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Show 20 HJCIIAI"tiJ HUilDJS. CliAP'fER II. 1\IARY BASTERIJV, "There woe but one 'Jn whom my hcarL tOok plensure. nmongat women; One in the whole ct·cntion ; o.nd m hct· . , , You durcd to Ue my ri vnl."-Sccon(l.Afaukl~& 'I!ragedy. 'ruE reader ltas diseovered my secret. I had long loved b d ·"tl out knowinrr it. 'fhc k nowledge J\Iary Easter y, an " 1 1 0 },f brother t me at the moment when I censctl to h ope. y c:.u~cm o r ival, and, whato,·er were tho cltanns he used: m! sucwa ·s·ful~·ival This mny have given bitterness to tlto feeltng of co~lstem )t ~vi.th which his own feebleness of ch arttctcr had tau~ht co to /c...,.artl }Jim. It certainly took nothing from the barncr, :~~ich ci~cumstunccs and time lu~ •?J np as a;v~l;clL~~::~~:; :~: Mary Eastcrb?' had !~~w;~ct~pscx~SI .,~r ~n~~a.d l)layed togetlter other compamon um b 1 t to believe when I came from infancy, and l had been taug 1 . ' . . ~o that to know tho situation of my own heai:t, and ~o ~nqu:~e dn nyself of hers that she loved me. If she did not, e~en e J • St w~fully. but such self-deception is no uncommon practtcei mo • 1 · temperament with the young of my ttge, ant san gum~ . . . ' t th~u h would not dwell upon her charms could I :notll It, l)C t ~o I sr)ea.k of, I should frd l to describe and do not tope o_ 11" . b r three years than mysc J them ju:;ticc. She was younger ) ... t·tH but not and no less beautiful than young .. lf?r pers~n '~~\·s:cm tall, ~;lighti it was too finely prOllortJOned to m.lke. e t •sicals mand grace was the natural result, not 1css of hm _PII ) tc••csys of ·a 1 cot constt ora metry, t lwn of her mal en taste, am swl . ·heck not so roun<l character. ITer eye was 1m·ge and Llue, t~I c "tl that which as fnll, aml its rich rosy color almost vJCd wJ t~ Tier hair crimsoned tlw pulpy outline of her lovely mou I. MARY EASTERBY. 21 was of a dark brown, and she wore it gathered up sim}lly in volume bclt illd, a few stray tresses only being suffered to escape from bondage at Ute sides, to attest, as it were, the bountiful luxuriance with which nature had cnUowed her. See tl1cse tresses on her round wh ite neck, and let your eye trace them in their progress to the swell ing bosom on wh ich they some· times rested; <l.ncl you may conceive something of those charms, which ( shalt not seck fluthcr to describe. 'J'l10ugh a dweller in the woods nil Lor l ife, her mind and taste hacl not been left without due cultivation. Her father bad been taugltt in one of the cldcl' states, one of the old thi rteen, and he canied many of the refinements of city l ifO with him into the wilderness. Books she l1acl in abundance, and these taught Iter everything of those old communities, wiJich she ltad never yet Leon 11ermittcd to sec. Her natural quick ness of intellect, Iter prompt nppreciation of wktt she read, enabled her at an enrly period duly to estimate those conventional and improved forms of sociul life to wllich her books perpetually referred, and which belong only to stationary alwdes, where wealth brings leisure, nnd leisure provokes refinement. \ Vith such aitl, Mnry E asterLy soon stood alone among tl1c neighboring dmnscls. ller air, manner, conversation, even dress, were not only difl'crcnt from, but more becoming, titan those of her associates. Site spoke with the case and freedom of one bred up in tlte most ttssurcd society; and tltOllght with a mind filled with stanihrds wllich are not often to be mot with in an insulated :uu] unfrequented community. In short she was one of those beings such as l ift the class to which they belong; such as represent rather a fltturo than a present generation; and such as, by suller ior grasp of judgment or of genius, prepare tho way for, and guide the aims of all tho rest. It were folly to dwell upon her excellences, but tltat my narrntion mny Ucpcnd upon their development. rl'hey were }lOwerful enough with me; and my I teart felt, ere my mind could analyze them. A boy's heart, particularly one who is the unsop!tisticate<l occupant of tho forests, having few other teachers, is no sluggish and selfish creation, and mine wns soon fi lled 'ritlt Mnry ]~asterby, and all its hopes an~l desires de. pended upou hers for their fulfilment. I t was the thought of |
