Georgia times and state right's advocate. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1833-1834, August 21, 1833, Image 1

Georgia times and state right's advocate., August 21, 1833, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextVOL.' 1. Georgia, Timesp & State Rights’ Advocatei I>KIN*EI> A»D PIKLiMII DMV MAKVADIKE J. SLADE, AT TIIUEE DOLLARS PEU A*»l«L UEOKiiIA TIMES . AND amsa <AS'yi>!9 > &i£ 3 Is published once a week, in the Town of Mil ledge vide et I’HREE DOLLARS per annum, if paid in advance, or FOCR DOLLARS, at the end of the year. Advertisements inserted at the usual rates: those sent without a specified number of inser tions, will e pui lished until ordered out, and charged accordingly. Salesof [.and, by Admin istrators, r. tf'cutors, or Guardians, are required, by law, to b. held on the first Tuesday in the month, between the hours of ten in the fore noon and three in the afternoon, at the court house in the county in which the property is situate. Notice ol these sales must be given in a public gaiette sixty days previous to the day of sale. Sales of negroes mußt he at pub lic auction, on the first Tuesday of the month, between the Usual hours of 9ale, at the place of public sales in the county where the letters Testamentary, of Administration or Guardian ship, may have been granted, first giving sixty days notice thereof, in one of the public ga ieties «f this State, and at the door of the eourt-house, where such sales are to be held.— Notice for the sale of Personal Property must be given in like manner, forty days previous to the lay of sale. N dice to the Debtors and Cre ditors of an E s’ate must be published for forty days. Notice that application will be made to the Court of Ordinary for leave to sell Land, must be published four months. Notiee for leave to sell Negroes, must be published for four months before any order absolute shall be made thereon by the Court MISCELLANEOUS. FOR Tim UCORGIA TIMES. IIENKY WATKINS OR TUB OXRROKEI OATH. A Tile without a Moral. The following strange incidents in the melancholy history of one w ho was designed bv nature for a happier fate, cannot and will not excite such an interest in the reader, as its recital aroused in the lmsnm of iiiin who now attempts to give it coldly to the world. The circumstances under which it was re ceived, tile earnestness of manner which marked the relation, and tlie deep sympathy which l felt in his sufferings, all conspired to give a peculiarly interesting character to the narrative as it f II burning from the furnace of his w ithered heart. One other car he said had heard it; the ear of her lie haddevotedly loved, and still sincerely respected. Should then this feeble sketch ever meet her eye, perhaps she will bear witness to the faithful ness of the record, and call to mind, tho’ it may he a source of little satisfaction ; the original of the fearful picture. It was about the middle of July that 1 stopped by the wayside at a beautiful spring, to refresh myself for an hour. Wearied by the length of mv journey and the excessive" heat of the weather, I carelessly flung' myself or the grass, beneath the foliag ■ of a beauti ful poplar, and felt as if the hand of provi donee hail planted it there for tnv t special eon fort. All was silence aronn J . The winds Were hushed in almost fearful stillness; and the sweet song of th“ forest bird died awav a* the mid-day heat approached. I was truly alone. ’The scenes of youth gli ded across tnv memory and passed away. The follies of manhood came in their turn, and stamping their mimic images on my mind, went with the million of long forgotten things. The hopes which had liccri cherish ed in youth, the visions of dazzling light which played upon the imagination in all their uncreated glory, flashed athwart my remembrance in this hour of stillness, and ir.igled suddenly again with the darkn s* they had transiently illumined—Sweet Home with its thousand tender recollections —friends with smiles of joy—happiness wifli Insubstantial and fairy.forms clustered to the heart, and blessing it a moment, left me to re alize the yellow melancholy which silence and solitude were assembling in their place. Tuere was naught around save tho heavens and the earth, the beautiful wilderness and tho green curtains of nature’s bed. Short was the reverie. A noise like the trampling of noofs in gentle pace, called my attention, and luoiiiiig in the direction, I saw slowly ap proaching the spot where I lay, a man appa rently about thirty years of age. Time as yet could not have traced the deep furrows on his brow, hut the troubles am! vicissitudes of life had done there, their ungentle work. 7 'ere was about him a inelanchol and iVrft fd air,mirks of <io<pand reverential peni tsuee whten spoke