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

t.. scene SecOHUs
Ten years have passed, And what oil
the wealth-seeker? Has he won the gilt
,ering prizeG What OF the pale'faced
maiden he left in tears? Has be returned
to her? Does she share now his wealth
and honor? Not since the day he went
from the home of his childhood has a
word of intelligence from the wanderer
been received; and, to those he left
behind him, he is now as one who has
passed the final bourne. Yet he still
dwells among the living.
In far.away cline, stands a stately
mansion. We will no, linger to describe
The elegant exterior, TO hold up before
the readers imagination picture Of rural
beauty, exquisiIely heightened by art ;
but enter its spacious hall, and pass up
TO one Of lts most luxuriant chambers.
How bushed and solemn the perVading
atmosphere. The inmates, few in num-
Der, are grouped around one on whose
white forehead Times trembling finger
has written the word "Daalh." Over her
bends manly form. There-hs face is
towards you. All! you recognize the
waaderer - the wealth,seeker. What
does he here? What to him is the dying
one2 His wife! And has he, then, for
gotten the maiden whose dark lashes lay
wet on her pale cheeks for many hours
after she read his parting words! He
has not forgotten, but been false 10 her.
Eagerly sought he the prize. TO contend
for which he wen, forth. Years came
and departed; ye, still hope mocked him
with ever attractive aud ever fading illu-
sions. To day he stood with his hand
just ready to seize the object of his wishes,
10 morrow shadow Knocked him. A,
last, IN an evil hour, he bowed down his
manhood proslrate even 10 the dust in
mammon worship, and took 10 himself a
bride, rich in golden attractions, but
poorer as ,Doman, than even the beg
gar at her fathers gate. What thorn
in his eide she proved! A thorn ever
sharp and ever piercing. The closer he
attempted to draw her TO his bosom, the
deeper went the points into his own,
until, in The anguish Of his soul, again
and again he flung her passionately from
him,
Five years Of such life! Oh, what
is there of earthly good 10 compensate
,herea(.er2 But in this last desperate
throw, did the wordling gain tho wealth,
station, and honor he coveted! lie had
welded the only child Of man whose
treasure might be counted by hundreds
Of thousands; bu;, in doing SO he had
failed to secure ,he fathers approval or
confidence. The stern old man regarded
him as a megcenary interloper and ever
treated him as such. For five yenrs
therefore he fre,,ed and chafed in the
narrow prison whose gilded bars his own
hands had forged. How often, during
that time, had his heart wandered back
to The dear old home, and the be- owed
ones with whom he had passed his early
years! And ali! how many, many times
came between him, and the almost hated
countcnance OF his wife, the gentle low
ing face of that one 10 whom he had
been false! How often her soft blue
eye rested on his own! How often he
started and looked up suddenly, as II he
sweet voice came floating on the air.
Aud so the years moved on, the chalI
CALLING more deeply, and better sens
of humiliation as well as bondage rob
bing him Of all pleasure IN life,
Thus i, is with him when, after Tel
years, we find him waiting in the cham
ber of death, for the stroke that is Il
hreak the fetters that SO long bound him
II has fallen. He is free again. Ii
dying, tie sufferer made no sign
Suddenly she plunged into the dark pro
found, so impenetrable to mortal eyes
and as the turbid waves closed, signing
over her, he who had called her wife
turned from the couch on which. her fraI
body remained, with an inward "lhanl
God! | am man again!'
One more bitter drug yet remained fo
his cup. Not week had gone by, er;
the father of his wife spoke 10 him these
cutting words
"You were nothing TO me while ny
daughter lived-you are less than moth
ins now. II was my wealth, not my
child that you loved, She has passed
away. Wha, affection would have giver
to her, dislike will never bestow ON you
Hcncefoth we are strangers"
When next the sun went down on thai
stately mansion, which the wealth-seeke'
had coveted, he was a wanderer again
poor, humIia,ed, broken in spirit
How bitter, had been the mockety o!
all his earthly hopes! How terrible the
punishment he had suffered!