THE WITCH OF ENDOR. him, and it is said "his heart greatly trembled." Samuel, the stern and uncompromising revealer of truth, was no more. Unsustained by a hearty reliance upon divine things, Saul was like a reed cast upon the wa-iar with the mysteries of the pyramids; thou hast quafters, in this his hour of trial and perplexity. fed the waters of the Nile, even where they well up in Woman of Endor! thou has gathered the sacred lotus for the worship of Isis; thou has smothered the darkwinged Ibis in the temple of the gods; thou art famil "When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answer- the cavernous vaults of the ancient Cheops; thou hast ed him not, neither by dreams nor by prophets." Un-watched the stars, and learned their names and courses; happy man, thy prayers were those of doubt, not of art familiar with the sweet influences of the Pleiads, faith, and how could they enter that which is within and the bands of Orion. Thy teacher was a reverent worshipper of nature, and thou a meek and earnest pu the veil ! Thou In the utterness of his despair, he consults the Wo-pil. Thou heldest a more intimate communion with naman of Endor. She might not control events, but she ture than we of a later and more worldly age. could reveal them. Perilous and appalling as his des- workedst with her in her laboratory, creating the gem tiny threatened, he would yet know the worst. and the pearl, and all things whatsoever into which the breath of life entereth not. There was majesty in thee, oh Saul! even in thy disguise and agony as thou didst confront thy stern counsellor brought from the land of shadows-" the old man covered with a mantle." When Samuel demands, why hast thou disquieted me?" we share in the desolateness and sorrow which thy answer implies. 66 "God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams, therefore have I called thee, that thou mayst make known unto me what I shall do." The Woman of Endor! That is a strange perversion of taste that would represent her hideous in aspect. To me she seemeth all that is genial and lovely in manhood. learned in all the wisdom of the East. She had studiThus was it with the Woman of Endor. She was Brahma, and studied philosophy in the schools to which ed the religion of Egypt, had listened to the sages of the accomplished Greeks afterwards resorted to learn wo-truth and lofty aspiration; yet even here did the daughter of the Magi feel the goal of truth unattained. She had heard of a new faith-that of Israel—a sin So great had been the mental suffering of Saul, that he had fasted all that day and night, and at the terrible doom announced by the seer his strength utterly forsook him, and he fell all along upon the earth. Now cometh the gentle ministry of the Woman of Endor. "Behold thou hast prevailed with me to hearken to thy voice, even at the peril of my life; now, also, I pray thee, hearken to the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, that thou mayst have strength." To the Jew, trained to seek counsel only from Jehovah, the Woman of Endor was a dealer with spirits of evil. With us, who imbibe truth through a thousand channels made turbid by prejudice and error, she is a distorted being, allied to the hags of a wild and fatal delusion. We confound her with the witches of Macbeth, the victims of Salem, and the Moll Pitchers of modern days. Such is not the Woman of Endor-we have adopted the superstition of monk and priest through the long era of darkness and bigotry, and every age hath lent a shadow to the picture. 43 There was nothing of falsehood, nothing of diabolic nearer the freshness of creation, and they who patiently power in this. Men were nearer the primitive man, and religiously dwelt in the temple of nature learned her secrets, and acquired power hidden from the vulgar, amid their musty tomes. even as the learned now, in their dim libraries, and came a shield to her when the mandates of Saul banHence was it that her wisdom and her beauty beished all familiar with mysterious knowledge from the Can aught be more beautiful, more touching or wo-country. She was no trifler with the fears and credumanly in its appeal? Aught more foreign from a cru-lities of men. el and treacherous nature, aloof from human sympa- and guilelessly using wisdom which patient genius had She was an earnest disciple of Truth, thies, and dealing with unholy and forbidden know- unfolded to her mind. ledge ? "Hearken to the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee." Beautiful picture of primitive and genial hospitality! The Woman of Endor riseth before me in the very attitude of her kind, correct entreaty. The braids of her dark hair mingle with the folds of her turban; her oriental robes spread from beneath the rich girdle, and the bust swells with her impassioned appeal. I behold the proud contour of features, the deep, spiritual eye, the chiseled nostril, and the lip shaming the ruby. The cold, haughty grace becoming the daughter of the Magi, hath now yielded to the tenderness of her woman's heart. gular people, who at one time had sojourned in Egypt, and yet who went forth, leaving their gods and their Hither had she come with a meek spirit of inquiry, to vast worship behind, to adopt a new and strange belief. learn something more of those great truths for which the human soul yearneth forever. she believe that human events were shadowed forth