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self-respect have been lowered before she
could have formed such an estimate of her
self—fallen, or falling, as she already was!
Perhaps it were best not to enquire what
were the probable services this unprincipled
woman expected in return for giving the
false character. It is hardly to be supposed
that she had sought the acquaintance of the
friendless girl without some selfish plan or
motive. They stood talking a few minutes
longer, and then walked away in different di
rections : the elder with the confident air of
one who had carried herself successfully
through many schemes of deception ; the
other, trembling and abashed at the first
breaking down of the barriers of integrity.
Oh! ye thoughtless women, in your homes of
ease —ye, whose breath can give or take
away reputation—-be merciful in your judg
ment of her. and pause well, ere, on some
similar occasion, you drive a helpless female
to desperation.
Oil! it was pitiful,
Near a whole city full,
Friend she had none.
Mary had no longer the means of returning
to her family in Wiltshire: she was already
reduced to poverty’s sad extremity, and had
that very morning conveyed her warm cloak
to the safe keeping of the pawnbroker. Be
sides, how could she have borne to go as a
disgraced pauper among the large poor fami
ly to which she belonged ? among those who
had looked with such pride upon their “ sis
ter in service in London I”
And yet, notwithstanding her many griefs,
and the gaunt figure of absolute Want which
loomed upon her, and was drawing nearer
and nearer, she had refused assistance only
the day before from her “ young master,”
whom she had chanced to meet in the street,
and who had accosted her, apparently with
much sympathy. From him she had learned
that Mrs. Dixon was as implacable as ever;
yet, though he pressed silver, and even gold,
upon her, let us be thankful she was still
hedged round by the feelings of delicacy and
feminine propriety, which forbade her ac
cepting money from “an admirer.” Surely
the world-hardened Tempters do not always
know the dreadful work they are about!
“ If you please, ma’am, do you know of a
place I” was the inquiry of Mary, about an
hour after she had parted with her new ac
quaintance. She had entered a respectable
looking baker’s shop, in one of the great tho
roughfares.
“ What sort of a place I” said the mistress,
a good-tempered, good-looking young woman,
of seven or eight and twenty, who was just
then sweeping the counter with a hand-brush,
with great activity. Mary, by the way, had
observed at a glance that shop, and counter,
and hand-brush, and all appurtenances, were
what everything belonging to a baker’s shop
should be, exquisitely clean and neat; and
that the mistress herself, in her snowy cap,
and light-colored cotton dress, was a pattern
of neatness.
“I could take a housemaid’s place, ma’am,”
replied Mary, “or servant of all-work in a
small family.”
“Lor! I wonder if you would suit us I”
said Mrs. Allen, the baker’s wife; “we sent
off our servant in a great huff last night, and
I have no one to do a stroke for me, except
the nurse-girl, and she has enough to do with
three children to mind. Could you come di
rectly —to-day, I mean?”
“Yes, ma’am, to-day, if you like.”
Then followed the ordinary questions, and,
of course, among them —*’ Where did you
live last ?”
“ With Mrs. Smith, ma’am, No. 20,
street .”
Alas, alas, poor Mary!
“And can you have a good character?”
“I am sure I can, ma’am. I only left be
cause Captain Smith was obliged to go with
his ship, and Mrs. Smith did not want two
servants any longer.”
“Well, wail here in the shop a bit, while
I go and speak to my husband. James,
James,” she continued, calling from some
stairs which led to the bake-house, “I want
you.” And up there came a portly-looking
man, with shirt-sleeves tucked up, and his
arms covered above the elbows with flour
and dough. The Allens were a happy cou
ple, well to do in the world, and in good-hu
mor with it and themselves. An attentive
listener might have heard something about
“ tidy-looking girl: think she’d just do: hut
here it is Finlay ; I am sure I never can get
out for her characfer either to-day or to-mor
row.”
