The bridle on the heart, or, Pictures from life
page: 0Illustration (TitlePage) [View Page 0Illustration (TitlePage) ] THE OR PICTURES FROM LIFE. T'fP WASH. SM1IT1, .lIAROIf. Who lives should early learn to sadly prize The fleeting phantoms of the daily maze, And greet the storm which lowers in the skies- Howe'er so fierce Its dismal echo plays. J. NICHOLAS, PRINTER, NO. 310 CHESTNUT ST. 1860. page: 0-v[View Page 0-v] Entered according to act of Cbngress, in the year 1860, by TOM. WASH. SMTH, in the'Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District Pennsylvania. TO MY COUNTRYMEN WHO rJfisrist A LAUDABLE INNOVATION TO THE GROVELLING TRAMMEtfi OF ANCIENT USAGES -WHO WITH Vs WILL CONJOINTLY WAGE AN IN- CESSANT WARFARBE AGAINST AN ENOBMOUS, YT TIME-HONOBRED PBRECEDENT-AND WHO DESIRE TO BEQUEATH THS' PURBCHASED HERITAGE AS A WORTY BLESSING - TO THEIR POSTERITY AND THE OPPRBES8BD EXILES OF ALL NATIONS, THS WORK 1S MOST RESPECTFULLY AND AFFEC- TIONATELY DEDICATED BY ITS AUTHOR. (V) page: vi-vii[View Page vi-vii] INTRODUCTION. MATRIMONY, the most ancient of all Institutions, comes home to the affec- tions of every heart. The callous bachelor and sere spinstress, may affect to deny their concern for the holy ties of wedlock, but they must dissuade our trust in the confidence of an all-wise Governor, and annihilate the instinctive incentives of those very emotions which attest the divinity of His primeval precedent, before we can attach credence to the dissembling avowal. From the veriest outlaw who contems God and wars on the weal of his race-to the highest arch-angel who tunes his harp to the anthems of Hea- ven's rapture, this organic law of laws claims a devotional deference and soul-inspiring awe. And if we need extenuation for this intrusion on an intelligent public, it lies in our humanitarian yearnings for a fellow brother, for whose destiny we dare essay a task, from which abler pens might seek to be ex- cused. It is because we have viewed with pity, sorrow, and indignation the dam which caste has built across the rivulets of the treple fountains of the soul's affections, rolling -back their receding waters, drowning the violets, and wasting the foliage of the evergreens, that we venture to offer our protest to the people of this utilitarian, poetic, yet run-mad age. And if we attempt an overture, to reason that common sense may not be eschewed, we are conscious the opprobrium will be all the more bitter from those whose rank folly we assail. We have never offered to,vend our thoughts before, and we know not to what extent this faltering effort will find favor in our market, over- supplied with literature, ancient and modern, home and foreign, classic, scientific, prosaic, poetic, and trashy; nor do we look to it for a-remune. rative resource, still, we can but wish it should be read by every citizen of our crumbling republic, and form on the retina of mind an imagery of beauty and love. We have not consulted the opinion of any one as to the propriety of ithis production; our own generous impulses prompted us to write; and we obey that guidance independent of the bigotry of schools, ori the sa- tirical system of the learned, or the repulsive criticism of the pedantic. (vii) page: viii-9[View Page viii-9] Viii INTRODUCTION. We throw this hasty thesis on the waves of public opinion, and in claim- ing a hearing, we trust our knowledge of the pulses of freemen's hearts for a final and responsive approval. For though not aged, we make some pretensions to experience. For ten years we have been rambling, during which time our chief aim has been to study andclknow the 'Will ;O oiw common brotherhood. Whether in the mart or wilderness, the cabin or palace, on the ocean or shore, our supreme delight has been to. understand the affiliated inter- relations which actuate and control us; and, if we produce nothing new, if we say nothing but what has often been repeated before, we shall have profited ourselves, and edified our readers, if we but induce them to soberly ponder what they know. ,1 s , - CHAPTER I. f Who that will read the title of this book, but will consider the name chosen as inappropriate and vulg&t, When taken in consonance with those sentimental emotions, which designate man from the lower order of animals Il And yet we claim to know what we have experienced, and we must be pardoned for believing and asserting, that what comes home to our understanding daily, corroborated by the substantial testimony of every grade and iclass of society, which makes us an intelligent people, to feel this home of boasted liberty a land of social oppression, and which causes staitesioen and patriots to stand aghast with hope overtaken by despair, when contempla- ting the certain prospective ultimatum of those 'evils which foreshadow the eventful period when our nation shall be ap- pareled in the -weeds of widowhood---whet the mourners shall go about the streets, and the fatherless, pitiless oirphans shall sit upon the ground; We maintain that with all -our exlting claims to Christianity, we are positively in a more deplorable condition than the wild savage who roams the forest, governed only by brute force, or an animal instinct. And with the progress of refinement we have discarded the prowess which belongs to: the hardihood of a ruder stage of civilization, accepted a delicate and effeminate helplessness as a substitute, defeated the end and itntent of our creationi and rendered this blooming, and beautiful world, con. structed for our comfort and ihappiness, a desolate wade mecum, where: the bramble and thistle are cultivated ; and the true gems of the heart are trodden down -and destroyed. And, for this we charge the parent of onur moral interest, by her tacit sanetion and individual overt concurrence, with all the responsibility, for:those grievanees:- and ills with which our race is burdened; because- she can wield an influence before which all-earth is ready to pay a willing obeisance, and for this omission to use the gift of power, for the preservation of those (9) page: 10-11[View Page 10-11] 10 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR interests entrusted to her care, she, the Church, is indirectly, yet most palpably guilty of remissness and gross malfeasance. To her mild influence *e despondingly yet imploringly look for succor from the social and political perils which threaten us; and if the history: of christendom afforded an example of relief in like danger, we-should not hope with mistrust-nor criminate with such indecorous allegations. In this staid and quiet city, with her laws of order and well behaved citizens, who is there, from the beggar to the banker, that does not suffer from the onerous burthens of the laws of caste; and, of the tens of thousands who live in celibacy, be- cause they must compromise their social status to wed those they could afford to sustain, and also, from the large share of her whole population, whose nuptial life is a burlesque on the name of matrimony; because antagonistic to every prin- ciple of organic law? i And when we adduce this goodly city as an instance in question, it is with no design of disparagement to its general standing in contrast with other large cities of equal density and greatness. On the contrary, we. have illus- trated by an example even far less exceptionable than other rival marts of the country. But, in thus referring to the class who shrink from the ordeals of wedlock--for such in truth it has be- come.- we do not, as a general rule, include the mechanic and day-laborer. Somehow, they are a more philosophical people than those who strive to keep up a dignity of more significant import. Nor; are we confining ourselves to cities; the evil is as prevalent in the rural districts as here; the same gross abomi- nation predominates to a great extent upon the frontier borders, rendered as they are, contiguous to the universal world by the modern inventions to annihilate space and distance. And, if it be argued by those who urge extenuation in behalf of the prevailing habits of the age, that there cannot be found an instance where a union could not be consummated by a con- cession to circuimtances, we must offer as an offset to such a cavil, the evident impossibility to assimilate incongruities, and the actual expediency of harmonizing by congenial association those individuals whose very existence will flow into a united PICTURES FROM LIFE. Ii sameness of individuality, as the confluence of rivers into one stream. To bring this about, we must have a due respect to that edun cational bias which has been engrafted on the mind, and on account of which it has attained to certain likes and dislikes, the securement of which is as essential to promote happiness and domestic comfort, as are sunshine and rain for the vigorous and hearty growth of plants and shrubs. And the absence of such affinity is as certainly bound to prove deleterious to the well-being of any one thus begirt by ill-timed circumstances, whose mental susceptibilities have been cultivated by a refined and studied training. As a people, we are disposed to "look aloft," to aspire to points hopelessly beyond our reach, --which may be gained by a few, because like success has' attended others, but which must rarely happen, because the wealth of our country is limited, and its exalted places of preferment but few. And yet, in the face' of these facts, our women are almost uni- versally educated to habits of extravagance, which not one man in a thousand can afford, whilst their domestic and physical education are totally neglected. Our young men are raised to consider themselves the embodi- ment of superior excellence, and, instead of the wonted deference of the real accomplished gentleman, we have the bluster of the braggadocio, or the swaggering bravado of the upstart. Hence we notice, decrepitude purchasing with ingots the maiden of fickle insincerity; and the venerable madame wooing a boyish suitor, who sells himself for an exchange: price, for the privilege of a passport to the banquet of "vanity fair;" where, with- in- flated pomp, he receives the cajolery of intolerable duplicity. Let us inquire the cause of those countless loungers about the corners of the streets, whose badged hat and dyed moustache betoken a regardlessness for the claims of social order-who sup- port the gaming saloons, and make life, a profession of idleness, and all its sacred compacts a theme for obscene jest- Do you imagine they have no ambition for more' lfty pursuits?. Can any one believe they are not heartily disgusted with their own utter insignificance? ' page: 12-13[View Page 12-13] 1 . THE BRI)LE ON THE HEART; OR :In, critieisint their folly, let us remember that with a training for the acme in life's great arena, which an over-fond parent in. stilled into theirthoughts, has also been linked a despisable re- gard for plodding industry. Tley see no enviable award recomn pensing the son of humble toil- and their proud spirits will not brook an unmerited disgrace. The time was when the wise man's model of a lady could be found in every home, when brawny hands and stout Ahews could expect her willing smiles, provided they wore the evidences of ho- nest and well disposed aspirations. It was not then, as now, when the rifle and the Bible, the sword and the plow, formed the chief essentials of a settlement-when necessities huddled neigh- bors, and made those inmates of rough tenements, and severe privations, mutual neighbors and fast friends, When the buxom lassie needed not the influencedof crinoline to get up a shadow, and when she could speak of the washing-day as a soiree entertainment, and exhibit her woven web or: home- made raiment, when her highest expectation for flirtation was the taffy party or sugar camp, to which she would go with her rustic lover across grain-fields and through girdled forests, tote her shoes until nearing the party, and then sit down upon the trunk of the fallen tree by the Troad-side, and put them on again. Now-it:is we have our countless: boarding schools, where misses go to get a smattering of classical knowledge;' where they are taught to despise the occupation of their foreathers; and edu- cated to an ideal estimate of life which only exists in the chime- rical brain of a;dreamer, but whicfh: once inculeated, disdains the sphere and duties of a sober reality. ' And' e have, too, countless strange summer resorts andwater- ing-places, where people go to bolster old age in youth - and carry home the coy blandishments of coquettishfirtswithbosoms as hollow as their Own. Instead of linsey plaid, we must have some ten thousand dollars worth of changeable apparel, with a travelling trunk big enough for a warehouse - and in .lieu- of the rudely-squaed- cabin, with its health and contentment, the villa of blended architecture and the midnight hop, and the early demise. PICTURES FROM LIFE. 13 It wil be considered by not a few, that these declarations are induced by: an envious jealousy, wholly unbecoming the dignity and spirit which should characterize the magnanimous feelings of a subject of liberty. Such is not the case. We woo no storm-cloud with its bursting desolation; but if the elements of discord are in our social atmosphere, sooner or later they must break forth, and no intervention can oppose their gathering wrath, Aside from the domestic alliance, there cannot be permanence to a people whose interests are not cemented by the strong ties of consanguinity, whose cable strength has been welded by an immutable power,. and for which the device of, all earth cannot offer a substitute. But how common the, expression," Is she rich?"w-how stereo. typed the provincialism, "He is too poor." Therefore, since wealth is the only trinity that we as a nation recognize, who shall be regarded as unwise for adoration to the god? - or who dare eschew the recipient of his smiles? Hence the commonly accepted cant saying, "he is sharp," who bartered away the sentiments of his constituents for a bribe; and they are considered. too honest for self-preservation who would refuse "to fail full handed." We claim tha wealth does not occasion envy when not used for oppressive purpoase and indigence does not chafe the serf of circumstances; unless with it comes absolute ostracism, -Such we lament to admit, is but the general vogue of the day; and; to freemen it is all the more galing, because their sensitiveness has become intensified by teachings of equality. The war-chief of a savage tribe cannot he gilded into great, ness by mere fortuitous circumstances, unless he possess merit entitling him to a superior position. And the pagan, who knows no Great First Cause, is not culpable for devotionto anidolatrona image, because, he can appeal to no higher deity. It is self-evident that, all men love that gocmia escutcheon whic* elates their vanity. And for the laudations oftthe excited multi. tude: who strew brteanchew in the triumphal pathway to-day, atnl exelaim "awaoy with. him." on the. morrow, ambittion ever has. page: 14-15[View Page 14-15] " THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR been and ever will be ready to offer life., We' care not what im- pediments may forbid the motive, the vociferations of the crowd are more precious than ten thousand times ten thousand warriors; and the green wreath which crowns the conqueror will atone for the habiliments of woe which darken the land. Give us the cha- racter of a people's escutcheon, and we will engage to write their history. Our Moloch is Mammon, it is our altar and our god; and our sacrilegious love for privatewealth is rapidly rushing us on to chaos, and soon .will destroy the vitality of the government. The emo- tions of youthful bosoms are as natural as the quiet dews, or leap- ing brooks, or blushing vintage, or ripened harvest. When dead- ened by the searing iron of caste, they become as hard as granite, cold as winter, and unfeeling as the grave. There is no hope for the continuance of a government which rests on the- governed but in that concentrated regard which hovers at the fireside as a guardian spirit forfending ill, oversha- dowing for good. But if the certificate of nuptial concord is but the parchment title for the conveyance of estates or bills of exchange, whose par value is estimated by the scale of Troy, then has a high-premium been awarded to the basest outrage on human organization which can be waged on the rights of man, and before which all high re- gard for the domestic obligations shall wane, and from which must follow the terrors of revolution, and the final restoration to order beneath 'the shadow of bayonets and sceptre of kings. Deny to men the rights of political equality, and they will not seekfor what they cannot obtain. Force this alternative upon them by the edicts of the invinoibles, and they must be quiet when clamor is useless. But so long as the throb of liberty pulsates in the bosom of the sovereign, will he feel degraded by the inconsistency which marks and discards him as a felon for the crime of poverty. His pledge of fealty to the state as an American citizen, is the covenant of submission to social disparity, social excommunication, in many instances, to that very grade of society accessible to both parties prior to a relationship of commendable love. This is a crying sin, and calls loudly for a remedy. Persons dread to form those alli- PICTURES FROM :LIFE. 15 ances which destroy their social standing, no odds how sycophan- tic and unreal it may be. And, as we have insisted, with the spread of celibacy will follow social disintegration and segregation, with a moral malaria for which there will be found no sanative save the consternation of in- ternecine strife, and that essential eradication and purification which follows the wasting havoc of war. Nor do we consider this an evil to be averted at a sacrifice of all the more ennobling dignities of manhood. He who watches the motives of the heart thinks not less of the embryo-slaughter of the race than the strewn field of combat, and she who could hush the wail of her first-born has petrified every fine fibre in the bosom of affection, whose moral putrefactions rise to offend the nostrils of the Almighty, zwho will remove by the scourge of His wrath those who refase to recognize the highest injunctions of His pleasure. We remember an interview with two gentlemen from North Carolina, who with us were stopping at the same hotel in Peters- burg, Va. During our stay, an intimacy grew up between us which made us mutually regret the hour of our separation. Their conviviality was truly. Southern; and their frank and noble bear- ing such as yeoman alone can manifest: whotgain a support direct, from the earth. And without any scientific erudition appertain- ing to phrenology or physiology, we ventured to describe to them not only their own individual characters, but also that of their wives at home. To their great surprise, our description was precisely correct. And in answer how we could depict character distant hundreds of miles away, we assured them it was not by any aid of clairvoyance or mesmerism, or spiritualism; but by the laws, of, organic life which ever sought to equilibriumize and harmonize its own. We know you, gentlemen, to be men of full grown stature, not iden- tified with the modern code of respectability, exceptions to an almost universal practice of the age, and residents of a region of country unknown to the tyrant rule of the paramount goddess, Fashion. We know, when no ulterior purposes thwairt the deci- sions of innate instinct, the sexes will .as naturally choose oppo- page: 16-17[View Page 16-17] 16 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR sites by the same governing law of instinct that induces the little girl to nurse her doll, and the brother to incline to some bolder habits of amusement. To this same intuitive, law for which we contend, even at the risk of sentimental censpre, the mother awakes by the slightest movement indicative of the uncomfortable repose of the infant sleeper, whilst the paternal guardian sleeps on as deep as though he were a seven sleeper. Show. us the bans of union prompted by lofty incentives, and there will be seen loving results as a natural law following such a consecration, which will live amidst the trying ordeals of persecu- tion, whose radiating light will inspire admiration, and constrain the conviction to every beholder, that united hearts, unmolested- by the coercive guidance of seieming matchmakers, form a pano- rama of supernatural design, whose inimitable loveliness bear the reflex of divinity, and give out the exhalations of Eden's incense of aromatic joy. We were once promenading the Fifth Avenue, New York, ina company with a lady whose father had risen to an enviable. po sition in hisprofession. Growing abstracted as we mused over the burnished catacombs of that fashionable boulevard, whose: brown-stone blocks are but numerical indices that tally the wreck of hopes by: whh their structure was completed, and the yet. -ountless demands of 'give, give" expedient to their con.. tinned support; sombre as was this meditation, it grew still more so when we looked to the distance whither these sign.. boards are pointing, the time when the leaven of society, itself shall have, become corrupted, and Pandemonium with its Egyp, tian darkness mantles the land. Our soliloquizing just here was disturbed by the fair one, who no, doubt had grown weary with our silence, and breaking the, monotony, exclaimed, "What a magnificent house 1 If youbut owned it, I would come and live with you 1" Yes we mentally answered, whatever might have been our other response; and there is not one per cent, of all your great mammoth mart but would do the same, notwithstanding she might not be so persuaded by the first particle of worthy sentiment. PICTURES FROM LIFE. 17 The bridle on the heart is written everywhere over this reel- ing planet, by the serpents trail, and the widow's tears, and paternal sighs, and broken hearts. From the sepulchral breasts, whose altars were hung in emblems of sadness, the hour-love sur- rendered to ostentation all the solemn hopes of the future. And morbid desire fed upon the human sacrifice, to glut her cannibal appetite from then till now; the- dead have dwelt with the dead, seeking in the voluptuous rounds of artificial excitement' for some antidote for the poisoned fountain of the affections of life. We know of numerous instances of choice growing out of pre- ference to fortune, when in reality the affections were trailing elsewhere. And such has ever produced an irretrievable grief- the more poignant because self-inflicted; and the older the' more sad, because, with the winter's frost the leafless trees showed the gnarled spots :here the trunk had been wounded; and because nude chastity ever stands in the recess of the hall-way of a vacant bosom, and by her dejected looks chides the offering to her wily and subtle persecutrix. The seed-time has in such instances ever been the sowing of the thistle whose productive harvest has overrun the garden, choked out every fragile flower, and con- verted the once lovely plat into an abode for reptiles and creep. ing things. They who thus offer to an ungainly pride shall- reate a thirst for the waters of bitterness which nought will slake but the oblivion of death. It is an unwilling martyrdom to a false god; who, though worshipped, is despised:-compared to which the offering to Juggernaut is enviable, even preferable and laudable, and far more worthy of Christian emulation; because those thus acting entertain the faithful belief that such sacrifices are essen- tial to their spiritual hope. page: 18-19[View Page 18-19] 18 - THE BRIDLE ON THE T3 A'RT; OR CHAPTER II. IT will be tasked, for what do we contend? We answer, for the removal of those laws which exact tribute against reason, and which coerce an education to defy reason . We demand the repeal of those usages which bridle the heart by the order of caste; who drives with an unsparing lash, who gathers taxes without the consent of the assessed; and not satis- fied by the absorption of all our rresources, draws on our health,' peace, happiness, and life. We ask not to curb the gentle inclinations of the soul's best impulses, but' rather the ambition and vain glory of life, which is now so manifestly culminating in misery and wickedness and dis- order and ruin. But we are told if we hedge in the ambition of man, there will be no incentive :to spur him 'on to action, What stripes the country' over with iron bars, and weaves a spider's web of wires$ and sends out the sea gulls to offer their wl te wings to the stornm, and .demolishes forests, and tunnels mountains, builds cities and supplies desolate wastes with emigrants, and even re- quires of the little mechanics of the sea a new continent for the abiding place of swarming millions who must yet go out from their exiled homes? Ambition, we are told, by the promise of its rewards, gives incentive-wheels to thel machinery of life's bust- ling chariot cay-Othat the glory is but the result of labor, and the reward but the entitled merit of those who have contended for the prize. This is in part true, but not all true. We must have a respect for the cost of an enterprise, however grand the project and needful its requirements. So, if we would be latitudinarians, we must also be utilitarians, and even concede to accept the proposal that offers the greatest good to the great- est number, though not entirely in accordance with the wishes of our own. PICTURES FROQM. ,F , 19 A potentate may build a 'city of fabulous .grandeur, but if he thereby sps the alth of ;his :Whole realm, the ljepts are op- pressed, even'though. they: admire the apJeldor with whichb their ruler has ,surrounded himself. Yet theycannot but dread ,the lienu pon their .homes, which:denies them the subsistence of life, though perhaps too proud and loyal to admit it, 'How to define that indefinable demarkation line which bounds a judicious policy, is remarkably dificult -an insoluble theory.. For we could -ot offer agrari nis i to: those who do not- appre- ciate it. To compel the people-to submit to it against their Will, would produce greater anarchy than even the present order of caste; whilst. that devouring ambition which characterizes this age is but "the poor oppressing the poor," from which destruc. tion must follow. Here we call for the balance-wheel, or-more properly the governor, by which to regulate the movements of man's propelling power. There is to be found a solution of this vexed problem in the study of universal amelioration. A will to appreciate wealth and wealth's influences as mere loose robes, or cast-off raiment, of little worth, since it is but the gilding of the temple; not its externals that are to be worshipped, whilst there is an altar for the offering of oblations. To this we will be met with the objection, man cannot go back- ward, in the pursuit of happiness, and from your own arguments you must respect his educational bias. This ie too well know; and from this we dread what lies ahead. If Christianity were only -true toher mission,: inless than fifty years she would evan- gelize the world to her mild andbenign mandates of love. But in the absence of consistency, where 'thereiis wanting, a &pretical elucidation of her tenets -the heraiders,:of truth b ecome abhor- rent, and the house of-.prayer is shunned sas a place of wcant and mockery. True we know '.this avowal iwill cause, us to share largely in the..anathemas of the clergy; but it will not jostle public, opinion from that settled conclusion to whichit has but all too justly come. 'irom Adam till!now, we find no precedent by which to. hqpe for a restraint upon the far-reaching grsp of' proud ambition. In every man's thoughts there exists:a willingess for power. -9 Ire page: 20-21[View Page 20-21] 20 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR The prince and slave are qualities of the man, only differing as the force of circumstances occasions their development, or supe- rior natural talents lift them out into positions of exalted place. Liberty is an unnatural feeling, unless guarded by the peculiar influences of a bare mediocrity of talent or a stinted abundance of monied power. Excelsior is the word by which nearly ail' are governed; We are all controlled by policy rather than principle, and the line of our actions is ever below the standard of scrutiny. To establish this, we adduce the history Of the world. In our own country the enslavement of the negro, the will to annihilate the aborigine, and the ungallant practice of exacting from frail woman toil beyond her strength, for which she receives not a recompense egual to her positive expenses and expedient for a decent-support, are but telling facts to establish the proof of what man is. Therefore, we insist that the restraints of moral influ- ence engraven upon the heart will alone keep him within the bounds of a proper sphere of conscientious duty; and that re- moved, he is beyond the hope of any influences but such as will administer to his desires; and they are but the fuel to the fire, which burns all the more brightly the more it consumes. In this view of a stubborn metaphysical question, we infer that man can- not help to battle for the might; for it is all that makes the right, before which principle must succumb, and every worthy trait of character be overpowered and driven to wreck as the shallop before the gale. In this review of our. book thus condensed into this chapter, we are interweaving ourselves with a theological interest which would indeed be unpardonable but for the indissoluble intimacy which, by natural laws, couples the status of moral and social law: and because it is becoming we should explain the denun- ciations of the preceding chapter. And although we can set up no claims to moral rectitude for overt action, yet withal, if we should shake the drowsy watchmen from their shameless inatten- tion to the banging against the battering buttresses by the foe- men attacking the outer gates, and induce them to give the alarm from their silent watch-towers, and with sabre gleaming in the midnight light, arouse their cohorts, anid lead on their van legions PICTURES FROM' LIFE. ' 21 to the imperious warfare, then indeed shall our criticism have been for good. To our moral ethics we owe our existence; therefore let none suppose we entertain or propagate skepticism. The instilled in- fluences of the maternal teachings of-youth are with us as the beauties on the petal. And though trodden in the dust, the rose leaf still the ruby color yet retains. Returning from our seeming retrogression, we trail hard on the errors of the age: and ask the reader to rest his patience and energies, and deign to' follow us. ' t r page: 22-23[View Page 22-23] 22 THE BRIDLE ON TVt HaEART; OR CHAPTER III. WE present to the gaze of our readers the abode of unscrupu- lous poverty in the shadowy nooks of a mountain's recess, whose impertinent mock-modest inmates wore the guile of the heart upon their countenances, despite their artful efforts to disguise their real characters. Disjointed fences, uncultivated thistle cov- ering fields, gardens usurped by weeds, broken windows, half- hinged doors, tattered curtains, nnchinked logs, a; leaky roof partially decayed floor, a half-thatched topling chimney, with a few crude articles for household and culinary use, will give an outline sketch of the miserable abode of a lowly family, dubious in everything, reliable in nothing. And if you approach that pretext for a domicil, that scant twelve by fourteen one and a half- story hut, your advent will be heralded by a trio of dandy whiffets, pampered for the purpose of sentry vigils; whilst near by the portal way some lazy, half-starved, mangy pet pigs; and sitting on the steps, playing in the dirt, or obstructing the door-way, a half-dozen dirty, uncombed, unwashed, ragged, barefoot, natural children, will give you a sufficient prelude by which to know the matrons who do the honors of that vestibule of wretchedness, from which the actress and spectators, once initiated, never return. A year later we pass that way, but they are not-of them no one can account; they have gone, whither or where no one cares or wishes to know. Their old temporary home is desolate; but in the still whispers of its silent solitudes there is the seal of the edict of an immutable mandate old as time, firmer than the hea- vens, and infallible as its author, God. Before us we have the sequence, but where, oh where is the cause? Think not the whirls of voice have extinguished the spark of divinity in the atom of dust we so unhesitatingly spurn and despise. No I oh no I the gem may be sloughed by the casket, but the master artist who set it there has valued it by the scope of eternity, and no PICTURES FROM .IFE. 23 despoiler will make him disparage the worth of' those endowments which he will husband and gather with unspeakable care. Deep down in those. roocky wells of emotion there lies the, slumbering fountains whose crystal outgushings shall never be allowed to play in the sunbeams of an iris light.: For though the reeordsangel of the appellate court should expunge with the caught-up tears of a contrite penitent the wayward wanderings of a child of error, still will the etiquette of social law forever debar the maltreated and perverted daughters of an unrequited love a return to the lost path of rectitude and honor. Chastity once mildewed cannot reappear in its original gauze. bf purity, even though rinsed by the propitiatory atonements of a Redeemer. We have asked why were they thus? A pious ma- tron rocked their infantile slumbers, and practical precepts led them early to the temple 'of truth. A few days journey further on across the mountains, on the fertile plains where an excessive plethora of normal richness re- turns the teeming reward to slothful industry, beyond the influ- ence of the local atmosphere where we have: been stopping, live the relatives of these outcast creatures we have so informally pre. sented to your attention. Broad and fertile fields, costly edifices, rare and well-chosen shrubbery, trained tendrils, pebbled avenues, magnificent dia- grams, living pools, fae simile statuary, fiescoed aid perfumed by the exotics of every clime where the tinted blush doth grow, but plainly tells us we are being ushered into the fastidious cir- cles of republican royalty, and that too in a land where an osten- sible pageantry affects to hallow the memory of Washington; but whose mercenary and heartless poteiitates buy 'their pre- eminence with bullion, and gild their homes and altrs and hearts with ingots gained by treachery to every living prifiiple com- mendable to God and worthy of perpetuation. ' Bland hospitality welcomed us to the home of I xury-the pa- lace of the silvered grandpa and his: :tripptig bride of sweet twenty-three.