Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1863-02-04
embittered her last moments, but, He

embittered her last moments, but, He
race, she loved me to the last.
!" Every night watched by her side.
would not allow a servant q friend, or
any one tn hand her even a glass Of wa
ter; she was mine and no hand but mine
should minister TO her wants. cooled
her parched lips with ice; | bathcd her
aching head; | drew the curtains so as to
exclude the sunlight, and raised them
again when the mnon WAS up. Through.
out her illness was her sole attendant.
For q week had refused to rest; and
one night while | was sitting by her bed
side, felt the influence Of sleep stealing
over me. | bent over to kiss her, and
said Annie, give me your hand, and i'll
d. fall asleep, and you should wish any
thing, yon have but to press my hand,
and | will awake
Exhausted nature gave way at last,
for human endurance could hold out no
longer. SAW that she WAS gently sleep
ing and placing my face nasr hers sank
into II deep, Unconscious sluInber. How
long | slept | know not, but when ] awoke
and recalled my scattered faculties, the
mellow mmnbeams We're pouring in at
the open window and, God of heaven!
shedding their radiance on the pale fnce
of MY dead wife! Yes Horace. she WAS
dead ; while slept she had gone into the
deep, cold waters Of death alone! That
she had struggled much Wa evident, for
BIER cold fingers were clinging to mine
with the death.grasp Of despair. But the
struggle was over. How calm, and peace
full she looked, her e. yes We're closed like
one in sleep, and oh! Horace, what mad
dcned me most was that they would new.
sr, beam on ne again.
They tell me that | was mad; that
| rav"d in my deiirinm, and tore my hsir,
and clclchvd my flesh until the blood
came. They tell me that uttered words
Of blasphemy /; that | stoSd within the
vaults of her srpulchrr, and cursed the
Creator IF my existence; and that | was
bore away from her grave II raring mad.
man. OF this ! know nothing when !
awoke to Consciousness she had been for
weeks in the "c:ty Of silence : and her
home WIS among the dead. Oh! who
chi paint the blaokness of dissolution that
fell upon my soul. Like a proud ship
bad been rcft of my all, and was left a
wreck TN the waste Of waters. Life, and
hope, and JOY, were all buried in her
grave, and u miserable, aimless existence
alone remained. If you could have seen
me in my first despair, you would have
realized what | mean by the shipwreck Of
the heart?
"Looking hack upon the past, | can re-
cognize the mercy of God in this my bit
ter bereavement. He took from me the
Joys of time, that | might haze the bliss
eternity /; he DESTROYED my earthly home
that ! might havea home in heaven, for
was an inidel, and Annie's death was
all that could have saved my soul. Her
dying injunctins were sacred, and the
Bible was loved, first for her sake, and
then for the sake of Him who gave it.
"IIorace, you know now why ! cannot
marry. What take anotherto the heart
which was her home; pillow another head
on the bosom where she loved to rest
Never. God gives to man one wife;
mine is in heaven awaiting me; she is
only gone before Some day, when
my master calls, | shall lay aside the bur
der of life, and join her there, where death
can never come.
His story was ended and my cigar WAS
out. had watched the ashes drawing to
an end, and as | did SO unused upon the
shortness of life, and the utter vanity of
its loves and ambitions.
The next day or voyage closed, aud at
the wharf Henry Clifton and . parted,
never to meet gain on earth.
In a short time he went out as a mis-
sionary to the heathens, a: d after a year
of successful labor, ',he master called
him. and found him ready. His body
rests : on burning Afric's distant Shore
He closed his short but useful life at the
early age of thirty years. No tombstone
marks his resting place; but he needs
no monument-.the angels will find him