.... No _cross purposes_ stood ready to intervene their happiness, no determined rival, no obdurate father, no watchful, scowling aunt, to interrupt their transports. It was the latter end of May; nature was arrayed in her richest ornaments, and adorned with her sweetest perfumes. The sun blended its mild lustre with the landscapes' lovely green, silk-winged breezes frolicked amidst the flowers; the spring birds carolled in varying strains....] And now, reader of sensibility, indulge the pleasing sensations of thy bosom, at the approaching union of Theodore and Alida. To our hero and heroine, the rural charms of the country furnished a source of pleasing variety. Spring, with its verdant fields and flowery meads--summer, with its embowering shades--the fertility of autumn, with its yellow foliage--winter, with its hollow blasts and snowy mantle, all tended to fill their bosoms with sensations of pleasing transition. [_A&M_: And now, reader of sensibility, indulge the pleasing sensations of thy bosom, for Alonzo and Melissa are MARRIED. ... To our hero and heroine, the rural charms of their secluded village were a source of ever pleasing variety. Spring, with its verdured fields, flowery meads, and vocal groves; its vernal gales, purling rills, and its evening whipper-will: Summer, with its embowering shades, reflected in the glassy lake, and the long, pensive, yet sprightly notes of the solitary strawberry-bird; its lightning and its thunder: autumn, with its mellow fruit, its yellow foliage and decaying verdure: winter, with its hoarse rough blasts, its icy beard, and snowy mantle, all tended to thrill, with sensations of pleasing transition, the feeling bosoms of ALONZO and MELISSA.] Their religious principles were the same. They were a constant assistance to each other in the fulfilment of their pious duties, truly endeavouring to follow the life of the Redeemer, who taught by his example and practice, what he required of us. Assiduously cultivating those innate Christian principles and perfections, best calculated to promote the praise and glory of God, and whereby we may obtain the everlasting favour of that ineffable Disposer of all things, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. But soon a mournful shade was thrown over their peaceful tranquillity and happy anticipations; and manifest was their grief, when they received the dreadful intelligence that Mr. More had committed suicide. At the news of this rash and sinful action, they were thrown into an abyss of sorrow, the painful remembrance of which, for a long time, threw a dark and melancholy cloud over their felicity.