50 tened anxiously. All was silent. 'Norris' she repeated. The Wreckers. 'Silence! and confound thee!' was the ruffian's reply. band! O come! watered. I'll bring it you as pure as from the still!' He disappeared; and, after the lapse of about ten or fifteen minutes, returned with 'I cannot help it, Norris' rejoined she, a fresh supply. He opened the door unstill whispering. You are wanted, hus-observed, but stopped short upon remarkDo come!' ing that the place which he had just quitPresently he vociferated. The last ted, was occupied by three or four who article was put in. He locked the chest, were intently employed in examining the and unbolting the door, threw it open. head of the dead body, from which the 'Well! Is my dinner ready?' he noisi-sheet had been partially removed. The ly demanded, entering the outer apart-rest of the company were leaning forward, ment, and looking toward the table-which apparently absorbed in what was passing. had been constructed out of the fragments Tis an ugly mark!' said one. of a wreck-a corpse lay stretched upon it! At the head, and at the foot was alother. group of his neighbors. He stood for a moment or two transfixed. 'No rock could do that!' observed an 'No' interposed a third; "tis more like the blunt end of an axe-head; see! 'What means this?' at length he boldly here is the regular mark of the edge, all inquired, with a loud voice, striving to round! I would not be Black Norris for conceal a cowering heart. all he has got by this day's work!' 'Merciful powers!' exclaimed one, lift- Why not?' vociferated the wrecker, ing the rifled trowsers, which the wrecker springing forward and confronting the had thrown upon the floor. 'Merciful speaker. powers! if it is not your father's body, Every eye was turned toward the wreckNorris, that you have been stripping!' er, in whose countenance desperation and 'My father's body!' echoed Black Nor-gathering fury were fearfully depicted.ris; the blood utterly forsaking his No answer was returned to his question. eheeks. 'Why not?' repeated he, with increased 'Yes! There it is, stretched upon the vehemence. table!' 'Why not!' echoed the young man, reBlack Norris did not attempt to speak covering from temporary surprise. Why, He looked at the body at the bystanders who was it stove your father's forehead in, -at his wife-at the body again-with an Black Norris?' added he, after a pause. expression of perfect vacuity in his coun- He had scarcely time to duck his head. tenance. He then approached the table, The vessel which the wrecker carried, half seated himself on a corner of it, his flew over it, and in the next moment the back to the corpse, and with one leg upon young man's throat was in the ruffian's the floor, kept swinging the other, looking gripe. wildly around him. His wife, who had 'Loose your hold of him!' cried several dropped upon the stool on which she had all at once. Black Norris paid no heed to been nursing her child, sat the image of them. Three or four of the strongest and horror. The rest kept silence. boldest rushed together upon him at once; 'It can't be helped!' at last exclaimed overpowered him and rescued his almost Black Norris. The dead have no use for suffocated victim. The wrecker drew his clothes. We'll bury him to-morrow, and knife and brandished it. They rushed wake him to night.' upon him again before he had time to His auditors looked at one another, but make a stroke with it, and wrenched it made no remark. Pipes, tobacco and from him. His wife, who, it appeared, spirits, were speedily procured and placed had retired into the inner apartment durupon the same table with the corpse, ing the interval of her husband's absence, which was now covered with a sheet.now burst from it, sank on her knees beBlack Norris seated himself at the head. fore him, and, clasping him round the legs His neighbors, whose numbers were now with one arm, while with the other she increased by occasional droppers-in, ac- supported her infant, implored him to be commodating themselves as they could, calm. A blow leveiled child and mother with stools, empty kegs placed on end, to the earth! With horror of the savage and pieces of plank converted into tempo-act, the spectators stood awhile, as if berary forms, sat ranged around. The room reft of the power of speech or motion.— vaxed merry, save where the wrecker's For a second or two the wrecker glared wife sat crouching near the fire, her head around him like a fiend, then suddenly supported by the wall. At length the first rushed into the inner room. He searched upply of spirits was out. here and there, blaspheming all the time, I'll bring you better!' cried the wreck-cursing this thing and that thing, as any 'What we have been drinking was thing came to his hand except what he wanted. At length, however, he succeed-sitting with her back toward him; her ed in finding his pistols. Then a pouch skin of go pure a whiteness, that it fairly filled with slugs, and last of all, a powder-shone. The waist and shoulders of such horn, presented themselves. Hastily hea mould, as of itself apprises the beholder loaded and primed the weapons, and pro- of the presence of surprising richness; alceeding to the door with