And so her heart was broken. She saw life a blank, and death the only refuge from her agony, and in the romance of her broken hopes, she resolved to die—not by any self violence, but by the cankering broodings of a wounded spirit. She contemned all the precious things that God had given her, because the idol that her fancy had made, crumbled down to common dust. She counted as naught the strong, pure love of her parents, her bright-eyed brothers, and gentle sisters; she turned away from the consolations of long-tried and fervent friendship, and wept away her hours in her solitary chamber—wandered alone, by woodland and mountain, or sat in the dewy twilight upon the river bank. Is it strange that consumption found her, that she faded away from the tree of life, and with beautiful visions of heavenly beatitude, went down to the silent house of death?—leaving hearts reft and bleeding, duties unfulfilled, her place on earth vacant, and the honor which she owed to God unpaid, and unredeemable. This was the end of Romance—which is always a beautiful parasite, displaying its tender foliage and fragile blossoms, at the expense of the soul in which its insidious roots find nurture, weighing it down with an unprofitable burden, concealing its symmetry and natural excellence, and wasting out the very sap of its life. * * * * * [Illustration] * * * * * COLORED BIRDS.—THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. FROM BECHSTEIN. [SEE ENGRAVING.] This species, the male of which is very beautiful, is about the size of a blackbird. Its length is nine inches, of which the tail measures three and a half, and the beak one. The head, neck, back, breast, sides, and lesser wing-coverts, are of a brilliant golden yellow; the wings and the tail are black, with yellow gradually increasing to the outer feathers. The female is not so brilliant, the golden yellow is only visible at the tip of the olive feathers in the tail, and in the lesser and under wing-coverts. All the upper part of the body is of the green color of the siskin, the lower part greenish white with brown streaks, and the wings gray black. HABITATION.—When wild, it generally frequents lonely groves, or the skirts of forests, always keeping among the most bushy trees, so that it is rarely seen on a naked branch; it always frequents orchards during the time of cherries. It is a bird of passage, departing in families in August, and not returning till the following May.[2] In the house, if it cannot be let range at pleasure, it must be confined in a large wire cage.