Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1856-05-17

wasted all the blessedness God offered 10 me
How have deceived you, cursed myAelfi I
have loved you every hour since was old
enough to love. have loved you with super
human-why should not say inhuman ,-love.
And now /, the widow Of another man. lone
some, miserable, dying, call you back to me,
Philip, to see me die -
He went to her. lie found her in the spIen-
did home she had inherited from her husband.
one whom men called great. the representative
Of great power. lie was a man Of no aifee-
lions, who had married her for The sake Of a
wealthy alliance, and had died leaving her
wealth she did not want, and disappointment to
all her ambiion-and now she was diving.
Philip Winslow would not have gone to her,
but for the feeling that he might be useful 10
her in the hour Of her extremity. Il was not
love that carried him back Ii was the duty Of
Christian understanding else at least. so
he said 10 his own heart, and doubtless il wa,
true.
She lay on splendid couch, surrounded by
all the evidences Of wealth and ease She
drank from crystal goble,s set in gold, and the
coverings Of her couch were Of the fues, and
most costly fabrics. The ceiling of her room
was frescoed in exquisite colors, and the walls
hung with tapestries Of quaint aud expensive
beauty. All that was around her was eharac-
ierisiic Of her tastes all was beautiful, superb.
magnificent. II dszzled the eyes of the young
clergyman when they showed him into her
chamber. as she had directed
He had come very late. She had watched
hour by hour for his coming, and wondered
whether her message could have failed And
al length she had become restless, and she gave
him up on the fourth day, and fever took hold
Of her, and deliIium followed. All her raw
ings were Of him, and the secret Of her proud
heart was known to all the servants in her
house.
And when he came they knew him, aud
smiled as he passed up 10 her chamber mar
shaled by the aunt who was with her in the
country village.
She lay there, the wreck of all her splendid
beauty, and he looked on her, and the pas,
came before him-again and again the storm
came, and he bowed his head and yielded 10 i,
now.
Yes, she was glorionsly beautiful. Il was
she-his young love--the idol OF all his years
of agony-she that lay there, sleeping now.
calm, quiet, like a statute. He eazed on her
face, and his heart beat now wildly, hereely,
with the passion of youth. He bent over her.
and bis breath was on her forehead, and she
smiled and opened her eyes.
"Philip, Philip" and she lifted her arms TO
his neck, and be knelt by her and buried his
face out Of her sight while he sobbeI aloud.
And then he put his arms around her and held
her to his breast, and stroye to recall the van
ishing powers Of her young, great heart But
all in vain.
When did human love avail to hold back
that departing journey That nigh, they were
married, and the mex, day she died, and when
her dust lay in his hie al Iaes, bpt wvrtE-
less dusi-he felt once more, and now for the
las; time, the great storm in his soul and
having yielded once, he resisted now aud con-
quered bravely and forever.
He left kiss on her forhead, but no tear
fell in her grave. He went 10 his village
home. None there knew Of his struggle, and
no man appreciated his victory. Doubtless the
angels did.
She ieii him her immense wealth, but he
never touched one lariLing of it, Thore was
a small property belonging to Susan, which
had been left TO him, and which, with some
strange preference, he was willing to use, and
which afforded him means Of increasing his H.
bray and living in ease. He removed 10 vii
lage where his history was known, and where
he spent his life in earnest works OF love
He died in the winter time, and | have some
times wondered what angels waited on the old
mans departure, and have been thankful at
the blessed assurance that there is no such
thing as disappointment in heaven. For if il
were not so, one Of those two would have beeu
sadly astonshed, and lonesome, in the solitary
places there, while the old man, with his young
wife, sat down on hillside by the river Of
peace. But ] confess ! have often doubled.
whose arm infOded him when he entered the
unknown country.