North Carolina Newspapers

A FAMILY NEWSPAPER NEUTRAL IN POLITICS. TERMS, TWO DOLLARS FES Ami. efcoteb to all fyt j$ towste' of SIjc Smtflj, gitcraturt, 5btfc ation, &ptculttiK, Ifev fye sfWatftete, to. VOL III - NO. IT. pp - : RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1854. WHOLE NO. 121. WILLIAM- D. COOKE, EDITOR & PROPRIETOR. SELECT POETRY ; LINES ON THE LOST. . r Strain, 's'train'-ihe eager eye, ... From seas,-far spread, where day with silent night Rejoins eternity. In vain : no sail appears, Bearing on gladsome wing the long-lost brave. To love's fond gaze, 'tis but some restless wave Which there its while crest rears. - ' Wh'le in the lopjr left home, -' The mother, wife,and children anxious wait, Oft smooth the fireside ehiiir, oft stir the grate, As he 'at last Were come. ". , 4 No ! Winter marked the crew ? Of Britons bold, brave his relentless reijjn, And from liis . flironA lio snmmrvneH all his train - Each -forth his weapon drew Unbar the jates of Night, iind to the hall . Where-cold eternal kills, lead one. and all, I fiat doomed yet dauntless band. Doomed,, but without decay, Tl ey pas through Dea!h, yet never reach the tomb, .Iinpcrish-tbly fixed, they wait the doom .. ' Of their still life-like clay. The seasons come and go, Like Egypt's king embalmed, they're resting there, Each in his ice hewn sepulchre, ' And pyramid of snow. Yet Ocean tolls their knell, Eroin shore to shore the solelhn peal ascends, And with its voice of many waters blends '- : Their dirge funereal. And the winds wait for them, ' For many a breeze which loves the seamen brave, 15yhelly. beach,- or its choir like cave, Now sings their requiem. "Thfi'rseerat. of thpii fate , Shall, when .the sea gives up its dead, be she wn And Gd for judgment by his great White Throne .-. The world shall congregate. SELECTED STORY. A SPOILT CHILD'S REFORMATION ;t Oli, TI1K COITSIXS. , "He did'nt care much about it;' he said 4 " they in ght marry hiiu if the" liked, and to w.hom they liked, provided lie was not expected to make love. Give him his hookah, and a vol u me of Shelley, and really, wile or no wife, it was almost the same thing to .him. By the bye, .one tiling he ''must stipulate that she should not hunt uor talk slang." ; This Lauucelot Chumley said, yawning al though it was only "twelve o'clock, yet it was ten before he came down to breakfast and, saunt ering from the drawingrooin through the open window on. the lawn, ho stretched himself un derthe shadow of the' chestnut trees to dream vague -.poem's all the day after a mode of ex istence that seemed to fulfill the sacred destiny of his being. . ' , Launeelot Chumley was a spoilt child a spoilt child full of noble thoughts and generous impulses, tarnished by his prosperity, and chok ed for want of Simulants to exertion, lie was also vain for want of wholesome opposition. Provided people left him alone, they might do as they liked, lie used to say. Let them not disturb his books, nor cut down the chesnut trees on the lawn, uor break his pipes, nor talk loud, nor make a noise, ami he was perfectly satisfied. His indifference and indolence drove his mother to despair. She tried to tempt biin to exertion by- dazzling visions of distinction. But Lauucelot prided - himself on his wanl, of ambition, and vowed lie would not accept a dukedom, it' offered to him, it would be such a bore I : Jlis mother htd indeed done her best to ruin him by unmitigated indulgence : aiid now she wrung her hands at her own work -Hut,, as .something must be done, she bethought, herself of mairiage, which; woman-like, she fan cied 'would cure, everything indolence, vanity, seiti-huess. " . Mrs. ChunV'tey bethought her uf a marriage: but w ith w in mi i -' ; There were hi lion ion t ao Ciiutnley cousins Ella Limpie, -nd li::le Violet Tudor. These j two young ladies -cr great friends,' after the i'ahiou of young ladies general! v". Thev had mysterious confidences together, ,and wrote :won- derail liters. Eli.t Limpie, being of pathetic I and sentimental temperament, talked of sorrow 1 ... .1... t- i : I; ' 1 -. ana sauties, aiii saM ini ru wiis no more nap- piuess for her mi earth, there being sometiiiug ment ; her tiny hand ; her fabulous waist ; her she could never' i'igei. though nobody knew j light fairy figure; her wide red lips and her un what. Violet Tud6r. her bosom fiieiid, laughed I tameable vivacity, made her appear like a wild at all sentjni. nt, and exposed a shy contempt ; bird alighting on the steps of that still, lazy, for lovers. Hie vowed also that she would nev- er m;irrv- a k man 'than a lion king or a gen eral who hadVseen si'vete service add been woun- ded badiv :tnd then she i?kL not know per- haps she miuht.