- The Colonel- entertained us With rallied spirits,- for evidently he -was in a moody, :dumb s6liloquy of mind, pro- duced by some interesting topic of unusual solicitude. i Nor was page: 24-25[View Page 24-25] 24 THE BRIDLE ON, THE HLEART; OR he tardy in orderinig his choice hock, the nectar which makes the. alet and his. commander equal, that gladdens the .spirit, aid solaces care, aud- unlocks the. vault to the hidden mysteries of skeleton;secrecy. .. . : -Our own enthusiasm grew with 'astonishment as we responded to the electric toasts of the " grey eagle" whose eyes'flashed with-[ the vivacity of,;youth when the gladdening bowl had evidently; drowned his sorrow, and. in an extempore speech we expressed the gratifying results of the beveragek on our feelings to' enable us to discover the grandeur of the sea-side home and the poetry of the ocean's zephyr that fanned the t6ying yacht sailing within the headlands of the shore, as if seemingly such dally winds'were purposely invented to caress the ringlets of a sylph. He replied: "Ahl my young friend, you know but little of life. And less I trust of the gnawing grief which feeds upon the im- material, which knows no annihilation, and accepts no concilia- tion, and cannot even hope for a cessation from its agony, or 'an armistice to the training in aris against itself. Ambition heeds no counsel, nor has it a regard to consequences, nor spares the hopeless: eeing for relief.. Behold I all about you are evidences of sublimity, plenty and peace. My name is emblazoned in his-: tory, and known by aiiineage of valor and glory, and my position is enyied- by countless, asasciates, who assemble -in these 'halls, graced by legaeies of heraldry-which refer you to Palestine;-War* terloo, and Yrktown, 'Amongst my noth-eaten'reli cs are price- less reminiscences of the deeds of a gallant ancestry. I can shows you the cross, and the crescent, the lion and pine-top, that belong to either siq of Imy, femily, and which' 'by themn were won writh worthy e oultPion 0o,-many a. hard-matched field. "But, si',iessq r less to me than the shells piled on you srf-, ruffled beak Aiand :most gladly would I gire them al, could :! but be transmuted into one of those happy songsters which n6w: carolls so swee! jyin/ those pmnss covered myrtleterraced bowers that give bounds to4the surges at itsfeet." 'f'Why, Colonel, you certainly do nqt egrethbaving 'served in ,the ars?. Does your mind fret withl ,prp e when you retrospect the lifeless visages! after the battleA? , , * s -, PICTURES, FROE -LIFE. ' ' 25 "No't oh no I no sir, nothing of the sorti Expediency knows no'snuch retrospect::; there ,is,'ino' need for ablution' when duty makes a will by the very laws: of constraiiit. 'f oe he foe of my' flag is a set target for the missiles of death;,: bid I W'ouild strikedowh the' craven who would blench t6,rmeet hini:,'r dread to t give him 'theunerring aim.. The warrorioi by prbfesSion inured to all its sequences.". 'But there is a feeling in himielf that carnage cannot stifle. 'It is the altar of his' divinitiy, thoepride ,f intuitive l6ve, the pall of woe on his own heart. '. ' i "Young man, listen.' Three years ago,' I' married a child 'of twenty. 'At the time of our acquaintanee, she WWa: engaged to as noble a' fellw as ever- deployed' in cavaleads, ;- on, tho,' who never faltered before 'the iron hail, nor parleyed for 'lots' when making up a forlorn hope. 'Young, generous, 'ay, 'high-niinded, chivialous' and' worthy. iBut unfortunately he was pobr- -the gravest sin a main can be- chargeable with in thiis brazen world. I broke in upon his' covenant with his betrothed, :and 'gained- her for my bride. 'But she never wed me'a;idtifiery vow she maide at' the altar was an insult to common sei6s:itid a perjury before high heiven. And I, dotard and fool thataI 'as, could not' see the rank madness of my folly. Oni .momeiit's' thought should have convinced imethere is no law to wed the frost and'lofiers; there is no principle by which' the roseate beauty of June can be acclimated it the rigor of midwiite. " :'- -"But in exoneration for Oleta :let me here explain: sie would ot have broken her pledgedd faith with HariT bdtfo0rth , chening miinations of an artful mother.' iTk 't'itof th'hmble s of Tirkey'I What boots it if the veiled' CiFtaiiiah' goiS an unwii "g cptiie. to do the serttle bia'ddis t "o' her pur r a ainst her will 'and affection-?"Submision 'to a ilave markelt 'is none other 'than a nedessity, and timidity may awake- a thoughtilss' care, and unexpected& coniern eidi /out areciprocal regard. ,'Btt why do we, a Christian- people, i .ktC awith s6ch horror on the6 practice of a^ semi;barbarous people who barter -fo a- pittafe the maidens 'in their' market, whilist^ie am'iot univerishy eopy[ after them,'with no extenuatigpolog^is for stch an gunhuri^ inifatuation?: : '. ' ^ ' ' ; page: 26-27[View Page 26-27] * 2?TE6 TgTHE IRILE :OX: TE, HEART; OR Oleta'sm othe waal a:im mter ofhigh. standing in a Christian ehurch. Invocations were daiiy. ffeted; to the Most High in her domestic circle. But. the pride of her atunral Instruetress ,knew no bounds. Her trinity: wasthe golden ore--her idol the image calf. And now,.thelinks whic join my wife to me are the same as these which link thilocket to my. watch, Und the ,rtizan who forged them was, that same said Christiwan mother. But she has gone to receive the booty of an outlaw's reward, and, for aught I know, the practical proof of the adgge in her text-book, ' You cannot: serve God and Mammon.' She sleeps a quiet sleep, and so let her repose. Ten years before our bans she broke off a match between both of her two elder daughters for the same rea- on. she would discard, my rival. The jilted lovers joined the army, went to war, courted deth, and in accordance with their wishes, ,eft their bones on a foreign soil. The news came homne that they could notreturni for the stars and4. tipes had draped them. And Ma y p:i Qlara,. conscious that they had signed their lovers' ,death-wga at, ,i a paroxyPm, of despair, rushed for. ward to a fate of iniquity, to retaliate on a mother who estimated happiness by the worldly stndard of respectability. This should have bee a sufficient lesson to teach her compnon-sense propriety; but instead of that, it only intensified her predetermination for error., $She desired ,all the more the o-icer of rank to cover the blotch on the family record, and henpe was ever redy, to, sacrifice by a fnrter inroad. on the rights of prity . "The, ay Olett and I were marriq,.or more properly, the : d y she ostesibly maarxe! me, se spent th0 whole day within a hi, of the csreopny, in her pov rpop, weepi g. To her it ws , funeral --toi th Se ppmlpt gs of a. wooing love,- and od t wedding apparel houhd hav been most appropriately hung t'. sable sash, indicative of a writhi^ spirit. But to go qn.. I owed Ha rry,my ma mrtial son,adebt. f grttitude-,I owed him my life; he wardedl athrust whilst in the campggn service, whic would have ca usedimy death, and ipwps.4onpo at the well known jeopardy of his own ff, ad I /la4 c,4ed, pe to f tohe field of honpr before he left his tative lald, it .wo!4.;hve give. mP some coaso9ltion to know we parted in the honors of war. But no I he meekly - ICTURES FROM LIFE. 27 left as his farewell password, "Colonel, you know me fromi what I have encountered. ; ou will not ask me for a proof of my tkt- 'liness, nor doubt the motives ;which restrain meilrom asking it of you. I thought I knew you until this hour. More espeeially, I thought I knew how to confide: in her whose destiny wa my goal, my hope, my life.. I surrender what is clearly lost, nd if, in the keeping of a treaeherous heart,. you find& a tre^sure Worthy of your venerable love, with my very best good wishes for the future, I bid you be happy." "Poor fellow, he has gone to the Indies, ,and from thence to a home where money does not shut out the good nor instal thethad. My pride was stung at his letter, but I could not retort; I pock, eted the insult, for it was too palpable, too true to be gainssayed. And yet, if it had come from any other quarter it would nbt have been passed over in silence. The sail is returiing, the eve- ning is deepening into twilight; they will scarcely reach here before nightfall. When they arrive, you will see her to whom, by formal law, I am wed; but to say in truth w& are man and' wife, is to utter a positive falsehood. And remorse daily up- braids me for an impious zeal an unholy passion, at variance with all the dictates of a better judgment, in the commissibn bf this fatal and irreparable Prror. But Oleta is not to blame. Young, gay, handsome, accomplished, fond of admiration, in love with herself, and a perfect nurtured pet of fashion, how else could she have decidedi, when with all her naturail fondness for ostentation she had the powerful persuasionsof a coy aind sinis: ter-minded parent to urge her on torthe, onslaught;of that lovely nstinct which: is thei only genuine test of lovt.; -Here in this home is enough to make aiy young girI's head giddy. And -who of all her sex would .not Lconfiscate their honor 6fo similar in. ducements? . "I am almost persuaded women are ou:grettest ill. When in the camp we c4n quarters an army in perfect harmony, and' the man who takes: care of. the chief's warhorse is a stringer to the onerous title of rank. How different the rules of society t61 auit the fastidious whimsi of peietntious girls and manoeutring manwnas? , The retdched volunteer finds: the perils of the tar; page: 28-29[View Page 28-29] 28 THE BRIDLE. ON THE HEART; OR fare have been .to deck the brows of a few staff officers, whilst the rank and file are reckoned as mere appurtehnances the same as horses and .ordnance. I grant reception -parties give the maimed and languid a hearty welcome to their homes; but after the feasting, and toasting, and buncombe speeches are over with, ,the,evanescence of glory to the ranks subside. And ten years after- they, may find it difficult to get from government their claims for service, which has disabled them, since their penury precludes the chance of a congressional fee. Men are very self- important, and think themselves all powerful to control. But in, this they are very much mistaken. Man 'ever has been the slave of woman, and ever will be. How often have I wondered, whilst contemplating the fall, that Adam did not pause to con- sider the serious necessity he was under as a primeval ruler, and with destiny, pointing to the long avenue oF time, and his multi- tudinous descendants, how he could have given way to the fine. spun story of the, fallen one is- more than I can account for. He had no excuse save that he could not spare the only woman known to earth: but such.' a loss could not have intercepted his purpose, for his cognizant. knowledge of the supernatural power should have taught him another Eve could stand before him after another deep sleep. ,But no, she had woven her silken meshes about his heart, and he was as helpless to her prey as though he had not seen creation's earlier dawn and held consul- tation with Hiim .who, deals .in mystery as a shadow of his will. Or could. it have ,been -the ignorant innocence of his/ uneon- trasted felicitythat thought not of barren? fields and prickly thorns beyond hisrEden?- Surely he Bas in love ;.and who that loves can see but ideal bliss --to whichfickle fancy directs the rap- turous visiop, and dazzles judgment by hei- gorgeous show. If the experience of the proverb-writer found not one woman in a thousand,?,what se is it for: u-.to .hope that a further pressing inquiry would lead to more favorablelresults? Eve was what her daughters are; and the dramatic author was not amiss when he proseribed the sex." - "Why, Colonel, we are surprised at unch expressions from a gentleman of your renowned good sense; The wine has certainly PICTURES FROM ,LIFE. 29 warped your judgment; your denunciations are too broad and very erroneous. You argue against yourself. In your specula. tions about the original transgression you do not take into con- sideration that the word obey was not a womanly duty.^ In the superior experience of Adam,. he is entitled to greater censure for a rebellion to: law, provided he could understand the import of that injunction, and if punished without such knowledge, the penalty would seem'very unjust. Besides, the inquiry of mind to know what we do -not comprehend must have afforded the log- ical tempter-known to strategem by the practice of it against the Head ot Power, and adroit in it by the gift of reason--a fine field for the display of all his sweeping chicanery, before which Adam was scarce a pigmy in contrast with that greater arena where in other times it had thundered. Moreover, he could not have decided against woman without an appeal to Him who gave her. For she was then a peer, and if he reasoned' at all he could find no reason to justify the use of a prerogative which he did not possess. Since then, woman's sphere- has been to concede; and-the law is mitigated; in its sentence to her by the very fact that she loves the admiration of men. If we love what she does, -it must also be remembered she only esteems what will advance her in the regards of men. And she is ever ready and willing to sacrifice every comfort and forego every hope to advance the weal" of those she loves. We have seen her not only in the chamber of the sick, succoring the fainting, calming the dying, and, after the spirit has fled, administering kind offices to. the dead, but in the rudest hovel, or mounted on dragoon- saddle, crossing the "Western wilds, or ooking the- supper of a train-party who had ccamped by a brook: in thez open air and in- clement weather, even there the frail attendant of her sovereign showed the faithful keeping of her trust; and, by her will' all were cheered, *and with her exuberant spirits trouble fOrsook the band. And she may often, most ofton, thus be found when; her gentle structure would much forbid the will to so over task her strength for endurance. - When living facts likte these attest-1the proof -of woman's worth, *Why argue so when statute claims de- mur the allegation and bat the charge for naught? : Ask' for r6 page: 30-31[View Page 30-31] 30 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR i mande and we' offer you her history, require of :us constancy in its sublimest fents,. demand heroic-valor which pangs the brainl andwinces, thought with the recital, for love inquire, before which the noontide glow of Sol's most ;torrid heat would wane, which -none; could think vas: other than a mdnstrous fabrication of weird shape; but that woman has been all this fand more to us, and all to whom -her minstrel lovehaith come. True, re e know her love for -social position, but-we- also lnow the disdain in which she is held If not fortunate in society. And if she is guilty of an idolatrous wove to fashion, it is because we, the men, have taught her-thus to be. And if we would admire her own home-made fabric before -the flashy imported silk, she would in- variably go thus attired. And if she sis to be seen in the market offering herself as a commodity, against her sentiment for a for- tune, she can also as often be- seen heaping a fortune on a worth- less suitor who quarters himself on her bounty -for her gold. Give her-wealth to her utmost wish, and she will no longer!bar- ter herself for money. Why censure her, then, for preferring -a protector whose means will enable -her to live above the con- tumely of the curling lip of unjustifiable: scorn? Womau's love, by caste the harlot jade, is daily strangled. Amend your code or be not plaintive at the wanton ingress of iits gross demands. Out, not-on woman, but they who make her servile and then op- press her for her helplessness 1 Away with croaking men who prate about the6 sex, and reflect not that as she is debased so is society lowered, arid as the tendency downward'increases the will to amend but lessens 1 "-We verily be]ieve-yon censure yourself in this instance too severelyr. Age, after l1lis but a inominal thing to note -the dis- tance we have come; it -imetre not the fture. Nor are persons to be graded byJ age, o, ibfuh as their physical contrast for- lon- gevity. Thdt tyour, lady,loves: you must -be a .self6evident fact; for how else could she but:love, since you it is:who have brought he to this'eminence i;nsocietyifrom the hoime 0f obscure neces- sity Like Othelit, we fearyoutihave nursed an;idel image in the brain, ill i every-thought is panircsstruek. 'iat seom jealous trick of duplicity./ It is'sure to;produce whatriost-you-dread. Woman A. IUCTTRES- SFROM MZF. ' 31 will not be proof against a sutspicious a llegtion not. founded well in fact. E'en though sAhe be as spotless as the dew upon an envoy's wing, if She but learns mistruist lurks in' the feelings of her lord, the rfirdes of constancy in her bosom are extinguished the ashes of former love are on her heart's bright. alta;r, and -her mission thenceforth is to bribe thae Vandal; to despol." "To :bribe the VYanda;l to- despoil I - An appropos not, meant, but all the mbre meaning since eeomes' it- does with omen signal of his intent. This glass, and tiat boat I Take this glass and watch how they fondle 'in the warmo embrace of love, e'en whilst the spray doth splashythe very topmasft, and the reefed sail bends full before the wind with which they cross the waves, and for aught they know by which-they whelm -and die as they have lived, a loving sameness, sweet-ih its perils, thus tutored to despoil." "Why, Colonel, I atm surprised at you, to thus work yourself into fury over -a vaguti, nd ,truly mistaken idea. Danger will huddle enemies into a friendly tircle. I fear the dangers of the sea to -the craft andf not thieir:dark intent. How could you thus suspect, seeing there are four on board t" "How could I thus suspect? If dangeri, harmonizes foes, ills weaken woes: and those bent on like designs fmay, well go 'on ; of each the other nothing knows. Butt most gladly'would - pay the divers to disgorge -themn of 'the 'ea, if this fresh'storm would hug them with its strong br^oth;' i'.d tve to the-weeds -o^x twich- they -swim the .aquatic Windingt -of ^I:briny shroud. ,But' ' tis meaningless thus to talk;. The 'b'trbedfish most'wildly 1fiounces when -the deep- dart is drit-king oniti hisrife and the tforee with wlhich he pulls. more daickly :malikei 1imBtotionless. In that en- tire party .flows 'Iindred blood -of- miAne? id mooted /lsuspicion would cause these rusty blades of moiilder-d' sires to ceancel thoughtfn'eath these -greenw latVe/u eM^; fdot gterationid the home of ma tii- i66s6e6eldA o ri ngdesl n^d ti fhe tedbof Mete tain's strides. - The sec bio Woul*,erffind z mimi rin endndd I, the dwarfish retinieU i idat itiri:t 0b. th A'prteet fa war will' do for ihs kiigs Kosli eoertmoui'lAvrsaslsf-m -thetp will;y bit iweliowhosde conddc i6 Es C s d9teVCust0 * 6i-tioe of -theteieinlng7 onpthe pl 1se;ee b-'a^ e mouth ;pi e t with which to torture out a living condemnation. page: 32-33[View Page 32-33] 32 THE BRIDLE ,ON THE HEART; OR "Let us- go to'the shadows of the grove. We may not longer trace them on the Ibeating track. : To the treasures of -the sea I would new riches!add by this most eager contribution-but no-it will not be; Fate fosters well; the nurslings of .her pride, most oft she finds a ready counterpart when dotards choose a gewgaw for a bride . I importune you to. go on yourl*way a. mute speeta- tor of these scenes. Sometime you maybe tempted to give them publicity; but be sure you do not do so until I am ho more. You remember the"' traveller who suppressed his curiosity when witnessing, the wine, dratnkfrom the skull, and 'by that you can profit. When you narrate them, if ever, do so with proper def- erence and all will be well', . We wandered arm' in' arm over those shelled avenues, regaled by the odor of fruits and flowers:i sheltered by the perennial boughs of the stately magnolia, the majestic pine and towering oak. The, fountains played their spattering jets as if in feeble answer to -the hoarse- moan of the waves, and the sighing wind swept- its ceaseless way-through; the 'dense foliage to chime a sympathetic measure with the mental, storm which raged in the mind of asifrank and honorable a man as ever honored friend or dealtinvective hate to foe. He continued :; "You,are a traveller and* must know:something of men by their. exterior ,appearance. You observe my organization is one of feeling. Often do I envy the, phlegmatic man, whose nerves are toofar. from- the, surface, beneath muscular grossness- 'to ever wince. Such persons never have a great deal of pleasure; but, if they are strangers to joy,they are, likewise so to pain. It is not desirable that we, should be too'susceptible. - But it may be,: the counterbalance of extremes are-equal; the opposites may average. Who. knosws? 'I, The ordeals we, mortals pass seem greater to ourselves than others ; an&d iyet, w;K may , nRot judge from symbols, seen, since other's secrets,;, kept housed: in ithe mind, may 4far- outstrip - our own; and- if, arrived, at, would, Cause ,us, ,over lots we now repine at, to :grow Most tthank fl. Withal, I sometimes think ' thereis nothing, new-.ndr :,the n.' The .nknown antediluvian-,whose dust. may lie beried hereo-whose oblivious existence on the scroll PICTURES FROM LIFE.. 33 of time has long since been laid away in the dusty archives of the chronological history of what to us is faded-may havt felt just as we do; his burthens may have been our own. Ages hence, we shall; be as they; and some moody child of disastae may here wander, and wonder as we now-do, and find like Us no auswer to his interrogations. How strange we reasoning creatures are so unreal. The fleeting phantoms of the hour decoy us into a life of misery, and those who most upbraid our rashness, do act with least becoming-cause of praise. There are none who care for us, however mindful of their opinions we are, but as we for principle care. "The proud man's hate is not an index of his thoughts. His esteem may be the mask which, worn to suit the courtly sem- blance of the hour, dissembles hideousness seething in the grim vortex underneath, whichi when thrown off, more manifestly speaks the- reason prompting a disguise. Could we transfer by some unknown agency the beating pulse of souls to dumb -inertia, the shock would rend to ruins fragmentary, waste the sphere so tran- quil now; The ills of life are frequent ours as we do seek them; there is an intoxication in the stolen pleasures, and the greater the interdiction the stronger is our wish to breach the, Bode. "Reason wears no flippery. Truth is cold; and her mother Justice stern, unfeeling, and impartially severe. Who know their counsels and shrug not their will? But-pride is coquetish; vanity a fawning sycophant, and all men servile subjects of their ephemeral smiles, . The tortures which now hiss witha are sought after, though well known ther market value of the gift: once owned, are ours, and we to them are wed by bonds of appetite which few gan well disown. And though you see what I do feel but could only- appreciate, by knowing it will not teach the per- verse mind to dread the is -it- ctaves to, revel in. We6 struggle hard to obtain what mates us most unhappy; and though avoid. ing error, forever shun those paths .that are , unknown to. pain, Whbt odds to us the experience of .thb race abbtt us? Living biographies are living bleuders, which fopls, not we- will 1malke. But avoiding their mistakes will make a thouand other.. With what; I have said Would you exchanges out place it life, since 3f page: 34-35[View Page 34-35] 34 THE BRIDLE ON. THE HEART; OR more equal ages ,would make the comrades more equal sui- tors?" - '*Who do you, mean,s ' ' ' Yes, you I We kriow-not. Why do you not know? Because satisfaction is too unsatisfactory. To live is destitny,' and- it is law., H Law is God, which heeded, knows not error. Law:moral, domestic; social, political, are one; one in right, and also one in wrong. To ask then-would you be that few would excuse us for not becoming, And what we could not excuse ourself to be, is asking what -nswers itself. How do you mean? we like others would choose what most we did doat on. Whose Gbod is chosen, such is worshipped. And who most can sacrifice, outdo the most. Error gives; great award to war on right. But if it does, who- / ever consents to wage the strife, gains an ungainly prize. To look on ills is -all that we desire; we would not know what we could wish we had not known. And once knowing, we have no power to bid the noisy child be still.", "Ah, sir I you reason well; yet who that cannot theorize? But who will put in force superior judgments, just commands? Di- gression from a given way, always leads further off from the de& fined path, which once' taken, may lead further. still than ever others went before, if possible, such% could-be. Adherence lends content, though never much disturbed by tumultuous undoings, nor never wild with an unnatural potion. If from men's words you judge them, then all are wise ; if from their acts, scarce none who seem not fools. But sir, this storm grows with fierceness, and now do I relent the curse of end I laid upon them. That her bright eye this might all dim, should -shrink not from the feeding monster's ravenous touch, is more than I would think of. Death-mantles follies. Even now with hope mixedd in with doubt would contemplation see only virtue in the' history of the past, and all the bitter feelings of my soul to h4er, would turn:to venom, engendering poison in itself. I may mistake, her: love or per- chance, I do my own. Who that loves so fervid but by times, will grow most jealous-.