The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1851-07-02

another room to scrawl q note to tho
young citizen.
The young citizen came in vain.
and Antonio grew sulkier and angrier
every day, till at last he turned his
bitter jest into q vow, exclaiming
with an oath, that Giuseppe should
never have his daughter, till he, (the
father,) daughter, dog, cat, cottage,
bee-hives and all, with her dowry Of
almond-trees to boot, set out some
fine morning to beg the young vine.
dresser to accept them.
Poor Maria grew thin and pale.
and Giuseppe looked little better.
turning all his wonted jests into sighs,
and often interrupting his work TO
sit and look towards the said almond.
trees, which formed beautiful cIump
on an ascent upon the other side Of
the glen, sheltering the best of An
tonio's bce-hives, and composing a
pretty dowry for the pretty Maria,
which the father longed to see in the
possession of the aashy young citizen.
One morning. after very sultry
night, as the poor youth sat endeay.
oring to catch glimpse of her in
this direction, he observed that the
clouds gathered in very unusual
manner over the country, and then
hung low in the air, heavy and i'm.
moveablc; towards Messina the clouds
looked SO fiery, that at first he thought
the city on fire, till an unusual heat
affecting his cwn skin, and smell Of
sulphur arising, and the little riyulet
at his feet assuming t:nge of muddy
ash-colour, he knew that some convul.
sion Of the earth was ut hand. His
immediate impulse was to cross the
ford, and, with mixed anguish and
delight, again find himself in the cot
tage of Antonio, giving the father and
daughter all the help in his power. /.
4 tremendous burst of thunder! and
lis htnislts startled him for 10 me.nefsts
skSas s BIC y as acee ding to cross, when
: ~: !.
aty, and fhte tho eartfl haayea lbs
meath hissown feet, he saw tue whols
opposite glen lifted up with a horrible
deafening noise, and then the cottage
itself, with all around it, cast, as ho
thought, to theground, and buried
for ever. The sturdy youth for thex
hrst time in his life, tainted aways
and when his senses returned, found
himself pitched back into his own
premises. but not injured, the blow
having been broken by the vines.
But on looking in horror towards
the site of the cottage up the hill,
what did he sec there ? or rather.
what did he not see, forming o new
mound. furlongs down the side of the
hill, almost at the bottom Of the glen,
and in his own very homestead
Antonio's cottage, with the almond
trees, and the bec.hives, and the very
cat and dog, and the old man him
self, and the daughter (both sense
less, all come, as if, in the fathers
words to beg hiw to accept then,
Such awful pleasantries, so to speak, :
sometimes take place in the middle Of
Natures deepest tragedies. aud such
exquisite good may spring out Of evil.
For it was so in the end, ifnot in
tho intention. The old man, (who,
together with his daughter, had only
been stunned by terror was super-
stltiously frightened by the dreadful
circumstance, if not affectionately
moved by the attention of the son Of
the old friend, and the delight and
religious transport Of his child. Be-
sides, though the cottage, and the al
mond-trees, and the bee-hives, had
all come miraculously safe down the
hill, Ca phenomenon which has fre-
qnently occurred in these extraordi-
nary land slips the flower gardens,
on which his bees fed, were almost
all destroyed; and when the convul..
sion was well over, and the guitars
were again playing IN the valley, he
consented to become tho inmate for life
of the cottage of the enchanted couple.
He could never attain, however, to
the innate delicacy ofhis child, and
he would sometimes, with o petulanb
sigh, intimate at table what pity ID
was that sho had not married the
rich and high feeding citizen. At
such times as these, Maria would
gather one of her husbands feet be.
tween her own under the table, and
with a squeeze ofit, that repaired him
tenfold for tho morti6cation, would
sscal a look at him which said, "I
possess all which it is possible for mo
to desire.''
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TEMrERANcg IN fsSsLA p...ttMr.
Greeley thinks thaiaihS habit of drinks
| inc iutoxicafinul liouors Is more univers