Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1857-06-13


and | think, and Lloyd said" Here the
brands fell apart and, while Paulina was
breaihless TO hear what Lloyd said, the old col
onel rose to adjust them. lie had broken the
thread, and did not take it up in the right place
AS | was saying, my child" he resumed
my life is very uncertain, and | think, and
Lloyd thinks"
What Lloyd thought Paulna did not learn,
Tor at this moment the door opened, and Lloyd
entered.
Lloyd Barnard was of the Edwin or Wilfrcd
order one of those humble and generous spir-
It's that give all, neither asking nor expecting
return He seemed born TO steal quietly ard
alone through the shady paths of life. A cast
from carriage in his infancy had, without pro-
duclng any mutilation or visible injury. given a
fatal shock to his constitution. lie had no dis.
ease within the reach of art, but delicacy. a
fragility, that rendered him incapable of con-
tinuous exertion or application of any sort. A
merciinl Providence provides compensations, or,
at least aleviatons, for all the ills that flesh is
heir 10 and Lloyd Barnard, in abundant leisure
for reading, which he passionately loved, in the
tranquility of perfectly resigned temper and
IN universal sympathy with all that feel, en-
JOY, and suffer, had little reason to envy the ac-
tive and prosperous, who are busling and srue-
Cling through the chances and changes of this
busy life. His wants were few, and easily
supplied by the result of the desultory employ
menis be found in the village, in the intervals
OF his attention to the post-ofiice. As much Of
what we call virtue is constitutional, so we sup
pose was Loyd's conteniment if il was not
virtue, it was happiness, for till of late, he had
felt no more mxieiy for the future than nature $
commoners-the birds and flowers.
"Ah, my son." said the old gentleman 'you
have come just in the right iime-but where is
Lima gonel'
"She went out as | came in, Sir, and
thought she looked as though she had been
weeping"
Weeping" echoed the colonel; and
weeping ~ recchoed the old lady; and
''could we have hurt her feelings :" asked both
in the same breath.
"Why, wha, in the world have You been
saying TO her, motheri'
"Nothing, Loyd-nothing ng-no,hing-don't
look so scared. We we're only expos,ula,inp
a little, as were, and urging her to accept
Mr.. Lovejoys offer"
Loy1 looked ten times paer than usual, and
kept his eye riveied on his mother, till she
added, "But somehow it seems as il she could
not in any way feel to it,"
THANK God !" murmured Lloyd, fetching
long breath. Both parents heard the unwon,-
ed exclamation, and to both it was revelation
The colonel rose, walked TO the window, and,
though The blinds were closed siaod as if oas-
Ing out, and the old lady jerked her knitting
needle from the sheath, and rolled up the knit
ting-work, though she was not in the seamnee-
die.
1t is difficult in any case for parents to real
izc how soon their children pass the bounds of
childhood, and how soon, among other thoughts
incident to maturity, love and marriage enter
their heads. But there were good reasons why
the Colonel and his wife should have fancied
the governing passions and objects of ordinary
lives had never risen above their sons horizon.
They considered him perfectly incompetent to
provide fot the wants Of the most frugal fami-
ly, and they had forgotten that love takes no
counsel from prudence. II was too late now
TO remember it,
The Colonel, after repeated clearings of his
throat, taking off his spectaces, wipng and
putting them on again, said, "Are you attached
to Lima, my % He used the word in its
prescrlptive rustic sense.
"Yes, Sir"
"Strange / never misirusted il How long
have you been so, Loydi"
"Ever since | was old enough to understand
my feelings; but did not, till very lately,
know that | could not bear the thoughts of her
becoming attached to another"
"Do you know what Lina's feelings are!"
"No, Sir"
"But surely you can guess, Lloyd" inter-
rupied his mother.
81 can hope, mother-and do"
1.-The sooner, my son, you both get over it
the better, for there is no kind Of prospect for
you"
"My child" said the good old man, gently
laying his hand on the shoulder of his compan-
ion Of fifty years, "trusl in Providence our
basket and store have been always full, and why
should not our children's bel Loyd now does
the business of the postoffice; while live they
can share with us, and, when am zone, il
may so be, that the heart of the ruler will be
so overruled, that the Office will be continued
TO Lloyd"
Lloyd, either anticipating his mothers oppo-
sing arguments, or himself impelled irresistibly
to the argument of love, disappeared, and the
old lady, who, it must be confessed, lived less
by faith than her gentle spouse, replied:
"The office continued to Lloyd Who ever
heard of old Jackson's heart being oyerruled to
do what he had not mind to do!"
"My dear child !"
"Well, my dear, do hear me out; don't the
loaves and fishes all go on one side of the Ia
ble!"
"Why, we have had our plates filled pref
ty while, my dear"
"Well, my dear, old Jackson could not take
the bread and butter out of the mouth of a rev.
olutionary officer"
81 am sure he has proved he ,oouH not"
"No, my dear, could not. Why, even his
own party-and we all know what his party
are in old Massachusetts,"
"About like the other party. my dear"
'My dear how can you say so, Why,
his own party are the most violent, given-over
as it were, aud low-lived people; yet they