Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1859-01-21
From the New York Mercury.
THE MOTHERS INFLUENCE.
BY MRS. n. ROBINSON.
CHAPTER |.


Almost in the shadow of the precise,
venerable Quaker church-back of the
hawthorn hedge which ran alongside the
silver stream, and opposite the group of
poplars, standing shivering upon the
rounded hill-top-sits the white cottage
of widow L9nden. There is porch
covered with jasmine, graveled walk,
bordered with white roses, and neat pal
ing enciosed-the whole.
Years agone, when the poplarS were
younger, and the stream kept up its tune
full murmuring, never checked by the i'll
looking dams that now impede its flow,
when there were fewer brown tomb-stones
in the shadows Of the brown churches,
Arthur Landen brought to the cottage
his bride Annie. Life was very beauti
ful to the two, who stood just in the dawn
ing light of great hopes. There were
no clouds on their sky, no chilliness in
their warm atmosphere Of love. There
were mutual confidence and holy trust
III the two hearts, and their fre-side was
consecrated to peace and contentment.-
They were poor. Arthur was mason,
working early and late at that most ardu-
Gus of avocations. At first, the struggle
was to obtain a maintenance; ; thea, by
careful economy, the cottage was paid for,
and many little luxuries obtained. Ar
thur and Annie were persons Of taste,
the refining influence of which was seen
and felt by the visitor. There were in
expressive, but pretty, pictures; not cost
ly, but valuable books, violin for hus-
band, a guitar for the wife.
The evenings which the husband was
at liberty to spend at his bright, cheer
ful home, were devoted to reading and
music, and, sometimes, composition
Arther was poet at soul. The hands
roughened by hard labor, could WELD 6
pen ably. With a spirit attuned to al
the varied harmonies of Nature-witl
an eye ever seeking for the gIories of the
evening.lined clouds-of the illimitable
heavens-of the cloud-capped noun
tains and the fower-strewn wales, it wa
no wonder that his poetry was deep anC
impassioned, and that, as he read to th'
appreciative wife, tears of pride should
rise to her eyes, and her heart overrur
with pure JOY.
A baby blessed the home of our poet
mechanic-a boy-which they christenet
Carl; and they both felt how priceless
was the gift vouchsafed them, and how
closely both hearts closed about the beau
tiful boy.
Arthur went forth TO his weeks toi
with a soul glowing with rich, warm emo
tions, and tender memories of his happ
home, blessed by such wife, such child
And Annie, though feeling that half th
light had gone with her husband, that tn
place was lonely in his absence, put ava
all useless repiDings at a fate compellin
such a separation, and devoted herself t
the sweet task of caring for the littl
Carl.
Arthur worked four miles away, lay
ing the walls of large mill, and coul
not be at home bat once a week. Ann
he'd feared that some terrible accider
would happen to her husband, either tbi
the scaffolding would give out and precil
itate him to the rocky bed of the cree
beneath, or, in quarrying out the stor
up on the steep ledges, lowering fort
and fifty feet high, he might lose his ba
ance and fall to the stones below. b
weeks had passed, and each Saturda
night had returned her loved one in saf
ty; so the unpleasant thoughts of dea
had gradually been dispelled, and 81
looked forward now with rapture to Il
closing day of the week.