Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-04-30

full of the penury around him, over hal
lowed classic ground that skirts the temple
of human greatness. Whilst the student
who is possessed Of prolific means, prefers
the luxury Of retirement, or love of display,
in dress and equipage, which is most inim-
ical to the developement of exalted talents,
and hence it is, that few, comparatively
speaking-and fact which history corrob-
orates-few who have reached great emf
nence in the world, have attained that Gel
ebrity by means of the adventitious aids
of great wealth, high rank, or notable in
fuence But oh speech is utterIess to
narrate-the poets pen with his burning
words is powerless to depict-and the fer
tile imagination, in her highest soarings Of
fancy, is not able to conceive the trials, af-
fiictions, the sacrifices and obstacles SO of
ten seemingly insuperable that encounter
the pathway of the poor student, whose
soul is ever thirsting, thirsting ever after
knowledge.
But see he has closed the volume, and
sits musing sadly over the past. For his
thoughts are not now upon his book-but
upon the soiree, and her whom he so re-
Gently left when list the door bell is
violently twanged upon the solemnity of
the early morn and he, in lieu of SER
want, at this unreasonable hour, descended,
to bid welcome to light and fire, as he pre-
sumed, some one Of the inmate students of
the house. Instead, however, of welcom-
ing class-mate, surprised was he to find a
stranger in no mean garb, upon the thresh-
hold, with a note for him in his already
extended hand. Once more in his room
he trimmed the dim lamp preparatory to
breaking the seal Of this mysterious note,
and for ten minutes he sat over it in 81
lence, while with the lapse of each mo-
ment fearful change was depicted in his
countenance, till despair, from disappoint-
ed hopes and expectations, gained the mas
terry. But he soliloquized-li and
you can learn from his own blanched lips
few of the sad incidents of his life-of a
poor students life-that occurred in the
rugged pathway, by which he reached the
seat Of the Art, and with what sacrifices
he is now toilingly endeayoring to gain ad-
mittance in the medical profession
Seven years ago, I, a poor bare-footed
boy, was an inmate of a partially dilapida-
ted Academy, in the interior of sister
state and then, free from care, and devoid
Of all knowledge of the chequered paths of
} life, and the selfish spirit of society, /
gamboled over the hills on either side of
the house, and reioiced in the juvenile
sports in the sunny vale, happy, happy
schoolboy. But since that time have
studied and taught-taught and studied
r sixteen hours daily till at the end of the
. fifth year | attained the first step in the
i ladder of my early ambition, by receiving
: A. NJ; and tho unaided and poverty
o stricken as / was, / again buckled on the
!, helmet of perseverance, to overcome new
:, obstacles that opposed in the new projects
l. that were to be overcome. And for the
IS accomplishment Of these purposes, | have
10 burned the midnight oil, during seven long
ar years, to the injury of both body and mind
D. unmindful of friends advice, in opposition
I'd to physicians counsels-and in the NEAR
O. time have suffered the pinching pressure
G. of contracted means-deprived myself o
almost every comfort in meat and drink
avoided all places of amusement or mer
Z; gratifcation-and endured also the con
IN tempt of the rich, and the rich mems sons
I'd the taunts of the envious, and the sneer
a. of the self-thought scientific. Yet Pv
e. survived the danger of the former, disre
I'd garded Tie spleen of the latter, realized m
IN fondest anticipations, and among the tru.
II, learned and virtuouS, | have ever me
or with smiles of encouragement, with heart
r. of sympathy. But now to have my affec
81 tions thus thwarted, 50 indiferently, b
II such bu8iness-like note as this, is the sc
or verest trial that has ever befallen me-
IL Hence, how can | forget one whose ever
ch action, whose every look, whose every smile
n secretly and silently whispered to my to
lly confding soul that I ocas lored.
1t, And having thus deeply loved in wore
Sc. how can forgive one who will yet unfee
iugy blight my hopes, blast my happines
me destroy my peace of mind, and leave II
or thus suddenly unloUed in selfish, hear
pa less world And how can | forget one
en- whose smiles / have basked for months ar
no years, and whose every pleasure has bee
will a source of happiness to me-and how ca
the forget one with whom [ have associate
me so much at school in the country, and
her city home, to which have ever beC
to made welcome by reason of my kindne
we aud charge over her little brothers while
and /" Woodville Academy" But this cam
nay be the free will act Of her own; for >
ars written in strange hand, and the autogra
her is all that bears semblance of her doir
npt There is cOmpulsion stamped upon the ve
uch face Of this note, for seldom is the hum
ion heart-at least the female hedrt-so I
rt's ceptive; seldom is the female conscier
Inv so deadeued to sensibility, as not to +
lole some respect for the feelings and happin
yht. of others. Hence, will not despair, I
abb will falter in the continued exertion
one prepare myself for future usefulness; VII
in | probe the author and the offspring OF
far note to its secret depths.
lg a Ere long, in the fight of time, our p
most student was prepared to embark with
rae diploma and a virtuous name as his VIII
ion, fortune, upon the troubled billows of 7
lally fessional life. But anxious to know Fl
eep, ence's heart felt sentiments, he went W
un- saddened bosom-with faint hope t
ay. he might obtain his end; and such
that the absorption of his thoughts and feelir
late that he was actually under her parlor v
rrow dow, and awakened to the reality of
liant position by some familiar voices, ere
# in was conscious of his close proximity.
emu halted involuntarily, as it were, in his
ener- pidation, when from the slightly ra
cap windows -shrouded within by folds of d