Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1860-06-06
as l gaze upon this beautiful twilight, mem.
ory calls up the loved and the iost-and

as | gaze upon this beautiful twilight, mem. |
DRY calls up the loved and the iost-and
Those joyous daye-now past and gone
Each fond familiar face &
From memory's dusty tablet,
No grief can e'er efface.
The lawn DER which we gamboled,
Is still as green as then !
But oh, the smiling faces,
Smile not on US again. |
Ida-my young friend of whose history /
promised to tell you-was once as fair, as
bright and joyous as yourself. Her eyes
were as blue, heir mein as graceful,-and
form as light as Fairy creations-or poets
brightest dreams Of ideal loneliness. Her
soft curls Of faxen shaded a brow of Parian
whiteness--and the rose blAshcd on her
cheek with modest hue. She was the petted
Of the hearth-stone, and the favored of the
social circle-such was my friend eer sorrow
laid its heavy hand upon her heart, and stay
ed as it were the very blood which flowed in
her veins robhing her cheek Of its rose, and
the joyous heart of its pleasure.
At seventeen she was the affianeed bride
of Preston Lea youth of giant intellect,
and unrivalled personal attractions. Many
| viewed with an ~enviouS eye the conquest she
had made in securing the favor of one so
generally beloved as Preston Lee. But alas,
the strongest are made weak quite often
and the fairest flower in the garden ofnature
is often nipped by the early frost-and such
was the experience of my friend. The idol
she worshipped was mortal. The airy cas-
ties built up in the future, proved but as the
| mirage, and vanished as the vapor in the
sunshine of reality.
With her own hands she protfered the
foaming goblet. With her sweetest smiles
she persuaded her ideal to pledge her in the
social glass. This once-only this once, and
Preston, lured by the song of the syren, bath
4 ed his lips in the sparkling wine.t
He fell and vain were the efforts of the
afflicted maiden, to recover him to his lost
position. Her tears-her entreaties-all-
all availed her naught. The appetite was
formed, and lower and lower was its victim
sunk in degradation and vice. Despairing of
ever retaining her lover, my friend withdrew
herself from the pleasures of the gay, and
cursing herself as the cause of his fall, she
weeps only bitter heart tears Of sorrow and
remorse.
The maiden aunt ceased, and Ida looking
once more in her countenance, beheld the
tears streaming thick and fast.
Aunt, at last whispered the beautiful Ida,
where now is your friend, and the Inflated
Preston Lee?
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Mary Oar
ling replied-Ida that friend whose history
you have listened to with so much concern
is your own aunt. But as for Preston, Goo
only knows his fate. Perhaps even now, hi
wanders an ~outcast, and blot upon the fac'
ofcreation.
A silence of q few momen's occurred, which
was at last broken by Ida's aunt, requesting
her to accompany her to the Temperate
meeting on the following evening. And arts
ing, they left their retreat and returned home
X X x X X y
After having been seated sometime in tn
Hall of the Washingtonians, the speaker 8
length arrived and mounted the rostrun
amid a confusion of voices,-but one alon
in that vast assembly remained spell-bounC
and unable to utter o word-it was Mar
Darling.
The speaker at length arose,-with burr
ing eloquence he portrayed the evils of 1
temperance suddenly he paused, ar
looking around upon his hearers, he brol
the silence by exclaiming-
Alas alas F! ouch is the experience
Preston Lee. And then with lingering p
thos he dwelt upon the love he bore the ia
creature, who had lured him from the pa
of recitude by the p~roffer of a single glass /;
and then there was confusion-Mary Darli
had tainted. The speaker descended from t
stand, and approached where the masses We
c~ongregated. In a moment he recognized
the pale and sorrow stricken maiden of fort
the object of his former love, and the fal
was kindled afresh in his generous heart.
Mary was borne to her home, and in a f
days she expired on the breast of Prest
Lee, -having every token of his forgivene
she went home to her Father in Heaven, ca
and quiet as an infant sleeps ON its mothe
bosom.