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Dniotci* to literature, Science, anti t!)c Sons of (Temperance, ©bit iTiloaisljip, iHasonrn, anb ©cncral intelligence.
VOLUME I.
SSISffIS VSSfSI.
, a ■ - —■ ——-— ’ ~ - ■ ■■ ■——■—
“ DOES EDITH LIVE IN HEAVEN, MOTHER ?”
Yes ! EJith lives in heaven, love ! with an angel-mother now,
Who teaches her such holy things as angels love to know;
That sho may grow to be like them, in thought, and deed, and
word,
That every act of tier’s may be well pleasing to the Lord.
Yea! Edith lives in heaven, love ! and the angels at her side,
Will lead her by the gentle streams where the golden fishes
glide ;
Will load her through tho flowery fields, with the little lambs
at play,
And through the sweet and spicy groves, that never know
decay.
Yos ! Edith lives in heaven, love! where all is pure and fair,
Where music from a myriad lips, floats on the l a’my air;
Where flowers of colors never seen by mortal eye, appear ;
And birds of unknown beauty sing, through all the vernal yeur.
Yes! Edith lives in heaven, love! and we shall see her face,
When our hearts like hers are purified from sin’s defiling trace ;
And wo shall meet to part no more, in her home of peaceful
rest,
In tho Sabbath of eternity, the Sabbath of the blest.
OEX AS> f&SiIS.
Contributed by the Author.
NIGHT AND SUNSHINE;
OR THE ODD FELLOWS CHRISTMAS GIFT*
CHAPTER IV.
We will not attempt to portray the feelings of
the wife and daughter of Charles Arden when
they became aware of this misfortune; which
indeed was by the mereest causual conversation,
that chanced to occur between the landlord ol
an hotel in the location where the family resided,
and a direct passenger from the ill-fated train,
who had escaped uninjured. On the wings of af
fection the two excited women flew to aid and ad
minister to their beloved sufferer, but to their utter
dismay when they reaehed Baltimore they found
themselves unable to ascertain his whereabouts,
so free from ostentation had been the benevolent
care of the Order that their participation was ac
tually unknown, and all Mrs. Arden could “lean
was that the wounded man had been tenderly ta
ken charge of by a young gentleman who seemed
a particular friend ; the idea of enquiring from
the Oild Fellows never once chaneed to occur to
Mrs. Arden or Caroline, and half frantic with this
cruel disappointment, they day by day felt the
hope of discovering him wear away, and the
weary sickness ol’ yearning solicitude, increase.
In the precipitate eagerness to reach her hus
band, and so absorbed by 7 her distress as scarcely
to bestow a thought upon her pecuniary resources,
Mrs. Arden had left, taking with her only the
money which chanced to be in her possession at
the moment. On the road becoming aware of
her indiscretion she wrote to a friend, requesting
him to withdraw her funds from the Savings Bank,
and forward them to Baltimore. Much, now to
her discomfiture, she received notice that a more
formally authorized demand was required for the
money, and long before it could be expected to rr
ri\e, she would be penniless. For the purpose ol
economising she lad taken a small furnished
room, of which one month’s rent now became due,
and her landlord laughing at her story of an ex
pected remittance,shortly told her that if the mo
ney was not forthcoming the next day he would
seize her effects, at the same time notifying her to
vacate the room, as he could more profitably oc
cupy it.
• [l satisf y this demand she was forced to part
vitb her last dollar, and was thus placed in a most
perplexing situation until her expected means
should be received.
By exchanging the civilities of the day with
another occupant of the same building, an inti-
? dc y sufficient under the circumstances, had been
uuned to allow Mrs. Arden to state her difficulty.
ter some hesitation the lady replied that she
new an indigent widow woman who would gladly
for a trifling compensation, share her residence
with them, as her utmost exertions with her needle
were hardly sufficient to maintain herself, and an
afflicted daughter her only inmate, but who was
not sane, so she doubted not they would be re
ceived, if they would be willing to abide under
such an humble roof; and thus, by one of those
turns of fortune which laugh at the invention of
the novelist, was the wife and daughter of Charles
Arden referred to his father’s widow.
Lowly indeed was now the dwelling in which
resided that once opulent widow, and gladly did
she consent to spare one of her only two apart
ments. By a strange fatality, when she inquired
the names of her tenants, Mrs. Arden, feeling
her humble situation so acutely, almost by im
pulse, gave a feigned one. Bitterly did she re
gret this moral abberation on reflexion. But now,
false shame interposed, and the dread of exciting
unfavorable suspicion, made it doubly difficult for
her to retrace her steps. Alas! to what misery
did this false step lead ! and how severely did
the eternal law, that crime shall be its own pun
ishment, assert itself! The name being anything
but uncommon it never struck her as of moment
to inquire concerning the family of the widow ;
not being aware that her hnsband’s mother-in
law resided in Baltimore, instead of New York,
as she supposed. For be it remembered that she
knew nothing of his business, not having heard
from him since the first evening of his arrival in
this last named city, his insensibility rendering
him unable to write to her after the accident. —
‘The difference also in the supposed circumstances
of the wealthy merchant’s widow, and the poor
seamstress, all contributed to dampen any interest,
engrossed as she was in the melancholly uncer
tainty about her husband, and her own straight
ened and perplexing situation.