- and, yet withal when love reciprocates, we nothing chide: surely she knows th"languPige of herself, and answers suiting her demands;, must ever satisfaction give: What think you?" PICTURES FROM- LIFE. . , 35X "We think. as you do; the cup of joy brim-full has no sucl: emptiness wherewith to harbor jealousy. And love is lewdness, and base inconstancy, when seeking bliss in: stranger's samiles. But list I Colo's bow wow denotes he spies the light, Katcefui- friend I he knows the angry waves now challenge stout the yacht,; - its gleam must signal great distress,-for it alone could speak them in the dark. Thanks, they are safe; but to steer the point of rocks which run out from the bayou's mouth, requires: a skills ful helmsman; 'but Fuqua's arm is strong, and his fortitude and judgment without a rival. What if the billows should engulf them, e'en whilst their cries are heard from off; this shore, ming, ling with the wild wind's requiem dirge!" . . "Pity could not rescue. But let's watch their progress; their beacon will our forebodings answer,. They pass, in safety. They owe their safety to the full flood, which gave them leaward sea-way. How terrific the swell on which they toss,!: watch the rising and climbing signal, how plainly it manifests, the terribly sublime surgings of'the ocean invading the inletl But let us go to the house, the carriage awaits them at the landing, and it will be a full hour or more before they can possibly Treach home i"; We return from the- beach, and ascend the verandah steps that look out towards the ocean; the air and sound tell us we are snuffing the breath of Neptune; but the lungs of the forest soften the music of the muttering echo, and, modify its moistened, va. pors. The Gol. resumed. "Ah, sir, how sincerely do I wish'for the stirring scenes of the camp I Perhaps in all this- country there is not a more inviting home, to every outward appearance, than this; and highly likely there is no hearthl more vacant than mine own. Music and revelry, with their voluptuous, strains of delightful reverberation, forever keep a jocundround of mirth, and gallant men delight to toast my honors with, a envious eclat'; - but beneath it all they laugh to know they own the. jewel, whilst I but wear the signet of its worth. Cupid, sir is a notorious re. - cruiting officer. There is no sanative fori a disappointed lover, equal to the rough hardihood of war; and no ibreastwork so for- midable as. thet"callous bosoms of men beyondth0ireach of care. How despicable the ataricious craving for-the procurement of an page: 36-37[View Page 36-37] 36 THE BRiiYt ON THE HEART; OR ail6yed wealth! -Howr ^afriligIons "the habit of causing every motive to be secQiidary to material property I And We as a peo. ple, are less exenaalte 'for such remissness, tlan any other nation liider the su-n. Otensibly a republic-btt practically so only in naime. And esi r, t is this barbarous thirst for gold, which is so rapidly eatiigt ut' the vitality bf the .country. For which there is neither hiope or t6dress. I have witnessed sights on the plains, Which 'miae kibiy bsodd run cold to think of.' The pent field after an- eingg'enient, is a matter-of-coulre-sceie of horrio. But the neglected 'sii, -forsaken by their own companions, left to the mercy of emac, by 'their own sworn fiiehds, helplessly dying by the roadside - and the desperate, hungry, and starving -outcast feeding on his fellow, when companies with an over-ladened su- perabundance were quartered in sight, are stubborn incidents to prove the insane influence of the yellow fever, over the soul. But Why cite such insta^ces?i The rules of settlements are hot dis- similar. Brdt ito go on with my narrative: the wilds between the, boriders and Califoriia, 're fertilized with the bleaching bones of tidains-men. i0tMr hmeh frequently used a skull for a mallet to drive down a pcket ipin when ranching out the horses 'or the night, arid without anyi miore repugnance than if it were a timber mawl. This We 0oilid endiire, did iot the analysis call up the incentives. producing such results. uThe widow and orphans were made so by thiis i-dI live:of money; and the premature and uiburied nd is thet sequel to the chapter of casualties, to which the harassed victim ivas 'ubjected, previous to the final close of life's drama. And ^-the pitiless storms and glad suni falI upon the unhoused re- baains whiCh teach a lesson of imparttal love, that the wanderer never kie t hilst living. But sir, what sent tfhei out to leave thBiir tfamiies 'f, toli the" hazard of a luckless chitce? With a hople most hopelesi s to the final result, why- did they neglect the duties of ploddtng pursits? The answer is to bbe fouid in nearly eetry i-i let :of tife C otiuntry. Who' does not' know a score of Ctlifornti widows, biftfidoned by the goldi hunter to become a prey to the ptiWltlg ormorrants, wlio like tihe j'cElls of the camp, keeptoeir stealihy, atnrgus watch aboitff eit r etry protected fireside? ' Al^i th,!ho fdoes not kno-t titfe history 'thoibse' ho' PICTVRES FROM LIFF. 37 went out to Ophir, to seek for a social position which only bullion can buy? The sabbath revel--the bacchanalian sogg is but sadly present to my grated ear, and the votaries of the maze, not uni- frequently were made up of the messengers of "-good will to men." Why, oh why, this sacrifice of every blood-link ;.tell me iflyou can, why men run away from'those they so recently1vowed to honor and protect? , : , The twain one is inseparable. If proper motives joined them in the treple bonds of love, they could not so readily be dissolved, they would not so carelessly be separated. .It must be the mua tual will was not stimulated by proper innate principle, or some secret undivulged until after wedlock, that gave the clue to -iim position, and rent the woven chords which bleed the more freely, because they have naught well worthy of their grief.' Love will not quit its shrine, whilst for the altar of divine regard, it owns an object worthy of its keeping. Or can it be, there is such an inordinate love for vain-glorious show; a scheming plot for in. sidious pomp, to which the heart must go astray, when guided by the master check of caste? Sir, we claim for this age, progres sion. To this we must demur. Rather let us name it, retrogres. sion. What recompense is offered here for the red, man's-extinuc tion? What have we that he had not? and- too, what' did he enjoy, that we do not possess? Study this when at your leisure and solve the query, is civilization a stigma on its name,-? He, did not cultivate, and for that we claimed the right to wrest. We cultivate, and exhaust, -and cater not to dire want, but to some whim, which he would honestly despise. A4t his customs we won. der and admire; at ours, he laughs and scorns. And'if he gave place to tribes whose numbers and muscles made then superior, he, did not yield his spirit, nor lose the will to wage another ef. fort. Look to your blank faces in your teeming, crowded, com- mercial cities, who chafe beneath the goading chaips of social grade. Where are their homes, who their task masters? what the demands of monied dapitalists, and incorporated companies? what their hopes, and what their inevitable end? The sewinggirl who sews her life into the slouch skop-garment, may be: a:;scipn of a biave, whose bare-foot march left the crimson fqot-prints on the \ * ., page: 38-39[View Page 38-39] 38 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR frozen ground as he followed the drooping continental flag; or, 'by his privations gave prowess to the disconsolate quarters of Valley Forge; or perchance in later years' fortified the hero's breastworks at New"Orleans. The old society of '76 is n'ow obsolete. Our modern exquisites thought it an unfair and inconsistent order for a free people to keep up; and as our love for a golden aristocracy grew, so the inclinationito give up the old honors of the revolution increased. Marion and his potatoes, Andre and the three old faithful spies, and such like scenes of the days of our infantile struggle, are re- moved to the igarret: or cellar, or sent off to auction, to make room for. the imported pictures 6f foreign courts. An American artizan cannot dispose of his goods so readily until he has coun- terfeited a European brand, with which to stamp and enhance the merchantable article on sale. Such we have become what. we will be, is more than I can foresee; and yet the history of the future must be discernable to-any one of ordinary perception. Some writer in a recent number of Harper's Magazine attemp. ted to admonish the single how to prevent their affections from withering; and essayed to prove that celibacy was regulated by the standard price of bread -just as though he could tinker up the works of the Almighty, or induce a consternation foreshadow- ing a famine I' During the winter of the panic of 1857, when insurer and in- sured, debtor and creditor, looked pale and inquiringly into each other's faces-when hope forsook the stoutest -- when every one was dubious of his neighbors, and many publicly proclaimed their dread of starvation; in the very height of that dismal reign of commercial terror, there was to be found in the goodly city of Brotherly Lo ve a leading commercial paper wantonly yet trium- phantly boasting the time had come when the kitchen help could nol more be precise about the duties of her contract for service. Labor was not counted a menial duty forty years ago - and the, peculated fortune- would not at that day halve bought up the esteem of the, first frank of society. Industry was favored and fosteredk honesty was encouraged, and the will to, do was not thwarted by the pretentious nabob. - Marriage was honored, anal oPXTURES OFROM LIFE*, 39 the maiden a helpmeet rathei than-a burden. The pine-table and wooden spoons made the clean cottage a home of happiness ; for love, not fused metal, was the consideration'of the indenture of alliance; Then the wife's thoughts were occupied:-with other topics than floating gossip, and if she wore flounces, her indus. try aided to procure them;- She preferred the sickle. and' the gleaned sheaves to the fantastic nonsense of the masquerade, and the olive branches about her table effectually' shut out those mis- givings which make a libel for- divorce the last alternative of an outraged husband.' . "Colonel, we insist your are incensed against mankind. You should have the thistle for your coat of arms. For, after all this Change of which you speak, people in reality have not changed. Men are the same always everywhere, differing just as circum- stances make them. Men's feelings are brought out by the times. Besides, you are a warrior. If you would keep us behind the world, the world would keep us under them. If you will rear men to be as innocent as doves; they would not care to fight. Where, under such circumstances, would your soldiers come fromn? From where'Washington got his. Our present fast men are less than a shadow,.but ifew of whom would care to encounter peril for principle.; and three nights on guard in midwinter-would give the most of -thema fatal attack of bronchitis. You -much mistake if you think innocent: men would not fight bravely; on the contrary, when meni have homes to defend, their stout arms. find a ready and stout will in the contest, and right is a mighty spur in the engagement. But if he has no home, no-group about the fireside, nor hope: of any wortliy of an honorable, high-minded son ofr liberty ; if :he must'feel,: though born a sovereign citizen of liberty, he must be crushed for the gratification of the: ambi- tidus, or battered as consols by speculative sharks, then indeed he must be fond of fighting, he must be anxious to: add to the power of those who abuse it to his social degradation, to be wil- ling to enter the: :ervice' for fifteen dollars per month andi a few acres of an- uninhabited waste.', 5 . . ' '"And- when youi allegeo tam: miisanthropic; sir, you shobold first disprove my premises.: What have-I said tht isP not correct?" page: 40-41[View Page 40-41] 40 THE BRIDLE ONX THE BEA M ; OR "WelliOaolohel, weUll agree dt is 1Hi correct; but yourt testi- moy bears utpof shadows; to give us'a perfect painting, give us light as well as dark ground, * Sir, the shadowkform in this pic- ture Ithe main hody of the painting, with scarcely a' relieving ray. The exceptions-do not alter a rule, nor ill the -relief to the back- ground. remove the mountain-chains; which piles against tle vaulted blue.," Inthis we must agree to disagree with you. We can-sympathize with you in yourk domestic suffering, but we are loth to think there ;are -not- manyi happy families, and 'equally as unwilling to think men are destitute of principle, and we are quite as ready- to accord to women disintereisted motives. -Men are mostly, by preference adherents to prineiple, and digression from it is the force of surroundings, and not- the will- of choice." ":Well, sir. It boots not the causes; we are most concerned about the effect.. - Many roads radiate from this, and any of them are sure to bring you here, though some are more circuitous than others. ^ ,. . i "It is no difference what -brings -about the result. It is the- effect for which I contend.. "And if circumstances make us err, which shall we regard j as debtors. for the :en :the eirobr or -the cause- that instigates it? Your logie, sir, won't hold good.. The peculiaritiesi of thei case- are tantamount, look at them ras you plese. If :myt farm is- overp run with destructive weeds, it! matters not whether they are of spontaneous growth, or-were blown here by the wind from slug. gish plantations adjacent, or leagues awasy. ,- If a malaria ari ses from ua morass, it: must-be -reasiimed;-we must--sutdue it, orre- move from its influence; or, die:by inhalihg the effluvia. I So if so. ciety is out of order, we must- restore'it to peace, or suffebr the, eta.4 tailed evil, which disjointed circles anid clashing interests super ' induce. And,- as I said before there is no remedy.' You saye thei same. Youlbid us remove the cause which makes wo'mn decide against her promptingS of intuitive lo0ve^:or welse not Censure for her raid or instinctj Here, sir, is -the pivot of- -the :question. We& have a lever; but no fulcrum. Or if you iho6se,!wee have both,: but they are inoperraetie.,: To bring reason to the plummet; Is to' ask mant to di8own' 1ts love bf-self. To confiscateself on thes al P. T r1TORTWBS FROX: AUt1P, 41 tar for the benefit of the: race. And -who will step forth from the ranks in answer to sugh ocaip ? who will declare he ba o pride? who act out suchh anunnaturnal de claratioan? But Col, where is your proposed remedy? yopf spoke of one? :Ijt lies in morl force, moral suasioni moral precept, moral example. It rests there, or nowhere. But, sir, it restq gndhas, and from it we hope for no, thing, for it is worse ;tha2 nothing, Because it could, but will not, isheresy. What would you think of me, if had the power to save la wrecked mariner on this oast, and did not attemppt to rescue him from pirPhig i -?" r .. .. "We should thinkl ypn mereiless,^eartles, man, sir." And t t tthin, T. matronopf, the world is soBl? lesp, by her incqnsistency aod intivity.; lut ] hear them comp- ing, we will wlk;down to the gate aind meet them, and welcome friends. whose friendsp gives us .uch f Rjticss, ,: Quick 4p bpearer of despatches, w ped ta q bhelled path oW'er hung witht dewy. arches. Patient joe w9 just unlatchig the ga*to as wi reabed it. ;Apd Gal. witth true g alantr y weleomqd the psrty in a glowing stlrain of gratulatin)s op their deliverance and safe arival. .. Niver shl. we forgot the wild hob I bah I of the phegmati, Oleta, or the jocoe0s tartoft Mr. Fuqua, npdd the stiring, retorA of Fitzwnter, and the happy BpletiveB of. LoaIur. ' But come 1! nr . u are wt Is! ts hrwry home, that yof may get, on :dry: pparel, Joe, 4ripe, oWu boey, we wi! walk .up 1" The Col. continued, .daqy,.co observY the g4ng with whom I hvgo to par ry An open outhreak would do, m3 good, but to mother fire, and still fan it to fioerness, will coune tihe mettle of the spirit, anhd disarm u -of Vthe; i cinatiiont e qsitW'" ,nce more we returned to: thh apMciouA h1ls 11 Ldwickoe. . .. . Chandeliersfill the .1partmnPtt wi flooNd of s1ight, and seem- ing life-like bronze look out from niched-walls, and vivid paint ings- watch ,your movementa .as if thfeir ieg w : 5;r t's. vsu- tiny;- the- velvet carp t a perfet ainiit, flpt potp4o grap)4. exquisitely-gay- In itSaptatio -to .0jd tW loh of the0 O t broidered 011ppar - OW^ UAl 4 9prfifrReisa thshr tr: mark of aNisiap:, ,a q, make Ulkp ua 'oi f qfnptqp0s etl- gance and opulent leisure. page: 42-43[View Page 42-43] 42 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR The party make their appearance, and we are formally intro- duced. We dislike minutiae; it really forms no part of our sub- ject, and if to write details is the ordeal of la successful writer, we have no aspiration for such a monotonous undertaking. Yet some description is due this company, and we ask the indulgence of the reader to the task. The tall, slender, sylnmetrical, Col. with locks white as the sea-foam, and; features the personification of a Grecian model, was a ludicrous partner for the stout, athletic Oleta, whose black curls, in luxuriant grace, fell cozily over her broad, rounding shoulders, and entangled with the motion of the tossing head, about the bared bust. Eyes," black as the wing of a raven, and bright as the spangled jewels which sparkled on her heaving bosom, or shone with brilliant lustre from the gem-stud- ded bracelets. Features coarse, with an earnest, expressive coun- tenance, which bespoke a temperament, cold and gross. Her complexion, dark; -a natural brunette, rendered sallow by expo- sure and excess. When animation enlivened her, the fierce glare of her countenance was terrible, but stupid and morose when quiet. A fit subject to head a band of desperadoes, and to all outward appearances, as destitute of innocence, as light of darkness. How a refined man could ever have fancied such a woman, was more than we could understand. Laura was modest, good disposed, sprightly, friendly, and rather loquacious; a real fairy, effeminate, womanly, enchantress; with blue eyes, auburn hair, nose, slightly acquiline, chin prominent, forehead full, mouth, small, dimple cheeks with vigorous, nervous temperament, which should index strength of character and inflexible will. lBut such was not the case.' For if she possessed native determination, her concessions to wealth made her the mere instrument of Oleta. And the cold- heartedness of the- one, with- the plausibility and gentle sweetness of the other, would make them a match for stratagem not easily outdone. . . -Mr. Fuqua was a jaunty, dry jester; off-handed, piquant, care- less, and rather slovenflyg.. A rugged, robust, fellow, with full, round, face; medium height;,-large black- eyes; dark. hair, and full whiskers. "Evidently a man iof selfisihness, and blunt suscep- tibilities. Fitzwatet, -sitern aand haughty;,though 'endowed with PICTURES "FROM LIFE, 43 true, noble gifts of mind, which culture had burnished, and trav- elling enlarged, should have commanded our admiration, but that we could discover the nobleiess of mind was alloyed by grovell- ing sentiments, unbecoming a true, gentle man; we could con- ceive, beneath the matted, sandy hair, which partially hid the prominent intellectual citadel of acum en, the manifest evidehces of systematised villany, lurking within the adroit and calculating mind. * The many narrow incidents of the sailing trip, were oveiand again repeated. 'Toasting bumpers refilled the silver goblets, and the merry' heart,: and beaming countenance, and pealing laughter, intermingling with the swift intonations of the speaking music, and tripping feet, made 'the ancient arches of Ludwick's frescoed halls, redound with ahappy home jubilee, to which the fleeting hours were alliunkaown., Ah I we dread the glee of the maze, and never dr we attend the! giddy, whirling youth, so ut- terly unconscious'of the morrow,'but before us is present with all its original force and freshness, John s decapitated head, and Byron's 'fearful Ardennes. 'The 'entertaining host, With graceful gesture and becoming dignity, did his high-born honors well -us- tain. We could not discern a moving muscle out of primp, to speakL the choking lies within, whieh pretentious smiles, with bor- rowed grace did screentfrom-sight, save when the talk had calmed and strayingthought grew vacant, in its" beating rdunds in quest of somethig tfietw ' Just then, we could think the 'conversation of. the evening With its grii Conjectures, were confrontng him, but glances thrown. askant werei buried by the breaking muteness. But we must hurryr through thisgehapter. Too much already, has this narrative engrossed this thesis of life's shades and lights, and mutations. IWef ef theihome of -opulence early' on tie succeed- ing day, with mahy god 'Wighel, andV kind solicitddb's Atteending the farewell separationm Atnd asi we rode for miles' alng the growing cotton iand? tassellediri, :throu thru he rich domainns of' our kiind :fried *e haduitquitedt the fecolletion" df his mistrist, his, greatness and siorrowhis hiionor, hhaifelt barrenness,'and iir own co6mopolitanih'opelessibese; the contra^ reiviediu; forf1re shi struggles. The unknoWn p8te'deti-Vl gi* kesplIndent Withsiuiny, tXa , e4 * . 'k* v E- .a page: 44-45[View Page 44-45] IE B .RIOE IOX THE 'RTEAT; OR pilees. and pearly hopes and gentle fith. And in ourself we resolved to fear not the furious storm, so long as the flukes of the anehoerwerel cleqving hard hold on the solid bottom below. Since the visit spoken of, te Col. has expired; the attending physician says of disease of the heart, but Jo thinks mastur's death ware brought boQpt by the unruly ways of missis, who someshow, neber did as she ougto,anq4 ware wery different from old missis, dat 'twan't any wondur mastur dies wid a broken heart. Likes sich ppole- kill anybody got ny feelings 'twere the greatest pity in de world dat any sihci atclteber come 'bout." .The widow be gan a. splJsh shortly after the 0ol's. death, and'was caught by a professional gentleian., who proved to be a true cavalier, until' her fortune was squandered, and Ludwick Loe changed hands under the red flag. After that, he maltreated and forsook her. Ier last alternative was to go home to her aged fatker's meagre honlestead, where. shortly afterwards she died, more from pride of hate to fortune, than grief or age. Her old pa, still lives on his little farm, and in his glov decline, finds solace in his depth of piety. e lingers as a forlorn Jew about the old homestead, consoled by the assurance his opinionswere always disobeyed, and his judgment set aside. A short time sain, we viiit4d Blackwells Island, and found among the outcast inporrigible convict ;women entened ;there for iunemorb!le intolerpble, and incurablepvis, to srve a: term of banished p9pishtent, in that vile abode ofgrgtdated wtcled. ness, Tho pmnotwo seRiQodr Tdghters referred to inthe outm start of this chapter, who, 4 the tie they;were -,first presented to the Ottention of the reader, were reiding in the secluded moun- tain hut. Deprvity had becpme ingrained o.ntheir bloated features, and the horror and. ettled despir on their demoniao though some- what subdu.ed pil4 glare teried: u s; They recognized us, and quite touchingly iquirqed for their frieds in the South. We in-. for!ed, thnm of, tle? facts .in the past history of their family, to whieh they responded only by'sighs Th toars trted not fro thiir soul' portals, and we c nludfed long sitce their tears bad driednup, and the more convepient feelings, of the stoi' charm had made them stubborn to the force of fate. .c -IOT rR FR tT4E 45 But when-we inquired for their children, -they appeared more moved, and we doubted no longer the existence of wonted life in the numbed affections. Soon, however, they quieted themselves, and assured us neither knew 'of their offsprings' whereabouts. But they further remarked, tlihel'elr speaking and her sister as- senting, 1" Iwe have reared children who do not wish to own their parents, we have not been guilty of tleta's crime. Had she been as honest as we, she would still be living to-day." Fitzwa- ter resides in San Francisco, and is doing a prosperous trading business; 1Fuqua and Laura were married, and have gone to Riio. What their fortunes are, we have not leatned; their finances were certainly low when they left home, and rumor says that in part took them away. We cannot close this dark chapter without giving a quotation from Byron's Darkness. In our opinion, it forms a perfect pic- ture of this deteriorated age and no doubt we are indebted to the author for this incomprehensible mystification of the meaning of this poem because of his domestic troubles after marriage; or it may be on account of a jilted love which no good grounds of reason could ever have intercepted. It is an od a d age, we can only see truth when we have lost sight of everythimg else. How- ever much we may dislike the hyperbole, aid painfully dismal wail and repining, it does not exceed the third chapter of the pro- phetic writings of Isaiah, where he depicts the errors of life, and prefigures the howling future. The two in conjunction we offer .as a prototype and exemplifiQatin of the enactments of the pre- sent day. But to the quotation:- " 'The crowd was famished by degrees; but two Of an enormous city did survive, And they widt eneniesi theyi-rmt beside T lhe dying embersof an altar place Where had been. heaped' a mass' of holy things F6or ani hlbey tis ;they taksIld uip, And shivering saraped with their. cold skeleton hands The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath Blewr fdi' att e tife- ni-tade-a, fiittie Whicbh ^ ^o^4 tk$*Itheyr4ifted up - Thir eyes as itg 'ew brighter, and beheid Each: Otif s fe^ ' and shrieked and died_-- - Eb ;;~iiofttheetli hidiosneisS they died, Unknowing who he was, upon whose brow Famine had written Fiend." page: 46-47[View Page 46-47] " THE BR!DLI PON TgE REAeRT; OR been seen a tall, middle-age, erratic man, of marked features and nervous gesticulation, celaac in a suit of homespun, holding a par- ley on the corner of Gay and Baltimore streets, with one of thp wealthiest merchants known on the monumental change at that period With him were his stripling sons, attired in like garb as the father; their round jackets, and roll over collars with a sim- ple black ribband tie, chip hat and coarse brogans, gave them the appearance 0f country rustics. The personal appearance of the party, demonstrated the industry of the wife and daughters at home, who by turns, were tailoress, wash-women, and kitchen companions. Over the right shoulder'of the eldest lad, rested an adze, on which was strung three planes, whilst in his left hand, he held a broad-axe; the, younger brother carried a hatchet, nail box, square, dividers, and plumb-line. The neat, little pocket by the side of the old gentleman's thigh, stitched so tastefully about the edges, at once declared the ladies knew how to work, and' the father was not ashamed of a trade, by which with rigid economy and united effort, "a growing family," was sustained in that' comfortable and creditable position, which the heads had equally inherited from a worthy and respectable parentage. The builder was an early riser, and on his way to work this morning, had fortunately fallen in with the wealthy merchant, who knowing the sterling habits of the persevering and deserving me- chanic, resolved to give him a. contract for buildin several ware- houses, he purposed erecting that season. The morning's consultation resulted in a partal contract, which a few days afterward was confircmed by articlesi binding the par- ties to a faithful and full compliance, of lthe ig cifie cations noted in the negotiation. The family hetird the news that evening, with stitche so tasefullyabort te edge, atoc ecaeielde ' PICTURES FROM LIFEB 47 much joy; they all regarded it-as a lacky rhit, and indeed it was, for Mr. Linden came into notice from that time, as a first class contractor. At the close of the season, the buildings were all under roof, and by Christmas ready for occupancy. From that period, a new feeling came over the ambition of the master builder., He set his mark on riches, and to that one all-absorbing motive, every other purpose had to give way, Less fond of amusement, more exacting of his men, eloser in driving a bargain, reluctant to pay indebtedness, and eager to buy up responsible paper at two per cent a month: these with sundry other noticeable changes in char- acter, were the result of that acquisitiveness which grows by the increase of wealth, and' unlike every other passion, knows not abatement by gratification, nor diminishes with the weight of years. \ Old associates, less fortunate than himself, were lopped off, new circles formed, and with those new acquaintances, new ideas and manners. Ten years have elapsed, and the family prosperous, happy, maturing and matured, find new influence in the world, by the marriage of two of the daughters to men of wealth and stamina, vho were each carrying on business on a large whole-, sale scale. Now opens an epoch in their history, which goes to show the inflatable condition of the immaterial, when allowed the fall ex- ercise of those'inborn sentiments, which slumber in the bosom of all men, and if not manifested, it is more for the want of oppor- tunity:to develope them, than an inclination of the will to put them in force. Gertrude, the third! daughter, was addressed by a young car- penter. George Riley was all that a young man well could be. Thorough in his trade, upright in business, moral, economical, well educa- ted in the English branches; a self-taught sober thinking, indus- trious, striving fellow, whose unblemished antecedents, matured judgment, ;and enviable solidity of character, shouldhave,- made. any father anxious to recognize him as an adopted member of his family. - ,. ., .. , . . ; .... ' '.; page: 48-49[View Page 48-49] E BtiDLUE ' fTitS 1S ARtT; OB But he was poor, Ixn aith he sought the father's consent for their marriage. In urging his suit, George asked that he might know the objections to a laudable love. Mr. Linden thought his means were not siffiieent to guarantee iuch a step. ' rou know, George, you 'are, only a journeyman Your wages are small, and there is no prospect-of your doing better very soon-- what you now make will not support .my daughter in that com- fort she is now accustomed to; and what, if you were to get sick or thrown out of employ, or your wife should become feeble in health, where are your resources for such a contingency, to which all families are liable ?' In answer to this, George declared he was young' and strong, efficient and willing; his health was un- exceptionable; and if he did earn but forty dollars a-month, it, with economy, ought to keep a family, "Besides, Mr. Joshua has promised to advance my pay, and there can be no d6ubt but something better will offer before lorg by which more can be made than what I am now getting. Besides, Mr. Linden, if you were to say no one should" git married but the rich, where would we who are not wealthy find Wives? Why not let us begin as you did, and struggle up together ? Gertrude says she is willing to do her part. She knows how' to work, and will not think it hard to do her own housework, for she has been used to it from girlhood. There is no man in all, tbis city who would love to honor his wife with every comfort sooner than myself- and I have the will, too, to try to bettefr my fortune, and I have always heard that: where there is a Will there is a way." Mr. Linden did not relish this reference to his days of humble life, and felt vexed at "the young scamp," as he afterwards styled him when narrating the interview to his wife, "that he should presume to win my child's affections dll unbekiown to me, and then try to dissuade me from'mny protest tb sieh: a hair-brained intention." George left the 'stoical old man i with a hearvy heart. He hesitated whether to drown troubld it the boWl, or endure it with manly fortitude. Judgment poised, tesoiution faltered- hope tasa Wel nigh gone, and what to him -was earth bereft of every hope I - n the darkness one ray of light came' to cieer him with strength to endure and decide the conflict. Gertrude PICTURES FRoM LIFE. may not be governed by an arbitrary interposition; her love may break through the cobweb meshes of an unreasonable injunction and have me yet, despite the fallacious interception of a merce- nary and unfeeling father. 'Twere treason not to hope; 'twould impugn a heart untried, and prejudge a will that had not had the chance to confront it for defence. ' I will wait and see." Happy resolve. The lips, innocent of alcoholic drinks, re- mained unstained; the heart, pure in its solemn purposes, begirt itself for renewed determination, and the swaying youth pressed homeward. A week later he met Gertrude at his Aunt's. 'When did Cupid fail to suggest ways and means to notify his subjects where and how to meet to talk of love? 'In hours of absence the winds tell the story of a longing wish-the floating clouds wreathe an image of the heart's affection, and each murmuring brook sings a plain- tive song of her we love. Solitude hath its spirit voice, and in the inaudible speech there is welcome language to the contemplative understanding. Love I love I love I Did we not know there was a God, the very attributes of His divinity would rise before our sight whilst thrilling with the agi- tations of a care for the invisible in shape and form, and whisper so near, even present before us. The worst was known to'Gertrude. She had heard a savage lecture from her parents the evening following the refusal; but she remained unchanged to her lover. He asked if she would marry him without her parents consent ? Like a dutiful daugh- ter she would prefer not to disobey themn; but, George, if my parents refuse, I will not consider their refusal sufficient to pre- vent the union. We love, and we will trust each other. Mar- riage is a Divine command, and the Bible, which my mother taught me, bids me leave her and cleave to:you. I know I love her, but you do I prefer before her.