Birmingham age-herald., 1894-07-22
MUSINGS WITHOUT METHOD.
TO MARTHA YOUNG.
A SHADOW.

SHADOW.
 Twas night. The earth was linked and black, The stars above the dizzy ball
 Refused to gleam; the spheres rolled back
 To catch the light-dlspel the pail; But shadows svirled and shamed the moon, That fearful dashed from gloom to gloom, The world was drunk with fear too soon,
 The confagration pealed it's doom.
 MEMORY.
 The viols were tuned to A minor
 And the flutes sang shrili in sharp, The bassoons and great trombones Were almost out-drowning the harp. No matter the piece they were playing, Twas bit of a waltz by Strauss, fragment-a sob of music
 An air with the sound of loss.
 The sorrows of past and of future, Loomed up and enShrouded my heart As Myrtile-sweet angel of Canthus- Whispered C Farewell. we must part" Twas dreaming methinks that bewildered My brain as the music sighed on, For the waltz crashing into major, Remembered naught that was gonel
 The tragedy of Eugene Aram has en- grossed my attention for some days. Bull wer, in classifying his characters for this story, seems not to have omitted single phase of romance that could have given it additional interest. Peter Dealtry, the astute landlord of the Spotted Dog, is one of the most delightful individuals iu all fiction. In the capacity of guardian to Jacobina, the corroral's abominable cat. he is matchless; as a soldier be would fail to shine by the bravery of the Birmingham military.
 The principal characters in the story, Madeline Lester and Eugene Aram, are powerful examples of heroism and doubt less the strongest and best of Lord Lyt- toms creations. The lofty, high souled Madeline, betrothed of Eugene, wins the readers respect and admiration from the first. Her lover, mystical, profound, un- fathomable, fascinates and repels by turns. The conclusion of the romance is disap- pointing. The verdict of the court seems unjust to our excited sympathies. That Eugene Aram. the proud, pure and re- high estate and become the inmate of prison cell; eat the fare of the grudging law and breath the air of criminals, ap- pears incredible. And yet would we have been more msrciful than the author?
 Mercy tells us that he had suffered the full wages of his sin; that remorse and unrest for years must have purified and washed his soul white. The punishment of an hour, the hangman's rope, the shame ard disgrace of his death--who can suppose that they equaed in dread the long and sleepless nights, the haunting fear of detection. The struggles against succumbing!to his passion for woman as realization of his dreams forboded expos- ure.
 Eugene Aram was regenerated man be- fore Houseman betrayed him to the world.
 
 fever brought on by persecution, might not have fully justified the deed, but to us it explains the position of the hero in such manner that we no longer condemn, but pity and regret. Had he not deserved hap pipess? Was not the burning vigil of years sufficient to 'make him nen?' Our tears fail bitterly upon the knowledge of his broken hopes; we wander off, without per mission of the author, who bids us say farewell to him in the prison, ana follow ing Madaline and her beloved 'listen to tiny brooks loquacious flow," pluck the herbs and plants that the genius of the botanist makes beautiful 10 our stupid sense, bend our ear to catch the deep mur- msr of Eugene's clear, sad voice as he whispers to her the things which are meant only for love's sweet confidence. Dead? both dead-in sorrow aud in partiugi Nol Nol Let us dream that they found that peace which was surely meant for their foDd hopes. They are ever real to us-and our faith in destiny, our confidence in life's intention will not permit us to give up to Eternity the roses which are full of fragrance herel We rebel at the useless decrees of fiction; we want happiness and justice and the promise of forgiveness after repentence.
 Who is it that will not agree with
 SIDNEY DARYL?