Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1858-09-22
human emotion-for ayarice is inhuman-seem-


ed crushed out of that old iron bosom.
And Nellie must be bartered for gold! Aye,
sold, like the beautiful Eastern women, to the
highest bidder,-and that too in Christian
land
"You shall not wait for lover, who has long
since forgotten your existence. Where is your
pride that it does not rise in scorn at his base
falsehood2 Acton is rich, girl-rich. We
are poor-he loves you; and his you shall be-
No more nonsense, Miss Helen Norton"
Oh! weak Nellie, swayed like mesmcric
patient by that master will, struggling vainly
for lost individuality. Destiny (say rather
,reakness) has encircled thee in its meshes'
Thou cans't not escape. Thy fate is upon thee
lost Nellie!
The bridal eve cold, calm, and cloudless !!
How can the heavens he silent when such deeds
are done2 And yet the stars shone as bright
ly as before; the moon rode the heavens trl-
umphantly, nor paused to veil her face with a
cloud because heart was s1ocly breaking.
Lovely in her bridal robes-fairer than an
artists yision-and yet it is the loveliness
beautiful corpse wears when we shroud it Tor
the grave Surely those were funeral lights,
they burned so blue and unearthly. Surely
those maidens, robed in white are pall-bear-
ers; that grave, white-haired divine, the
minister who is come to say the last words
over the dead a wedding surely such mar
riage was never made in heaven and angels
weep at the mockery. A bridegroom totterins
with the weight Of ycars-a bride i'll the first
flush of youth and beauty. The ties Which
bind them, sensuality and gold. Oh unhal-
lowed rites!
But what strange white face is that, which
rushes in at the door, and CLEANS upon us'like
a spectre? What means that maniacal stare
Ave, and Why Goes shrek froa those white
lips which have just vowed to "lore honor, and
obey" echo wildly through that festive room ?
Why2 Because Willie is come. Willie, the
victim Of careless mails come with love and
hone to win what is already-the wife Of an
otler The clergyman cannot unsay it, The
innocent victim is sacrificed, and the pardon
comes-too late!
I remember nothing distinctly. Nellie was
borne fainting to her room; the wondering
crowd was dismissed with vague apologies. And
Willie-my Willie, only mine "o'e,-leared
from my lips what the reader already knows
Hope and Despair! Though separated, ye
are twin-sistcrs and where one goes, the other
is sure to follow
"Farewell, Nellie! God help me, for am
very miserable J.
That nliserably scrawed notc-how unlike
hi: usual hand-writing-is all to tell that he has
come, and gone, forever!
This is the end Of all those days of weary
watching. Hopeless Nellie life stretches away,
away into drcary future-nay not life, eris-.
tencc; that weary rising and going down Of the
sun; those long, miserable blank days; that
dull tLrobbing Of heart which wil MOI stop,
because you wish it
Years pass away, and Willie is married A
fair young bride presides in that distant home
of his. lie makes her happy, for he is pure,
and honorable. But, even when her voice is in
his ear, when her hand clasps his, his heart
who can control it ?-wandcrs back to his boy
hoods home to that "trystng place" in the
dell; to that little cottage under the hill to
fair young face he may see no more; to Nellie,
the angel of his boyhood The loved OF his
youth
And a friend has told her Of his marriage,
and whispered, oh, how unwscly, that there
are moments of weakness in which Willie says,
what 'tis crime to own,
"By my own faults lost the only woman l
ever loved love her yet, only her. shall
love her always"
And she, the unconscious bride, dreams not
Of this. Heaven spare her the knowledge
X Il
Nellie is dead A pure white stone points
heavenward whittier Sue has flown!
My home is in distant city, but have come
back to those Old haunts again. seat myself
on this n,oss-covered seat where Willie first
told Nellie of his love. 1 wander over the
lonesome hills where we three sang together,
waking their echoes with our glad young voices.
One is silent in the grave-one only is left
Here hangs the vine, where he gathered gar
lands to deck her forehead-I gather few Of
the flowers, and scatter Ger her grave!
"Hcrc in moonlight often VIC have wandered
Meath the silent shade;
Now where leafy branches dropping downward
Darling Nellie's laid
The stars which witnessed her betrothal,
weep in silence over her grave in yondcr lonely
dell.
Oh! those old memories. They come back
to ME now-and bring me more ghostly spec
tres of the dead past them ever haunted Rich
ards dreams. Every we'll known spot brings
back some faded bope-evcry walk some per-
isLcd Joy. The autumn winds are signing over
the desolate valleys, waking the spirits which
slumber in the hill and Ginning in with that
desolateness of feeling which is stealing over
my heart.
Where are they-the playnates Of my youth ?
On earth we three shall meet never more Tho
voices have heard, greet me no more. The
eyes loved smile for me no longer. The hands
have clasped will clasp mine neyer-never
more!
Willie is wanderer. Nellie's face has gone
fr,,, NV sjuht forever And