Here, too, sleeps the young wife, called soon away from the husband of her youth. Consumption, like a worm in the bud, preyed upon the damask of her cheek, dried up the fountain of her life, and bore her triumphantly, another victim of his power. The old sexton, too, who from time immemorial, had been

  "The maker of the dead man's bed,"

has laid down his mattock and his spade, and filled a grave prepared by other hands. At his feet lies a lovely daughter, snatched suddenly away, ere the bloom of youth had passed, and almost without a moment's warning, leaving a husband and a dear little child, too young to feel its loss.

But while we have yet lingered, the sun has finished his journey, and hid his bright beams behind the curtain of the west, and already have the shadows of coming twilight gathered around us, and the white marble slabs, dimly seen in its shadows, assume strange, mysterious shapes, and seem almost like moving things of life, while the darker slate are lost to view.

We will sit a moment on the grave of our dear old aunt. This was the spot designated for our family burying place; but it is now filled with strangers. We will now leave this spot, to toss again upon the waves of time; but may the lesson here learned go with us, and prepare us for the day when the heart and flesh shall fail, and we must change this for another life, ever remembering,

CONTENTS

  "That life is long that answers life's great end."

Midnight Scenes

Or, Pictures of Human Life.

Picture No. I.

CONTENTS

The midnight moon shone drear and cold, Upon a stately tow'r; Whose ramparts high and turrets bold Bespoke a lordly pow'r.

The dancing waters flash'd and gleam'd Beneath her silver ray; And gently fell her placid beam, On tower and turret gray.

And softly came the silent dew, And fell with gentle pow'r, Sparkling like gems, or diamonds fair, On trembling leaf and flow'r.

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