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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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ICHABOD . Seven summers have set , and earth is once more sweetly flooded "With fragrance , for the virgin leaves and violet banks have budded ; Heaven claspeth Earth as round the heart first broodeth Love ' s sweet glow , A blush , of flowers is mantling where the silken grasses grow ; All things feel summering sunward , golden tides flood down the air , Which burns as angel-visitants had left a glory there : But darkness on my aching spirit shrouds the merry shine , I long to feel a gush of Spring in this poor heart of mine !
Morn opes heaven ' s starry portal , back the golden gates are drawn , And all the fields of glory blossom with the rose of dawn ; But never comes thy clasping hand , nor carol from thy lips , That made my heart sing like a god just bursting Death ' s eclipse ! Sweet voice ! it came like saintly music quiring angels make , When Pain sat heavy on my brow , and heart was like to break ; Methought such love gave wings to climb some starry throne to win , Thou didst so lift my life ' s horizon , letting heaven in .
I ' m . thinking , darling , of the days when life was all divine , And love was aye the silver chord that bound my heart to thine ; When , like two dewdrops , in a kiss our twin souls wed in one , And life bloomed at thy coming as this green earth greets the sun Ah ! still I feel ye at my heart , and , ' mid the stir and strife , Ye sometimes lead my feet to walk the angel-side of life ! The magic music yearns within , as unto thee I turn , And those brave eyes , a blaze with soul , thro' air my being burn !
Come back ! come back ! I long to clasp thee in these arms , mine own , Lavish my heart upon thy lips , and make my love the crown And arc of triumph to thy life . Why tarry ? Time hath cast Strange shadows on my spirit since we met and mingled last ! Yet there be joys to crown thee with : the sunshine and the sweet I ' ve hived , like honey , in my heart , to share it when we meet ! How I have hoarded up my life , how tenderly I strove To make my heart fit home for thee—its nestling Bird of Love !
God bless thee ! once the radiant world thy beauty , crown-like , wore ; But life hath lost a tender grace that cometh never more ! The flowers will garland songful Spring , and happy birds make love With melting hearts , a-brooding o ' er their passion in the grove ; But thou wilt never more come back to clothe my heart with Spring ; Dear God ! Love ' s sweetest chord is turned to Pain ' s most jarring string ! The glory hath departed , and my spirit pants to go Where , ' mid life's troubled waters , ' t will not see tho wreck below ! Gjsuat .-d Massey .
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CONFESSIONS OF A TIMID LOVER .
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Part IV . My Passion for Clara Lawrence j and how I lost her . Some months after the event last recorded Colonel Grant invited me for the shooting season to his charming place in H erefordshire . I am no great sportsman ; but I like the collaterals of sporting : the country house , the lively guests , the purposeless rambles , and tired evenings . No place like a country house for flirtations ! You are thrown so much together—you are so often alone—and there is such a deficiency of occupation that you must make love .
I arrived at the Grange on the 30 th of August , intending to execute tremendous slaughter on the partridges , and on the female hearts within reach . I found nothing but men at the Grange except Mrs . Grant , and one young lady ; the colonel warned me against losing my heart to her . Imagine , O you whose eyes are destined to peruse this chronicle of my life 1 imagine my trepidation and surprise on being introduced to this young lady and discovering the charming milliner whose sad and pensive face had witched away my heart , and whom I thought I was addressing as Miss Hodgson !
She recognized me instantly , and a deep blush overspread her lovely countenance . I never felt more nervous . I dare say I looked almost foolish . Her presence was soon explained . The colonel told me Clara Lawrence was the daughter of a brother officer who had left her penniless . She had tried to support herself by her needle , but had now by the colonel ' s interest succeeded in obtaining a situation as governess in Lady Dashwood ' s family . Meanwhile her home whs at the Grange .
1 erhaps you think I was delighted at being thus in the solitude of a country house with so charming a creature ? A mistake ! 1 was exceedingly uncomfortable . I could not help supposing she must have told them the wholo of my adventure with Amelia , and as in that affair I had not cut a very brilliant figure it was natural that I should feel sore on the point . Whenever they laughed and I did not clearly understand what they were
laughing at I was tormented with a suspicion of their laughing at me . There seemed to be an undercurrent of fun at my expense . It was this little hu miliation which prevented my feeling for Clara Lawrence the affection I should otherwise have felt . All her former charm of manner had disappeared in my eyes , because 1 saw , or fancied I saw , a reference in her smiles to my absurd adventure . One day , however , unable longer to endure this state of suspense and suspicion , I summoned courage to speak to her . She then informed me that the anonymous letter had been written by herself .
