The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1859-03-03

and it was at long intervals that | met

"hu ~ Noo ou iuh65 lhtSiNNIo taao iiiS'
her on the street. She was slowly sink
ing under consumption, and it was evil
dent her days were numbered. The only
sonnd that ever broke the stiffness sur
rounding that quiet and desolate abode,
was the sound of music. From the wreck
of their better estate only one remnant
remained. 1t was the piano TO this
she had clung with sentimental fondness,
as the cherished companion Of her girl
hood, and the only one that had survived
her miSfortunes. Often did / linger in
the Silly night to hear the sad, sweet,
melody of her voice, as she sang some
old familiar song. They were all songs
of the heart, full of tender patbos, for
she had long since renounced all others
could but think of the dying swan,
singing her own dirge, in strains that
grow sweeter to the last,
There, in that comfortless and dcSolate
little room was a lovely and beautiful
girl, dying from overtasked labor and
want. With such auxilliaries, the con-
sumption could not be long in bringing
her the relief of death and yet arouud
her lived and moved city's busy peo-
pie, ignorant even of her existence.-
She would soon die and be conveyed to
an humble grave, upon which no epitaph
would be written, to tell the simple story
Of her misfortunes; her purity and hero
ism. Around her daily moved and shone
thousands Of her sex in the pride and
circumstances Of wealth ard fashion, and
yet among those thousands there was no
form so fair, no heart so pure, so heroic
as her own. Whether such bitter refec-
tions ever came to her, to dash with gall
the ciaiice Of death, / hnogt rot, edt
they were ever present to me when con-
templated her sad fate.
Poverty and suffering are the inheri
tance of millions of our race. Their
lives from the cradle to the grave are
one perpetual struggle for existence
But this condition, wretched as it is, is
more blessed than the sudden precipita-
tion from q happy life, the comforts of
wealth, and the pleasures Of society,"
The sudden blow Of misfortune strikes
with a paralyzing power that prostrates
the soul, and memory is agonized by q |
single thought that WHITES the conscious
ness Of its loss. Then come those mad /
dening thoughts which demand to know
the reason why one so pure and innocent /
should suffer such diSpensation, while +
others move in guilty grandeur, and un- !
deserved happiness. Is it strange, if in
such an hour, the spirit rebels against its
maker, and doubts the justice of his PROV
dence ? Happy indeed if such an one
can bow mcekly to the fate that erushes
him, and "wring from sorrows cup of
gold' the soothing consolation Of relig
ion.
Thus died the meek sufferer, whose
have made her the subject of
this sketch. She survived my stay in
college, but when ] returned ON visit q
few years after, / learned that she was
dead. No incident in my life ever inn
pressed me 50 painfully, and so wildly
as this. | was awed into veneration
for this noble girl, who submitted so
meekly and so sweetly to the grief and
the cares that consumed her life. Upon
her humble and nameless grave let this
epitaph be written:
Beautiful are queens on thrones, but
is there not beauty, eternal as the beau
ty of the stars, in placid want; smiling
with angelic looks, and gathering holiest
power even from the misery that con-
sumes t." BERNARD LILLE.
" Where Did lie Go 10 PIN a ho-
tel in village in Alabama there is en-
pIoyed bartender who is in tho habit
of taking his tod" pretty freely, but al
ways makes it point never to drink in