in All night had she watched the stars, and firmly did their hushed movements. wondrous in their beauty. of nature, in the passage of the heavenly bodies, in the There were angles described in the vast mechanism congealing of fluids, and the formation of gems, which with certain words of mystic meaning, derived from the were of stupendous power when used in njunction vocabulary of spirits; spirits who once familiarly visited our earth, and left these symbols of their power behind them. These the learned, who did so in the spirit of truth and goodness, were able to use, and great and marvelous were the results. Such was the knowledge, and such the faith of the Woman of Endor, the wise and beautiful daughter of the Magi. She was yet young and lovely; not the girl nor the child, but the full, intellectual, and glorious woman. She had used a spell of great power in behalf of Saul who was in disguise, and unknown to her; and thus had compelled the visible presence of one of the most devout servants of the Most High God. Even she was appalled, not at the sight of the "old man covered with a mantle," but she saw "Gods descending to the house stood; but after many openings made in the earth." The fate of Saul would have been the same had not the prophet from the dead pronounced that fearful doom "To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be as I am," but he might to the last have realized that vague comfort to be found in the uncertainty of destiny, and in the faint incitements of hope. Fancy might have painted plains beyond the mountains of Gilboa, where the dread issues of battle were to be tried, and he would have been spared that period of agony, when the strong man was bowed to the earth at the certainty of doom. snow, they could not discover it. The month of April proving hot, and the snow beginning to soften, he again used his utmost endeavors to recover his effects, and to bury, as he thought, the remains of his family. He made new openings, and threw in earth, to melt the snow, which on the 24 of April was greatly diminished. He broke through ice six English feet thick, with iron bars, thrust down a long pole and touched the ground, but evening coming on, he desisted. His wife's brother, who lived at Demonte, dreamed that night that his sister was still alive, and begged him to help her; the man, affected by his dream, rose early Saul and the Woman of Endor, ages on ages since, fulfilled their earthly mission, leaving behind this sim-in the morning and went to Bergemoletto, where Jople record of the power and fidelity of human emotions in all times and places; we cannot regret even the trials of Saul, in the view of enlarged humanity, for had he been other than he was, the world had been unblessed with this episode of woman's grace and woman's tenderness, in the person of the Woman of Endor. seph was; and after resting himself a little, went with him to work upon the snow, where they made another opening, which led them to the house they searched for; but finding no dead bodies in its ruins, they sought for the stable, which was about two hundred and forty English feet distant, which having found, they heard the cry, "Help, my dear brother." greatly surprized as well as encouraged by these words, they labored with all diligence till they had made a large opening, through which the brother who had the dream, immediately went down, where the sisters with INSCRIBED TO THE GIVER, MISS. M. E. C., OF BROADALBIN, N. Y. an agonizing and feeble voice told him, "I have always IMMORTAL hope!-thine emblem is not lost! SONNET. Written upon receiving a flower of Amaranth attached to a stem of cedar. Strength nerves the pinions of the struggling soul! Naught shall obstruct the passage to that goal One that the gazing world shall proudly claim, With trembling tongues of awe, in loftiest numbers chime. A SWISS AVALANCHE. E. G. S. Being trusted in God and you, that you would not forsake REMARKABLE CASE OF A FAMILY BURIED ALIVE UNDER ther remedies. THE SNOW THIRTY-FIVE DAYS. On the inendant's interrogating the women, they told A SMALL cluster of houses, at a place called Bergemo- him, that on the morning of the 19th of March they letto, near Demonte, in the upper valley of Stura, in were in the stable with a boy of six years old, and a Switzerland, was, on the 19th of March, 1775, entirely girl of about thirteen; in the same stable were six goats, overwhelmed by two vast bodies of snow that tumbled one of which having brought forth two dead kids the down from the neighboring mountain .All the inhabi- night before, they went to carry her a vessel of rye flour tants were then within doors, except one Jos. Rochia gruel; there was also an ass and five or six fowls. and his son, a lad of fifteen, who were on the roof of They were sheltering themselves in a warm corner of their house clearing away the snow which had fallen the stable till the church bell should ring, intending to for three days incessantly. A priest going by to mass, attend the service. The wife related, that wanting to advised them to come down, having just before observ-go out of the stable to kindle a fire in the house for her ed a body of snow tumbling from the mountain toward husband, who was clearing away the snow from the them. The man descended with great precipitation, top of it, she perceived a mass of snow breaking down and fled with his son, he knew