one in each hand, though unrefined, uninformed, he is utter advanced a pace into the other apartment. ly at a loss to tell in what it lies. A mo'Now!' roared the wrecker, 'now, who ment he stood; then, abashed, confoundis the man to come on?' No one stirred.ed-he was on the point of retiring, when I give you just as much time,' continued the female turned suddenly round. he, as it will take you to clear the house. Kate!' burst in astonishment from the When that is expired, I fire at the man young man's lips. that remains.' The next moment the maniac, uncon A wild, shrill, piercing laugh was the scious of her situation, was hanging upon answer to his menace. It came from the his neck. Wildly she kissed him; strainhead of the corpse. The maniac was ing him to her bosom and laughing. standing there. The wrecker's axe was He has done it! he has done it!' she in her hand; the blunt end resting on the almost shrieked. He has murdered his own father. Here is the hatchet with mark in the dead man's forehead. Ha ha!' she cried, exultingly; there which he beat his forehead in,' added she, is your father, Black Norris! a corpse up-springing from him to the other end of the on the plank of wood, to get possession of room, and snatching up the instrument whick, you murdered my father; and here and flourishing it; her sun-burnished is your axe upon the mark which you hands and neck forming an extraordinary made in your father's forehead when contrast with the snow which had never told you, as you were rifling him on the been before revealed to the eyes of her beach, that his eyes were moving, and lover, whose mother now entering from you coaxed me to leave you alone with an adjoining room with some articles of him! See how nicely it fits! But apparel upon her arm, hastily retired knew you, and stole back! I did, Black again, drawing the poor, half-resisting girl Norris! And I saw the blow! and heard along with her. The former presently rethe crash! and snatched up your hatchet turned. when you threw it behind you; and ran She has been down on the shore all away with it! Give you joy of your dia-day. There has been a wreck,' said she. monds and your gold, Black Norris! A About a quarter of an hour ago she came fair day! Is it not? A fair, lovely day in inquiring for you, that you might take a fair, lovely, bonny day!" Black Norris, as she said, and hang him; The wrecker had been gradually raising for he had murdered his father. She was his right arm. It was now nearly brought wet to the skin with the spray and the to a level. He fired! but the charge per-rain, and I was making her change herforated the roof. His arm was struck up self when you came in. Hist! she is by some one, and at the same moment he here!' felt himself powerfully pinioned. He Kate entered. Her lover looked at her. looked round; he found himself in the Nothing appeared now, but the hue that hands of four of the preventive gu ird, ac-was the child of the weather. The hatchcompanied by Kate's lover, with the staff et was in her hand. Exultation and imof a boarding-pike in his grasp. patience were painted in her looks. That day, having completed the busi- 'Come! come!' she cried, and openness which called him from home, had the ing, the door, at once led the way to Black young man returned. His first inquiry Norris's. Scarcely had they got fifty was for Kate. She had been at her usual yards from the house, when, at a turn in pranks, and had stolen away. He sought the road, they came upon four privates of her in all her haunts-she was nowhere the preventive service. The men were to be found-dispirited and fatigued, too; on duty. Kate instantly accosted them, for he had walked upward of thirty miles related the transaction which had taken since morning; he was repairing home place upon the reef, and commanded them when he received, from a group returning to accompany her. They looked-and from the wreck, and of whom he made in obeyed. quiries after her, an account of her appearance among the wreckers, and her wild, Three weeks after, there was a trial and mysterious prophecy, which had been so an execution. Black Norris was the crimstrangely fulfilled. Revolving what heinal. Among the spectators at the latter, had heard, he lifted the latch of his moth were a young man and a young woman. er's door, and entered; but stopped short. As soon as the body swung in the air, a A female, almost naked to the zone, was shrill peal of laughter arose from one of * * * 52 The Old Arm Chair.