The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-01-14

should remain unlmpaired by the know
edge of the connate bent of our apparent
lated inclinations +? Poor Mary Lee acte
from her impulses nor did she see DANCE
There is the 'middeep," which the saiIo,
of the Solway point cut to the passenger wh
looks on the fallacious calm, as it hove,
DER the graves Of many drowned mari,
er. There is moral mid-deep in the path
of most Of us, but which We never see Ii
: we are engulphed.
As Mary Lee grew up, she came neces
sarily under tie view Of young Ashle,
who. as be called for the boat, noticed III
young maiden sitting on the beach, throw
ing the glances of her blue ON the mirror q
the silvery Solway ; fair type Of her Ow
nature, though she was unconscious of th
similitude-beautiful in its soft and plavfu
undulations, but terrible in its rage.
"Have we got mermaid sitting here 2
SAID Robin, on day, to a companion
"How like she is to the pictured fancy O
chat creature Of inauguration ! She ha
only to let her hair fall over her shoulders
and send forth one of those plaintive seduc
tive cries which, like the singing Of tb
Sicilian virgins mentioned by Ovid, temp
poor passengers ashore to their destructiop
TO realze The type in its greatest perfection
Well, by the way, | think | would hav,
rlsked mysnlf in the arms of those famou
sirens, who are represented to have been 5,
cruel as to kill their lovers-st least woulc
trust myself with that fair one. What think
est thou of my courage? %
Indeed, Robin" replied his friend
George Henley, neighboring laird's son
81 fear the danger which Ovid represent,
as being all on the side Of the sailors, whs
listened to these virgins, would, in yeul
case, be transferred to the charmer and
yet they say that Mary Lee, with all hel
beauty and apparent mildness, has all the
siren about her but the dedged tail and il
the feathers are there awanting, l fear the
deficiency is supplied by sting"
The hint thrown out by Henley increased
the desire of Robin ro get acquainted with
Mary for such is the fate Of those who are
consigned to the intozications of vice, that
they indulge in morbid desires, which, as in
the case Of the geurmand, produce ia their
qualifications all the effects Of poison. "a
fury for lover :" be calculated. "Good!
| have had too many soft, breaking hearts.
Their very soffness has palled upon my ap-
petite; and, as the lover of gourmandize re-
qulres stimulants to whip up the jaded pow
ers Of bis overwrought stomach, my wearied
heart longs for spice of piquant amative-
ness, to resucitate its tagging energies"
Such reflections are but too common with
the young rakes of all times Robin -a-Ree
acted upon them, and he was not long in
producing an effect upon Mary Lee. He
spoke to her at first merely as the daughter
Of the fisherman putting questions to her,
which he could himself have answered.
but, while he was apparently careless in
terrogator, be did all in bis power, by the
show OF bis properties, to become a querist
of heart which had hitherto been left to
question itself, and to answer it's own ques-
tons. How few young women can with
stand the graces of handsome youth-and
how often is the poison drunk by the heart,
before the mind is conscious of the draught!
Mary Lee thought, as she looked upon the
youthful Ashley, that the young fishermen
Of Fairhaven were surely not made of the
same flesh and blood. Ashley knew the
force of his natural endowments, and he
brought in aid of those the batteries of the
deceiver. What more is required to CON-
plete the work Of love? A good regard Of
the Hatterer, followed by good regard of
the fiattered, is, alas often all that is ne
cessary in the composition of female devo-
ton.
The frequent meetings which Robin had
with Mary produced the usual effects Her
heart was what every wOman's ought to be
that is, if there were no bad men in the
world-it loved at once and for ever.
Every pulse of life acknowledged the power
which had come like spirit and thrown a
charm over her existence; the world was
now centred in one object her father and
her home lost their magic influences of early
associations even the shade Of her mother,
which was enshrined in her imagination as
a part of the mind Itself, faded into thin
ner existence than even that OF a vision, as
she revelled in the first enthusiastic eniov.
ment of maiden affection. Ashley saw with
delight, mixed with some misgivings as to
the responsibility Of such devotion, the
absolute resignation of full and bursting
heart to the dissembled schemes Of a pro.
fessed libertine Proud of his victory, be
paused, like the cruel lord Of the Jungle, to
play with the victim destined to q protract-
ed immolation and she, deluded creature
received. with painting eagerness, the car
esses which she considered the fruit of a
love equal to her own. AS she hung upon
his ho som and fed bis eyes with the soft
beams ofa first love, shining through tears
Of kindness and devotion, who could have
observed, in that light, more G~.ger than
belongs to go innocent thing as woman !
smile ? Robert Ashley had known by ex
perience, that woman's eye that does moi
shine on her seducer, generally shines moi
at all, unless it be in the phosphorescen
brightness of the corruption of the grave
Mary Lee was, like other women. an OBJ
jcct to be possessed, not feared Ashley en-
ioyed her present devotion in the exultatior
of pride, and her subsequent ruin in a Ger
f tain hope Of reality.
Wandering through the thick woods 0
The Castle" Mary Lee drank deeper 0
the intoxicating draught, as her appetite
WIS increased by the inspiring influence 0
romantic scenes.
s'How is it, Robin" she said, with tn
3 familiarity which love begets on innocenc
chow is it that now the woods Of th
Castle are to me SO dear, and | ever thin
D that every mavis and blackbird in the thic
groves are to me little messengers o gui
s news. Before you spoke to me, was fon
: O. the rippling waves that come as if the
0 were sent by the corpses in the 'dea
: Deep to tell their griefs to US on lant
But now my thoughts are off the sea, an
G the Castle, wi a its braw trees and flower
1 i - L-k -