504 THE RUINED MERCHANT. 



Thrice blessed is he, who in the wife of his bosom finds " a pillar 

 of glory," and a being " altogether lovely." Poor he may be, de- 

 spised and contemned; but he has about him a jewel " beyond all 

 price," and a treasure he may enjoy when the clouds gather, and 

 the storm beats, and which will be a guiding light and a support in 

 the darkest hour, and the heaviest affliction that humanity can 

 endure ! 



The very intensity of sorrow is its own best antidote. Nature ex- 

 hausted by mental torture sinks into repose, and sleep, the 



" Balm of hurt minds," 



comes soothingly over the senses, Monson, after several hours of 

 profound forgetfulness, awoke, still retaining the hand of Amy, now 

 warm and moist as his own, and for a moment he deemed she slept. 

 But the reality soon came ; and though tears flowed, he was calmer, 

 and, after imprinting one long and passionate kiss on her cold fore- 

 head, he resigned her hand and suffered himself to be led away by 

 his mother, who had remained seated beside him. 



The last offices were paid to her body, and in a few days she was 

 followed to her final resting-place by the disconsolate and nearly 

 heart-broken Monson. " Dust unto dust, ashes to ashes," and the 

 grave closed over all that was mortal of the fond and devoted Amy ; 

 and the sorrow-stricken husband turned away with the conviction 

 that with her were interred his happiness, his hopes, and every 

 thing that could have given a charm to his future existence. 



CHAPTER II. 



" See the wretch who long has tost 



On the thorny bed of pain, 

 At length repair his vigour lost, 

 And breathe and walk again. 

 The meanest floweret of the vale, 



The simplest note that swells the gale, 

 The common sun, the air, the skies, 

 To him are opening Paradise/' 



GRAY. 



The utter prostration of spirit, that came over Monson subsequent 

 to the death of his wife, deadened his faculties, and incapacitated 

 him for putting into execution the various resolves for rebuilding the 

 shattered fabric of his fortunes, which had been planned by him. 

 Listless and apathetic, to him it was alike indifferent whether good or 

 evil awaited him. The " bright star " that had led him on was set 

 for ever; and, like the despairing and storm-driven mariner, he aban- 

 doned the helm, and left the reeling and foundering vessel to its 

 destruction. To this mental depression was now superadded a low 

 nervous fever, that wasted his bodily strength and soon reduced him 

 to a mere shadow ; and finally so far gained the mastery that he was 

 unable to leave his bed. 



There is something strikingly noble in the sight of an old man 



