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184
THE OLD SEXTON.
Nigh to a grave that was newly made,
Leaned a Sexton old, on his earth worn spade.
His work was done, and he paused to wait
! The funeral train at the open gate.
’ A relic of by-gone days was he,
And his locks were gray as the foamy sea ;
j And these words came from his lips so thin —
I gather them in—l gather them in.
Gather—gather—gather—I gather them in.
I
I gather them in ! For man and boy,
Year after year of grief and joy,
I’ve builded the houses that lie around,
In every nook of this burial ground.
. Mother and daughter, father and son,
! Come to my solitude one by one;
But come they strangers, orcon.e they kin,
I gather them in—l gather them in.
Gather—gather—gather—l gather them in.
! Many are with me, yet I’m alone,
I’m King of the Dead, and 1 make my throne
i On a monument slab of marble cold —
My sceptre of rule is the spade I hold ;
Come they from cottage or come they from hall,
i Mankind are my subjects— all — all — all !
Let them loiter in pleasure or toyfully spin,
t I gather them in—l gather them in. •
I gather them in, and their final rest
Is here, down here, in the earth’s dark breast!
And the Sexton ceased as the funeral train
Wound mutely over that solemn plain ;
And’ l said to myself, when time is told,
A mightier voice than that Sexton’s old
Will be heard o’er the last trump’s dreadful din :
I gather them in—l gather them in.
Gather—gather—gather—I gather them in.
HOUSES OF DOMESTIC REFOR
MATION IN HOLLAND.
* * There can be very little doubt that an es
tablishment like that alluded to in the following
sketch, would be of great benefit in this country.
Perhaps some enterprising philanthropist, with a
heavy purse, would do well to found such an insti
tution.
There are in most of the large cities of
Holland one or more institutions thus
called, the object of which is to confine
and restrain any person, male or female,
whose conduct is marked by ruinous ex
travagance; and many a family has been
preserved from total ruin by their sal
utary operation. They are placed un
der the immediate superintendence of the
magistracy, and such obstacles are op
posed to their abuse, that it is not possi
ble to place an individual in one of these
houses without showing ample cause for
j the coercion.
Mynheer van der —, who lived in
178 b, lived in high style on the river
j Grat in Amsterdam, had a very modest
wife, who dressed most extravagantly,
played high, gave expensive routs, and
showed every disposition to make off with
money quite as fast as her husband ever
gained it. She was young and handsome,
vain and giddy ; and completely the slave
of fashion. Her husband had not the
politeness to allow himself to be ruined
by her unfeeling folly and dissipation ;
he complained of her conduct to her pa
) rents and nearest relations, whose advice
| was of no more avail than his own. Next,
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
he had recourse to a respectable minister
of the Lutheran church, who might as 1
j well have preached to the dead. It was
in vain to deny her money, for no trades
i man would refuse to credit the elegant—
the fascinating wife of the rich Van der —.
Involved as the young lady was in the
vortex of fashionable dissipation, she had
not yet ruined either her health or her
reputation ; and her husband, by the ad
vice of a friend, determined to send her
for six months to a Verbetering Huis.
With the utmost secrecy he laid before
the municipal authorities the most com
plete proof of her wasteful extravagance
and incorrigible levity ; added to which
she had latterly attached herself to gam
ing with French officers of rank, who lav
under an imputation of being remarkably
expert in levying contributions, She was
already in debt upwards of th<rty thou
sand florins to tradesmen, although her
husband allowed her to take from his
cashier a stipulated sum every month,
which was more than competent to meet
the current expenses of his household ;
while, to meet a loss which occurred at
play, her finest jewels were deposited in
the hands of a benevolent money lender,
who accommodated the necessitous, upon
unexceptionable security being previous-1
ly left in his custody.
Her husband was full twenty years
older than his volatile wife, of whom he
was rationally fond, and at whose refor
mation he aimed before she was carried
too far away by the stream of fashiona
ble dissipation. Against his will she had
agreed to make one of a party of ladies,
j who were invited to a grand ball and sup
per at the house of a woman of rank and
faded character. Her husband, at break
fast, told her she must change her course
of life, or her extravagance would make
him a bankrupt, and her children beg
gars.
She began her usual way of answering,
and said, “she had certainly been a little
too thoughtless, and would soon com
mence a thorough reformation.”
“You must begin to-day, my dear,”
said her husband, “and as proof of your
sincerity, I entreat you to drop the com
pany of , and to spend your eve
ning at home this day, with me and your
children.”
“Quite impossible my dear man,” said
his modest wife in reply, “I have given
my word, and cannot break it.”
“Then,” said her husband, “if you go
out this day dressed to meet that party,
remember, for the next six months these
doors will be barred against your return.
I Are you still resolved to go ?”
“Yes,” said the indignant lady, “if they
were forever barred against me!”
Without either anger or malice, Myn
heer van der —told her not to deceive
herself, for as certain as that was her de- j
termination, so sure would she find his
foretelling verified.
She told him if nothing else had power
to induce her to go, it would be his men
ace.
With this they parted, the husband to
prepare the penitentiary chamber for his
giddy young wife, and the latter to eclipse
every rival at the ball that evening.
To afford a last chance of avoiding an
ignominy which it pained him to inflict,
he went once more to try to wean her
from her imprudent course, and proposed
to set off that evening for Zutpen, where
her mother dwelt; but he found her sul
len, and busied with milliners and dresses,
and surrounded with all the paraphernalia
of splendid attire.
At the appointed hour the coach drove
to the door, and the beautiful woman (full
dressed, or rather undressed) tripped gai
ly down stairs, and stepping lightly into
the coach, told the driver to stop at ,
on the Kieser Gragt. It was then dark,
and she was a little surprised that the
coach had passed through one of the city
gates ; the sound of a clock awoke her as
from a dream. She pulled the check
string, but the driver kept on ; she called
out, and someone behind the coach told
her in a suppressed voice, that she was a
prisoner, and must be still.
The shock was severe; she trembled
in every limb, and was near fainting with
terror and alarm, when the coach entered
the gates of a Verbetering Huis, where
’ she was doomed to take up her residence.
The matron of the house, a grave, severe,
yet a well-bred person, opened the door,
and calling the lady by her name, re
! quested her to alight.
“Where am 1? In God’s name tell
me ; and why l am brought here 1”
“You will be informed of every thing,
madam, if you will please to walk in
i doors.”
“Where is my husbandT’ said she, in
a wild affright, “sure he will not see me
murdered.”
“It was your husband who drove you
hither, madam; he is now upon the
coach-box.”
This intelligence was conclusive. All
her assurance forsook her. She submit
ted to.be conducted into the house, and
sat pale, mute, and trembling, her face
and her dress exhibiting the most striking
contrast.
The husband, deeply affected, first
spoke; he told her that he had “left no
means to save her from ruin, and he
trusted the remedy would be effectual,
and, when she quitted that retreat, she
would be worthy of his esteem.
She then essayed, by the humblest pro
testations, bv tears and entreaties, to bo
permitted to return ; and vowed that nev
er more while she lived, would she ever
offend him.
[ October 23,