Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-01-28

FiYe and twenty years had passed.

test had been fierce and close, for great
principle had been involved in the strug-
gle. nothing less indeed than the success
or failure of one of the mighty moral re-
forms of the age. All day the result had
hung in suspense, but sufficient returns
had now come in, to rendcr it certain that
the candidate in favor of the movement
had been chosen governor.
For once the usually sober population
forgot its decorum. Bonfres were light
ed in the streets; the church bells were
set ringing; and torchlight procession
was organized to march to the mansion of
the successful candidate. AT more than
one evening service, clergymen fervently
returned thanks for the victory, which, as
they phrased it, vouchsafed over that old
dragon Satan
1t was a sumptuous dwelling before
which the procession halted. Part ofthe
front was semi-circular, and in this portion
was the drawing-room, at one window of
which the newly elected governor now
appeared. He was man of majestic port
and benign countenance, in age about tif-
ty, but carrying his years marvelously.-
A certain aristOcratic air was impaired to
him by the elaborate nicely of dress; but
this, in no degree detracted from, but ra-
ther increased his imposing appearance
He bowed with dignity, yet atfability, as
cheer rising after cheer welcomed his APP
pearance at the window,
His heart beat high as he stood there.
The scene. indeed, as beheld from that
point, was calculated to stir the dullest
bosom.
Opposite to his window stretched the
public park, and this, as we'll as the aven-
ue above and below, was crowded dense
ly with human beings, the vast concourse
extending out of sight into dim obscurity.
The torches flaring among the trees; the
portable transparencies glittering like
Chinese lanterns all over the crowd; the
thousand, thousand eager upturned faces:
and, high above all, the moon sailing
through the autumn clouds, her calm ma
iesty contrasting SO strikingly with the
excitement of the throng all this was
spectacle which even the most unconcer-
ned could not have gazed on without
emotion.
But the heart of the candidate swelled
with profounder feelings than the mere
picturesque created He had entered in
to the contest, heart and soul, not from
personal ambition, but because he belieV-
ed the path of duty was plain before him
In his election, consequently, he saw the
triumph of great principle, the begin
ming, he believed, of new era in legisla-
ton. His bosom beat high, therefore,
and when the huzzaing subsidized, he pro-
ceeded TO address the vast cOncourse in
strain of the loftiest eloquence. His words
seemed literally on FIRE; his imagination
glowed like that of a prophet; and the
abettors of existing wrong trembled, as
they listened. to denunciations that made
them seem devils even to themselves.
AT last the crowd fled off +; the cheer
ing died away; and the guests departed
from the princely mansion.
Start not, reader, when we tell you
that the new governor was the Honorable
Howard Stanley, whom you and we knew
in private station, FIVE and twenty years
ago.
Five and twenty years is long period.
1t had changed the briefess, idle lawyer
into the middle aged statesman. 1t had
converted the thoughtless young man in
to a sober, earnest, and even conscien-
tious citizen.
And yet the change was less great than
it seemed. Howard Stanley was still sub
stantially the same as he was five and
twenty years ago: it was outward ap-
pearances that had altered, more than the
inner man. He had been kindly hearted
when young, and he was scarcely kinder
now; and he had been even then of strict
principles, in most particulars. In one
thing, indeed, we have seen him criminal,
base but it had been less his fault than
that of the conventional morality in which
he had been brought up.
Let US go back over those five and
twenty years.
On the morning after Ellen's disappear
ance, he had received the bank notes she
SO scornfully returned and again, for a
moment, he contemplated seeking an in
terview. But, as before, cooler reflection
taught him not to do this. He dared not
marry her, for that would be to proclaim
his crime, and though brave in all things
else, he had not the courage to face the
social ban which it would bring upon him.
4 If kindliness was one quality he pos
sessed, inhexibility was another. The
first had partly caused his error; the last,
he was resolved, should relieve him Ofits
She spurns me well it is her own
fault was his concluding soliloquy.-
, why will she not allow me to assist her?
l pity her. and would help her, if could
But it would never do to marry her: ii
would ruin me: besides, neither could be
: happy under the circumstances
He made secret inquiries, however, as
to her fate. But, from the night she had
r received his letter, she had entirely dis.
appeared At first he feared she had
. committed suicide, and, for months after
, when the finding of drowned body was
announced in the newspapers, he trem-