Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-12-31

s. two persons was so great that they nevt
r actually touched, even at the borders; y
b an intrinsic resemblance could be traced
d every fibre of their respective constitution
nj Tommy could get tipsy OCCASIONAL!
n talk nonsense mixed up with poetry an
|, time, and brag like a jockey about ever,
e thing that in any way concerned hin
It He was, moreover, incapable in business
e unsteady in labor, and given to substitut
;, the sentiment of duty for its practice, an
e to content himself with fine speeches Il
e place of noble actions; and all without
, shade of hypocrisy, for he was in fact 8
: proud of what he was, and so ready Will
, reasons and apologies for all that he wa
, not, that he needed no pretences. He va
not prohigate, unprincipled, or insensibl'
to right: he was only an Irishman ant
that hindered him from being either worse
or better. The raw elements of every
human excellence were in him in rich
abundance, and in great confusion, too
but in Elizabeth they had crystallized into
the most efficient forms and and most per
feet beauty; for all of texture that was
wanting in her paternal blood was supplied
to ker by her maternal grandfather, who
was an unmitigated Scotchman.
i With his beggar's complement of chill
dren, and general unthriftiness Of character,
Tommy was, of course, poor to the very
verge of destitution. He had grown
s.eady-that is, sober-lately, and he was
not lazy; but it was as much because his
health had failed, and age was beginning
to stiffen the machinery, as from any prin-
ciple, that he was amending in his habits
II must be allowed, also; that he was feel.
ing Elizabeth's influence with steadily
increasing force. There was dignity with
its incident authority in her department !;
not of the imposing kind, nor BY a4y
means. directly and distinctly shown and
felt; it was more like that energy Of gen.
tleness which shapes the bone to the brains
steady pressure, the framework Of the
chest to the resilienry of the lungs and
heart, the vital power that in the tenderest
fower-stalk pierces and mellows to confor-
nifty the hardest clod
The very poor are unapt to respect each
other, or to regard, amid the rude famili-
arities of their daily intercourse, the noblsst
qualities Nor, indeed, is it easy for them
to discover them in the coarse dress of
:ci,cumstances which poverty imposes. Ay!
W, ''' -,st of Poverty's ten thousand
it is the bitterly. 1, .lc cond;t;ore of
curses, that it denies ", -,
decorous association and refining inter-
course that i: prevents that discipline
which habitual proprieties Of demeano:
only can enforce, aud destroys all pure
and healthful self-respect, by the undigui-
fed and indelicate personal relations which
it compels. And It is uttering . volume
Of commentator in a word, when l say
that Elizabeth had conquered her fathers |
-efractoriness, and secured from him
Difference which almost inverted the Irish
order Of domestic life.
Five years before, when she attached
herself to the church, the very church
which had expelled him, he drove her with
vioien ce from the house, with IS great in
iignation as if she had stained bis name
md honor with the deepest shane. A
Teary, wretehed year she endured the
exile, earning her support by labors light f
II, indeed, upon her hands than the tasks {
Which she performed st home, bet hsavia. {
lpon her heart !; for she could DO nothing {
or that large family thstreed.d her row t
very day, more and more, in every Office {
which woman can fulfil to household i
f small children in great need. The t
Mother was what the country people called +
q doless creature," and the sister, next +
q age to Elizabeth, was delicate in health, s
nd too feeble in character for the service. '
,he weight that lay heaviest upon her b
cart, was half dozen Of little sisters, as a
eautiful as birds, wanting all things; and o
'anting, most Of all things, the governance r
nd culture Of an elder sisters nursing t
I'VE and controlling prudence. They were @
rorded there together, like q herd Of a
rphans in an almshouse, exposed to their
.ther's petulance, and to each others G
sldshness and tempers, and suffering many fl
,ings, besides, which childhood can not ie
,ffer without having the very fountains o.
its life poisoned by the bitter depri7a- CT
ons and, all without the mediation of b
rat wise, good heart, which was achingin d
s exile to render its self-sacrifcing SER n
ices. There were frettings and fghtiugs in
lere, tears and turmoils, injuries inflicted q
I'd endured, and with all, and above all cl
lie absence every hour felt, by the hourly Al
curing need, Of the ministering angel ii
the household. Especially through the pl
nc, gloomy winter, the days and weeks tn