-Song. the crowd. It was from the female who,||Would you learn the spell? A mother the next moment, lay fainting in the arms sat there, of her companion. Kate was conveyed And a sacred thing is that old arm chair. home. She was restored to conscious ness; but her mind, so highly excited be- In childhood's hour I lingered near fore, seemed now to have sunk into a state The hollow'd seat with list'ning ear; of infantine imbecility. Thus she remain. And gentle words that mother would give, ed for several days, nay weeks. A gloom To fit me to die and teach me to live. seemed to have overspread her lover's She told me shame would never betide, mind, which threatened consequences With truth for my creed, and God for my similar to those under which the being guide; whom he so tenderly loved had laboured. She taught me to lisp my earliest prayer, He avoided society-he would hardly ex-As I knelt beside that old arm chair. change a word even with his mother.' He I sat and watched her many a day, was continually wandering about the cliff When her eyes grew dim, and her locks and the shore, alone. were gray; One day, when he had thrown himself And I almost worshipp'd her when she upon the very spot where, as we related smiled in the beginning, he had intruded upon And turned from her Bible to bless her the slumbers of the maniac-revolving the child. cause which now utterly absorbed his Years roll'd on, but the last one spedmind and soul, and lost to external con- My idol was shatter'd my earth star fled; sciousness-he was startled by something I learnt how much the heart can bear, falling upon his face. He looked up, and When I saw her die in that old arm chair. saw the loved one hanging over him. The tear-drop stood trembling upon his 'Tis past! 'tis past! but I gaze on it now, lid-the light of reason beamed from her With quivering breath, and throbbing eye. She pronounced his name, talked to him of her father's death, informed him that she believed his murderer had suffered the penalty of his crime, but knew not when, or by what means. He drew her softly toward him-encouraged her to speak on-questioned her, found of all that had passed since her wits had gone astray, the only circumstance which had left an mpression upon her memory, was the fate of Black Norris. He now endeavored to ascertain the state of her heart with respect to him. An eye at once cast down -a burning cheek-lips that made soundless motion, confirmed the dearest hopes and crowned the most ardent wishes or his soul. Reason was perfectly reinstated -love hud never lost its seat. He urged the soft confession-and her face was buried in his bosom. In a week she was his wife, and along with his mother, accompanied him to a distant part of the country, lest old and painful recollections might be recalled by the presence of scenes, alas! but too familiar.' brow, Twas there she nursed me, 'twas there And memory flows with lava tide. My soul from a mother's old arm chair. SONG. BY THE LATE WILLIAM LEGGETT The tear which thou upbraidest, Thy falsehood taught to flow; But no! may she ne'er languish That I am doomed to know! The End of a Young and Beautiful Procrastinator. The Young Lady. For the Ladics' Pearl. THE END OF A YOUNG AND BEAU. FUL PROCRASTINATOR. 'I cannot at present, the subject is too gloomy; it saddens my heart and unfits me to shine in society: these sober, melancholy thoughts come over my mind like the chilly wind-cloud,obscuring my brightness and chilling my feelings into a state of social inanity, and that too, when I am most ambitious of excelling all others in a display of wit and beauty ;-last night, at Mrs D.'s party I acted as if the chill of a mental petrifaction were upon me. I will not endure it. I will dismiss these subjects for a time and revel free and undisturbed in the beautiful scenes of pleasure and delight that spring up, like the palaces of ancient magicians, around me-so away 53 they only reduce their devotee in the scale of being; they hurl him from the lofty height where nature designed him to stand, and force him to a species of companionship with irrational animals. From these, piety would allure the world, and in return for the sacrifice she offers them pleasures of the purest and most exalting character; pleasures, that never satiate, but are always fresh, enchanting and new; pleasures, that elevate while they gratify, for they raise their possessor in dignity and mental majesty at every stage of his progress in their pursuit. But this was a lesson that Miss G. had not learned. Shortly after her resolution to delay the pursuit of religion, the young gentleman, who aspir ed to the honor of her hand, removed for purposes of business to the western countries. At first, his letters breathed of love and faithfulness, but soon their spirit and language grew cool, and then cooler-at Such was the soliloquy of the accomlast, he declined her correspondence! plished Miss G. She was young, for only Poor girl! this was a death blow, cruel eighteen summers had smiled upon her existence she was beautiful, for all the vil-as it was unexpected. The time of her lage bore witness to her charms; and edu-marriage had been fixed for a few months cation had adorned her with the ornaments subsequently; and now all her hopes were of literature and taste. Serious subjects|| prostrated, like the rose under the foot of had been presented to her mind, a short the destroyer: having no resource in religtime prior to the hour in which this fatalion, she was hopeless and comfortless. : Away with melancholy,'' Paleness now robbed her cheeks of their roseate hue; despondency settled on her brow; her once healthy and robust form resolution to procrastinate was made. A deep, religious interest pervaded the town, and many had already yielded to its power. Nor had she been exempted from a partic-dwindled away; and she soon became the ipation in serious feelings; but alas! shemere shadow of