The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-05-05

ioltering along 1T, leaning on his arm,
and listening TO him with eyes beaming
with unconscious affection.
j The shock which the poor girl had re-
ceived, in the destruction of all her
ideal world, had indeed been cruel
Paintings and Mysteries had at first sha-
ken her tender, frame, and were succeed
ed by settled and pining melancholy.
| She had beheld from her window the
march of the departing troops. She
had seen her faithless lover borne off, as
if in triumph, amidst the sound of drum
and trumpet, and the pomp of arms
She strained last aching gaze after
him, as the morning sun glittered about
his figure, and his plume waved in the
breeze he passed away like bright
vision from her sight, and left her all in
darkness.
1t would be trite to dwell on the par,
ticulars of her after story 1t was, like
other tales of love, melancholy. She
avoided society, and wandered out alone
in the walks she had most frequented
with her lover. She sought, like the
stricken deer, to weep in silence and
loneliness, and brood over the barbed
arrow that rankled in her SOUL Some
! times she would be aeen late of an even
ing sitting in the porch of the village
church and the milk maids, returning
from the fields, would now and then
ovcrhear her, singing some plaintive
ditty in the hawthorn walk She be-
came fervent in ber devotions at church;
and as the old people saw her approach,
SO wasted away, yet with hectic bloom,
and that hallowed air which melancholy
diffuses round the form, they would
make way for her as for something spir-
itual, and, looking after her, would
shake their heads in gloomy foreboding.
She felt conviction that she was
fastening to the tomb, but looked forward
to it as place of rest. The silver cord
that had bound her to existence was
loosed, and there seemed to be no more
pleasure under the sun. If ever her
gentle bosom had entertained resent
ment against her lover, it was extin-
guished. She was incapable of angry
passions, and in a moment of saddened
tenderness she penned him farewell let
ter. 1t was couched in the simplest
language, but touching from its very
simplicity. She told him that she was
dying, and did not conceal from him that
his on1uct was the cause She even
depicted the sufferings which she had
experienced but concluded with saying.
that she could not die in peace, until
she had sent him her forgiveness and
her blessing.
{ BY degrees her strength declined, and
she could no longer leave the cet-
tage She could only totter to the
window, here propped up in her chair,
it was her enjoyment to sit all day and
look out upon the landscape. Still she
uttered no complaint, nor impaired to
any one the malady that was preying on
her heart. She never even mentioned
her lovers name; but would lay her
head on her mothers bosom and weep
in silence. Her poor parents hung, in
mute anxiety, over this fading blossom
of their hopes, still fattering themselves
that it might again revive to freshness,
and that the bright unearthly bloom
which sometimes flushed her cheek,
might be the promise of returning
| health.
In this way she was seated between
them one Sunday afternoon her hands
were clasped in theirs, the lattice was
thrown open, and the soft air that stole
in, brought with it the fragrance of the
clustering honey -suckle, which her own
hands had trained round the window.
Her father had just been reading a
chapter in the Bible; it spoke of the
vanity of worldly things, and the joys
of heaven it seemed to have diffused
comfort and serenity through her bosom.
Her eye was fixed on the distant village
church-the bell had tolled for the
evening services the last viHager was
tagging into the porch--and every thing
had sunk into that hallowed stiffness
peculiar to the day of rest. Her par
ents were gazing on her with yearning
hearts. Sickness and sorrow, which
pass SO roughly over some faces, had
given to hers the expression of r
aph's. A tear trembled in. her soft
blue eye. Was she thinking of her
faithless lover ?-or were her thoughts
wandering to that distant churchyard
into whose bosom she might soon be
gathered?
! Suddenly the clang Of hoofs was heard
la horseman galloped to the cottage
he dismounted before the window--the
poor girl gave faint exclamation, and
sunk back in her chair :---it was her re
A pentant lover He rushed into the
house, and flew to clasp her to his bosom
but her wasted form-Aher death-likt
countenance--sc wan, yet SO lovely il
its desolation-smote him to the soul
and he threw himsell in agony at hel
, feet. She was too faint to rise-she at
| Aanntsd to axtend her tr emblino hand