The Pacificator. (Augusta, Ga.) 1864-1865, October 08, 1864, Page 4, Image 4

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4 <£>rantlcy pnncv. BY LADY GEORGIANA FULLERTON. CHAPTER 1. It halt rained all day. Toward five o'clock the sun was making a desperate effort to shine for a moment before his final disappearance behind the grassy hill which rises in front of Grantley Manor. A heavy mass of clouds, just tinged at the edges by a line of purple light, was slowly rolling along the sky, overhanging the Abbey Woods, Heron Castle, and the ridge of muirland which extends far up the valley of the Grant. The red maples and tins yellow beeches in the park wore their gaudiest autumnal hues, though many of their bright colored leaves were strewed on the grass be neath, or floated down the lapid stream, as it made its way through the valley to a tide river, some twenty miles farther to the South. A fine November day has an indescribable mildness peculiar to itself, a calm and mournful beauty which pervades the soul, and soothes it into a deep tranquility. On the day and at the hour of which 1 am speaking, two persons were standing together by the stone balustrade which separates the bower-garden of the manor-house from the park beneath it. One of these was an elderly woman, whose set features and vacant ga/.e might have indicated either a total absence oT thought, or an absorbing pre-occupa tion. She seemed to be either pen sive or sleep)'. By her side was a girl, half-sitting, half-leaning on the parapet: her slight and graceful figure was wrapped in a fur pelisse, which hung about her in heavy folds, her arms were crossed on liar breast, her eyes sometimes fixed on the ground, sometimes raised toward the road across the park, and then hastily withdrawn. Now and then she snatched a China rose from the bush beneath her, and scattered itsjleaves abputwith rock- Margaret Lessie was a beautiful girl. Her eyes were of tlra! peculiar color which varies from iron-gray to the deep est violet; her nose was small and acqui line, and her mouth admirably formed, but slightly curved downward at the < orners, .so that when she did not smile there was something perhaps not quite agreeable in its expression, but the smile was so enchanting and so frequent, that there was hardly time to miss it before it beamed again in all its brightness. Her eyelashes were black and long, and her hair fell, not in stiff ringlets, but in rich brown flakes round her white and slender tiepk- As she watched the flying rose leaves, and vainly attempted to guide their descent into the basin of a small fountain under the terrace, her narrow, delicately pencilled and arched eyebrows contracted into a frown which might have kept in order anything less unmanage able than flying rose leaves. Indeed, to expect that they would not blow about in the breeze, which was just getting up as the sun sank behind the hill, was san guine; but Margaret’s expectations were rather apt to be unreasonable. For in stance, she was at that moment almost provoked that Mrs. Dalton, her governess, did not perceive by a kind of intuition that she was tired of watghing for the travelling carriage, which according to her calculations ought to have brought her father to the fates of the avenue an hour before, and which had not yet made Its appearance. “Really, dear Mrs. DWton,” she said at iast, “ I cannot stay here any longer. As my father is not yet arrived, I am sure he will not come in time for dinner.” “ My dear, it is only six o’clock.” “ How short the day s are getting, then ! What a blazing fire they have made in the hall 1” Margaret exclaimed, as she threw open the entrance door. Is Mr. Sydney arrived ?” she inquired, aa she crossed the billiard-room, and rolled the balls about in an impatient manner. As they tumbled “headlong into the pockets, she said, half aloud and half to licrself, — “ I shall never love my father as much as Walter Sydney!” “Oh, but, my dear, you ought,” sug gested Mrs. Dalton. Margaret turned suddenly round, and while she untied the strings of her black lace bonnet, and pushed back from her cold checks the curls that hung heavily about them, she replied,— “ When will you learn, dear Mrs. Dal ton, that you ought is no argument at all?” “ When will you learn, Margaret, that you ought should be the most powerful argument in the world ?” It was not Mrs. Dalton who had ven tured on this reply. It was made by one who always spoke the truth to Margaret, and from whom she was always willing to hear it, for she loved and respected Walter Sydney, and had often been heard to assert that he was the only person she knew who made the truth agreeable, and on this particular occasion she was so glad to see him, thttf even had the re THE PACIFICATOR A: CATHOLIC .TOUENAL. mark displeased her, she would still have held out her hand to him as she passed through the room. After closing the door, she opened it again, and said to him with a smile.