LINES. BY MRS. ELIZA V. BAKER, LADY OF THE REV. DANIEL BAKER, D. D., OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS. MISS LUCY HULL, of Holly Springs, Mississippi, a young lady of uncommon loveliness, when engaged to be married, and with her splendid bridal dress all prepared, was, to the overwhelming grief of many, cut down, as a new-blown flower, fresh and sparkling with the dew-drops of the morning! SHE slumbereth long! the young betrothed, All in her snowy vesture clothed: So soft, so tranquil is her sleep That all around dead silence keep; Swells through the hall, from whence a bride The shroud that beauteous form enfold! On whom all faces ever smiled; But ah! the stricken one of all, For whom unbidden tears must fall, Is he, low bending o'er the dead, Who wept with those who mourned while here, THE MINIATURE. BY ALICE CAREY. Nor the chilly and moaning winter, With eyes like the sorrowful beauty Of violets buried in dew, (See Engraving.) And locks like the nut-brown shadows But oft when the front of the autumn That hovers about him above, He puts from his forehead the glory, And listens again to my love. VOL. VII. 18 "I HAVE made five dollars, good, clean cash, to-day," said Mr. Skates, as he walked slowly and complacently into the room where his wife was sitting, and with a consequential and satisfied jingle, hung up the keys to his little shop on their accustomed peg, a strong wooden peg, just by the bedroom door. Mrs. Skates made no reply, but kept on sewing, and gave the cradle rather an impatient jog with her foot. "Five dollars, good, clean cash!" repeated Mr. Skates, this second time accompanying the intelligence with a keen and merry whistle, such as he was used to encourage or congratulate himself with the many hours he sat on his bench, in close and industrious intimacy with his leather apron and lap-stone. Still Mrs. Skates made no response, and if her husband had seen her face, he would have justly concluded, from its sealed up expression, she never meant to speak again on any occasion. But he did not see it, albeit that face was wont to greet him with a smile when he came in, at nine o'clock, from his day's cheerful labour. So he unrolled his shirt sleeves, "tipped back" in his chair, and drummed with his horny fingers'-ends on his wife's japanned work-box. 66 How can you make that noise, Mr. Skates, when I have had such a fuss to get the baby to sleep?" broke out Mrs. Skates, giving to the cradle a more petulant jog than ever. The jog, more than the strumming, did wake the baby, and he set to screaming at the top of his lungs. Mrs. Skates frowned, and rocked and jerked him up higher on his pillows, and then turned him over, which several operations so surprised and incensed the baby, that he held his breath till his face grew red as a lobster, and then, after a few preliminary coughs and chuckles, there rattled out from his throat a full volley of his indignation. "There, Mr. Skates!" said his lady, reproachfully, as she mounted the baby on her lap, with a very unusual disregard of his tenderness and juvenility. She could not make him sit, however, he was too mad and stiff in the joints for that, and she could not keep him covered with his thin cradle-robe, for his saucy little pink feet flew about in as lively a measure as if he had been capering to the merry music of a hornpipe. "I've a good mind to spank him and done with it! I would if you had not been so careless as to wake him up, when he has been ugly as he could live all the evening, and I have but just got him out of my arms, Mr. Skates! Shut up your mouth, and go to sleep in one minute, James, or I'll come and trounce you till you don't know yourself!" continued the excited mother, in reply to a little voice that called "Mother-r-r!" out of the bed-room. The threat silenced all but a stifled whining, which lasted only a little while, and then the baby had the whole field to himself again. Mr. Skates was sorry enough to be the innocent instrument of so much trouble and confusion, so he made what amiable restitution he could, by whistling, singing, and performing sundry imitations of cats, dogs, cows, cockerels, &c., for the diversion and propitiation of the baby, till he finally relaxed his angry tearfulness into a smile; from a smile he consented to the gratification of his fleshly appetite, and under such soothing influences, he was gradually cheated into a deep slumber again. When the calm was sufficiently established to allow safely the inbreaking of a human voice, Mr. Skates ventured, in a low tone, to commence conversation again with his wife; for his was the most social and chatty of dispositions. "What is the matter, Kate? I am afraid you don't feel well,—do you!” "Yes; I feel well enough, but I don't feel happy," replied Mrs. Skates, and she had more than half a mind to cry outright;-I think she would, but for the dread of another "tussle" with the baby. "What's happened? Have I done anything?" inquired the alarmed and simple-hearted husband; and when Katy only answered with a sort of lingering, undecided "No," and her tears really began to start, his own were ready to start, too; for he loved Katy with the whole wealth of his simple, unsentimental nature, and he never had seen her so evidently unhappy before. He drew nearer to her, and asked, softly and anxiously,— "Katy, what is the matter?" "I don't feel contented! I want to be somebody, James!" sobbed Mrs. Skates, as she laid the baby back in his cradle, and covered her face with her apron. Ah, there is the mischief-the silence-the rough handling of the little one-the scolding of James to his slumber-all traceable to this! And the fire had been burning some time in the heart of Mrs. Skates, the shoemaker's wife, before this outbursting of the flame-the spirit of discontent had been conquering and annexing territory inch by