her former self. Soon she silenced them with the syren song of procrastination. was confined to her chamber, and then to her bed. A rapid consumption preyed upon her with the greediness of the vampyre, and her friends saw her sinking into the grave in the bright spring-time of her life. The reason, that seemed to beget and give birth to this unwise determination, was a mistaken idea respecting the nature and effects of piety. She had always as- Your earthly hopes are all withered,' sociated this beautiful daughter of the Lord said a pious friend to her one day; ' permit (Piety) with morbid melancholy and som-me to direct your attention to the sweet bre sadness-with a renunciation of all star, that gleams from heaven to light us pleasure, and a devotion to tedious and un-poor wanderers on earth to a fairer home.' interesting duties. But never was there 'What star?' said she, in a whisper, greater mistake, and never, perhaps, was scarcely comprehending the meaning of mistake more common and general than her friend. on this subject. 'The Star of Bethlehem-the Lord Je True; piety is opposed to worldly pleas-sus Christ!' replied her visiter. ures, but these only destroy and not bless; The dying beauty looked at her friend with a glance of alarm-then closed her Just as they approached the grave-yard, eyes-seemed convulsed with mental ago-the sound of a horse, hard pressed by his ny, and then, the warm tears flowed stream-rider, was heard advancing. Opposite that ingly down her pale, hollow cheeks. It sable party the rider reined up his foaming seemed as if some old recollection had been steed, and sat, as if petrified, while it wound waked up anew, by the mention of the round the grass grown paths of the burial Star of Bethlehem. At length, recovering place and deposited its precious burden to herself she asked; the dust. That done, the stranger turned 'Do you remember the great revival of his horse's head and rode away again. last year?' He was the lover of the deceased. Hearing of her illness, his heart had smitten 'In that revival I sacrificed Christ for him, and he returned to renew his vows pleasures-Heaven for the world-religion and fulfil his promises. He had only defor earthly amusements. I did this delib-clined her correspondence to test her love. erately, calmly, decidedly, and now, I have Fatal experiment; it destroyed the flower my reward! Woe is me; for that rejec-he prized, and left him desolate and sad, tion of Christ ruined me. Since then my to weep over the destruction his own imheart has been as stone-nothing religious prudence had occasioned. has affected me, and now I am about to reap my dire reward. I am dying, and oh my soul is ruined! ruined! Oh! my heart! it bursts, it sinks!-I die-save me' The fatal experiment of the lover cost him his expected bride; the fatal resolution of the beauty cost her immortal bliss—it ruined her soul, and she perished hopelessly. She fainted. The violence of the effort How many have been similarly ruined, had exhausted her, and she could bear no eternity alone can unfold-perhaps, it will more. Her affrighted mother, her weep-then appear that procrastination has deing sisters, her pale companions gathered stroyed more than any other of the grand closely and silently around her with sup-agencies of the Evil One. If any young pressed breath and beating hearts. There lady, through reading this article, should be they stood in all the agony of hopeless grief prevented from destroying herself by proA movement in the patient aroused them. crastinating what she is conscious should She opened her eyes and cast a vacant stare be done at once, the object of the writer upon the group. Her eyes closed again. will be fully obtained, and his readers inStrong convulsions seized her frail frame-calculably benefitted. DODDRIDGE. she groaned deeply and all was still again. 'She is dead-my poor girl is dead!" shrieked the mother, as she fell faintingly beside her child. And she was dead!The mortal strife was past-she was an inhabitant of eternity! The Wife THE PAWN-BROKER. Visiting a pawn-broker's shop in Chatham street, for the purpose of redeeming some articles left by an unfortunate friend, the following circumstances arrested my attention. Three days after a long and mournful procession moved slowly and heavily thro' A middle aged man entered with a the village street towards the grave-yard. bundle on which he asked a small adIt was a silent party, for not a sound, save found to contain a shawl and two or three vance, and which on being opened, was the footsteps of the mourners, disturbed the other articles of female apparel. The surrounding air-even nature seemed to man was stout and sturdy; and I should share the grief of the gathered village, for judge from his appearance, a mechanic; not a breeze sighed through the foliage-but the mark of the destroyer was on his not a tree rustled its leaves and the beasts bloated countenance, and his heavy stuof the field looked on in dogged silence, as for his own. The pawn-broker was yet pid eyes. Intemperance had marked him they bore the fair one to her last home in examining the offered pledge, when a woman, whose pale face and attenuated the yard of death. |