-' And,'e drive me off and refuse to own me as her child, I shall iidlie-'tthe banishment; if :with the sorrow which that disowhming aet shall bring; I but have thy love to console my sadness, and thy support to protect and supply the common necessities of life. 4 page: 50-51[View Page 50-51] 50 THE BRILE ON THE :E]ART; OR George could scacely believe his oewn ears : he had not expec- ted suh - a depisive declration; youAg- and- inexperienced, he had never known the rebound of womans: will. 0ertude's speech fired and chilled him; heo felt nerved far!fe's future with a manly firmness he had never felt before; a&nd reckoned difficulty as if the world was a small balanceweight, which he could carry off in his right hand. -The impediments -on the droad of life- which had seemed like mountains in-the distance-were now really smooth, and graded, although the ascent seemed steep, the ability to reach the summit unquestionable. Looking- p to Gertrude, he. exclaimed: 'My love, thou art my life; my bwn, my dear, sweet, wife. You have, never kissed me in your life; kiss me now, and be that kiss the seal that I am thy own, thy i wedded husband." And as she kissed the lover as her own, he i caught her in his loved embrace, and swooning in a palsied gust i of speechless love, bathed her pallid features with the streaming fountains of a fervid soul,. - When recovered, he rejoined : ' Ger- trude, I could not further bear this earnestness of my inmost spirit, leaping into wild delight." "Life would dissolve and joy would be my death, if greater ecstacy could more entranee my soul. My will is yours, and with you to nerve me from. recoiling. Labor will be amusement, pri- vation a pleasure, difficulty a gain, and disappointment a double incentive spur to, fresher action ; for, thy smile will attend me amidst it all, and an anxious concern for your comfort will make me a stranger to. defeat." Again and again they passed the assurances of fidelity and con- stancy. The cer-tinty of incurring paternal displeasure was only a secondary consideration, and the pressure of-such anticipations - but bound them in a firmer brace of love. Their anxiety peered beyond the bridal hour to the sober realities of the future. Pat- rimouial hopes they had none. Their resources were within them" selves, and they must prepare to encounter- trials which might and most likely wouldarise. Pride and disobedience would pre. vent them- seeking succor from those who could and/'by rights should assist them. And if the predictions: of Mr. Linden should come about, what PICTURES FMRON - Ui ]' 5ti inuendoes and taunht and reeriminations would be heaped Upon them by the very people who most shfold pity theihl 1But to go on. They were married ih accordance with th: statute chde of the commonwealth of Md., three months after their deliberate determinationto -go into open violationi of the proud will of G.'s parernts Andthe Revd. Jitinny Sewell could aid Ut in this sketch if the proper names of the parties were given. Not one of their families knew of their purposes until con. summated; the wedding was divested of the formula and -feasting of late contemptible diamond exhibitions, so much the boast of empty heads and lascivious nuptials. A week bad expired sinc the union,; nothing had transpired of an official character to re- mind interested parties of the state of home-feeling entertained for the elopers. Gertrude could endure suspense no longer. Mustering cou- rage for the effort, she addressed her mother- in the following language,-- DEAR MOTRER: -I am sure you know of our marriage, and you are not a stranger to the whereabouts of our abode. Your solicitude for our hap. piness, I thought, dear mother, would have made you call to see us before this. We cannot be assured you hold- a kind feeling for us so long-as you refrain from coming to see us. We would. love to see you all so much. By your keeping away from us, we know you are not kindly disposed, Indeed, George is so kind to me; I should feel a perfect elysium of bliss in my relations of wife (how strange the name seems I) if I could but be per- suaded you were reconciled to our wedding. And if you knew the genu- ine love which I feel for my husband, you could not be so cruel and unkind as not to be conciliated at my conduct, for your unnatural stiffness towEadt us causes me much anxious distress, which ysou must: know wold grow out of such harshness from a mother who has always treated, me with, so much affection. Mother, this is so unlike you, and to me it is a source of deepest sorrow,. How can you but think of your own early love for father: and would you not have done as i have, haA your parents Forbidden yoii to xmarry, the choice of yout affections-? Do come and see us;. We would not- hesitate to visit you, but we cannot go to see even out own dear loved kindredl uWt. less they wished us to., Tell Lizzie and Kate to come see us. I cannot believe my own, sisters have forsaken me. - * Your own dear daughter GERTRUDE RILft. page: 52-53[View Page 52-53] 52 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR Here was an appeal to the tenderest feelings known to eacth: the breathings of an unexceptionably kind child imploring her mother to not abjure the offspring of her love. But no answer came to break the aching suspense; the inex- orable Lindens had cut the incorrigible Gertrude; they consid- ered she had disgraced the family by her clandestine marriage to a poor mechanic, from whom she could expect nothing butdrudgery the balance of life. Perhaps the parents would not have been so uncompromising, had not the young bride thrown the glove to a wealthy banker of fifty-five, to give preference to the man of her choice. But now the golden prize was lost, and in the contemplation of the odds of caste, which so clearly attended the mortifying ul- timatum, the family knew no epithet of meaning severity by which to opprobriumize Gertrude. We know enough, alienation reigned, and the sisters, and mother, and father would pass Mrs. Riley in the market, and on the streets, and at church, without so much as a word of recognition. How consistent this inequality in the temple of love? To the credit of the brothers, be it re- corded, they pursued a different course. They loved their sister; they knew she was the flower of the family; they knew her influence over a kindred feeling, and could not be controlled by the wishes and actions of the rest of the family. We have hinted at house-keeping. The young pair left the boarding-house, where they were quartered, just after the wed- ding, and removed to a small house. on the remote outskirts of the city. People did not relish the segregated medley crowds which now sojourn in mixed companies at boarding-houses. We were not so refined then as now.- The shield of domestic society was more valued than now, and the prize set on privacy of greater esti- mate than recent calculations of convenience could admit of. But let us walk up West Baltimore street, and visit the Riley's in their new home. A little two story brick, with two small rooms above and be- low; the windows of which were hung with ordinary blue paper; and the front door, accessable by a pair of Carolina board steps, PICTURES FROM LIFE. 53 opened directly into the parlor, of too contracted space, to ad- mit of a hall; the adjacent or back room answered the purpose of kitchen, sitting, and dining-room. The parlor contained three chairs, a centre-table, on which lay a choice collection of books, a dining-table and hat-rack, the mechanism of the carpenter. A homespun carpet, woven by mother Riley arid her girls, covered the floor, and a vase of alabaster, the relic of George's father's sea-faring, ornamented the mantle, filled with pretty arti- ficial flowers, the artistic work of Pertrude. Their cupboard contained a sett of the commonest queensware; a few pewter spoons, a rough lot of knives and forks, a close molasses-cup, a couple of salt-cellars, and a handsome china tea-pot, a token of friendship from an old schoolmate, whose unabated attach- ment had followed the young bride to her welcomed home of poverty. The sleeping apartment was snugly comfortable, and it alone of the second story was furnished; but the ward- robe of the fair wife was rather limited; in her hurry to slip away from home to enjoy the evening stroll of a beautiful October evening, to seal the pending negotiation of love, she dared not think of trunks or band-boxes; and she had chosen not-to go back, for Mr. Linden had dealt invectives to her husband the first time they had met after the marriage-the conciliatory concess- ions of George were repaid by the blunt insult, " exect, sir, to have both of you to keep." This biting sarcasm sunk deep into the hearts of the young folks, and they determined to keep aloof from the irreconcilable family until they would show a willingness to come over to a com- promise. The outlay for the meagre lot of goods quoted ex- hausted the capital of the young beginners, but they were cheer- fully agreed to wait the income of industry to furnish their home more comfortably. The evenings were spent in calling on friends and entertaining welcomed visitors, or by conversation at home or reading from some standard work, of which, next to mechani- cal tools, George was abundantly supplied. For a year, things went on swimmingly - work was easily obtained at fair wages, and the surplus weekly earnings, after procuring groceries and raiment, were laid out for home comforts. This was a great mis- -1 page: 54-55[View Page 54-55] " THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR take, as further circumstances will explain: but if it brought subsequent want, it also taught a lesson which shaped the after events of life and repaid the sufferers for the ordeal to which they were subjected. An exception to general precedent. Persons seldom learn an economy not thel-gift of native will. The winter of which we have to-speak was one of great rigor and business prostration. The best workmen were thrown out of employ, and Riley amongst the number. The merchants with whom he had dealt did not hesitate to credit him for family sup- plies for the first three months after he was unemployed; but seeing he did not resume work as soon as they thought he should, they very politely declined a further extension of credit to him. This unexpected financial mistrust seriously inconvenienced and humiliated George, who had entertained the opinion of un- limited confidence with those traders whose cajolery had induced him to believe they would sell him their stores'on credit without the slightest hesitation. What was tobe done Out of work, ;Qney, and credit- with no monied friends of whom to seek aid or comfort. To add to this disconcertment, Gertrude required more than the. ordinary comforts of life i the anticipation of ma- tronly cares is perhaps the period of greatest solicitude which a young wife ever has or will undergo. The partner of this blessed woman was not a dull student of a husband's duty. He had evinced that consideration for her comfort which can only be suggested by the anxious interest of a burthened affection. Until now want had been unknown. But when most it was to be dreaded it came as the gaunt -wolf to lurk about the door. The spare furniture was sent to auction; the appendages of lux- ury found their way to the pawnbrokers i the sale should have re- turned an equivalent to their requirements, had they brought half their value. But so far from relieving their wants, it but added to their discomfort-it tended to put the creditors on the alert and dun after dun came daily to their home of necessity, to grow by denial into more annoying importunity. In the midst PICTURES FROM LIFE. \ 55 of this disquietude, George wished he had not married. Do not mistake his love. The proud feelings of his manly nature were upbraiding him for that helplessness, which made him unable to give the gentle wife the protection: of a omfortablb home. She knew his tacit will, anda did her utmost to dispel his anxiety byher cheerfulness. Perhaps: he could have born the. anguishi quite as well, had Gertrude complained. No, that could not be. Keen trouble must not be further tortured; For nothing short of a God could be thus upbraided without desperation. There is- too often the cause of drunkards from home brawls. And their existence is a proof of animalism, but a total lack of holy affection. But to bur subject. We least can ask for assis- tance, wheno most in need: of it. Between the; alms-house and the I pitiful plea of poverty in overtures for relief, the former is by far the- most preferable, To: the former we can go by the law, of right,. and the absolute necessity that constraiins it, has, smothered the agony of pride with:the departure of hope-from other sources of succor. But the wreck of greatness is frequently degenerate in the fall. The combat with selfesteem-is a strugglohwhich- cuses thousands the' tenfold agony of death, before they- Will unveilt their wahts to friends who wotdld rash to their reliefi. Such in this instance was the case. But forithe intervention of his wife and adviser, George would have attempted a loan. But Gertrude dreaded the disclo- sure to her family, and preferredto bear up under trouble pri- vately, in preference-to the divulgement of their wants. iepeatedly had mother Riley requested to: be allowed to con. duce to the comfort of her children, but as often Geitmrde would intercept some reagons, why sAhe should not, when really she was actuated to demur, either from fear of causing privation;. or exci. ting traducive gossip, We can imagine the surprise of the: old lady, on reaching'the home of her son, and loved daughter: for she was- used to, say between her own girls and Gertrude, she really knew- no difference of attachment: to find the parlor so stripped and dcestitute of that air- of thrift, which characterized it a month before. page: 56-57[View Page 56-57] 566 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR She feared lest her son had fallen into -habits of dissipation, and forgetting the necessity of her attendance on the critical mother, whose precarious health had- caused the physician to give rigid orders to, regulations- for treating " those premonitory symp- toms of complicated doubt, from which it would require great caution and untiring -watchfulness to- recover the patient." Mo. ther Riley had been very unwell for some. time, and her family overtasked in their own domestic duties, on which account the mother and family had been necessarily absent from their usual visits to the young folks; for six weeks. she had not been to see them; even now she was scarcely able to be out, but the call of duty made her forget the dangers of a relapse to herself. And now that she had come with no forebodings of the con- dition of things, it is not to be wondered that the unlooked for. change, caused her to institute a scrutinizing insight into the causes of the dilemma. Without waiting to take off her bonnet or shawl, she commenced a cross-examinatien of her son. "George what means all this? Where is that mahogany side-board, and those fine slat-bottom chairs, and that handsome mirror, besides the other adornments which were in this- room, when I was last here? Can it be possible you are entrapped by gamblers, or taken to drink, or been led off by strange women? What under the sun has come over you, boy, that such a change should be exhibited here in such a brief space of time." Woman's investi-. gation is beyond evasion. Her instinctive perception is greater than man's logical deduction. The latter may be perfect in theory, and still ill-shaped, in practice; the former never errs, and is never. in need of a summons to bring it to the trial of reason and de- fence. She is judge, jury, and attorney. An expert in tactics' which constitute her fortress for offence and defence. She may, not be outwitted in the understanding of the minutia of all that subterfuge, which an equivocal cause requires of the manceuvering adept. George knew no ruse would baffle the queries of his mother's anxiety, and therefore frankly narrated the cause of their pecuniary embarrassment. "My son, I am more glad than if I had heard of some great fortune left you. But why did you not make known: your straight- PICTURES PFROM LIFE. 57 ened circumstances? Your Uncle William would have helped you with pleasure. But I am glad to know it is no worse." "Mother, you know your own proud spirit, you very well understand your own unwillingness to trouble your relations. Advice is easier to give than to follow, and if your helpless family cannot claim the voluntary assistance of Uncle William, who of his great wealth could make you above want without missing it, how shall I, a young and gigantic man, in the very bloom of man. hood, go to him for aid? But mother, let us not debate this now. You see I have done what I thought was for the best, and I have tried everywhere I could think of, for work. But to-morrow, I'll find some employment, some job- or other, no odds how menial the employment. As long as I have strength to work, my family shall not suffer through my reluctance to do anything which may turn-up. . There is no sort of business I will not do, for a subsis- tence for myself and family. But do let. us break off this dialogue. "Gertrude is- dangerously ill; she may not have proper atten- ,tion; do go give directions for the best, I am painfully uneasy about her." - "You are'right, my son. I love your -care for your excellent wife, she is one woman in a -thousand; in all my experience, there is not, a match for her amongst her sex. - And I am not at all uneasy about your prosperity so long as your present good under- standings continue, and if your love for her does not hold out true after What she has -sacrificed for you, your own mother would almost despise you. But I do not fear for your constancy; no doubt but all- will yet go well. Cheer up, George, you are a father as well; as a husband; you Imust have courage, for others must now look to you for protection... Why falter?"' "Mother, I grant all you say, but why will you persist in pro- longing this lecture, when you must know I comprehend it afore- hand; why not be anxious for Gertrude? she needs your care more than I do 1"- "Well, well I here take this purse, you can't get on without money; there is twenty-five dollars; I lend it to you, and you may pay me back, when times get good again."- The proffer could not be rejected. The loan was accepted with a ready reluctance, page: 58-59[View Page 58-59] 58 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR but the query was turnedover and over in the son's mind, how could that -urptlus be had in sueftflu : times? Some- great priva- tioni must have gleaned that Tittanee, especially so, when more thanC customary demands had calle tor the expenditure of money in his nother's family. But when afterwards he learned they had drawn all their de- posits from the Bank, the solution of the seeret gave a suggestion which he resolved should be adopted by himself, as an- insurance against future contingencies. "Throughout that night, George kept up a tedious watch. Well he might, for there were no beds in the house for his repose . Retrospection and anticipation made up the subject of his sombre, dumb, soliloquy. And as he viewed and allotted the future- it was not without reproaches for past improvidence, the thoughts of which produced -a remorse for acts beyond recovery. He saw wherein, through an overheated:zeal, he had fallen into error, and discovered the admonitory lessons of prudence; which are evren;rarely learned in the trying school of experience; Gertrude passed the night in a feverish slumber, an artificial drowsiness produced by'medicinal- cordials. And as- she- would rouse with frantic bursts of frightful! discomposure from a flitting doze, the!accents of "Mother " could audibly be detected, amongst the;ineoherent articulations of her random mutterings. Al- h who that has felt:the scorching fever in a foreign home, as he lay in awful suspense, with anxious dread thatthe very next step of his palsied treadi would dip his pilgrim feet into the cold floods of Jordanm arikewaters, but has with a- reminisQent eye, longed for the:geatl touvhes of a mother's ealming love. And too, whk that has felt the earth a barren desert, iand o'ercome with- grief and bending unader the weight of disaster, and- craving the. ong inap of th ehdaillysleep, the wakeless slumber-where the honest mother quietly swaddles heriown, but: with the .nostearnest pantings- of his breaking heart, has sighed for the soothing accents of an-old familiar voicei to- offer balmy 'words of comfort in the hours of darkest lameutatipn tot the sobul It was plainly evident the pa- tient's mind was: disquieted by a longscontlnuedi thought of her mother's angry and cold ostracism, which must at once be releved, or it would jeopardize her life. PTURi:S FPOM WlE. 59 Accordingly early in the moraing, a message was sent to Mrs; Linden of the precarious illness of her ldughte r,Fthe causes, and consequences, if she did not repair to heri;and remove the rrita- ble grief-so. long nursed in health, that it had assumed a nervous chronic shape, and. would occasion her death, if she did not go at once to see her, and calm. her uneasiness, and silence the causes of her agitation. . Mrs. Linden heard this story unmoved. And in answer calmly replied, ' When she nursed her first-born, her attention was too mchh taken up wifth her treasure, to be allowed time to send nOtlces about the country, :for friends to come see her, She. ad lost- all care for Gertrude; there were other young children growing up, and it behoved her to manifest by a discipline of unrelenting justice, that disdain for disobedience which should inculcate- a moral lesson, and deter others from- inm itating the example- of this insubordinate girl, when they know the -penalty of their course, when they understand, a conciliation- cannot be had by trouble, and repentance and tears. I think too, I can see a trick of the Riley's, in this notice of myimrpor- tant presence; I rather expect it is a well-devised plot to -unloose our purse-strings, and I will not go; a step. H will not even my-- self go to the Riiley's, if Gertrude is dangerously ill, let her remain so; it would be joyful news for me to hear of her death. . I'd, rather have buried her a hundred to one, sooner than had hr elope with that'scurvy vagabond. - "Mrs. Novice, you can go back and inform those whosentyou, for me, that I am engaged preparing for the reception of coim- pany, whot have sent word over from Talbot t they:will be on- to- morrow, to spend a- week with me, andtI have no time to lea-ve home. I am busy in preparations for the entertainment.",- She knew the answer would make .the Riley's understand the Wingards were the expected- guests. There was a double meaning in. the old womanfs peremptory surliness. The W's were looked,:upon, as enviable quality, whose company was regarded the tip of 'the ton;- besides; they were closely related to Gertrudesi-old lover the Banker, and -by Mrsj Linden's reply, she meant the Riley's shquld ktow thereiWa-a. page: 60-61[View Page 60-61] 60 THE BRIDLE ON T'HE- HEART; OR great gap between- them,- which never could be bridged over, and also,that CGertrde should be reminded of the false step she had taken, in her hasty and premature marriage. We have stood on the summit of lofty mountain ranges and watched the terrific play of the thunderbolts which threatened to uncap the toary peaks with their surcharged batteries. - When descending through the enveloped cloud, lit up by forked flashes, we admired the emblem bird darting down amidst the fierce peals of the cradled hurricane, giving. back his shrill shriek to the mountain's storm: hastening home to his newly-fledged young in the craggy cliffs of his inaccessible' citadel; and- ashe floated by us, nearing the home of his constancy, the companion of early and older years, his eyes sparkled with brilliant delight as he caught the sound of the nursling young, pouring forth their tender greet- ings to his welcomed return. But here, in the image of the Eter- nal, we find the instinct of a parent turned to animosity for the strange reason that her child would not confiscate her own pre- cious affections. on the altar of gold. And who that will read this book but will know a parallel coincident in his own history that comes nigh home to his own hearth-stone, or at last will tell on some of his more remote chords of consanguinity? Why turn we with abductive hate to the remembrance of the treacherous kiss of the traitor Judas? when every moment of the day we may witness the disposal of sentimint as sheep in the shambles-the quid pro quo rendition of the quaint essence of loveliness, for the fabulous exchange. of a necromancer's toy. Thew message, of the termagant,- however, was not deliv- ered to Gertrude, She was left to linger-in suspense --to hope, and expect each successive day would bring the glad sound of ' a mother's footfall--,the enlivening inklings of her cheering for- giveness and congratulation. But she did not come - and when the attendants would leave the room to make ready the chosen nourishment, the hour of absence was one of weeping, when the cherub child would be clasped closely to her bosom and watered with:his mother's tears. Happy for us the sufferings of woe will flow away wyith the floods of grief which their own welling foun- tains bring, else the subject of their trials would be suffused in its ,P , PICTURES FROM LIFE.- 61 own submerging waters. Time wrought its change. As affinity loosened its hold on- the old home, they grew with more entwin- ing endearment around the home of later love. Recuperation had dispelled the fears of dissolution; resuming strength was re- storing vivacity to the wan mother, and wonted life began to sparkle in those eyes so recently heavy with the poignant pulse of life just trembling on the verge of time. Meanwhile George had discovered a new enterprize, which promised to realize a princely fortune. He went out from home a fortnight following his wrenched confession to his mother, a wiser and a better man. Pride was expelled from his prejudices; the inflexible will was subdued to a calmer discretion; he was ready to be found in any position, however humble; any job was to be preferred to idleness- for the scoffers who would hoot at hi m to day would be missing in a few years; they would be swept awtay from the circles of extremes, and in turn be despised by those same persons who in auspicious hours they had once shunned. He must live for the weal of a wife and a boy,- their opinion was all in the world worthy of his solicitude, and he would not stop to think of the opinion of others outside of that litthecompany.; Thus he mused, as he sauntered down Baltimore street, when unexpectedly he met Mr. Joshua, at the intersection of Charles; they mutually hailed each other. George, in a few words, told the story of his -necessities, and asked to be put on wages at some in-door work, which should promote the interests of both parties. Mr. Joshua did not see how it was he had run through all his last years earn- ings' "you young people are too fast by a great deal, and it would do you all good to be stinted for a time, you would then be better able to appreciate the worth of money after some such hard experience." To this George retorted, "Mr. Joshua, I did not seek you for abuse, but employment; we' can least bear reflections, when others are most ready to shower them upon us; the unfeeling coward who presumes to insult the finer feelings of a man tunder the pressure of necessity, -is no friend of mine, and is unworthy the confidence of any one; since you havre no work ito offer me, you shall not offer me contumely.- I wish yu good morning sir." page: 62-63[View Page 62-63] 62 THE BRIDLE ON THE 'tERAT; OR This' last interview had no tendency to allay his tesolute will to go further and try again for work; hecould never return self- satisfied, without the-discovery of some scheme of success. Pass- ing on down Baltimore street, he scarcely knew whither, to h isgreat surprise he met with an old. school-mate but just returned from ,sea. . They met exactly where Mr. Linden and the merchant of fortune had met, nearly twelve years before. Harry Musgrove and Riley had been warm friends in school-boy days. The hours of sunny youth, when friendship knits close and grows into more enduring firmness than any association of riper years. No sinister motives make friends of juvenile comrades, they mingle with a zest of felb lowship unknown to mistrust. There is no cold calculation in the gambols of truant lads; -they know they love, but have no defi, nitions to tell you why. Harry anid George had grown up to- gether, maintaining the intimacy contracted when school-mates, long after the former had entered those ephemeral rounds of an artificial, circle, to which wealth by the social code entitled him. Harry's pa did not admire the democratic proclivities of his son, and had induced him to go on a tour to Europe, hoping the formula of a court etiquette might instill into his mind a distaste for the vulgar company he seemed attracted with at home. For three years he had wandered overthe Continent, to return a stronger lover of the simplicity of unaffected modesty, than when he set out on his travels. He was a genuine nobleman of nature's superior design and the superlative parade which begirts' and sustains regal power, only tended to; nauseate rather than interest the discriminating judgment of the tourist.