Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1852-01-07

and watch for the changes that l fear
80 in her case. How still my heart stood
: that cottage doorstep, when 1 made n
ce; visits in the night, while l pausedto cate
for by the we'll known signs of the sick roo,
the how the patient was supposed to be by b
r-r attendants, before the courage could
Sc summoned to meet the facts in all the
1,r e; certainty. And when, day after day, tt
,.- same changeless stupor hung upon h
st brain, the same hot pestilence rioted thr'
Sc her frame, till she lay wreck upon tn
m fever surgcs that were slowly wasting he
er oh, what questionings of my own con
- potency; what doubtfulness of my pre-
LESSONS truth and usefulness wha
prayer and wrestling with the Fower tha
held the issues of her life, for del;veranc
from the impending danger!
At last, one fue November morning
when faith and hope, and even affection
had worn weak by their own exhaustine
tension, and the suspense, grown into {
habit, held our hearts in a mechanical
steady stupor, suddenly the clouds broke,
and the heavens and earth smiled out with
JOY again, ike the waking Of summer
mora.ng after rain. The crisis was past,
aIa sao WAS given back to us, and we sat
oo'yn togeth,r Ike children, and played
VIA cur recovered blessing, IS with anew
Toy, given by loving parent on the
N Hfniug Of a holiday.
Critical illnesses often work other chan
ges in the patient, besides the various
physical phases of their progress
changes that become permanent in
the habits of feeling and character of
thought. These discovered themselves in
Elizabeth, during her convalcscence, by
happy consciousness Of all the interest that
Ne felt, and a gally frank acceptance of
the services which we rendered her. No
weight Of work and duty lay heavy upon
her heart now, and her affections flowed
out rich, genial, and generous, without
check or censure from an over severe sanc-
tity Of spirit. Affectionate tenderness,
flowing in upon her for the first time in
her hard life, had its natural effect her
mental TENSION and strictly ruled emotions
lost their strained resistance under the !
influx of loving kindness. The rigid
habitude Of devotedncss and self sacrifice
vas relaxed by bodily feebleness, and her
present feeling Of release from carcfulness
of others; and, her long checked affections
opened broad and bright, like the flowers
of late sp:ing in the FIRST full food of
sunshine.
1t was about the third day after the
happy turn, when the hope of her recovery
felt we'll assured, that was first impressed
with these thoughts about her. Mary
had succeeded in thoroughly dressing her
luxuriant hair; the bed, made up in the
tone of the new hopcfulness, was snowy
msits, ,st ta BY Efi.ssbeths abe own hands
the year before /; and pink gingham
bed gown, which l recognized as an old
doing new duty, lent its
relieving tints to the exquisite
fairness and fneness Of her pure complex
ion, still too pale from her recent illness.
The windows were open to the genial air,
he sunlight lay mellow upon her pillow,
md smile of holy sweetness played upon
ler face We stood in the conscious COM
nunion of her inmost life, and saw the
'eal as in a vision, and felt the true, as it
we're dream The Imagination had there
for its brightest fantasies but
rere was soul within, and simplicity
If fact beneath this transigured life, that
nj ght stand the ordeal of the hardest
baked philosophy. l marked the fact that
he had now first awakened to the full
of her own loveliness. Its
proper JOY gave it light to her eye, and its
melody to her voice, that morning, just
rs the breezcs, birds, ,and rivulets breathed,
and sang, and smiled out the gladness aud
glory of their own beauty. The severe
Of her girlhood, which had gar
nered while they repressed her life's
natural outflow, now gave way under the
new Impulse. The reverent tenderness Of
those whom she most loved had found
occasion in her illness for manifestations
That sne could feel, wishout the abatement
o; sei!-reproof, her own real worth, and
divine blessing in the sense of it. 1t
rested like crown upon her natural
nobleness, converting that cottage into a
very presence chamber and the bed, and
beauty which rested on it, seemed an altar
with its angel. 1t came to me like .
religion, and lent lasting beauty to my
llfe-an abiding sense Of the sacredness Of
pure womanhood.
That winter had devoted to the com.
i