New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-02-06
sltu 0rIsans 1ailu G1restfnt,


u - . N
~ NARY as,lTsy
He had bern handsome and poor. Tic was
fapSdiy growing wfsnkltd and rich. There had |
been tiae when pretty girls liked him. There
We scarcely . woman III the world now who cared
for him. Hc had oatlived his relations, outlIvcd |
Bis friends untliyed the girl who had loved
HIN. az scarcely rrmembered any Of them. 1T 1
was lost time he Thought TO 60 wandering into
te damp halls ef the castle Of memory, where one
was likely to stMmbie over moulay records and hear
The ghosts Of dead voices whispering in the dim
galleries, me knew, too, there was portrait
hanging on those castle walls which he never
wished ID lock upon again. 1t was not the picture
OF the girl who had loved him, he had no picture
Of her, hut II was that Of the girl he had loved He
believed years had curtained il, and age decayed
Il: hut faded or fresh, he wished never 70 behold
Il She had told Him W was poor, when he knew
he was rich j; rich IL that manly vigor and mental
energy which i better than gold she HAD said she
was proud when lie knew she was vain, and he
man who had stood astride his grave and looked in
iii his shoulders were bent like bow.
Then Joe courted fortune. He knelt at her feet
and kissed her hand. am willing, he said, s.to
sacrifice everything for you Youth shall be torn
hommg brow, ny heart from my bosom; MY feet
shall wander over burning sands, my lips grow
parched where water IS not. No man shall be my
hfother, no woman my wife. Thy abiding place
shall be my home. Thy bosom my only pillow :
and thy hand shall place at my head that white
book which has but one page, when am blotted
from the book Of life.'
Could even the tickle goddess resist SO earnest d
petitioner She accepted offer and exacted every
iota VI sacrifice he had promised. The smooth and
shining brow grew Swallowed, and Time who excels
in linear perspective, with heavy pencil, drew
\ upon II picture Of age. The brown locks grew
pale ct The sight, and the bright eyes sunk, sad
deneds deep beneath their arches. The ruddy
cheeks grew sallow, and calculation, not smiles,
sat upon the whitening lips. No bell called him Is
church, no woman babe him 10 her bridal no friend
babe him to funeral. The poor never named him.
the rich could not court him, love shrunk APPALLED,
4 at his sight, and ever murder turned away its
hideous head as he drew near. Night after night
he counted bis gold, till he might have buried him
self il tomb of dollars and deiied the resurrec-
ZIONIST.
It Was cold night The wind seemed playing
dead march around our Joe's little Office 1t was
4 too solemn to listen to Joe paid no heed to it.
Ghink, chnk, went the dollars into The little canvass
bags, and the big safe swallowed them up. Uneon-
sciously Joe snng a gather them in, gather them
IL !@ He stopped and shaddered when lie remem-
bered What song the words belonged to, and as he
stopped be fancied he caught sight Of face-a
woman's face peering IN at him through the little
window. That face seemed somehow to have come
through the doors Of that old castle Of memory
moreover, if had left them open. He resolnteIy
closed them, and again be lifted up his eyes tile
face was gone. He was alone with his idol. For
time had smiled on him, favored him; had she
blessed him Joe started az the question came ID
suddenly across his mind The wind at that mo-
Hent tapped at his easement and said to Joe ssGold
never besses its owners unless it il used by them
to bless
Y Joe dropped his head upon his breast and listen
ed, Give give said the solemn winds again, and
the pale sycamore By his window tossed III lis
naked arms and echoed ssgiye.''
Giyer repeated Joe, and to whom2 Shall / |
give to friends have not one. 10 relations / /
know them not. To my foes ] hate them
THE poor ye have always with you,', chanted
the marching winds again and it seemed to Joe like
an cid text he had heard in his boyhood. The
doors Of tile old castle were getting aiar again.
He laid bis hand the latch but forgot to close it,
upon the long forbidden ground.
Involuntariy he raised his eyes to the portrait oil
the old love. Fresh and untarnished as when he
first buried il out of his sight it looked down at
him. There were the sweet blue eyes, the brown
hair. amid the locks Of which he had once twined
daisies, the full fresh lips which had told him they
could never call him husband "A pane shot
through his breast pang as keen as that he expe-
rienced when first that roman sealed bis bitter fate.
A Sigh burst from his lips, d tear stood under his
eyeslids. ReaoIutey he turned his back upon that
giriish face, and turned again to his canvas bags
and iron safe resolved to look on it no more; but
tie man Of money found lie had yeta heart!
u Chink, chink went the dollars again, and the
IioufnfuI winds still played their solemn marches.
Joe almost cursed them--he felt haunted; those
winds seemed TO him like some mighty orchestra
performing for ghostly actors. He did not like to
look around him the space under his desk seemed
peoPled bis legs inyoiuntariy shrunk under his
char something seemed to push them back
again, and voice from some invisible speaker,
near the corner where the wind moaned saddest
whispered, n redeem thy life, OH most miserable Of
meni listen 20 longer to the clink chink OF thy
gold. What Il 1t but the sections spade bnsily
digging thy grave Go forth, take the good gifts
God has given thee and make some Of his sorrow.
ing subjects glad n,
zoe seized bis bat, locked up his treasures and
rushed forth. He stumbled over a woman's figure
lying at his very door He stopped, lifted up the
white face and put back IL matted hair. The face
Of his old love was before him; he was holding ii
- his arms, pressing i to his bosom. The rain
rained on the pale eyelids but they did not omen.
HJoe's voice was IN the cold ears, hut they heard
him not The lips which had cursed his life were
yoiceless foreyermore. She was dead. As Tie
old memories rushed across his soul Joe forgot all
save that he had loved her once HE wished he
could die holding her there to his heart where e
had never held her before. The foodgates Of his
scui were opened and the long pent III, tides Of lie
past came rushing through, and he lifted IN his
yoIce and wept A folded paper, ciutched in the
dead fingers, caught his eyez-he seized il ana foan5
an unreceipIed bill for bread And such 4 aca NV
allowance as It was from date to date, sha
had suffered then, she had starved. died at Ill
door. hungry and cold while the chink 81 iii gal5
had drowned, perhaps, her groans! Sadly and
silently he gave the body up, and heard the verdict
given, died oJ staruatioa II seemed, then a. Il
bis gold in enc burning stream, was pouring on bis I