THE RUINED MERCHANT. SOJ) 



Enfeebled apd warped as his mind had become, he even yet loathed 

 the idea of seeking aid from parties who had treated him and his gentle 

 Amy ungenerously ; and this mental wound had failed to become 

 healed by his extreme necessities. With a heart rilled with the gloomi- 

 est fancies, and a body weakened by long-continued disease, he dragged 

 himself through the busy streets, with a feeling of the most utter 

 desolation. It seemed to him as if there were not one human being 

 to sympathise with him, not one to afford him assistance. Man 

 may hold communion with his kind, even in the desert or the dun- 

 geon, as no concurrence of outward events can break the links 

 which connect our associations with our fellows, so long as he con- 

 tinues to hope : but when the spirit yields, all is gone ; and the 

 bustling street becomes as silent and as solitary as the remote 

 wilderness. 



*' Amidst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men, 

 To hear, to feel, to see, and to possess, 

 And roam along the world's tired denizen ; 

 With none to bless, and none we hope to bless : 

 This is to be alone this this is solitude." 



In this frame of mind, and whilst absorbed in himself, he accidentally 

 passed the house which had been his residence when his fortunes 

 were blossoming, and when he was surrounded by a circle of do- 

 mestic enjoyments. As his eye fell upon the doorway, the strong 

 revulsion of feeling, caused by a crowd of memories which sprung up 

 instantaneously, completely overpowered him, and, after faintly 

 endeavouring to support himself against the balustrade, he fell upon 

 the pavement, and was taken up nearly senseless by the passers-by. 

 As he was unknown, and was unable to speak, he was at once car- 

 ried to the nearest hospital. It was long before he became conscious 

 of his situation : the shock had completely unnerved and unmanned 

 him, and he wept like a child when he found himself a denizen of 

 the hospital. His first effort was to beg some one to apprise his 

 parents of his accident, which put the crowning stone to their 

 misery. The old man, religious from habit, muttered, even in his 

 dotage, " thy will be done !" whilst his venerable companion, with 

 tottering step, prepared to visit him. 



The meeting between mother and child, under such circumstances, 

 was mournful in the extreme : there seemed no hope, no outlet by 

 which they could escape from their sorrows ; but although they 

 despaired, and although the hand of Providence may be turned 

 away for a period from virtue, it nevertheless stretches forth its aid 

 when all human succour appears to be vanished. Whilst they were 

 deploring their lot, the aged mother weeping, and the broken- 

 hearted son unable to afford consolation, the physician to the hospital 

 came to the bedside, and enquired the nature of his ailment. He 

 was much struck by the venerable mother of Monson, who retained, 

 even in her degradation, some traces of brighter days. A few ques- 

 tions made him remember the only time in his life when he had seen 

 Monson, namely, on the sudden dissolution of Amy, as he had been 

 summoned hurriedly to visit her; and happened to be present when 



M.M.NO. 5. 3 u 



