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    Untitled Article

    THE UNSEEN WITNESS . ( LEAVES FROM A JOURNAL KEPT BY No . 3 IN OUR STREET . ) By CATHERINE CROWE , AUTHOR OP " SUSAN HOFLEY , " " LII / ST DAWSON , " " NIGHTSIDB OF NATURE , " &C . Part IV . Shortly after this event had taken place , I find I dropt the habit of keeping a journal , which had , in fact , become an insipid record of washings , dressings , dandlings , and feedings ; but I find from my general observations that these were very happy days for my mistress . She was incessantly occupied at home with her child and in supplying its necessities , which appeared to me so numerous and disproportioned to its size that I often wondered how so diminutive an individual could consume so many yards of drapery , and questioned with myself how Adam ' s eldest son had been furnished with a wardrobe . But my mistress seemed to think she never could provide it with things enough ; and all this buying and making kept her very busy . Besides , she got air and exercise now ; for when the nurse carried out the baby she always accompanied them . In short , as I said before , these were happy days j and often when Mr . Leslie called my mistress was so much engaged in the nursery that he went away without seeing her at all . But , alas ! this happiness was not to last ! One day , when the baby was about seven months old , Mr . Joddrell had invited some friends to dinner , and , as it was to celebrate the anniversary of his wedding-day , great preparations were made for the occasion . But , in the course of the previous night , the child was taken ill , and by the afternoon had become very seriously so . My mistress wanted her husband to put off the company , but he said it was too late to do so ; so she told him he must attend to them himself , for she could not leave the child ; and , indeed , she never did ; but , from the moment it was taken ill till it died , she sat by its bed-side watching it , as if on that feeble gasping breath hung the fortunes of the universe . Never shall I forget her agony—it was the first grief of that description I had witnessed . I have seen much sorrow before and since ; but none that has touched me more than hers . Poor young mother ! How she hung over that little crib ! How she wept ! How she sobbed ! How she knelt and prayed ! The infant was ill for eleven days—eleven long clays and nights she never left it—never had her clothes oft '—never lay down , but at night sat beside the crib in an easy chair j and , though her weary eyes were sometimes closed for a few minutes , she never seemed to me to sleep ; the feeblest motion of the baby roused her . On the evening of the eleventh clay , the doctor seeing that the child was about to die , entreated the mother to leave the room , but she would not . She stood gazing with inexpressible anguish on its suffering features ; and , when the spirit went out of it , and there lay motionless the tiny form on which she had lavished such a prodigality of love and care , she felt that the world had no more life in it , no more joy—all was dead for her . They put her to bed , and tried to persuade her that she was ill with fatigue ; and perhaps it would have been better if she had been ; but she was young , had a fine constitution , and her sufferings produced no material physical eilect upon her ; not enough in any degree to blunt their poignancy . So on the following day she said she could not lie there , and she insisted on getting up and being allowed to see her child . She opened the door , for it was in the next room to hers , and bade the nurse that was sitting there leave her alone . The woman was beginning to expostulate , but she stamped her foot with the impatience of insupportable wretchedness , sternly bidding her begone immediately ; and not till the door was closed , and she was alone , did she approach the little coffin , which stood upon a table in the centre of the room . That meeting was too sacred to be profaned by mortnl eyes ! There ; lay her heart ' s darling , looking like the image of an angel moulded in wax 1 So fair , so calm , so pure ! She stretehed out her arms over it , and I saw what a burning longing she had to lift it and lay it to her bosom ; but tlmt she folt it would be a profanation of its holy sleep to stir it . Then she threw them up to the sky , as if to arraign Heaven for its eruelry , and cried "Oh , ( Joel ! Oh , God ! " intones of unutterable anguish . She " was not resigned—her poor heart rebelled agninst so much woe .

    From that time , till the coffin was carried out of the house on the following day , she scarcely quitted it for a moment ; and then , when she had seen the last of it , she sank into a state of bitter despondency . Mr . Joddrell was quite perplexed , and did not know how to deal with her . He was fond of the child whilst it lived , and regretted its death ; in short , he felt as men in general feel about these things ; but he was quite incapable of comprehending the intensity of her grief , nor the amount of her loss . One element of his

    daily happiness and interest was gone , but he soon reconciled himself to its absence , and felt much as he had done before the child was born ; the routine of his life went on as formerly ; and , but for the sorrow-stricken face of his wife , he would soon have ceased to think of what had happened . But the light of the world was gone out for her ! What signified all the life that wls in it , when the one little spark that had brightened the earth and would have lighted " her to Heaven , " was extinguished . She was environed with darkness ! over-shadowed by despair !