of past crimes and present reaiors , and t vid nees too, that although { sins might not be forgotten, they w re " vurtltelrjM regretted and repented. A ligni .it fm,n ins horse, the mysterious hc h'lf k l It beside th< pure and bubbling foun. t-i'a, and breathuig some unearthly sound be tween a groin and a 6-gb, prayed that its waters like tin- com in igled at reams of Jordan sail Lethe, might wash from his soul the stains of guilt, or blot from his min I the re ■iteiii’irince of ns untold criin s. II • rose fioa tho earth an I turn ig slowly. Ins wild aid hagg -rd gaze fell full upo i me. One 1° ig enquiring I ink of r cognition hung up °‘hs frgitf.il features, one smile ot mo mentary joy beamed upon l*ia withered enun tsnauce. U• p ntsed for a moment as it in doutit, and sjioke— ‘C laries said tv, am I mistaken, or do I ® ce before me iny earliest, fori lest, dearest friend,that kind friend who magnified in. sti rliag virtues, and flung the welcome veil °l clnrity a id forgiveness over the wayward-; "cm and follies of my youth I Yes, it must i him. Years of suff ring and of shame, ol i niniit.al and mortal anguish has not been able j •° tear from the heart of Henry Walk ns j tile remembrance of a face that brightened a * my early success, and beamed with mori •han a brother’s love on the little triumphs ol "•v schoolboy "hours. Answer me are you “Varies Thompson or not’’ The question was direct and seemed toad •"'t of no evasion. The name which lie had ' ‘•"•led as hie own was indeed familiar to my "•'"'l is days long past; and the mention of it ""'v.thu’i could scarcely :<oogniZo *" the Wo and w ithered object before me, even tilt ’' lock of that fair and thoughtless boy who c ‘'"ned it thou, cull tho very mention ol it wanned mv towards the speaker, aid <N'f*v ptnv, rr **eV the ••tvrpt v«f the present, with the events of those davs that had given mutual happiness to us both, ere the waves of life had rolled over him the waters of bitterness and discontent. I had seen him in the sunshine of youthful hone and joyous expectation, when ycung ambi tion first fixes its eagle eye"on fame’s proud temple ; when tne feelings of the heart unal loyed by the vices of lif .indulge only in the reveries and the riches of the present, heed less of the (loverly and the w retchedness of the future. I had been his friend and con fidant ; his schoolmate aud companion. We ate, walked, slept and studied together. Our mothers were friends, ovr sisters were sisters in mutual affection. Brothers we nad none. An intimacy contract and among straug rs at a distant school, strengthened at lengili into a deep, and pure, and almost en thusiastic friendship. Henry tho’ some years younger than myself, was ambitious to a fault, and spurned the idea rs holding a sec ond place ink owledge or influence among ins companions. Hence he was enabled to contend successfully for the prize of distinc tion, and bear away the palm of victory a gainst the wealth and talents of his comp ti tors, and the partiality of ilia judges. His disposition tho’ somewhat mischievous was kind, conciliatoryv unsuspecting and gener ous. For these tiai>s, in spite of the inno cent eccentricities that marked his character, I loved him as a brother. Our last interview had been sad and sorrowful. My father’9 dying request called me to a distant and vvid owed m itiier, iu haste if not in happiness. I was compelled to go, ami cons quently compelled to divulge the necessity of our separation, to ilenry Watkins. Ho listened in silence and burst into tears. ‘Charles, said he, will you not return again? Amongst those who are almost strangers, in whom can I confide when you arc gone? The secrets ol mv heart no one on earrh shall know but you : There they shall remaiu deep buried and dearly treasured until you re turn ; or chance shall bring us together again in this wide and unfriendly world, when the whole store whether of good or evil, of gold or dross, of virtue or of vice shall be laid open to your view. He paused, and when 1 turned to take his hand and bid him adieu, his seat was vacant and all was silent as the tomb. Yeats had now paased away : twelve years of prosperity to me, and of sorrow and fear fill trial to him. The flush of youth had faded from his faae. His eye which kindled in time past at the mention of virtue, and flashed in anger on the recklessness of vic« was now sunk, and dull, and unwavi ring. His pure and liberal heart which was formed toenjov the happiness and sympathise with the miseries of mankind, had been heat and buffeted in the waves of tnis world’s cold stream, until it felt not for :he woes of others or its own—lt was thus that not far distant from the town o." Columbus, which has sprun up as if by enchantment, on the banks of the Cliatahoochce, I