Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VI, November 1850, Vol. IVarious
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VI, November 1850, Vol. I
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
This is farther shown when the every-day married lady dies. What is
there in the character we have drawn to account for the shock the whole
family receives? The husband feels as if a thunder-cloud had fallen, and
gathered, and blackened upon his heart, through which he could never
again see the sun. The grown-up children, especially the females, are
distracted; "their purposes are broken off;" they desire to have nothing
more to do with the world: they lament as those who will not be
comforted. Even common acquaintances look round them, when they enter
the house, with uneasiness and anxiety--
"We miss her when the morning calls,
As one that mingled in our mirth:
We miss her when the evening falls--
A trifle wanted on the earth!
"Some fancy small, or subtle thought,
Is checked ere to its blossom grown;
Some chain is broken that we wrought,
Now--she hath flown!"
And so she passes away--this every-day married lady--leaving memorials
of her commonplace existence every where throughout the circle in which
she lived, moved, and had her being, and after having stamped herself
permanently upon the constitution, both moral and physical, of her
descendants.
ANECDOTE OF A SINGER.
Signora Grassini, the great Italian singer, died a few months since at
Milan. She was distinguished not only for her musical talents, but also
for her beauty and powers of theatrical expression. One evening in 1810,
she and Signor Crescentini performed together at the Tuileries, and sang
in "Romeo and Juliet." At the admirable scene in the third act, the
Emperor Napoleon applauded vociferously, and Talma, the great tragedian,
who was among the audience, wept with emotion. After the performance was
ended, the Emperor conferred the decoration of a high order on
Crescentini, and sent Grassini a scrap of paper, on which was written,
"Good for 20,000 livres.--NAPOLEON."
"Twenty thousand francs!" said one of her friends--"the sum is a large
one."
"It will serve as a dowry for one of my little nieces," replied Grassini
quietly.
Indeed few persons were ever more generous, tender, and considerate
toward their family than this great singer.
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