not whither; but scarce toward the east, upon which she went back into had he gone thirty or forty paces, before his son, who stable, shut the door, and told her sister of it. Ines followed him, fell down; on which looking back, he than three minutes they heard the roof break over their saw his own and his neighbors' houses, in which were heads, and also a part of the ceiling. The sister advitwenty-two persons in all, covered with a high moun-sed to get into the rack and manger, which they did. tain of snow. He lifted up his son, and reflecting that his wife, his sister, two children, and his effects, were thus buried he fainted away; but soon reviving, got safe into a friend's house at some distance. The ass was tied to the manger, but got loose by kicking and struggling, and threw down the little vessel, which they found, and afterward used to hold the melted snow, which served them for drink. Five days after, Joseph being perfectly recovered, got Very fortunately the manger was under the main upon the snow with his son, and two of his wife's broth-prop of the stable, and so resisted the weight of the ers, to try if he could find the exact place where his snow. Their first care was to know what they had to THE MAN WITH A HORSE UPON HIS SHOULDERS. On the sixth day the boy sickened, and six days after desired his mother, who all this time had held him in her lap, to lay him at his length in the manger. She did so, and taking him by the hand, felt it was very cold; she then put her hand to his mouth, and finding that cold likewise, she gave him a little milk; the boy then cried, 'Oh, my father is in the snow! Oh, father, father!' and then expired. ་ eat. The sister said she had fifteen chesnuts in her pocket; the children said they had breakfast, and should want no more that day. They remembered that there were thirty-six or forty cakes in a place near the stable, and endeavored to get them, but were not able for the snow. They called often for help, but were heard by none. The sister gave two chesnuts to the wife, and ate two herself, and drank some snow water. The ass was restless, and the goats kept bleating for some days; after which they heard no more of them. Two of the goats, however, being yet alive, and near the manger, they felt them, and recollected that one of them would kid, about the middle of April, the other gave milk, wherewith they preserved their lives. During all the time, they saw not one ray of light, yet for about twenty days they had some notice of night and day, from the crowing of the fowls, till they died. The second day, being very hungry, they ate all the chesnuts, and drank what milk the goats yielded, being very near two pounds a day at first, but it soon decreased. The third day they attempted again, but in vain, to get at the cakes; so resolved to take all possible care to feed the goats; but just above the manger was a hay loft, whence through a hole the sister pulled We turned short to see whether the speaker would down hay into the rack, and gave it to the goats as explain by word or gesture, but the conversation aplong as they could reach it, and then, when it was be-peared to have taken a different turn, and there was yond her reach, the goats climbed upon her shoulders, and reached it themselves. nothing in his step to indicate lightness. Thinking that a joke had been intended, we sought of no one an explanation. It happened that the same gentleman passed us a few days subsequent to the time we have noticed above, and he lifted his hat gravely to the person with whom we were talking. He had scarcely passed, before our friend mentioned him as one-perhaps the only person in the city, who never allowed himself in lightness of expression, and who invariably sought to be understood exactly as he spoke. 45 were ging away the snow, when a man and a young girl were found in it alive. By a most fortunate circumstance, these two persons, at the time of the fall, together in a part of the dwelling in which were all their provisions, with a cow and a goat; and the milk of these animals, which they fed with potatoes and bread. distributed with the most careful economy, had sufficed for their sustenance during their long and dismal captivity. They said, that during all this time, hunger gave them but little uneasiness, except for the first five or six days; and their greatest pain was from the extreme coldness of the melted snow water, which fell on them; from the smell of the dead ass, goats, fowls, &c.; but more than all, from the uneasy posture they were confined to, the manger in which they sat squatting against the wall, being no more than three feet four inche broad. THE MAN WITH A HORSE UPON HIS BY JOSEPH R. CHANDLER. PASSING One day, nearly sixteen years ago, slowly along the street, we became involuntary auditors of a very small part of the conversation of two gentlemen, who were pursuing an opposite course. "It is an evil to be deplored," said the younger. "I agree with you," said the other; "but of all the inconveniences that I have found in the city, that of meeting and attempting to pass a man with a horse on his shoulders." In the meanwhile the goat's milk diminished daily, This was indeed a poser-the person who talked of and the fowls soon after dying, they could no longer meeting "a man with a horse on his shoulders," havdistinguish night from day; but according to their