The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-04-08
health, made her an object of peculiar interest

TO every heart.
aShe had scarcely recovered from the effects
of her sea-voyage, when they started on their
pilgrimage and it had been too much for her.
poor thing the matrons said, but the quiet
and comfort of the settlement would soon set
her up again. and her husband listened 10
them eagerly, and repeated their words to him.
self, as if by so doing be could silence the ter
rible misgivings that haunted him.
Now, the little children brought punches OF
luscious Strawberries, to tempt the appetite OF
their favorite, and win from her one OF those
sweet smiles, which they had learned to prize
higher than words; and their elders, as they
passed, paused to congratulate her on their
nearness to their journeys end-alas they
little knew how true it was in her case and
to speak words of hope and comfort; but some
there were who, as they gazed upon her face,
and noted that clear, transparent look that
gave il such peculiar beauty, turned away
with silent PRAYER for her and her husband,
for they knew, like all the highest beauty OF
earth. it was but q reflex from that unseen
Land towards which she was Fastening.
Ripening for eternity !" said Mr.. Hooker,
when, after evening prayers, he turned from
the side of the young invalid, with fervent
blessing, and sought the presence of his wife.
"Our gentle Maude is almost done with the
things of earth"
"And Godfrey, poor Godfrey ~ murmnred
his wife " How will he ever bear it P! Even
but now he hath spoken to me OF renewed
hope"
Mr. Hooker did not answer but as he stood
watching the noble, manly figure of Godfrey
Winstanley, as he bent over his young wife,
now arranging the bear-skins upon which she
reclined. with tenderness and anxiety that
seemed never satisfed-nOw pulling back the
rich waves of hair that fell too heavily over
her cheek, and thought of the dread trial that
awaited him-all the human stirred within
him and he, too, murmured, "Poor Godfrey !"
There had been time when he and many
others had heard, with surprise and regret,
that Godfrey Winstanley, with his strong will,
clear intellect, and sincerely religious heart,
had become the thrall of young beauty OF
sixteen, the favorite niece of the naughty rec
tor of Swindon, and that he fingered in Eng
land in the hope of making her his wife. They
felt ready to say to him. in the words of Ma
noah to Samson g Is there 10 woman among
the daughters of thy brethren, nor among all
thy people, that thou goest to take wife of
the uncircumcised Philistnes!
But when she stood among them as his wife,
and they heard how, for the sake of the pro-
scribed Puritan, she had braved the anger and
persecution of her relatives; when they saw the
tenderness, meekness, and reverence, with
which she looked up to all her husbands
friends, the heart of the most rigid warmed to-
wards her; and with Mr.. Hooker's family she
soon became "our gentle Maude.' As the
good man thought of all this, and of her gentle
yet earnest faith, and the many times within
| -. l..
his capacity of teacher and came away a
learner, his heart smote him for his injustice.
He was indeed right. Under the combined
teaching of Love and Death. Maude Winstanlcy
was ripening for eternity. Once she had reso-
lutey shut her heart against even the thought
of the latter, it seemed so impossible that death
could reach her, shielded by Geoffrey's love
and sheltered in his arms. But as the weeks
went on, deepening the symptoms Of that fatal
disease that steals upon its victims silently as
autumn steals upon the hills, and robes them
| with beauty which is not of this world, hei
heart awoke to deeper Insight of spiritua
truth, the high doctrines 80 often discussed be-
tween her husband and her pastor grew clearer
to her understanding, and bore fruit for eter
nifty.
Still, the human was strong within her; anC
i tucEc CuIIlc luOuItDIS ccpcCIully WHICH, ouc lcl
| the deep eyes of her husband looking dowr
upon her with such an expression of unutter
| able love and sorrow, and his strong frame
shook with agony if she did but breathe o.
what awaited them when her lips trembled
and her heart shrunk shudderingy from the
thought of the grave and the winding-shect-
when earth with him seemed better than
heaven without him.
- ke,o aIxr nj sfr nyay
faith. but remember, she was but gentle, low
ing girl, and wisdom and faith grow but slowly
in this sphere of ours If you have met trial
like this with more unwavering faith, thank
God for it; or, if as yet the bitter cup has not
been presented to your lips, still thank God ;
for it is of His mercy alone but blame her not.
God did not, but gave to her heart that, as
surance, without which Immortality itself would
be but cheat-the blessed assurance that at
lection dies not with the breath that in a little
while, q few brief days at most, that love, freed
from the stains and impurities of earth, should
again beam on her from those beloved eyes,
and those arms once more fold her in their
pure, holy embrace.
And Godfrey Wrnstanlcy, while nc gazed
into her spiritual eyes, and listened to her low,
earnest tones, as she poured forth for his COM
fort those blessed intuitions, the gnawing pain
at his heart grew still, but only to return with
tenfold power when they ceased, and he found
himself alone.
That was no boyish fancy that had led him
to linger behind his friends in England, and
meet their looks of grave reproot, for the sake
| of Maude Edgerton. He had left the first flush
of youth some years behind, when she stole in
| upon the unsunned side of his heart, and gave
to life new, and, to him, undreamed-of beauty
and significance.
| He had been an orphan from childhood, and
the influences under which he had grown to
manhood had not failed, while they strength
ened and developed to the utmost his mental
and moral energies, to deepen the natural re.
serve of his character, until even those who
knew him best had little conception of the
| earnest enthusiasm, the boundloss capacity fol-
affection, that lay concealed beneath bis calm
| grave almost stern, exterior. Earnest truth
full, noble, and sincerely religious, he yet lacked
that feminine influence so necessary to man
highest Development TO temper justice with
mercy, energy with sohness, infexibiity with
grace, and render his whole character sym
metrical and in harmony with the Divine
Ideal
This had been Maudes mission; and could
he part with her now, when life first seemed
blossoming to competeness--when each hour
brought some new, delicious joy, of which hi'
solitary youth had been defrauded! Could he
lay that head down in the grave, whose every
golden tress was dearer to him than life, and
looking calmly up, say Thy will be done "
Not without a struggle, the bitterness OF
which few even dreamed, for his was not q
nature that manifested its emotions in those
Wild paroxysms which pass with most people
tor evidences Of profound feeling; it was rather
like the ocean, when the fury Of the tempest
has beaten the waves to an apparent calm and
none can judge Of the wild commotion below
save those who have felt its power. 1t is strange
how we msludge the hearts Of men In thi,