Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-12-16
Written for the Spirit of the Age.
FROM THE HEARTHSIDE.
Inscribed to the Social Circle"
BY PERRY
H BETROTHED.

THE d.
IcnNTINuEn-ERnaa annLAsml--
'FNow never more, oh never, in the worth
OF its pure cause, let sorrowing love on earth
Trust tondiy-never more THE hope is crushed
That lit my life, the voice within me hushed
That spoke sweet oracles and l return
To lay my youth, as in a burial urn,
Where sunshine may not find it,"
Mrs. HEMANs.
Short, but not new or strange, is the his
tory OF my heart. l am, as you know, the
only daughter of a Presbyterian minister
My mother died when [ was a year old. and
this solemn and unexpected dispensation Of
Providence changed my father into a prema-
turely old man. After her death, he took his
motherless little one, and housekeeper, and
accepting a pastoral charge in a retired and
quiet country OWE in Virginia, left the haunts
OF fashion and worldly enJoyments forever
There, in that sweet little home, the Parson-
age, | grew to the age of sixteen. | had few
companions, for my father, although a mild
and gentle christian, yet avoided the compan-
ionshlp OF the younger, and more social part
OF the community in which we lived, and on
ly left his home when called thence by the
calls of his religious duties. Many wondered
at the quiet reserve of their sad, and gentle
pastor. | knew that the loss of the bride of
his youth, had inflicted a c~ureless wound for
once when | had asked him, with childish
innocence, why he never laughed, he took
me in his arms and told me of my mother,
and thenceforth | kaew he walked his life
{ path, and ever looked forward to that better
land, where she awaited his coming.
grew up a still and pensiye child, but with
a heart thrilling in widest, deepest love for
all things beautiful, and pure, and good upon
the earth. | said | was almost companion
4 less all save one. A college companion and
: friend of my fathers, had, when dying, be-
queathed into his care, the guardianship OF
: his only child. He had a fortune, into the
!, possession of which he was to come at the
age of twenty one. He was about five years
my senior, and from my earliest recollections
spent his vacations at our home. ever look
/ ed forward to his coming with delight, anG
the name of Frank Howard become the tails
y man OF my young existence.
, He was q gay and handsome boy inteHi
d gent and manly beyond his years. How OF
4 ten have We wandered hand in hand through
woodland paths, captured butterflies, and tc
gether wreathed the wild flowers into coroual
10 and crowns, to deck each others brows.-
Alas many of our hopes have had as brie
Mt existence as the flower wreaths of our chi
o. dish hours. | wept the bitter, transient tear
b OF early youth at our partings, and lived i
smiling hope until another meeting.
~ When | was fifteen and he nineteen. W
~ were betrothed. He had grown into a slel
~ der, graceful youth, and [ into a pensiye, sh
ny maiden. Yet deep in the very core of m
les heart | almost worshipped my young ar
In handsome lover. 1t was an affection that hs
ut grown with my growth" and upon this so
object, save my father, | lavished the de,
bv absorbing love Of my young heart. At 81
~ teen | went to Oakdale Seminary, and it W
II there, Carrie, that you saw my young |
ui trothed. 1t was at this time that Frank, |
ing of age, came into possession of his pre-
erty.
De ; Shortly after | graduated and left school
the first saw the change in Frank, that has ma
.d;- my cup bitter to the very dregs since. Han
,on some, talented, and wealthy, he was receiy
into gay society in the cities he visited, a
Ul there contracted a love of ardent spirits.
was a year before / knew any thing of it,
in his visits to me he scarcely bore upon b
ned a single mark of this his besetting sin. S
a and follies were too surely his, yet throu
MIL all, he still loved the daughter of his guard
tho tho the bellies of society everywhere sou
to chain him captive to their train.
Oh! my friends, | can find no language
anu describe to you my agony of soul when
q II. hateful truth came home to my sludder
lar heart. / could have loved him through I
him erty, through ignominy, and through {
but from tkis, my soul turned with pecu