— “ If you knew the subject of our dis pute, you would not, perhaps, have taken Mrs. Dalton’s part. But you always think it right to assume that I am in the wrong.” He shook his head, Hut «he was gone ; and he heard her on the stairs and in the passages, carolling away like a bird'on the wing. This Walter Sydney was a man of about thirty-five or thirty-six. He was tall and thin ; his complexion sallow; some might have thought that there was beauty in his pale high forehead, in the lines of his face, and in the expression of his eyes ; but the awkwardness of his figure, and a want of ease in his man- I ner, generally destroyed that impression, j and the usual remark of those who saw liini for the first time was, “ What a strange looking man Mr. Sydney is !” To Margaret Leslie he had always ap peared the personification of goodness and of wisdom, and she looked up to him with the strongest affection. He had been very intimate with her father from an early age. Heron Castle, the gray turreted house which stood in the midst of what were called the Abbey Woods, on the hill opposite to Grantley, was his father’s place, and he aud Henry Leslie had been friends and companions from the days of their boyhood. Leslie was the older of the two, and when Walter, a shy and awkward youth, who had been entirely educated at home, and who, with a passionate love of study, | had an insuperable dislike to new scenes j j and new associates, joined him at Ox ford, he welcomed him with a warmth' and a joy which excited the surprise of his own gay and dissipated friends. Before his first departure for Oxford, Henry Leslie had determined in his own mind to marry his cousin, Mary Thorn ton, a gentle, quiet girl, whose father was the clergyman of the village, and i who had been his and Walter Sydney’s . constant companion ever since they J could remember. He had called her in j play his little wife, and she had taken it I so much for granted that they were to be j married as soon as they were old enough j (for he had told her so whenever they had ; parted with fresh tears, or met with fresh i i joy at each successive holidays), that i when he, one day, seriously asked her if I she would indeed be his wife, she looked iat him with unaffected surprise. Their I engagement seemed to her only the con tinuation of a state of things to which she bad never anticipated any interruption : ! their relations approved, their friends j congratulated; they corresponded during | the university terms, and spent the vaca tions together at Grantley'. They sat in the gardens, they strolled in the woods. He taught her to ride, and she sketched j for him his favorite hunters.* He made j her read Walton’s “Angler ;” and while he fished, she sat patiently for hours by his side, holding in her breath lest she should frighten the trout away. In the autumn many a time did she walk across the turn’ip fields to meethim, and to hear how many brace of partridges he had killed, aud how well Juno had pointed; and on many a misty morning in winter did she ride on the white pony he had given her, to see the hounds meet and to watch for the distant view-halloo! In the evening they sat in the old library, and examined together the map of his estates ! She learned the name of every village, and planned new roads and new plantations. They retired to the billiard room, that he might knock the balls about, and make all sorts of hazards before her wondering eyes; or to a recess in the drawing-room, that he might conquer her at chess; or to the piano-forte, to sing together sundry duets, while Walter Sydney, then a shy and silent youth, laid' down his book and listened ; and his mother (who, having found nothing but disappointment in her own marriage, watched a love affair with that tender interest which the sightof happiness, un derstood but not experienced, awakens in a gentle and subdued spirit) invariably grew absent at whist and revoked ; an enormity which her husband justly re sented, though he bore it, in his own opinion, with truly angelic patience, only suddenly putting down his cards, and saying in a mild, impressive manner, — “ Pray, Mrs. Sydney, may I be allowed to ask, are you playing at whist, or are you not?" This produced a start, a readjustment of the spectacles on her nose, and a re newed attention to the game, coupled with the ejaculation, “Dear children! They seem made for each other!” And so these dear children seemed to think, for they troubled their, heads singularly j little about any one else. And thus the course of their true love ran on as smooth as it Shakspeare had not pronounced against the existence of such a case. And theirs was true love in spite of Shakspeare, in spite of ap proving parents, in spite of the easy channel which favorable circumstances i bad wrought for it. True happiness it j was when, on a lovely summer’s rlav, Henry Leslie and his bride went to the ! village church, and pledged their faith i to each other in the eyes of their de j. lighted families and a