ii II & 't/\ TALES OF CITY LIFE. I. THE CITY CLERK. H. "LIFE IS SWEET." BY CATHARINE M. SEDGWICK. WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. PHILADELPHIA : HAZARD AND MITCHELL, 178 CHESXUT STREET. 1850. THE CITY CLERK BY MISS CATHABINE M. BEDGWICK. THE CITY CLEEK. A sister's love! I dwell upon the theme The only love on earth to which the earth Has given no taint of self-regardful care. HEITRY WARE. IT is about the middle of November a bright, soft day, when the genial spirit of the year looks back with one of his farewell smiles. His warm breath has spread a silver haze over the rugged hill sides. The mountain tops are shining the dried leaves bitten off by the frost, 5 M113862 6 THE CITY CLERK. turn round and round, and drop without a sound. A rather narrow, brisk stream runs rapidly, descending as it goes, till it reaches the rear of a one story house, where, being set back by a dam below, it seems like a plate of burnished steel from which a soft vapor is rising. Around its edges is a thin coating of ice, indicat ing the cold of the preceding night. The house stands on*the declivity of a hill that slopes gradually from the road, (a hundred yards from it,) with one end to the river, the other to the road, and front ing south. Behind it is a little garden patch, which, in its winter adversity, shows signs of being cared for and loved ; THE CITY CLERK. 7 some plants being carefully tied up, and a few covered with old boxes and barrels. There are some other signs of refinement, not too common about the humble dwell ings of our country parts ; vines trained about the low door, and rose bushes so nicely fitted around the old windows, that they seem to have come to stay there of their own accord. Neatness, that good angel of an humble home, keeping all right with her ever-rustling wings, hover round this pretty dwelling. A small woodpile is laid up as if by mathematical rule. No litter of any kind is any where to be seen, and one wonders what the splendid cock, with his pedestrian harem, 8 THE CITY CLERK. can find to make them pick so busily around the sunny doorway. It is but nine o'clock, and morning at that hour, on the fifteenth of November, had hardly dawned on luxurious dwellers in great homes ; but here how much of the daily work of life had been accom plished. A pale, and in common par lance, " unfortunate man/ 7 is sitting bol stered in an easy chair near a cheerful fire, his right arm and leg, withered and useless. His wife, a woman with a mild, thoughtful face, sits near the window, making a vest, and with the implements of tailoring about her. With every stitch, and without hindering it, she turns her THE CITY CLERK. 9 eye on the lame man, and addressing him as country wives use, she says, " Do you find your paper interesting, father ? Is it not almost time for father's drops ?" and the answer is, "Yes," or "No," as may be, but always in a cheerful tone, which, coming from that poor, mutilated figure, is startling, like a light suddenly kindled in darkness. A trig, little lass is putting the last touches to the morn ing's housework. She has cleared away the breakfast, skimmed the milk, "swept up," and "mopped up," and is ready to <;it down by her mother, to finish off the work that always accumulates for Satur day. Both father's and mother's eyes 10 THE CITY CLERK. often turn to her, and who would not love to look on a face so beaming with intel ligence, so fresh and cheerful. Never were there prettier or brighter lips, or more beautiful teeth, or in palace or cot tage, a more electrifying smile than little Kuth Hathaway's. Perhaps it derived this quality from a cast of sadness and care on her brow ; it was a shadow on a rose. There it was when her father was brought home from his new factory, with the flesh torn from his arm and leg, and there it remained indelible. As to the rest, the face is pretty pleasing, but not beautiful ; her eyes are rather small and greyish, and her complexion, clear and THE CITY CLERK. 11 pure, is not brilliant. Her hair not only does not curl, and is neither auburn, chestnut, nor raven, but a very common brown, and only remarkable for the neat ness with which she arranges it on her well-shaped head. Euth is said to be the image of her father, and she rather prides herself on this resemblance. Ealph Hathaway is reckoned by com mon observers, as we have said, an " unfortunate man ;" but could any amount of ill luck or calamity make that epithet fitting him whose temperament is so cheerful, that his sun will break through the heaviest clouds ? His heart is a never-intermitting fountain of 12 THE CITY CLERK. love to God, and peace and good will to man. "Ruth, what are yon listening for? 77 asked the father; "I hear nothing but the factory. 77 "Nor I, father; I wish we did not always hear that, it " " It puts you in mind of father's acci dent ? I know, Ruthy, and so it does me ; but then it sets me off thinking how my life was spared, and how I should never have known what a good woman mother is, but for that 'tis not every wife that would care for such a poor rack as I am.' 7 "0, father!" exclaimed both mother and child. THE CITY CLERK. 13 "Well, then, it is not every woman that would give up the thoughts of being the wife of a rich agent for a company, move out of a nice new house, and stitch, stitch from morning to night, to support her family. Who has a right to be cheerful if I have not ? I can tell you there's times when the factory makes my thoughts go straight up. 7 ' Our friend Hathaway 7 s voice was rather choked ; he cleared it, and added, "but what were you listening to, Euthy, dear?" "Why, father, I was listening for the railroad whistle ; we always hear it, you know, when the wind is west. 77 2 14 THE CITY CLERK. "Why, I heard it, Kuth, when you were setting up the dishes.' 7 "Oh, did you, father? then Charlie's letter is near the post office by this time." " Don't be too sure, my child." "I can't help being sure, mother. Charlie never fails to write when he says he will, and this letter is to tell us whether he can come home to thanks giving, and it is only twelve days to that, and I shall be just sixteen that day." "Yes, yes, Euthy," said the father, "came what come may, thanksgiving day will always be thanksgiving to us." THE CITY CLERK. 