“ That’s a pity,” said the husbatUi*
“If we could but be sure of her honesty, I
wouldn’t mind taking her, and then going for
her character next week. What do you say,
James ?”
“ My dear, how can we he sure ?”
Ha ad?&IE AIE ¥ ©A SMITH*
“ She wouldn’t be so stupid as to say she
could have a good character, if she were not
honest,” replied the wife, whose mind seemed
veering very much towards trying her.
“ Thai’s true,” exclaimed the baker, as if
anew light were let in on the subject.
“Come and see her,” said the wife.
There were two or three customers waiting
in the shop, but during Mrs. Allen’s short ab
sence, her second child, a little girl of about
three years old had “madefriends” with Ma
ry, and was clinging to her hand, and look
ing up in her face, as if she were an old ac
quaintance. It may he that this was the fea
ther which pleased the parents, and turned
the scale.
The feelings with which Mary learned that
she was to be received in this unusual man
ner, and that the Falsehood which was plan
ned would not beaded for three days to come,
at least, were something like those we may
imagine a culprit to entertain, when he re
ceives a respite of his sentence. A dim hope
would make itself felt, a dim hope that some
thing would occur to prevent it being carried
into execution.
With what wonderful activity Mary set to
work, or how anxiously she strove to please,
words cannot easily tell. But the Lie was a
haunting Presence “that seemed to banish even
the hope of happiness. The honest baker
and his wife were evidently well satisfied
with their new servant. The advantage, by
which she had profited, of living in a family
belonging to a higher station, enabled her to
do many things in a superior way; and the
Allens were people to appreciate all this. —
And the neat and nice manner in which she
served the Sunday’s dinner, of which a cou
ple of friends partook, was duly commented
on. Then the children “took to her” amaz
ingly, and the circumstance of her discover
ing a half-sovereign which had strangely es
caped from the till, seemed to give them the
most perfect confidence in her honesty; so
that, when, on the afternoon of Tuesday, the
appointment having been duly made with the
fictitious Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Allen was equip
ped in a handsome silk dress, ready to go
“after Mary’s character,” she almost felt that
it was a mere form, so certain was she of the
girl’s acquirements and integrity.
This was a dreadful moment to Mary.—
She felt as if her quickly-beating heart sent
the blood to the crown of her head ; and that
the next instant it receded, and left her ready
to faint; while all the events of her troubled
career rushed in strange distinctness before
her, even to the history she had learned of
the baker’s former servant having been dis
charged for telling a falsehood. “But then he
had said— “ We would have forgiven her if
she had not persisted in it!”
By an uncontrollable impulse, as Mrs. Al
len was leaving her parlor, Mary seized the
skirt of her dress, and throwing herself on
her knees before her, exclaimed, amid a pas
sionate torrent of tears —“ It is ycur goodness
that has saved me! oh, hear me, hear me!”
And then, in broken phrases, she poured out
the story of her trials and Temptations.
Sad was it to see the altered looks of her
benefactors, anJ to hear the cold.and mourn
ful tone in which Mrs. Allen said, “So, you
have deceived me after all: you would have
cheated me with a False Character;” and the
good and nalu ally kind-hearted woman sank
on her chair, overcome with the surprise.
“We cannot help you,” said the baker
sternly.
“Mercy! mercy!” exclaimed the poor girl,
and, weak from recent scanty fare—for she
had been too wretched to eat during even the
few days that abundance had been before her
—she fainted outright. When she came to
herself, she was stretched on a sofa, with
master and mistress both leaning over her.
Thare was pity on their faces, and tears rob
ed down Mrs. Allen’s cheeks. In loosening
her dress, in their endeavors to restore bet,
they had come upon a packet of pawnbroker’!-;
duplicates, the dates of which, and the nature
of the articles pledged, were a touching con
firmation of her story. From the “ corneliai
brooch,” so easily dispensed with, to the nd
cessary cloak, and a prayer-book, the mourn
ful chain was complete.
