Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1861-03-13
Rahits' department.


or, Thoughts thrown back upon itself, on
the past or on the ABSENT Such a season
Of reflection have INDUCED in this bright,
bracing March day. Giving loose rein to
Thought, it has travelled back to the dim,
misty, but not altogether forgotten Past, and
have reveled in the recollection Of by-gone
cnjoyments Of happy childhood-the joyous
scenes Of girlhood-snd the less happy, but
more exciting (shall say more perilousi p
days Of young womanhood, WHEN flirting, CO.
quoting and beaux absorbed so much of my
thoughts-that season Of life which the poet
marks as the epoch in maiden meditations
fancy free
How merrily have scenes and friends long
forgotten come trooping on memory's track,
like schoolgirls just released from the rigidi.
" Of academic confinement. How the loves
and condolences of school girl friends come
teeming up before the retrospect. How fresh
ly does memory call back the innocent fir
tation, the thoughtless act Of coquetry, that
though not intended, pierced like a ranking
thorn the breast Of an admiring one. Or Ia
ter still, how with cruel thoughtlessness en-
couragement was given to the feeding of a
hame that was never intended to be suffered
10 burn on Hymen's sacred altar. But, with
all its faithful picturings, memory paints not
a dark spot upon my conscience stain Of
duplicity and deception p~racticed upon a low
ing, trusting one-tor, while l may confess
20 little mischievous fondness for what the
lords say in woman there is no exception, viz:
"a train of admirers"-yet I had not the
heartlessness TO be guilty of 'triAing prettily
with wounded hearts" Admirers and fiat
terers ] had not afcw-enough, surely, to graf
lily the vanity Of any one. Some were gay
and chiyalrous as the Knights of Calamity
in the olden time, Others were gentle as
the soft sonnets they inscribed to my eye
bEows. Others were cold, heartIess and de
~y--FTrr chem itKe a DOCK.
TnaSe, however, no sorrowful or gay cpl
sode Of my own life that | wish to relate {;
but the remembrance of one that shrouded
the life Of a dear sister-friend in gloom and
melancholy for a while, comes resurrected
from the past which it may not be uninstruc
tive to relate-for it does indeed point O
moral" IL not " adorn q tale"
Matte Sinclair Il will call her SOY and my
self were chosen, devoted, bosom friends
II was singular that we had formed such at
tachments for each other-Gor there was a!
little similarity in taste, manners and desire
as could well be found in two young person
Of the same age. l was a wild, romping
mischievous jade, fulr of fun and frolic; n
amusement was too exciting for me; n
perils too great to be risked where enjoymen
eZwhile Matte was sedatC
,orrI vni=aascrupulously precise as to pre-
priety. She seemed to weigh every actio
in the scales Of prudence-asking herself
all candid sincerity 10 Right ?"-an
deciding the question without partiality, Q
90 her wishes in the premises. She was
blonde, beautiful as Hebe-and it was tn
perhaps that attracted my love to her, for
is my nature to be fascinated by the beaut
ful-with a full, well-developed figure h
eyes were soft and pensive as twilight, oil
her hair, dark as the ravens wing" hur
in graceful profusiOn around a neck of al
baster Wilderness. She was my ideal of
: beautiful WoDsaa. And she was as lovely
character, mental and moral, as she was
personal attractions. She loved purity, I
cause it was right it mattered not wheth
in the garb Of poverty, or the rich drape
of affluence; and she hated vice, because
was wrong and htdeouS regardless of its
terror surroundings. Such was the charact
of my friend Matte Sinclair, when s
emerged from Seminary life, at the age
eighteen.
Chiefly through my persuasion, so
months afterwards we went to a celebra
summer resort, to spend a few weeks in
pleasures incident TO snch places. 1t +,
here Qor I do not wish to be prolix) that
friend was introduced by a gentleman of {
t~inetion, and well known to Mattie's fam
to George Elliott, a handsome young mar
five and twenty. He was elegant in m
ners, of extraordinary conversational pow
and with general attractions sufficient to
the favor of any young lady. 1t was S
apparent that in my young friends soc
he found the most pleasure, Cor he was aln
her only attendant in promenade or ride
the parlor or ball room.
AS the season Of our departure was
at hand, he told his love, and was Mat
accepted lover. Other duties prevented
accompanying her home, as his presence
needed in the deep green savannahs of
southern home. And they parted VI
they met, with pledges of affection and
stancy forever, and with promises of air
q daily correspondence. An exchang
miniatures, and the parting scene was {
George Elliott fingered - but a
behind us, and then departed for Savai
CiG New York, whittier business called
This despatched, he wrote to Matte lesh
take passage in a Charleston steamer, a
most speedy route to his ancestral donna
On reaching Charleston, he said, he v
send a missive to apprise her of his sal
rival.
Days sped by, and finally heightened
weeks, and Matte received no tidings O
betrothed. Her fears for his safety nov
tied into almost certainty of some fatal
fortune The nobIo /. -