Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1838-187?, 1870-03-11

of destiny would develop.ltseIf.
| sat down by the blazing fire.
The host was a man more toll worn
than aged; his brow was squske, his
nose far too small for symmclsT as
compared with the rest It. n,oStea'
lures, his ears were hanging, and OF
size denoting vulgarity. His hair
intensly black, clung round his
brow like sable moss on a bare cy
press tee; his mouth was wide; his
under Jaw heavy and villainous;
his neck was thick set, and of a
crahlike hue. But the eye, after
all, the grandest exponent In
mans countenance, was, in his case
evel-omened, wild and wandering,
His garb was coarse homespun,
me-dyed, and ill-fitting. But
what is raiment? The serpent has
its scaly coat-the bediZened wo-
man of fashion, high or low, has her
rich dresses. But this man was my
evil genius. Ever as the blinking
blaze rose and fell by strange faci-
nation, he attracted me. Long
years after | knew the reason why.
! Our supper was announced. 'Tis
a goodly thing when fragrant cot,
fee, without almiXture, snow white
piles of delIaately bold rice, chick
en-, plump, tender and broiIed as
only untry cooks can serve their
own bantlings Of the barn yard, to
say nothing of milk on which JoTe
might luxuriate, and cream su9ges-
tive of Arcadia, furnishes a board,
clean through coarse. Such was
our fare in this wild country inn. |
feasted with the well earned appe-
tite of a traveller who had snuffed
free and helthful air since day dawn
and was oppressed by no care! save
those Of wandering fancy and d'fnex-
plicable anticipation, vaguesbut
troublous.
Two years elapsed; my home was
in pleasant village, many miles
from the inn above described. Per
haps the inhabitants Of large cities
cannot comprehend the interest
which attaches to individuals in
one of these towns in miniature
Our village nigh defy comparison
with Goldsmith's in its prosperous
days, though the tall bay trees,
pride of India, and privet hedges
belonged to different and more
tropical cline than that described
by him, who touched, with his own
mental beauty; all things traced by
his natural and gifted pen. The
golden belled jasmine there hung
fragrant and rejoicing in yellow
sunlight; there the wild clematis
and blood-dyed foxglove glowed in
fine contrast to briar.rose, holIyoak
and tranquiliannas, scented cluS-
ters.
But there was stranger in our
midst. He came, none knew
whence. Mystery added to the in
terest, awakened by his isolation
1t was said that the maidens of our
village lent ready ear to his fiat
tering speech, and these were, by
turns, objects ofhis DEVOTION
A spirit of rivally grew up among
them, and this adventurer was in.
disputable the cause. No one
could tell why. There were hand
somer and younger men amongst
them, b1t woman's nature is some,
thing beyond the ken of anlold pill
grim like me, and | have never
been able to determine, wherefore
this stranger SO much attracted
them.
Let me hasten to the close of my
tale. for time wears apace, and |
dare not dwell on every incident
transpiring during this period
Four children had successively
bloomed and died beneathlmy root
tree. Their sad-eyed mother had
wept away her youth in sorrow for
them-her youth, not her beauty,
for that was something which time
could not tuch, and still looked out
in the mine illumined eye, the
queenly form and eIopuently word.
ed speech. We were lonely with
that desolation in life amid garden
scenes when no young flower peeps