15 " Oh, there's Colonel Miles !" exclaimed Euth, and she rushed to the door, not, however, without giving her father a brush of a kiss as she passed. " Colonel Miles I" she shouted, "can't you please to stop at the post office, and bring our letter from Charlie ?" The colonel was not going to the post office, but his turning ofif place was near it, and it was but the work of two minutes for Euth to beg a seat in his little wagon, to get her mother's leave to go herself to the post office, to take the chance of the two miles' walk home if she did not get a cast, and above all, to obtain leave to open the letter herself, as soon as re- 16 THE CITY CLERK. ceived, to whichever of the family it might be addressed. Three hours had passed away, when Anthony, a colored man, living at Mr. Gardner 7 s, in the village, brought Mrs. Hathaway a letter from Euth. It en closed one from Charles. On Kuth's letter was written in large characters, "Kead this first; 77 and the mother read as follows : " Dear mother, and father, Don't feel too bad. I shall be on my way to JSTew York when you get this. Miss Emma Gardner has lent me ten dollars, and what clothes I shall want. Father can't go ; and you can't leave father, mother ; THE CITY CLERK. 17 and I / cartt stay. Father, you will keep up mother's spirits, won't you? I know it will all come right. " P. S. Mr. Gardner has gone to Bos ton, so Miss Emma and I had no one to consult with. I would not tell any body else for the world." Mrs. Hathaway, pale and trembling, gave the letter to her husband, while she read that from her son Charles. " Dear father, and mother, and Ruth, I have got into some trouble. I ask of you all not to feel anxious or distressed. I expect (expect was erased, and hope sub stituted,) " to get out well, but if I don't, I shall still keep 'right side up,' as father 18 THE CITY CLERK. would say. Now be calm, mother, dear. Just before we locked up last night, I observed a stranger come into the shop ; the doors were closed, and all the clerks called into the middle of the shop, away from the counters. Otis Jackson was standing close to me at the time we were spoken to. I heard him mutter, ' d n it/ but I had not the least thought of what was coming. Mr. Brown stood one side of the stranger, Mr. "Wilson the other. Mr. Brown spoke : ' We have been miss ing/ says he, 'fine goods for the last month ; a shawl was taken last week ; two yards of costly lace, and one of the five dollar pocket handkerchiefs are gone THE CITY CLERK. 10 to-day. We have a police man here, and you must all be searched. One of you must be guilty. I am sorry for the in nocent, but no disgrace will rest upon them do your duty, Eushton. 7 The policeman began the search. Some of our young men laughed and joked ; I could not, I was afraid it would prove to be Otis. He was the fourth searched, nothing was found on him. My turn came next ; the things were found in my coat pocket, atop of my handkerchief and every thing, just as if they had been put there. How the truth is to be found out, I don't know, but I feel as if it would. All I ask is, that father will keep up 20 THE CITY CLERK. mother's spirits, and dear Kuth, only think how you would all feel if I had taken the things. I shall write daily, so don't be anxious. Ever your loving son and brother, CHARLES. "P. S. Direct to me, 'care of Kobert Henshaw;' he is my friend among the clerks," There was a dead silence in that home of the Hathaways, till the father breaking out into something between a cry and a laugh, said, " Mother, Charles is an honest boy, and well trained, and that is comfort enough ; how often have you said to me, 1 Charlie never told a lie in his life. 7 " I THE CITY CLERK. 21 "He never did, he never will!" sobbed out the poor mother. "Come here, mother kneel down here we'll trust him with our Father and his Father ; well commit the case to Him, and then we shall feel better;" and the still, small voice of their prayer arose, and God was there. The next morning, at nine o'clock, Euth Hathaway disembarked from a Hudson steamer, on a New York wharf, dirty, crowded, and noisy enough to have confounded a head and heart less clear and strong of purpose than hers. She had inquired of the captain the way to Canal street, where Brown and Wilson's 22 THE CITY CLERK. shop is, and with her little sack, contain ing her change of clothes, in her hand, she walked straight up Liberty street, to Broadway. Her quick step had caught the eye of an omnibus driver, who beck oned to her, and she nodding affirma tively, jumped into the coach, thinking "how very kind it was for him to give her a ride!" She asked a man, one of four passengers, to tell her when she got to Canal street, and accordingly the man pulled the strap, the coach stopped, and with her habitual impetuous movements, she jumped out, and dropping a curtsy to the driver, said, "Thank you, sir." He, fancying she was tricking him, called THE CITY CLERK. 23 out, ".That's cool! Stop that hussey! She's dodged her fare I" An impediment of vehicles had accumulated the passen gers on the sidewalk, at the corner of Canal street. Every eye was turned on our poor little stranger. She stopped, turned round, and in a voice that in dicated her honest perplexity, asked, " What does he mean 1" " He means to be paid, my child/ 7 said an elderly gen tleman, who was struck with the simpli city of Ruth's manner; and himself gave the fare to the vociferating driver. Euth now comprehended her mistake, and re paying the sixpence, she said, with her characteristic good sense, "I am a 24 THE CITY CLERK. stranger in New York, sir, or I should have known better. He invited me to ride with him, and the people where I live often give rides to strangers." Her friend again smiled at her simpli city, advised her to keep a good lookout, now she had come to the city, and they parted ; he thinking her sweet smile might pay her fare, and she to look for the sign of " Brown, Wilson and Co.," which she soon found, and entered the shop. It was thronged with eager buyers and civil clerks, intent on their sales. She looked up and down the long coun ters, all were unknown to her, till at the extremity of one, she saw Otis Jackson. THE CITY CLERK. 