Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-05-20
Undying Devotion,

| The following Is from the St
Louis Republican, and is a beauti
full illustration of a LIES devotion
| II is seldom that human affec
ton takes so strong a hold upol
the heart that life hangs upol
i the issue. Still!more seldom is i
that one of the sterner sex is tht
victim of such strength of pas
sion. It is their rarity that ren
derS such instances of attachment
the more noticeable when they
do occur. They are a refutatior
! of the frailness and fckleness of
the sexes, which makes of love
something other than "the moderr
fair ones Jest" and of friendship
more than a name. They are cal
culated to render the stole, for the
time being, a sentimentalist, and
find a sympathetic response even
in the mind of the misanthrope
The death of a Miss Jackson,
of this city, on Thursday of last
week, was followed by that of Mr..
W. L. Hudgens the Saturday fol.
lowing. The former peacefully
breathed her last after a long and
painful illness; the latter in a
paroxysm of grief burst a blood
vessel, and died almost instantly.
The deceased leaves q wide cir
Gle of mutual friends, among whom
the sad incidents attending the i'll
ness Of the one and the death of the
other are doubtless familiar
What we are about to relate, will
not, therefore, be news to them.
To those, however, who merely
scanned the death notices in the
Times on Thursday and Satur-
day mornings, and found these
two names among them, there will
seem something sadly romantic in
our narrative. The deceased were
betrothed, and the conSummation
of their dreams of love had been
deferred from time to time, until
finally Miss Jackson was prostra-
ted by sickness.
Unwilling, even then, to be
debarred her presence, Mr.. II.
was admitted to the sick room,
where none were more attentive
to the every want of the sufferer,
SO far as the position would per-
NIT. A sister of Miss Jackson
was, for days and nights, the
sharer in bis watchfulness. Her
more feeble nature, however, sunk
under the burthen of fatigue and
sleepless apprehension, which
she vainly struggled to sustain,
and, at last, Mr.. Hudgens was
left alone, with barely the assis-
tance of a servant. The object
of his solicitude and devotion, day
by day, became more feeble. He
scarcely left her bedside. Sleep
became a stranger to his eyes,
and even food was put away by
him. But even such devotion
could not turn the penetrating
barb of death, and finally the eyes
Of the sufferer closed forever up
On the fearful face ever above her,
and her hands grew cold and rigid
in death while yet in the warm
clasp of his to whom it was SO
shortly to be given in life and
love. This was on Thursday
On Friday the remains of Miss
Jackson were followed to the
grave. He who had been ever
present at her bed was by her
bier. His. heart went down into
the grave with the sleeper.
The day following the burial
The fatigue to which Mr.. Hudgens
had subjected himself began to
overcome him. He sank prostra-
ted upon his bed, and gave way
10 the poignancy of his feelings,
burst a blood vessel, and in less
than five minutes his heart had
ceased to beat, for it was cold for
ever. The next day he, too, was
followed to the tomb and placed
by the side of his betrothed.