Year: 1862

lustre of those eyes will be quenched with
sorrow; and the happy heart which now
beats lightly in that bosom will be weighed
down like mine, by the cares and miseries
of the world.


At length he came to me one day and re-
lated his whole situation in a tone of deep
despair. When l heard him through, in
quired ''Does your wife know all this p
At the question he burst into an agony of
tears. ''For Gods sake " cried he, ''if
you have any pity on me, don't mention my
wife; it is the thought of her that drives me
almost to Madness


"And why not?'' said l. "She must
know it sooner or later; you cannot keep it
long from her. and the intelligence may
break upon her in a more startling manner
than if impaired by yourself; for the accents
of those we love soften the harshcr tidings.
Besides you are depriving yourself of the
comforts of her sympathy and not merely
that. but endangering the only bond that can
keep hearts together-an unreserved COM
munity of thought and feeling She will
soon perceive that something is secretly
preying upon your mind, and true love will
not brook reserve; it feels undervalued and
outraged when even the sorrows it loves are
concealed from it,


ooh but my friend to think what blow
[ am to give to all her future prospects,
How am / to strike her very soul to the
earth, by telling her that her husband is
beggar that she is to forego all the elegan-
ces of life-all the pleasures of gay society
10 FL, " ,,,ko rh
security! To tell her that | have dragged
her down from the sphere in which she
might have continued to move in constant
brightness-the light of every eye-the ad-
miration of every heart How can she bear
poverty ?-she has been the idol of society.
Oh, it will break her heart, it will break
her heart"


l saw his grief was eloquent; and 1 let it
have its flow! for sorrow relieves itself by
words. When the paroxysm had subsided,
and he had relapsed into moody silence, I
resumed the subject gently, and urged him
to break his situation at once to his wife
He shook his head mournfully but posi-
lively.


''But how are you to keep it from her :?
It is necessary that she should know it. that
you may take the steps proper to the altera-
s;v Jout of.yunlsLanccs. Idu IHdsJ
change your style Of living-nay," observ-
ing pang to pass across his countenance,
don't let that afflict you. I am sure you
have never placed your happiness in outward
show-you have yet friends-warm friends,
who will not think the worse of you for be-
ing less splendidly lodged and surely it
does not require palace to be happy with
Mary"


Il could live with her." he cried, con-
vulsively. ''in hovel [ could 60 down
with her into poverty and the dust. I
could-I could-God bless her. cried he,
bursting into a transport of grief and ten
derness.


"And believe me, my FRIEND" said I
stepping up, and grasping him warmly by
the hand, ''bclieve me, she can be the same
with you. aye, more. it will be source of
pride and triumph to her--it will call forth
all the latent energies and fervcnt sympa-
thies of her nature; for she will rejoice to
prove that she loves you for yourself. There
is in every true woman's heart a spark of
heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad
day light of prosperity but which kindles
up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour
of adversely. No man knows what the wife
of his bosom is--no man knows what a min
istering angel she is-untl he has gone
with her through the fiery trials Of the
world"


There was nothing in the earncstncss Of
manner and the fgurative style of my Ian
guage that caught the excited Imagination
of Leslie. knew the auditor [ had to dea
with and following up the impression l had
made, [ finished by persuading him to &C
wife.


l must confess, Notwithstanding all | hao
said, felt some little solicitude for the re-
suit Who can calculate on the fortitude o.
one whose life has been pleasure? Hel
gay spirit might revolt at the dark down
ward path of low humility suddenly appoin
ted out before, and might cling to the sun
ny regions in which they had hitherto revel
led Besides, ruin, in fashionable life il
accompanied by SO many CALLING mortiica
tions to which in other ranks it is a stranger
In short. could not meet Leslie the mex
morning without anticipation. He made
the disclosure


And how did she bear it?"


Like an angel. 1t seemed rather to b
a relief to her mind, for she threw her arm
around my neck, and asked if this was al
that made me unhappy. But poor girl,
added he, ''she cannot realize the chang,
we must undergo. She had no idea. of pov
crty but in the abstract; she only read it il
poetry, where it is all to love She feel
as yet no privation she suffers no loss O
accustomed convenience or elegances. Whe,
she como practically to experience its sordit
cares, its paltry wants, its petty humiia
tons then will be the real trial"


But" [ said. now that you have 90
over the scverest fate, that of breaking it tt
her, the sooner you let the world into th
secret the better. The disclosure may b.
mortifying but then it is single misery
and over whereas you otherwise suffer i
i'll anticipation, every hour in the day. I
is not poverty SO much as pretcncc, tha