Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-07-01
From the Charleston MERCURY
Life ian Washington.

SdNC III VI III AlOS1 CICSdiI DdIlICS
the season. C~oronetted carriages depo
tied their inmates at the door, and IL
-portly and pompous butler admittc
group after group of our most distii
guishcd citizens.
1t was afctc Of rare b~rilliancv. Laro
Mirrors flashed back the light of glitter
ing chandeliers, and mimic ed on thei
surface the varying features of tn
crowd travcrsing the splendid saloon
of the English Minister. There wer
elegant women in jcweled %tiaras, an,
dresses of every description; and fai
girls, with gossomcrs robes floating lik,
misty wells around their figures.
There were, among the guests on tina
occasion, one who was strikiu%'y con
spicious-a young daughter of a resi-
dent citizen-Capt. Dahlgreen of the
Navy. She was a fair, slender girl, with
u lovely coral mouth, eyes of the soft
est, meekest violet, and a face shaded
with long golden ringlets like floating
rays of sunshine. She seemed like one
to whom God had given the power, by
personal loveliuess, to produce n living
impression of the imagery of Heaven.
even here amid the earthly darkness OF
our life. 1t was her first appearance i'll
society, aud she was dressed with great
simplicity, with natural flowers on heI
bosom: SO purely freshly beautiful, that
they seemed fit emblems of the one they
adorned. BY general reclamation she
was pronounced the loveliest of that
brilliant crowd, and, as an expressive
compliment, was invited by Lady Ma
pier to open the evening, While the
stirring music sent its s~traines into the
night air the loveliness of that one fair
girl remained uneclipscd and undemin-
ished.
And vet those who saw her on that
occasion felt that the glittering eyes, the
prominent veins around the temples,
the transparent complexion, gave but
too plainly the signs of the malady
which would insidiously terminate her
pure existence.
A few brief weeks have passed away
and yesterday Lizzie Dahlgrcen was
again a strkingly conspicuous object in !
large assemblage who had collected IT
the parlors of her fathers residence =
But there was no music-no joyful hill
iarity; an awful stiffness reigned around
The window shutters we're closed; every
one spoke in whispers, the attcndcrs
moved about steadily and cautiously as
if they feared to wake one who lay in
slumber. The Stiffness and solemn
truth of death was there, instead of the
Jubilee of mirth;-the oppressive silence
which follows this falling asleep of those
whom no earthly sounds shall ever Gus
again. Dim as the light was in the
rooms, Il beam bad contrived to find its
way through the draperies of the win
dows, lighting up a fine old painting On
the wall, and leaving Il dash of bright
ness on the rosewood coffin which stood
in the ROOMS. Her young companions
on the former occasiontwhich was alike
her debut and her farewelDare again a
round her with swollen eyes and quiv-
cring lips.
We will, dear reader contemplate her
now as we did then. She looks so love-
ly in her present attire, as in the recher-
che toilet in which we last beheld her.
Flowers-fresh fowers,-deck her bos-
ON and a coronal of Spring blossoms
rest against the waxen temples: now, as
then, her beautiful form, with all its
willowy grace, is enveloped, too in
white The same fair high, forehead,
with the blue vsins crossing it; but the
light golden curls are pushed far back
and gathered up into a knot behind
The lips are drawn down over the soft
shy eyes, the long lashcs resting OH the
cheek, aud the soft strange smile that
curves her beautiful lips, has none of
the sadness bathing the shut eyelids.-
There is, too, the same Transparency
fir complexion, but there is the ~faintest
tinge Of blue, instead of the warm; gen
erous heart-tide which belonged to it on
the former occasion. The small white
hands lay as they have been placed,
their tapering tips crossing each other
ON her still bosom.
Alasl at that brilliant assembly she
was a living soul; here; she is a lovely
corpse. OH what a wealth of love,
and youth, and sweet hopes, lie in that
coffin!
~ am tie resurrection and the life
As the voice of DIR. Cummins falls upon
their ears, her young companions turn
away with sob-like bursts of grief, leav-
ing kisses on the icy checks and fore
head. 1t seems as if that white figure
mast rise to join them-as if that once
joyous voice must sound in their strain
ing cars.
As we write, the sunset lies rosy and
still on the public ground-thc trees
and shrubbery stretch far away edged
with a golden CLEAN and a fringe of
shadows. The lilac trees and the vio-
lets that have been the friend Of her
childish years, from which many a nose
gay has been enriched, still wave in the
sunshine, and smile up at the soft blue
sky; dcw-spangled buds are peepine
out in every Objectionable waking all
round, but for sweet Lizzie Dahlgreen,
the still, silent, changeless grave! And
yet there is a pause in sorrow when we
think she is in Heaven. The passing
away of this lovely spirit gives a new
attractivcness to that bright home with
CIR she is gone. In that better world o
glory there is no shadow of cold dis
trust-no wrong suifereI-no pain in
ficted. In that Heaven that ''bend
over ALL" and judges all
From mans injustice, from the cold a
ward.
OF the unfeeling, we shall pass away;
And at the gate of life an angel guard
0ur nath of realms of bright eterna