met the friend of my youth and tho victim of misfortune. The promise he hid made to reveal the se crets of his heart was yet unredeemed ; and although I almost feared to hear the history of events, whose passing had seemingly soared his soul, an I marked his mortal body for the grave; still my anxiety to hear them increased, and my wishes rose at length into an audible enquiry. Reclining on th gteen grass beside me, and hesitating apparently to rallv tho energies of a shattered mind, he began— •Y’oll remember Charles our last happy in terview. • was then in the spring time of life : the blossoms of promise bloomed a round me in all their blushing and beaute ous sweetness. Ambitions paths looked pleasing and bright; fame’s pretty hand from behind her gilded temple beckoned me to worship at her altar : hopes of high distinc tion that never have been fralized lsnt their aid to fascinate and deceive tne. Young as 1 was, my heatt’s idolatry fastened on an ob j ct which daily met my Bight. That object was not beautiful in the world’s misjudging sense, yet still there hung about her a pleas ing witchery which won the soul’s deepest ador.tion. In love we ask advice, but fol low our own ; there is an omnipoterco in its power which defies the contemptible arbitra ment of others, and binds the thought'ess victim mor" closely as officious hands vainly -ndeator to break its chords. It must be arfri.j'feJ that it is a capricious passion, yet it bore avptr 1 in its furious whirlwind ihc rea son and the pl.?.'‘>Sophy of your friend. She was all mv sou! aJ^ C d, all that called tnv vouthfu! mind to action, *»r *•>«» energy and | interest to that action. It- r smile l'k e the summer’s sun, .warmed me into life, h‘ r frown like tho w inter’s wind, froze (he penial current of tnv feelings. In the indulgence of •such mo cuts the reason sleeps, the inlt-d ■'reams ; fancy pictures a thousand false ano delu-ive images, hope conjures up the fairy forms of the future ; and like some green , nr ) vi rda-t snot on nature’s face, all the j wide and uncertain hereafter takes the him! lof the present, and rises beautiful iu the prospect. I had seen hor in t'C school,and in the sTeets, in the rastles of the rich and the cottages of the poor, at the festivities of the gay, and ills devotions of the grave, ihr'-ading the mazy dance in the ball room, and kneeling at tin-altar in the house of the Most High ; at all.times, and in every place s’*' was the same beautiful unassuming mo. ; ,| rs t girl, free from coquetry and all its desp‘- I cable devices, and honouring alike theeivili- I ties of the high and tire plainer pretensions of j ,i lr |„w and the humble. To mv mind her form loud features wore the verv personification ofj that ideal beauty vvhie.h poets and painters have described; tnv imagination pictured Imr heart pure as the last flake of mow thafj nil lows itself on Chimborazo's lofty summit. •Henry, you appear to be a little extrava gant in \otir description, * replied, int- rrupt mg hill! as he proceeded evidently under the excitement of a feeling, which neither tune, or change, or suffering could destroy. Having never before heard of tho fair one to w hom |,c alluded, l desir- and him to proreed more ctihnlv. and kindly enquired et hm> what had been her fat*,and Where she was ‘ Dt*D was hi* laconic and emphatm reply- A at*d CT"'.?".'’"* V—PftwsH “ We “ever despair of any (Ding—Truth beius our guide, we sail under her auspices.” 1 whole frame ; a dark and mysterious cloud 1 suddenly gathered on his brow, and the! hcavings of bis bosoui gave evidence of some j hidden tire, which tho’ ,t might once have on ly warmed, was now consuming him. ‘Yes, i he continued, she is dead. I saw her last! feeble struggle when her pure spirit fled be yond the reach of mortal rnaliee and man’s! base motives: I heard her voice as it trem bled in death, blessing my presence and the absence of others. In that awful hour I pressed her cold and feeble hand for the first JDd last time to my lips. A transient gleam of joy beamed upon tier pale countenance | the ex firing spark of life rekindled, and ri sing for a moment above even the terrors of tho grave, she called on me to remember her love, and avenge her wrongs. These wrongs I had heard. A villain had slandered and traduced her. The mildew of mischievous malice had been blown Uj>oii her fair fame by the Ireath of one she thought her friend : like the sensitive plant she withered at the touch of calumny, anil neither the showers ot friendship or the sunshine ofkindness could revive the scared and yellow leaf,which t he cru el winds of premature autumn, was shaking from its fragile stem. Swear, saiu on that hand you have loved, and which will Win he traceless in the grave, that you will pun ish the author