inch, till it possessed wellnigh the whole before it dared to plant its standard on the outworks, and make its mark upon her face, and distemper her conduct and demeanour as a wife and mother. Mrs. Skates never treated her husband so coldly beforenever disregarded so perseveringly the substantial tokens of his worldly prosperity in his laborious and indispensable calling-never threatened little James with such ignominious punishment before, and never, till that evening, felt her hands so tingle to administer physical "suasion" to a babe of six months, if he was wayward and troublesome. Not at all like Mrs. Skates was this impatience and reproachfulness, for she was one of the most thrifty and loveable little wives in all the village. True, in her girlhood, which was scarcely past, she had been an ambitious maiden; and if she could have the choosing of her destiny, I don't know as she would have married James Skates the shoemaker; for in personal appearance, in mental endowments, if they had been properly balanced, and in ambitious purposes, he was any distance behind her. If Mrs. Skates was accountable for ten talents, at a random estimate, her husband's reckoning never would have stretched beyond five, in any state of the market, and from the dawn of her womanhood, when she first began to take the lead among the village girls, the notion invincibly quartered itself in her head, that she was "born to be somebody!" Mr. Skates had but a very little beforehand when they were married, and Katy's father could give her only the scantiest outfit,-but James was industrious and careful, and his wants were few and very easily satisfied. His boots and shoes never ripped, and "wore like iron," so of course they gave entire satisfaction to everybody, and he had all the making and "capping" and "specking" for miles and miles around. Indeed, so popular was he, that his patrons gave him no time at all to idle away, even if he had been disposed to indolence. How could such commendable industry fail to insure success? And then he was entirely happy, his dear Katy was merry as a lark all the day long; the light of her face, when she had done the housework, and came into his little shop with her baby or her sewing, was always like the entering in of a rainbow, so bright and joyful was it to look upon;-the sound of her voice, too, singing some lively air over her domestic labours or the cradle, oh, it was so sweet, it made him whistle more piercingly than ever, and gave him vigour and agility as he wielded his awl, or drove in the pegs, as if his good right arm had been a triphammer. And then he was so kind, and regardful, and loving to Katy. Not a wish did he allow to go ungratified if it was within the compass of his ability; not a moment did he ever withhold his wallet when her hand waited for it, and not an attention he knew how to bestow did he ever neglect. And Katy loved him dearly when once she had married him, and become accustomed to his simple and unpresuming ways. Yes, she did love him dearly, and she entered heart and hand into his plans for prosperity, and suggested many more from the stores of her superior calculation. She was very happy, indeed, when the last cent was actually paid for their house and garden, and they could call it indisputably their own; and her next ambition was to have it repaired and painted straw-colour, with the ornamental addition to its neatness of pretty light green blinds. Gradually she became the mistress of a carpet for her parlour and best bedroom, and one article after another accumulated till her house was tastefully and suitably provided 'with furniture,-not the richest mahogany, and rosewood, and damask, to be sure, but such as comported with her means and her station. Long before all this came to pass, the matrons of the village, who had shaken their heads doubtfully over the promise of her giddy girlhood, declared themselves "happily disappointed!" Katy had really "settled down into a steady woman, and made a first rate housekeeper." Only they thought "she was none the better for some of her high notions; she dressed 'most too well and laid out 'most too much of Skates's earnings to fix up their house, when it would do just as well without, theirn did ;--and the money ought to be put at interest 'ginst a rainy day ;-they might be sick or be burnt out-who could tell?" Now it is not to be supposed that all this tendency to "fix up," was wholly untraceable to the idea she had nursed from her childhood, that one was "born to be somebody," or that the development and growth of matronly virtues had eradicated the foibles which were interwoven with the constitution of her mind. The luxuriance of the virtues might have overtopped the follies, if she had hated the follies; but the truth was, their roots were deeply struck, and strong, and she was only waiting for the opportunity in the progress of her history, to prove that nothing but the painful lessons of a severe experience can destroy the interlacings of a false ambition-that kind of ambition which sees no loveliness in its own pathway, no honour in the quiet and faithful discharge of its own private, and, it may be, humble duties, nothing really desirable or satisfying, unless it is stretched often into another and a higher sphere. Mrs. Skates had a very dear cousin and friend, to whose influence she readily submitted herself; although the unequivocal tendency of that influence was to kindle up her discontent, and lead her mind to the revolving of projects which alone she never would have thought of. Cousin Sophronia Thompson, though a number of years Katy's senior, had always taken her greatly into favour, and they had long sustained the most confidential and intimate relations. Sophronia was brought up a near neighbour to Katy, had learned the " 'tailor's trade" in all its mysteries, and was