The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1858-06-24
OKOLONA, MISS, JUNE "a, 1858.

"Where How For the love O
God let me know the worst p cried th'
excited father, seizing the arm Of hi
friend with the gripe of an iron vice.
"They are both gone" murmuret
the Judge, with moist eye lids.
At this awful announcement, instead O.
staggering or storming with his grief
Col. Moulton suddenly grew very calm
but his visage, even to the very lips
looked livid as that Of a corpse, and he
asked, in sepulchral tone, with Wild
features. "When did it happen 2"
"At the time which have just men
toned" said the other; "early in the
winter after their arrival. They were
buried together in one grave -
In that horrible swamp of course y
groaned the miserable father.
"No, my friend" returned the Judge /;
F" | had them placed in handsome tomb,
at my own expense, with their names
sculptured on the marble, and wrote ad-
vising you of the fact"
81 never received the letter; but oh |!
how my heart thanks you for the kind
ness - responded the Colonel, again
bursting into tears.
"As you did not answer my communi-
cation, did not allude to the subject
when we met in Washington, supposing
it might be disagre2able to your feel
ings,' apologized the Judge.
"But what became of their child ?"
asked the Caroinian, in voice of intense
anxiety.
1.-The people near the hut where they
died thought that it, too, had perished
with the fever few days previously
but | was unable to obtain any certain
intelligence of the fact, although you
may well imagine that | made every pos
sible inquiry
WAS it boy p sobbed the Colonel.
SO they told me, as "a matter of opin-
ion; yet without positive assurance on
the subject"
"Where do they sleep ?" gasped the
father, weeping large tears, one by one,
like the first OF a thunder-shower.
:" In the old Catholic cemetery, near
the eastern gate. You can see their
names from the entrance, on a small pyr-
amid OF white MARBLE but | will show
you the spot"
mo! !" said the Colonel, in a hollow
whisper; 81 would visit the beloved dust
Of lny injured daughter alone ~
How long will you remain in the
cityr
a know not perhaps while | remain on
earth. | have sold out everything, and
am the miserable owner of half mil
lion-more unfortunate, more utterly
wretched and hopeless, than the poorest
rag-picker that lives in the gutter
"Then come and make your home
with us, and we will do everything that
we can to clear your sorrow; for my
family, too, have suffered bereavement,
and can feel for the afiliction of Others"
urged the Judge, in tones of the truest
sympathy,
al am not ungrateful for your kind re-
quest" answered the Colonel, mourn
fully; but my home must henceforth
be in the solitude of my own chamber,
where l shall always be happy to receive
you. As for myself, shall never more
mingle with any sort of society =
AT the moment, youthful feminine
voice was heard singing, near the door,
the words of rude song in tones of the
strangest yet sweetest melody and pathos
ever uttered by human organs
/" Here are flowers for the beautiful, flowers for
the brave,
Flowers for the bridal, and flowers for the bier
Here are flowers for the altar, and flowers for
the nave @---i
Come, who will buy my flowers, the fairest of
the yearl
/ cull'd them in the morning, beneath the break
of day,
When the silver dews were falling in many a
shining tear;
Here are flowers for the gloomy, and flowers for
Come, who win buy my flowers, the fairest of the
Col. Moulton started with feelings of
agitation, as the notes, wild
and bewildering as those of a nightin-
gale, rung through his brain. The voice,
with its rich, thrilling, bird-like, inimita-
bic music, possessed a touch of beseech-
ing sadness that fingered in the soul, and
haunted the listeners heart as the echoes
of funeral bell, or the tones that some
times come in the deep dreams of love
and sorrow.
Immediately the female singer entered
the public saloon, with large basket of
radiant dewy flowers upon her arms; and
the Carolinian felt far more wonder at
the remarkable vision of her beauty than
he had previously experienced from the
silver accents of that enchanting tongue.
She was a slight fairy formed young girl,
or rather child. only in her fifteenth sum-
mer, with a meek, pale face. musing and
and large, mystic eyes of +
the brightest heavenly blue, but sad and
thoughtful, / had almost said saint-like,,
In tha nurity of their expression. Her y