Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-06-27

studied nature; he protessed to have taken
nome ber lessons---and, surely, no one could
write or talk more beautifully about her--did
I he not know that the furious torrent and the
| placid riyulet, that binds the upland and the
iowland together with green girdle Of fresh
ness and beauty, 10 the same IN nature! That
the slow lingering summer breeze, that scarce
ly lifts the egret from the thistle, or the white
petals Of the apple blossom, is one with the ter,
rible tempest, that brings desolation and death
That the sunbeam, sleeping on the cottage wall
at which the chubby hands Of infancy grasp
aud grasp again, hides within it the power TO
blind and destroy?
Oh, yes he knew all this we'll He would
have given philosophical analysis Of each,
and spent hours in explaining the laws that
governed them but he did not know that the
heart which had beat against his own for the
space of two years that had proven it's wealth
Of love with flow silent but ccaseless and in
exhaustibe az the ocean, upon the GOLD, barren
shores Of his own being. bringing them beauty
and life, could be 80 reused that it could gather
up all its dreama, all it's loves, all its despairs
all its memories Of the past and its hopes OF
the to be- and, in one wild hour OF agony,
leap the torrent Of life, and sink into silence.
So he trembled in her presence. He did not
dare to utter the miserable, insulting, mean
thought which his contemplate philosophy
placed upon his lips: That there were others
to whom she might be all she had been to him"
He spared her this, but only through kind OF
imaginary fear and he was glad and breathed
freer, when she neither wept nor prayed, but,
rising suddenly up said, in that low, hushed,
but strangely distinct voice. GoJ0
He obeycd--he was glad to do so, congratu-
lating himself that " the scene y was over, that
it had been accomplished with no more trouble;
and vet, there was q certain look on Helen
vning's face, as she uttered that mOnosylla-
bio that puzzled him, well read as he fancied
himself in all the changes of a womans face.
Why did it remind him 80 wildly Of his young
sister, IS she lay in her coffin years before, in
the dawn Of her womanhood. How we'll he
remembers that cold, rigid look Does he not
know that Death, as we'll as Life, casts its
shadows before ~
He speculates upon it-speculates even in the
splendid parlor of the Revere House-specn-
lates even while listening to the dulcet tones of
the celebrated actress, Mrs A.. It is only
in the evening, that he accidentally finds solu-
ton accidentally We say, for Miles Wallingford
seldom troubles himself to look over such por-
tions of the city papers as relate to casual
ties,u coroner's inquests,r &c. Even now, it
was by chance that his eye met the notice
which forms the text Of this sketch. Then he
knew the meaning of that look il was death
He read the notice again he felt it was lie;
he knesC her
For a few brief moments he felt himself q
murderer. He scarcely knew the difference be-
tween himself and the most miserable crimi-
nal that ever swung from gallows Then
came his cold philosophy stepping in between
him and God--twisting the hottest instincts OF
his nature, the clearest teachings Of his req
son, aye, the very Word of God himself into
not apologies-but Qualifications Of bis selfish
ness; and with regret that she was $50 fool
ieh, /" he went on his way.
And was this all Yes; for men who be-
lieve that the end justifes the means, for men
who mistake that end, and set up the altar of
selfshness in its place, are seldom troubled
with conscientious scruples.
And vet, as we believe in God, we believe
that there does come to such men . time when
the consciousness that they have scorned and
trampled upon the humanity with which God
had gifted them, is the bitterest, the most ter
rible, Of oil punishments; hours, in which their
Wanted attainmenfs are to them as apples of
Sodom; and they would bless the hand Of the
little child that should again lead them back
to the fountains of Truth and Life!