marvellously endowed with a faculty at the "shears," the "goose," and the "cabbage." Indeed, she prospered finely with the business, and made more at "custom work," or "jobs," than any of the girls; for she had such a talent at making garments look very smooth and trim, in half the time others spent upon them; and if they ripped when they came to be worn, why, she had the prescriptive right of "the profession," to harangue about "unnecessary strains," and "miserable materials." By and by, Sophronia had a good chance to 66 tory of all chirography-she did promise to come and spend some weeks in the summer, with Mrs. Skates-it was all the fashion to go into the country in the hot season, and she had fallen, or rather risen into such fashionable circles, it would not do for her to neglect anything that other folks did; so she was coming in June or July, and how many things she should have to tell Katy! Mrs. Skates felt that it would come next to being a city lady herself, to have one for her visiter, and she began to weary of waiting for the expected honour. The occasion of the scene which opens my story, was the arrival that morning of a letter from Sophronia, full to the very brim of gentility. Sophronia had actually gone to Saratoga, in company with the "Hon. Captain Powers, lady, and daughters," and she had cut out of the Saratoga newspaper, a notice of their arrival at the great Hotel! Yes! there were their names, printed in the newspaper! O dear! dear! what a blessed thing it was to have money, and "be somebody," so one could go to Saratoga in company with the go into a large, "ready-made clothing esta- | white, penned in scrawls unknown in the hisblishment" in the city, and with her upward tendencies-it seemed they almost ran in the family-here was an opportunity by no means to be neglected. She threw up her country business at once, and went; and by her correspondence, she kept Mrs. Skates intelligent on every branch of her success. What "sights" of money she made, and what "sights" she spent-how richly she dressed, how she wore a “goold" watch and chain, and had rings and pins and bracelets a plenty, to wear on all occasions, proper or improper-at any rate, to wear-what sights of grand people she tailored for, and, in fine, what a prime idea it was to be a tailoress in the city, where "a body could be somebody!" O, how these communications from time to time, albeit they were in defiance of orthography, etymology, syntax, and prosody," made Katy's heart flutter. She wished -how many things she did wish! But she seldom said anything to her husband about these aspirations; indeed, he never could be made to realize that the letters were of any interest at all; so, by and by, he did not take the trouble to read them. But Katy read them, and feasted upon the fine things they described, and the genteel practices they explained. And when Sophronia at length wrote a letter on a "mourning" sheet, all bordered and sealed with black, to communicate to Mrs. Skates that Solomon Thompson, her only brother, was dead, and had left her five thousand dollars (the avails of his industrious peddling of mophandles, washboards, and other "woodenware," together with the product of a fortunate speculation in eastern lands), and that she had quit tailoring for ever, and taken genteel boarding in one of the " 'genteelest boarden housen" in the city, and was going to be a lady, and nothing but a lady, for evermore, Katy Skates thought she would faint away with surprise and envy. O, what a delightful thing, to have somebody die and leave so much money to one, and then be able to board out, in a genteel, city boarding-house, and do nothing in the world but wear rich clothes and finery, and be a lady! Katy bit her lips, and her heart throbbed impatiently; and she had, in feminine parlance, "a good cry!" To think that Sophronia Thompson had stepped right up on such a pinnacle-the very pinnacle where she, all her life, had been longing to stand; and yet she was only a shoemaker's wife, and obscure at that! O, it was humiliating-it was vexatious. What had she done to deserve it? And then she cried again. But the letter did cast just a glimmer of light and hope upon Katy's future, dark and forbidding as it seemed. Cousin Sophronia promised yes, there it was, in black and Hon. Captain Powers, lady, and daughters," and be of so much consequence as to be mentioned in the papers! Mrs. Skates thought it was a signal distinction; and then Sophronia wrote, that the "Hon. Captain Powers, lady, and daughters," had never done anything in their lives, and they were really the finest and fashionablest people in all the world-as rich as-nobody knows who! and "they made it a pint never to do anything." She wrote, "they made all sorts of game of folks that did anything; for her part, she had done doing anything, and had a'most forgot how!" Poor Katy! how could she bind the shoes any more! How could she do the housework, and the family sewing any more, lest she should some time, through Cousin Sophronia or somebody, come into the august presence of the "Hon. Captain Powers, lady, and daughters!" and then the stain and roughness of her fingers would disclose the disgraceful fact that she did something! The more she meditated upon Sophronia's letter, the more discontented and dissatisfied she became, and the more impatient and disgusted with everything about her. James was unhappy, and confined himself to his shop almost entirely, because Katy was never smiling and pleasant now; the children behaved more troublesomely, and were more turbulent and vexatious, because mamma had done trying to amuse them, and was even hardly gentle. The house must undergo an extra overturning, in expectation of Cousin Sophronia, and everything in the parlour and best bedroom was arranged and rearranged an incredible number of times, before they |