Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1858-04-29
The Shadows We Cast.
BY T. S. ARTHUR.


| BY T. S. ARTHUR.
| A child was playing with some building
blocks and as the mimic castle rose before
his eyes i'll graceful proportions, new pleas
ure swelled in his heart. He felt himself to
be the creator of thing of beauty" and
was conscious Of newborn power. Arch,
wall, buttress, gateway, drawbridge, lofty tow
err and battlement, were all the Eork of his
hands. He was in wonder at his own skill! in
thus creating, from an unseemly pile of blocks,
structure OF such rare design.
| Silently he stood and gazed upon his castle
with something Of the pride of an architect
who sees, after months and years of skilfully
applied labor, some grand conception in bis
art, embodied in his imperishable stone Then
he moved around viewing it on every side. It
did not seem to him toy, reaching only few
inches in height, and Governing but square
foot OF ground, but real castle, lifting itself
| hundreds OF feet upwards to the blue sky, and
spreading vide npon the earth it's ample foun-
dations. AS the idea grew more and more
perfect, his strange pleasure increased Now
be stood with folded arms, wrapped in the
oyermasterlng lllusion-now walked slowly
around, viewing the structure on all sides, and
noting every minute particular and now sat
down, and bent over it with the fondness Of q
mother bending over her child Again he
arose. purposing to obtain another and more
distinct view of his work. But his foot struck
against.one Of the buttresses, and instantly
with crash, wall, tower, and battlement fell
in hopeless ruin.
In the room whit boy, sat his father,
lraa dino Tho Oh Il rf, III !,
uttered sharp, angry rebake glencing for a
moment towards the tartied chiId. and then
returning his eyes to she attf1etiEe pages be-
fore him, unconscious of the shadow he had
cast upon the heart of his child. Tears
came into those fair Blue erbs, dancing in light
moment before. From the frowniug face Of
bis father, to which his glance was suddenly
turned, the child looked back to the shapeless
ruins Of his castle Is it any wonder that he
bowed his face in silence upon them and wet
them with his tears
For more than fvesminutes, he sat still, as
if sleeping then, in mournful kind of way,
yet almost noselessly, he commenced restoring
to the box, from which he had taken them, the
many shaped pieces that, fifty joined together,
had grown into noble building. After the
box was filled, he replaced the cover, and laid
it carefully upon shelf in the closet.
Poor child That shadow was a deep one,
and long in passing away. His mother found
him half an hour afterwards, asleep on the
! floor with cheeks flushed to an unusual bright
ness. She knew nothing of that troubled
passage in his young life; and the father had
forgotten, in the attractions Of the book he
read, the momentary annoyance expressed in
words and tone, with power in them to shad-
ow the heart of his child
A young wife had busted herself for mary
days in preparing pleasant surprise for her
husband. The work was finished at last and
now she awaited his return, with heart full
of warm emotions. A dressnggown, a pair
of elegantly embroidered slippers, wrought by
her own skilful fingers, were the gifts with
which she meant to delight him. What a
troop of pleasure fancies was in her heart
How almost impatiently did she wait for the
coming twilight, which was to be dawn, not
approaching darkness to her
At last she heard the step of her husband
in the passage, and her pulses leaped with
futtering delight Like bird upon the wing,
she almost few down to meet him, impatient
for the kiss that awaited her.
To men in the world of business, few days
pass without their disappointmcnts and per.
| plexities. 1t is mems business to bear this in
manly spirit. They form but portion Of
life's discipline, and should make them stron
ger, drawer, and more enduring. Unwisely,
and we may say, unjustly, too many men fail
to leave their business cares and troubles in
their stores, workshops or counting rooms, at
the days decline. They wrap them in bun.
dies, and carry them home to shadow theil
households
1t was SO with the young husband on ibis
particular occasion. The stream Of business
had taken an edying whirl, and thrown hi.
vessel backwards, instead Of EDWARDS, for d
brief space, and though it was still 10 the cur
rent, aud gliding safely onward against it, thu
jar and disappointment had fretted his mine
severely. There was no heart-warmth in til,
kiss be gave his wife, and because he had "a
care oyershadow love. He drew his an
around her but she was conscious of & al
minished pressure in that embracing arm.
/ Are you not well {"