Year: 1874




eluded his grasp, and left him with only a
mocking gleam to mark the course of that
inspiration which had seemed 80 glowing
and so real. Faint broken images were
there, but crude and imperfect; full of
strength and vigor in the idea, but so weak
and inartistic in expression that they only
foreshadowed the force and originality
which would come with ripper years. He
wrote much for one so young, but that only
made him despair the more yearning that
he had deceived himself and that the gift
he had deemed his own would never reach
higher level.


He was that most wretched of all created
beings-a boy, whose soul had forced itself
to quick development through suffering
and restraint; who had no childhood and
no youth thirst with longings that no
draught could quench.


His early years had been spent in lone
ly house, with only an invalid mother for
companion, woman who had been chilled
and crushed by previous sorrow, and whose
life had grown to be only funeral hymn
over the vanished past. Perhaps the in
fluence of this grief was upon her in all its
early force at that child's birth, and the
anguish and unrest which wrung her soul
had been transmitted as heritage to her
offspring, and this it was which had forced
his mind to an unnatural precocity that
wrought its own miseryi


He was peculiar child, with no play
mates, and none of the enjoyments of his
age--day after day passed in the seclusion
of that shrouded chamber where the pale
woman sat, watched by the eager eyes of
the boy, until its gloom cast a twilight over
his whole being which would never be
wholly swept away. Child as he was, he
understood that his mother suffered with
out comprehending it; but he felt it none
the less, nor did it diminish his power of
sympathizing with that unspoken woe.
She died while he was still young, and
since then his life had been spent amid
books, and in the ambitious training of
schools and college. Mr.. James had been
his nearest friend and protector, but he
had been little with him beyond brief,
hurried visits in the intervals of school
duties and the boy had never been able to
conquer the restraint which the presence
of that man had caused him since their first
meeting.


| All these reflections and memories were
upon his soul during the troubled hours of
that long night, and when he arose the
next morning they followed him out into
the sunshine and dimmed it's brightness by
their presence.


Mr.. James had not returned to the city,
the servant told him, when he called at the
house, and he wandered for time about
the streets, avoiding every acquaintance
that he CHANGED to encounter, and unable
to shake off the depression upon his spirits.


A horse was always at his disposal, during
his visit to town and late in the afternoon,
he gave orders to the man to saddle it. He
mounted, and rode away, glad to find him
self free from the hustle of the crowded
streets The sunlight had faded from the
sky leaving it leaden and cold, and the
cheerless aspect of everything around would
have been sufficient of itself to sadden, SO
great was his susceptibility to every ex.e-
rior influence


He had ridden on for many miles, and it
was growing quite dark, when he was
aroused from his reflections by sudden
pause his horse made at q water-trough,
near the roadside,


"Poor FREELY" he said, patting the
animal on the neck, and loosening the reins
1 that he might drink at ease :" had quite
forgotten you might be tired, and bless
me, it is almost night, we must go home v'


He smiled with mournful bitterness as
he said it, and repeated the word half
aloud, n.-tfhI. .0ts


"Home! You have one, Fire-hy; but
mine--well, well, the world is wide, who
knows what it may afford me yet?"


He gathered up the bride, and turned to
retrace the road he had been travelling. A
small farm house stood little farther back,
and the farmer was leaning on the fence in
front, quietly smoking his pipe. He bowed
to the youth, who felt, for an instant, a
confused sort Of envy for his lowly station
and quiet, and in his absorption allowed
his whip to fall heavily upon the neck OF
his horse. The spirited creature bounded
down the rapid descent, and striking sud
denly against some obstacle, stumbled and
fell, throwing his rider to the ground.


e Are you hurtP" said a voice, as Sears
sprang to his feet, and the farmer leaped