“We will not turn you away,” said tic
baker, “just yet: we will try you a little
longer.”
“ Your goodness has saved me !” was a l
the stricken girl could utter.
“ But,” continued he, “my wife will go
immediately lo your real mistress, and hear
her version of the story. Certainly your con
fession is voluntary, and I do not believe
you are hardened in deception.”
Mrs. Allen set off! and the distance beirg
considerable, she was gone upwards of two
hours. What an eternity they seemed lo tie
poor servant!
“Well, my deflC)” exclaimed the baker, I
when at last she returned, “what do you
think ?”
“ Why, I think, James, that a great many
people who call themselves ladies, are no la
dies at all. Would you believe it, this Mrs.
Dixon has found the piece of lace she accu
sed the girl of stealing—found it slipped be
hind the drawer, or something of the sort;
and except for her own regret at sending away
a good servant, I don’t think she feels her
wickedness a bit. Poor girl, I cannot help
pitying her. It was very wrong to attempt
to cheat us with a false character, but it’s my
belief we none of us know what we should
do if we were sorely tempted. And besides,
you see she was not equal to carrying out
the deception.”
“ Let us keep her,” was the baker’s em
phatic rejoinder.
“Why, I don’t know that we can,” said
Mrs. Allen. “Mrs. Dixon says she’ll take
her back, if she likes to go, for the lady has
had three housemaids since she left, and you
know it is a much grander place than ours.
At any rate, she promises to give her an ex
cellent character.”
“Did you tell this Mrs. Dixon about the
intended false character?”
“No, I didn’t; for I soon found out how
matters were, and I felt I should have been
wicked to do the girl a further mischief.”
“Quite right, my love,” said the baker.
Mary was called in, and the facts related.
V\ Ith tearful joy, and amid thanksgiving to
Heaven, she implored that her benefactors
would allow her to stay with them, rejecting,
with something like scorn, the idea of a
“grander” place. Faithfully has she now
served them for years; and promoted to the
dignity of shopwoman, she is looked upon
rather as a tried friend than anything else.
But even in the sunshine of happiness she
never forgets that it is the “goodness,” as
she calls it, of the baker and his wife which
have saved her.
Alas, for the rarity
Os Christian charity!
how often would a generous trust save the
sorely Tempted!
Qomc (fTomsponirnuc.
For the Southern Literary Gazette.
LETTERS FROM CHEROKEE—NO.3.
An Awful Explosion—Cave Spring Schoo’s.
Do not believe that 1 am half through with
Cave Spring. Come, go with me. Let us
ascend this steep mountain on the east of the
village, and look down upon the valley and
beyond it. A succession of beautiful, culti
vated vales lie before you, here and there
(lotted with cottages, reposing amidst their
groves of aboriginal trees, and apparently the
very abodes of peace. A little beyond, your
eyes rest on a dark mountain ridge, shaded
with deep green pines; farther on, rises an
other, overgrown with every variety of wood,
exhibiting every variety of drapery, from
bright yellow lo deep brown; farther on
still, mountains rise over mountains, and
peaks over peaks, till, stretching away far
into the north, you see the pale blue outline
of the Look-out Mountains of Alabama and
Tennessee. Turn your eyes, now, on the
southwest; just in the bosom of that circling
ridge, composed of the spurs of the Talladega
and Look-out, lies the Double Springs, and
near it a rising town on the banks of the
Coosa, dignified with the name of that good
man and enterprising citizen, Col. James
Gadsden, of Charleston. Did you hear of
the awful explosion that occurred there a few
days ago ? If not, prepare for a tale, whose
lightest word will harrow thy young blood.
&c. You know the rest of what Horatio, I
believe it was, said to Hamlet.
