does this holy and
mysterious sentiment absorb every other
thought and feeling. Her calm blue eye
seemed to stimulate to deeds Of noble
daring, whilst she rewarded him with
the sweetest of smiles. Then nature
looked bright and cheerful, as did Eden
in the primeval days of its glory, and he
would exclaim-
"Happy, thrice happy, am |, dear Al
ice, in the consciousness of having your
affection all to myself--whole and undi-
vided. II is gem OF priceless value,
before whose lustre all other gems dwin.
die into insignifcance. Iwould not bar,
ter il for the wealth of ten thousand
worlds. Their riches have no power
10 augment my happiness. 1t exists
alone in the lustre of that dear gem, and
when il is obscured, happiness itself is
deihroned."
"Fear not, Roland, its brightness can
never wane."
"Heaven forbid But there was .
time when the fond anticipations OF my
heart seemed blighted, and the sweet an.
gel of hope hid her face in the night oI
uncertainty, that hung like dreary man
tie over my agonized spirit. See you
not that bright star, far away up amid
the azure dome of heaven, whose calm
and steady ligh. shines SO gloriously up.
on US! Well, before | knew you loved
me--.when my mind was tortured with
doubt and my bosom torn by conflicting
emotions, thick mist intercepted its rays
and cloud dark and portentous lay up
on my heart"
"But, dear Roland, the cloud had nc
zeal existence. 1t was placed there by
the wayward Imagination, which, like an
ignus fatuGs, often misleads the unwary.
1t causes us frequently to anticipate evils
which in fact have no absolute existence.
And herein lies our punishment. The
anticipation Of an evil is worse, ienfold
than the evil itself"
81 do not dispute il, my gentle philos.
opher. The experience of every one
establishes the truth. but few in thei,
wilful blindness behold it until the evil
which they dreaded is felt. They groan
under the weight of accumulated mise.
ries, all the while fancying just cause
when, if they were to investigate their
own hearts calmly and dispassionately
no cause would be discovered. Blu
man is proverbially weak anG liable to
err. He is constitutionally of despon
ding disposition, but that disposition, a
the same time, is as variable as the light.
and shadows Of an April day. But il
the affairs of the hear. he undergoes Z
sensible metamorphosis. He is totally
different being. His fears are proper
toned 10 the depth OF his affection; ant
these fears he would not Danish if hi
could. This induces feeling of unhap
piness, and everything is beheld through
a distorted medium. But when he hal
the sweet assurance that the object o
his affection reciprocates his love, they
disappear like wreaihs of mist before
the morning sunbeam, and the worlt
looks beautiful as dream Of Heaven.