Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-01-20
An Original Storp.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
A AlIgE VERM O U ,
BY II M O N .
CHAPTER w.
Though wisdom oft has sought me-
I scorned the lore she brought me;
NV only books,

And folly's all they've taught me.
Such was Harry Weutworth's exclamation,
as he sat in his room short time after his
return from Woodlawu, and reflected upon
the incidents of his past life. With the
character of those incidents, we are very
we'll acquainted; so leaving him to review
his past history alone, let US accompany him
in his reflections concerning his present SIT
uatiou.
uAud So" thought he, 81 have at last
reached the goal for which have so much
logged, have at last found my good an-
gel.' But now that am in that situation,
which my fancy has so often pictured, begin
to realize the faintness of the picture which
fancy drew, as compared with the reality
How strange that ever could have imagined
myself happy in my past pursuits! How
strange that could have pursued a course
which now seems to me, so extraVagahtly
foolish! 1 have now reached the culmlna-
ting point in my existence; have something
worth living for; have an anchor to which
may cling, and beacon-light by which to
direct my course over life's troubled sea-
Nv fondess hopes have been realized. Alice
Vernon's love is mine" Oh! what thrill
of delight rushed through his frame at the
thought. IT'S sweet to listen to the trump
of fame, when it sounds our own praises;
tits sweet to wander forth by night, under
the jewelled canopy of heaven, and hold
communion with some congeuial spirit, or
with cur own thoughts; it's sweet to feel
the cordial grasp of friendship; tits sweet to
know, that when absent, our memories are
still cherished by parents, brothers and sis
ters at home; It's sweet to think, when wan
deriug in foreign land, that near and dear
friends are eager to welcome us back to our
native shore. "But sweeter than all this,
is the consciousness of being beloved by that
one whom we adore That love hovers over
US, like guardian angel, and guides our
footsteps in the path of right; it enters our
hearts and elevates our feelings; itenters our
minds and puri6es our thoughts; it perme-
ates our whole being, bringing with it, new
life and happiness it comes, like white
winged messenger of peace, to comfort and
cheer US amid the cares, anxieties and stern
realities of life; it comes to US even in sleep,
and reuews in dreams Of beauty, the joys of
our waking moments. tits difhcultin these
degenerate days, to advocate the existence
of such thing as love, without mourning
the charge of want of orthodoxy. Yet
love was otalways regarded as such an unim-
portant agent in the affairs of human life ;
the ancients invested him with the character
and attributes of divinity; they clothed
him with wings, and armed him with bow
and arrows, and from his unerring aim,
neither Gods nor men were safe. But IN
modern times, there are few such lovers as
Orpheus and Eurydice, and the few follow
ers who are now reckoned in Cupid's train,
are regarded by the great majority of man
kind as raviDg lunatics. Not that there is
any lack of worshippers at Hymen's shrine
but because they have ceased to consider
love as a necessary attendant at the marriage
altar. Wealth, position, convenience aud
other sordid motives are now the induce
ments to the assumption of the marriage
VOWS. Indeed, to such an alarming extent
do these motives prevail, that we would, like
the prophet Elijah, utterly despair of oul
cause, were we not assured that there are
still some who have not sbowed the knee tc
Baal;' some, who do not disregard the in
stiucts which God has implanted in theil
nature {; some, who still cultivate the soil o.
the heart, and find that the culture is no
an uupro6table one. If, indeed, as tht
Scriptures say, by the ceremony OF marriage
the husband and wife become "one flesh,
is often a very strange being which is thu
formed being with two heads, each desl
rous of having its own way in the govern
ment of the conjugal body, and unless one
or the other should fortunately get the as
tendency, waging continual warfare agains
each other. Oh, what wealth of wisdom
might many of Hymen's votaries learn from
the simple and touching words of the Scotch
wife to her husband
''John Anderson my Jo, John,
Fates up and down we've kent,