The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1853-08-26

full of the wine of life, was al my lips;
but | turned my head away, asking for a
more fiery draught. How wildly comes
before me now that parting scene! am
looking into my bro,her's face, ! feel
the tight grasp Of his hand. His voice
is in my ears Dear brother! And his
parting words, hear them now, even
more earnestly than they were first spo-
ken. SHOULD fortune cheat you with
the apples Of Sodom. return to your home
again. lis doors will ever be open, and
its hearth fires bright for you as Of DID,
Ah, 90 the flies still burn? How many
years have passed since went forth!
And Ellen? Blu, | dare not think of her,
Ii is too late-too late! Even if she be
living and unchanged in her affections,
| can never lay this false heart at her
feet. Her look OF love would smite me
as with whip of scorpions"
The step of time Ind fallen so lightly
on the f1wery path of those to whom
contentment was a higher boon than
wealth, that few footmnrks were visible.
Yet there had been changes in the old
homestead. AS The smiling years went
by, each, as il looked in at the cottage
window, saw the home circle widening,
or new beauty crownirg the angel brows
Of happy children. No thorn in his side
had Roberts gentle wife proved. AS
lime passed on, closer and closer was she
drawn to his bosom; yet never a point
had pierced him. Their home was a
type Of paradise.
Ii is near the close of summer day :.
The evening meal is spread, and they are
about gathering around The table, when 4
stranger enters. His words are vague
and brief, his manner singular, bis air
slightly mysterious. Fnrlive, yet eager
glances go from face TO face.
'Are these all your children?" he
asks, with mingled surprise and admira-
lion. 1..
GAN ours. And thank God! the little
fock is yet unbrok en-"
The strange: averls his face. He is
disturbed by emotions tina, i: is impossi-
BILE 10 conceal. sHitr-
"Conteniment is better than wealth." !"
he murmurs. "Oh! thai | had earlier
comprehcnded this iru,hm
The words we're not meant for others;
but the ul'erance had been too distinct
They have reached the ears of Robert,
who istanIlY recognizes in the stranger
hs long wandering, brother.
"WiIliam!"
The stranger is on bis feet: A mos
ment or two the brothers s'aad gazing al
each other, then tenderly embrace.
"Wiliam!"
How the stranger starts and irembles!
He had not seen, in the quiet maiden,
moving among and minislerlng to tho
children so unobuusively, the one he
had parted from years before-the one
to whom he had been so false. But her
voice has startled his ears with the faml-
lar tones of Yesterday.
''EllenI' Here is an instant oblivion
of all the intervening years. He has
Ieaped back over the gloomy gulf, and
stands now as he stood ere ambition and
Ins, of gold lured him away from the side
of bis first and only love. II is we'll fo'
both him and the faithful maiden that he
Can so far forget the past as 10 take hel
in his arms and clasp her almost WILDLY
10 his heart. But for this, conscious
shame would have betrayed his deepl!
repented perGdy,
And lere we leave them, reader.-
"Contentment is better than wealth.
s" the wording proved. after a bite
experience, which nay you be spared
II is far better to realize truth percep
lively, and thence make tia rule o
action, than 10 prove the variety in lif'
Of sharp agony. Blu, how few are able
10 Iise into such realization!