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peopel len aA Rie Nt ES AR
Ddy’s Literary Museum,
- = {Written for Dodge’s Literary Museum.)
MY-ANGEL BRIDE. ~
BY MIRA LIZZIE DONELSON,
Sweer dreams of the olden time summers
' Are flitting across my brain,
Bright gleams from the Past’s faded sunlight
That will come to me ne’er again;
And dearest of Memory’s visions
Is a maiden wondrously fair,
With eyes like the heaven’s deep sapphire,
And tresses of golden hair.
>
In the Spring-times Jong ago vanished,
Those blue eyes smiled upon me, |
And our hearts to each other were plighted
Neath the shade of the trysting tree.
: But there came a wandering Reaper
if From beyond the dark shores of Time, '
: And he gathered my frail carth-lily {
* ” For the bowers of his native clime. fee
The fairies danced in the moonlight,
— Where the dark-eyed violet slept,
_ And drank, from the eup of the bluebell,’
. The tears that the Eve-Spirit wept,
. And the wild bee roamed ’mid the roses, ,
And the Peris sang low in the vale,
non». Where the fairest of earth’s fair flowers ---~~-
Is sleeping now, lifeless and pale,
Gone out, in the grave’s gloomy shadows, |
Is all the sweet joy-light of yore, .
. For my bride has gone o’er the deep waters -
,; -:. That bound the eternal shore.
q he maid of the golden tresses,
And eyes of cerulean blue, . .
“! Has passed through the gates of the rainbow
Forever from my earthly view. *
And the turf *neath the trysting linden
.. Her light feet will press nevermore,
_ For she’s keeping a tryst with the angels,
Far away from the dim earth-shore
+> Nevermore, when my spirit is weary,
‘Will she come with her gentle smile,
With her yoice like the low tones of music, -
. ‘And heart so free from earth’s guile.
!
.. Nevermore, when the sweet Spring cometh, }
‘Will she roam ‘neath the forest shades,
Nor twine into wreaths the fair flowers
_“-That bloom in the sylvan glades;
But when, o’er the dark, wayeless river,
: The Death-king my epirit shall guide, ’ >
On the shores of that beautiful heaven
I shall meet mt ay angel bride. «
1854,
(Written for Dodge
‘
Literary Museum aft
MY cousIN .
. BY A NEW. cosrrrputor, -f
was a “beautiful morning in Suly, cool
and pleasant. | The “thundex, shower of
the evening before ‘had completely. washed
the face of Nature... Glassy drops sparkled
from bush and tree, and thé diamonds on
the grass-tips’ bowed and winked solemnly | ;
to each other i in the roy light of the morm-
ing. oo"
{ ‘Frank Lewis and I, each in’ a'‘corner of
thé- back seat, rolled out of the village ‘in
the Coleville and Manton stage. “We | ex-
pected to reach Coleville (my home,) in the
afternoon, and while -we -are riding along, I
will give you, a little more of an introdue-
tion to Frank—you all know me, of course.
He. was my, classmate, and until lately
had been 3 @ famous. ladies’ man—that.is, he
had been into society a good deal, and as he
was graceful ‘and, handsome, he was deserv-
edly a favorite but since the Jast, summer
vacation he had devoted himself alinost é eén-
tirely to his books: He had a good ‘deal of
mysterious writing to do—often used to take
solitary moonlight’ walks, when’ “half, the
girleexcuse ‘mo youi'g ladies in’ the vil-|
lage would have given considerable to have
been with him,’ and if he ‘had taken it into
his head to call l every evening in the week,
there was not one » but: would | have consider-
_ ed it her duty to entertain him.’ Ife came
from the West, was wealthy, and, altogether,
was a very interesting and jolly fellow.
LL had been teasing F
me
‘ation with me.
“| her in his arms and kissed her as if he had
:| Mrs. Thom’s, our nearest neighbor.’ °
.| and graceful, her face perfectly lovely, and
i fand better. .
In vain I had promised him hunting, fishing
and riding; in vain described the natural
beauties of the place, until a few days be-
fore the close of the term, I received a let-
ter from home, and made a final appeal.
“Were, Frank, is a new attraction at
Coleville—one not to be despised. Lis-
ten!” Tread:
“Your cousin Lilian is here, and will
stay a week or two.”
“Now, won’t you go? She isa splendid,
magnificent girl, and as good as she is beau-
tiful !”
