Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848Various
General
Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Then Rose had the greatest success with the gentlemen of the
Poughkeepsie. Her youth, beauty, and modesty, told largely in her
favor; and the simple, womanly affection she unconsciously betrayed
in behalf of Harry, touched the heart of every observer. When the
intelligence of her aunt's fate reached her, the sorrow she manifested
was so profound and natural, that every one sympathized with her
grief. Nor would she be satisfied unless Mulford would consent to go
in search of the bodies. The latter knew the hopelessness of such an
excursion, but he could not refuse to comply. He was absent on that
melancholy duty, therefore, at the moment of the scene related in our
last chapter, and did not return until after that which we are now
about to lay before the reader. Mrs. Budd, Biddy, and all of those who
perished after the yawl got clear of the reef, were drowned in deep
water, and no more was ever seen of any of them; or, if wreckers did
pass them, they did not stop to bury the dead. It was different,
however, with those who were first sacrificed to Spike's selfishness.
They were drowned on the reef, and Harry did actually recover the
bodies of the Senor Montefalderon, and of Josh, the steward. They had
washed upon a rock that is bare at low water. He took them both to the
Dry Tortugas, and had them interred along with the other dead at that
place. Don Juan was placed side by side with his unfortunate
country-man, the master of his equally unfortunate schooner.
While Harry was absent and thus employed, Rose wept much and prayed
more. She would have felt herself almost alone in the world, but for
the youth to whom she had so recently, less than a week before,
plighted her faith in wedlock. That new tie, it is true, was of
sufficient importance to counteract many of the ordinary feelings of
her situation; and she now turned to it as the one which absorbed most
of the future duties of her life. Still she missed the kindness, the
solicitude, even the weaknesses of her aunt; and the terrible manner
in which Mrs. Budd had perished, made her shudder with horror whenever
she thought of it. Poor Biddy, too, came in for her share of the
regrets. This faithful creature, who had been in the relict's service
ever since Rose's infancy, had become endeared to her, in spite of her
uncouth manners and confused ideas, by the warmth of her heart, and
the singular truth of her feelings. Biddy, of all her family, had come
alone to America, leaving behind her not only brothers and sisters,
but parents living. Each year did she remit to the last a moiety of
her earnings, and many a half-dollar that had come from Rose's pretty
little hand, had been converted into gold, and forwarded on the same
pious errand to the green island of her nativity. Ireland, unhappy
country! at this moment what are not the dire necessities of thy poor!
Here, from the midst of abundance, in a land that God has blessed in
its productions far beyond the limits of human wants, a land in which
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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