of my shame and iny death; that you will pursue him with a hatred that never sleeps ; with a vengeance that never tires; that with your own right hand you will rid the world of the wretch, and send his guilty spirit to its last account, to the death that never dies. I did sw&ir, yes, Charles. I swore in the presence of the living God and the dying girl, that although for the deed my own Wretched soul should swiui in seas ol'sulphurous Dime, and hear through! eternity the curae and the consequential ruin of the murderer, that I would dare do all her dying request had uujniued. Surely inv dear Henry, said I again inter rupting nirn, you never kept lliat oath. ‘Yes, was his reply to the jut and tittle, to the word and letter. A few moments more and the injured being w hose Inst request hound me to the deed, lay before me lifeless and cold. The world once beautiful and bright assumed the hidcousmss of a wild unchecrcd wilderness. All that gave to this life its hopes and its happiness had fli-d. The last link that hound me to existence had been broken by worse than an assassin’s touch, and I felt in such a moment of grief and anguish that utter desolation of heart which dips the hand in blood, and revels in the deeds of death. The lights of reason and the principles of religion will condemn me for the indulgence of that lasting re venge which the voice of the dead hail stamped upon the heart of the living. Let it be so. The madman from whatever cause his calamity proceeds, ought to he in some degree irresponsible to the inoral at well as municipal regulations of society. "We arc Ihe creatures of circumstances, and con rr lied in some degree by our constitutional aptitude to bear the force of those circtnn ntances : consequently an event that scarce ly awakens an angry feeling' iri (lie bosom ol wne maul nw4»v» «v»*iUo* • maniac, ora mur* dercr. The happiness or misery of life tie (lends on strange contingencies. Our cross of fortune in an evil hour fixes the fate of the most philosophic of our species ; one drop ol misfortune turns tho milk of human kindness to the gall of bitternrss,aiid the wonnword ol woe. But Charles lam wandering Iroin my narrative. From the melancholy hour to which I have alluded, the original disposition of :ny nature was changed. The hopi b that fed my fancy and fixed my young ambition, I* rislltd and passed away : the flowers which imagination had painted on the pathway oi existence, faded and died. One deep, ah sorbing, controlling feeling, like Aaron’s rod swallowed up the rest: that feeling was of tho bottomless pit, invent out in vengeance against the destroyer of woman’s hnppm ss and song! < its only gratification in his blood. By day the desire of revenge grew upon me ; by night the airy and unsubstantial form of her 1 loved hovered around my pillow, in the Fearfdl habilimentsof the grave, tliidntng my delay, *nrl rebuking my seeming indiffer ence. Thrice 1 snatched the murderous weapon, and forgetting the ignominy of the gallows and the darkness oftho grave, sought the victim ; thrice some unseen hand turned the blade, or unnerved mv dark soul for the darker dead. Should I slop, was it possible lor me to turn from the drcadfuluess of iny purpose, and forget her wrongs, ami tny own solemn promise? Would the recording An gel bioi out the oath which had been regis tered in Heaven’s chancery, and tree me a gam from its binding sanctions? It could not be.’ Y r ou appear to me, to have attached a sin gular importance to a promise Henry; which it was wrong «v. r to l ave nude. Yous vow to be sure, was a fearful o.ie. vet, it does appear 10 have bcc-nbreaim and ,it a time, and on an occasion,which rendered it both violent and void. The obligations of such an oalu as you mentioned, never o ght to have bound the cone ience, or have compelled you to violate the law sol Gml avid and man, in its observance.. Did you at the time feel no misgivi igs as to its correct mss ; have you since sufli red no self con demnation for too faithfully keeping it * The cloud which the fervour of his feelings had measurably dissipated, came to his brow *- gain ; the suppressed sigh was audible, the groans of the troubled spirit was heard. His In ad dropped til his hand for an instant, when lifting his wild gaze to the sky, lie ex claimed, in the frightful energy of his na ture, ‘yes I hare felt it all. The terrors of eternal death, the gnawing of the worm that never dies Xus been mine. It is now howi v er said ho, 100 lute to argue or ansivir these questions. My course was dictated neither bv reason, re ligion, or philosophy; the malice oftho maniac cannot he measured by the standard of prudence. The madman it seemed tome would not be {amenable to the tribunals of punishing justice. My purpose was fixed: the vow inviolable had been made and sealed on tho slender lisiid, of the djing fair cne. The mali#« of an unfeeling wretch, had Her. «*■] *0 t trt :)eep T lence : I lelt ns if her wrongs were my own;! and urged hv the impulse of an unaccounta ble ageney, felt deeply too the consuming fires of the past, and forgot, yes forgot the tremendous consequences of the future. The consummation caine at length. Campbell, for such was the nsrna of the man who had trampled in the dust, the only heart that beat in sympathy with my own, was called by business, to that far off coun try, which bonh rs on tne beautiful and ma jestic Mississippi.