- For iolet rode blood horses, and once pronoun-vd an Indian officer a "muff," iuse he had never seen a tiger hunt an ex ; ; -siotiVtiat -caused that gentleman to blush. and to feel that kind of anger which is, among lii own sex, usually assuaged in a duel. It mav be imagined, therefore, that Mrs. Chum lev did not plac Miss Violet Tudor very high -'"""".- in her scata ,of feminine graces although she certainly did not' know one-half of that curly headed gilv'-s escapades. Consequently, she was passed over at once. Ella was, on the con- trary, all that. Mrs. Chumley wished young, prettv, mild, manageable: with gold, a stainless pedigree, and unexceptionable manners. What more could any mother demand ' for her son ! Mrs. Chumley sent by that day's post an affec tionate invitation asking Ella to pass a week with her, much to Ella's surprise arid pleasure: ; for cousin Launeelot had long been a kind of heroic myth in that young lady's imagination, and she was glad to be asked to meet him. ' Though dearest Yi knows that nothing could make me forget .poor dear Henry, all alone in those terrible . East Indies !" she mentioned in the letter which communicated the circumstance to her bosom friend. Out of curiosity, then, she accepted ' the invitation; and in 'less than a week's time, she found herself at High Ashgrove, with all her prettiest dresses, and her last new bonnet.. Ella's correspondence w ith Violet Tudor in creased overwhelmingly during the visit. The early letters were gay, for her; but soon they deepened into a nameless melancholy, and were rife with mysterious hints. Occasionally there burst forth in them the most terrific self-accus-ings that English words cquld frame. If she had become the'head of a society of coiners, or the high priestess of a heresy she could not Lave used strongei expressions of guilt. Violet was frightened at first, but she remembered that it was Ella's habit to indulge in all sorts of ex aggerated self-accusations. At last came a let ter which unveiled the mystery, reducing the terrible sphynx which devoured men's bones to a tame dog that stole his neighbor's creanl the usual ending of most young ladies' myste ries. " I do not know what my dearest Violet will think of her Ella, but if 'it is to be the death-blow of that long and tender love which has supported my sad heart through so many bitter trials. I must tell her the truth. Violet, I have broken my vows, and am deserving of the fate of Imogen in that dreadful ballatl. Poor dear Henry ! " Violet, love, I am engaged la my cousin Launeelot. .!.'. " My aunt made me the offer so supplicating Iy, "and Lanncelot said so sweetly 4 1 think you will make me a very nice, wife, Miss Limpie,' that I could not resist. Besides, cousin Laun eelot is very handsome, and that goes a great way. You know I alwavs found fault with poor dear Henry's figure : he was inclined to be too stout. Launcelot's figure is perfect. He is tall six feet, I should think and witl the most graceful manners possible. He is like a picture' has a very bright brown hair, all in thick curls,, not short and close like poor dear Henry's. He wears them very long, like the portraits of Raphael. Henry's hair, poor darling, was in clined to be red. His eyes are large and dark grey, with such a beautiful expression of melan choly in them. They are poems iij themselves, Violet. Now Henry's,' you know, j were hazel ; and hazel eyes are unpleasant they are so quick afid fiery. I like such eyes as Launce lot's melancholy, poetic eyes, that seem to fe j1 and think as well as to see. Hazel eyes only see. Don't you . know the difference ? He is very quiet, an : lies all day under thelrf-ees, smoking out of the most exquisite hookah and reading Shelley. I dote on Shelley, and hate Shakespeare. How fond Henry was of Shakes peare that wearisome Hamlet! And now her, own Ella is going to beg and pray of her dearest Violet to come hereas soon as possible. I enclose a note from aunt Chumley, asking you : and, darling VI, I will never forgive you if you don't come directly ; for no lover in the world could ever separate me from my own Violet. "If you don't come, I shall think yem are angry with me for my bad couduct to poor Henrv ; and, indeed, 1 feel how guilty I am. I had such a terrible dream of him last night. I thought he looked so pale and reproachful, just like his favorite Hamlet. Good bye. I can't write an other word, for aunt wants me to go with her to the village. lo come, dearest Violet, and come immediately." This letter delighted Ella's friend. She had never lie. the flirtation w ith Cornet lleury Dam pier, which she had thought very silly and sen timental, while this seemed to offer a real future. She w rote to her aunt of whom she was con siderably afraid and, in a few days, arrived at High Ashgrove. She was received by Ella with a burst of enthusiasm, which, coming from one. 5u calm, quite electrified Lauucelot; by Aunt .Chumley with 116 superfluity of kindness ; and by Launeelot hirrwelf with a cold bow. Yet she- was pretty enough. The thick raven hair. tt'hich it was her will and pleasure to wear crowding over her face in wide curly bands; her great black eyes, that never reted for a mo- ! gentlemanlike. house. For the first two days Violet behaved herself with perfect propriety. She embroidered more than two square inches of Berlin work, and did not make a single allusion to the stables. She fell asleep only twice when Launeelot conde scended to read aloud the mistiest parts of Queen Mab, and she tried hard to look as if she under- j stood what Epipsychidion was all about. Poor little woman ! She knew as much about either as if cousin Lauhce, as she called him, had in-, formed her in the native dialect of the glories of the Auax Andron, or as ;f he had told her how arms and the ' man were sung at. Mantua long ago. But this state of things could not j last long. Old habits and old instincts entered their protest, and Violet Tudor felt that she must be natural er she should die. Lauucelot said that she was noisy, and made his head ache; and he changed his resting-place for one farther off" from the house, complaining of Miss Tudor's voice, which he declared was like a bird's whis- tie, penetrated into his brain. This he said to his mother languidly, at the same time asking when she, was going away again. "You don't keep horses, cousin Launce ?" Violet said on the third morning, at breakfast, raising her eyelids, and fixing her eyes for an instant on him. "Not for ladies, Miss Tudor," said Launeelot. " Why do you call me Miss Tudor ?" she ask ed again. "I am your own cousin. It is very rude of you !" " I should think myself impertinent if I call ed you by any other name," returned Launeelot, still more cold. " How odd ! Aunt, why is cousin L&unce so strange ?"' " 1 don't know what you mean Violet," said Mrs. Chumley, a little sternly ; " I think you are strange not my son f An answer that steadied the eyes for some time ; for Violet looked down, feeling rebuked, j and wondering how she had deserved a rebuke. A moment after, Ella asked Launeelot for some thing in her gentle, quiet, unintoned voice, as if they had been strangers, and had met for the first time that day. It was a striking contrast, not unnoticed by Launeelot, who was inwardly thankful that such a quiet wife had been ehosen him; adding a grace of thanks for having es caped iolet Tudor. After breakfast he stroled, as usual, into the garden, Mrs. Chumley going about her household concerns. Violet went to the door, turning round for Elk. " Come with me, Elly, darling," she saicl ; "let us go and teaze Launce. It is really too stupid here! I can't endure it much longer. I want to see what the lazy fellow is really made of. am not engaged to him, so I am' not afraid of him. Come!" And with one spring down the whole" flight, she dashed upon the lawn like a flash of light. Eila descunded like a well-bred lady ; but Violet skipped, and ran, and jumped, and once she hopped, until she found herself bv Launcelot's side, as he Jay on the grss, darting in between him and the sun like a humming bird. " Cousin Launce, how lazy you are !" were her first words. " Why don't you do something to amuse us ? You take no more notice of Ella than if she were a stranger, and you are not even ordinarily polite to me. It is really dread ful! What will you be when you are a man, if you are so idle and selfish now ? There will be no living with you in a few yea's; for I am sure you are almost insupportable as you are!" Launeelot had not been accustomed to this style of address, and for the first few moments was completely at fault. Ella looked frightened. She touched Violet, and whispered, "Don't hurt his feelings !" as if he had been a baby, and Vi olet an assassin. "And what am I to do to please Miss Tudor?" Launeelot asked, with an impertinent voice. " What herculean exertion must I go through to win favor in -'the eyes of my strong, brave, manly cousin j" . " Be a man yourself, Cousin Launce," answer ed Violet. "Don't, spend all your time dwad ling over stupid poetry, which I am sure you don't understand. Take exericise good strong excercise. Ride, hunt, shoot, take interest in something and in some one, and don't think yourself too good for everybody's society but your own. You give up your happiness for pride, I am sure you do, yet you, are perfectly unconscious how iidiculousyou make yourself." " You are severe, Miss Tudor," said Launee lot, with his