- During his- absence his father had gone to his fathers, and young Musgrove, the sole heir of a large estate, was free to follow the inclinations of his own will. After their enthusiastic Salutation, the' first inquiry of Haryt was for George's: mother and sisters; afte: :that topic was fobl lowed in hurried succession; the relative changes amongst old comrades, for the past three years, who; had -married? who re, moved t who pdied? His old comrade strove to post him in the many strange muts- 'PICTURES. FROM LIFE. 63 tions since his absence, foremost among whom was his own fmiliar family affairs, his pleasant and disagreeable experience. We may speculate about the-surprise of George, when Harry proposed they -should go into eopartnership and buy a lot of; vacant property on the western outskirts, the sale of which he had noticed in the papers that morning, as he came on in the cars. George told his friend such a speculation'was preposterous for him to think of, totally penniless,.without monied friends, or credit; such a move on his part, could only be regarded. as the extreme mania of stupendous: folly. He could not entertain such an idea for a moment; Uappily his rallied spirits were disconcerted, and drawn into an unintentional, but:full dischlosure of his finances. Riley forgot himself in his frank speech, for he felt vexed at Harry for offering a proposition of such magnitude in the face of his known indi- gence, and concluded it was a new style of excellence Harry had learned in Europe, to. silently boastover his riches. But Harry did not deport himself so, therefore how to :think was a quandary. But such cogitations were mysterious only a short while. With scarce time elapsed for thought to con theset last paragraphs, Harry had his hand thrust into'his inside vest-pocket; drawing therefrom his pocket-book, he unrolled it, and handed. over to -his fellow a $ 100 bill, and apologised for offering the present on the grounds it was a fee for George's judgment of opinion in the lUnd case now on the tapis, in this wisei "You know, George, when we, were- at school together, I was always ahead of you in essays, but you forever beat me out in mathematics. I could always' Contrive how- to get usl both into scrapes, but it took those round bumps of your craniumn to get us both out agaim;." "Really, Harry, I did not, expect to ask aid from you,: and: I protest against receiving it; the exact'state of my, troublesashould not have been revealed, but the offer on your part, to speculate with me where so much capital was requisite, nettled me A:little, for I was half ready to think- you did"itas a vauntY' "Come, George; I will not hear of a refusaL :I1 am not offiang you alms; but a retainer'stfee, as tie lawyers8 all it, forwhioh I page: 64-65[View Page 64-65] " THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR know I receive an equivalent; I have been three years away from home, and am entirely unacquainted with the market; if I should consult Real Estate Brokers over this business, they would shave me out of thousands, either before or at the sale, and then have a wine party and life-time laugh over the round sum they sliced me out of; we pay all professions for their experienced opinion, then why not yours?" To this well-timed logic, George conceded, and accepted the note. His home was up before him, to which his pride gave way, but he accepted it with the proposition he should not take it, unless Harry would give it as a loan, and not a gift. To this Harry consented, provided George was not subsequently convinced his influence in the proposed purchase was greater, than the bill. "But George put up your money, do not let us get ceremonious over that, we have business on hands to which that note is a mere cypher. I will take you in with me as a part- ner; I will find the money, and you shall invest it to my advan- tage; I will charge you the usual interest on your share of the capital, but if the scheme proves a failure, I will bear the loss; I have none to bear it with me, and I would not give a groat for. a man who professesto be a friend, unless hewould endorse him to the last dollar. Come, old fellow, we will sink or swim together; notch that down." To this unlooked for tender, George could find no language adequate to a reply-the confidence of credence was incredible- the lavish proposal too magnificent for reality. -For a few mo- ments, nb words were spoken; in George's eyes were tears of gratitude; in his bosom, thoughts he had not education where- with to clothe in speech.' No doubt he saw fancy's dazzling future with its ideal goal, brighter than the orbed splendor of an oriental prince; we will not disbelieve his retrospect with exuber- ant, overpowering joy, went back to the thraldom of his trying hours ofpenury, and noting the varyings of a living dream, won- dered and doubted if it could be true. Most surely faith was conr templating the avenue of faturity, hid by the vista foliage which only autumn's late' retrospect can properly scan, but which was now seen by mental eyes, redolent with lucent smiles, and golden fruits, awaiting the coming of adventurous hope. PICTURES FROM LIFE. 65 Why does man so easily doubt? We have clambered otter more than once to hold converse with her silent minstrels, whose twin peaks in concert with vast ranges, to which these' observa- tories give eastern finitimes, and with them encore each hailing dawn, and signal a farewell to the fading beams of day. In the autumn of '59 " alone " we waited on that dizzy lookout to witness the sinking sunset. As Sol was gathering the gussets of the evening, and the shades of their folds were glooming the valleys with the cool damps of deepening night, a thick cloud heavy with its blackness came rolling up from the horizon of the south, and hung in stubborn stillness-directly over his face. The annoyance was only temporary. In a few minutes, a hazyjet or vapor hose, was let down from the cloud, and to us from our vision's stand-point, seemed resting. on the " fat valleys," but in truth we knew it was drinking from the exhaustless deep, and had thus come nigh to light and heat, as if conscious of the hydraulic laws of vacuum and absorption. In a very short while, the partially prismatic spout had disap- peared. The thirst was slaked. Aquarius was quenched. A swift current blew the aquatic messenger to the east, leaving the golden disc unveiled.: wafting him off on his serial errand of vigi- lant love, to filter the waters of the sea, with which to nourish the germing plants even where man has not an abiding place- that the young hinds might be fed, and the untamed beasts be blessed with nourishment and an abundant store. They have no written law, and yet they never husband; but we who are provi- dent and abounding in plenty, unwisely crave for more. Let us return. Harry noticed the embarrassed feelings of his comrade, and relieved him -by stopping suddenly at Eutaw street, where on Baltimore their homeward perambulations had by this time led them. "George, you must excuse me to-day, unless you will stop at the Eutaw and dine with me. I. have some readiness to male for a party at my uncle's this evening, and could not give you all the attention an old friend is entitled to; but since we know each other, I trust we will pever resort to buckram etiquette to alien- / page: 66-67[View Page 66-67] " THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR ate our affections, which are too heartfelt to require affectation and too much appreciated to be dispensed with." "Why, Hiarry, you must excuse me from going with you. I was just intending to invite you home to dine with' me, though I could only offer you a cold snack. -Still, I knew you would not look , for more than the best I could offer you, ahd I hoped old times would do for desert ; for you know we could have a fine chance to' talk over every prank- we cut in. our school-boy days; and that tow me vould-be more desirable than a feast of good things." "Well,' George, that is very true. I'd rather have the whole- souled company of a ' clever fellow,' with a plain ' pot-luck ' din- ner, than all the delicacies of the zones with the disgusting society of a fashionable circle, whose stale rigamarole continually re- minds you the appreciation of your company is exactly in keeping with your bank account, and whose smiles always turn with the capricious wheel of fortune. I must pass just such an ordeal this evening. Moniedsnobs- thread-bare aristocracy -lineal dig- nity, supported by the sacrifice of honor and virtue-slaves to caste, repudiators of principle, a moral lazaretto for which I en- tertain a shrinking contempt, but under which I must be patient, to please my relatives, for whose opinions I cannot at the same time be respectful and yet unmindful. Cousin Amelia tells me of some five young reigning beauties, who intend setting their caps for me this evening, but you n/fy just set it down for certain, I'll never make a string to their bow. "Ladies reared to fashion exhaust their love on fashion: they love a husband just in proportion as he can gratify their vanity; but under reverses, no sarcasm is half So stinging as the vitupera- tion of a taunting wife and moping daughter, whose greatest re- gret over their downfall consists in'the reflectidn that their career of pomp is run. "Their sympathy for the husband and father in such cases is like that the crocodile feels for the tears of the child whose bones he gnashes." - "Harry, you" are severe on the ' upper tens ' but I am persua- ded your opinion is sound logic.: Some of these days I will give you a little of my experience in that direction, but I am keeping PICTURES FROML LIFE. 67 you from your, preparatory engagements; since you will not go home with me, let us part for the present, but. set some time to come see me. "Gerty will be so glad to welcome your return on my account, and mother will be in ecstacies to know you have come back, and the girls will be delighted to see you. Say, what time will it best suit you to come and see us?" !"Now, George, you wish to narrow me down to rules; just let me call on you as an old country neighbor; let us keep, up our old-fashioned friendship. I shall be glad to come just as soon as I can, and I know your folks will always be glad to see me, so give my love to all, every one of them; your little Riley too, and tell them I will visit them before long, in aday or two at most." 'Well, well, Harry, all is well when meant well, and we can understand and love the meaning of a friend ; his language means nothing, or less or more than implied first, as we feel he means it, therefore I am agreed you shall have it your own way." "Then good-bye, my old chummy." "Good-bye, my old and new friend, and generous benefactor; look well to your heart when the flying artillery of the first regi- ment deploys around you, to-night." "Never fear for that, George, to be forewarned is to be fore- armed; I pledge you, I'll be proof against the fawning of artistic maidens." Thus "they separated; Riley hurried to his home of caresses, and Harry to his select lodgings at the Eutaw. Both -joyously happy; the former from realizing- a boon, which so soon would cause the heart of his dear wife, to beat with new-born pleasure, the latter in the priceless contemplation, he had sent the electric thrill of waking morn into the home of want and touching dis. quietude. Who envies the miser who in death hugs his bullion, and for. gets the compt to which he goes, in the struggle to separate from that superior love his withered soul did- worship here I One swell-of bounding bliss that lives in the gracious bosom of, the generous giver, is worth the heaped ore of earth's hoarded treasures, for it stirs the living God within the Clay casement, and page: 68-69[View Page 68-69] 88 ' THE BRISjLE ON THE HEART; OR gives to therichives of ttie higher record, a plus :ark to deeds bf huimainiindness, whiehshall live inl conspicuous tinsels of gold on the scroll of eternity. When Riley had come into the pres- ende of his wife, redolent with :stnshiie and surcharged delight, the. meaning face foretold the-tidings of the hour, and Gertrude welcomed him with-" my dear, what good news has overtaken you to-day; you remind me of those wooing times of courtship, when we talled of future happiness, and conned the cares of hbusehold duty, long before we understood the full import of what we discussed. Do,-pray, tell me what has taken place to light up your recent care-wore face with isuch an expression of eC^tacy d-" "Indeed you may Well say what has taken place, for in all the books of i'omance and fabled legends, 1 verily believe there is no fairy' toty, equal to the incidents of our own peculiar history. Here is a prelude to the recital of our fortune. He handed her the $100 bill, sayinfg, :tke that note as a present from an old friend, whose love is true in need, whose friendship is tried and holds firmer than the grappling-hooks of iron." "Why, George, how did you come by this? "Harry Musgrove has returned; he is an old school-mate and confideit.--I met him this morning altogether unexpected; and, quite forgetting' myself, iibosomed my feelings to him, without the remotest idea of the results which have transpired." Gertrude gave attentive ear to all the particulars herein before recited-as a dialogue between-the old chums. And the stealing tears would attest the pleasure of the -winning conversation. Had Harry seen lthat trio group, he would have thought the $100 a cheap tickkt to that scene of gratulation, over which swift-winged sebraphs might pause to love and doat-on. Listen to the ejaculations of Gertrude. ' Gracious God I Be- neath thy giiidbaenei and will, I have been led and upheld, and in this, -thy special interposition, is manifested the surety of thy gentle providence iand overruling care. "Today hope seemed fading away, and under the burthen of despondency, -I Was ready to sink into death. Oh I how earnestly would' I have borne the struggle of transition, had not my affec- PICTURES FROM LIFE. 69 tions clung to you and this dear innocent child. To feel the ostra - cism offriends ,old4ng themselves alooffrom me, as- if my charac- ter was infamous' and my company contamination. To know your sorrows for our fate, and, your helpless desire to alleviate our wants, so sickened my heart, that I prayed for resignation to the trial, or a happy exit out, of trouble - and then reminded- of what I should live for, made me shudder at the presumptive har- dihood which dared desire an escape from the duties of covert i cares. My nervousness may have produced this great depression, or it may have been my great wickedness. But just think, in the very height of this brooding melancholy, a poor chirping bird lit upon the snow at. the window, as if it sought an asylum from the winter in my warm room. I raised the window, and brushed away the snow from the sill, and spread out crumbs, that the merry little creature could partake of the hospitalities of our home. It soon flew back, and ate most cheerfully, and -hopped and fluttered as though its movements were the thank-offerings of praise for the thoughtful kindness, of the giver. How I pitied its homeless and cheerless situation-; my concern really became sympathetic-so much so, that I entirely forgot myself. But then I thought it does not act as though it felt- cheerless, and why should I feel so for it? More especially, why repine so over my own lot? "And on top of thir^dcame forcibly to mind the strong figure of the lilies and the sparrows, their promised protection, and also, the greater value in which our Father regards his trusting chil- dren whose faith confides in His deliverance, and- to whom he has pledged deliverance and support. Then I did chide myself for a lack of constancy, and resolved to be unhappy no more. Here we have the reality of all that was prefigureq in that moral les- son; and I am sure its impressions will never be worn from my memory. It would- be improper for me to regret the channel through which this has reached us; it is honestly ours, and time and circumstances may amply reimburse the generosity which prompted its bestowal. I will be content to live and trust." "Gertrude, your voice and speech charms me by its meekness and serenity and gentle sweetness. I can now discern why you page: 70-71[View Page 70-71] 70 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR have been so-patient and calm during our countless vicissitudes and vexations. The excellence of Christian character never struck me with so much force before; it was that which made you choose me for a husband in preference to other beaux of wealth and position, and makes your meek and borrowed light to shim- mer peace on our harmonious;love, and made me, a stranger to its requisitions, the unconscious recipient of its blessed per- fection."' "I am too glad, George, you hold sacred duties in such an elevated regard. Often have I been inclined to speak my feelings on that subject to you, but deferred it with the belief that prac- tical persuasion would do more to win you over than I theorizing lectures." "It is easy to preach a moral code, but entirely another to practice it. "And my own experience adomishes me of the danger of counselling others when we are very far from being exemplary ourselves. Such may gratify the wisdom of the self-righteous, but it never advances the interests of those appealed to; world- lings despise the instructions of the Pharisee; but the concessions to the just are as the melting ice to the warming suns of April. "Boreas cannot unbind the rills, nor cant win the affections. Theory may be good, but it is wanting in force without practice, and the individual who tries' to serve ta -masters, will gain the tacit displeasure of both ; but he cannot uproot the natural bit- terness of our normal existence--he cannot remove the trammels from the proud, preverse heart. f"t I know I am strangely deficient in duty; but if you will join me in the resolve to become more consistent, we will strengthen each other by the effort." "I will try, Gertrude; but you must be my teacher; I know you are always right, and I will agree to whatever you say." "I thank you, George, for the compliment. I will do the best I can ; moreover I will try to always merit your high appreciation and affection." "Then, George, let us have family prayer every night and Q PICTURES FROM LIFE. 71 morning. If possible, I would love my husband more on account of his piety." "I really believe that would be so; for I am certain I1love my wife more on account of her meekness and piety. Like you, I have no faith in that self-righteousness which chaunts paeans on Sunday, and grinds the poor all the week. "I loathe those magnificent temples, whose portals the poor dare not enter - whose worshippers make the Sabbath a day of exhibition for the display of equipage and costly apparel; more properly, I loathe the churches: pot so much that they. are ex- pensive temples, but I despise that offering to Baal, under the feigned, name of worship to Almighty God. . "I will agree to your proposition, and am certain it will be tried' in good faith; no doubt but we will be profited by the result." . page: 72-73[View Page 72-73] 72 -THE BRIDtLE ON THE HEART; OR CHAPTER V. Let us take a short leave of absence from the ". west end," for a visit to the " elegant?' home of the T.'s, up north Charles. Mr. T-- was known- in the commercial circles- as A 1. Some private talk had been cautiously bruited: about of his ships strand- ing when they might have kept off the breakers; but the blame, of course, all fell on the captain, and the underwriters cancelled the insurance. No one ever dared to openly hint at his complicity in a mat- ter entirely out of his jurisdiction. The horticulturist, and confectioner, and the artizans, knew he resided amongst them; for all shared largely of his patronage. We need not mention the failures of certain contractors, who had attempted to build at his offers, nor of the meagre wages paid to those employees in his immediate business--such would mar the attractions of his home. No one gave more liberally, to beneficient purposes, than he: and none appeared more the soul of honor, when mixing with business conferees. To the casual observer, a more upright man could not be found. We will not for the credit of the family, presume to suppose he held silent stock in a Faro bank, or that his means ever launched a slaver, or abetted the procuress in abducting the- innocent child of penury and unrequited toil from her abject, fatherless home to the banquet of license, where country-traders are enters tained and bewildered with fascinations that their credulous cus- tomers would ultimately have to pay. Such inuendoes would indeed be cruel and outrageous, and could not for a moment be tolerated except by the vulgar. \ PICTURES- FROM LIFE. 73 Music is heard without 1 What would-a fashionable party be without it? Before we enter the palace', let us here inform the reader that we- will not pursue the history of the T----s. Space will not allow it; and their sequel is fraught with ills too terribble -for description. We have, no disposition to cull only such inci- dents as are totally misanthropic. Life has much that is noble, and all are awake to its beauties, though too often misguided by &ahallucination which binds with a spell whoever comes under its mesmeric influence, Harry is at the banquet, . and we must go there too, though uninvited, to see how he can deport himself. Of the forty couple who, have- been honored with perfumed billet doux, at least one-half; of that number have come- with high hopes of winning, the fancy of the tourist, whose-name in the more select circles has been a common by-word ever sincei his return from the continent. The independent grace of a complacent gentleman cannot be copied. It must be nurtured asa delicate vine; and even, then, nothing spared in training, it will not move with: ease and' sel&f possession when frowned upon by superior position essaying tot berate a studied attitude of disputed respectability. There must be a consciousness of allotted peerrship to be at home in company. It must be a self-existing power to which deference is not reluctantly paid-for even the- magnanimous grade, that silent concession votes to worth or goodness, must be truly heart- felt and sincere and spontaneous, or it is but one degree better than exclusiveness . Nothing arotuses the gratitude, of the man more than hearty approbation of companionship from superior position, which possesses the power to- crush- you, but; rather. loves your unalloyed happisnesS; for it conduces to his own, I The chieftain who referred to the Pyramids of centuries just before the engagement, owed in a great measure the success of' his apparently Quixotic campaigns to the promotion- of merit wherever it was to be found. The man of the- ranks knew he would wear thei marshal's pltum so soon as his worth miade him, n theopin;ion of his iommander, eligible for the position. So a shrewd pblitician never g?rafford page: 74-75[View Page 74-75] 74 THE BRIDLE ON, THE HEART; OR to neglect his constituents, not even after the highest ambition has been gratified. Ingratitude would then wither his laurels, and turn his honor to shame. But this must be natural to be appreciated. And it can only be so with the genuine democrat. Harry was all this; and although familiar with the cause of his preferment and popu- larity, he did not abuse it to the detriment of others or himself. The sincere effort to be pleasing to all, irrespective of their financial standing, disarmed envy of its acrimonious censure, and compelled the otherwise disconcerted suitors to be tolerably com- posed under the smartings and humiliations of a slighted love. Why ask us to photograph the party? Our sympathies are only with the lowly. We cannot disown our admiration for speculative adornments, if we did not know the regard in which they are held, and the cost at which they are obtained. We turn away from the gaudy entertainment, for we think of the sufferings which. has afforded it, and the deluded effort to imitate, on the part of those who cannot hope to be less than ri- diculous by such an attempt, but who will choose the short- lived career of the butterfly, to the more homely appearance of the bee. Our love is for the image of ,a common Father, and whenever we see oppression, our sympathies, are enlisted for its ameliora- tion, though conscious of the ingratitude which attends the un- dertaking. Our hero, never grew impatient under the cross-examination to which his auditors subjected him.. But answered this one respect- ing St. Helena, and-that concerning the Holy Land, and another about the Glaciers, of the simple, but unconquerable Swiss, until the-peculiar iuquisitiveness of each, by turns, would find the op- portunity to engage in an instructive dialogue with the "truly elegant traveller. " "Let us quiz Harry for a while, whilst the refreshments are going round, and set pairs are encountering a promiscuous inter- change of reciprocal generalities. What do you think of Miss J., over there in the recess, just now in conversation with Wil- PICTURES FROM LIFE. 75 lard.? I do not admire her by any means." "Why, she is counted the! handsomest lady in Old Town, and .her father" is 'princely rich.' She has refused twenty offers at least, and most likely will throw the glove to as many more before this time next year." "Well, what of all that?" "No doubt a hundred would marry her for her money, but who know no more of the true prin- ciples of love than the simple ostrich. She wears rather low- necked dresses for a modest woman, and is rather 'anxious to domineer over other girls much her. superior; besides, though her father was once an apprentice, she is forever speaking in a jeer- ing way about mechanics. It is my opinion she is a perfect snob. and her impudent boldness, with her money to endorse it, will furnish her with a man, but never a real loving husband. What accomplishments she has is much like a polish-of blacking over a muddy buskin-the undercoating will show out." "Well then, there is Miss Hardy. What do you say for her? I am sure she is the very personification of excellence - of good family, modest, learned and unpretending." "Her modesty is simply affectation, and her erudition confined to the meanest class of exceptionable literature'. Her mother was a noble woman, but unfortunately for her daughter, she died when her attention was most needed to model the child. I notice a hectic flush on her faded cheeks. Had she taken healthy ex- ercise, instead of devoting such a large share of time to yellow- covered nonsense, music, and the ball-room, no doubt she would have grown much more robust, and been better suited for a house- keeper. She would become sullen in six weeks by looking after roast-beef and pastry, and would rather be a sloven than take the pains to dress in a neat attire. - In truth, she would be ex- cusable for it, for she is destitute of sufficient physical strength to remain in an animated. conversation five minutes at a time." "Well, really, Harry, you are a hard man-to please. Yon will remain a bachelor all your life.!" ' "I am agreed to that-if marrying is meant to associate your- self with a misnomer, I would'prefer to be single. It is better, to endure single misery than double pluperfect wretchedness." "Then how do you like Miss Drummond? I know you cannot page: 76-77[View Page 76-77] - ,76 THE BRIDLE, ON THE HE-ART; OR fail, to be pleased-with, her. She is. called our model woman, and is envied by all,the, ladies of the city. Pious, industrious, inde, pendently welle off, yet kind to every one, and always most pleased when making others happy. She is ax active member of our home bo td of miss ions, and a great almoner' amongst the poor; very frequently her name appears in the;papers as the mover of some benevolent- enterprise- and what is more, she always heads the list with herr own liberal contribution. In short, she is regarded as a perfect paragon by all who know her; and I am sure you will never wish to cut her acquaintance. And besides, all I have said in her favor, she is the prettiest woman in all the town, to my notion, An artist could personate old mother Eve with such a subject to aid his imagination.?, "I can only say, in answer to your eulogy, I wish I had not made' her acquaintance. Her piety is evidently her own self- laudation, and, her industry a busying hurry over nothing. As for her riches, I know nothing about them, and I will never be. come a client to a confidential counsellor, for the purpose of knowing her father's assets. It may be she is an efficient member of home missions, but. such ladies, by the force of their example, cause more distress than an hundred such. could. alleviate. The acknowledged perfection of her conduct but makes it the more dangerous; for it is not a whit better, in. the effect of a cause, than the most degradid; woman in the streets. To society she is a greater bane,; for the, latter is shunned, but she is imitated- and the end of error jnstfiies the means to reach it., Meekness and humility, are the test-proofs of Christian character. She is utterly deficient in either. And if she may frequently be found visiting the hovels of the poor, it is with that restrained dignity which, asks them to admit it a great condescension on her part; and when she donates, those, generous sums to relieve want, I am sure it is done fr the sake of worldly emcomiums rather than a considerate charity. The very. fact that the journals trum- pet such gifts is evidence beyond a doubt the gallant but koow- ing reporters do it on purpose to cater to her superior regard for her own superlative importance. You need'not ask- me to give you an; oral autobiograpbhy of this multitudinous fiippery. PICTUKES FROM LIFE. " "If a man thought only of gew-gaws and comely features, there is an abundance of gayety here to satisfy the greatest am- bition. But I am not inclined 'to be captivated with brocade and tapestry, fine cambrics, and high-priced laces. They are all well enough for an evening party i; but they offer no guarantee for domestic happiness. And the painted cheeks and pomaded hair, and delicate ex- tracts, serve well to magnify the importance of those when flushed with wine and the excitement of the cotillion. But the diamonds on the bust of the coquette are like the roses on the thorn tree: very handsome for the spring time; but the summer!s fruit is too often the hornet's nest, -and -the yield of autumn the worthless berries, which only serve to propagate the evil species." "A person would judge from your conversation, Harry, that you were one of those cruel men who delight to enslave woman, and think her alloted sphere around the cooking-stove, preparing -spiced viands, or drudging over monotonous household affairs." "In that you misjudge me, and do me a grievous wrong. I am -not one of those of whom you speak. On the contrary, I think no man would love to see his wife -a drudge--certainly no woman can be an economical house-keeper who is ignorant of theduties over which she is called to provide-no lady can enjoy -heath and vigor without exercise; and if she turns from them as of disreputable propriety, there must dxist a cause for such a feeling, which gives allegiance to that swaying etiquette which -ever thinks of the elite first, and -home afterwards. - Besides, the feeling infused into mind can never be eradicated. Circumstances may call for a dismissal of an old familiar style, but once known, it is engrafted into the very- existence, and no one can get away from self. In contrast to this the law of labor, though given in denunciation, is one of love; and whoever turns from it, must forfeit the blessings that follow the exercise of it---thepenalty of which tells in a threefold sense on the moral, mental and physical condition of those-who incur such consequences, with defiant and injudicious forethought. "Ladies greatly mistake when they presume Sa sentiible man will be misled by the fidkle show of -dress -and- coquetry. Those page: 78-79[View Page 78-79] 78 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR so easily taken are infatuated by fancy, without judgment, and are seldom worthy of affection; for it cannot be won from a flirt. She is incapable of love; and only a thoughtless fop will be smitten with such facinations. "Their courtship and honeymoon may afford poetic entertain- ment to themselves and spectators, 'ut the residue of their com- panionship is a farcical afterpiece to the first act in the persona- tion of an unstable reality." "Harry, do you wish to have us think the great mass of man- kind are dupes to their own fancy 7" "Most assuredly they are. No one can doubt it who reviews character impartially. The difficulty is, those who are deluded never discover it until too late to avert the calamity it has en- tailed-and then, though'an amend would soften the evil, but few think it prudent to revolutionize themselves." "It is- quite unreasonable, Harry, to think woman should not be gay when young and vivacious; and if they are a little giddy withal, it is merely to parade those charms which would be lost to their benefit if they remained secluded or taciturn. After marriage they always change for the better." "My dear sir, do not mistake me. Vivacity is one thing, but irrational ostentation quite another. The aroma of a pretty flower will be valued, though obscured from view by the thick foliage which overshadows it-and woman's excellence will be discerned, however