25 His eye met hers, and instantly fell; she saw, that in that glance, he had recog nized her. He was her townsman, and an old schoolmate of her brother, two years older than Charles Hathaway. Euth went to the end of the counter where he stood, and said, "Otis," -her voice was low, but it had a heart-sound ; it seemed to come, as it, indeed, did, from another world than that vanity-fair that surrounded her. Ladies examining laces, paused to look at her, and one or two of the clerks turned their eyes to Otis Jack son, expecting him to answer, but he averted his eye, and went to the ex tremity of the shop, to receive some new 3 26 THE CITY CLERK. customers. "Is Mr. Henshaw here?" asked Euth. She was civilly answered, "Yes," and Henshaw was summoned. " Where is my brother ?" she said. There were tears in her voice, though none in her eyes. It was rather an indefinite in quiry from a total stranger, but whether it was her family resemblance to her brother, or the tone of her, voice, supply ing all that the words wanted, Henshaw was sure the inquiry was for Hathaway, and coming from behind the counter, before he replied, said, in a low voice to Euth, " You have heard of your brother's misfortune ?" " Yes ; where is he ?" THE CITY CLERK. 27 "Why lie you cannot see him im mediately ; if you will tell me where you are staying, I will try to get leave to come to you in the course of the day, and go with you to see him." "Oh, I must go now. I shall stay where he is ; I have no other place." "Henshaw!" called out Mr. Brown, "who are you talking to there?" Henshaw went close to him, and ex plained. "A pretty business this," said the surly master; "look, she is fingering over the laces ; they are birds of a feather, brother and sister !" Poor Kuth had un consciously placed her hand on the box of laces. " Go to your own busines, Hen- 28 THE CITY CLERK. shaw, behind the counter/ 7 added Brown ; and then striding up to Euth, and taking her by the arm, with a mixture of savage- ness and familiarity, he said, "walk out of my shop, or I will send you to the police office." "Tell me first where my brother is?" "Where all thieves should be in the Tombs." " The Tombs ! where are the Tombs ?" " Go out, and ask along the street you'll soon find out." Euth went forth with a burning heart. She walked rapidly a few steps from the hateful shop, and then stopped, confused and uncertain what next to do. She THE CITY CLERK. 29 looked up and down the street, and in the faces of the passers-by. No one heeded her, while it seemed to her that all the world should know what she felt, and what she wanted. She was pro ceeding slowly, when suddenly a finger touched her shoulder, and in a low voice spoke kindly to her. It was Henshaw's. His face was agitated and highly colored, and hardly seemed the same serene, mild countenance she had first addressed. "I will go with you now," he said, "to see your brother." " Oh, can you? how kind you are." How much this kindness had cost Henshaw, Euth little dreamed. On her 30 THE CITY CLERK. leaving the shop, he had not been able to repress the expression of his indigna tion at Brown's inhumanity. Brown was abusive. Henshaw was hot and hasty, and declaring his intention of at tending the little girl immediately to her brother, Brown told him if he then left the shop, never again to enter it. "Is it far, sir," asked Euth, "to that place?" "JSTo; a very short distance." "I suppose, sir, it is a a prison?" "Yes; a house of detention, where persons are confined to await their trial." " Then Charlie is not yet tried ? he is not yet condemned, is he ?" THE CITY CLERK. 31 "No, no; not yet." "Not yet," struck, like a tolling bell, on Ruth's heart. "Your brother," resumed Henshaw, "wrote to you the circumstances? He told you,of course, that he was not guilty?" "No; he did not say that" "He did not!" exclaimed Henshaw, in an alarmed tone. "No, sir; why should he?" she asked, speaking for the first time with an as sured voice. "You would not ask such a question, if you knew Charles, Mr. Henshaw." "I do know him, and I feel a confi dence in his integrity, but 32 THE CITY CLERK. "But, what? oh, do speak out." '"I only hesitated, because I cannot bear to distress you. I fear we shall have difficulty in proving your brother's innocence; but we will not talk about that now. You have never been inside a prison, and you must try and keep up good resolution," Euth did try. But when she saw that huge, stern edifice, called the Tombs when the massive locks were turned to admit her and when the keeper, having been requested by Henshaw to permit the young person with him to see Charles Hathaway, scarcely noticing her, led them along the dismal corridors, with THE CITY CLEKK. 33 that hardened indifference which use gives, her heart sunk, and her feet moved draggingly. They were intercepted and impeded by a party visiting the prison from curiosity. It consisted of two or three elderly people, two very young ladies, from the country, full of pleasing excitement, from being, for the first time, within prison walls the scene, to their imaginations, of so much possible ro mance and their cousin, a young city lawyer, who acted as exponent of the scene. "Babe," the pirate," said he to them, " is in that cell, No. 81." "That horrid wretch we read the ac- 34: THE CITY CLERK. count of, in the newspaper? How I should like to see him !" " There is a still more curious mon ster, Cousin Jane, in No. 83 the Ger man who burned his wife to death. " " Oh, horrors I And who can that be between them, in No. 82 ?" "I don't know; somebody worse than either, I suppose. Who is it, Mr. Farran ?" " I don't know his name ; a lad com mitted for stealing." "Let us pass, if you please, ladies/ 7 said Kuth's conductor. Our amateur visitors stared at Ruth. One said, touch ing her cousin's arm, " Oh, Henry, did you ever see any thing so pale as that THE CITY CLERK. 35 poor girl. Mercy ! Do you think she's going to be shut up here?" "No; that is impossible. What inno cence, sweetness, and misery! 