* Now was try time. A few weekssfter his departure the place that had known me, knew me no more for a sea son. In a land of strangers, where we are alike unknowing, and unknown,wc might per haps meet, he might die. Suspicion would probably fall on another, or if it should even rest upon the murderer himself, his fate would be unheard of, and unregretted by his 'istant friends. Such were my reflections, whon after a long and tiresome journey, I a lighted at a neat and orderly tavern, in the Town of Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio. This Town, since grown up to be a City, auk extending far over the hills, was conGnnd almost exclusively to the beach of llie river, which gives name to the State,and the house alluded to, stood directly on the cliff of rocks that forms the western bank of that river. Campbell was there the lion of the feast, the revel and the chase, the active spirit in every scene of miith, the hern in every play of plea sure. Iwit'disTuined. Flinging upon tne one long look of contemptuous enquiry, and satisfying himself that he was mistaken in what seemed to have been his first impres. sions, fie rose from his scat, and walkod lei surely towards the wharf, where a company of lahorers and merry merchants were un loading a Steam Boa'. Never can I forget the feelings of that moment. The sun had just sunk below the tall hills that rose in the western view, and the church going bell was summoningthe pious portion of the inhabi. fants, to the devotions of the evening meet ing. He stopped suddenly, looked at his watch, and returned it hastily to the fob. Ah thought I, your davs are numbered ! the sun that has just gone down shall shine on you no more ; the peals ntthat bell to which yon are listening, shall fall no more on vonr silent ear. My soul burnt within me. The image of the loved and deeply injured one, rose be fore me, and disappeared. The cause and the hour of his death flashed across my heart, in the vividness of their original and agoni zing existence. The oath I had sworn blazed on my memory, in characters ofliving FIR PI. A few anxious "ours between the intend ing, and the doing of a fearful act, passed slowly and heavily away. Night’s dark cur tain hung upon the earth. The moon moved on its noiseless course, through the stars that twinkled in the void immense. Sleep fell on the inhabitants of the Town, and nothing disturbed the universal silence, except now and then the hurried tread of some dissipated or guiltv wretch, passing and repassing on the pavement. The clock struek one. A flickering lamp flung its feehle rays along the the glnoinv passage. A footstep was heard slowlv ascending the stair case, (t must needs come hv the open door of mv room, wheie 1 stood in tho desperation of my deadly purpose, grasping the murderous weapon in tny untrembling hand. The victim uncon scious of his .'anger silently approached thr fatal spot. The light shone on his face, It teas the very man. But a few fret separated us. Remember said I the fate of Frances Williams, and know that Henry Watkins this night revenges hrr death. He stopped. One deeo and deadly sound of the pistol. One gioan of the expiring miscreant; one splash of the river where the wea|K>u was thrown, and all was again hushed. It was my dear Charles, the happiest moment of mv life ; the spirit of the loved one again stood before mein all the excesses of realized tri umph,! saw the benign smile of approbation as it played upon her face, and felt the chill ing touch of her clay .cold lip, as she pressed it to my burning cheek. 1 know you will say that these things were the creations of an excited imagination ; Be it so, the effect was the same, the reality could have dona no more. After a night to me of sleepless in quietude, the morning came, and with it t rnse scenes of tumult and uproar, of anxious enquiry, and deep solicitude, in which tilt! imagination hud no part . it exhibited the , naked, fearful, damning truth. Rising late ; from iny pretended slumber, I ate breakfast, and walked into the street. I knew no face; I met 110 eye of suspicion* One innocent fellow creature was already in chains, and surround. (I hv the officers ofjusticc. Mils' he suffer forf my offence. Must he dearth heavy penalty of ffie law, for actimc at which ’tivas proha!)