The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1858-06-24

! long, yellow hair, cleaning with the lus
Q tire Of golden threads, or like tissue 0
5 woven sunbeams, flowed around he
graceful neck and shoulders in shining
! waves, and gave her the appearance o
some divine picture, the representation o
& an angel, or other ethereal being. "Hov
beautiful, how CELESTIAL" murmured the
Colonel.
at is Marie Merlin, the pretty flower
girl, said the Judge.
How strange that she should wander
about the streets, and venture into such
improper places as this, with all those
matchless charms have never seen
anything like her beauty, save in one
and, indeed that strongly resembled it, !"
sighed the Carolinian.
at is thus that she supports an aged
mother and some worthless brothers and
sisters returned the Judge although
she is herself the personation of all vir-
tue and goodness, in her present occupa-
ti0n she must fall at at last -
AS he spoke, Marie glided, with un-
speakable grace, into the centre of the
hall, and resting her fragrant basket on a
stand of mottled marble, held up in each
hand a magnificent boquet, and repeated
with still wilder pathos and fervor her
musical song in praise of the blooming
merchandise Every beholder seemed
equally astonished, as well by her fasci-
mating beauty as by the bewildering
sweetness Of her voice, so that you might
have heard the dropping of a pin upon
the floor when she iterated, with tones of
psNtterable sadness, the closing line
Come, who will buy my flowers, the fairest of
the yearl'
The words sounded like the wall of
Some breaking heart, the imploring cry
of an infinite sorrow, or the chaunt of an
angel at the portals of Paradise.
But Immediately the wicked spirit Of
the genteel loafers and gamblers broke
loose from the spell Of wholly enchant-
ment which had held them at first, and
icy swamed around her, with unseemly
jests and deceitful eulogies of her mar
vellous beauty.
She shrank from them with bushes of
maiden modesty, and seizing her burden
of perfumes and brilliant colors, turned
to the Judge and Colonel with the eager
inquiry" don't you want some of my
flowers for your children ?"
"Yes, my dear child, | will buy them
ALL" answered the Carolinian, with
streaming eyes. How much are they
worth q
"Five dollars" she replied, with a
look of mingled delight and wonder.
Here, | will give you ten," he said,
presenting gold eagle.
"Thank you, SIR she faltered, with |
still greater amazement in those large,
mystic blue eyes.
You shall have ten such pieces if you
will take me to your home, and let me
see your mother" added the Colonel, in
tones unspeakably earnest and tender.
The cerulean eyes dilated their utmost
extension, but shouts of laughter from
the welldressed barbarians in the saloon
told that the whisper had been overheard;
and Marie, snatching the golden eagle,
and at the same instant emptying her
basket of bouquets on the marble floor,
fed from the hall with the speed of a
frightened fawn.
The Judge and Colonel then parted,
and the latter urged his steps towards
the old Catholic cemetery, to weep over
the beloved dust of his only daughter,
the flower idol of his happy home, ban
ished long years ago-murdered, as it
were, so le low felt by bis cruel family
pride. IL is vain to attempt a descrip-
tiusof that mournful meeting between
the living and the dead. The highest
heaven Of joy and the lowest hell Of hui
man woe alike elude the touches of pen
and pencil. One might as well seek to
paint the immensity of space, or draw
chart of eternal duration; for all the
most powerful passions have certain
character of ingnitude which battles the
weakness of words, and beats down even
the soaring wings of imagination.
After the storm of his agony had spent
its fury, the father noticed, with extreme
surprise, that the tomb of his child was
wreathed with most beautiful flowers, all
bright and fresh from the garden, and
which, consequently, had been hung there
during the morning. "What kind hand
can have done this q he murmured, with
increasing wonder. "My poor Maria
has been buried those fourteen years,
and neither she nor her husband had one
friend in this great metropolis, where the
lurid feet Of death tread so closely on the
hurrying heels of life All see all the
older graves are bare and naked, while
only the recent marbles is clothed with
blooms of green and gold! ! will return
at the dawn Of tomorrow, and wait for
the solution of the mystery" And with
this determination, he walked slowly back
to the hotel.
The next day. with tho first faint
streaks Of rosy light Colonel Moulton