Caroline, much gratified by the discovery that
the old lady supported herself by her needle,
through her means obtained a sufficientcy of em
ployment for both, the providential foresight of
her father already enabling her to add her quota
to the expenses of the family.
But God help the poor seamstress —the de
pendents on their needle for their living! Truly
well may the chorus of witches in Faustus ex
claim :
“ A thousand steps must a woman take,
Where man but a single spring would make.”
But it would be irrelavent, to our subject to
dwell on this matter now —enough, that we only
mention as necessary, a few of the grievances to
which this class of operatives are subjected, and
which perhaps is not generally known. Often
they do not receive their hard—hard earned wages
—all one how urgent their need —until amounting
to some stated sum, and even then, too frequently
are they obliged to take their pay, or a portion of
it, in orders on different shops, instead of money,
when, doubtless, many impositions are practised
upon the needy presenters.
Misfortune appeared in love with this ill-fated
family—the cup was not yet full ! Some gar
ments which they were compelled to execute
gratis, (or lose their employment, as the ready
clothing merchant peremptorily required this,
saying °that he intended presenting it for some
charitable purpose, and therefore no pay should
be required, pious man !) made it requisite they
should yet exceed their exertions, and old Mrs.
Arden, overtasking her strength was prostrated
upon a bed of illness. So serious was her com
plaint, that between the charge of attending her
and her insane, helpless daughter, joined with the
needed household duties, all Mrs. Aiden s aiten
tion was unremittingly employed, and on Caro
line fell the entire task of the maintenance of
the family. , r ,
Gloomy indeed then were the reveries of the
watchers by the death bed of the sinking \\ic o\\
during the inclement day on which her spirit flee .
Several times had the invalid essayed to arouse
her dormant energies, apparently eager to make
SAVANNAH, GA.. THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1840.
some disclosure that rested upon her mind, and
pointing with eager gestures to her chest of
drawers; but between her feebleness and the
weariness which weighed heavily upon her, she
failed to make herself understood, and if she had
a meaning its import was ungathered. She died !
blessing with the last flickering of life, the hands
that soothed her passage, and with the calmness
of peace resting upon her closing eyes, for she
had worked while it was yet day 7 .
She died—and now came the hard task of Car
oline, braving that from which she had so sensi
tively shrank, and from which, as the widow had
always hitherto procured the work, she had been
saved, called upon their employer herself, and
with a doubtful errand.
Bracing herself up, after many a reluctant
struggle, the poor girl, who had lingered until
dusk, now sallied out; reaching the store, she sev
eral times passed and repassed timidly shrinking
from entering, but the thought of her mother
alone with the corpse and idiot, strengthed her,
and she, with a desperate effort laid her hand up
on the latch, and entered, saying as she laid down
her bundle on the counter, to the merchant, who
hardly glanced towards her ;
“ I have brought you sir, the work Mrs. Arden
engaged last week, it is finished.”
“ Humph, so its come at last. 1 began to fear
I’d see neither the work nor the old woman again.
Here I’ve been kept waiting these four days for
it,” gruffly responded the store keeper, who, al
though it was piercing cold, never by a motion in
vited the shivering girl to the stove.
“ Indeed sir,” stammered Caroline, “I regret
exceedingly to have caused you any disappoint
ment, but by sitting up all night to complete this
work Mrs. Arden was taken ill, and the whole
task fell upon me. I have worked without a mo
ment’s intermission to finish it.”
“ H umph—sick indeed! If she can’t do aj
little extra work without getting laid up, she must
look elsewhere, lean tell her, for employment.”
“She will not need it more, sir,” answered
Caroline, chilled to the heart b} 7 bis unfeeling man
ner. “ She died some hours since, and I came
with the hope —the hope sir,” faltered she, “that
you would have the kindness sir, now that she is
dead, and so many things required, (for my moth
er is also exhausted by watching.) to pay me our
dues altogether in money, instead of an order.”
“ Whew ! ” whistled he, “ What—all money !
What right miss had you to think I’d do any such
foolish thing? If you want money so do others,
and if I pay one I pay all, I make no distinction
in those I employ.”