!: hiiveiy soul shuddered? It should not be. My own hand unbarred his prison door, anti sent him with a young and weeping wife to liegin life anew ,in a land of strangers. Af< w months found me at hum. again. The victim of tny res ntment return ed no more..* Pausnre «s if to conceal the e notions which shook his soul, the pale and languid conn. ti nance of Henry, bespoke (he bitterness ol r |ientenee and the r.ivagesof remorse. Tne ’ oath which he had luk. n had been redeemed tis true, but the consequences of its rcdern|»- | lion had followed him until now. In what way I knew not. Had the inusiblc curse of him, w oee nil searching eye, sees alike the | deeds of darkness and of mid-day rested up 'on him ’ Hud rny early friend stoo|>ocl from ! the pinaclo of fame to w hich he once aspired, j to drown his energies in the poisoned cup of 1 sensuality and dissipation ? These and a thou-. . (.and other such tushed into my mind. He ! mis and his head suddenly and resumed — 1 j What else has chanced me 'lis booties* now j !to tell. I sought in the struggles of ambition the forgetfulness of the past, the glory of the ! future. Oblivion was not tliera. Sonic un ; seen hand controlled mv destiny—my mind’s noblest. (Torts were pural zed—tnv soul’s most ■: daring struggh s were* repulse.'—l sought in 1 a »eeond-U> tw the forgctfulm f* th tan arlifi i cial ainb'tion hid denied me, th. re too the ! evirliviug worm died not. An arigc'’a smtb I beamed upon ira, a heart warm »nd tend, r 'Bfd t»vr», phelgfri ymre awd MvtffaeaHr . iHILt.EDCETILLE, GEORGIA, AIGCST 91, 1933. but mine was still the same seared sod un certain thing, glowing for a moment in bap* pines* and sinking for months in misery. A round me the images of hope would rise, but ere were grasped the heart grew sick and the purpose faltered. The voice of nf foction strove to awaken the slumbering heart, hut could not; its deep and lasting lethargy bailed her skill and turned her from me in pity if nut disgust* I blamed her not. Her soul clung to me even in inv wretchedness, with a feolingof strange and lasting interest, and if when she found the fountains of my heart gone dry, she did despair of tnv final renovation—oo voice of mine shall blatne her. The circumstances of which I have spoken, have embittered my existence, and planted in my once happy and buoyant spirit the tortures that torment, and the curse that kills me. Fame lias now no charms, infamy no torror to my mind. Like the dilapidated aud moss-covered castle, I stand the monu ment of former splendor and present ruin, houseing in ray worn out wall the hooting owls of crime aud the twittering bats of re morse. Man my dear Charles, is at best but the creature of circumstances. The cold and soured ascetic might have erred on the side of meekness, but for some shock to the youth ful heart. The thoughtless misanthrope might perhaps hare been the lover of human kind, hut for the stroke that marred one siugle fibre of his soul. For even that great soul with all its capacities, its solemn attributes mid sounding cl lims is while on earth but a jest to the body. The dreuni that arouses or dis tresses us for an hour, laughs as it plays with our reason—Ths lunacy that shivers the min! 1 , in its wild havoc sends tis ut last benight ed anil blinded to the grave. In the wreck of such an awful visitation,,l have not quite perished, bui I shudder when the truth bursts or. my memory, that for years I have walkod Oil the very verge of liiat precipice, belo.v which swim 111 wild confusion, tho fantasies, ■nd the fragments of a shattered intellect. This hour clung-s my late and lights around me again the same brilliant torch that hurst in the heyday of my youthful struggles. TANARUS: e burden from the mind is lightened by your s n.le of joy, that it is no wois.-, by the nope depicted on your countenance, that it may yet be better. The storm may pass away, the sunshine come again reviving the with ered leaf and cheering the broken hope. .My tale is told. One other ear hath beard it, I lie ear of her that I fondly loved and still sin cerely respect—she pitied anil iorgave me. Let not the censure of my fondest Friend rest too heavily upon tne. We part perhaps to meet no more on earth —l go hack to the starting post of life to commence anew the fearful struggle, and you move forward to the prosperity which awaits the virtuous and the good. When you are at home blessed with the smiles of an amiable wife and beautiful children; surrounded by all of love, and wealth, and peace that gives to existence its only charms—should yon i.i such an hour think of him who (now addresses