modest and retiring. The gem is to be sought--it may not easily be found-and, when discovered, may be mistaker for a tufling stone, until the artist's eye attests its value. Not so with woman. Her worth is self-evident com- mendation; and no one, of the dullest perception, need be told what instinct quietly teaches. Woman's excellence will speak for itself. ,The presence of a lady here would awe this whole company; and whilst these upstarts would be subdued by her modest influence, they would not, they could not, berate her- for she would -rot be entitled to the name of lady if they could." "You certainly do not intend to insinuate that these ladies o are not ladies?" "No, in its broadest meaning, I would not; but, in its strictest PICTURES FROM LIFE. 79 signification, they would not be allowed to rank as unexception- able ladies." ; "Harry, will you say what, in your opinion, constitutes a lady?" . "I have no objection to giving you my opinion in a brief way-of course not. A true lady stands as high in the-opinion of the subordinates in the kitchen as the lover in the drawing- room. Her worth is esteemed by all as a priceless treasure; and her presence a precious delight to all who Can enjoy her society-and she is willing all should-for she feels a conscious- ness of irreproachable purity Jin her own, as also the minds of others-nor would she dread the social status being lowered to her, by recognizing even the lower order of her sex: and though she could not make them a companion, she would not add hard- ness to their bitter hearts by manifest contempt. Her prefe- rences are to genuine merit, no odds how humble the surround- ings, and the will of her heart is to dispense sunshine, not for the sake of encomiums, but because the weal of another is bliss to herself. One who never courts flattery, nor becomes intoxi- cated by it; one who loves the duty of her sphere, and who feels complimented, rather than disgraced, when called on by her lover, when in the very midst of her busiest work-even if it should be a washing day." "Harry, your standard is' too nigh perfection to find any one to come up to it. If no one felt any pride for the false opinion of other people, I am sure your theory would work beautifully. But, so long as caste sits on her regal throne, just so long must it be a nullity; for she holds her sway by the- chosen wh of those whom she oppresses." "Your speech defines my sentiments. You will now understand me: I contend against the unjust and absurd standard, and go for that, which cannot be gainsayed. To dislodge the tyrant, is a duty; and if every one who feel oppression would protest against it, we would soon find the followers of madman-fashion leaving off their chase after butterflies: for there would be none foundready to contribute their alms of appliause to the contest- ants in a bootless race." ' page: 80-81[View Page 80-81] XOU THE BRIDLE -ON THE HEART; OR ".Do you not see, if all are pleasure-seekers, who shall provide the feast after,the chase? And if it is disreputable'to remain at home whilst others -are abroad In pursuit of folly, who will remain at home, if they can borrow a steed for the sport? And if, all the horses are engaged, -they -will try it on foot, and take cross-cuts and by-ways, so they may come in at the'heels of the hunt?" The music calls parties to the dance, and we take leave of the quick-step labyrinth of the maze, with the best good wishes for the company now in the enjoyment of their exceptionable revels. To-morrow will show the tide of this nocturnal array of events. Aching heads and jealous and critical reflections, will make us query whether the drooping figures who make out to get down to breakfast by ten A. M. are the same amiable, angelic creatures who gave to last evening's party its irresistible charms and stormy applause. We leave them, for the worid understands them. We cannot acquaint persons with what they already comprehend. But our subject would be less complicated to us, if some prompter, better versed in the logic of human frailties than we profess to be, would inform us why the effort is so universal to imitate the code of so- cial incongruities, at antipodes with reason, aud incompatible with the sober dictates af common sense. A week later and we meet the convened friends of George Riley at ,his domesticated home. His -mother and two sisters are there, and Harry, and several others; whose friendly fellowship dates back to the palmy days 9of childhood; and although, like others, they have shared the vicissitude of fate and fortune, they live to love, as was their custom. They still sustain those early kindly relationships of youth-; and cheer and administer to each other's comfort, with sympathy and affinity and reciprocal, congenial, grateful aid. An industrious, plain, unsophiscated people, who haver never studied worldly wisdom, to appear what they are not, and by such seeming ,appropniate the rights of others to themselves. Therefore they are a despised people, though constituting the standard-rule of good- ness, by which we understand the distance of the multitude astray. Musgrave, the only legatee of wealth in that little circle, is --vIku V VUX JnX LlAFE, 81 entirely at home, and the company in his society are Unrestrained, For there is a sameness of sentiment and a oneness of 'feeling which speaks by the statutes of the affections, and embraces by those assimilating affinities of the spirit of each for all, the offer- ings of friendship to which ulterior motives are unknown, and which money cannot buy, nor sordid gain discolor, or craving avarice alloy. The cherry parson is there, and names by baptism the rosy-cheeked child Harry M-. The ladies are not dressed in costly attire, nor do their nude shoulders protrude above the scolloped dresses; und the coming and going color on their faces is not the pencillings of death's forerunner, nor the cosmetic tin- sels of laboratories or the mantled crimson of shame. The con- versation is earnest, and easy to be understood; not couched in ambiguity such as implies more or less than is spoken. Double entendre puns are not recited to catch the drift of an under-cur- rent, and compliments are not paid to realize rejoinders potential with silly contraband witticism. There are no trinkets on the braided hair, nor studied plea- santries on the artificial countenance, or imported laces on super- fluous and indelicate chemisettes, becoming only for unmention- able shame. The hands 'are not of lily-whiteness and delicate- tapering, such as Powers would fancy for his chained slave. But there is modesty in the bright eye and expression on the frank features, and moral force in the calm repose of dignity, without art, and composure which proffers not overtures to the social quack who practices on a distempered, conventional affection. And if the punctilious lady would scowl, with the smile of in. uendo scorn, this picture of penury and innocence, she inwardly laments her own happiness by the comparison; and the bar of her own just judgment envies what she does not possess, and deeply deplores in herself what she dares not consent to overcome. Ger- trude did her utmost to make pleasant the visit of the company. But it needed no skilful insight into character to detect the brooding melancholy which at intervals would displace her smiles. Her own kin were not present, though invited; and she knew they could have come, butpreferred to continue in their obstinate coolness. 6 page: 82-83[View Page 82-83] "82 THE BRIDLE ON THE 'HEia T OR The brothers of late had been too much tken 'up with their own amusements to find time to visit the Sister; besides, the mooted necessities of her family had abated their former affec- tion, and they, too, with the parents and sisters, ow stood aloof from "poor, hepless Gerty." The evening allowed George and Harry afafvorable time to decide on future plans concerning the purchase of vacant pro- perty, now near the day bf sale. They chose out those tracts they thought would be soonest enhanced by sittrounding im- provements, and fixed the highest figure they whuld bid for them. In their conversation there would be at times 'abgtriatedness of quick successive intervals, which George may have supposed was attributable to the mental estimate of an investment of so large a sum, involving the entire outlay of Harry's fortune. Mother Riley did not think so, for she could read the passing signals, telegraphed from Harry to Julia, that were answered by blushes and assenting smiles, which Harry repeatedly would time and again call out. Love has great volumes in the flashing eyes, .whose silent language cannot be mistaken. Essays may burthen the mail-coach with their professional ver- biage, but in the speech of thought there is an omen of solid in- spiration whose index plainly tells you what in vain it would struggle to conceal. Julia had celebrated her twentieth birthday, for she did not fear being styled a prude she did not dread the idea of majo- rity. Twenty years, by numerical figures, the third of an allotted life-time, is really the substance of:the thteer-score; for but con- paratively few correct the malformation of habits then matured. Our party are moving a readiness to disperse. The clock has struck ten, and all are agreed to a motion for hoie. But in the separation no one treasured misgivings br'r anmosities towards the successful Julia; for all concurred, if she suited 'Harry, he was a prize of himself and with himself; an- d though she was poor, hey superior charms and matchless pritciples were an equi- valent for -his riches; and if they should cohsent to thake a PICTURES PR6 IME.- 83 match, all will congratulate them, and that, too, Without envy or sullen gOod-will. Notwithstahding the Miss Rileys eHidEa6Fed th be up to the exactness ot their scrupulous mother, th8y8ii 'hot iebiie her alprobatioh; for no sooner had Heiry lOft their houe, thaii sh gave them a real good;-hhiored lectiir on thdfit conedi t "1t never love to see young ladies rompihg at aniixed party; your frivolity was bad enough for anything, in thb bounds of reasoii. I am only too glad you are home, and you bhall stay here until you learn to behave yourselves. You do not deserve a husband, and no man worth having will look at you until you learn to be more like ladies." This satire was badly affected; for the old lady secretly thought the time might soon come when she could prove her Christian character, by heaping coals of fire on the heads of the Lindens. "For if it ever lay in her power, she meant to repay them for their ill-treatment, by acts of humble kindness." The girls knew the old lady was in one of her plieasant lecturing moods, and could very well take it home with good- natured repartee-they knew she really felt as much delighted as they, and only resorted to this piece of diplomacy 'to conceaitfrom them her own ecstacies. In a month after the convivalities at " the west end," the sale before named came off. As pre-arranged, George was the bidder; Harry thinking it good policy to keep distant from the crowd, lest his attendance would apprize speculators of their precon- certed designs. Mr. Linden was in the concourse, but took true pains to not recognize his son-in-law. When, however, he heard George bidding, and the auctioneer crying but his offer away, up in the thousands, the old 'irin opened his eyes with astonishment, aud very laconically fiemaiirkd, "How does that young scamp ever expect to pay for sh much property?" "Sixty-five, once -- sixty-five, twice. Are you all done, gen. tlemen?" Owners and biidder attend the sale. "Going-,indi gone-sixty-five once-sixty-five twice-s ' ty-five thre-e-e tihes. What's the name?" page: 84-85[View Page 84-85] 84 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR "George Riley.' "George Riley." The legal officials and George, with the interested friends, gathered in consultation whilst the outhid witnesses held a parley:over the likelihoods of getting another chance to bid on the property just knocked down to that fellow; for he could not pay for it, and dit would be bought for less the next time it would be put up. In this opinion they were con- firmed by the wise father-in-law, who "very well knew George had no available, means with which to pay for it." On Mr. L's return, he called out the marvel of the whole family with the news of "the young scamp's-purchase of a great town property, on which he could not possibly have one dollar to pay.? Hereupon Mrs. L. started up with a gust of gesticulations. "And now I see the purport of all of this--George is en- dorsed by Harry Musgrove, and this is the purport of their intimacy. George will yet be a great man, and will repay us savagely for our treatment to him and our poor dear lamb of a child. "My dear, my conscience has been terribl& discomposed for the past month. I have been thinking how I could possibly go into the presence of my God with this child unforgiven. Only the -other day-I was reading her letter addressed to me from her boarding house so soon after marriage-and then only, for the first time, I saw the strong appeal to me for leniency to her in this act of conscious duty. "Last week, you remember, Mr. Baker, her old lover, whom we all deferred to, on account of his money, failed for more, by far, than he is worth. It came home to me. with such irresistible power-what would poor Gerty have done with a helpless old man, she had -married solely for money, when all his wealth had taken wings and flown away? "My dear, I fear we are losing the good opinion of the better thinking class of the community in holding out against our child. George makes her a kind husband ;-they both love each other width a love akin to idolatry. "Some of us should have gone to that party, they invited us so affectionately. PICTURES FROM LIFE. 85 "Harry Musgrove was there; and I hear from one who heard from them, through her sister, who is intimate with the Rileys that Harry was the very life of the company: and to crown all, he went home with Jule Riley. Mary, you and Nelly have missed the very first chance of a beau by our stiffness. "Husband, how shall we make up with the children? You have such a happy way of doing whatever you set yourself about, we will now appoint you a committee to bring this compromise around." "Indeed, madam, you need not, for I met George to-day at the sale, and intentionally evaded him. I know he wished to spt/ak to me, but I did all I could to throw him off. I'd rather have his ill wishes than a, constant wigwam war-and I would not be friendly with the fellow without inviting him home with me, and that would only add "fuel to fire." In the face of such knotty facts as these, it would not be advisable to propose a compromise. They could not but understand why we did it. They are the youngest and should make the advance for a com. promise." "But, my dear, you just said you cut George's willingness to speak this morning. Surely, husband, you ain't given to contra- diction? Well, I will go and see Gerty. They have tried so often to reconcile us, they must be outdone in the attempt. We really owe them a manifestation of forgiveness. "I will go over and see Mrs. Ready to-morrow; I am certain she will go with me to see Gert, for I am anxious to have a peep into their cozy home, and a sight of that little cub of theirs." So it always is with the corps of policy. To wealth, fashion can bow as the penitent to the crucifix, and be "all things by turns and nothing longer" than the times assent a paying tribute. Why go with the shameless mother on hererrand of mercenary love? We well could foreknow she smoothed over the past. How could a Christian child be other than forgiveness? And, too, how could her heart be else than sad, in measuring the pur. pose of this resuscitated love? When pondering on these ills of life-ills not ours by right of title, but conjured up to harrow life with smartings, and lace- page: 86-87[View Page 86-87] 86 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR rated, and weeping wounds of spirit, we ask the question, what is it that it mjpght not be--but being so, what is it worthy. of this treadmill care? Reconciliation Mends her coach and dashing greys to welcome the aliens to a father's home. And following fast on this, special reception, a party is giyen, and extra pains taken to have Harry invited-the will of his desire was almost constrained. He went, to be sure, but not from any good feelings for the Lindens. The Rileys were all invited, therefore Harry could not allow Miss Julia to accept of gallantry so uncalled for, whilst it was so convenient for him to be her escort. When Mrs. L-- found the "impudent mink" coming in lean- ing on the arm of Harry, as fluent and affable as if they had beeL life-time friends, she began to fear it was too late to attempt to divert the lover from the wife of his choice. Seeing the desperate state of things, she betook herself to the study of ways. and means by which she could supplant: thq "sly jade" with one of "her own lovely daughters." But her shallow tactics were too bunglesome for a man like the one with whom she had to cope. For a time Iarry appeared so pleased, she really hpped, his pliant manners indicated an impression, until a manceuvre on the part of Julia threw the old lady into consternation; fox she knew the intention of the pardonable, jealous sallie, and the result was, too palpable to allow a moment's doubt. The madami could scarcely restrain her angry mortification in the defeat of the eyen-, ing; and its apparent influence could be slightly traced on her amiable features, Which could not now settle into placidity, until a storm had given vent to the turbulent passion - discomposing her thwarted feelings, and thereby marring the enjoyment of the guests. And when the hois of entertainment were over, the girls were compelled to listen to a lecture, delivered in no very mild, terms, for their unsuccessful efforts to vie with "that comely upstart," Piqued by disappointment; and chagrined with the ungeneroug reprimand for an ill-fortune which tortured them to the. utmost pitch of desperation, they in their turn blamed the mother for PICTURE' FROD l]FE. . W their slighted, faivors.-her: trettment tQ Gertrude - and the mis- chief " she had. diffused into: their feelings had caused them to, be cut on every side, and neither of them could: name a beau who cared a, tuppenee for them-excepting some worthless mechanics, with whom, any girl in tow,. of any respectability, would be ashamed to be seen parading the streets in their company." To this. broadside, the mother gave a retort. at. oce withering and silencing. She saw her own folly in raising children to disdain the: vocation of their father, aundfor the moment tried to counter- act her own instructions.. .Bat it was too late. The daughters referred to. the councils she had dictated, and the practice estab- lished as a precedent. Submitting where cavil could nof allay, nor passion overcome, she ordered the "old maids" to bed, with the declaration: "They should, thereafter, be taught lessons of home duty, from which prosperity had released them. Those qualifications married your sisters;; and I shall, even at this late. day, teach them to. you. Men are not looking after dollhbabies when they go in search of a wife. The polka and quadrille, will do, well enough for the hurly-burley of the hour, but sensible men do not selectta woman because she. is an actress; they: rather prefer common sense and domestic economy, without accomplishments, than. accomplish- ments, aside from home comforts, to which, they will forever be mere slaves. We. did not describe the. tete-a-tete' of the would- be exquisites. The extended folio counsels brevity ; we retrench upon a restrictedi space already far overrun. The. reader will know, by their knowledge of character, from what. has been said, why Gertrude's* sisters- were not lile her. They had grown up under a. new order: of things, ad the causes are known. which control destiny, and freque-tly extenuate for character, that theoretic philosophy can easily demonstrate - but the allowance, if conceded by the. understanding, cannot be al- lowed by the beatings of the heart. We. will not select disagreeable compony-nay, we cannot tolerate; it-unless compuldion-makes of it a virtue. Let us hurry through. It will not astonish the reader to say, that in the coming page: 88-89[View Page 88-89] 88 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR autumn they took nuptial vows at the home of the bride's mother. The company was handsome, yet not brilliant-gay, but not lavish in superlative equipage or dress. Nothing was wanting to make the entire programme complete, and in ordinary keeping with the wealth of the groom.. - Save the Lindens, there were none present to bite the finger-ends off white: kids as they choked down the rising envy, or gave utterance to compliments not authorized by an honest sentiment. . A wedding is the most interesting scene known to earth, save the calm demise of the hoary Christian. The transmution of water to wine, a beverage which -its Author would not partake of, is manifest evidence of the high regard in which the Son of Man held the hymenial ceremony. : . ' We should love to devote pages to this scene, did not this whole chapter constitutel simply an, elucidation of our text, the condensed application of which is yet deferred. Harry hast lived to bring up a fine family of children, some of whom, we are sorry. to say, are rather "fast." He is truly "the. one man amongst men," andihis wife exalted in amiability above. the average of women, but they are not the gold refined in the, crucible; they have not been chastened by the ordeal of adver- sity. Four months ago, we reached a country inn, having rode the greater portion of the, night through a slimly inhabited desert. wilderness. In the morning, after Breakfast, we called on old kins- men, residents of the neighborhood. To our surprise, Gertrude and her distinguished husband were visiting their friends in that, section of fthe country. , Riley's face is . young,- though verging life's winter; his lady-wife retains the relics of her maidenly: beauty; the lovely spirit has not written indentations of care on features that wear the stamp of Christian composure and: philo- sophical sweetness. They have reared a goodly number of children, but they have not " rebelled against them." The father of Gertrude has -paid 4 the final debt the living owe, and by his side the consort with him slumbers. Riley is a man of riches.. Every enterprise turned to gold, after the morning's sale, of which you have been posted, PICTURES FROM LIFE. 89 And not once only did he save Mr. Linden, during his lifetime, from severe pecuniary loss, by his timely assistance. The younger sisters are unmarried,- but more recently learn- ing the true realities of life in contradistinction from its bewilder- ing, phantasies. We finish this chapter, which we never begun with the consent of our -own fancy. We conceded our taste for the reason that we could make the question more plainly intelligible, to every one. We have no pre- dilections for romance-on the contrary, we despise them as the bane of the age; and could relish an almanac fifty years old, sooner than yellow-covered trash. In this chapter, we have tried to stand out from lascivious love, but are fully conscious of the crumpled efforts to make the chap- ter readable. As before stated, we wrote against our own inclinations, and now that we are through, we really feel relieved, and make no doubt the reader rejoices likewise. . . The sum total of this chapter may be summed up in the an- nexed stanzas; and if the reader likes, he can advise his friends to omit the chapter and read the verse: I would not pine in the valley of woe, No sense in this brooding o'er sorrow; What Love bids me do, there Duty says go, And Faith will send Hope on the morrow. page: 90-91[View Page 90-91] 90- THE BRIDLE:ON TEE HEART; OR, CHAPTER VI. THERE are three great national' pictures of which every Ameri- can can be proud, whose counterpart is beyond -the hour of pros- pective hope: The Continental Congress signing the Declalation of Indepen- dence within sight of the gibbet; Washington disbanding thle army, laying by the sword and, disdaining thie diadem; and Henry Clay in his great final pleadings before the august bar of a majestic Senate, with that gallant earnestness which, only the anxious patriot can display. ' Gone, are the heroes in those' scenes of martial daring and high-souled pride I Gone, the- principles which breast the- storm I and with them gone that-invincible, steady, unwavering valor, with which honoe is intrenched, and by which, victory, and untultiedl glory, nd' last- ing adoration are ever won, Why speak of things as they are, or why be blind to facts that glare with open eivdence, yet, startle. not.? Bribed legislators, mercantile defaulters, official peculators, stuffed -ballot boxes, fraudulent voters, ward bullies, vigilant committees, territorial wars, and urban centralization, and overshadowing and absorbing and controlling power. All 1 all are potent omens, pregnant with- the destiny of the critical hour. We maintain our social laws are wrong, and the moral will which gives them tone is im- potent to restore order-for it is destitute of vigorous life-and hence, without the strength to sway for good. No cause, or code, or vogue, will stand the test of public opinion unless it has the concurrence of a great bulk of the influential mass. And they, the great bulk, will not inderse what the moral or Christian world simultaneously and unhesitatingly frown down. In this land of Christian theory these premises cannot be doubted. And if the argument holds good, there must rest a censure some- PICTUR ;S FIKT LE. f 91 wrhre; and it cnpt be *nywlSre unless wit Qrgfnio op on- trolling powe. Men study the effect of the sequence, the . pn'ifo!. of policy, ap4 if they see policy without integrity is. more qreditable to. so- cial position than probity with hule s rrogrqldingsi d(ptitute Qf the wielding dignity of s pcQess ; thqn we $sk, how bthpurity be cultivated; a ud how cang we hopq to, preser ve even th final! conrt of public opinion from the corrgsive toint of a CaakeQcowuptioa? They who settled: this An^w wp rld canme here for thM prileg: of principle,; and they,-rhq e-woqbdimpet of priunipeu-rsz7roed; the swaddlings, who. r c t0 tte enthsiagstic wtch-epy of ,liberty, But, strange to, say, we,; the heirs of their patrimonal: bequest, re, in the Majesty of strength, i the ineipiensy o -decy-.rthoUgh istrapngers to fear: from, ,breoad?-haYve become s$laes :to 0oU ouwn qpp!essive bqrqenq at hoie, a h b ey t1he. l!wsof our Qowru *aocia enactments, su hjeqt;ourselv q to, a .self-willed -iegradation and w elcomfl dpba)che ry. We .4ae hazaerd tho t this lagd, with: its innnmet rable, agdyatagqs apd political glory, is, by: fa- w orse off than wl4ea th00 pionearsmantlOl the first forst tree in itsi newly-disv qovered a pd denplym gtqd wild -woQdpr It is of no, cnsequenwat opthe insolve nat-debtorat h bisrevienue e xSeeds the ineomre o f a dozen Q ther -togethe r; t hae eeanes: fo extpipatioA consist itleqxeqsq of hi reiourOes overhi&exspendi' ture. If the inco me a buodred thousand, an wdte ontlay g-rtel than such annqity,the individuali,poo? i' the weipt f ,isi exus beranceb, and if wo hav aJl the blessigao te; wgrld can, fVuraijfil it we hsve, less tha .sqppliqa, the: ceiaou .;Epenf4turea oilif e-1a re we, p:.rpers, to th i! of circum t1e".o od4If,a -wh the boa.. of our heralCry aod:cqndiion. . Am our; aprg me ts Faderstood, AndAwi4l pur I motiys beimjijudged? W nka wfthe comwoni clin tionto .barter- iun:-entimeOt, and the tvduo tive disposdon of those who cannot oppose argfument,.iith Argut: - We smve .CouaseI4 well tke- o!oqgy ,qf ,tIj latmn iaor, ande pforelmoting -i$Jtave, prpareped or felings fQo.4s. unmeanured fullness. , W,.eome be' foge 'th .publip to erljcitFpt ui ptyw nor wskOl f i* sfqotgmp$ . WOe st,d:; as th advoc tew, ot' that Ayt m e, pugrqihd f lt issaeS i page: 92-93[View Page 92-93] 92 -THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR, but we adjure man for the sake of men, and in our imploring sup- plioations forget self, in our warm love and deep-rooted desire to untrammel the race. What is the bridle on the heart? The shame which attaches to labor, and thea sinister homage to fortuitous circumstances. A will to spurn the poor, a readiness to overlook the outrages of gilded strength, a love for pomp grown from the blood, and spirit, and ashes of the fragile and helpless. The pride ofthe man from which emanates ambition, the ambition which creates a greedy insatiable appetite to devour. It will not be denied that caste does all this. And yet men suffer it, because opinion, awards praise to the successful; and all hope for success. But we are thinking not of the few who may clamber above expediency; even they, are not above casuality, and their own children, or at furthest their grand-children, will have to come in contact with the cold exaction of society, and to their tender sen- sibilities will the merciless world be as the cold winds of winter to the sheep shorng of its wool., In this country of mutation, where property is as uncertain as an avalanche, all are interested in our theory, for but the fewest few of the rich can expect their children to begin where they left oif. In view of this we ask for two items in onur petition. Will the public grant it? Dignity to labor, and honor to merit, and that too without regard to the settings of the gem. We do not value a diamond more before than after the burnish, when we-know its intrinsic worth. Then why the Individual? Is it inquired, why is this asked? Because God so intended it, and the " rights of man," under his ordinance, demand it; and disorder, and, oppression, and chaos follow the re. fusal of the claims of the law. Look about, and inquire, why has marriage become comparatively obsolete, and-is daily-growing more so; and, too, inquire, why are married people guilty of practices which the Mormons would not countenance? The sympathizing Briton advised the unsuccessful Envoy, representing these Colo- nies, before the unbearable tyrant, to return honie, and counsel the Amerieans to raise children to rebel against oppression. The old typographical 'philosopher indorsed the admonition by estimating one Vice as expensive as the rearing of two children PICTURES FROM LIFE , b --were he living to-day, he 'might safely say a -whole -genera- tion. Show, ostentation, display, a love for the fastidious, a -punctilious bowing down to fashion, a spurning hatred for lowly worth, and then back of this political peership, goading the individual, for the want of social position, because he is poor. Here lies the cause of our evils. There exist our-social and political ills, from which we must be removed, or, with them, we will soon pass into national nonentity. Can any one wonder at the individual's unscrupulous& clutchings at money, whilst he is conscious he will be trodden as a toad without it? . And if legal fraud is the high road to social honor, who. shall fill the posts of trust, and who be enabled to exist amidst- the buffetings of the gale and the current, hurrying them on to the maelstrom of Algerine destruction? -The early settlers wanted only shelter, raiment, and food-a :man with them was graded, not for what he had, but was. With them marriage was a duty, and children a blessing; work was honorable and commanded its recompense; civility was gen- tility; and none were without it; hospitality was :a virtue, and all practiced it. Now we must have a home for town and country, and wardrobes without number; delicacies suiting to- make the well sick, and hasten the feeble to die. And position, in propor- tion to the filched gain of sharp trading, just outside the finger ends of the law. Celibacy is honorable, and, with, the- married, children a nuisance--work degrading and resorted -to, solely by the financially impotent, whom it would be sheer nonsense to re- gard or reward, commensurate with their labor and. necessities; ,boorish vulgarity is respectability-exclusiveness importance, and rudeness the mark of a gentleman. Physicians are kept busy to tell us of new diseases, and lawyers tax their brains to fortify against the ruse dodge of legal innovations. Seminaries multiply to instruct misses to be popu- lar with their frailties. Shylock speculators "trim the midnight lamp'" in concocting schemes, whereby the witty shall :be out- witted, and bold rascality return-large fortunes for -othing.. Availability without merit, is far rather to be desired thiasimplicity and steadfastness without gain. Look on these picture .a4R4.an swer page: 94-95[View Page 94-95] N94 THE BRIDLE ON -THE HEART; OR, Whethe r tIe prinitive or- modern times wevfe preferable. Here is '76 7ad "-Ybut Atteriea;" Look, and iaugh I Wo would not krestrain it. But -nswer I Is the pieture fife ? Is not the asser- tion literally Atd pratically trume' To prdtiBeSt gfiESt these fac, wis , ith is a moral:duty - To in, cutr dicul6 of thoie who'will nut thinki, -holove to be led blindly oft .by the, sTagi s 6f -past ages, is -a eonsolation. For ,the time /0oiaes, whe'n thl -theory of this thesis will be :ifn date; and the wofde& will not bed that it is so, but why it was-so long delayed. When the poor sailor will nodt be sent out to contend with the angry oean,and leeched of his pittance as soon as he'returns to, greet his:native .shore'; whilst the seommander and owner regale themselves with wines and -Havannas in the seclusive star ehamber, enriched by the -sweat and hazard, of those meanly paid tars who did the work, and bore the perils -and hardships of the voyage. The poor consumptive orphan girl will not be forced to stitch the costly mantilla; at starvation wage's, in, the damp cellar or cheer- less: garret,: wastin, as the midight taper; by Which dim glimmer she threads and sews .the rustling ,garment, dewy with her drip, ping1 tears, and platted by bier frittered life. The soldier wfill not bid adiea to friends, nor -brazen battle- ments present the 'f bristling front of war," Ships will rot in the dockl, selfish' cities be destroyed-, parchments and- prothonotaries be aatiquated and unknown, thes shle Congo give-back to his sultri home its lost blosnsomsto to te So,the tempest-tossed Ishmaelite cease from his pilgrimatiomns, to abide ^'neath the olive trees of his New Hilled eity, the ftndbring-and-wasting aborigines dwell in the Alabaimaoftheir fathers:; and peace, content and home-dwelling happiness beneath the spreading 'boughs of native aerbors,- Wvll- mhake mstwha&he' was, anbd'what WviSdo's forethought meant he Ooni should bhecnme.