New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-04-12
LOVE IN A MIST.

Gather ripe fruit. oh Death I!
LOVE IN A MIST.
NJ.
g" All me. for aught that could ever learn,
Could ever hear by tale Or history.
The course Of true love ne'er did run smooth
'Dost thou deem
1t such easy task. from the fond breast
To root affection out -
sc want hero not a martial hero, scanned
and SCARED with traces of many well fought
battle; not sighing, sentimental lover: not a
bewitiskered mustachioed dandy, ss a perfect
love Of q man. but true, substantial hero
Of an every day story, such as is written on
every young heart in its early bloom of hope
and happiness. Such an one as appeals to the
thoughts and feelings of our earlier years, and
carries us back to the time when &c loves young
dream cast its bewitching spell over our senses
Such hero as my fancy pictures, was Dr.
Langion, a talented and popular physician in
the town Of -.
Few men possessed more qualities of mind
and person to render him beloved and few men
| were more beloved by all who knew him; and
yet strange to say, he still remained bachelor,
| and al the time our story begins, his '' three
score years and ten - were well nigh half spent
but while fair girls smiled or sighed, and ma
| irons wondered, and old men gravey advised.
he still kept on the even tenor Of his ways, ap-
| veilel his arrows under the serious words OF
! counsel from the old, or the more bewitchine
| smiles Of beauty from the young.
| The truth was, that in early life he had loved
'' net wisely, hut too we'll, and it might be that
the remembrance of that love still cast its sha-
dow over his heart, or that the first fervor and
glow Of carly feeling had passed with it, and
the waywari heart of youth was now controlled
| by the cool Judgment Of the mind; in short, the
| things. aud could 1epson as coolly upon matters
Of the heart, as OF the head, and looked upon
the fair torl" of henuty with as much indiffer-
| ence, as ii admiring some of the inanimate
workmanship of lurc Immersed in his books
and practice, + ever an idea of marriage crossed
his mind, ii came only as accompanied witt
thoughts of '!,,;y TO himself and society, and az
n matter Of quiet calculation, rather than o
deep feeling.
ears had passed on, and the bright eyes tha
| had smiled upon him, turned their light OF
others smiles that once beamed brightly at hi
approach, now shed their light upon their owl
domestic hearths, and on his thrtieth birthday
DR. Langdon awoSe from his lethargy to find him.
self almost deserted by his former young asso-
ciatcs, and surrounded by those who had at
tanned to maturity long since he became man
Thereswere someunpleasan "reminiscences awak-
ened By his train of thoughts on his birth day
|
his mind reverted to the friends of his boyhood
most of them with young and lovely wives
many of them with &c their babes about then
knees and as he glanced around his small
| bachelor apartment, an air of discomfort and
loneliness struck him most forciby, and thoughts
of a cheerful home, pretty wife, and prattling
babes, rose in striking contrast and for the
hundredth time he resolved to take to himself q
wife; but to resolve was much easier than tc
| nor tba fo11 ;pto Nv
of thought, from which he was awakened by
| the entrance of servant, who came to bear an
invitation to party to be given at Mrs. Lin
| woods the following evening.
| The next evening, as DR.. Langdon entered the
we'll lighted apartments of Mrs. Linwood, his
eyes fell on the tall and graceful form of young
and lovely girl, who stood near the centre of the
room. As she turned with graceful dignity tc
answer the familiar introduction of Mr.. Lin.
wood, "My cousin, Miss Helen Linwood, DR.
Langdon,' the Doctor felt the color mount tt
his very brow, and degree of embarrassment
very unusual to him, for q moment pervade hi
manner, as he felt the gaze of those dark eyc
resting upon him; in few moments, however
she resumed her conversation with the gentleman
by her side, and the Doctor moved away.
More than once. however, during the evening
he turned to look upon that face whose peculiar
beauty had struck his somewhat fastidious fancy
if that fair form contained mind as perfect il
its proportions as its exterior, and when he re
| turned home at late hour that night, her fac,
still fingered in his thoughts, and haunted hin
in a dream.
Helen Linwood was indeed bewitchngly beau
tiful: her dark hair was folded over a brow
g bright with intelligence, and fair and smooth :
her eye, "spoke the warm feelings that her bo
som moyed; and the rich bloom upon her rathel
brunette complexion, and the rounded symmetr,
of her figure, told that health, without whicl
no perfect beauty can be found, ran through he
veins, and furnished a rich life current to he
heart.
Those who knew her best loved her most, fo
the warm emotions of her nature, and the man,
qualities which render woman lovely and be
loved, shone forth only in the circle Of home ant
friends. She was idolized by some, beloved b,
many and admired by all; and was it strang
that even the heart of DR.. Langdon was awak
ened by the charms of her who seemed to hin
the bright embodiment of all that he ha,
thought beautiful in woman, either in his boy
hoods dreams, or in the ripe Judgment of hi
later years: and was it strange that she, vii
knew so well how to appreciate all the goo
and noble qualities of the human heart, shoul
learn to look first with reverence, then with re
gard, and at length with love, upon him VIII
under her influence now appeared the reall
warm and true hearted man that nature mad
him.
Before the lapse of many months, the Docto
owned to his heart that he loved, well an
deeply, and yet he knew not if he was believe
in return 1t was true, that Helen Linwood al
ways met him with a cordial smile and friendl
greeting, but did shenot meet others so /? True
he had seen the bright color come to her cheek
more than once. when her glance met his; bu
yet, she, waalthy, beautiful and admired woul
she not reject the Heart whose homage he no'
longed to vttvr ncr He rose from his chai
with sg', an! going to a book, he turned til
leaves to tud . iinwcr, a simple rosebud, give
to him by her II few evenings before, and as h
recalled the blush that accompanied it, a glo,
OF pleasure lighted up his manly features, and
smile involuntarily played around his handsom
mouth. A few months back, and he would hay
smiled incredulously to have been told of this
but now, the calm, still heart was awakene
from its slunbers, and he was startled to fin
that its strong pulsations were beyond contro
Immediately after her arrival at the town
; -, Helen Llnwood was pronounced to be mo.