you, RiS tn mher the unbroken oath, and pity him who too truly penormed it. He ceased and I scarcely knew him as he rose from the earth iu the character of an altered man. Ach mgo had passed over his feelings: Now hopes were filling the traces which years of suffering had worn in his heart. The crime and the criminal was lost in the penitential sorrow that had wooed and won the lovely image of forgiving mercy, and ,ic stood before me like one waked from some f arfu 1 trance, in the melancholy but inajes tic strength of re-animated iiatmc. I grasp ed Ins extended hand which no longer shook with the tortures of a distracted mind, and bade iiiin forget the anguish of the past, and look in future to the high hopes Which were kindl din his youthful bosom. We parted. Since that hour I have seen him in imagina tion battling in an honorablo p olcssion for its high distinction*, and grasping w ith a fear* less hand its - ich and clustering honor. My fancy ha3 pictured him in the council, the hold and prudent champion of his country’s rights, standing on the watchtowor and point ing to the danger. That fancy shall give place to the fact, or I have misjudged the strength and the snirit of HfLNKY WAT KINS. nseTu’s wnwo*. CiA.MINiL Tub passion for gaming is as universal as it is pernicious: avarice is its origin, arid as .ill human hearts are more or less avaricious, a propensity to gambling is confined to 110 lieculiar country. Tne savage and the sons of refinement, the scientific and the ignorant, alike admit it within their hosonts. There appears to be a delicious allurement cormec tod with tho anticipation of winning, that counteracts all qtialmy doul.ts, and for awhile depriv. s the soul of its genial aytnp laics by enslaving it to oblivion;* selfishness. Some writers have endeavoured to confine the pre valenc. of gambling to those climes w here the frigid sterumss of the atmosphere oeca sinus a mental tnrporf which is to sip relieved • nl> by the perturbation* of the heart. But existing facts are a confutation to this limita tion ; for w hether v e cast our eye ever the fertile provinces of China, or turn to the un cultivated islands, iu the Pacific Ocean, we find man yielding himself up to the same de structive parsien, and ontailing on hunse.il cons, quences equally appalling. A more heart-sickening spectacle cannot w< II be imagined than a romp replete with re gti'ar gambling parties, each engaged at their particular game:—take, for instance, one of the metropolitan helix. An unriria/ed stran ger, on his first entrance there, may learn a lesson that will remain indelible while the soul is ca|>*ble of remembering former sym pathies. The mantling glimmer of the vari ous lights, the liushfu! sil nee of the room.— rarely disturbed but by the passive footfalls of waiters, and dismal sighs escaping from -orrowed hearts, —the mournful associations that wait on every unhallowed spot, and the deep* ning consciousness that misery i* Imsi jed tn pensive r vels—all commingling, sink lon th* visitant's aoul w ith appalling realitv Though untainted hintsclf, hi* tend- rest p t. ' and trot** arJaneboty pv.«aar%twyFte rrtrm in NO. 39. awaken. and foi the deluded victim* of a aelf- Svh passion. While standing by and gazing at one of the attentive trimesters, what room for moralizing compassion I Observe his g'lit tering eye, that rolls so wildly under its fret ful lid, the alternate wrinkling and relaxing of bis moistened brow, his baking lips, and their frequent despairing mutter of convuL sive angaish! Ilis countenance is the faith ful mirror of his soul: its internal passions may be seen working there. Now, a trepid gleam of joy illumes his sunken check,—a gain the smile dissolves, and the gloomy eul ieoness of disappointment sheds there its mo- . notony of shade. His visage may be com-' pared to a lake on a breexy spring-day, where dizzy sunbeams mellow lor a w hile its placid surfed, to be succeeded by pattering rain drops, and the rippling play of ruffled water, 'l'lius pleasure awhile lights up the gamester's face, the features glow as it passes over them, and then relapse into the emotions of deep rooted melancholy ? Miserable feelings are not only betrayed in the countenance: they are perceived in each movement of the hand, the peevish grasp of tho dice-box, or the du bious seirction of a card, in the arrangement of the tricks and disposition of the counters, the whole air of his denotes a mental struggle. Suppose he be the momentary winner:—even then his delight is but a mockery of felicity,- . while the loosing adversary awes down tia demonstration by the livid contortions of his visage, and the patient sternness of aval ice writhing for speedy retaliation. He who endures the pangs of unmerited woe, may have a hapless lot; but the very consciousness of its being underserved, is a' source of tuful consolation. . Like the day. gou, wliian, amid tho dark thundsr-clodds that ovtrshade his empyreal radiance, will souietii.es gleam through the cleft gloom, so is the heart of the guiltless mourner occasion ally si.one upon, by that sweet heckoner,' Hope, lint wnat sou.ee ol consolation has the gamester 1 What nlmvi .g halm when tortured by his wretchediibW. 