tenance, rent her heart and sealed her lips. At length she silently prayed, "Forgive me, Father of mercies, forgive me this anguish which shakes my frame, when I think on the terrible separation at hand. Truly my heart fails, and my courage utterly deserts me, when I gaze on the dear form at my side, bowed down by surpassing sorrow, and when I encounter those lingering, despairing looks fixed on my faded, shrunken features; strengthen me against this my last and greatest trial, and let me not dare to murmur against thy merciful decrees. Teach me to bend my spirit low in submission to thy will, and even to desire the affliction with which Thy hand chastens me. But, above all, I implore thee to support him, my first, my only love, in the dreadful hour which approaches; whisper soft consolation in his ear, bless him with a conviction of my blissful exchange when I shall rest with Thee; make our child a staff and support to his withered spirit, and finally perfect his resignation, and bring him to join me in the bowers of Heaven!" And Geraldine's heart was strengthened, and in a calm voice she endeavoured to prepare her beloved husband for his bereavement. Antonio interrupted her not, as she spoke, in a low whisper, that she might not be overheard by the boatman; but his breast heaved with deep sobs, and the large drops of agony stood on his pale forehead. "I have loved much ay passionately," continued his wife, "and have drank deep of the stream of domestic bliss, yet in these moments of holy rapture, when celestial visions float before my failing sight, and far-off sounds of seraphic hymning strike on my dizzy senses, and the fluttering of angel-wings is around me, as the messengers of Heaven wait for my struggling spirit, and words of exceeding rapture are whispered in my ear, I would not, if I could, again seize on life, with its thorns and blights, mixing ever with its flowers not even thy precious love could tempt me back; but I will watch over thee, my Antonio, and keep alive the flame which burns in thy heart, on the shrine consecrated to my memory, till it shall blaze with tenfold light and purity in the regions where I go to await thee." : "Farewell," she continued, raising her languid eyes on the scenery around; "farewell ye sunny skies, thou placid lake on whose bosom I have passed so many happy hours with him I love farewell ye mountains, up whose steep sides I have so often clambered, when health gave energy to this poor frame. In contemplating the bright country to which I hasten, I have no regrets for ye, yet have I loved ye well, and in your peaceful recesses my heart has tasted of much joy and peace." Her voice grew almost inaudible, and in broken accents she murmured "and thou best and dearest, farewell!-husband, farewell !” Her head lay on Antonio's shoulder, and the long, glossy ringlets of her hair, mingled with his ebon locks, and the sunbeams fell lovingly on their golden hues which danced in the light; the hand which had clasped Antonio's relaxed its grasp, and the arm dropped heavily from his knee. By a terrible effort the young husband turned and looked on her face-she was-dead, but an angel smile overspread her features. "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is Death! how unutterably potent is the spell attached to that little word. Breathe it in the ear of the condemned criminal who is branded and execrated by his fellow beings, and whose life, were he reprieved, would be a dreary unblessed pilgrimage. Whisper this one word in his ear, and you shall see his hardened features convulsed with terror, and his frame shake with strange emotion. Breathe it at the festive board where empty fools, and thoughtless youth, and dissipated age are met together; where the gay jest is heard, and the light laugh goes round, and mirth sparkles in every eye; and you shall see a sudden and fearful change, a tremor and paleness shall fall on the most unthinking, and the most hardened shall make but a faint effort to rally the stricken spirits around him. Whisper it in the ear of the Christian who is bowed to the earth with affliction, and whose furrowed brow bears the stamp of indelible woe; let him hear the word, and a smile of unutterable rapture will illumine his sunken eyes, and give more than mortal beauty to his haggard countenance. Pause, ye rash mortals, who in a moment of anguish call upon death to release ye. What claim have ye to eternal happiness? where has been your enduring faith? where have been your absorbing love to God, your self-denial, your chastened affections, your good works? Ye dare not answer these questions, and yet ye ask for death! Surely, ye must imagine this coveted death to be a state of utter annihilation, or do ye prefer everlasting torment to the light and passing sorrows of this short life? And if your impious cry were answered, could ye aspire to Heaven? To hear ye talk of meeting the loved in bliss, one would suppose |