face crimson. Violet was so small and so frank he could not be angry with her. "I tell you the truth," she persisted, "and you don't often hear the truth. Better for you if you did.N. You must not let it be a quarrel be tween us, for i spoak only for your own good; and if you will only condescend to be a little more like, other men, I will never say a word to you again. Let us go to the stables ; I want to see your horses. You have horses ?'' "Yes," said Lanncelot, " but, as I remarked at breafast, not ladies' horses." "I don't care for ladies' horses; men's horses will suit me better.!", said Violet", with a toss of her little head that was charming, in its asser tion of equality. "I would undertake to ride horses, Cousin Launce, you dare not mount; for I am sure you cannot be good at riding, lying on the grass all your life!" Launeelot was excessively piqued. His blood made his face tingle, his brows contracted, and : he felt humbled and annoyed, but roused. Tears came into Eila's eyes. She went up to her friend I and said "Oh, Violet, how cruel you are!" I Launeelot saw this little bye-scehe. He was a man and a spoilt child in one, antl hated pity on the one side as much as interference on the other. So. poor Ella did not advance herself much in his eyes by her championship. On the contrary, he felt rnre humiliated by hr tears than Violet's rebukes, and, drawing himself up proudly, he said to Violet, as if he were giving away a kingdom, " If you please we will ride to day." ' " Bravo ! bravo, Cousin Launce !" Violet left the lovers together, hoping they would im prove the opportunity ; but Ella was too well bred, and Launeelot was too cold ; and they only called each other Miss Limpie and Mr. Chumley, and observed it was very fine weath er which was the general extent of their love making. t They' arrived at the stable in time to hear some of Violet's candid criticsm. u Thfc ebb' off-fetlock wants looking to. The stupid groom ! who ever saw a beast's head tied up like that I Why, he wasn't a crib biter, was he ?" and with a " Wo-ho. poor fellow ! steady there, steady !" Violent went dauntlessly up to the big carriage horse's head, and loosened the strain of his halter before Lauucelot knew what she was a. bout. She was in her element. She wandered in and out of the stalls, and did not mind Jiow much the horses fidgetted ; nor, even if they meant to crush her against the manger. Launeelot thought all this vulgar beyond words ; and thought Ella Limpie, who stood just at th door and looked frightened, infinitely the sup erior of the two ladies; and thanked his good star again that had risen on Ella and not on ' Violet. Violet chose the biggest and most spirited horse of all, Ella selecting an old grey that was as steady as a camel, and both went into the house to dress for the ride. When they came back, even Launeelot very much disapproving of Amazons in general could not but confess that they made a beautiful pair Ella so fair and graceful, and Violet so full of life and beauty. He was obliged to allow that she was beautiful ; but of course not so beau1 tiful as Ella. With this thousrht he threw himself cleverly into the saddle, and oft' the three started Ella holding her pummel very tightly. ;They ambled down the avenue together ; but, when they got a short distance on the road, Vio let raised herself in the saddle, and, waving her small hand lost, in its white gauntlets, darted off tearing along the road till she became rmere speck in the distance. Launcelot's blood came up into his face. Something stirred his 'heart - strung his nerves up to their natural tone, and made him envy, long, hate, and admire all in a breath. He turntd to Ella, and askfd hurried-ly- " Shall we ride faster, Miss Limpie ?" "If you please," answered Ella, timidly; "but I cant ride very fast, you know." Launeelot bit his lip. " Oh I remember; yet I hate to see women riding like jockeys you are quite right ;" but he fretted his horse, and frowned. Then he observed, very loudly " Violet Tudor is a very vulgar little girl !" After a time, Violet came back her black horse foaming, his head well up, his neck arched, his large eyes wild and bright she flushed, an imated, bright, full of life and health.