Southern shield., 1857-01-24


 ''IIc don't want to soeyou, Sir, and told me to tell you so but reckon you'd better go in.''
 He received me politely, but coldlv. To was growing better, but he WAS pefectlvin- communicative at first, and had great diff ficulty in persuading him to talk of his own position.
 Most men who lock up their souls. hiGe the key so carefully, that in their efforts to conceal it they direct attention to it. Not so my friend. He was imponetrabe ia his reserve.
 Name, residence. hst0rv-all he avoided strictly. His appearance was good, his con- versation at times brilliant, his manner poll ishod, and he had oviden1vbeen accustomed to the society of the refined and wealthr.- All this he could not conceal. 1nrelation to his own ease, at length persuaded him to give me tho history If tho night on which thu murder WAS committed.
 He said he had been riding through the county that night rapidly, for urgent req sons. He had passed the farm house of Solo mon Davis, where he had thought to ask fer 6 drink of water. This was early in the morning: but tho silence and gloom about the house led him to suppose that no ono was UP yet, and herodo on. Hawas return ing by another road when he was apprchen- ded. He had resisted ihstinctiyolv, and but for the accident to his w0rn-out horse he would have escaped.
 "Nhero were you tho evening pTcviouss'
 F'You must pardon me. cannot 20 into that
 L.P,+ -,-- 1,,,. e., :t . -,o,,-.,.-. --,,, do SO. It is cielr that Davis was murdered long before daybrcak; 70 that if We can ac- count for you elsewhere at or near that time, we shall clear you.7
 '"lhat would be proving an aHbi?"
 ''PrcciscIy.''
 ''I wish it might be done, but it is impos- sible. Ask no further questions on that point. If a defence eln be constructed on the facts have given, am content. If not, 1 must take my chance"
 ''But-"
 ':Tha matter is ended, S;ri"
 '.L am afraid there is little chanccforyoo. then, for iurics in this county, have. to my certan knowledge, an awful proclivity to. ward verdicts of guilty, and they will hang you on the slightest possible eyidence''
 ''So be 1t, then. lam content"
 ''C0ntcnt You are content to die, and q dogs death at thQt?"
 "What matters the way one dios2 #ilit make any difference in the profoundnass of ones rest afterward?'
 'EPerhaps not. But to die! To die at all is hard, and few men can say that they are content with the prospect. This woTld is not so dismal after all.''
 "And why not? Is this 9 pleasant speci- men Of it?'' and he looked around at the smoky walls of his room and the grated windows.
 "But you might be free from this, and ous wonder is 8 pleasant prospect. See how the sunshine gladdens everything"
 'Eyorything? Why, 1t seems to me there 9rc many places in the shodo get. SF~s5ino does not reach everything; and many per- sons besides prisoners look at it through bars0
 EfYou are discontentcd. Is therenot some thing in the world for such as you to do?''
 "There are enough to do it without me-" "iayOyou no ambition!" "NOne."
 There was no disappointment nor misan- thropy in the tone. It was cool, calm, and not expressive of any emotion.
 And why none? Surely the field for | young and ardent souls was never more open or more broad. You might have a brilliant career"
 ''To end just here where now stand, on the verge of the grave, and what richer should be?''
 .'That richer? Ny friend, there arc no riches of gold to be taken hence with you; but are you ready to go out now? l speak not alone of the preparation that all men need for the darkroad. But have you gath cred the only earthly riches mon may take henca with them? Have you won love- ! Have you bound any true hearts to yours, so that their love will not be broken of by 1 death? Will you carry any human love into the unseen world with you?'
 ''Thank God, mono .''
 His voice was caIm-tho tone as before; | but he used three words in place of one ' Had he said .sNonen' ! should have been satisfied: but the gratitude he eXprcssedlod me to recall the night when stood by his couch, and heard him murmur name in tones of deep affection.
 EIs there no one waiting your coming in that other world?"
 'No go Into it alone, if go must.- But no more if you upleasc. Ithipk would \ have been better had Inot accepted your oE- fer Of assistance. Ishould, doubtless, have been hung 'oro this. You but disturb me with vain questions"
 ''AIv friend,'' said I, rising as f to leave ! him, ''I will leave you, since you desire 1t; \ but understand that 1 leave you to almost certain death. You Soem 10 have chosen it. | Be it so. But is there not now a memory of past icy that can win you back to some It. \ tie love of life? Am not right in beLiey- ! ing that you remember faces that were once | beloved eyes that once gleaEad with afec- tion; lips that once whispered words of thrilling tenderness in your ears? have seen men like you before, and know that the despair of disappointed love is oftonter- rible, is worse than any other; but there arc thoughts, memories of joys lost-but whose soft and holy beauty fingers yot-that arc enough to call back lfeto the dead soul; ai- most to revive the dead body. Think o1 these, and say if I must leave you"
 "1 have no such thoughts: no such memo rios Excuse me. l am much ezhausted.2
 And so left him. called the next day, and was denied admission; the next, and was again denied; and so l abandoned nm and returned to the city, leaving z note fof him, repeating my offer of services II ne wera disposed to accept them. But dio no' hear from him.
 The memory of the lonesome prisoner L,,,,,+od mo [ d;1 p0t thitk 1 had fclE so