The Xenia sentinel. [volume] (Xenia [Ohio]) 1863-186?, 1863-08-25

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Through Mists.
BY JENNIE CAULFTELD.
CHAPTER I.
a RETRosPECTIoN

NhetkeE-my poor Fords can make my History
worthy of yolH attentive perusal or otherwise,
am not prepared TO say; but if any one possess
ing tact for Biography should place before You
the very words ] am about 20 record, have no
doubt that, painted in their glowing words it
would be fraught with interest. lido not uncover
my wounds 20 your view as an intercessi0n tor
sympathy or pity. ] hate pity. Neither do /
wish TO coniure up some retrospectiOn of your
existence, whose remembrance viii make you
Writhe with pain ! would rather take y0ur
hand, cali YOU "sistsr, "brother," and assure
you there was and is a balm, and however the
intense wish and the strong desire to which we
have given expression in passionate prayer may
be Withheld, still 3 rec0mpense is given: blind
our poor human eyes as we may, il is there and
We viii know it in time mortal or immortal
The earliest recoilectiOns Of my life are more
than partially obliterated from my memory.
Not that / had little affection tor it; but there
has been a constant discOrd since, in which
have lost even the echo Of that sweet, low pre-
lude Hhieh was not unlike the song nv mOthef
used TO sing when she rocked me 10 sleep.
Looking back, 7 see myself closing nv baby
eyes, and I am utterly pOWerless to check the
uprising wish that / had died Just then and there
This IS EOt entirely a selfish wish: that 81. Il
was not created in my own suffering, but in DE
y
sake; that never have and never can repay
her the waste of her precious life Also, that
might never have OccasiOned any human being
moments misery; that l might never have
wounded any fond heart, or cause a single tear
20 fall. God knows / never listened to a CRY of
anguish without an intense desire 10 possess the
power to hasten the promised tine when eGOd
himself shall wipe all tears from their eyes"
There are one or two instances, however, and
one ortWO objects Of that time, which are im-
printed upon memory. Il has puzzled me often
tkGt, through all the Ticissitudes Of my life, ]
have ever retained a vivid picture of that grand
old house where I was born. It is lyiHg of
there in the distance, with the golden sunshine
sailing upon it and, aslant the Linden poplars,
ever a source Of-dssglIt- tony childish eyes,
aud the indeLlible picture 1 keep Of this dear
old house IS so connected with an incident Of
my childhood that one is seldom separated from
the other.
Ann, the colored girl who waited upon me in
the capacity Of dressing maid. gay, witty, i'm
aginative being, was won't to delight my ever
willing ears with some original fiction, while dis
charging her Light duty. So 1t CHANGED one eve
ming that she, having reached the acme Of in
spiration, endowed her heroine with scme flying
facility cannot say wings, for they we're not
mentioned, and I think n mind Ike AIMS
would be more apt to conjure up some incom-
prehensible faculty. It appeared, in the com
meEeemeut Of the narrative, that the heroine
lived in some foreign parts not vet laid down on
our maps being in the neighbOrhoOd Of Jack,
The Giant Killers plantation, in which vicinity
she went out on numberless flying tours and be-
held nameless wonders. Part Of the annecdote
has escaped my memory, or / never clearly un-
deTstOOd through what mysterious means of
transportation she was enabled TO do 80; but,
sn--7-- - 4
miscellaneous aerial trips, she landed suddenly
in old Baltimore, and was serving in the capaci-
y Of dressing maid to a sUlky, l-tempered
child; assuredly belonging to the 'ne'er do
vel" class Of youthful humanity, exhibiting tai
ent for tearing white dresses that had an affinity
for nails, and soiling clean pnafores and tossing
her long curls half an hour after they had been
pronounced in shining order, and last, but not
least, she would give vent to a propensity to
kick, scratch or pinch, as the case might be, her
faithful maid AT this stage of the recitation
my eyes, which had been fixed upon AIMS, as
sisting my ears 70 take in al, were instantly
Withdrawn, for upon her left cheek I saw a
scratch whichI thatvery afternoon had inflicted,
because she had unintendonally pulled my hair
in the curling process. / vas 50 struck with the
similitude OF the disposition OF that little girl
with my own that / hid my face in shame, and
lost to some extent the winding up of the tale,
save that have an indisdnct remembrance that
this unfe1theFed flying creature might, at some
unlocked for crisis, should this state Of affairs
continue, fly away from that little girl who 50
resemDled myself, and the plight that little girl
would be in, if having no one to do fOT her,
vas dWelt upon at some length, and I was in
great CONSERVATION indeed, and rejOiced in the
stipulation that if that little girl with whom
had common sympathy would mend her ways,
there would be no necessity for calling this dor
mRnt faculty into action, and they ever after"
. That was the abrupt fnis Of this story, for my
mother entered the ro0m and an occurrence
tFanIpired the ensuing morning, as g direct
consequence Of AIMS Indulgence IN her imag-
NATIVE powers. She was ever after prohibited
an exhibition Of her genius. AIMS story ere
ated an idea in my mind and l was strangely ex-
cited; but the presence Of nv mother calmeC
me, Even in my Ignorance Of the grest bless
ing mothers care was, and how thousands o.
children with yearDing little hearts went Il
sleep sobbing "mOther" in vain, still I am con
fdent ] knew it was q comfort TO have be-
there. ] have known since when in my dreams
1 thought her still there, and have awakened
in the act Of stretching out my arms in tn
dark and the cold to embrace her.
Perhaps the night Of which speak was tn
first restless night had known. II is at leas
the first can recall TO my mind When ] loOl
tack to this period Of my life, in the comparisol
Of what ! was then and what am now, eyel
in the face Of the little faults and errcFs Whicl
marked nv earliest career, find myself alter
ed in go many respects that il is with difficulty
refrain from shedding tears. 4 find myself De
sirous Of grasping hold Of the old faith bad d
Cod, his creatures, or what we term the Worll
the ignorance Of childhood, that fruition 0
bliss that I fain would cheat the stern teacher
ezpaFieaes, cut of-ths klqWls3ge 9Btsipp'