- Tlh/en shailltthi& goldte bit be lifced!ftm the bleding heot; and mnC b; frB ajthe' Bfleet eoiserb'in the 6^bbunded deeort plainis, and libing as the" 6i/iseless dew, Whiehade-igns,: in quiet night, its crayon lfietehse (n tie utnfolding pFtel ; ;th/t m'oin ihouid' ptint ivt# n Akiihri thi ^a athoiet bf htod. uW&bi^ise Wttt iee p9IKj aetS F tOM WIE. - 9'5- far off from this Elysium, Where selfshness bloonis not, nor wan or care ourves:haggard:]ines oalthe ideox of the livingroul. :Men are but &s forest leaves in the coarse whispers of autumn, who will be scattered by the whirlwirid of their/o0Wn creation, But law, as the sturdy forest will ;bear the -peltings of the storm and igfow afresh ih new-robed verdure, when the. Winter's howl ispassed, and the soft spring, with its rollicksome music and glad smile, in- vites'it forth. to newhorn joy. The sombre prelude of 'this-chap- ter chronicles the time of night in the social world, but donjunc- tive events may signal them as 'th harbingers of day. The ebbed tide may flood again,-the quivering and vibrating needle finds its natural point-the- inborn, 'court of conscience, whose portals avarice dreads to enter, be reconciled to grant the suit of jus- tice wrangling .for the right. The Orange streaks are visible on the orient,--and. soon nay the wings of light and love pencil. h-em. with tints Of gold. The French Emperor receives the tacit hisses;of the world, to 'discommode the imperial glory of his usurpatiod--and make the insignia of dynasty the crown of thorns. Whilst Walker- dies without a throb of pity for his fate-.the amaranth: unsuited for, his bier, and the tear of- sorrow unwilling -to sprout the cypresson ,his tomb. Here -is where we haveshope-l The ride of wnan di- rected in the current of amelioration. To d40 this we must make men think, The love of wealth' is ,not for .its comfort bat -noflu ence. The desire to own it is a longing for preOmiient distinction. Men are but grown children-who, like the jvieniles, must be diverted' from error and encouraged in the right: -and if. a com- on, systematized move is made by th ose hoseinfiteneeiwifl legal- ize the enterprise, then will it have become. disresptable to op- press; and fashionable, ;and honorable, and ctBditOble and- obli, gatory, to deal justly and gallantlyttowatd (rl matttkin& The ambition of .man need not ibe destro yed ::t .nnot :for it is a stream of kinship with dviitty aund; owesits struggling melody to the caput-fonsof life, Ameliop ioa: does not dam it, nor run it off into subterranean. hrnpaelsa,.;bunt:gtes, it-, a naturalwinding course, to frietify the:vfles 6f itst wautdnngand cherish the bay trees ol ita -baaks. -; Rte, fisi ,^ pledffe/ agwst page: 96-97[View Page 96-97] 96. THE BRIDLE ON . THE -HEART; OR, social discord-here are the forks, of the road; the one directing to the tower and strength, the other to revolution and blood; where social slavery will be exchanged for military rulers; and where discontent must find a quietus from the howitzer or coronet. We now proceed to. take! up the most difficult part of the sub- ject. Let the reader abate his ineiflcated prejudices, and come with us to tie supreme bar of reason; and, if convinced, let him be candid enough to own it; but if persuadfed we are absurd, then unhesitatingly denounce us. , No man has a right to monopolize this world to the engross- ment of others' pro-rata share. We cannot admit the right of property to any one further than is essential to the supply of their positive necessities. Any thing more is greediness-nay it is actual robbery; inasmuch -as it withholds-from many these blessings for which they were created; , grows a pride of selfishness ; promotes unbecoming graduation in classes, and institutes a sinister will to resort to. any thing for the securement of an unusualshare of property, that the holder can be entitled to an extra share of importance. We heed -not stop to consider the characters -of that respect which whines and cajoles and wheedles in sycophantic adoration to wealth. The spirit is moved more by manifest action than a presumed but unspoken consideration, and the nature of the emotions- of the man crave overt concern as a test proof of deference. This bughear of penury-this slough of indigent despair,- is one into which all are liable to tumble. Then, in order to have an- insurance against the dangers of the quagmire, let us drain it dry with the delving-irons of human kindness, and flow off the Stagnant seepage into the oblivion below. Or else, pile in the rocks of solid reason until we level it with the hill tops on either side. How shall we do it? And why? We must not resort tO stringent measures. -Revolution will do no good. The. world hais ex perimented on that' for sixty centuries. And the change of rulers' too often exiles a complacent sovereign for one of less reasonable demands. - It is tetter, Says history and experience to. endure the rules of a king, whose training and education has adapted him to the EICTURES FROM I FE.: 97 manners of the court and feelings of the peoplet, than be sub. jected to the requirements of the intolerable usurpet Ia either caue, partiality and not merit will receive preferment, aiid the many be oppressed to give fame to the few:, This is might but not justice. Or it is right- by the law of might, The only quality valuable in man is the immaterial?as a .proof of it we pay instinctive ]omage to talents and goodness. We do so because we love to: and we love to do so, foa mind is the endowment of the Creator-hence it is the normal endear- ment of divinity to the 'divine; the worship of his affinity by kindred affection, in the- triple exstence: of the party, paying the tribute to whom it is due. This- is natural respect;, and only such should be required, In short, any thing else is slavery. And slavery and liberty are at antipodes: they will not, cannot, exist together. Social law cannot be forced : for those who would coerce it are unfit to concede what they claim, unless dispossessed of every lust of aggrandizement, and only imbued with the noble spirit, of universal kinship and common fraternity. But if the conqueror and- not- his fellows in arms were so. actu- ated- by amelioration, the effort would only- be spasmodic- and would relapse after his demise. Compulsion is not opinion, and the will tied: down by a thong *iU rebound when the ecordois removed. But in mind the simile is in part unlike, for it chafes by ooercion. To obviate this difficulty',-mind must be educated- to: will the rule of love, and4 pride will then feed ambition, and amelioration rejoice the emotions on adccount of voluntary- acts of kind: offices administered to a less lucky, or lesse fortunate brother. - Under this rule drones would pluck up fortitude for duty; mi- sers and spendthrifts learn that " man lives not for himself;' and. hawks lose the inclination to use their talons; labor be distributed ; and rest;- and comfort, equilibriumizbd. To- su. perinduece this equality, mantus t":b inditced: t remembetrbeitevo lence is riches which' enriches the bosom, wd- enrlargies the itatuire of the understanding; whilst faarice ititinsijies tAnt; peisonal aud relativeo d dfieAp the fountaifis'Of afaentii :.p The fo r e e page: 98-99[View Page 98-99] 98 THE BRIDLE ON THE- HEART; OR, makes him truly and manifestly lovable and godlike--the latter self-despised and despicable ;--if not by overt dissemblance, for fear of his power; at least so, in the estimate of intuitive reason. Thus, the! magnanimous act of Brown in the redemption of the Philadelphia City scrip-held, by Ladies whose privations and. talents and toil entitle them to a cash compensation, but whose probable want of money might have made them a prey to the heartless shaving sharks of the market-has won for himself trophies of lasting glory which in our opinion are incomparably superior to all the laurels- of the Caesars. But, says one, what do you expect by equality of property?- Do you suppose a jubilee to-day would remain so for a single week? Distribution would only be followed by a rapid return- to ine- quality. Not if persons were controlled by the will to fraternize. The law of love would continue to restore the equilibrium-just as the sea pays back to the heavens the borrowed rain; just as the forest compensate the ground for its clothing; or the dead plant of the fall, by the matured germ, returns the lost beauty to the fields. You may call it absurdity to so theorize,-but in extenuation for our premises, let us here be understood as looking to the sup- port of the Government; the perpetuity of the nation which cannot be continued-so long as proffered peership is promised on one side, and all the concomitant evils of social and political disparity allotted on the, other, in the absence of money to buy a coat of, arms. England's primogeniture law looks well to this issue. They know, also, to give title without endowment to support it, would be an inconsistency that would forever keep the different classes at war. e. Therefore when they pronounce a man a lord, they give: him means to support bis,heraldry. Here we know the difference. We are presumed to be gentle- men by the institutions of government. But whilst the law has been changed in its relationships to the subject, the subject on the other hand has not been modified in feeling, to become adapted to. the law. For the law cannot mould the comity of the social citi- PICTURES FROM tIrjB. 99 zen, and the statues of the social code ill suppla nt law, civil and moral, -if atvariance with it. A seeming incongruity to our pre- mraises, but not so when analyzed. The moral:- law, if instructing in error, is raising children to rebellion. In establishing our pre- sent question, we adduce the duello as illustrative of our position. It is never resorted to by gentlemen -because thej love martyrdom,' but because they love social esteem more than life. And if dignity must be sustained at the cost of integrity, as caste now dictates, history shows dignity to be paramount to integrity. It is said, a man will not go against his bread and butter. And every day proves the value men set on their respectability, when they prefer the paraphernalia of the age to an honest compound with credi-' tors. And why? The banquet halls will not be shut against the money of' the man, notwithstanding the integrity of conscience abhors him.' This position is not only tenable, but self-evident and reasonable, but without acceptance from those who admit it. Only the other day we were talking with a highly worthy lady, a member -of a Christian church, who was arduously'engaged in Sabbath-school teaching,-and yet, strange to say, as ardently engaged in defending fashion. Compassing land and sea to proselyte the children to precept, but inculcating a love for pa- geantry which had occasioned the expediency to reform the young heathens. Are we ambiguous? Let us be plainer. If inference will not speak, plain English shall. The lady spoken of was single from the influence of that os- tentation she so warmly defended. Accomiiplished, talented, but in moderate circumstances, and in trying to keep up a fair staiiding with the punctilious, the embarrassments of life "had no '6ffer' of abatement. And her case is the very exeriebtce df countless others, whom men admire but dread to marry. - Why? -They know this growing, slavish love for the sublime ridiculous has no outside limit. They know gratification leads to further desire, and if Ithe display is not ahead, it labors in the race to be ahead;: and -it ahead, it fears it may be outdone. The slave of this artificialepx- citement thinks of nothing, delights in nothing, but display.:' Dis- gisted, yet'pursuing the disgust; unhappy; in 'it; but ir6aving far- ther dissatisfaction. The husband must foot the bills, or submit to page: 100-101[View Page 100-101] 100. THE BBWF . O .TRE HERUAT; OR, "qrt ai lectures ;"e qo atnAt coaking. .Hi busiess may not afford: it, but 'he, must;res9. t t dishonesty to keep upa retinue and routine of mock pleaasure; finally fail, and in the smash up, geahevr as many fragments from the wreck a. powsble. Now if we are all forced to this ma^ ding onr eac oth4r, by a disdain for labor and contempt for hunble honesty, when; we. ll become rogues together, at what discount will moral b e qoted? A younghachelor- said to us the other day iaanswer to " "hy he did not marry ' " ".My dear sir it is impossible-I cannot afford it:. the; family expenses of those who m. I visit, are not less thap. $3,000Q a year. Suc4h extravagaumce would soon breakme; my busines , coaud not satain it". ," T he why do: you not choose. some lady of d mp tie, habits, whose good sense would not wishsuh sh buttrfly :nosen ?'" "Sir, I ould not find -a lady whose education,- would sit me for a parter--. who- wOld be qcontet with any such econqmy as I can afford and I am resolved not'to marry forv the mene sake of mar- rirg. Notwithsstapding I shudder at. the. forethought. of ad- vncd ecelibaey. To Maqry fortuitous circumnstano, isto become apensineer on aoman's bounty,;. to seek for lessata2 conge- mfit 8 is to orMpre:omis tt dignit, of man's nobler sentiment; and o wed foolish faskiont isStogo intotorment, from which death would be a happy release. A fine sentiment wooud feel mor- tfied by the fist,4griadedby t e second, and haraseed4by all, the qoroi'vesils of fia ircicankered torture 4y the third, "And. if: by mes:t: chance, I. could discover such .a lady as 9oldsmith: desxibes i, his *Vicar: f. Wakefield,' I, would not al- low :hentoundergo that socila exilt whihe would most: certainly be: dealt out to u, nby my present oircle of, mst loving prindS." These eo mplainta^mest us e9ostRatly; they certainly must, mean something. And t -hey are not confined, to-the-,sigler-the mar- rideadmonisibS us toleep sIngle. Old coni iq tell ns of cQres in wedloke, and frankly own if they were out of bonds, they would remrin so8 ome wis to: say this pide of lie is. 'ti i mul by the ilux of suropeans, whoae pliant miananrsi degrade labor, and hm;or uo ,or PICTURES FROM L FEs 101 the snobbishness of the country. This is an error.- The grater never assimilate to the minority. Adopted citizes incorporate their ideas with our own, and early leatr to be what we would have them. The better-class of emigration will vie with our own best citizens; and the laborer from other- shores is subject to our will. Pocahontas did not retain her savage dress; when rhe dame into the pale of civilization. The painting in the capitol rotunda at Washington represents her, clad in the best style of raifient knowu to the pale fac6. Reputhcanitm is imperfect if it cannot embrace and leaven the world. About a year ago we were quartered at a " vety clever fellow's ' hotel in the Monumental. Whilst there, a young man from the East arrived in search of business. He came freighted down with moral -cotmnendations,--letters to "Christian dignitaries." We thought him a prodigy, and began to have an almost super- stitious veneratiot for him. During his stay, the Hotel -became unusually crowded, the land- lord, notioing the familiarity Which had grown up between us, changed the strbager into our roomn; which, by the way, was ample in its aecomtnodationis for several lodgets. At once we began to sift his character, fbund he was married, and professedly doated -on his wife, but was no %tickler for cohtinency. Had been mar- ried several years, and had no children, for the reason "they did ,not wish any; they were troublesome and expensive, and they could not afford to take care of them." He retmaited there until he found an engagement to go home with a Bayr captain, largely engaged in cutting ttither somewhete down on the- Peninsula. He did not -hesitate to say "he would engage a housekeeper for a second- wife -;and- we did not hejitatW to denounce him ag more beastly than a Mormon. We cut hie acqaaintauce; and will take good care it shall not be renewed. Wean ftespeet and -xtenuate an open reprobate, who is so by the force of fate, and bears itwith fonman firt nles, but for masked villainy .we have no commiseration. A apology -dus ^for tther ital of thii incident. We inseteid it, page: 102-103[View Page 102-103] 102 THE BRIDLE ON THE HEART; OR, for it is the most delicate illustration we could think of, to deline- ate the subject now discussed. That young man would not have abandoned his wife, nor she consented to his absence, had toil been in. fair repute, even in New England. And the loving ties which should have bound them, would not have been wanting, but that broadcloth is es- sential for a gentleman, and watered flounces indispensable for a lady of ordinarily accredited decency. Here "the bridle on the heart " made the wife to remain at home, to listen to stranger's ad- vances sooner than compromise position by residing with her hus- band in the plain home of his adventure, to make his adversity eomfortable, and fill his bosom with the full measure ofaf- fection,'rather than give up to a strumpet those divine emotions she had vowed to honor-and love. Affectation will hoot at this broad description of evil; we should be equally fastidious, did we not know the, body politic was being devoured by its cankered contact, which, we therefore dare assail-and which calls for the amputating knife of the surgeon to save the whole body from decomposition. How shall we do it? Wealth must bedespoiled of its power. Republicanism and simplicity must go hand in hand together, or together die and be buried in one common sepulchre. Monopolies must be checked by the intervention of the law: and law must be aided by public opinion. We grant char- tered privileges to companies who absorb money, and wield it to serious disadvantage to every one but themselves. For example: If we have a right to say, in the charter of any street railroad, they shall not charge over so, much fare, we have a better right to say they shall not pay less than a specific compensation for labor to their employees. Why? The public can walk, or go in their own conveyance, but the laborer must have work, for he must have bread. And if he is poor he must accept an unfair offer, or steal, or starve, or go to the alms-house. But you say he can do something else I What will he do? Where will he go, but he finds capital ready to masticate him-to extract his. spirit and life, for its own glory and emolument? What company is less rigid or more just? Ah I and are not rules systematized by these very corporate powers to hedge him about with company law, o PICTURES FROM LIFE. 103 against which it' is out of the power of the indigent to" wage a momentary contest. There is no alternative for outrage and ex- tortion, there is no protest to circumbound the oligarchy. Now we have laws saying,-ah apprentice shall have consider- ate treatment. And why? Because he is a minor and an or- phan without protection, and he shall not be imposed on. We have law forbidding the excess of interest. For what reason? Money can crush, and the moneyless shall hot be without a remedy. And if the law is a dead letter,-it is because public opinion is dead to its virtue. In Pennsylvania you have an ex- emption law. Why was it enacted? That the poor should not be turned out of doors, that the heartless should have a check on their demands. You have a school law, forcing the rich to educate the poor; that society may be :intelligent, and the public weal advanced. Also a law defining certain kinds of labor; for strength must not be, overtasked. The several branches of mechanism have laws within themselves, which afford but a poor shield against the en- croachment of capital. ' In great strikes the operator' eventually has to succumb. Those who need protection most are least able to contend. for it. Where is the chivalry of the 19th century, which allows a necessitated man to be compelled to labor eighteen hours in the day; for $7 per week; and a woman, because she requires food and shelter, to receive barely $2 per week for her wages, even'though the compensation will scarcely pay her board? To this we answer; The poor have the power, and they must use it not to allow this high piracy on human rights-not to suf- fer this outlawry to go free of punishment. Let there be a law to rank the man who oppresses by unjust wages with the counterfeiter and burglar; let the -penalty be the State Prison. The willing tyrant would be restrained by this 'method; and the more honorable would be found' ready to subscribe to a custom froin which they had been relucantly' driven by reckless rivals, who paid from choice what their more feeling competitors were constrained' to come down to, in order to contend with such op- position as was unknown to consequences, and foremost in oppres- sion.. ..* - ' page: 104-105[View Page 104-105] 104 THE BRID4E O TRE }AlT; OR, If men of benevolence would underwrite this move by their moral and individual sanction, and the criminal and voraci0;u cannibal be made to respect it by legal compulsion, society would soon regain its lost tone, and the chafing chains of social degra- dation be unloosed from the poor. We would not take away property at once, but qualify the use to which its owners should apportion it. The man of business, after realizing 6 per cent on its investment, should share the residue of profits with the em- ployees carrying on the business. And should the profits exceed a certain amount it should be disbursed for benevolent purposes. We hear it objected-that would not be equality. We very well know it. It would be unkind to dispossess the rich, at once, but give his children to understand they would not inherit it in tote; and let them be educated accordingly. At the parent's death it should go into lands for the relief of the poor, who should be quartered upon it, reserving only a bare sufficiency for the subsistence of the heirs with strict economy We suggest this as most feasible, for it is the most legitimate and final plan of restoration. The satiated politician, or superannuated merchant, indeed al. most every class of men, love the retired country home, when ambition wanes,--at the sight of the lengthened shadows of evening. The day must arrive when the earth will support none but husbandmen,-when every acre will sustain, four sonul, and every scrap of iron be made use of to, perfect its tillage The richest and happiest people in these United States are the Lan- caster county farmers. Their farms are small; they love to work $ practice economy; and realize health and content within their own homes, on their meagre allowance. They enjoy themselves more than any class of people we know of, and their happiness consists in being primitive. Their customs approximate to the old dispensation, where 40 acres was an allot- ted heritage. We maintain the earth is for use; and also that no one of the common family shall be allowed more than his share, and it should be only equal to his actual wants. To appropriata it for Parks, or hating. grounds, should not be lowe4l; nor ought it to remain in extenlrve tracts in the hands of any one PICTURES FPROM LIE. .105 owner. The law which sanctions the permission to sueh allot, ment, is the same principle, a little more extended, that setsaup the plea of "The Divine Rights of Kings." By national law we exonerate our robbery of the Indians, inasmuch as they did tot cultivate, they should not hold possession. And on the esame principle property is not rightfully the estate of another, after it has ceased with' him to be an expediency. In other words he shall not be allowed to heap up wealth to cater to his vanity, when, by that accumulation, others are left to misery and want and mortification and desperation and despair. For if crime follows a cause, which society has made law, the criminality of the act lies, not so much in the error committed by the individual, as the culpability of those who made error legal. Let us explain. The young lady who finds she is esteemed as on a par with the vilest woman in the country--simply because she works--that she is as much debarred from society as though no- toriously wicked, and yet conscious of purity of life and purpose6 and if with the coercion to labor, there is not only a social degra- dation attached to the toil, but also a social or general combine. tion on the part of the employees to pay less for that work, than can subsist the laborer; if, we say, with these stubborn facts, staring her in the face-with troubles such as these crushing her in the dust, she rends the lily from her brow; is she to censure or those who drove her to despair? Is there any one fool-hardy enough -to fly in the face of these facts? Will any one say labor is respectable? Would any one believe him if he would say the Billingsgate epithets, applied to working people, are not practiced by the daily conduct of all or almost all those who have moneyed position allowing such pre- sumable audacity? Here is a little item--hat politicians call a straw--clippet from the local columns of the Philadelphia North American of August 3d, 1860:- "SOtNG, 'BUT TRuLB.-A man, named John Ryan, apparently fell dead at Baldwin's locomotive works, on Wednesday. The coroner was sent for, and on his arrival the man- had come to an was alive. The coroner left, but in the' cours of the day wae page: 106-107[View Page 106-107] 106 THE BRIPLE - ON THE HEART; OR, again sent for, the man having died in good earnest in the second instance."' Would that influential, commercial paper have spoken so of a wealthy shipper, or an influential merchant, or leading broker? We know it will be said this is only a city local. So it is; but it shows the force and direction of the popular tide of opinion, for. all, quite as much so as though taking place among the leaders of its columns. We have here another article, to show the direc- tion of public opinion, which we copied from "The Examiner and Herald of Lancaster, Pa., of August 1st, 1860;- "I have not been taking much part-in politics of late years, but for the last few weeks I could not avoid being struck with the activity and interest displayed by the employees of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad in regard to the nominations about to be made by the Republican party. I amnot hostile to this company--in fact I have always been a warm friend-but this organized interference of its servants in the primary elections of our party has naturally aroused some feelipg of indignation in my mind, as it would in the mind of every independent thinker. I hope the time is far distant when our good old Commonwealth is to become the mere tool and chattel of a corporation, as is the case with our neigh- boring State of "Camden and Amboy." Can you tell me the cause of this particular excitement among the railroad men? A CATM OBSERVER." Without reference to the political complexion of the above ex- tract, we inquire,-Why the free use of the term "servants" And, why question the. right, the privileges of men to assemble for common consultation? Have men thus far removed from cotton fields-in the democratic, plain, industrious, honest district of Lan- caster-lost the rights of freemen. In either instance the argu- ment is on our side.; For if they have become the mere tool and chqrttel of aorporation .--there is power in some cause making the result; 'against which both cause and result we have and do protest. We object to the usage to enslave and the power to forge the shackles. Remove the cause and the effect will disappear. PICTURES FROM LIFE. 107 But here is still another scrap touching on our; discussion copied from the Philadelphia "Public Ledger" of August 23rd, 1860, Let the reader read studiously, we wish the article carefully no- ticed: "THE SALARIES OF CLERKS..