7 His sun! ,s • then a volcano of rioting pass .1 s ~and r a. less tin*. Tne past is a scene th. ynh * no rciroap cf.vo culm ; the present is but us fjilnlu! cuuimeiit.itui. Suppose,. ait frequent ly happens, that during ms gambling course he has' risen on the rums of a fallen victim ; and the wrecks of decayed youth and Inast and g nius: what then are the phantoms of mise ry mat liuver-round ms reflections? To have ruined oiic’ssell is a dolelul consummation; hut add tiie remembertd distraction of those we have traduced, and tin re is noihing equi valent to the recollection ot the circumstan ci a. 1 can easily imagine such a one before me—picture him attempting to repose- within the curtained loneliness of his chamber.— There is but little slumber to visit his eye lids ! He is haunted, like tire murderer, by the shadowy resemblances of file murdered. The blossoming hopes lie blighted,’the prom ise of years that lie wrecked, and the once light bosom he burdened with affliction now felt by his own,—ail throw a ehustly hue ors his imagination, and wake up the plucnsiea of his brain, Perhaps lie was the elder, and once would have shuddered at tho idea of tempting to destruction the counselled asso ciate of his early days, lie may have beheld the mother's sainted foudneits for her son, and the father’s united cans for the welfare of their offspring,—wliat are the horrors of Ilia recollections! Who was it, that deadened by despair to the sympathies of honour and friendship, allured him from I.is principles, and charmed away the* bashful regret on his tirst appearance art the haunt of the gamblers? —Himself:—and can he forget the dreariness of aspect, the wildness of Ins stare, and Ills convulsions of his person, when he last rush cd, like a mauiaC, from his presence,—strip, ped of honour; virtfle, and happiness? Con victing conscience condemns him as the tra-- ducer of the inexperienced, and answerable for all the unknown woes of his after-life.- Then, as for himself,—what is he *—The per petrator of his own destruction, —a reduced, degraded w reck of guilt and clime that seem too deep for penitence to absolve. It is pro bable, too, be may be the destroyer of tldmes tic felicity, that depended on his we.fare for its continuance. He may look round and meet the gaze of a heart-broken wife,—ob serve the clinging children whose beggary he has eamedfi-a parent whose hoary fond ness claimed his most pious solicitudes. Re thinks I can see the remorseful victim with the cold sweat of anguish on his brow, am) hear his whispered groans as lie turps rest lessly on his bed I —Then is noihing over drawn here: jnany are his resemblances in the metropolis at this hour. And what can the successful gamester pos sess to create Air happiness? If happiness, as we are told, arise from the mind, the games- Iter’s is too inhuman to be of a mental nature. Suppose him a swindler, —will not the dread of detection harrow his bosom and corrode his soul I Will the griping clutch of hun dreds from a defrauded novice, repay him for his moments of uncommnnicated torture? The transitory flush of joy for fortunate guile, is succeeded by tin Vengeance of conscience, that nlicits tortures even amid liis struggles of fancied delight. Then, what dreamy sha dows of remorse arc ever floating before his 1 nagiuatiou f Miserable indeed is penitence wresting with fondness for crime. If virtue 1 e pursued, the haunts of guilt must be de s rted; the dicb-box and long-accustomed fellowships are to be relinquished, anti tho stinging jeers of insulting folly must lie rn. duret'd: nor is this alb Tears mast be the prociiriors of resolutions, and his plundered v ctiius, must be repaid, nr peace resides not in his breast. Hut where are the thousands w htch Honour and justice are to restore l —La wished m dissipation or rendered the purvey or* of criminal dchglrt The gambler there, fore f< e's it is easier to practise than to forsake crime t and thus his heart, alfer hover g, Ike the descending eagle, h< 1 'Cen retn rg« and Invo for vice, returns to it* ilri wlfol Tro pe unities. The idea of one hu . a 1 being enjoyment front anot;n f’s iip* rv, i- • I r->adfu( •vi n forcoi’siiier.ilion. H'g phiv is ,t -11. ijon-ncsa refilled. Tile barh.gp o r nieree ms victim* with venmard arrows, or t *)*r» Ml be AewWrtrfont of fc': art** ttowtr: