The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 3, March, 1864: Devoted to Literature and National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 3, March, 1864: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
And there, too, was the old wave-worn rock--the scene of her life's only
romance--where, stealing out from her father's cabin at the evening
hour, and seating herself so close to the waterline that the spray of
the tideless sea would dash up and bathe her naked feet, she would wait
in all innocence for the coming of the young sailor from Samos. How
rapidly those hours used to pass! How pleadingly, on the last evening,
he had knelt beside her, with his arm resting upon her knee, and there,
gazing up into her face, had asked her for one long tress of hair! How
foolish she had been to give it to him; and how earnestly he had vowed
that he would come back some day, no longer poor and forlorn, but in his
own two-masted vessel, with full banks of oars, manned by the slaves
whom he would capture, and would then bear her away unto his own home!
And how, like a silly girl, she had believed him, as though wandering
sailor boys ever did come back to seek the loving hearts which had
trusted them! And so the year had passed away, and, as she might well
have known from the first, he had not returned. Nor was it to her
regret; for but a little afterward the youthful patrician, already
flushed with budding honors, had chanced to meet her; had loved her with
a generous passion, lifting him above all sordid calculation about
wealth or social differences, and had taught her in turn to bestow upon
him an affection more true and absorbing than she had yet believed her
heart was able to contain. And so her first romantic dream had ended, as
all such childish dreams are apt to end. Let it go. Her heart had found
its true bourne; she could well look back upon the past without regret,
and smile at the youthful fancies connected with it.
One prayer to the gods--a further special invocation to her favorite
goddess, who, at the foot of the couch, stretched forth marble arms
lovingly toward her--and then the silver tinkling of the little
courtyard fountain lulled her softly to sleep.
CARL FRIEDRICH NEUMANN, THE GERMAN HISTORIAN OF OUR COUNTRY.
The first volume of a history of the United States by Carl Friedrich
Neumann, of Berlin,[2] has just been announced as the first history of
our country ever written originally in the German language. The
appearance of such a work at this juncture in our national existence, is
a noteworthy event, and the man who takes so unique an interest in our
affairs should be introduced to our people. Having known him personally
and intimately for many years, I shall attempt such sketch, making much
of it anecdotal, for which purpose material is not wanting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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