Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-01-17
From PetcrsOn's Magazine.
THE SOLDIERS RETURN.
~ TuE AUruon OF & THE yALLEY rARM,'

BY THE AUTHOR OF < THE VALLEY FARM"
CHAPTER I.
A great battle had been fought. Thou
sands had been wounded, and hundreds
slain.
In many a once happy home, the news
paper, that brought intelligence Of the
Yiltory, was the harbinger Of despair.
1t was so to the family circle Of Capt.
Arundel. A wife, and several lovely
children, the last Of whom was still in its
mothers arms, learned on that day, that
the one had no husband, the other no
father. His name appeared prominent
among the killed.
For IL while Mrs. Arundel forgot even
her babes in the grief. ucr despair was
SO utter that she prayed to die.
Few men, indeed, had realized SO fully
us husbands, the prornl> they held out
when lovers, as Captain Arundel. Stern
when his country's foes were in question,
wonder she worshipped almost to ado
ration one SO brave, SO accomplished, and
SO superior?
But, in the midst of her agony, she
suddenly remembered her children. She
snatched the infant to her arms, convul-
! siVely strained it to her bosom, and franti-
caIly kissed it again and again. " Little
dear" she cried, "what would it 90 with,
out me. No, must live for its sake -
The tears which followed this burst o
emotion, probably, saved her life.
Gathering Ter babes about her, she
held them in turn to her heart, talked to
them of their father, and made them strive
TO grow up like him. In those first days
of grief, this was her only comfort.
CHAPTER II.
Time passed. The wife and mother
had become, in a measure, accustomed tc
her loss. She felt indeed that there wa:
a void in her heart, which would never
be filled; but she no longer prayed fo
death.
Her whole time was now devoted t
her children. She recalled every wisl
she had heard her husband express rela
tive to their education, and resolved tha
it should be her sacred duty to endeavol
to fulfil them.
"They shall be in all things like h,
would have desired them to be-" sht
said. "That is if L can make them so
which, by Gods grace [ hope TO do"
Her aged parents came to comfort hel
in this her great affiiction. They deter
mined to abide with her. as we'll to assis
her in her work, as to cheer her by thei
presence and sympathy.
Early in her life, their counsuls had sen
her to the Bible, as the only solace Of
earth in the hour of aff1iction she ha,
never abandoned this friend and tn
reading of the sacred book was now the sol
occupation of their leisure. Gatherin!
her little ones about her, she would sil
with her infant in her arms, in the mids
OF her treasures while her father peruset
aloud the inspired pages.
CHAPTER III.
1t was Christmas Eve.
Without, on hill and valley, on land an
water, Shone the unclouded moon. With
in, merry fires cracked and bIazed, whiI
happy faces and glad voices abounded.
But, the jocund season brought not t
Arundel Cottage its usual hiIarity. FO
the orphaned children, for the widowe
wife, who walked yet, as it were in th
shadow of death, the holiday revels seem
ed forever more impossible. ez..t .. E
The Bible lay open on the table. .Th
grandsire was reading from the beautifr
gospel of St. John, and the mother sat, q
usual, with her infant at her bosom, an
: her other little ones clustered about he
when suddenly the door opened, and
tall form entered. - - g. gsHiEI
Could it be Or was it but wrath
! Had the grave given back its dead !? =