reck-ing the character of speaking just as he thought?oning, the time was near when the other goat should kid, which at length they knew was come, by its cries; the sister held it, and they killed the kid, to save the milk for their own subsistence; so they found that the middle of April was come. Whenever they called the goat, it would come and lick their faces and hands, and gave them every day two pounds of milk, on which account they long after bore the poor creature a great affection. From that moment the strange sentence got possession of our minds. We never saw a handsome, well formed horse, without calculating his weight, and then thinking whether there was any man in the city who could, either for amusement or business, carry such a load upon his shoulders. The thing appeared impossible. The animal, however docile, or tractable under a saddle, could not be expected to consent to any such violation of the obvious laws of nature-to be sprawling in mid air; it was preposterous: and yet, if a horse could not be carried on a man's shoulders, what ground was there for the gentleman's exclamation? So completely had the matter got possession of our minds, that we stopped at stables to see whether the ostlers, in their familiar intercourse with horses, ever took one upon their shoulders. We hastened toward large crowds, in expectation that the people had assembled to see "a man with a horse on his shoulders." We This interesting case of overwhelming by an ava- remember one instance in particular. When perceiving lanche, which has been frequently printed, is notso lita- some hundreds of persons of both sexes crowding tory in the annals of Switzerland. Instances of a similar gether, we instantly conceived that it must have been nature, though more disastrous in causing loss of life, nothing else than "a man with a horse on his shoulare of frequent occurrence. A case of overwhelming, ders." We hastened toward the place; but before atattended by circumstances very closely resembling taining it, inquired of a lad who had squeezed out of those in the above narrative, happened but a few years the mass, the cause of the assemblage. A horse had ago. The village of La Colle, in the Lower Alps, was been thrown down. That was it-it was what we hard covered by an avalanche, which buried one of the hous-wished for-because if a horse had been thrown down, es for a period of twenty-three days. At the end of that it was evident that he must have been up, and how period, the villagers gained access to the house by dig- could he have been up unless up on a man's shoulders? THE FIRST AND LAST TICKET. FIRST AND LAST TICKET. FROM THE MANUSCRIPT OF A CONDEMNED CRIMINAL. "CURSE the ticket!" was my first exclamation on leaving a lottery office, into which I had been to learn. :: We made our way into the midst of the crowd, and saw the horse stretched upon the pavement; but he was tackled to a dray; and it was an outrage upon common sense to suppose that the dray and horse too, had fallen from a man's shoulders. The idea followed us in sleep, and our dreams were peopled with men the fate of my first ticket. Would that it had been my occupying the side walks, with large bay horses on last! Would that in cursing I had forsaken them entheir shoulders and sometimes we saw these hippo-tirely! Had I done so, now, perhaps, I should not anthropists engaged in mortal combat, filling the neigh- have been here-my wife and my boy-my pratling borhood with alarm, and driving sleep from our pillow. David, would not have been mouldering in the charnel At the circus one night, a small horse was admitted house-I might have been happy-have been unstained into the ring, and the clown in taking his leave lifted by the blood of a fellow creature. Oh, well may I the fore legs of the little animal upon his own should- curse the tickets! They have bowed me down with a ers, and they walked out together-par nobile fratrum. curse—even a death-curse! That was an approach to the wonder; but still the excessive awkwardness of the whole movement, exciting laughter in every part of the circus, where it was nightly repeated satisfied us that the hind legs of the horse upon the man's shoulders, should not touch the ground. We did not like to ask of those who might be supposed to know the extent of man's bearing, lest we might ascertain also the extent of his forbearing, whether they believed a man could be found who could carry a horse upon his shoulders; but we put the question in different forms as to how a much a horse would weigh, and how much a man could sustain on his shoulders. 