77 Kuth's conductor was now unbolting the door of No. 82. The youngest of the young ladies, impelled by irrepressible curiosity, followed close enough to see, when the door was opened, a handsome youth, pale t haggard, and sorrowful, bending over a sheet of paper, on which he was intently writing. She could see that the paper was wet with tears. Euth darted into the cell ; the keeper shut the door, and rebolting it, said to Henshaw, coolly, 5C You may call me when she is ready to 36 THE CITY CLERK. come out." Henshaw walking to and fro, unoccupied, in the corridor, presented too tempting an opportunity to gratify the young ladies' curiosity ; and their cousin being put up to asking some questions, they got possession of Charles's story, and, what was far more important, Hen shaw found out, that the inquirer was Henry Sandley, a young lawyer, whose very clever management of a criminal case had, a few weeks before, been much talked of in the city. Henshaw gave him a retaining fee for his friend, on the spot, and Sandley engaged to get the trial put off till testimonials of Charles Hathaway 7 s good character could be ob- THE CITY CLERK. 37 tained from the country. On those docu ments, and on the testimony of his fel low clerks, he said, they must found all their hopes of clearing him ; at the same time he confessed the chance was small, against the overwhelming fact of the stolen goods being found in Charles's pos session. " Was there/ 7 he asked, " among the clerks, any one who could be sus pected of the villany of putting the stolen goods into Hathaway's pocket ?" Henshaw hesitated, and only said, in reply, that there was not a clerk in the shop he should not sooner have suspected than Hathaway. Henshaw was a man of strict principles. He did suspect 38 THE CITY CLERK. he had all along suspected Otis Jack son, but he was too scrupulous to run the risk of wronging him by the expres sion of suspicions that had no proof whatever. After Charles's first moment of sur prise at Euth's appearance after the first burst of their young hearts and after Euth had sat for a few moments on his pallet, beside him, with her arms linked around his neck, silent and shiv ering with emotions, he said, "Now, Euthy, we must not give way so ; I bear it very well, only when I sit down to write home; and then, thinking how father, and mother, and you will feel, THE CITY CLERK. 39 i knocks me up. How did you get here, Ruth, so soon? How did mother bear it? What did father say?" Ruth told her story, and concluded by saying, "To morrow, Charlie, we shall certainly have a letter from them." "We! You cannot stay here, Ruth. Even if you had any place to stay, you know father and mother want you a great deal more than I do." " I can stay here, Charlie, and I shall and they would choose it and there's an end on't." "But, Ruth, you don't know what a place this is ; nor what New York is for an unprotected girl." 4:0 THE CITY CLERK. " Nonsense, Charlie ; I can protect my self. " "Where can you sleep? 77 " Sleep ? I don't feel much like sleep ing ; but I can lie here on the floor, or I can get that man to lock me up in some empty cell, like this. I can do any thing but go away and leave you that I will not do." There was a knock at the door, the bolts were turned, and Henshaw told Charles that a lawyer was waiting to speak to him. " Let him wait one minute/ 7 said Euth, and taking from her little sack, a bottle of Cologne, and comb, and brush, pro- THE CITY CLERK. 41 vided by Miss Emma Gardner, she smoothed her brother's tangled locks, and restored to his sweet countenance its habitual aspect. "There, now you look like our own Charlie/ 7 she said. Sandley entered, and he did not leave the cell without being thoroughly con vinced that Charles was innocent, and nearly as well convinced that they should not be able to prove his innocence ; and so impressed with the love of the brother and sister, that he resolved to strain every nerve in their behalf. He com forted Charles by assuring him that he knew the matron of the prison that she was a humane woman that he would 42 THE CITY CLERK. engage her to furnish his sister a bed in her own room, and to see that Miss Euth had every facility in going to and from her brother's cell. " Please tell them," said Ruth, " I will only trouble them twice a day. I shall come to Charles in the morning, and go away in the evening, 77 "Angel for angel glows with such regard, Thus whole, deep, self-forgetting. Bowers of heaven Witness it in the cherubs' changeless loves; Earth sees it in a sister's heart alone." Ten days had passed since Ruth's de parture for New York ; and on each of these days the parents had received a letter full of affection, and of details of every occurrence that could be put in a THE CITY CLERK. 43 cheerful light. Their children did not express strong hope, for they would not embitter a too probable disappointment ; but neither did they impart their fears. "For, if worst comes to worst, 77 said Ruth, "mother will bear it better when I am with her. 77 The deportment of these young people their mutual affection and the earnest devotion of the sister won for them unusual respect and at tention from the officers of the prison. " There those innocent children are, 77 said the turnkey, "both innocent, I am sure of that. There they are, with a pirate one side of them, and a murderer the other, enjoying themselves. If that 44 THE CITY CLERK. aint innocence I don't know what is. I declare, if I don't expect some day, when I unlock their door, to see the angel of the Lord with them the same as walked the fiery furnace I" "An uncommon girl is that/ 7 said the matron. " Sometimes when we meet the vagabonds going along the corridor, just turned in from the Five Points, she looks scared, and gathers her clothes close round her, as if she were afraid of the plague ; yet shell stay the livelong day yes, and till ten or eleven at night in that dismal cell, and talk, and read, and keep up her brother's spirits. She begins with the Bible in the morning, THE CITY OLERK. 45 and ends with it at night ; and between times they read out of Dickens and Punch, and every kind of nonsense Mr. Henshaw brings ; and they laugh to gether; and their laugh sounds like the best of music in a dark night. She is a wise little thing, too. Mr. Henshaw sent her a basket full of every kind of notion, from the confectioner's. She would not take them to 82; the dear child gave them all to me, and asked Mr. Henshaw and so modestly, too if he would send her brother every day a bit of beefsteak, or a mutton chop, to keep up his health and spirits. She has been what I call well trained/ 7 46 THE CITY CLERK. The last letter received from the young Hathaway, was dated on Tuesday. Charles's part expressed not hope, but a cheerful courage, that he was sure could not fail him, while his friends had faith in him. " You have trained me up, dear parents, he said, "to believe that the im portant thing is, c to do right, not to seem right? and now I mean to feel and act accordingly. " Euth wrote thus : " The trial comes on to-morrow morning. There is nothing new come to light : so we are preparing for the worst. The amount of the stolen articles put into Charles's pocket, is less than twenty-five dollars, so that they THE CITY CLERK. 47 cannot make grand larceny out of it; and he cannot be sent to Sing Sing, only over to Blackwell's Island. The period of his detention there is at the discretion of the Judge. Mr. Sandley thinks it cannot be long, with such testimonials as Miss Emma has sent to us. Oh, thanks to her ! The worst no, the best of it is, that Charlie positively refuses to have any suspicion thrown on Otis. Mr. Henshaw feels sure he is the real culprit, and Mr. Sandley thinks it more than probable/' " You remember his exclamation when the clerks were to be searched. Charles has an impression that he then felt 48 THE CITY CLERK. something at his coat pocket, which we both feel sure was Otis, thrusting the parcel into it. But we know this would be no evidence in court : so Charles wont tell even Mr. Henshaw, or Sandley, of it. He says time will bring it all out, and, meanwhile, let Otis have a chance. Is not he just like father? Let it storm ever so horridly, he always believes it will be fair weather to-morrow. Mr. Henshaw feels certain that Otis will prove the rogue at last; 'and/ so he says, ' he don't see the use of sacrificing an honest fellow to him, in the mean time. 7 He watches him as a cat does a mouse. The reasons of Mr. Henshaw's THE CITY CLERK. 49 suspicions are these : Otis is out late at night, and he comes late to the shop in morning. He dresses far beyond his means, and goes often to places of amuse ment, especially to the theatre, where, Mr. Henshaw says, clerks never should go ; and Mr. Henshaw says, he has been seen in 'not the best company J at the theatre. I don't know quite what he means by that ; but I surmise it is some thing awful. The people where Charlie boarded were very fond of him; and they will give their testimony, that he was perfectly regular in his habits ; and Mr. Sandley will call on Messrs. Brown and Wilson, to testify as to his conduct 5 50 THE CITY CLERK. in the shop. All this, Mr. Sandley says, may not overbalance the one great cir cumstance against him ; but this, with the documents from Miss Emma, Mr, Sandley says, will go a great way with the Governor. So, if Charlie is sent to the Island, I shall go straight to Albany ; for the living voice, with a throbbing heart under it, mother, is better than a dead writing. And if we don't get a pardon, why then patience, dear father and mother heavenly patience ! such as you, dearest father, have shown us ever since we can remember; and you, dear mother only just borrow a little Jiope and cheerfulness from father, and THE CITY CLERK. 51 be sure be sure it will all come right ; and Charlie will shine out to the world as he shines to us, who are above the clouds, and can see the sun all the while ; and if the world never knows, still can not we be content and thankful? We will. So, dearest mother, take courage ! God will help us all, and I shall soon be with you. "P. S. I could not feel easy not to make one effort with Otis. I thought if he had plunged us in this trouble, he would feel when he came to see me, and remembered the days when we were playmates, and happy together. I saw him. I don't know what I said. My 52 THE CITY CLERK. heart was full, and it poured itself out ; but I got no satifaction. He denied refused. But, oh! dear mother, I feel surer than ever, that he is the guilty one. His eye did not once meet mine ; and he looked red and pale, by turns ; and when I came away the tears were running down his cheeks. Who would not rather be Charlie ?" It is " Thanksgiving Day" a day of old consecration, in New England, to family festivity and family union a day of merry meetings, and merry makings a day for rustic weddings, and all sorts of pleasant doings, and starting points in life a day, like other anniversaries, THE CITY CLERK. 53 fraught with enjoyment to the young, who have not yet felt the severing of heart chords. The thanksgiving day connected with our story, came in heavily enough to the Hathaways. It was Thursday. Kuth's last letter was dated the preceding Tues day. The trial was appointed for Wednes day morning, and as it would be deemed a small affair by the municipal authori ties, (albeit involving the happiness of an entire family,) it would probably oc cupy but an hour or two ; and if it went against them, Euth would leave New York in an afternoon's boat for Albany. The day had come in with a furious 54 THE CITY CLERK. easterly snow storm. Mr. Hathaway was refolding Ruth 7 s letter, after reading it for at least the twentieth time, when a sleigh stopped at his door ; and Colonel Miles, shaking the snow from his lion- skin coat, and stamping it from his feet, opened the door. "A pretty tedious storm this, neighbors/ 7 he said. "No news, of course, since the letter I brought you from the post office yesterday? 77 "No, sir; none, 77 replied Mrs. Hath away, " we could not expect it, could we, colonel? 77 " Of course not, ma 7 am ; and I mis trust we shall have no mail to-day. The river will feel this cold snap. Ruthy, THE CITY CLERK. 