- Launee lot sat negligently on his bay one hand on the crupper, as lazy men do sit on horseback t walking'slowly ; and Ella's dozing gray hanging down his head and sleeping, with the flies set tling on his twinkling pink eyelids. " Dearest Violet, I thought you would have been killed," said Ella. ' What made you rush away in that manner ?" " And what makes you both ride as if you were in a procession, and were afaid of trampling on the crowd ?" retorted Violet. " CousinLaun celet, you are something wonderful. A strong man like you to ride in that manner ! Are you made of jelly, that would break if shaken ? For shame ! Have a canter. Your bay won't beat my black ; although my black is blown and your mare is fresh." Violet gave the bay a smart cut with her whip, which sent it off at a hand-gallop. Away they both flew, clattering along the hard road, like dragoons. Violet beat by a full length or, as she phrased it, she " won cleverly telling Launcelet that he had a great deal to do yet, before he could ride against her ; which made him hate her as much as if he had been a Frenchman or a Cossack, and love Ella more than ever. And so he told her, as he lifted her tenderly from her gray, leaving Violet to spring from her black mammoth unassist ed. All the evening he was sulky to Violet, and peculiarly affectionate to Ella making the poor child's heart flutter like a caged bird. "Cousin," whispered Violet, the next morn ing, laying her little hand on his shoulder, " have you a rifle in the house, or a pair of pistols ?'' Launeelot was so taken by surprise that he hur riedly confessed to having guns and pistols and rifles, and all other murderous weapons necessa ry for the fit equipment of a gentleman. " We will have some fun, then," said she, looking happy and Full of mischief. Violet and Eila the latter dragged sorely against her will for the very sighi of a pistol nearly threw her into hysterics went into the shrubbery, and there Violet challenged Launeelot to shoot, with her at a mark at twenty paces then, as she grew vain, at thirty. Launeelot was too proud to refuse this challenge : believing, of course, that a little black-eyed girl, whose wai:-t he could almost span between his thumb and little finger, and with hands that could hardly find gloves small enough for them, could not shoot so well as he. Launeelot was nervous that must be confes sed ; and Violet was excited, . Launcelot's ner vousness helped his failure : but Violet's excite ment helped her success. Her bullet hit the mark every time straight in the centre, and Launeelot never hit once which was not very pleasant in their respective conditions of lord and subject ; and so Launeelot classed men and women especially little women with small waists in his own magnificent mind. "He had a$y shot for a long time," he said "and he was out of practice. JTe had drank coffee for breakfast, and that had made his hand unsteady " . "Confess too, Cousin Launce," said Violet, u that you were very good at shooting any time of your life, with it. Whj you don't even load properly. . How oan yoa shoot if yoa don't know how to load ? We can't read without an a'phabet." ' In the prettiest manner possible she took the pistol from her cousin's hand and loaded it for him first drawing his charge. " Now try again!" she said, speaking as if to a child, " no thing like perseverance." Launeelot was provoked, but subdued, and he did as his little instructress bade him to fail once more. His bullet went wide of the target, 'and Violet's lodged in the bull's eye. So Laun eelot flung the pistols on the grass, and said " It is a very unladylike amusement, Miss Tudor, and I was much to blame to encourage you in such nonsense." Offering his arm to Ella, he walked sulkily away. r Violet looked after them both for some time, watching them through the trees. There was a peculiar expression in her face a mixture of whimsical humor, of pam, of triumph, and of a wistful kind of longing, that perhaps she was, in her own heart, unconscious of. She then turned away, and with a half sigh, said softly to herself" It is a pity that Cousin Launce has such a bad temper !" After this, Launeelot became more and more reserved to Violet, and more and more affection ate to Ella. Although he often wondered at himself for thinking so much of the one though only in anger and dislike and so little of the other. Why should he disturb himself about Violet ? On the other hand, Violet was distressed at Launcelot's evident dislike for her. What had she said I AVhat had she done ? ' She was al ways good-tempered to him, and ready to oblige. To be sure she had told him several rouorh truths ; but was not the truth always to be told ? And just see the good she had done him ! Look how much more active and less spoilt he was nof than he used to be. It was all owing to her: She wished, for Ella's sake, that he liked her better ; for it would be very disagreeable for Ella when she was married, if Ella's husband did not like to see her in his house. It was re ally very distressing. And Violet cried on her pillow that night, thinking over the dark future when she could notstay with Ella, because Ella's This was after Violet had beaten Cousin Launeelot