“ But sir,” resumed she, excited to a boldness
at which she herself trembled as the thought of
their painfully distressed condition vividly pre
sented itself, if you will only be so very good as
to oblige us this time, for I must procure medi
cine for mother, sir I will workallnext week with
out a cent of charge, for you.”
The merchant looked up, for hitherto busied in
accounts, and assorting a pile of bank notes, (oh!
how longingly did the poor girl eye them.) he had
scarcely glanced toward her, and for the first time
observed her exquisite beauty, heightened into yet
more touching sweetness by her earnest emotion.
“Heigho ! my pretty miss—-no wonder the old
woman was afraid to let such a beauty come here.
I’m sorry I can’t break my rules for you; but I’ll
tell you what I’ll do, I’ll pay in advance for your
next work,” continued he, as heimpudently stared
her in the face, “ for one sip of those cherry lips.”
Caroline answered not, but drawing up her fra
gile form to its fullest height, shot one glance of
withering scorn on the base insulter, and turned
proudly from the door. •
Divided, by a slight skreen, from the busi
ness portion of the store, was a part reserved for
more privacy, which chanced to be in deep sha
dow, and where, during the above conversation,
sat the same young gentleman who had so hu
manely befriend Charles Arden, involuntarily a
heai-er of it, for, perceiving the girl was not aware
of his presence, he out of delicacy did not dis
cover himself, he was shocked to the heart by his
acquaintance’s want of feeling, (doubly so as tb<*
merchant aspired to his sister’s hand;) noble
hearted—the soul all honorable feeling—he had
with commisseration beheld the shrinking timidity
of the distressed maiden on entering, and the ex
quisite pathos of her manner and beaut}’ so
warmly held his excited sympathies, that with dif
ficulty did he restrain his feelings when he wit
nessed the eloquent scorn flashing upon her insult
er. Hurried away by impulse he hastily follow
ed out of the store, the merchant crying after him
as he passed, “Hallo! where away so fast, Al
bert, don’t forget to propose me for membership
to the Odd Fellows Lodge to night, if you will
g°.”
For membership with the Devil, thought Al
bert Linton, without pausing to reply, as he slam
med to the door, on the opening of which Caro
line, who had, bewildered, remained a moment
upon the pavement, startled by the storekeeper’s
voice, hastily walked away, thinking it was him
self and fearing a second insult. Albert discov
ering her mistake, followed her, when finding
herself pursued, the now terrified girl, quickened
her pace till she fairly ran ; loath to relinquish
his purpose of intended aid, Albert kept on until
doubling a corner he lost sight of her through the
darkness and thickening sleet and snow; but Car
oline thoroughly alarmed by the pursuit, still held
on at a rapid speed until, panting with fatigue,
she paused and found herself no longer followed ;
unfortunately she had gone on mindless of her
path, and now thinking she had turned home
wards, walked on, lost in bitter musings, every
moment diverging more and more from the right
direction.
Ugh ! how the wind howled and whistled, how
the clouds scowled, how the blinding sleet surged
against the shivering maiden ! alas ! her bosom
was saddened b} r as dreary a heart within l It
was Christmas eve—and many a dwelling, as she
passed, glowed in the comfortable light shed
from the home hearth. Many a dwelling sent
forth the sounds of merriment or the tones of
music. Many a dwelling shed round the promise
in its savory ordors, of to-morrow’s festival.—
Alas ! for the contrast to her wretched home, still
the hail beat on, when drenched and benumed
in every limb, the wanderer now discovered she
had lost her path, she once paused to enquire at
the corner of a street, and found that she was
many squares from her home, but there was no
help"; although she grew momentarily more and
more exhausted, for the wind blew violently in
her face, and the dreary sleet not only saturated
her garments but greatly impeded her progress;
feebly for two weary hours she staggered on, till
reaching the corner of Market and streets,
‘covered with cold and wrapped in wretchedness’*
she sank utterly exhausted upon the marble steps.
A carriage drove up a moment after, and a
young lady was handed out, having just returned
from a friend’s wedding, great was her surprise
at discovering the almost inanimate female lying
upon the steps, and naturally of a feeling heart,
she could not have passed the most worthless,
at any time, left alone in the severity of such a
night. Speedily Caroline was carried into the
lady’s chamber where the genial warmth and the
restoratives kindly applied, soon restored the be
wildered girl sufficiently to explain that, “having
lost her way home, she had become exhausted in
the vain attempt to reach it.” The simplicity of
her tale joined to the air of gentility, despite her
streaming apparel and disorded manner, so pre
possessed Miss Linton—the sister of Albert (for
by a strange fortuity it was at their residence she
had fallen) —that tnaugre the feeble resistance the
shrinking girl could offer, she was disrobed of her
saturated garments and being clad in those of
the young lady, placed in bed, for the first time,
* Fairy Qa*n, ith 8., 3d Cant.
NUMBER 6.