" I do not know whether I did right , " she said , " but I could not bear to see your generosity so much abused . When you asked Miss Smith my name she told you in fun it was Hodgson , and informed us of it the next morning . Miss Hodgson anxiously awaited the result , and when your letter came she read it aloud . She resolved , in spite of my remonstrances , to answer it , and keep up the joke . She silenced me by calling me a prude ... " Here her voice trembled slightly as she added" She even accused me of wishing to write to you myself . This sarcasm always closed my mouth , till my patience becoming wholly exhausted , I adopted the rash plan of warning you . "
She looked so lovely as she spoke ; there was something so mild , so winning , so gentle , so retiring , that I was greatly moved , and seizing her hand I exclaimed" Bless you for it ! Bless you I " Alarmed at my temerity I stammered out some excuse and hastily left the
room . From that moment there was an exquisite constraint in our manner towards each other ; an embarrassment which brought the colour into our cheeks and gave a meaning to the most insignificant words . Clara was very shy . Her position doubtless heightened this natural reserve . Then , too , the strange relation in which we stood to each other : her consciousness of my admiration for her , and my consciousness of her knowledge of it—this made a sort of interest between us as embarrassing as it was delightful . She knew how I admired her , and I knew that she knew it ; this knowledge made us both uneasy .
Now my silent system of love-making had its due effect ; because I for the first time met with one whose delicacy of soul appreciated it . Clara ' s eye scarcely ever met mine ; and it was seldom she ventured to address an observation to me unless we were alone . I was over head and ears in love , and felt sure my passion was returned . W e never spoke of love , but our silence was more eloquent than words ! Never shall I forget the transport of embarrassment and pleasure with which at her request I brought down my flute to play duets with her . She had remembered my flute ! How charmed I was as I stood beside her piano breathing forth sentiment from that chaste and simple instrument ! How
beautifully I played ! And then as we paused to talk about the music , as our hands sometimes in turning over the leaves came in contact and were swiftly withdrawn with intense consciousness on both sides , how deliriously the hours passed , and how little I envied the stupid fools who were broiling under an autumnal sun over ploughed fields in the hope of bringing down a few partridges ! Did the wounded bird ever flutter as Clara ' s heart then fluttered beneath my impassioned gaze ! Hours of bliss ye hover round me still ! the flowers have fallen—are dead—but the perfume still clings to them ! Every trivial action of that period I remember with singular
vividness : for nothing is trivial which is sinned upon by love . I remember , as if it were but yesterday , her breaking off a geranium and playfully fixing it herself in my buttonhole . I wore it all that day , wore it in tenderness and pride . I then put it in water , and kept it on my toilet table until it was quite dead , when I folded it very neatly in a piece of paper , on which was written " From Clara , " and locked it in my dressing case , where I have it yet . I have also n great pile of manuscript verses , all addressed " To a withered flower . " I shall publish them when poetical taste revives j at present publishers assure me that poetry is a drug .
New charms every day disclosed themselves in Clara . I determined on making her my wife . It was necessary , however , first to make my declaration , and for that I lacked nerve . It was not that I doubted her love : every look and every tone assured me of it . But my invincible shyness always kept me back . I never could stretch forth my hand to grasp a fruit until I was sure it was within my reach . Perhaps it was because I had been several times deceived ; perhaps it was my natural reserve . There are men who only act upon impulse or upon necessity , whose " first lesson in swimming is a shipwreck . " I was of that class . Daring and ingenious in my schemes , I could seldom bring myself to execute them . In thought a hero , in action 1 was a perfect Hamlet . Hamletthe
Indeed I have often thought I read my own character in ; same elegance and refinement , the same high thoughts , but the same perhaps over-susceptible imagination—a super-refinement of delicacy . Hamlet is a great and noble creature , who wants a little more of earth , a little more of tho coarse vigour of ordinary mortals to make him as great among men as he is among minds . I was a great mind . I fancy Shakspeare must also have been of our class , or never could he have drawn such a character . Indeed , may not one say that this delicacy is characteristic of all the very great minds ? Your Napoleons and Cromwells have , perhaps , more vulgar strength ; but they are as potters' earth compared with the exquisite china of the highest order of intellects . But I digress .
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GH nm ori Le cortesria l ' auatlcc imprcsc io canto . —Akiohto .
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . — Goethe .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 28, 1850, page 644, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1854/page/20/
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