three games of chess "consecutively. Launeelot had been furiously humiliated, for he was accounted the best chess-player of the neighborhood. But Violet was really a good player, and had won the prize at a chess club, where she had been admitted by xtraordinary courtesy, it not being the custom of that reputa ble institution to sutler womanhood within its sacred walls. But she was very unhappy about Cousin Launce for all that, and the next day looked quite pale and cast dowu. Even Launee lot noticed his obnoxious cousin's changed looks, and asked her, rather graciously, " If she were ill ?" to w Inch question Violet replied by a blush a glad smile bursting out like a song, and a pret ty pout, "No, I am not ill, thank you ?" which ended their interchange of civilities for the day. Launeelot became restless, feverish, melancho ly, cross ; at times boisterously gay, at times the very echo of despair. lie was kind to Ella, and confessed to himself how fortunate he was in hav ing chosen her ; but he could not understand knowing how much he loved her the extraor dinary effect she had upon his nerves. Her pas si veness irritated him ; her soft and musical voi e made him wretched, for he was incessantly watching for a change of intonation or an em phasis which never came. Her manners were certainly the perfection of manners he. desired none other in his wife; but if she would some times move a little quicker, or look interested and plesised when he tried to iiniuse her, she would make him infinitely happier. And oh! if she would only do something more than work those eternal slippers, how glad he would be. "There they are." he exclaiimd aloud, as the two cousins passed before his window. "By Jove, what a foot that Violet has; and her hair, what a lustrous black ; and what eyes ! Pshaw ! what is it to me what hair or eyes she has?" And he closed his window and turned away ; but, in a minute after, he was watchiug the two girls again, seeing only Violet. "The strange strength of ha e," he said, as he stepped out on the lawn, to follow them. Launcelot's life was very different now to what it had been. He wondered at himself. He had become passionately fond of riding and was locking forward to the hunting season with delight. He rode every day with his two cousins ; and he and Violet had races together, which made them sometimes leave Ella and her. grey for half an hour in the lanes. He used to shoot too practising secretly untiioneday he astonished Violet by hitting the bull's eye as often as herself. He talked a great deal, and had not opened Shelly for a fortnight. He was more natural and less vain, and sometimes even condescended to laugh so as to be heaid, and to appreciate a jest. But this was very rare, and alw ays had the appearance of a condescension, as when men talked to children. He still hated Violet ; and they quarrelled every day regular ly, but were seldom apart. They hated each other so much that they could not be happy without bickering; although, to do Violet just ice, it was all on Launcelot's side. Left to her self, she would never hare said a cross word to him. But what could she do when he was so impertinent! Thus they rode, and shot, and played at chess, and quarrelled, and sulked, and became reconciled, and quarrelled again ; and Ella, utill and calm, looked on with her soft blue eyes, and often " wondered they were 6uch children together." One day, the three found themselves together on a bench under a fine old purple beech, which bent down its great branches like bowers about them. Ella gathered a few ofthe most beautiful leaves, and placed them in her hair. They did not look very well her hair was too light ; and Launeelot said so. " Perhaps they will look better on you, Miss Tudor," he added, picking a broad and ruddy leaf, and laying it Bacchante fashion on her curly, thick black bands. His hand touched her cheek. He started, and dropped it suddenly, as if that round fresh face had been burning iron. Violet blushed deeply, and felt distressed, and ashamed, and angry. Trembling, and with a strange difficulty of breathing, she got up and ran away ; saying, that she was going for her parasol although she had it in her hand and would be back immediately. But she stayed away a long time, wondering at Cousin Launcelot's impertinence. When she came back no one was to be seen. Ella and Launeelot had gone into the shrubbery to look after-a hare that had run across the path ; and Violet sat down on the bench waiting for them, and very pleased they had'gone. She heard a footstep- It was Launeelot without his cousin. "Ella had gone into the house," he said, " not quite under standing that Miss Tudor was coming back to her seat." Violet instantly rose ; a