Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1852-01-08


hope have their limit. Blessed be the man
who escapes such trial as will determine limit!
To lone man it comes not near; for how
can trial take hold where there is nothing by
which to try?
A funeral! You reason with philosophy.
A graveyard! You read Hervey and muse
upon the wall. A friend diesl You sigh,
you pat your dog-it is over. Losses! You
retrench-you light your pipe-is is forgot
ten. Calumny! You laugh-you sleep.
But with that childless wife clinging to
you in love and sorrow-what then!
Can you take down Senaca now, and cooly
blow the dust from the leaftops! Can you
crimp your lip with Voltaire! Can you smoke
idly, your feet dangling with the ivies, your
thoughts all waving fancies upon a church
yard wall-a wall that borders the grave of
your boy!
Can you amuse yourself by turning singing
Martial into rhyme! Can you pat your dog,
and seeing him wakeful and kind, say, " it is
enough!" Can you sneer at calumny, and
sit by your fire doing
Blessed, thought again, is the map who es-
capes such trial as will measure the limit of
patience and the limit of courage!
But the trial comes; colder and colder were
growing the em5ers
That wife, over whom your love broods, is
fading. Not beauty fading; that, now that
your heart is wrapped in her being, would be
nothing. #@t a.s
She sees with quick eye your dawning ap-
prehension, and she tries to make that step
of hers elastic.
Your trials and your loves together have
centered your affections. They are not now
as when you were a loan man, wide spread
and superficial. They have caught from do
mestic attachment finer tone and touch-
They cannot shoot out tendris into bar
rem world-soil and suck up thence strength
ening nutriment. They have grown under the
forcing glass of home-roof, they will not now
bear exposure.
| You do not now look men in the face as if
a heart-bond was linking you-as if COM
munity that monopolizes your feeling. When
the heart lay wide open, before it had grown
upon, andclosed arodAd particular objects,
it could take strength and cheer, from hun
! dred connections that now seem colder than
/ ice.
And now those particular objects-alas fcg
you! are failing.
What anxiety pursues you! How you
! struggle to fancy-there is no danger !; how
| she Struggules to persuade you-there is no
danger.
How it CRATES now on your ear-the toll
and turmoil of the city 1t was music when
when you were alone it was pleasant even,
when from the din you were celebrating COM
forts for the cherished objects; when you had
( such sweet escape as evening drew on.
| Now 1t maddens you to see the world care
less while you are stepped in care. They
hustle you IN the street they smile at you
across the table; they bow carelessly over the
! way they do not know what canker is at your
/ heart.
! The undertaken comes with his bill for the
dead body's funeral. He knows your grief;
he is respectful. You bless him in your soul;
You wish the laughing street-goers were all
undertakers.
Your eye follows the physician as he leaves
your house; is he wise you ask yourself; is
/ he prudent is he the best Did he never
fails be never forgetful!
And now the hand that touches yours, is it
no thinner-no whittier than yesterday! Sun
ny days come when she revives color comes
back; she breathes freer; she picks flowers /;
she meets you with smile; hope lives again.
! But the next day of storm she is fallen-
She cannot talk even; she presses your hand.
! You hurry away from business before your
I time. What matter for clients--who is to
/ reap the rewards! What matter for fame
whose. eye will it brighten! What matter
for riches-whose is the inheritance ~
You find her propped with pillows; she is
! looking over little picture-book bethumbed
! by the dear boy she has lost. She hides it in
her chair; she has pity on you.
Another day ofrival, when the spring
sun shines, and flowers open out of the doors;
she leans on your arm, and strolls into the
garden where the first birds are singing
Listen to them with her what memories are
in bird-songs! You need not shudder at her
tears-they are tears of Thanksgiving. Press
the hand that lies light upon your arm, and
you, too, thank God, while yet you may
You are early at home-md- d-afternoon.--
Your steps not light; it is heavy, terrible.
They have sent for you.
She is lying down; her, eyes half closed /;
her breathing long and interrupted.
She hears you; her eve opens; you put your
hand in hers; yours trembles; hers does not.
/ Her lips move; it is your name.
Be strong," she says, "God will help
you!"
She presses harder your hand: "Adeu )"
A long bIeath-anether; you are alone a
gain. No tears now; poor man. You cam