The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 8, April, 1835Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 8, April, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
sceptre over him; let him give loose reins to it; let him plunge
himself into its delicious tide, and drink with a quenchless thirst
its intoxicating draughts; and then let him be thwarted, and no one
may safely predict the consequences to even the most powerful
intellect, that contemns every other loss or reverse of fortune. Until
something is done to excite a contrary emotion, ages of separation
cannot dim or extinguish it. For as in some fluids the application of
heat may entirely alter their qualities, so in love, a deception or
disappointment in some admired or prominent qualification, frequently
changes every feeling of regard for the object, into the most bitter
and relentless hatred.
A very short time intervened, before Charles summoned the resolution
to communicate the existence of his passion. Upon a mild evening in
May, as the shadows stretched their gigantic lengths across the plain,
Charles moored his little boat at the foot of the hill, and ascended
to Mr. Newton's. Eliza (as usual) met him at the door, and ushered him
into an apartment denominated the parlor, though appropriated to
various uses. They were seated by an open window toward the west,
along the frames of which a honey-suckle twined its clinging tendrils;
the mild, red rays of the setting sun peered through its thick
foliage, and added a brighter tint to Eliza's fine complexion; the
evening dews were falling upon the blooming honey-suckle, which
breathed its fragrant odors upon the happy pair. She seemed to look
peculiarly sweet and lovely. A few desultory remarks upon the serenity
and pleasantness of the evening, and then--in language which I shall
not detail--he poured out his heart's fulness into her ear. At this
avowal, her face budded into a rich rubescent glow, and the veins in
her clear, round neck, swelled almost to bursting. She replied not;
but a yielding of her soft little hand, which be involuntarily pressed
to his lips, confirmed the happiness of the enraptured swain--and blew
into an inextinguishable flame, that spark of love, which he had long
cherished within his heart, and fanned with a sleepless assiduity. He
soon departed for his father's; he rowed slowly up the river, whose
waves reflecting the moonbeams, seemed like molten gold, while the
stars twinkled brightly above him: the scene was enchanting, and his
already excited feelings caught the inspiration. A plunge against the
bank awakened him from his reverie, and he discovered that he was far
above his father's. The delighted girl retired to her room, and wept
herself to sleep--when she dreamed incessantly of Elysian fields, and
happy islands upon the bosom of the deep blue sea, through which she
and her Charles roamed happy as their fabled inhabitants. Very
_frequently_ after this, was Charles' little boat seen gliding, in the
cool of the evening, towards Mr. Newton's; and he seemed much more
addicted to hunting of late, particularly on the _west_ side of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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