kind of terror was in her face, and she trembled more than ever. " I must go and look for her," she said, taking up her parasol. " I am sorry, Miss Tudor, that my presence is so excessively disagreeable to you !" Launeelot said, moving aside to letter pass. Violet looked full into his" Face, in utter as tonishment. "Disagreeable! Your presence disagreeable to me ? Why, cousin Launce, it is you who hate wi .'" " You know the contrary," said Launeelot, hurriedly. " You detest and despise me ; and take no pains to hide your feelings not ordin ary cousinly pains.' I know that I am full of faults." speaking as if a dam had been removed, and the waters were rushing over in a torrent- "but still I am not so bad as you think me ! I have done all I could to please you since you have been here. I have altered my former habits. I have adopted your advice, and follow ed your example. If I knew how to make you esteem me, I would try even more than I have already tried to succeed. I can endure anything rather than the humiliating contempt y u feel for me !" Launeelot became suddenly afflicted with a choking sensation ; there was a sense of . fulin- ss in hie head, and his limbs shook. Suddenly tears' came into his eyes. Yes, man as he was, he wept. Violet flung her arms round his neck, and took his head between her little hands. She bent her face till her breathcame warm on his forehead, and spoke a few innocent words which J might have been said to a brother. But they conjured up a strange world in both. Violet tried to disengage herself, for it was Launeelot new who held her. She hid her face ; but he forced her to look up. For a long time, she besought only to be re leased ; when suddenly, as if conquered by some-, thing stronger than herself, she flung htrselfj from him, and darted into the house, in a state of excitement and tumult. An agony of reflection succeeded eo this ag ony of feeling ; and Launeelot and Violet both felt as if they had committed or were about to commit some fearful sin. Could Violet betray hej friend ? Could she who had always upheld I truth and honor, accept Ella's confidence only to d-2 rive her of her love ? It was worse than guilt! Poor Violet wept the bitterest tears her , bright eyes had ever shed ; for she labore'd under a sense of sin that was insupportable. She dar ed not look at Ella, but feigned a head ache, and went into her own room to weep. Launee lot was shocked, too ; but Launeelot was a man, and the sense of a half-developed triumph somewhat deadened his sense of remorse. A certain dim unravelling of the mystery of the past was also pleasant. Without being dis honorable, he was less overcome. On that dreadful day Launeelot and Violet spoke no more to each other, They did not even look at each other. Ella thought that some new quarrel had burst forth in her absence, and tried to make it up between them, in her amiable way. But ineffectually. Violet rushed away when Launeelot came near her, and she besought of Ella to leave her alone so pathetical ly, that the poor girl, bewildered, only sighed at the dread of being unable to connect together the two greatest loves of her life. The day after, Violet chanced to receive a letter from her mother, in which that poor wo man, having had an attack of spasms in her chest, and being otherwise quite out of sorts, expressed her firm "belief that she should nerer see her sweet child again. The dear old lady consequently bade her adieu resignedly. -On ordinary days Violet would have known what all this pathos meant; to day she was glad la tum it to account, and to appear to believe it. She spoke to her aunt and to Ella, and told them that she must absolutely leave by the after noon train poor mamma was ill, and she could not let her be nnrsed by serrants. There was nothing to oppose to his argument. Mrs. Chum ley ordered the brougham to take her to the statioa precisely at two o'clock. Launeelot was not in the room when Ciese arrangements were made ; nor did be know anything that was taking J place until he came down to luncheon, pale and haggard, to find Violet in her travelling dress, standing by her boxes. 44 What is all this, Violet ?" he cried, taken off his guard, and seizing her hands as he spoke. ." I am going away," said Violet, as quietly as she could, but without looking at him. He started as if an electric shock had passed through him. " Violet, going V he cried in a suffocated voice. He was pale, and his hands, clasped on the back of the chair, were white with the strain. "Going! why 1" : " I am sorry we are to lose you," he then said very slowly each word as if ground from him, as words are ground out, -when they are the masks of intense passion. His mother looked at him with surprise. Ella turned to Violet. Every one felt there was a mystery they did not know of. Ella went to her cousin. m " Dear Violet, what does all this mean !"jShe asked, her arm round the little one's neck, cares singly. - ; " Nothing," answered Violet, with great dif ficulty. There is nothing." . II Big dropB stood on Launcelot's forehead. 