The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-06-07

Oh, my God, pity me in my desolationi" and
the poor, heart-stricken widow cried in the
depth of her anguish, "gone, gone and I
viii never see him again; never hear his
Voice nor echo his laugh. as we listened to
the gay prattle of his babes his babes, They
are orphans" e~~.
But let us leave the house of mourning
there is a sacredness in grief, which may not
be exposed to the curious and worldly eye.
The visitors silently took their leave but
before she went, Zera put purse containing
five hundred dollars in the widows lap.
From her abundance she could not miss it;
but to those she left behind her il ,oas life
bread
That night grocer's cart unloaded at Mrs.
Martins door provisions of every description.
She did not know the good Samaritan who sent
them-nor who afterwards provided her
comfortable home and a yearly allowance,
sufficient for all her needs and the education
of her children-she never knew, but we do,
reader Zeras promise to the dying soldier
was not forgotten.
81 never witnessed such scene before,
Laura, and trust l never may again; yet
have seen battlefield and all the horrors of
war" 7Aa
cit was dreadful, Zera; but know how she
felti"
ooh no, Laura, we cannot imagine the
poor woman's feelings; none may know that,
save those who have experienced the same
anguish, and in the young girls face there
was an awe such as that we sometimes see in
the presence of death.
''How terribly it has affected you. dearl'
said Laura.
"Yes-and your"
& "Not less; but have seen so much of hu-
man suffering since this cruel war begun that
1 am not SO shocked now at a sight of
misery"
Laura, do you go often to such places2"
Gotten, my dearl"
."For what, Laura-tell me why?" and
there was an eagerness in the upturned face,
a RIGHTEOUSNESS in the lids that sheathed the
humid eyes, foreign tothat dark, proud face,
and yet which added to it a tenderness of
charm inexpressibly bewitching.
"To relieve suffering, my dear-to minis
ter to their Affections. For what else should
Igo?"
"For naught else, Laura, for naught else
And yet have perused page to-day in the
history of humanity which, to me, is the
record of Christian virtue, and which will
never be forgotten should live thousand
years."
"You allude to the woman's love for her
husband?"
eyes. that is it.
'..why, Zera, don't you suppose all women
love their husbands?"
"Noi"
B. Why, Zera, you shock me Where in
the world were you taught such infdel doc
trines ?"
"From my own observation. believe the
affection of man is more intense than that of
woman. 1t is great heterodoxy 1 know, but
still believe it is true. l have seen man
toiling day after day against the shafts of ad-
versity, his brain rscked with torture, his
spirit broken by continual misfortune; and
yet, for the sake of his wife and children,
toiling on, hoping on, trusting and praying,
even while the pillows of despair were engulf-
ing his soul; and when he would go home at
night from this unsuccessful battle with fate,
q smile would light his face-a smile such
as the sun makes when it CLEANS on the
bosom of the glacier-that his loved ones
night not know of the SORROWS that we're
breaking his heart And yet no sooner would
he enter the charmed circle of home than
his wife would taunt him with his misfortunes
and deride his exertIons for subsistence"
"You say you have seen such an one.
Zera?"
eyes"
''She was no true wife!"
sThe world called her such 7"
Nevertheless, she was not a type of
wives" ea
81 believe she was"
rro H.