-Messrs. Editors :-i'desire to call your attention to a subject that is at the present time excit- ing some attention in the city of New York, viz :-The salaries of clerks. The clerks ind our large cities (mostly young men and youths) are the hardest-worked and poorest-paid class of persons in the community. It is a business that requires a good penman, and a person of intelligence and education. Now, sir-while the cost of housed rent, provisions, etc, has doubled within the last fifty years, the salaries of clerks are the same now as then; sala- ries on which it is impossible to live decently. How many young men are there, who, after a successful course of four .years' hard study at our High School, are obliged, from absolute necessity, to take a clerkship in some store or office, at a salary of $50 per year? Young men are expected to board, clothe and otherwise provide for themselves on salaries from this amount to $150 a year, and married men from $300 to $500. Now, sir, this may do where the young man has his parents to provide a home and, to clothe him; but where the young man is obliged to strike out for himself, it is impossible to live on such a salary. - I think thatour business men should consider this subject in its proper light. They would find themselves the gainers in the end, by giving better salaries. Clerks would then protect their employers' interest more, and it would encourage. these young men in the path of duty. We would, then, perhaps; not- hear of as many robberies of em- ployers by their clerks as we now do. A- VICTIM." What volumes in that little article I What distress and suffer- ing it unvails: and with what meekness does it supplicate for suc- cor I Why are these men, not, belter paidl? What, right have men to work for less than a living t? . Our heart was, pained within ua when we read, that article., aictiml , .To what? ,i To peeu. page: 108-109[View Page 108-109] 108 THE BRIDLE ON TBS HSRT; OR, lation ' Where at leisure he repents from enied the babvy erbss- bars of a daMgetonl I Or does the' gwost of despair. gather -about his hearth? Has he a family in want; a sick wife withering and dying for lack of food adapted to her ehriveled form and dainty appetite? Or does he wander, the wreck of misfortune, from foul incon- staacy and buried hope'; that turned faith aghast, and gave to the subtle tongue with sordid power- the influence by which to- beckon his idol from his conjugal arms? Gol traitor You who have made him what he is; seek out his comfortless home in- the cheerless court--and ransom what you can. Whea life has reached this ebb, it is no longer worthy of con- cern, if reform cannot conciliate i if pity will not commute, or sympathy relax the iron grasp-nor law stimulate to a restoration of wrested honor, 'twere better to sleep in the cold arms of deathh on the " pent-field" of protest-than thus to live despoiled of all the manhood of a man. He again we 'will be met with that old extenuating plea for poverty, so quaintly used by the prosperous; i. e. "the road td distinetion, is open -t all,-1if they will but use the efforts placed within the rrea-h.' This is a delusive hyperbole itaented to instruct the hopeles in an illusive hope.- - Look at the pro rata relations of ptoperty and political place in contrast to population. -Decimate the representative of dol- lars and how ; aeh per share would it 'allow to :the individual? How many offices are there to supply applicants, and, too, how many asceessful business men over'the whole country? Are hot the-unprincipled and -unfeeling, sdfiAh, sordid, grovelling tnen, the owners of the world-and of all others are they not the least en- titled to the filchings by which thep overpower the less favored though mostly the more worthy and 'honorMe? - et -us for the sake of argument, admit the destruction of all principle, and a genera igrab for spoils, monetary and political; where, save tin riottltion, has htlmai edd clerk- at $800 pe year; ot the weas 4aleswoman at. $50 per annum, any possible' hope of a mere chance of advancement? , -P-x gWi7Os $ FMM rijB%! 109- Who will promote the. cpditionaof the mawses? Who that will not override and degade, and demoliab them for, the, sake of their own personal short-vied, greatness and preferment, But, says- one, you cut off the goal of ambition I No-o 1 we would not; we could not. We change the idea from S perverted to a primeval cheanel We ask to exalt all, aad debase. none; to- ameliorate, and not: oppress; to honor, and not, mortfy, to teach lessons of love, and not envy; to grow the olive tree-and exchange the sword for the sickle. And if we could destroy ambition, we would not lose by the in- novation. If we sought only the. supply ofwant for existence, and with it had content and peace, and happiness, would not that be better than the flummery of poetic exaction, aud artificial beauty, and sublime, and exquisite glory, at .the expense o suf- fering to the many, and an unsatisfying disquiet to- the few? It is no use to say the remedy is not to be, found. It will:not, if not attempted. "Let us try." And as theory suits, pragtice, we can go on to wiser perfection. We will not improve,.if we do, not make the t. d t effort will. be abartive unless. moral staimina is-its prime moer and governor, ; The politician is the instrument but b muat ato. be the originator. 'The sick can know. their' ailment, but sciene. must afftQrd the re- lief. So the social world may deplore its angnishr-bat Rmust look to the morall for the remedy!., Our subject-taltes this turn from thedeductions lo gical rela tions--but when-it goes into-moral ethics, we eafl attfollow it. It belongs. to the theologian.} whilst we. may peak of hia duty, it would be inconsistent, for immoraity to. instruct him i it, To him alone belongs the ability to prohibitG upriasiqg loWn0W s from exercising that animosity, fromi which it h ba hut recatly e cape'd. But says one you-aretroxbling yourself, over-a Wopiau theory altogether out of reason, and ,rovqlug tope deftihe dis tin gaished, which can nevor be-reduced, to, prWatial lprpoa , Be-. sides you are interferingswth what- is none of yQu hus'aess,, We would be sorr a to wasteAour timeaud laog r w a tv p:, not grounded welt ianprinoipr l. We Should hsaOn t wqpit page: 110-111[View Page 110-111] "O THE BRIDLE ON THE, HEfAST; OR, the grave beyond the promise of a resutiection. We would not triist--but- that- the Immutable Eterial is lethe Voucher, before whom men are as wax to the flame and with whom time is "an even- tual now." The brazen heavens of to-day may break 'into weeping on the morrow; aind the crisp earth yield again its- vintage. The heart sprilgs8 of the' proud will then fly open to the bolt -hammers of truth, and their glad sentiment come bounding to the smoking altar ladened with surrendered and once -worshiped offerings, as the willing tribute of a living spirit paid over to the cause'of a suf- fering humanity. It is our business that we cry shame! shame I when the cruel driver maltreats his horse--and the court would not exonerate his brutality. It is our business that the working people-of this age in our great cities-are driven into an illicit existence of which the bear in his mountain grotto would be ashamed. It is our con- cern, that the revels of the poor are the single amours of debatu chery-for the air grows thick with their- moral taint-,and the miasma may soon affect the-chastity of-a wife or daughter. The whirl of misery, and depravity which you, now notice with silent contempt mnay soone ngulf your jewels;$ and the prized promise of your hopes beeome theldrugged Portion of mourning and bitter- ness. The cause we advocate is ours by the gift of a God whose un- heard plaudits will fortify us to meet that public scowl which these declarations may engender; whose siunshiine will, make us pros- per, though 'beiddig before the breete, of an indignant and howl. ing contempt; set in motion to overpowerlthe dissenter. The rocking wind will-cause us to strike deeper for strength and nu. tritent; aind the extenided growth of the roots will nourish the dark green on the foliage of the shado winpg branches. We have the consolation of a self-sustaining satifaction the production Of this fragmentry effort.;: Though -the difficulties which have surrounded Us Whilst trying to' write, have prevented even the proper exercisie of that: mbietyof talent we/ may possess, We dismiss :it frnm our inspectibon Ito se-nd it forth to -the garbled scrttfny of thie criticalobsetve*.-- Audaif: by 6eliceesome humble PICTURES FROM LIFE . 11l mountain lad should take it up to-while the heavy hours of idle- ness as he watches the floating cork of his playing line from the banks of his highland brook, whose eye, clear as the fretting ripple -and heart ungrafted by fashion-and thought pure as the har. monious cadences of the zEolian wind that stirs the cedars of his green hills--lie drinks in and treasures this sparkling sentiment of amelioration; it may grow with him in his maturing strength into the manliness of gigantic proportions. And coming from his obscure home in the rocky gorges, break as a wild billow of destruction, over the set parapets of stoical caste, obliterate the citadel of fashion ; and set in motion a moral kneading revolution, that shall find neither check nor restraint; until the crusade gives out, over the smouldering fires of the last conquest risen to oppose its march. RALLY FOR THE RIGHT. Who lives for truth will strive for equal laws, Nor count the cost, nor weary in the eause; He courts not triumph for its vain applause, But strives 'gainst hope which hope thefoeman awes. The banner flaunting in the mid-day light, With countless braves to give its wavings might, By sun may fall to find a lasting night, By chieftain rent, triumphant in the fight. Not so with right, whose throne is in the brain, Which grows afresh with every new felt pain, Which reckons realms made up by subjects slain, And wakes to life when light once gilds the chain. The fretting rage aroused to claim its own,- Breaks off the link which bind him to the throne; Hence then the regal laws he dares disown, And reaps the harvest which his sires have saown. page: 112-113[View Page 112-113] THE ",;," ADVER'TISEMENTS. Let none suppose the persons advertising in the appended pages, are advocates of the doctrines held forth hy this cursorary production. On the contrary, they may be, and most likely are, tenadiously opposed to them. Most of the gentlemen have known us for years, and in all probability they gave their cards from motives of personal friendship, independent of any advantages which may accrue from the notices that are herewith printed-not as a speculation, but a reimbursing fund, by which,we have felt a willingness to cpntract for the material essential for the production of this work. The several parties are especially commended to our circle of friends and the general public, -of whom it becomes us to speak in brief detail. C. M. JACKSON & Co., appear on the fourth page of 'the cover. Their TONIc is sold over the States, and is received with universal favor. From all the evidences of prosperity that appertain to their magnificent Depot on Arch Street, we are led to the self-evident cnoluision,! their efforts are worthy of that patronage which a discerning public is daily rendering to their balm of health.,. JAMES, BABBa, succeeds the main boay of the' teit*. M'M Barber' s hiis- tory affords a striking illustration of perseverance and indUstry, blende d with tact, probity and economy, rising to affluence over apparenitly-in- surmountable obstacles. With allowable pride he frequently narrates the history f, his adversity, when a sick family leaned on an insolvent bankrupt, .and :a .hopeless debt overhung him; :andjtfrom his present stand-point, he looks down on the vale of surmounted difficulty, joyously, though not egotistically elated, by the Successful receipts of solid wealth. RICHARD G. STOTESBUMBY, keeps a full variety of Furnishing Goods for Coach:and Harness makers.. Mr; Stotesbury is a gentlemazi;of honorable and courte0ous bearing, and compreieensive ;bosiness attainments. His stock is equal to that of any market, and a purchaser, can order ;frommhim on as good terms as though selecting in person. page: 114-115[View Page 114-115] "4 THE ADVERTISEMENTS. D. W. C. BAXTER is a first class Designer and Engraver. The Ruins of the Church where Pocahontas was married, is one of his average efforts. The cut took precedence of place, because it calls up the recollection of eventful ages-when men selected wives and not estates-by marriage. The best blood of the Old Dominion. claim kinship with the preserver of the early colony. And not without just right. The Indian blood is never lost, however the complexiion may fade. Baxter's genius deserves a fortune. Were he less talented, he would be more wealthy-the two are at variance, and but seldom embodied in the same individual. R. C. WALBORNE & Co., offer gentlemen an outfit in Underclothing, Handkerchiefs, Cravats, &c. They cut a shirt by Euclid, and can suit the taste of the most fastidious bachelor or spruce dandy. ROBERT SHOEMAKER & Co., Wholesale Dealers in Drugs, are too well known to require notice or comment. Their goods are genuine, cheap, and well chosen. Their dealings are high toned and above suspicion, and their conviviality worthy the character of a pastorial patrician. To know them is a guarantee of grappled esteem. WILLIAM GRIFFITH has recently invented a Smoke Conductor to im- prove the current of air through smoky chimneys, ialso to ventilate Ships and Public Buildings. . The Ventilator is worthy of concern. Should any one find it difficult to read through this sentence, because his eyes are weeping-blind with smoke, from the whiffle of the veering wind, he may console himself that the Archimedean is a. relief, and if he will not try the experiment, he is not entitled to a particle of sympathy. Mr. Griffith will send Catalogues, and furnish proof of their capacity. WM C. MURPHY is "a man of letters." He can get up as showy a sign as any person in Philadelphia, and at the shortest notice, with any design required, from the sublime to the grotesque, or the fanciful ridiculous. By all means try him. T. W. & J. A. YOST, have every variety of Miniature Carriages "to please the children." - They have been manufacturing for several years, 'and are in possession of facilities to supply the heaviest orders. The Messrs. Yost's are clever gentlemen, and we may attribute their amiability, in part, to their pro- fession, upon the same principles that Horticulturists have greatest longevity. CLERY & STOCKDALE, offer a new brand of '"4Bwnside's Monongahela Whiskey." Of all stimulants, Whiskey is said to be the healthiest spirit for persons in health. THE ADVERTISEMENTS. 135 The Firm are offering;an article which they attest by chemical analysis -their onsicientouis effortS 6hould be appreciated. An attempt to sup. plant the adulterated- spirits bya genuine article, is a measure of laudable reformi, : \ WILLIAM CONWAY, is extensively engaged in manufacturing the various kinds of Rosi and Fancy Soap. His establishment is renmarkable for neatness, system and order. Factories are toq often scenes of filth. Mr. Conway's is an enviable ex- ception. The Packing floor of his Factory is as clean as the deck of a No..1 Steamer, ana the operatives are restricted to rigid rules of clean- liness. The capacity of Mr. Conway's machinery is equal to, several mil- lion pounds annually, and the quality and price on a par with other seaboard cities . . JAMs CA4MCHAEL, is extensively engaged in manufacturing Oil Cloth. He employS some hundred- hands, and makes up over $200,000 worth of goods annually, which are: shipped to various parts of the United States and Europe. Mr. Carmichael is a Scotchman of the real Hialt predileo- tion, and his word' has a meaning lsignificance, synonymous with truth. His goods are of his own make, and warranted. WM aI MJN, offerso tthe trde every variety of Statiofery Goods known to the miarket. With him re, :associed o me r tree orfour sons, ando sons-in-law; this in bs iness circles, is la ,ink of past us ges, and or. that alone we claim he deserves pre-eminent preferment over competitors in the market. Mr. Mann's prices'are fair, his material and ;Blank Books of fine quality, and with the commercial world Of tthe Quaker City, he is a general favorite i , : , : , ' .. JOSEPH R. FOSTER, has. 'half page card. pFoster is a noble fellow. A graduate of Neptune, and can supply "The Ocean's Bride" with a. "Tri- color," a Conestoga Wagon with a "para linter," or a Merchant's Front with :a ,":Sun Shade." lHe is worthy of patronage, and entitled to the "Anchor and Sta'r.".. . SAMUEL. MEOTHO & SONU, wake ( French BurrMill Stones l"Their's is a particular business, rejqlrimg accurap y. Mr. Meutcheon could notlet a Burr go away from his premises unless it was propperlai ied., 'e is one of .those, very ptticular me, who could not rest sisjfied untit everythiig was properly adjusted. Bi. S. BOABiJMA, iaiufaoiures 'every variety of Brittannia Ware. Mr. Bo irdimai oi'8stabliedh ibuse commands i luky custom, and is known at honmi - 'dheap a;mongstihe cheapest and best.' Buyers over- look themselves when they pass him by. page: 116-117 (Advertisement) [View Page 116-117 (Advertisement) ] I116 CT..b A4-.VERTIwENT FaRRaEL, HBrIau 9' & Co., are ":houelho ld wend, : mcngst commercial men. Their Salamanders are part and;fparel of :aiCounting HousE, even as indispensable as the Ledger and Gash BlooiJ; Their .reJ t osfs, 'answer affirmatively to the flames; ' Are you lnsurede " and the young .firm. is not ready to start business without one. ' MR. FISK makes all kinds and assortments'of Stencil Plathe. "i'Ai Stencil ma'k is a 'imue' salesma'nf i 'Ani iirf'prmtn of- oiw' Stencil,'ii worth a'thousiand pocket cards, for it sets- up he minrchaits' ign board ail 'der the country, O ut midstthe silent symphony and pleasing harmony of rippling;waters and warbling bir; and. sighing, wincs -bT the' btanks, of. the sleepy song- honoredj Wissahickon, is ,S ituated' the, Carpet Millg, of - JAMES LoaRD,- JR. It will be seen by the Advertisement, he is making somei half dozen varieties. The Dutch'--an article of solid texture, is offered withbiothers, and it is authenticatedc repoifte, Mr.: Lord' is the only manufadturer'6 f that article in the Philadelphiia Maijrket. i * . R. D. CLIFTON, Second and Diok streets, keeps on store :an&'gets up to order, every variety of Men and Boys Clothiing. "Mr., Clifton superintends his own business with assiduous attention. He sells low and deals honor- able. It will be'seerife irotesits againhst ClapStr!aps in his' ircutlar; And the humane can buy of hin without dread -of incuitng the bkocfFientious censure Of aiding to support a system of oppression.' r' ' - * EDSUND DRAPEBRS Advertisement will be seen on the' second pag e of the Cover. , W consider his :card;an orhament .toi the- bookri,^Wp refrain from laudation, -for the reason the Old Staff know the:name 'Of:,Draper as familiar as their -Logaristhms. Young Surveyors will bear in mind Mr. Draper has 'no ;suerio in Ithis country for, iprduciing a'. perfeCt'-field Ingtrument . "And lasti' not least," we, refer to!the oard4'iof A. HALBY,- Perfumer. Mr. Hawley makes an excellent article of Perfumes. ,His nameis not, so familiar as some of his rivals, because he has a more modest way of doing business than the trhade 'ge yrair,'i rrains' m- 'fioxng t^ie irit of his goods before the public. Perfinery is pbetry in bottles 'ti" perSon Who dislikes it must necessarily bie 'ioss. We canimagin- the "'evei of the' poet when he exrclaimed, "Awiake, O north wiffd, * aiiuid ; i e thou south; blow upon my garden, that tie spices'the of ifio* iit.; In. addition to thqe; delicate extrqatq named in BM.. HAVwL'tlitt, txe )etri- fioe which he makes and sells, is commentesd on at grt 1ln gt, h t-- have used it, an tfliink it would be cheap at fauri' , tim s l SeondC he tnu nSa ts 1 pi4l'...' ... . .. i ..' , Q A L, G.; ,:.T BR "Dtr MNA CTURCE RINBA OPN' "S.. Cor. Seord & ChestvrmpSts. i .1 't ;1-,P -YW ^A:F) g ' 1 ,-y , ; r, t f X r 1 b tW . , nWy^ ^ f . '7'ti k- , .. , I ,i r s , r , \7 j , t t a; CHURCHE 1f 1 f evB', MNFATEr F GOLD PENS O , :r : page: 118 (Advertisement) -119 (Advertisement) [View Page 118 (Advertisement) -119 (Advertisement) ] J4A fla CAmL VIAEL MANUFACTURER OF WHOLESALEB DEALER I1N ' ,9, "gr"l ' "' " 'Oebit I , .c .j ...' .. ... ' .' ., ., . k K V i. r./ - . . . gs ; o, es, &c, WAREHOUSE, No. 156 NORTH 3d ST., (Wth! ,e b et 9 * } . * . b'. a w .4 PHLADELPHA, PA. Merchants ore resae tfully iformed tha I mnufactureiese Goods at my FAl?6Yt 1RANilVILEt 2TE T, BETWEEN VENANGO STREET AND ERIE AVENUE, and they will be- sold at the lowest prices,andwarrated -of -the best material. FLOR'I ' O'tIL C -LOTH and to whic I so t r n "' * -i ,C F ;' ITO56 IN8CHEES WIDE. ' TABLE OWt c'LOTH VAtRIOUS WIDTHS AND STYES, NEW AND HAND- ),' '. .. ... 'P : ' ' . SOM E.'PATTERNS. , ; OIL CLOTHS FOR FIREMEN'S CAPES, - HOE r' 6'zwti2 a. '- 1.'OV JAMES LORD, JR., Carpet Manimfaoturer, WISSAHCKON MLLS, s21t WARD, Warehouse, No. 17 Strawherry Street, MANUFACTURING BOTH Y . 'POWER AND HAND LOQMS, HAVING ON HAND AN EXTENSIVE ; STOCK OF CARPETINGS, OF MY OWN MAKE, CONSISTING OF TREEPLYS, SPERIES, EX. ES, COX. XON, DUTC,- CO'TTAE, AID VENETIA1 OAlEETINGS,. To which I invite the attention of WESTERN AND SOUTHIRN,: BUYERS. page: 120 (Advertisement) -121 (Advertisement) [View Page 120 (Advertisement) -121 (Advertisement) ] Rscf PHLADELPHA, Ai Respectfully calls the attention oi MERCiANTS to his large stock of attenition to merit a continuance. STAPLE ad FANCY SOAPS, comprising- STBPLE add FlclNCY SOAPS cmprisrgs atten on to merit aO cn nanco. : H:' .N :.......: ....,.:.I... - .......... Sails for 13BoatsAmia ...us[lie is-. ge fJiia; Awnings, T-nts, Wagon and Canal Boat, over. SACIUNG BOTTOMS, HAMMOCKS, BAGS, &O, 'Cl'OAN 'I3ei HL4D-ATVSTIOW NTICE' page: 122 (Advertisement) -123 (Advertisement) [View Page 122 (Advertisement) -123 (Advertisement) ] * A, HdAWE L l'EY 'i& .' Co., PRACTICAL PERFUMERS, "7-orth Fourth St., Philadelphia. The Proprietors of this Establishment feel confident that their preparations will compare, favorably with any in the world, either foreign- or domestic. EXTRAOTS f6r the Handkerchief, of the mostexqtxisite odrs.' 0ftmAES and OILS for the Hair, of the finest texture and the sweetest perfumes. SHAVING OREAMS and TOILET SOAPS of the finest and most delicate formation. Alo, "WLEVS LQUID fAIR DTE, is decidedly superior to any now in use. A.- fHAW 'ii rS; OLdAT, O '01 OC OA.-This prepaation is the article above all others for Dressing the Hair. It is exceedingly fine and -delicate and renders the Hair Dark, Soft and Glossy. The Odor is delightful. No Qoe should be without it. POWDERS, BANDOLINE, ROUGE, &., and every variety of Fine and Choice Perfumery. HAWLEYS FRUIT EXTRACTS, for flavoring Pies, Puddings) Jelies, Confectionary, and Mineral Water Syrrups. All of which rival the best, and are surpassed by none. 6 A.. ZE3 A L ^VUM :E3 0 SOLIDIFIED DENTAL CREAM, CLEANISiN, WivltiSINrG, AND P'P.:iiLVTN THE s-i'rf,. This article is prepared on scientific principles, and warranted not to contain any thing infthe slightest degree deleterious to the Teeth of *lums. . Sompe'of our msthemtneditDental Surgeons have given ,their sanction tp, anr! clieerfu!ly rWeommetdeo it'l a preparation of, uperior qitalities for Oleasing, Whitening, and Preserving the Teeth. It cleans them readily, rendering them beautifully white and pearly, without the slightest ijury to the enamel. It is healing to the Gums where they are ulcerated and sore. It is also an excellent Disinfector for old' 4ecayed Teeth, which are often exceedingly 'offensive. It gives a rich and 'creamy taste to the mouth, cleansing it thoroughly and imparting a delightful fragranice to the breath. In short, it does all that could reasonably be expected of any article of this kind to do. A fair trial is all that is necessary to convinie tHgij-most fastidious or skeptic;l thai it is an aile of superior'nerit. rared onily by A. HAWLEY & CO., 117 N. 4th St., Phiiad'a. Mn. A. HAWLEY, Philadelphia, Sept. 25, 1860. Dear Sir -I do hereby certify that Ihxve use .HqwlQys Solidifiqd, Dental Cream in my praotice, and fnd it combines mere properties in cleaning, whiten- ing the teeth -than any thing I hiave ever met with. It is also pleasant to the taste and in no way injurious. Htherefore take great pasuin recommending this preparation to the publi' enerally. ' ' t TH - OS.. INGRAM, M D., DBqWISit 491 N- 4th St. MR. A HAILBEY, - Philadelphia, Sept, 29, 1860. Dear Sir:-Having tested your Solidified De-tal Cream, T:take( great pleasure in recommending it as a good article.'"Al bbing madeiaaquainted with the in- gredients I can certify to its containing nothing hurtful to the teeth. -;; ; '7 t: ' tB. ,: VAYoERSLICE SueatNfi DUL , 425 Arh St E. VANDERSLICB, SuazEON DENTST, 425 Arch St. -:' WJ JA rIoJAITfHS, Assignee & Manufacturer of Wmn. Ci adiick's R0oyali Paint -DOUBLE KLIFATQIN. -.'.- At RCH I'MEDIEAWN V- N TILAATOR S, SPARK iARRESTERS, AND SMOKE CONDUCTTRS, * - 305 Race St., Phila. 1I7 Book with reference and description forwarded free. Ventilator for places I Terra Cotta Chimney I Ventilator to Cure [ Ventilator for where pure air is with Smoke Conduc- Smoky Chimneys Ships and Rail. required. .tor attached,. I and back ra ghts road Cars. -- 'The' Paitntete' tInvent1in consists of. a Screw, sus- ^C^ ^ ^ pended within a conical tube, centred upon an impe- y I * nI/At rishable .ubstance, moving without, noise, and sur /^J^ Jr ^l-lll/ mouii stey a w nd*vane, which islung sodelicately J S \ thatthest breatiiof airWcas e it torotate. By ^ this contrivance, draught isa necessary effect. Applied to chimneys, the smoke MUST ascend. applied to the Jl 4Wdrirag of rooms, ventiltion- *,it zvz;li'-. The V i K'lfc]^ .prncipiple of the "AAIctIMbAiV 4IZ&tJlATo*aJ' can be adapted to any description of Ornamental, Terra cotta, Earthenware, or carved stone Chimneys, without de- - formi ng the edi ce -.; : '. ' BOTTOMn VIEwV^ TB ' it must b borne in mind that, although wind vanes ARcHMEDEAN ScaRw. are aflt:ed, the screw works by the upward current of warm air, altogether independent of the breeze outside. When the wind is strong and down draughts are to be apprehended, the advantages of the ro ary vane areat once per- ceptible. Not oily are dfwn drafts impossible, but increased draught s given: to the dhimney, which effectually prevents contrary currents of air exercising any. effect on the fire., ' page: 124 (Advertisement) -125 (Advertisement) [View Page 124 (Advertisement) -125 (Advertisement) ] WALBODI O, CO., : AQLL8ATAF ANDP .1RETA&IL ' W 'ACTIJURE OF SHKITS, N Invi ERS AM'D 'BR-SSES'STOCS , , id Dealers in everything relating to D rentleam eni s nSHNG GOOiDS, & -,7 NORTHSIXTH STREEiT, Ea;A3s I . .1 I ....x ',:I -^ . , , .Zinc PERS, & DRESS STOCKSuri Our by Measurement, and Warranted to Give SatisfaUctioD. are requested: to ieall -and examine POI are purchasing elsewhere. "T SHOJMAUIUR,.& CO., SALAE' D:RUCCISTS, )3, 20. & 207 NORTH FOURTH ST. 'HL:ADDLPHA, tion of SOUTmUINr M-iRJcHANTS to their large and' well assorted stock of" EICOALS, , PAJNTS, "T-E Ita D l, f iSS, BJOAIN WB1M;DOW tQLAtOO re,: at our Steam Paint 'Mills, White Ijead, and rell as ;Colors in all their variety, of unsurpassed e lowest market prices. s is of our own Importation, and of the most approved Brnds - . . k^ OUR sTOOK OFr [LVERED"AND ROUGH PLATE GLASS. : and the prices as low as in New York. *i : ISis of our :own!'importaon, and of the most page: 126 (Advertisement) -127 (Advertisement) [View Page 126 (Advertisement) -127 (Advertisement) ] STRANCERS A RE: INITED m- -- TO CALL AND EXAMNE ONE QF THE LARGEST ASSORTMENTS OF ACCOUNT BOOES AND STATIONERY, CHECK DATS , DRAFTS NOTES, COPYIFG BOS AND PRIESZES, EBIVELOPES, HR AND NOTE PAPERS, To he found in any establishment in the U. States. Sold Wholesale and Retaili at low and uniform prices. *(-Tnae Prices fmaar ed. in plii iiEgures. on eaoh aiticle. 43 South Fourth St. above Chestnut, ' : , k . PHLADELPHA. -A UNIVERSAL BENEIIT, It is a lamentable fact that.,we, above all other nations,. have a tendency to become prostrated in body and mind while yet possessing the attributes of.. youth, and when the body should possess its greatest vigor. The causes of this are manifold, one of the most prominent of which is the practice, when we feel the lassitude and general prostration -to which humanity is subject, of taking as a medicine the various drugs, whose effect in: this- instance is to weaken before strengthening the system, and by the exaction of low diet weaken-the appetite, the medium of health. Under these circumstances it mut -be a blessing if there be a spe-- cific for these harrowing complaints. Such a blessing is embodied in an article knbwn as . "BURNSIDE'S"OLD RYE ,WHSKEY MANUFACTURED AT. PITTSBURG,0FTHE PU4EST ,AND PLUMPEST RYE, AND DISTILLED WTl'; THE PUREST SPRING WATER. With these pure attributes it must be devoid of- those qualities which, -in ordinary whisley, produce tloser^bad effects represeated by, severe headache and bleared e0yes. The SOLE AGENTS for this invaluable article are . ,Messrs, CLERY"&-sT0CKE ItN WHiHO'SE "STORAE, 328 e al stet May be found thi'sWhiskey, - matured by an, existence of twenty yearS wtiie?-nonue is odfiered fbo sale :i'oh'hasnot an age of thiree& years - - TO PRIVATE GENTLEMEN,OR ROPRIETRSO F'HOTELS, We would recommend this -Whi'skey asbiyant article which would at once establish theii reputation of keeping excel- lent liquor; while to- the invalid wemwould especially urge the benefit which; must follow the- use of this -splesdid. Whise. * * -Aike*"^;y. * * On . page: 128 (Advertisement) -129 (Advertisement) [View Page 128 (Advertisement) -129 (Advertisement) ] E9;4 84 2 - ...... .. . 1 .... ' 'WARE ao, Gpos. PT3&e2 Apoo s CSptt Deet. , MAN..V rOT E IN A W -. BDil I AM ' ri W / fB/r i CONSTANT- LY ONAND, SugaT Bs. S1op1 1 Moses Cups l. Table Spoons.- Tea Spoonis. Spittoons. Decanter S. M. ISEOUTOHEN' BUCKWHEAT KI & SRUTO ,VEf BIJCKWIhAT RTIR & SMtUT MACItNE cle) .tci X3, ETe. 0dpri teijla 1ICHARD iG STOTESBURY, Importer and M f ftucrer f ; AN u *' * . - N 3, . 'I . - ,: CIOAC FURNITURE, Nos. 54 & 56 N. Third St., PH LADELPHA, Has on hiswd a large assortment of the-Labov e Goad, comprising, B1DLE BITS. TB , ADS. CLOTBS. STIRRAPS XOS. CC AROIlA: *JBOfLTS. STURNS] -I CK AS. &, & o.", o. H RtI!S^,S -a i'w" .(Qige) .0 XOSS, AiTTER HAIS-.HSPSQ . -HAIR. ThACE e o 'a*OWHSS Atis) Slr M ae ORNAQW(T L&Q1 ,t W SADlTS'NOT S.^ PI t iNT :. DEER'S ITATI ENAX'D LEATkifi. of all kioe HAtES , ,tPAT , , , FG O S sitfo- s i Am'-8 ireL . 44 s SPOKES. SHAFTS & POLES. HUBS, , BOWS. BATDS. - *KNOBS. CARRIAGE BOLTS. TUNED STICKS.; DASH RKS. &c., &c., &c. And thedwzvT rfetoef clartyiIso iERdSdiersand aci Makers, whoe 9orders jare rpsppefully solicited,.w Jil will, be sptd t the very r4 lo't-itt-ftCah, or acredit of Bithst Akwedpater;' or 06AEB'B flri XNB%'D LE;BIB. ofall page: 130 (Advertisement) -131 (Advertisement) [View Page 130 (Advertisement) -131 (Advertisement) ] T RNAMENTAL PAINTIN B..... .. &C., No. 48 South. Third St., Philadelphia. i ,. RO BRh, C Ft so N. E. cor. of- Seond a Doc ktres. The tricks of trade have never been more clearly dislayed than in the clap-trap advertisements of the day ,uthift the, public desire first. class garments, 20 per cent. less than Chestnut treet , i, .w4. humbug, they should calla * : ; .t' , CHftons Bazaar of It has often been, ,asked, why cheap goods, ' fas:'n:ly made up as those sold on Chestnut Street, anno roctreet. It can be done at this house, as their expensesare a.'least 20 per cent. less than heretofore, and the public wil reapthe benefits. The present location iS'ns'&Ehandy;, t'h... .. location is as handy to the business public as formerly. The new FALL AND 'IWNTER! OD $ Are ready for eamTination. "r Call and see for yonrselv, . O0 ALL STYFSS ANPD:,' iP. . - V, ,N }BMEM N. E. COB. O, SSSS page: 132 (Advertisement) [View Page 132 (Advertisement) ] T W.A& . A1 YOT, 214 DOCK STREET, PHLAP. LPIA. Mganufaoturiers of all kinds; of ' ' "' CIILDRE]N'S CARRIAGES, Velbcipedes, Wheelbarrows, Hobby Horses, Sleighs, Sleds, Carts, &c. WHOLESALE AND RETAIL ALSO, 'FINE STEEL SKATES. ".w * S OTQE , u Cor. of'd Streeet IRARDi AYENIUE.
