The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-07


down in mercy upon ger, and on how many
other weeping girls as helpless, desolate, and
despairing, as she lh, my God, how long
How long, Father, shs1 manhood be trampled
to death, and woman hood be left to wriths
and agonize alone, uEier the cloven hoof O
Satan, sitting in the jldge's seat, or standing
in the statesman's pllce?" His unusually
loud and rapid utteranee Suddenly stopped.
She raised her head, and her fright instantly
turned the current of her feelings and stopped
her tears, as she saw how pale he was. She
would have flown to cal Edward, who was in
sight, walking up ano down the beach with
Clara; but Herman ca lght her Dress and held
it fast.
After moment, he lartially recovered him
self, and went on, tho 7gh in whisper, still
more rapidly than befoEs, as if he feared not to
have time or breath enessgh for all that he had
still to say: :" / do not sink that am really
to be separated from y$l, for are they not all
ministering spirits2 l ahall be allowed to come
continually and minister to you-better, per
haps, than / could ha done if had lived
Constance, must / wees in heaven over your
tears on earth? Constance, will you try, for
my sake, to be comfortes,?"
She knelt at his feet - :" Yes, yes-I will /
will try Oh, my Gocshelp us Herman, il
you will only rest, viii. / can l Wilt"
DE went on, faster ar a fainter Yes, pray,
sweet soul, and God Wi help us, and give you
strength, and peace, and 10Y, at last. Constance,
you can go now to the saset or the altar, and
there remember no bros.er or sister hath aught
against you No blood or tears are appealing
to heaven against you. - on have ennObled my
life. You cheer-my esath! You will glad
denny eternity" E,e bowed his head upon
her hands on his knesA His lips were very
cold. He had tainted. 2
They carried him to s bed. For an hour,
he gasped and swoonsl and swooned and
gasped. Edward was Utmost as pale as he.
The least further agitat -, and he would never
gasp again. 1t was the that the true great
ness of Constance sho sed ITSELF His swim
ming eyes opened and asked for her. The
creature bent over him, and actually smiled. A
tinge OF color came into his lips they moved.
She stopped closer, ane fust caught, with eye
and ear together, the s~rds, Forgetting the
| things that are behind She took them up
from him eagerly, with clear sweet tone, ex-
claiming " Yesi forgetting the things that
are behind, we wW press. on TO those which are
before, to the mark of orr high calling in Christ
Jesus!'" He thanked, .er with look of I'M
speakable admiration, gratitude, and relief.
Before long, his limbs 3 wv warm. He turned
on his side towards bef Again she smiled,
and he slept. y
He awoke somewhat stter, but he was very
i'll. The week which fc awed was dreadful
one to them all. He n~rer left his bed, and
they did not expect thateae would ever leave it
again, except to exchan<e it for his coffin. He
suffered, too-he who reemed so much too
weak, so much too de< not to be sheltered
from all sufferingl Esaey night delirium
came on, in which not ~len the sight which
had always hitherto beess-recstacy to him could
bring him any relief; @S when Constance bent
over him. and told him at she was there, and
smiled to soothe him, hs.rsalled her America"
cried to her that she hse cherished viper in
her breast which would-Sin ing her to the heart,
and shrieked to her in a ony to tear it opt; so
that she was forced to l. re' hun 1t was pit
eous proof how the youx lover and patriot had
enshrined together in he soul the two earthly
objects which were the 5earest to it, his love
and his country.
And when, at last, - outcries had been
stillsd by opiates, andS oey took watch and
watch, one after anothersst his side, Edward,
unable to sleep, woufi@ aace the long bleak
beach, and think. Wat the nature of his
thoughts was we can isse art conjecture, from
the course of his after - :, but their poignancy
can be known only by r. y who, like him, have
left some loyal loving G.. iade and brother to
fight the battle of life ,-s-re, and ranged them
selves fairly by his sias aot until he has re-
ceived his mortal wound. Still, by the great
mercy of God, the strai.z4l gate is nnbolted to
US the narrow way l. s1pen, and still our
Heavenly Father is readklo give the holy spirit
to us who ask Him but the human spirit,
which, once in its dear visible form, would have
walked, and prayed, and striven, at our side,
has vanished. 1t has borne its cross alone
alone borne the burden and heat of its day; it
has marched its march, unipEpirited by any
music of ours. We could have been fellow
soldiers once but he is promoted to the legions
of the angels, and we must follow after him, as
he went before us, alone
Or Clara knelt and wept so fast before God
that she could scarcely pray for her more than
brother-her foster-son and foster-father, her
nurseling, and her guide--but gained, she knew
not how, strength to strengthen them ALL Her
trial was hard one; but hers was the lightest,
because she had been so faithful to him from
the first-fa faithful, as it seemed, even unto
death.
Or Constance, in her turn, sent nnwillingly
to her sleepless bed, dared not to think or weep,
but wrung her hands before God, and prayed
that He would give her strength while Herman
needed her strength, and then-that His will
might be done for Herman had hidden her to
pray for that-Herman, who might never give
her any direction more. Her sorrow was the
keenest; she believed herself to be the cause
of the sorrow of them all, and in her misery she
felt herself alone. Clara could go to Ed
ward for comfort, or Edward to Clara; but to
Herman she must not 20. Oh, what is more
terrible than to turn instinctively; from habit,
when some stunning blow has made our hearts
reel, to one to whom we have hitherto turned
for support under every shock, and never turned
in vain, and to see that it is through him that
that blow has reached us. 1t is precisely by
our shiverea prop that we are pierced; and we
dare no more to lean upon it, lest we should
break it quite off at once. Sickness often does
not wait for Death to cut us off Srom commun-
ion with those whom we love.
But if Constance reproached herself not al
together unjustly for her lovers suferings, she
compressed even into those few days the devotion
and selfsacri6ce of lifetime. If her grief was
inconceivable, so were her fortitude and disin-
terestedness; for they triumphed over her grief,
and enabled her to go every morning to his
chamber with cheerful composure.
"This is unnatural, said Edward I" she will
do herself harm by it. Clara, you must talk to
her, and make her talk to you. This sort of
fearless, dumb grief, is dangerous.
Clara had not waited for this exhortation;
but Constance, considering herself, as we have
seen, the cause of the sorrow of the rest, and
supposing that they must consider her so, too,
had felt her selfreproachfhl anguish to be Pc
culiarly her own, and beyond the reach of the
sympathy of either of them. She had hitherto
even almost repealed Clara's, with an uncon-
scious relapse into her former impenetrable re-
serve of manner; for in our manners we are
often, without our knowledge, haunted by the
ayenging ghosts of our old faults. We willingly