46 My first ticket was a blank. I was persuaded by a friend to buy it, who tempted me by holding up to view the glittering prize and exciting my hopes of obtaining it. I was not disappointed at the result of my purchase, although a curse involuntarily burst from my lips when I first learnt it. I hardly thought of drawing a high prize; yet the possibility of being so fortunate kept my mind in a constant burning excitement. I was a young man then, and could ill afford to lose the cost of the ticket. However, I comforted myself with the reflection, that experience must be paid for. I also made a determination that I would not be so foolish again. I kept it unbroken for six months. Yet all that time there was a whispering in my ear-"try again—you may be more fortunate." It was the whispering of my evil genius-and I obeyed it. I bought part of a ticket and drew five hundred dollars. I had previous to this, being in a good situation and with every prospect of doing well in the world, engaged myself to Eliza Berton, a young lady who had long possessed my affections. She was oneno, I will not, I cannot speak of her as she was. Well, shortly after my good fortune-I should say misfortune-I married her. I was considerably elated with my luck, and treated my friends freely. I did not, however, buy any tickets at that time although strongly urged to. One evening, after I had been married some months, I went out to visit a friend, intending to return home in the course of an hour. On the way to my friend's house I passed a lottery office. It was brilliantly lighted up, and in the windows were temptingly displayed schemes of chance and invitations to purchase. I had not tried my luck since my marriage,, and had given up buying tickets. As I passed by the window of the office my eye caught the following, in illuminated letters and figures-"$10,000 prize will be. heard from this night. Tickets $5." I hesitated a moment, then walked on-"who knows but what I may get it?" I said to myself. I stopped-turned aboutstill hesitating-"Try again," I heard, and retracing. my steps I went into the office. A number of my acquaintance were sitting there smoking. The vendor gave me a cigar, and after awhile, asked me if I should not like to try my luck in the lottery which he was expecting every moment to hear from; his clerk having gone out to await the opening of the mail. So saying he handed me a package of quarters, which he prevailed on me to take, and pay twenty-five dollars; the price he sold them at. The clerk soon after came in with a list of the drawing; and I left the office that. evening, one thousand dollars better off than when I To most men, experience is like the stern lights of a entered. But where for? For home? No-for the ship, which illumine only the track it has passed. tavern, where we all went for a treat. At midnight, I We remembered the Greek proverb, "lift the calf and you may lift the ox;" and we entertained a hope that somebody had begun with the colt. We paid twenty-five cents to see the Irish giant at the Museum in Market street, in the hope that he could show "thews and sinews" enough to sustain a horse-but in vain; years passed away; and though the idea still pressed with its earliest force, we found no solution to the riddle. During one of the windy Wednesdays of this month, as we were passing up Fourth street by the Friend's burying ground, we noticed the side walk nearly occupied with a lady's dress, the owner of which was making what the sailors would call "small head way" against a stiff breeze; as we were following, it was only necessary to slacken our pace in order neither to cause nor receive inconvenience, as crossing the street was prevented by the rank and file of market carts along the gutter. Suddenly the lady stopped. There was an impediment-but the latitudinal display of sleeves prevented our discovering it. Just then the wind blew the lady's veil far out, like the streamers of a ship, hiding the upper part of a man that was attempting to pass her; there was a sudden crash, and the whole head gearing of the lady, bonnet, veil, cad, ribbons, &c. &c. were stretched over the shoulders of the black passenger, bedizzening his honest visage like the corruscations of the setting sun shooting up from behind a cloud. "You brute," said the offended lady, "you brute, why do you come upon the side walk with A saw HORSE ON YOUR SHOULDERS?" "Eureka!" we shouted, in a tone far above the female's voice; and turned back incontinently, to write this account for the sake of adding two most excellent morals. When you have anything to say, study perspicuity; and if you find a mystery in what others have said, wait with patience-time and observation will clear it all. THE FIRST AND LAST TICKET. went home to my anxious, sleepless wife in a fit of But the prize thought I, will check it. Fool! to think intoxication. This was her first experience. paltry gold would reconcile an offended God-would A week went by, and Eliza began to smile again. buy off punishment! The lottery was drawn that afThe excitement I was in that night she admitted as ternoon. That evening I sat alone with my wife in an excuse for my conduct. But she tenderly advised her room. She was talking of some men, in not being me, nay, on her knees in the stillness of our chamber, contented with what they possessed, and for being every night she implored God to have me in his keep-ever on the search for more. "How many hearts have ing, to preserve me from temptation. I was ashamed been agitated-wound up to the highest pitch this afof myself and I solemnly swore to abstain altogether ternoon in hopes of drawing a prize," said she. What from tickets. My wife was herself again. Months could I do: I was there, and had to listen to her, alpassed away ;—a charge was entrusted to my keeping though each word that she uttered was like a burning -a holy charge. I was presented with a son. He coal at my heart. She continuedtook his father's name. Thank God! he will not bear his sorrows-his shame! I was happy as man need be for a year. Business prospered-I enjoyed good health, and was blessed with a home where all was peace. I said I was happy-I was at times; but there was a secret thirst within me for riches-for the filthy lucre of the world: and I was not avaricious—nor was I parsimonious. But the desire had been awakenedthe hope been encouraged, that, by venturing little, much might be had: and although my oath had been registered, that I would have nothing to do with lottery gambling, yet a burning thought of gain-of gain by lotteries-agitated me day and night. In the day time when about my business, the thought that by venturing a few dollars I might draw enough to make me independent of labor-to allow me to live at ease, was ever uppermost in my mind; and in the night my dreams were all of lotteries, of prizes. Almost every night I received large sums of prize money. I strove to banish such desires from my mind; but they haunted me like an evil spirit. 