55 poor little girl, should be, according to her letter, at Albany to-day ; but I think there'll be no boat up. However, if there is a mail, you'll be sure of a letter : so I shall go on to the post office, after meet ing, and wait till the stage comes in.' 7 "How thankful we ought to be for such a kind neighbor as the colonel," said good Mrs. Hathaway, as the door closed after him. "Yes, mother, we have a great deal to be thankful for, on the right hand and the left, and we must not make a poor mouth if we have our share of trouble." "I know I ought to feel as you do, father ; but I can't help thinking, all the 56 THE CITY CLERK. time, what is Kuthy to do after Charlie is sentenced to that desolate island." "Do? why shell do the right thing. Now, mother, wipe off your tears, and don't forget it's thanksgiving day; let us keep it. And who has more reason. Is not it Kuthy 7 s birth day? To be sure, the children have been on a troubled sea, but have not they lain their course well? You know I have nothing to do but to sit here, and read, and ruminate ; and a happy life it has been to me, since I was quite overset as to outside prosperity. I have got a habit of looking inward ; and I have come to the conclusion, that it is not the THE CITY CLERK. 57 circumstances we are in that matters, but how they find us, and what they make of us. Look at our dear children, mother, how they have held fast their integrity. Look at Charlie; calm and manly, and so generous about Otis. He is not of those that hold to misery loving company a mean company that. And . dear little Kuthy ; her love for her bro ther has carried her, as it were, through fire and water! I tell you, mother, we did not know the children till now. A real thanksgiving day it shall be to us. 7 ' Poor Mrs. Hathaway would have smiled her assent, but it was a sunbeam vainly struggling through clouds. "I'll try to 58 THE CITY CLERK. make it seem like thanksgiving," she said : so she brought forth a provision basket, sent by their kind friend, Miss Gardner. "What a lovely, plump tur key/ 7 exclaimed Hathaway, as his wife proceeded to unpack the basket, "and cranberry sauce, I dare say, in that little jar? Yes; just like Miss Emma, to think of that. What is in that covered dish? Oysters, I declare! just what I told her I liked best, when she asked me the question. Mince pie I pumpkin pie ! apple pudding ! tarts! What's that? what's that, mother ?" " It feels like a loaf of cake, and it is marked, 'for dear Kuth.' " THE CITY CLERK. 6U " Well ; no disrespect to the rest of the world. But Miss Emma is thorough to poor folks. A bottle of wine, too ! Well ; Miss Emma and I are of opinion, that it's right for temperate people to take a cheerful glass once in a while. You are a teetotaller, mother ; but you won't ob ject to my ' making my heart glad/ ac cording to Scripture. Now, would it not have been a shame for us not to keep the day?' 7 Mrs. Hathaway assented by proceed ing to get the dinner in progress ; and when the turkey was fairly roasting in the little stove-oven, Hathaway said, " Come here, mother I can't kneel, you 60 THE CITY CLERK. know, I've never had that satisfaction since my leg was broken; but I trust my heart is in the right position kneel down here on my well side, and we'll have our worship, though it be a dark day outside and in." The wife knelt, resting her troubled brow on the arm of her husband's chair. Hathaway's spirit of cheerful gratitude shone like a sun on all the salient points of their lives. God's mercies seemed to be sown at broadcast around them. He thanked God for the peace, prosperity, and progress of the country for their abounding political advantages and Gospel privileges; not in an inexpressive mass, but in such THE CITY CLEKK. 61 detail, that each seemed to have made its impress on his heart. He spoke of the rich harvest of the year, with a glow that would have left no one to believe that not an ear of it had been turned into his garners. He thanked God for his pleasant home, and his well-covered board for kind neighbors and bountiful friends for the dear mother, with in dustry that never tired, and love that never abated. He thanked him for his own health for painless limbs for a contented mind, and a spirit of enjoy ment. His voice trembled slightly when he came to mention his children " his dear, absent children." He paused for 6 62 THE CITY CLERK. one instant, and then added, with a sin cere tone of courage, and heavenly glad ness, "We thank Thee that they have manifested themselves Thy children, too. Though they have passed through the waters, they have not overwhelmed them ; and through the fire, it has not scorched them. We thank Thee that Thou hast given them thus early to see the value of innocence, and the import ance of affection. 7 ' When he finished, Mrs. Hathaway rose comforted, and said, "I almost forgot it stormed, father." And she did proceed with a step some what lighter, and a heart somewhat less faint, with her preparations for dinner THE CITY CLERK. 63 or, as our country folk still call it, supper. Her eye turned often and anxiously to the clock. She looked out on the road the colonel was to come remarked that the storm grew heavier and wondered again and again, if Kuth were on her way to Albany. Presently a sleigh bell was heard; but it was not Colonel Miles', but another neighbor, returning from meeting, who called with a message from the kind colonel. "The mail was not in/ 7 he sent them word; "it might not come till dark ; but he would wait till it did come. 7 ' " The colonel is wine and oil too/ 7 said Hathawav, "It has been so from the 64 THE CITY CLERK. beginning of this trouble. If we have a disappointment, there's a comfort comes hand-in-hand with it. 77 The days, as we have said, were at their shortest. Mrs. Hathaway moved slowly, the afternoon was very dark, and the shadows of the stormy evening were thickening, when the father and mother sat down to their thanksgiving meal. Mr. Hathaway's grace was much longer than usual, but there was no allusion to their affliction. He could not now trust his voice for this, his body and mind were beginning to feel the pressure. It was only half past three ! he wondered it was so dark ! and again and again, he THE CITY CLEKK. 