The Steam-Packet: A Tale of the River and the Ocean — page 153: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

~ 112 (MIE SPEAM PACKET. ~ priest issued from the hiding-place, and procured a light? Upon the floor of the closet on one side lay the corpse of the innocent being whose thread of life was rudely snapped by him who wove it; and its distorted countenance bore dread evidence to the silent agonies which it had endured, ere the vital spark fled for ever, beneath the rough gripe of its parent’s hand. On the other side was Marie—still ina ~ swoon, from which she was only recovered to feel those dread pangs which every mother knows for the loss of her little one, but which were now aggravated ten thousandfold by the manner whereby that =~ dear child had parted from existence, and the hands by which the appalling deed was accomplished. The archdeacon strove in vain to soothe her ;—and, yielding at length to the same selfish fears which in respect to his child had got the better of his affection, he tore himself away from the agonising scene, after recommending Marie to the friendly care of De Renal, and briefly sketching in five words a ‘mode. by which she was to join alsin in the course of a few days in England. The moment the priest was gone, the old nurse, by the young, surgeon’s directions, conveyed Marie to her couch, upon which she remained delirious for some hours. At length consciousness returned 5 and, while her tears flowed copiously for the loss of her beloved child, she endeavoured to find consolation in the idea that God had ddubbiless deemed it wise, for his own good purposes, that the proof of her disgrace should disappear from the world. She then set her imagina- tion busily to work to justify the count, for the deed which he had committed—so deeply was she enamoured of him—so unwilling was she to recognise a blemish in his character. This train of meditation solaced her; and she was soon able to discourse with calmness upon the occurrence. Oh! the miserable sophistries to which the human _ mind has recourse, as emollients in the hours of sorrow or remorse! Reader, as you walk by country roads, with nature bursting into. bloom all around you, and listen to the myriad voices of the glad- awakening spring ;—or as you traverse the city’s streets, and amid their’ green, on distant slopes across the broad river, or spreading bay; is it given you in God’s providence to think of those who, early lost and vanished from dust and din catch passing glimpses of reviving’ this blessed earth, shall never gaze upon those scenes again ?— of one, perchance, who idélled upon each opening season with a poet’s calm delight—the soft April shower—the pale green of the ‘fresh-budding’ willow—the darker verdure of the springing grass,—who, with a full heart and wistful eye pursued the setting sun, until twilight came down upon the earth, and the evening star went up upon its watch 2 Precious, in the solemn spring-time, are the memories of the dead! # m (C (E(0) vOOK (E(0)