The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-05-30

there signed as with her own hearts blood
the compact which banished forever hope
and love, and left instead burning misery
and long, long despair! Then, as she,put
her name to the death warrant Of all her
happiness, came back old visions of the past;
visions of that high brow and artist eye, SO
well known, and loved but a little while a.
go; and then came rolling across her soul
such tide ofagony, such mighty torrent
of desolation, as we'll nigh bowed her to the
earth.
yet there is joy even for me- said she;
"a low grave, and tall waving grass rustling
over it,
The were welded; he, the rich merchant,
with his soul formed but for gain; and she,
the crushed and desolate. How mourDful
was the bridal! The heartess service was
ended; and they who had solemny, vowed
love, undying love, went forth unknowing
and unloving. In his princely mansion
Linda found all that wealth could give, or
admiration lavish for her enjoyment; for
with all the heart he possessed, Ire.
mont loved and admired his beautiful bride;
but there. was want of congeniality, a
lack of sympathy between her finely woven,
sensitive nature, and his coarser essence.
In short, he stirred no chord in her heart.
Day by day she lived on, at first striving
outwardly to love and honor him, but soon
sunk into resistless apathy, like the sleep
Of the benumbed traveller in Alpine att
tudes So years went on--such years as
time gives only to the sad and weary; SO
long, so enless! But at last there came a
shock, which for ever reused her from her
listless slumber. ... -s...
1t was fair summer day, when fremont
came to his home distressed and weary, full
of care and anxiety. Linda saw the cloud
gather on his brow; yet she needed it not,
for it is only love that burns, that can share
sorrow with the loved; and that was not u
guest in Linda's soul. fremont rose, cast
one long, wild glance upon his once lovely
bride, and was gone. 1t was but moment,
and a loud sound shook the dwelling to its
foundations. They went to see whence the
report issued; and there lay the proud man
wetering in blood! Linda did not weep for
him as for husband; he had filled no place
in that lonely heart. Yet with remorse she
thought Of her broken vows and her sunder.
ed plightings, and repentingly she wept the
bitter past. Then in the rain of sorrow came
the bow of hope, and lighted the horizon
not an earthly hope, for all such were for
ever ended, but better and more enduring,
because heavenly one. A short space OF
time, and the cause of Tremont's death was
made known to his young, though desola!e
wife. A sudden revolution in property
had made the wealthy speculator bank
rupt. He could not live to endure the dis
grace, and thus the secret we 8 disclosed.
Linda went back to the proud mansion
OF her aunt, from which, six years be-
fore, she had gone out, still pale, and sad,
and desoate. Mrs. Clinton made her hap
py in her own stern way, and strove TO make
her happy; but all her efforts were unavail-
ing. Years had left their mark on the proud,
stately woman, years of care. SO with a
shadow on their souls, deep, black chad
ew, they both went on; and all was drear and
desoate. E
So years went on, till at last the hour
came when tine proud woman must die.
Mrs Clinton died as she had lived, cold
stern and unforgivipg, with no word of the
distant shore towards which her bark was
sailing; no message of love and mercy for
the living, no sign ofrepentance for the dead;
and when the last solemn rites were over.
and she lay at rest in the solemn tomb, Lin
da went back to the chill dwelling, and alone
trod those halls. Yet it was but a short, a
very short time that she dwelt mistress OF
that home; for other evil tidings came, and
she found that the estate of her aunt had al.
SO passed from her hands to those of others
swallowed up in the great vortex of specu'
laton. So she left the fair fields and the
hill-tops she had SO much loved, and the low
peaceful valley where she had first met him
the unforgotton, the yearningly remember
ed.
Now Linda was free, no marriage vow; nt
chains of property bound her to one whom
she could not love. "But he,' she though
sadly, 'he has ere this loved another, ant
their lot is blest, and bright, and beautiful
Had he not forgntton me, he would hav'
surely written; love will find means to NEE
the loved. Oh, misery! can he c all anothe
his beloved! Can he all forget me!'
She was alone now, no home, no wealth
naught to support her But here her accom-
plishments came in place, and she becam
daily music teacher, weary toiler for tn
bread which kept her from that death 70
which she daily prayed. But ere she LEI
she gathered up around the richly furnishe
house small relics of the past, among whic
she took an old box full ofpapers Of tri
fling value. But as she turned over the ap
parently rubbish, she found one packag
that made her breath come short and quick
and her heart beat with feyerish violence
There they were--burning. letters of hi
love to her which her eyes had never seer
i What tale was there of hopes long dc
ferred, Of wishes disappointed, of love seen
Il ,,a.na,.:s.It 81 rphn~o had kaa,,' =, ~