rejoicing tenant ry; : when the bells rang their loudest peal of joy, and heartfelt acclamations rent the air, as they walked down the narrow pathway toward their homes. And there was happiness in that | home, for they tasted that bliss of Para i dise, which alone, Cowpersays, has sur : vived the fall. Neither temper nor neglect shed one bitter drop into their | crystal cup : -while it lasted it was unim i paired and pure. A child was born to I them, the Margaret of our story ; and when she was carried to the village | church, and the sacred waters of bap tism poured on her infant head by the | same hand which had joined theirs in i marriage, Mary looked at her husband, and in that look there was, perhaps, too much happiness for this world of ours. Two years later a grave was dug under the yew-tree in the old churchyard, and to it was conveyed all that remained on earth of the blooming bride, of the young mother, of the Mary who had so often played as a child on that spot, and who had chosen it herself for her grave, when, a few days before her death, sup ported by her husband, she had reached the place where their first words of love had been spoken, and where she now wished to be buried, that he might never look upon that view, or sit under that tree, without a thought of her “ Who in her springtime died.” At her request no boasting inscription, no pompous memorial was placed on her tomb; the date of her birth, of her marriage, mid of her death, and a sim ple stone cross, alone marked the spot. Henry Leslie had flung himself on the ground in an agony ot grief on the day of her funeral, and when Walter Syd ney spoke words of comfort to him, he shook his head despairingly, and bade him be silent, for life had lost for him all the bright hues with which youth and hope had gilded it. Truly had he loved his wife, and truly had he mourned tor her; but what is true is not always deep), and what is vehement is not always lasting. Alter many days had come and gone, his grief grey calm; and then new hopes and interests arose, aud other joys and other pains, aud various alter nations of misery and of bliss vsited him in the course of fifteen years which he .spent partly in Italy, partly in the Peninsula, where he served as a volun teer, and subsequently in long voyages by sea and land. Meanwhile there was one at home who visited, day by day, the grave where the friend of his child hood and of his youth was buried, and who gathered and treasured up in secret the spaing flowers that grew there ; and there was one blooming flower which he watched with unremitting love and care. Walter Sydney’s affections were few and deep: for the child of Henry and of Mary Leslie lie would willingly have laid down his life, Much as his books and his writings usually absorbed him, there was no day and no hour that he would not lay them gladly aside if a merry peal of laughter summoned him to his window to welcome a little horsewoman, proudly* mounted on her Shetland pony. Henry Leslie had left his child in the care of his parents at Grantley ; both had died during his absence, and Mar garet had been intrusted to Mrs. Dalton, an old fashioned governess, whose plans of education were superintended by Mrs* Thornton, who was established _at the vicarage, and by Walter Sydney, in wh'cm Leslie had more confidence than in any member of his own'family. It was lucky for the little girl that such was the case ; for, an only child, an heiress, and a beauty, she ran considerable risk of being utter ly spoiled, if Walter had not watched over her with a father's care and a brother’s tenderness. He soon discovered in her character those impetuous qualities which are equally powerful for good or for evil, according to the direction which they take. The overweening indulgence with which she was constantly treated, had at least, among many evils, one good re sult ; Margaret was the truest of human beings, and from the moment that she first lisped a few words in baby language, no falsehood had ever passed her lips. There was no moral courage in this ; it was the result of a frank and fearless nature, and ofan education which, though it had not sufficiently checked the bad, had not impaired the good impulses of her character. There was no merit in it, I repeat; hut it was beautiful —as a bright day, as a clear sky, as a pure lake are beautiful! It was something fresh from the hands of God and unspoiled by man: and often, when Walter gazed into the child’s blue eyes, or parted the curls which clustered on her fair open brow, the words of commendation which our Lord pronounced on Nathanael rose to his mind, and lie would murmur, as he pressed the little girl to his heart, —“One in whom there is indeed no guile.” As she grew older, and became con- scious of thoughts which her grand mother and governess could not com prehend, and of capacities which they knew not how to direct, and therefore strove to stifle—like the unskilful hus bandman who would dam up the