65 wiped his eyes. He suffered "mother," to cut up for him his favorite bit of tur key. He took, according to our rural custom, " a little of all the various veget ables and condiments,' 7 and though he remarked, "there was never a tenderer turkey/' there seemed never to have been a tougher one in the chewing. As to the poor mother, she could not eat, she loathed the sight of food ; and when her husband, who had tried not to ob serve her as she moved the dishes on the table, first out of their places, and then into them ; and turned her food over and over on her plate, without touching it, said, "Poor mother, there's no use in 66 THE CITY CLERK. trying! 7 ' she moved back her chair, and took refuge in her little, adjoining bed room. There she sat by the window, looking up the road as long as she could di-scern fence or tree, as landmark. The night settled down on the earth, as it had on her spirit. The snow no longer fell, but the wind rose, and gusts came sweeping down the hill side, and roaring in the chimney, and penetrating every crevice of the slight tenement. She shook, as if an ague were on her, as she returned to her husband, and drew her chair close to him. "You had best light a candle, mother/ 7 said he ; " Colonel Miles will want a light to guide him THE CITY CLERK* 67 through this driving storm; light two, and set them in the window. " She lighted and placed them, and sat down again ; the table was left standing. A woman accustomed to perform the domestic offices through all the routine of life to go steadily on, come what will, joy 'or sorrow, with the periodical preparations that sustain and solace animal life, must be paralyzed before she neglects them. And so was poor Mrs. Hathaway. The thought of her good, honest, true, ever- cheerful boy, in the convict's uniform, among the motley gang of culprits, and committed vagrants on Blackwell's Island; such as she had heard it de- 68 THE CITY CLERK. scrbied, with the neglect, misrule, and wretchedness that prevailed there the thoughts of her little Euth, where was she this cruel, stormy night ? No won der the poor woman had left the table standing as it was when she and her husband rose from it. No wonder she sat now leaning on the arm of her hus band's chair, listening for the colonel' s sleigh bells, and hearing only the howl ing storm, and not heeding it, she heard her husband's little consolations dropped in every now and then, "if the colonel comes at all, he'll come soon;" and with a sigh (most unwonted sound,) from that bosom of sunny cheerfulness; "it does THE CITY CLERK. 69 not much signify whether he come to night, for it's certain no mail can come through to-day. The colonel's folks will be expecting him. I should not wonder if he drove through, bad as it is! " A long long pause. " Mercy on us ! that is a sleigh bell! 77 A breathless pause. " They're gone by ! I do wish the colonel was well home his people will feel dreadfully, and it's all on our account. It was a pity he staid, we might have known there would have been no news from them to-night!" Another pause, and a howling blast of wind, and the poor mother asked, " what will become of Kuth if she is on the road this weather ?" 70 THE CITY CLERK. "Mother, look to Him who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. If she gets Charlie's pardon, she'll be paid for it all. 77 " Pardon! 77 exclaimed Mrs. Hathaway, in the only proud tone that ever came from her; "I'd not ask pardon for the innocent boy. 77 "Good! mother, good! keep to that brave feeling, and well weather the storm. 77 But it seemed that all the mother 7 s courage had spent itself in that one outbreak ; she again sank into des perate, motionless silence. "It is a bad night, murmured Hathaway, " and worse in-doors than out! 77 and sad it was to see the miseries that belong only to ill- THE CITY CLERK. 41 doing, gathering over this little family, where patience and pious content had so long reigned. Suddenly Mrs. Hathaway raised her head her heart again fluttered. She dared not speak, but as the wind for a moment lulled, she thought she heard ap proaching bells. Her husband's slower senses heard them too. She started to her feet. " They have stopped here ! it is the colonel!" she exclaimed; and iii another instant the outer door of the little porch was thrown open, and the inner door, and Euth rushed in, and threw herself into her mother's arms, ex claiming, " Cleared! cleared! cleared!' 7 72 THE CITY CLERK. Softly and slowly after her came Charles, thoughtful and considerate, even at this moment, and holding back lest he should overwhelm his mother with sudden joy. What followed can scarcely be described. There were loud exclamations and hys terical bursts of emotion, and then a deep silence first broken by the colonel, who stood aloof, tears of sympathy run ning down his cheeks fast enough to melt away the ice that stiffened his whiskers. " Goodness, mercy, Hath away I" he exclaimed. "Your withered arm is round Charlie's neck!' 7 And so it was, that arm that had scarcely had a perceptible movement for years, had re- THE CITY CLERK. 73 ceived a mysterious energy from the cur rent of feeling that stirred his whole being. Every eye was now turned to "father;" mother and children gathered round him, and embraced him, the with ered arm fell, but from the tongue rose as joyful a thanksgiving as ever burst from a grateful, relieved, faithful heart. " Well good night, friends, good night !" said Colonel Miles. " I go home the happiest man in Berkshire, except you, Hathaway." " Oh, no, stay with us, and eat sup per," replied Hathaway. "We'll have the best thanksgiving in Massachusetts, The table is set already," he added, 74 THE CITY CLERK. with his habitual chuckling laugh ; and " do stay do stay, dear colonel," came from mother, Charles, and Kuth. But the colonel could on no account stay. " His own wife and children were wait ing at home/ 7 he said; "and now he began to think considerable of them; and what decent father ever staid from his own children on thanksgiving day." And with the showering thanks and blessings of the Hathaways, he departed. There are moments when the outer crust of the undemonstrative Anglo-American breaks away, and shows the glowing fires beneath it. Now it was that all Miss Emma Gard- THE CITY CLERK. 