    At length , finding she got no better , the doctor recommended country air and change of scene ; and , as Mr . Joddrell could not get away from his office , he sent her to Norfolk on a visit to her friends . She was absent six weeks ; whilst master got on as well as he could , dining sometimes with his neighbours , and , when he was at home , taking care to have Mr . Leslie with him ; so that they became more intimate than ever . My poor mistress did not seem much improved by her journey . She was calmer and more collected after her return , attended as formerly to her

    household concerns ; and she had no longer those violent bursts of grief that had been so perplexing to master before she went ; but she evidently took no interest in anything , and seemed to have fallen into a fixed melancholy . Acquaintance and people came to the house as usual , but she was so absent that I think she seldom knew what they were talking about . She was a good deal blamed ; they said it was absurd to give way to all this despair about a mere infant , and that she was not doing her duty to her husband ; perhaps this was true ; but nobody can judge of these things but those that have felt them . Burthens fall with various pressure ; it is not alone the weight that is to be considered , but the amount of strength that can be brought to support it . No one person can judge for another in these cases . I have seen enough in my time to know this .

    The only person that seemed to sympathize with her and understand her grief was Mr . Leslie . He and my mistress had become intimate during my master ' s visit to Margate , two years before ; and although , whilst the baby lived , she had been too much occupied with it to see much of him , now that she was alone again in the world , he felt much for her , and tried all he could , by bringing her amusing books , and talking to her on entertaining subjects , to cheer her spirits . Indeed , his visits were the only comfort she had , for then . ¦ he could talk of her baby—a subject which nobody else cai-ed to hear about . They said it would do her harm and renew her grief ; and even Mr .

    Joddrell always turned the subject when he saw her tending towards it . But Mr . Leslie was different ; instead of averting the subject he plunged into it ; listened to her lamentations , joined in her regrets , discusssd her feelings ; talked of her grief and sufferings , not only sympathizingly , but philosophically ; commented on the various effects such calamities produce on various people ; and adduced many examples of similar misfortunes , past and present . It is wonderful what good this did her , and how the love of listening to

    him grew on her from day to day ; and although , when Mr . Joddrell was present , this kind of conversation was excluded ; yet the confidence and sympathy it established between them naturally attached her to Mr . Leslie , and made his company more agreeable to her than any body else ' s . And she had a great deal of it ; for the habit of dining at the house three or four times a week which had commenced during her absence in the country , by Mr . Joddrell ' s desire , still continued . My master had got accustomed to see him at the table , and my mistress ' s bad spirits rendered the company of

    a third person more desirable . So passed several months ; and my mistress got gradually better . There was sometimes a smile upon her lips ; and I even occasionally heard her laugh at one of Mr . Leslie ' s stories about the eccentric clerk . He certainly told them very well ; and had considerable powers of imitation . In August they all went out of town together , and I was left alone with Ann and Sarah ; and dull enough I found it ; for whether it was to prevent my seeing what was going on or not , I do not know ; but they shut up my eyes ; only leaving the two open below , which looked into the area , where there was

    nothing to see but the water-cask and the dusthole . Even these they shut when they went out , which was very frequently ; and I must say that I considered this proceeding a refinement of cruelty . No doubt it made me more curious and inquisitive as to what happened within , when there was anything to amuse me , and I very soon observed that a smart young man , in a footman's livery , began to pay frequent visits to the kitchen , especially on the evenings that Ann was at home alone ; and that he was getting what . Sarah called very sweet upon her . Sarah , indeed , warned her to beware of him ; but Ann took it ill , and answered sharply that she was * ' able enough to lake

    care of herself . " I fancy Ann and the footman frequently met out of doors ; for they used to come ' in together ; and by the quantity of leisure he seemed to have , 1 judge his family must have been out of town too . One evening that Sarah happened to be from home , and Ann and the footman were taking tea together , he began to show symptoms of more than ordinary tenderness , and evcu ventured so far as to steal his arm round the young woman's waist ; whereupon she bade him keep his hands to himself ; and

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    PSALM . All things good for good unite , Evil things not long are single ; ' Tis the dark hours bring the light , Sightless atoms fashion sight , Discords still for concord mingle . To the wise and to the brave , Living is as fair as loving ; Death brings flowers , on every grave Moonlight sleeps , and willows wave Greenly while warm winds are moving . Under Heaven ' s imperial cope , I , a shade , mid shadows wander ; But , if shadows round me slope , Godlike are they , giving hope , Light and substance wait me yonder . M .

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    We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful enco-uragesitself . --

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    452 Cfie & *****? tSAfURftAY ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 3, 1850, page 452, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1849/page/20/