stream he knows not how to turn—she went to Walter, and to him she revealed them in language which he understood, for ge nius has a simplicity of its own which appreciates and is appreciated by the simplicity of childhood. When she first perceived that religion meant something beyond going to church once a week, and repeating the catechism by rote— that poetry was not merely verse-making —that conversation was not always merely talk—that life was not child’s play; when its forms and its spirit, its realities and its mysteries, appeared to her in anew shape, and with a strange power; it was again to Walter that she turned, aud from him that she learned glorious truths which give to our destiny a .meaning, and to our actions an end. He gave her books, and while he care fully guarded her mind from what might taint, he filled it with high thoughts and noble images. Self-sacrifice, in even form, was the theme of his lessons, the object of his reverence; and Margaret listened with a kindling eye and a flush ing cheek when he recited deeds of he roism, and lauded acts of self-conquest, the real true courage of the soul; when he spoke of the honor due to the martyr who dies for his faith, to the patriot who bares his breast to a thousand foes, to the missionary who confesses Christ with the scalping-knife before his eyes, to the sister of charity who braves the horrors of pestilence in the loathsome abodes of disease; and lastly, not least, to those lonely martyrs—to those un noticed confessors —to those meek souls who in the humble walks of life, in deso lation unrepining, go through a fiery trial, with no witness but that God, “Who to the wrestlings of the lonely heart. Imparts the virtue of His midnight agony.” j To hr. continued .] A T »'S\B€fL The undersigned Has this day associated with him in the General Commission Business, Mr. W. C. JONES. The business will be conducted in the name of BROOM & CO., at the old stand, 238 Broad Street. J. ,T. BROOM. Augusta, October 4, 1864 —121, ATKINSON & SIIECITT, A UCTIONEERS AND COMMISSION J-i. MERCHANTS, Augusta, Ga., will give prompt attention to all business en trusted to them. Consignments respectfully solicited. » References.- —Jackson & Miller, Augus ta, Ga., .T. T. Paterson & Cos., Augusta, Ga.,- Stockton & Cos., Augusta, Ga., Chichester it Cos., Augusta, Ga., Walsh & Blome, Au gusta, Ga., Geo. E. W. Nelson, Richmond, A a., T. I>. Wagner, Esq., Charleston, 8. C., Maj. E. Willis, Charleston, S. 0., W. 11. Stark, Esq., Savannah, Ga., Burke, Boykin <t Cos., Macon, Ga. Oct. B—-It WEAL. & Vo HITIiOCK, General agents and commis sion MERCHANTS, for the sale of Manufactured Tobacco, or any kind of Pro duce, at No. IS3 Broad Street, two doors above the Express Office. References. —Edward Thomas, I’resi- Union Bank, Jno. Bones, President Augusta Bank, S. Wyatt, Merchant, Wilcox it Hand, Merchants, Alfred Baker, Merchant. James If. Taylor, Merchant, Lnmback & Cooper. Oct. B—Bt THE BIAGSOLSA WEEKLY. A FIRST-CLASS LITERARY AND xIGENERAL NEWS JOURNAL.contain ing eight clearly printed pages of reading matter, of four columns each, is published every Saturday, in the city of Richmond, and is replete with the most interesting* original and selected Tales, Sketches and Poetry, Biographical Notices and Criticisms, in addition to a summary of varied and current Foreign and Domestic News Items, together with a Special Department, allotted to the Wit and Humor of the Day! The “Magnolia Weekly” is especially the Ladies’ Paper, and as such it is conducted so as to render it a universal favorite in the Home Circle, and wherever a polished lite rary taste calls for a pure and instructive Literature. The publication of anew Serial, of ab sorbing. interest, entitled “The Aldkrley Tragedy,” by Tobias Guarnerius, Jr., au thor of the prize romance, “Guilty or Not Guilty,” will bo commenced about the 1 st of October, to extend through twelve or fifteen numbers of the paper, and will be followed by a variety of interesting Tales and Novel ettes by our best writers. In view of the early publication of “The Alderley Tragedy,” agents aud those who wish to subscribe will please forward then orders and subscriptions as soon as possible. The “Magnolia Weekly” will be furnish ed to subscribers for Twenty Dollars - - Per Annum. Twelve Dollars - - Six Months. Subscribers making remittances will be particular in stating the name and where abouts of their respective post-offices, and will also avoid enclosing county or corpora tion notes. Agents in all parts of the Confederate States will be supplied at the rate of twenty livo dollars per hundred. AU orders must be accompanied by the cash. Specimen numbers sent free of charge where desired. A limited space will be devoted to adver tisements, paid for in advance. All correspondents will please address SMITH & ROBERTSON, Proprietors, Oct. 8 Richmond, Va. HEW MUSIC STORE, No. 200 Broad Street, Augusta, Ga. r H. IIEWITT ALWAYS ON «* • hand a large selection of the