75 ner's bountiful provisions caine into play. The reheated turkey, oysters, mince pie, and pumpkin pie, tarts, and sauces, melted away before the keen ap petites of our happy family. Euth's cake alone was set aside. "Mr. Hen- shaw," she said, in a low voice, to her mother, " talked of coming up the next day." Hathaway averred, as he asked for another and another bit, that he had not eaten a full meal since Euth went away ; his good wife said every mouth ful had tasted bitter ; and Euth did not believe that any thing could taste good in New York. But these were only parenthetical remarks, while every par- 76 THE CITY CLERK. ticular of their late experience was re lated. Our brief summary must be in strong contrast to tlie diffuseness of our friends. It seemed, that on the day proceeding that on which Charles was to have his trial, a treacherous friend of a noted young woman, one Matilda Johnson, came to Henshaw, and told him, that if he would go to the theatre that evening, he would see Otis Jackson in the pit that Otis would join Matilda Johnson as she came down from the gallery, when the play was over and that this Matilda would wear a certain shawl, which had been missed from Brown and Wilson's, a THE CITY CLERK. 77 few days previous to Charles Hathaway 's committal. Henshaw accordingly went to the theatre with Sandley. A police officer, well acquainted with Miss Ma tilda, was directed to keep his eye on her. Every thing was right. The miserable parties were followed to their lodging. Henshaw identified the shawl. Various other articles, subtracted from the shop of Messrs. Brown and Wilson, were found among Miss Johnson's clothes ; and she, and the wretched young man whom she had caught in her toils, and ruined, were committed to the Tombs. Jackson con fessed that he thrust into Charles's pocket the stolen goods found there, and 78 THE CITY CLERK. Charles was, of course, dismissed honor ably, without a trial. " Even Mr. Brown and Wilson," Ruth said, in concluding the story, "had the grace to say they were sorry for what had happened ; and they offered Mr. Henshaw and Charles much better terms than they were on before, if they would return to them; but Mr. Henshaw is not the man to be whistled off and on, at the pleasure of Messrs. Brown and Wilson. He is already engaged at the first shop in " the city, where they have fixed prices where, he says, they despise the Brown and Wilson fashion, of asking one price, and taking another of telling the customer, that THE CITY CLERK. 79 goods cost more than they really did cost or, that they have sold them for what they never did sell them for or, that some grandee, Mrs. So-and-So, has bought such and, ' that there is not another in the shop, or city 7 or, any other of those contemptible lies by which dishonorable dealers impose on foolish women ; and by which, Mr. Henshaw says, father, they corrupt their clerks; and, teaching poor boys to lie for them, it cannot be wondered at if they end in stealing for themselves. " " And it does not end there, " said Mr. Hathaway; "the covetousness, tricking, and lying, that are practised in small 80 THE CITY CLERK. dealings, or carried into larger ones. Our good name is endangered, and our coun try degraded. The Browns and Wilsons become speculators, and repudiators. Henshaw is a sensible man, Kuth." "I guess he is, father; and a true friend. There was nothing that could be thought of that he did not do for us, and crowned it all, at the last/ 7 and little Euth struck her hands joyously to gether "by getting Charlie a post next to himself, in the shop of * A. T. Stewart and Co: " LIFE IS SWEET. BY MISS CATHARINE M. SEDGWICK, "LIFE IS SWEET." IT was a summer's morning. I was awakened by the rushing of a distant engine, bearing along a tide of men to their busy day in a great city. Cool sea breezes stole through the pine tree, em bowering my dwelling; the aromatic pines breathed out their reedy music; the humming bird was fluttering over the honeysuckle, at my widow ; the grass (83) 84 LIFE IS SWEET. glittered with dew drops. A maiden was coming from the dairy across the lawn, with a silver mug of new milk in her hand ; by the hand she led a child. The young woman was in the full beauty of ripened and perfect womanhood. Her step was elastic and vigorous ; moderate labor had developed without impairing her fine person. Her face beamed with intelligent life, conscious power, calm dignity, and sweet temper. "How sweet is life to this girl!" I thought, as, re spected and respecting, she sustains her place in domestic life, distilling her pure influences into the little creature she holds by the hand! And how sweet LIFE IS SWEET. 85 then was life to that child ! Her little form was so erect and strong so firmly knit to outward life her step so free and joyous! her fair, bright hair, so bright, that it seemed as if a sunbeam came from it : it lay parted on that brow, where an infinite capacity had set its seal. And that spiritual eye so quickly perceiving so eagerly exploring! and those sweet red lips love, and laughter, and beauty, are there. Now she snatches a tuft of flowers from the grass now she springs to meet her playmate, the young, frisky dog and now she is shouting playfully : he has knocked her over, and they are rolling on the turf together ! 86 LIFE IS SWEET. Before three months passed away, she had lain down the beautiful garments of her mortality : she had entered the gates of immortal life ; and those who followed her to its threshold, felt that, to the end, and in the end, her ministry had been most sweet. "Life is sweet" to the young, with their unfathomable hopes their unlimited imaginings. It is sweeter still with the varied realization. Heaven has provided the ever-changing loveli ness and mysterious process of the out ward world in the inspirations of art in the excitement of magnanimous deeds in the close knitting of affections in the joys of the mother the toils and LIFE IS SWEET. 87 harvest of the father in the countless blessings of hallowed domestic life. "Life is sweet" to the seeker of wis dom, and to the lover of science; and all progress, and each discovery is a joy to them. " Life is sweet" to the true lovers of their race; and the unknown and un- praised good they do by word, ' THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY