Alida Part 22

For him no wakeful eye of love Resists the slumbers health would shed, With kind a.s.sistance prompt to move, And gently prop the aching head:

With delicate attention paid In hope to minister relief, He sees no sacrifices made; He sees no Mother's anxious grief!

But I, poor sufferer, doomed in vain To woo the health which Heaven denied, Though nights of horror, days of pain The baffled opiate's force deride,

Yet well I know, and grateful feel, How much can lenient kindness do, From anguish half its darts to steal, And faded Hope's sick smile renew.

That love which brightened gayer hours, When light youth danced to pleasure's strain, Exerts even yet unwearied powers, The sweet support of nights of pain.

Oh! how consoling is the eye Of the dear friend that shares our woes!

Oh! what relief those cares supply, Which watchful, active love bestows!

And these are mine! -- Shall I then dare To murmur at so mild a lot?

Nor dwell on comforts still my share With thankful and contented thought?

Though destined to the couch of pain, Though torn from pleasures once too dear, Around that couch shall still remain The love that every pain can cheer.

"Peace, wing'd in fairer worlds above,"

Has ta'en thy form away from this; Has beckon'd thee to seats of glory, To realms of everlasting bliss.

[John Bowring: Benevolence (hymn), stz. 2, lines 5-8:

Peace, winged in fairer worlds above, Shall bend her down to brighten this, When all man's labour shall be love And all his thoughts--a brother's bliss.]

So rich in piety and worth, Too soon, alas! lamented one, Thou hast been call'd away from earth, And heaven has claim'd thee for its own.

[James G. Brooks and Mary E. Brooks: To Cora (in _The Rivals of Este, and Other Poems_, 1829), stz. 3, lines 1-4:

Cora! thou wast not formed for earth: So bright thy angel beauty shone, So rich in innocence and worth, That heaven has claimed thee for its own.]

CHAPTER III.

"'T is by degrees the youthful mind expands; and every day, Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm; Then infant reason grows apace, and calls For the kind hand of an a.s.siduous care."

"Delightful task, to rear the tender thought, To pour the new instruction o'er the mind, To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix The generous purpose in the glowing breast."

[Thomson: _Seasons_: end of "Spring": By degrees, The human blossom blows; and every day, Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm, The father's l.u.s.tre, and the mother's bloom.

Then infant reason grows apace, and calls For the kind hand of an a.s.siduous care.

Delightful task! to rear the tender thought.

To teach the young idea how to shoot, To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix The generous purpose in the glowing breast.]

The period at length arrived, when it became necessary that Alida should receive further instruction in the various branches of female literature. With this view, her father thought proper to change the place of her studies from the village school to the New-York Seminary.

It was his idea that nothing afforded so pleasing a prospect as the graces of beauty, aided by wisdom and useful knowledge, and that care should be taken that the mind should first be initiated in the solid acquirements, before the embellishments of education should be allowed to take up the attention or engross the thoughts; and that the first purposes of the teacher should be directed to endeavour to cause the mental powers of the scholar to be excited, in the first place, to attain to whatever is most useful and necessary, and that suitable application and industry was the only means whereby we may gain celebrity in any art or science, or therein arrive at any degree of perfection.

"His heart glowed with paternal fondness and interesting solicitude, when he beheld the countenance of his child sparkling with intelligence, or traced the progress of reason in her awakened curiosity when any new object attracted her attention or exercised her imagination." Delightful indeed were the sensations of a parent in the contemplation of so fair a prospect, which in some degree recalled again to his bosom some transient gleams of happiness.

The season was now far advanced in autumn, and the trees were nearly stripped of their foliage; the radiant sun had in part withdrawn his enlivening rays to give place to the approaching coldness of winter, when Alida left her home, amid the innumerable regrets of her juvenile companions, to accompany her father to the city to finish her education.

They journeyed in a stage-coach from the village of ----, which, in the course of a few hours, conveyed them amid the tumultuous din of the busy metropolis. The female seminary to which Alida repaired was pleasantly situated in the western part of the town, where the refres.h.i.+ng and salubrious breezes of the Hudson rendered it a healthy and desirable situation at all seasons of the year.

Although her father had only performed his duty in placing his child once more at school, yet it was at a greater distance from the paternal roof than formerly, and when he returned again to his residence, he felt his situation more lonely than ever, and he could scarcely reconcile himself to the loss of her society.

All was novel-like in the city to Alida, where she at once saw so many different objects to excite alternately her surprise, curiosity, and risibility, and where she experienced so many different sensations, arising from the sudden transition in being removed from scenes of uninterrupted tranquillity to those of gaiety and pleasure, of crowded streets and riotous entertainments, of obsequious beaux and das.h.i.+ng pet.i.ts maitres, and where all appeared to her one continued scene of business and confusion, scarcely reconcileable.

In the meantime her mind became engrossed by various new occupations.

Among her favourite studies was the French language, which, at this period, was considered as one of the necessary appendages to female education, when scarcely any new work could be read without a regret to those who did not understand it. Music, dancing, and drawing occupied her time alternately, and while these different amus.e.m.e.nts afforded a pleasing variety, they animated her mind anew with the powers of exertion that had been excited by early impressions--that whatever she attempted to learn, to be a.s.siduous to learn it well, and that a mere superficial knowledge, in any science or accomplishment, was by no means desirable.

All her studies and amus.e.m.e.nts had their regular arrangements, and due application gave her many advantages over those of her own age, while it expanded her mind in a greater degree, and facilitated her progress in learning, and gave more ready improvement to her understanding and native capacities.

Her only surviving brother, whose name was Albert, had been a merchant in the city a number of years, and he still continued to live amid its perplexities, (although numbers had been unfortunate around him,) with as good success as could be expected at this time, on account of the restrictions on American commerce. One probable reason may be a.s.signed why he had been more successful in his business than many others: he was guided in the management of his affairs by vigilance and industrious perseverance, and he was not only endued with the best abilities to fulfil the duties inc.u.mbent on his station in life, but was not remiss in the exercise of them. His manners, generally, were reserved, though he could be humorous and gay whenever occasion required; and when in convivial society, he could make one among the number of those who amused themselves in sallies of wit and pleasantry. He had acquired much useful and general information in his commerce with the world at large, which he employed at this time in various conversations on politics, as he could not be able to render himself serviceable to his country in any other way, being exempt from his childhood from performing military duty. His personal advantages were only surpa.s.sed by the superior qualifications of his mind, that had long been under religious influence and impressions.

In his public and private life he fully answered the expectations of his numerous acquaintance and friends, as well as the most sanguine wishes of an anxious and affectionate father, who yet seemed disposed to indulge in melancholy reflections, while his friends kindly endeavoured, by many pious and philosophical discourses, to awaken him to a consideration of his former piety, and humble trust in an all-wise Providence, reminding him that our greatest consolation consists in resigned and devotional feelings of grat.i.tude to our Maker, even in the severest afflictions; who, although he may have thought fit to deprive us of some, for the many remaining blessings we may still be in possession of; and that a firm reliance on Providence, however our affections may be at variance with its dispensations, is the only consolatory source that we can have recourse to in the gloomy hours of distress; and that such dependance, though often crossed by troubles and difficulties, may at length be crowned with success in our most arduous undertakings, and we may again meet with unlooked-for and unexpected happiness.

[_A&M_, Preface:

One thing was aimed to be shown, that a firm reliance on providence, however the affections might be at war with its dispensations, is the only source of consolation in the gloomy hours of affliction; and that generally such dependence, though crossed by difficulties and perplexities, will be crowned with victory at last.]

"Afflictions all his children feel, Affliction is the Father's rod; He wounds them for his mercy sake, He wounds to heal."

[James Montgomery: The Grave. In _The Wanderer of Switzerland_ (1806). Stz. 1:

A bruised reed he will not break, Afflictions all his children feel; He wounds them for his mercy's sake, He wounds to heal!]

The clear, calm suns.h.i.+ne of a mind illumined by piety, and a firm reliance upon Supreme wisdom, crowns all other divine blessings. It irradiates the progress of life, and dispels the evils attendant on our nature; it renders the mind calm and pacific, and promotes that cheerfulness and resignation which has its foundation in a life of rect.i.tude and charity; and in the full exercise of Christian principles we may find still increasing happiness.

[_NY Weekly_: Chearfulness (quoting Dr. Blair):

It is the clear and calm suns.h.i.+ne of a mind illuminated by piety and virtue. It crowns all other good dispositions, and comprehends the general effect which they ought to produce on the heart.

A chearful temper irradiates the progress of life, and dispels the evils of sublunary nature.]

CHAPTER IV.

Still may the soaring eagle's quenchless eye, Watch o'er our favour'd country, brave and free, Where the bright stars and stripes in honour wave, The sacred emblems of our liberty.

[M. W. Beck: "The Ballot-Box" (song). Here quoted from _The United States magazine and Democratic review_, Volume 5, 1839. Last verse:

Let your eagle's quenchless eye, Fixed, unerring, sleepless, bright, Watch, when danger hovers nigh, From his lofty mountain height; While the stripes and stars shall wave O'er this treasure, pure and free, The land's Palladium, it shall save The home and shrine of liberty.]

Many disagreeable circ.u.mstances now combined to disturb the happy tranquillity of the American government. "A war had for some time existed between France and England. America had endeavoured to maintain a neutrality, and peacefully to continue a commerce with both nations.