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1852.]
the tree, and I felt very uneasy to see
their dark forms moving in the bushes
beneath me, and to hear their howls.
Thinking they would go away soon, I de
termined not to give them a taste of the
mutton, which would only have made
them the more ferocious; yet I had form
ed a plan, to throw them the meat, and
let them devour it in case I heard any
persons coming to my rescue.
•‘But to my dismay the wolves kept
around me until day-light. Just as I was
going to throw them the mutton, in de
spair, the}’ glared at me fiercely, and ut
tering a few dismal howls of disappoint
ment and rage, darted into the woods and
disappeared.
“After waiting for them to get into the
heart of the forest, 1 came down from the
tree; but not daring to carry home the
mutton by day-light,! hid it in the bushes.
I then went home, and having explained
to my wife the cause of my absence, and
eating a light breakfast, 1 returned to the
woods with my rifle —not so much to hunt,
as to have an excuse for keeping within
| sight of the bushes where the mutton was
concealed.
“This 1 should have said before, was
rolled up in the pelt, as when 1 found it
in the wood-house; but on examining it,
I saw that nothing could save it from the
Hies, if left in that position during the
heat of the day. I was considering what
I ought to do, when, hearing the sound of
voices, 1 thought I was discovered. I lay
perfectly still, however, and in a moment
beacon Bellamy’s two youngest boys
stopped in the bushes within a few yards
of me, placed a basket on the ground,
and went to picking berries. In a little
while I could hear their voices at a dis
tance, and thinking I might see what was
in the basket before they returned, I crept
cautiously towards it and lifted the cover.
Seeing a nice cheese done up in a cloth, 1
remembered that I was fond of cheese,
and thought to steal it. I did not know,
j however, how I was to prevent an imme
diate discovery of the theft by the boys,
u >Hil the idea struck me, that, should I
i put the mutton, which I had already re
s°l\ed to abandon to the wolves,in place
°f the cheese, the boys might be deceiv
ed by the weight, and never discover their
mistake until they came to dispose of
l dcir load ;by which time I hoped to have
the cheese safely hidden in the woods.
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
“This plan I carried into execution, re
maining concealed until the boys had
taken away the basket, without suspect
ing what I had done.
“1 afterwards hid the cheese and the
sheep’s pelt in another part of the woods,
and taking a circuitous route, reached a
position from which’ I could watch the
boys as they came out of Mr. Nolley’s
house.
“To my surprise they set down the
basket again, in order to wander into the
bushes for berries; and having a curiosi
ty to see it they had brought the mutton
back with them, 1 approached unobserv
ed, and once more raising the cover of
the basket, discovered something done
up in a package Conceiving this to be
of some value, I was wicked enough to
covet it; and seeing a stone close by that
1 judged to be about the same weight as
the package, I deposited it in the place
of the latter, which I concealed in the
hollow of a stump. I then hunted a lit
tle while in the woods, and returned
home; but early in the evening, before
the wolves came about, 1 secured the
cheese, the felt, and the package, which 1
carried home.
“I now proceeded to gratify my curi
osity, in opening the package, which to
mv astonishment and mortification, I
t *
found to contain a bible. I turned over
the leaves with disgust for 1 hated even
the name of the holy book ; but my con
tempt was suddenly changed to alarm
and remorse, as my eye fell upon the
passages in Exodus: ‘Thou shalt not
steal;’ and ‘Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet
thy neighbour’s wife, nor his man servant,
nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his
ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s.’
“It seemed to me something more than
a mere accident, which drew my eye to
the commandments I had just been guil
ty of breaking. I felt that an over-rul
ing power had taken this strange method
of leading my soul to repentance. I be
gan to read, and all night I searched the
pages of that sacred volume, finding my
self condemned on every point, and writh
ing in the agonies of remorse.”
Here Wicked Wolsey, having closed
this singular narrative, proceeded to relate
his religious experience, which we will
not repeat. Suffice it to say, that read
ing the bible led him to church, and the
excellent sermons of Mr. Nolley had
been the means of converting him, and of
inducing him to confess and ask the pray
ers and forgiveness of the church.
“For my part,” said Deacon Bellamy,
who was shaking Mr. Nolley’s hand, with
tears in his eyes, “1 forgive you, John
Wolsey, and pray for you. And I must
take this occasion of publicly asking our
pastor's pardon for my unjust suspicions.”
“I can forgive you the more freely, as
I look upon them as the most natural in
the world,” replied Mr. Nolley. “And
here let ine thank you for your exceeding
kindness, and Christian-like forbearance,
until you had reason to suppose I had
forfeited all claims upon your regard.
And as for our afflicted, repentant friend
Wolsey, may Heaven forgive him as
freely as I do! With your permission,
brother Bellamy, he shall keep that bible,
the bare sight of which, 1 doubt not, will
henceforth be a sufficient safeguard against
his failing again into sin.”
The church meeting that day proved
to be the most interesting one that had
ever been held. The result gave univer
sal satisfaction, as it not only accounted
for the missing mutton, and the Deacon’s
absence from the Sabbath worship, but
likewise proved his great goodness of
heart, and made manifest the worth and
forbearance of the excellent minister, be
sides bringing John Wolsey to abandon
his wicked ways.
Shortly after this event, Deacon Bella
my was sent to represent the people of
Brambletown, in the State Legislature;
and it was owing chiefly to his exertions,
that the famous Wolf Bounty Bill was
passed, which resulted in a great slaugh
ter of the enemy of the sheep, and had a
marked influence on the mutton market,
in Brambletown.
[From Household Words.]
SONNET.
ON MR. LOUGII’s STATUE OF “LADY MACBETH.”
If this dread imago were by ocean thrown
Amidst some people who have never yet
Learn’d in the mind’s creations to forget
Life’s pressure, and the melancholy stone
Were on a rock for savage wonder set,
Methinks some peak, from Shakspcare’s world
unknown,
To strange divinity—as if they met
A bodied fragment of the poet’s soul ;
And, while the spectral gaze and withering hand
Urge silence such as that which death’s control
Rules, on the thoughts of that astonish’d band,
Shapes from the noblest scenes by mortal plann’d
Would rise, and breathe the grandeur of the whole.
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