Year: 1859

A fine summer day was drawing to close as
Mr. T., after dining with brother-lawyer, noun
ted his horse to ride home. He had been enter
tanned with the gentle and genial hospitality Of
the Old Dominion, and felt that agreeable simu-
lus of the animal spirits which follows in the
train of a moderate dinner among congenial
friends He had delayed the moment of dcpar-
ture as long as possible, though the ride home
was long one, because he would have full
moon to light him on his way, and the air would
be cooler after night-fall so that ii was with
none but the most agreeable emotions he bade
adieu to his friends, loosed the bride of his horse,
and turned into the road which led through the
forest.


Mr. i. rode along at a very easy pace, and it
was only when the rapid increase Of the darkness
warned him Of the approach Of night, that he
began to urge his horse to greater swiftness
Absorbed in pleasant thought and shut out by
the loltiness Of the trees from any but very
partial view Of the sky, he had not observed a
heavy battalion Of clouds, which, after lying
laZily along the horizon for some hours, now be-
gan to lift themselves towards the zenith and
emit an occasional angry fash-sure token of a
coming storm. 1t was indeed approaching with
rapidity which mockcd every effort he could
make to reach place of shelter before its out
burst. lie rode rapidly, but each flash of light
Mug was followed by nearer and nearer peal of
thunder, and soon the darkness became intense,
the wind began 30 rise, and the rain to descend
80 heavily that our traveller was glad to remem-
Der that he must now nearly have reached large
church, which stood on his homeward way in the
large, old-iashioned entrance TO which he hoped
to find temporary shelter. With this view. he
urged his horse to the utmost speed, and so VIC
lent did the tempest become, so close and inces
SAINT were the flashes Of lightning, so heavy the
rain, and so numerous the branches torn from
the trees by the wind that he began to feel no
small anxiety to reach a place Of safety.


fho iuht rch,, a. II H.,
near at hand. lie rode up to it, dismounted, and
placing his horse so as TO protect him as much as
possible from the storm, entered the deep and
spacious doorway. AS he leaned for support
against the heavy folding door, TO his surprise il
yielded to the pressure, he opened it and entered
the church, glad TO find himself in so secure a
situation. lie walked up the central aisle and
fat down in one Of the pews near the middle Of
the church.


ii was not possible for a man of the sensibility
and unaffected pety of Mr.. Y. to find himself
alone. in such situation, and amidst such a
manifestation Of Almighty power as this furious
tempest afforded, not to feel some degree of So
lemnity and awe He sat down, and gave way
TO the many solemn reflections called up by the
scene and hour. lie thought of the many who
had once worshiped there who were now lying
in their last, long sleep in the church yard with
ont. Once, upon their beds of down, how slight
an obstacle, how small veXaton has been sufIi-
clenl 10 DANISH sulnDer NOW-aIl the artillery
of heaven, all the pelting of the pitiless storm,
moved them not a jot Imagination called up
many form once as familiar as the pews and
pillars Of the old church known from infancy
In thought he stroye to follow some of these int
that strange realm. At this moment slight
noise, in a momentary lull Of the tempest, made
itself heard apparently behind and above him.
1t was not strange, that at such moment it sent
thrill of ineXplicable emotion through his
frame. In moment the feeling passed away,
and he turned, resolved to see, if possible by the
illumination of the next flash of lightning what
had caused the sound which had startled him. 1t
came-broad, fierce, red and revealed to him in
the choir form, something that had life and
motion, but shape so underlined, so hdeons, that
with involuntary terror, he covered his Dyes with
bis hands.


The place, The hour, the darkness, nterrupted
only by the glare Of the lightning-the sound of
the tempest raging without-the solitude and
this vague consciousness of unsuspected compan-
iOnship, had, ii must be confessed, a powerful
effect on the mind Of a man, naturally of the
iirmest courage, and nurtured in a society where
cOwardice is disgrace. A thousand wild coniec-
lures rushed through his mind in that first mo.
mentary but Irresistible onset Of terror Then
his well tutOred reason and his resoute will
contrived TO make themselves heard over the
tumult of underlined fears and crowding fancies.