70 THE HAWTHORN. 



verily believed to be bestowed for the express pur- 

 pose of honouring our domeslic/e^e. 



Years rolled over us : to olliers they were years 

 of mingled cloud and sunshine, but to us they 

 brought no sorrow, for we were not parted. 

 Sheltered in the house of our birth, never trans- 

 planted to unlearn in other habitations the sweet 

 lesson of mutual love and confidence, the early 

 link was not broken ; olher companionship was 

 unsought, undesired. Early associations lost none 

 of their endearing power ; and the hawthorn 

 hedge, perfectly accessible to ihe tall lad and 

 active lass, was visited by them i^^ punctr. IV on 

 the morning of their pleasanlcst anniversaiy, as it 

 had been by the lisping babes of three or four 

 short summers. 



I never went alone to g itlier the M-iy -blossoms, 

 until my companion had crossed the sea, and 

 drawn the sword in the bat.t,U;-f^ni/)«. I d::! indeed 

 then go there alone, for I his world contained not 

 one who could supply his place to me ; and be- 

 yond this world I had not learned to look. I was 

 solitary, in the fullest sense of ihe word, and very 

 sad at heart ; but deeply imbued with I fie same 

 chivalrous spirit which had led my brother from 

 his hnppv home, to scenes of deadly strife : I 

 strove, by the false glare of imagined glory— that 

 glory which is indeed as a flower of ihe field— to 

 dazzle my tearful eyes. I intermixed my haw- 



