Year: 1871

l stood upon the pavement of one


of the crowded streets of the busy


city, looking out upon the lone blue


sea, over which the sun was casting


his declining rays. I was stranger


there-unknOwing and unknown


indulging in the solitude so peculiar


in the midst of living throng of


human beings. My thoughts were


busy with the thousand scenes 1 had


that day witnessed, and as 1 gazed


upon the rolling wave and tossed


vessel, bearing to our shores the rich


products of other climes, my fancy


pictured out thousand scenes of


splendor and enjoyment. 1 might


possibly have gazed till this time,


upon the glorious beauties of the


scenes around me, but my reverie


was disturbed by the far off sound of
music, waited to my ears upon the
evening breeze. Almost before 1
was aware of having stirred, my


powers of locomotion had been at


work, and I was beneath the case
ment of a noble mansion that stood
apart from the other buildings, lis
tening with eager delight to the


breathing notes of the organ, and
drinking into my very soul, the song
that accompanied them.


Music has strange power over
me.-From boy have loved it with
an intensity past description, and


have a thousand times set up at
night delighted with the saving of
the village fiddler, until in my i'm
agination he was the greatest man the
world has ever known. Strange


thoughts came over me as 1 listened.
The tones of that voice struck a
chord within my bosom that vibrat-
ted at the touch. The great store
house Of memory was unlocked, and
ransacking all its deep recesses, I
tried to draw from its hiding place
some old, familiar object, brought
agSin to life by the song to which l
listened. The day was gone; the
sun he'd sunk below the hills, and
the bright cold stars were standing
put, the Nentinels of the silent watch
es of the night. Still 1 moved not.
I was chained by spell, or power
could not master, until, wearied with
the exercise, the fair minstrel left
her seat, and came and stood in the
basement before me. She looked
long and intently upon the beauties
of the glorious heavens, which were
spread out before her, and stirred
not before the arm Of another fe-
male, somewhat more advanced in
years, was thrown around her neck,
and the glistniDg tears were kissed
from her pale and solemn cOunten-
ance. A silence of some length en-
sured, when she younger female re-
the other of a promise she
had made, that on her 18th birth
day she would disclose to her the
secrets Of her family. You have of
ten told me, mother, that / was an
orphan, and that the song 1 have
Just been singing, was written by my
father in days gone by, when happi-
ness filled our dwelling, and presided
a welcome and courted guest at our
humble hearthstone. The promised
time has now arrived, and no hour
so mete as this, for me to hear the
sa d tale of our bereavement


l would have withdrawn, even at
5he risk of being discovered, but
some strange power held me to my
place, and l was almost an unwel-
come listener to a tale, with which l
found to my astonishment, 1 was al
ready acquainted. I shall therefore
relate it in my own language, sup
plying many important particulars
with which the narrator was anac-
luainted.


In the year 1S-my father resided
n a small village, in the interior of
New York, and was engaged in the
Of the law. Being in easy
circumstances, I was kept constant
y at school, except during the two
-egular vacations that occurred in
each year. 1 was excessively fond
If sporting, and with my dog and
gun, have rambled day after day,
)ver the mountains that almost en-
,ircled my native village. In one of
,hese excursions, the eagerness of
he chase came near costing me my
ife, but led to the facts l am about
o relate. Ny hound had started
OK, and in endeavoring to obtain a
,hot at the animal, had carelessly
approached the brink Of a ledge of
'ocks that overhung a deep dark ra-
vine, which had been dug out by the
torrent rushing down its
side. l was upon the very point
Of plunging off when l discov-
cred the danger and had
barely time to lay hold of al
branch Of hazel, that was hanging
down the side of the rock. The
loose tufts of moss upon which I
stood were sliding of, and lost my
foot hold entirely, and hung sus-