The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1857-01-14
From the New York Dispatch.
THE WATCH OF NEW YEAR WEEK
By JOHN OF BURLEY.

Inc req tnunderDolt suspended in tn
heavens is not more fearful than the hand d
one we love raised in anger; and the light
ning.fash not more surely sewers the link o
life in the bosom it strikes and rends, than
blow the love and confidence that has befor,
existed Years may dim the recollection, an,
after acts of kindness soothe the lacerate,
feeling; but yet, hidden away by the roseat,
beams Of the present, will be the dark cloud
OF bitter memory, charged with the wron!
that may at any moment overcast the sky.
And yet the hand OF John Deforest had beer
raised in anger over the sunny head Of the
bride Of three years, and her white shoulder
had shrunk and quiyered under the horrible
fear that it would fall and crush her, body and
spirit. The fragile, delicate woman, had
stood for one moment at the mercy Of the
strong man, with no thought Of love, or truth
or right, to shield her from the blow that was
impending.
What fend had entered into the paradise
Of love end trusti What evil influence had
blighted all that three years before had been
so bright and sunny in their livess The
answer is an easy one, and the demon will
bring more victims at the last great day to a
remorsc eternal and unayailing, than any
other Of the fearful brotherhood who have
haunted the steps Of man and made him an
accursed thing, since the first morning OF
creation. That fend Self.
Alice Mapelsden had been reared in luxury,
and shared in all the peris of an early life
that had no want unsuppled. Her dainty
foot had trodden upon velvet carpets, cased
in all the appointments Of wealth and fashion;
her fragile limbs been wrapped in the cost
liest products Of the looms Of two continents;
her every wish been supplied at the moment
it was uttered. The daughter Of millionaire.
and prospective heir TO one halfofh his wealth,
what cause was there that the most lavish
taste should not be satisfied what necessity
Tor any OF the restraints being artifcially sup.
piled, which fortune and circumstance bring
OF themselves to so many others Nay, what
occasion was there that the proud young
beauty should learn to remember the will, the
happiness. the peace Of any other before or
beside her ownr
We're there no clouds IN the sky of human
life, rising in the day that follows a sunny
morning; were there no failures in the bright.
ceise5 Gel iSy. VI; Were teiee 4 is lTe bsyOnd tie
present, in which the discipline acquired in
this may be accessory for an existence grow.
ing into the perfection Of the love of God /;
then, indeed, might there have been no such
necessity.
John DeforeSt-her elder by only FIVE
years-had studied lie IN a different school.
Hlsboyhood had been struggle against want.
and iur the mastery oi position which he
felt TO be his own. The glusses and false.
hoods Of life had been all stripped Off from
his vision long ago. and his strong. stern ma.
tnre had grown by the very energy he ex-
pended. Al twenty-five. he was i man Of
wealth, future o. ease before him, had he
chosen TO embrace it; but knowledge that
the charm Of life lay in It's activity, aud all
the growing plans and projects that may
strengthen and increase, but never diminish
with our years.
AT twenty five, he wooed and won Alice
Mapelsden. He was noble locking, manly
and energetic, aud size was proud Of him.
She was beautiful, accomplished, kind, at
tractiye. and he soon grew to regard her as
one whom every Circumstance pointed out as
the proper mistress OF his household and
sharer Of his heart. So far both knew, and
inquired no further, and 50 they vera marri.
ed, with the envy Of lookers-cn, and lhc con-
gratulations Of friends. And so they entered
upon union that should be one not only Of
hand with hand, but Of heart with heart, il
the lips would shun the taste Of bitterer ap.
pies than ever the Dead Sea gave 10 the hung
~ wanderer.
A few months revealed the hollowness of
the hopes upon which their union had been
founded. Delorest despised the world Of
fashion aud bis beautiful young wife wot
shipped Il with wild idulatry. His friends
were Of his own nature, men and women wha
saw beneath the surface Of society, and paid
no court to the gilded nothings who Coated
upon Il; hers we're Uf the light. the giddy,
the superficial. lie had welI- stocked libra.
ry, and reyerenced the great names whose
thoughts were there shfined for immortality.
She read little. and that little seldom went
beyond the ephemeraI literature ur the diy.
He wished TO converse Of the world, With
blending Of the romance uf a warm heart and
a grasplng intellect. She was cuntent to let
her own noble gifts uf soul lie dormant, and
10 live but IN the present, aud the euinymcnts
which wealth and luxury could brigg her.
They were unlike, uucnngenial; they had
married without know ledge Of now Iar each
in the marriage relation must give up some
thing Of indisidusliiy--of seI-ind seek IL
become moulded and fused inta tie other.
Estrangement was the resut-bdi While
wealth was theirs, il was an estfangemrn;
that brought only negative misery. Each
felt how much more u happiness might have
been enjoyed, had Tie other held liz sinr
tastes. been governed by the same wishes and
principles. But each had sOriety Of ihrir
own. aud 10 its enjusmcnt each PARTIAL,
forgot the real claims of lite aud sat ,tuIidls
down to exist upon what renamed husks
Of what should have been their daily bread
Of hope. and lose, and happiness.
hut even this negative unhapplness was TO-
be replaced BY suffering more positive and
mare bitter. Tie aspiting man u business
uverreached himself aud Outweut hiS i1dg.