newest Musical Publications, comprising Yocal and Instrumental Pieces of the most popular kind. Besides, all kinds of Musical Mer chandize and Stationery. The Trade and Academics furnished at the usual discount. Music sent by mail to any part of the Southern Confederacy, on receipt of the pi ice of the piece or pieces ordered. Oct. B—3m M. O’DOWH, GENERAL COMMISSION MERCHANT, No. 273 Broad Street, Anyunta, Ga. Etas for sale—sixty sacks su -- GAR, 21 boxes Sugar, 10 biffs. Apple Brandy, 20 bills. Corn Whiskey, 600 pairs Cotton Cards, 500 boxes Tobacco, assorted brands, 0,000 lbs. Svveed Iron. 60 tierces Salt, 100 half tierces Salt. 5 bales Hickory Stripes, 1,000 lbs. Sole Leather, 200 setts Knives and Forks. Oct. 8 _ M. O’DOWD. AUGTSTA IHOTESs. THE 'UNDERSIGNED WOULD RES PECTFULLY inform their old friends, patrons and the travelling public, that they have leased the above named Hotel, and having had it thoroughly refitted and reno vated, can confidently promise to give all who may favor them with their patronage, entire satisfaction. JONES & WHITAKER, Late of Washington Hall, Atlanta. S. M. JONES, Late of Commercial Hotel, Memphis, Term. Oct. B—4t Prospectus of the St. Mary’s College, COLUMBIA, S. C. This institution, undertaken with the sanction of the Right Rev. Bishop, and already so favorably known to 1 the public, is situated in the most healthy town of the Confederate States, and affords young men all the advantages of a sound and moral education. Respoctable children of every denomination are received, without, distinction, and the strictest attention paid to their moral and physical well-being; their Professors being not only the directors of their studies, but also tlio companions of their recreations. Accessions have been made to the Mathe matical and Scientific Departments, which greatly facilitates these studies. A mild and paternal system of govern ment is observed, as far as may be compati ble with the strictest attention to established discipline: the diet of the students is whole some aud abundunt: the strictest attention is paid to their well-being* in every respect. The collegiate year consists of two ses sions, of five months each-—the first com mencing in September, and the second in February, and closing with a public exami nation and exhibition. The various departments of a Classical, Scientific and English Education are already filled by able and competent Professors. Students will be received at all times; on entering, each will be examined and placed in the classes for which his pnfvious attain ments qualify him. The educational system is the same which is pursued in many of the leading colleges in Europe. It embraces three courses : 1. The preparatory, lasting usually one year, aud comprising Reading, Penmanship, Arithmetic, Grammar, Modern Geography, and the elements of such branches as are afterward to be pursued. 2. The Commercial, which lasts three years, and comprises the elements of Phi losophy, of Geometry and Algebra, Book keeping, History, the English and French languages. The Classical, which lasts six ve*rs. and comprises Literature, Ancient Geogra phy, the higher branches of Mathematics Astronomy, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry. Logic, Metaphysics, Ethics, the Greek and Latin languages. Having been incorporated as a College, we are authorised to confer Degrees, anil do such other acts as a College rightfully may do in its corporate capacity. The liberal patronage extended to tiffs institution is the surest warrant of the fidelity with which our engagements have been fulfilled; and we again renew them with much pleasure to the patrons of the College. Terms —For Board and Tuition, per session of o months, in advance - - SI,OOO 08 Doctor’s fees, in case of sickness, the postage of letters, washing, with bed and bedding, will form extra charges. terms for day scholars per session or FIVE MONTHS. 1. English, including Grammar, Modern Geography, Arithmetic, Writing, History, the elements of Philosophy, etc., - S4O 00 2. Book-Keeping, Algebra, Geometry, Eng lish Composition, Astronomy, Elocution, Philosophy, Ancient Geography, Ancient History, Mensuration and Surveying, with all, or any of the branches mention ed above -------- SSO 00 3. Latin and Greek, with all, or any of the above mentioned branches - - 575 00 The German, Spanish, French, Italian and Hebrew Languages form each an extra charge of S2O 00 per session. Payment in all cases invariably in ad vance. No allowance for absence except in cases of sickness or expulsion. Pupils will be received only between the ages of 9 and 15 years, as boarders. g Vacation if spent at College - SIOO 00 No advance in money is made for clothing or other expenses, unless a sum is deposited for that purpose. Rev. J. P. O’CONNELL, D. D , Oct. 8 Secretary. Printed for the Proprietors at the Office of J. T. PATERSON & GO., Book, Job and News paper Printers and Lithographers, Corner of Mclntosh aud Broad Streets, Augusta, Ga.