Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1855-11-22
Original poetrp,
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE VISIT OF DEATH.
BY MRS. VI. W. STRATToN.

O.,
A family on their return to the West, recent
" stopped for few days at a Hotel in Column
bia. There were two men, their wives, five or
six children, and an aged woman; the latter
particularly arrested our attention. She had
evidently once possessed great beauty, and of
no ordinary kind, for her withercd and gene
rally inanimate countenance bore the stamp
Of intellcct-u utivated-unrehned gift
Of God bestowed where it could be of little
worth where it had never been appreciated or
de;cloped, but vet commanding from any re-
fined and thinking observer, an involuntary
respect, and interest which her humble station
in life, coarse apparel and abrupt manners
vonld never have attracted She had Just
lost Il husband, whose cherished companion
she had been for thirty years, and whom she
had loved with that devotedness and utt"r alb
nenation of self, which only characters like
hers are capable Of That affection had hal
lowed everything with which he was assoca-
ted-the cottage in which they had lived,
and which taste similar to her own, or love
which caught its reflection, had embelllshed
with fruit and flowers; the dog, the cat, and
other net animals which he had loved and ten
ded, all sacred objects and, to her aged
and totterng mind, indispensable surroundings
lie seemed not so entirely gone while she was
among those familiar things; and probably If
custom or ill-iudsed kindness had not remo-
we'd her suddenly to strange land, new
home and scarcely understood ties, she might
have subsidized into her usual course ofllte, and
filed out the measure of her days in peace and
resignation.
The two men who accompanied her, and
whom she constantly regarded with looks of
wondering dread, were the sons of her hus-
band by first wife; and it had so happened
that they had never lived with or even near
her. The estrangemcnt was caused by cir
cumstances for which the parties were not to
blame. but still it could have but one result !:
tbey had no love for and little knowledge OF
each other. The step-mother had no children
or other near ties, and when the old man died.
,.'f.no hut natural and right tnat the .l: Sols
~ SnUM nUI take possession of the little pfGpenrM
sho"iI u, '' tHo best they could with Its ncun.-
anu hsnes W. the desolatc widow so they s0a eoe
w thing, and in. spite OF the ''v~,t stor,o5 with
~ s,nno , Of the poor old woman' Staf'Ge S S''a nf
~ sd" for their own Western home -, h"In snom y,
her ~, ,r;vos had relatives in Carolina IRON @
't, Lom tbey had pecuniary expectations I 'pv p:
%ho.. .alau this opportunity to visit them' me- r
had Ih.n .,rn;nq without their expcetatooT bost o
were re:a raaa and were therefore not in ~ '.,
ing re"i.1'S SnI themselves burthene' "i'n han Sn
nr 1a CONAN who brought little WI" memories Of
oiu a;m;nns % for her home and sac a old doc and
tpp tHp nast Her fretting for W " her to BRING
oat 'nt which they would not not ,h-the tenacity
with her, sssnen sen enng to little old basket MI,
ed with witherea' roses cottage door, as she
she had torn HoI he last time, seemed so
passed through 1tF they meant not to be un-
absurd, that 'nO; O.;gh sd impatient with her.
kind, they were obtuse as she seemed, felt
The ola "0neel eelcone intruder, and it was
herself an see her try to shrink into the
melanchoiiible compass, to keep out of the
smallest of them, to escape their notice as
way ne could.
much not strange that in one short month
IT. arrival at her new home, she left 1t
ah1other and brighter one, having passed
/ Civ away; for mercifully deprived of all
sciousness of realities, she tanced herself at
accustomed home, and her last breath was
4nent in words spoken Gas she beieved1 to the
husband she was about to rejon.
twas a cottage home, and its humble door
The wild rose and jessamine cambered DER;
And the lofty OAK and the lowly shrub
, Were clustering round and wiring above
] And the purple grape and the blushing peach
We're waving and bending in childhood's reach:
Scarce sound was borne on the balmy air,
Yet potent Guest was visiting there.
Twas summer eve, and the setting sun
Shed beauty DER all that he fingered on,
And Nature had lavished her wealth of bloom
Till the,ar was laden with rich perfume,
The clear pebbly brook flowed softly along,
And even the mockng-bir hushed his song;
But sadness seemed borne on that balmy air,
For dark stern Guest was visiting there.
No voice broke silence, and all seemed as still
As the doing cat on the window sill,
Save the quaint old clock which sent forth SOUND
Startling by loud mid the stiffness profound;
For the clock ticks ever most loud and clear,
When sickness is present or Death is near,
And one sadly feels that twill still tick on,
When his faint step from the green earth is gone.
And the old dog lay at the cottage door,
Still watching for one he would see no more,
The lone horse stood wistfully gazing through
= The barn-yard gate, for q form that he knew,
One who had tended him kindly, and we'll
Hands that upon him caressing fell;
They came not, for peacefully DER cold breast
Those kind hands crossed in n first and last
rest.
An aged wife sat in darkened room
Unconscious of sorrow silence or gloom
And she bent her beside the lowly bier,
With stony gaze, and without a tear;
Her sun had gone OUT and her world was dark,
And reason was now but glimring spark
No wangs were borne on the balmy air.
She knew not the Guest who was visiting there
Twas a lovely morn, and the rising
Shed Brightness DER all that he rested on,
And Nature looked young in her morning dress,