In that same town of Gadsden lives a black
smith, y’clept Griffin. The said Griffin is a
redoubtable Taylor man ; and Taylor men, in
the Alabama portion of Cherokee, are few
and far between. This said man Griffin had.
for the purposes of his business and employ
ment as a blacksmith, a certain machine or
tool, or appendage, termed a Mandrel, which
is described as a certain cast-iron affair,
weighing about four hundred pounds, shaped
like a sugar-loaf, hollow, and used for making
bands. So, when Griffin heard of the elec
ti°n of General Taylor, he determined to
wake, for once, the sleeping echoes of old
Cherokee, or the sleeping babies of his Demo
cratic friends—he did not care which • 0 *
he takes a day to drill a hole in said Man
drel—and, having planted it near to his shop*
loaded it well with some five pounds of pow !
der, and applied thereto a slow match. And
now, the citizens of Gadsden, informed of his
! purpose, prepared for this Taylor gun of new
construction, and dubious result. Some look
ed round from corners; some ensconced
themselves safely, as they supposed, behind
a pile of boxes; and Griffin, himself, lay fiat
upon the earth, some distance off. to take as
he said, at ease, a Buena Vista of this Taylor
earthquake. And now, behold, a dense
smoke rises; the whole town is convulsed: a
noise, as of the rending of the earth, deafens
the amazed population. The lookers-on
round the corners find themselves somewhere,
but not at the places where they began to
look. The men behind the boxes are tum
bled over, heels over head into boxes, which
are boxes no more. Griffin, from his recum
bent position, is lifted up, and flies into the
air without the aid of either wings, or Dr
Davidson’s newly invented machine; and,as
for the Mandrel, that is just where a man,
according to Sambo's idea of one blown up
in a steamboat, would be--where are ye ?
One piece, seventy pounds weight, tearsaway
one side of the blacksmith’s shop, enters a
fine coach belonging to the Tuscaloosa and
Blue Pond line, and makes mince-meat of
that. The rest of it, supposing as, of course,
every one was dead, it ought to be buried,
digs itself into the ground some four feet
deep. Old Coosa feels the concussion; the
steamer, safely moored at her bluff, rolls and
tumbles, as if under the influence of a hurri
cane. Some twenty-seven miles off, in the
quiet bend of the Coosa, a pious, church-lov
ing congregation, had assembled to hear their
beloved pastor discourse on things immortal.
He had gotten through his introduction, his
positions and argument, and arrived at that
portion of his sermon, called by Quinctillian,
and after him by Dr. Blair, the peroration,
lie had described hell and the day of judg
ment-spoken of the terrors of that time, of
the last trump, and had just commenced de
scribing the thunders, when the explosion of
that terrible Mandrel broke upon the ears of
his excited auditory. Never, for an orator,
was sound so opportune. You remember the
effect of the falling of Corporal Trim's haton
the floor, upon the cook and scullion, when
lie told of his young master’s death. All
were mute; no sign of grief or terror ap
peared. till that hat fell; then a burst of tears
and lamentations rent the kitchen. Just so
with this awful sound upon the parson’s
hearers. He and they supposed that Mount
Sinai was thundering for his benefit, and
straightway the altar was crowded with
mourners.
As for Griffin, he only regrets that he has
not one more to burst for Gen. Taylor’s inau
guration ; which, if lie procures, and again
touches off, may I be there to see, at some
distance!
The arrangements for Schools at Cave
Spring are admirable. A permanent fund is
devoted to the maintenance of the Male
School; and, though now no teacher is em
ployed, the place unquestionably will com
mand teachers of ability. There are local
advantages here which make it one of the
most superior places in the whole Southwest
for the education of youth. The exclusion
by the charter, and the regulations of the
Trustees, of every 7 thing like dissipation or
immorality, makes it impossible that impro
per influences of any kind can operate.
There is a fine opportunity afforded, too, for
the proprietor of a female school. The ex.
cellent man who has heretofore conducted
this department, it is understood, only desires
a select school, and would be pleased to see
another established. Would that another