47 "And how many have spent that, which should have gone for bread and clothing for their families-and for what? For a vain hope of obtaining more! for a piece of mere colored paper! And think you, my husband, there have been no vows violated-no oaths broken this afternoon ?" Good God! how those words tortured me! I made no answer, and she went on. "If there are any such, and if they have been unfortunate, how keen must be their disappointment, and how doubly keen their remorse! Are you not, David, better pleased with yourself this evening for not buying tickets-allowing you had not pledged your oath not to meddle with them-than you would have been, had you purchased them and made money by it?" Thus did that woman talk to me, as though I were as pure. and guileless as herself. Innocent one! she knew not, that at the moment her words were like daggers to my heart-that at every motion of her lips my soul writhed in agony-she knew not that my pocket book was crammed with the cursed tickets-blank tickets! And when she poured out her soul in prayer that night, she knew not that he for whom she prayed dare not listen So it was. to her words, but stopped his ears. * About eighteen months after taking my oath, a grand scheme was advertised to be drawn on a certain day in my own town. I felt a strong propensity to try my luck again. I was importuned by friends to buy "Do, my dear husband, stay at home one evening. tickets-the scheme was so good, the chance of suc- this week! You shall read to me, or I will read to you; cess so great; but I thought of the oath I had taken come, keep me company this evening." Thus said and was firm in my denial. The day of drawing drew my wife one evening, as she took me affectionately by nigh. The vendor who sold me the prize urged me to the arm, a tear at the same time filling her eye. Brute take a few tickets-I was also urged by others to buy that I was! I shook her off repulsively, scarcely deign-even in the presence of my wife. But I resisted. ing her a reply as I went out. I was an altered man— She, trusting one, said not a word—she knew my oath my innocence had departed from me-I had perjured was pledged-she knew that I remembered it, and she myself. My oath once broken, I still continued to had confidence in my keeping it sacred. She only break it. Not a lottery was drawn but that I had some gave a glance of pleasure, it may be said triumph, she chance in it. Il luck attended me. Blanks-blanks heard me refuse my friend's invitations. That night I were my portion. Still I kept on. Most of my hours dreampt that a particular number would be the fortu- were spent in lottery offices. I neglected my business nate one-that I purchased it and it came up in the debts accumulated-wants came upon me; and I highest prize. When I arose in the morning my firm- had nothing to satisfy them but a hope-a hope, that ness was a little shaken. It was the day of drawing. at the next drawing I should be lucky. As cares inA friend came into my store in the forenoon and show-creased I went to the tavern for relief. Remorse gnawed me a parcel of tickets; among them I saw the ed at my heart like a worm. It had drank up all my happiness. When I first broke my oath I thought gold would still my conscience. Gold I had none, so I attempted to ease it by strong drink. Rum burnt up my tender feelings-my better nature; but it only added to the quenchless fire that was raging at my heart. It was not uncommon for me at this stage, to get intoxicated every night. Oft have I staggered home at * number of my dream! He offered them to me-I forgot myself-I mocked my God-I broke my oath! I did not stay in the house at noon any longer than to hurry through with dinner. My wife's presence was a burden to me; her happy smile discomfitted me and her cheerful tones went to my heart like a reproach. From that day her presence was a curse to me; not that I loved her the less-not that she had changed-midnight to my patient dying Eliza-for my conduct but how could I stand before her, perjured as I was, was making sad inroads on a constitution naturally and she the while not doubting my innocence-how delicate; and without a shadow of cause fell to abucould I without feeling my unholiness? A thousand sing her. Merciful God forgive me. Even while she different times that forenoon did I resolve to seek was on her knees in prayer-praying for me! What my friend and return him the ticket, and as often did insult and misery has not that woman endured! and I break them. Conscience smote heavily-heavily. all brought on by me-her husband, her protector!. |