> « Well, yes, ‘Nea, Til go.”
I heard him say to himself, “I didn’t
know she would be there.”
'.“ Why, Frank, do you know Lilian Tre-
yor?”
“Tsaw her last summer,” he answered,
evasively.
- The light began to gleam upon me, but I
said nothing. es
It was nearly two days’ ride to Coleville,
and we start with the reader on the second
day’s ride. .
We arrived at home about the middle of
the afternoon. ~ Lilian met us ‘in the hall—
she’ greeted: me kindly—but Frank! Is
Frank crazy ? I thought. Why, he folded
been quite used to it. I soon found out that
he had. Well, I was astonished, and cer-
tainly looked silly. Frank laughed and ex-
arm.
My father and mother were’ making a
visit in the ‘next village. Frank and Lily
looked yery much as if they would like to
be alone, so I left them happy, and called at
‘She had a beautiful little girl about seven
years old, who was a great pet of mine.
She was very small, but her form was lithe
wherever she went, her sunny smiles and
winning ways made everybody feel happier
We were the best of friends,
and in my vacations we were almost always
together. 7
- Sure enough,’ there stood Mary it in the
doorway. °° ‘
have got such lots of things to tell you. You
must come right out and sce my garden.”
“Out we went through the walks, stopping
now ‘at this magnificent -bed ‘of: pinks, as
with their delicious ‘aroma; again, to watch
the gorgeous hues of the flaunting tulips.
On we went, through these treasured glo-
ries, Mary all the time busily talking. - In'a
short time I knew all that had happened
interesting to her since I was last here.
~~ We then paddled out to the center of the
small pond, the banks of which are green,
and, sloping: gently to the water's edge, so
that the delicate harebell ‘mirrors itself in
the crystal water; and the elm. spreads its
graceful arms over its bosom to protect it.
It was naturally a beautiful spot, and “Mr.
Thom and my father had improved it very
much by carefully removing all impurities,
and had made it the fairy lake it was.
» Mary, was unusually: thoughtful, and at
last she spoke, ©! ¢
“Ned, don’t you wish there were fairies
—real fairies ? ‘Mother says there are no
such things. I wish I could see a fairy.
How, beautiful it must be. Just think of
getting into a rose and rocking to sleep with
a fire-fly for a candle. JA wish. I Wasa fairy.
Don't your
Sees o
past to spend the
TT
plained, while Lilian clung blushing to his |"
“OQ! Tam $0 glad you have got home. I},
"| they; to hail my return, waved their heavy ~
~| heads in the breeze and perfumed the air
* Both of us. We should have such nice
times. I would hide in a rose, and you
could not find me.”
“JT shall find you very easily, if you tell
me beforehand where you will hide. I
should run to all the rose bushes, and it
would not be very long before I shook you
out. But you forget the terrible foes we
should have to fight with—the wasps, spi-
ders, bees and”
“QO, no! the bees would be our friends,
and make honey for us in our fairy hives in
the woods, where mortals could not get it.
As for the wasps and spiders, I shall let you
do the fighting, and I will crown my brave
defender’ wi ith—with—w! hat do fairies crown
each other with?”
“T don’t know—ioonshine, perhaps.”,
“No, I will crown you with oak leaves.”
“But you forget—one oak leaf will cover
me.”
“T shall have some fairy oak leaves small
enough, though”
“ Come, sit here, Mary, and I will tell
‘| you a fairy story, of this lake, too, for the
Queen of the Fairies once had a palace at
the bottom of the lake. It was built of
glass, so as to be invisible to human
eye”
“Was there, truly?” interrupted Mary.
“No, of course there are no such things.”
“ Once there was a little girl—her name
was Mary” :
“Why, that is my name!”
“Yes, and she too_was thinking, as you
were, just now, how she would like to be a
fairy, and she sat down upon the bank,
leaned her head upon’ her hand, and was
very busily thinking, when suddenly she
heard a slight dashing i inthe ‘water. . She
looked—she could searcely believe her « eyes
—but there sat the Queen of the Fairies,
in a, milk-white shell, sailing to the shore.
Mary could tell you what she wore, and all
about that sort of thing. | She told. me, but
I forget now.! A white dress and a gossa-
mer scarf she wore, I think, but that is no
matter. .The wind was blowing away from
at Mary’s feet. The Queen‘ stepped on
shore and spoke to her;.:
‘I have heard you: say, 4 a good many
times, that you would like to be | a fairy., I
have come to try you. If you are willing
to leave your mother and become ‘a fairy,
you have only to step into my boat.’