44 Ought you not to write first to your mother . to give her notice before you go!" he said. " "No," she answered, her flushed face quiver ing from brow to lip ; 44 1 must go at once, j At that moment a servant entered hurried'y to say the latest moment had arrived to enable them to catch the train. Aieux wer given in all haste. Violet's tears, beginning to gather but only to gather as yet, not to flow kept bravely back for love and for pride. 44 Good bye," to Ella, warmly, tenderly, with her heart filled with self-reproach. 44 Good bye," to aunt: aunt herself very sad ; and then 44 Good bye" to Launeelot. 44 Good bye, Mr. Chumley," he aid, holding out her hand, but not looking into his face. He' tired to bid her adieu ; but lips were dry, and bis voice would not come. All he did was to express in his features such exquisite suf fering that Violet for a moment was overcome herself, and could scarcely draw away her hand. The hour struck ; and duty with brave Violet hfifnra ll I - 1 left Mm. She ran down the lawn ; she was almost out of sight, when 44 Violet 1 Violet !" rang from the house like a cry of death. Violet a moment irresolute returned ;ithen almost unconsciously she found herself kneeling beside Launeelot, who lay senseless in a chair ; and saying, " Launeelot, I will not leave you !" The Burden of pain was shifted now from T MtmwJif anil Iiai tr Vila cot 1 1 man t a 1 anrl .rm. ventional as she might be-she was agirl wholike many, can perform great sacrifices with an un ruffled brow ; who can ice over their hearts, and feel without expression ; who can consume (their sorrows inwardly, the world the while believing them happy. j Many years afte by the time her graceful girlhood had waned into a faded womanhood, and when Launeelot had become an active coun try gentleman, and Violet a staid wife-Ella lost her sorrows, and came to her peace int the love of a disabled Indian officer, whom she j bad known many years ago and whose sunset jlays she made days of warmth and joy ; persuading herself and him too, that the Cornet Dampier she had flirted with when a girl, she had alwaya loved. THE CHTECH-YAED BEETLE Frazisr s Magazine has lately contained a number of .very interesting papers called "Epi sodes of Insect Life," from the last published one of which we make an extract, as fol lows 44 A German named Gleditsh, who had laid some dead moles upon the beds iu his garden, whether as examples of retributive justice! for their defacement of bis borders and walks, or for other good reasons, or for none at all, does not appear, observed that the bodies of the little gentlemen in velvet disappeared mysteriously.. He watched, and found that the agents were beetles, which, having first deposited their eggs in the carcases that were to be the provision for their larvae, buried their bodies, so that they might be safe from predatory birds and quadru peds. Into a glass vessel he put four of these insects, having filled it with earth, on the sur face of which he placed two dead frogs., -His sextons went to work, and one frog interred in less than twelve hours the other one on jtb'e third day. Then be introduced a dead linnet. The beetles soon began their labors, commencing by removing the earth from under the, body, so as to form a cavity for its reception. Male and female got under the corpse and pulled away at the feathers to lower it into its grave. A change then came over the spirit of the male, fot he drove the female away, and worked by himself for five hours at a stretch. He lifted the body, changed its position, turned and arranged it, coming out of the hole, .mounting" on the dead bird, trampling on it, and theni again going be low to draw it down deeper still. Wearied with his incessant efforts, he came out and laid his head upon the earth beside ihe object of his labors, remaining motionless fo a full hour, as if for a good rest Then be crept under the earth again. On the morning of the next day the bird was an inch and a half below the ur face of the ground, but the, trench remained open, the body looking as if laid oat opon a bier, surrounded by a rampart of mould. j ( When 'evening came, it had sunk half an inch lower The next day the burial was completed the bird having been completely covered. - More cornees were now supplied!, and in fifty day 11 bodies' were interred by the four beetles in this cemetery, unaer a g vv, .