To numerous self-denials, Margaret
Went struggling on through those calamitous years With cheerful hope, until the second autumn, When her life's Helpmate on a sick-bed lay, Smitten with perilous fever. In disease
He lingered long; and when his strength returned, He found the little he had stored, to meet The hour of accident or crippling age, Was all consumed. A second infant now Was added to the troubles of a time Laden, for them and all of their degree, With care and sorrow: shoals of artisans From ill-requited labour turned adrift Sought daily bread from public charity, They, and their wives and children-happier far Could they have lived as do the little birds That peck along the hedge-rows, or the kite That makes her dwelling on the mountain rocks!
A sad reverse it was for him who long Had filled with plenty, and possessed in peace, This lonely Cottage. At the door he stood, And whistled many a snatch of merry tunes That had no mirth in them; or with his knife Carved uncouth figures on the heads of sticks- Then, not less idly, sought, through every nook In house or garden, any casual work
of use or ornament; and with a strange, Amusing, yet uneasy, novelty,
He mingled, where he might, the various tasks Of summer, autumn, winter, and of spring. But this endured not; his good humour soon Became a weight in which no pleasure was: And poverty brought on a petted mood And a sore temper: day by day he drooped, And he would leave his work-and to the town, Would turn, without an errand, his slack steps; Or wander here and there among the fields. One while he would speak lightly of his babes, And with a cruel tongue: at other times He tossed them with a false unnatural joy : And 'twas a rueful thing to see the looks Of the poor innocent children. 'Every smile,' Said Margaret to me, here beneath these trees, 'Made my heart bleed.""
At this the Wanderer paused;
And, looking up to those enormous elms,
He said, ""Tis now the hour of deepest noon.
This hour when all things which are not at rest Are cheerful; while this multitude of flies Is filling all the air with melody;
Why should a tear be in an old Man's eye? Why should we thus, with an untoward mind, And in the weakness of humanity,
From natural wisdom turn our hearts away;
To natural comfort shut our eyes and ears;
And, feeding on disquiet, thus disturb
The calm of nature with our restless thoughts?"
HE spake with somewhat of a solemn tone : But, when he ended, there was in his face Such easy cheerfulness, a look so mild, That for a little time it stole away
All recollection, and that simple tale Passed from my mind like a forgotten sound. A while on trivial things we held discourse, To me soon tasteless. In my own despite, I thought of that poor Woman as of one Whom I had known and loved. He had rehearsed Her homely tale with such familiar power, With such an active countenance, an eye So busy, that the things of which he spake Seemed present; and, attention now relaxed, A heart-felt chillness crept along my veins. I rose; and, having left the breezy shade, Stood drinking comfort from the warmer sun, That had not cheered me long-ere, looking round Upon that tranquil Ruin, I returned,
And begged of the old Man that, for my sake, He would resume his story.
"It were a wantonness, and would demand Severe reproof, if we were men whose hearts
Could hold vain dalliance with the misery Even of the dead; contented thence to draw A momentary pleasure, never marked By reason, barren of all future good.
But we have known that there is often found In mournful thoughts, and always might be found, A power to virtue friendly; were't not so, I am a dreamer among men, indeed An idle dreamer! 'Tis a common tale, An ordinary sorrow of man's life,
A tale of silent suffering, hardly clothed In bodily form.-But without further bidding I will proceed.
While thus it fared with them,
To whom this cottage, till those hapless years, Had been a blessed home, it was my chance
To travel in a country far remote ;
And when these lofty elms once more appeared, What pleasant expectations lured me on
O'er the flat Common !-With quick step I reached The threshold, lifted with light hand the latch; But, when I entered, Margaret looked at me A little while; then turned her head away Speechless, and, sitting down upon a chair, Wept bitterly. I wist not what to do,
Nor how to speak to her. Poor Wretch! at last She rose from off her seat, and then,-O Sir! I cannot tell how she pronounced my name :-
With fervent love, and with a face of grief Unutterably helpless, and a look
That seemed to cling upon me, she enquired If I had seen her husband. As she spake A strange surprise and fear came to my heart, Nor had I power to answer ere she told
That he had disappeared-not two months gone. He left his house: two wretched days had past, And on the third, as wistfully she raised Her head from off her pillow, to look forth, Like one in trouble, for returning light, Within her chamber-casement she espied A folded paper, lying as if placed
To meet her waking eyes. This tremblingly She opened-found no writing, but beheld Pieces of money carefully enclosed,
Silver and gold. 'I shuddered at the sight,' Said Margaret, for I knew it was his hand That must have placed it there; and ere that day Was ended, that long anxious day, I learned From one who by my husband had been sent With the sad news, that he had joined a troop Of soldiers, going to a distant land.
-He left me thus he could not gather heart To take a farewell of me; for he feared That I should follow with my babes, and sink Beneath the misery of that wandering life.'
This tale did Margaret tell with many tears:
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