*I cannot step © into” your boat—it i is too
small.’
‘You shall be small, too!” and she touch-
ed her with her wand.
She immediately became’ as small as the
Queen. They stepped on board, and were
wafted quickly to the lake’s center. The
Queen waved her wand, and instantly they
were in Fairyland, before the erystal palace.
' There were thousands of fairies gathered
round to see the newly-made fairy... They
danced around her, they. rosé, and ‘poising
themselves on their: wings, beckoned her to
them. She then first found her wings,
She was soon with them, and joined their |.
mad revelry. O! it was a beautiful sight,
as they dashed here and. there, up ‘and
wings. This was the way they welcomed
her. The Queen then said to he
“Any time within. three ‘days, if you
wish, you can return to your mortal state 5
after that, you must remain a fairy—a fairy
princess, for I will adopt you—without any
chance of change.’
Fairies need ‘but little sleep-a half hour's
nap is as refreshing |
13 What ?? wish I
Bok WI.
the shore, but the fairy craft came to land].
down, fanning the air with their gauzelike |
night Mary. did not think of her mother
Why should she? | She had so many things
to see and hear. She played hide-and-seek
in the violet beds, and rocked to and fro in
the tulip cups., She sipped the dew, fresh
and sparkling; she climbed the moonbeam’s
silvery ladder, and when the harebells tink-
led for the midnight dance, she was the
wildest of the wild.
The next night she slid into her mother’s
room. She was awake, and looked troubled
and eare-worn. Mary reproached herself
for leaving her. She had not thought at all
what her mother must suffer if she became
afairy. She thought how she had already
been gone two days, and how her mother
loved her. She concluded she had rather
be as she was before, with her mother to
love her, than be the Queen of the Fairies;
and she kissed her mother’s pale forehead,
fanned her with her wings, and stooping,
spoke,
‘Love me, mother!
a fairy |’
‘Who wants you to be a fairy, dearest ? ??
said her mother, who had come out to see
where she had gone, lifting her from the
bank, and kissing her. /
Mary laughed and said,
‘O! mother, I have had such a funny
dream,’ and she told her, as Ihave told you,
her adventures in Fairyland.”
It would have pleased you to see my little
friend look into my face with her large blue
eyes, her head leaning upon my shoulder,
her hands clasped and lying in her lap. . I
used to love to tell her stories. They seem-
ed to be realities while I was telling them.
“Well, Mary, h how do you like my fairy
story ?” .
“Ol very much. Did the. Queen feel
badly because Mary went back to her
mother?”
“T really, don’t know. Iwill ask. her the
very next time Tee her. I think’ she did.
But we must go home now, or your mother
will think that the fairies have spirited you
away like your namesake.”
The bell rang for tea as we entered
the -house, and I was easily, Persuaded to
stay.
Tt was quite late when I came home. ‘I
stepped, into the dining-room through the
window—the windows are low and open on
to the side piazza. Nobody there! , Into
the parlor then I went. There sat Frank
on the lounge, drawn up to the front win-
dow—Lilian leaning on his shoulder. I
stepped up softly, behind them—they did
not move—I leaned over—upon my word,
they were both asleep. I was about, to
awaken them, when a sudden thought, made.
me sto
“T will tie them together,” ‘and I laughed
at the idea when I was outside the door.
What shall I tie. them with? Let.me
see. If I could only get ‘Lilian’ scarf. ,I
wonder if she has it on? No! here it, is,
hanging with her hat. Both will. come
handy. ”
Thad, the. greatest diiculty to ‘get it
round Lily, but Tat last succeeded in wind-
ing it round both and tying it securely...
There they sat, unconscious, tied by the
silken bonds—not of matrimony, exactly —
but of Lilian’s scarf.” Frank, ‘too, looked
quite: interesting, wearing Lily’s fairy hat
on the top of his head, while the moon
poured a flood of light through the opened
window.
I sat down at the piano, ‘and conimenced
playing one ‘of Strauss’ waltzes. How as-
tonished they were, on, awaking,. i is. worth
Ido not want to be
- | sleep’ to’ us poor mortals.” That day, and
ording. Lily started first. .. I imagined I
4
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