Classic Poem

"Hannah, it will not do," said Captain Currier to his eldest daughter,
a neat, quiet looking girl about eighteen, who sat sewing by a window.
"I say Hannah," continued he sternly, as her eyes met his, "it will
never do for you to throw yourself away upon that miserable scapegrace
that has visited you so often of late."

The blood mounted in torrents to her cheeks as she replied,

"Why, father, you surely cannot mean William Lawrence?"

"And who else should I mean? He is not worth a single iota, and what
is more, he is never like to be."

"True, he is not rich, but he is industrious, and with his excellent
habits I have no fears on that account."

"Oh, you have not, have you," said her father, almost fiercely, "but I
tell you Miss, it will never do, so you may think the matter over
at your leisure, and settle the affair, I hope, without any farther
interference on my part."

She raised her eyes timidly to her father's and said,

"I think, sir, you will be obliged to finish the work if it is ever
done; my faith is plighted to William, and you know, father, I cannot
break my word."

This candid avowal but added "fuel to the flame" of the enraged
father, and he sternly said,

"My commands are upon you, and I expect you to obey me."

"But father," began the trembling girl,

"There is no but in the case. But I will leave you now, for I see your
milk and water looking gentleman is coming, and I expect, Hannah, it
will be the last time his shadow will ever darken my doors."

As he passed out at one door the young man entered at the opposite,
and fixed his handsome eyes, with a searching glance, upon Hannah, as
he gave her his cordial greeting, saying,

"Are you ill?"

"O no, William, I am not ill, but let us walk out into the garden;
perhaps the cool winds of heaven will cool the fever upon my brow."

And so they wandered forth among the flowers, to breathe the air that
comes alike to the children of affluence and pinching want. They
reached a seat where they had spent many happy hours, over which
climbing honeysuckles shed their perfume, and many bright flowers
danced in the wind, or drank the pure dews of night as the pitying
angel wept upon their bosoms. Hannah was upon her accustomed seat, and
the eyes of her lover were fixed upon her with that fond expression
she so well understood, and which found a ready response in her
youthful heart. Now that heart was almost bursting with its agony of
grief; but William was beside her, whispered words of tenderness and
hope were murmured in her ear, and how could she break the spell? how
could she speak of the gathering storm? The commands of a stern father
were upon her, and she knew his indomitable spirit would never swerve
one inch from his determination.

They sat till the family clock struck nine ere Hannah could
muster courage to announce her father's decision, and related the
conversation that had just occurred. William was perfectly astonished,
as he replied,

"You certainly cannot yield to his commands? Hannah, the happiness of
my life depends upon our union."

"Well, we will keep quiet a while and see what further light we can
get upon the subject. I have a fearful foreboding that the haughty,
stern looking stranger who has been here so much of late, has
something to do with it. He has been officious in his attention to me,
and I have trembled when I have seen his savage eyes fixed upon, me
with such a peculiar expression. And so we will be quiet and wait the
moving of the waters."

The following afternoon Captain Currier called his daughter into the
parlor, and closing the door, said abruptly,

"Well, Hannah, I 'spose you have squared up accounts with William, and
are now ready to enter a new firm. There is a noble chance for you my
gal. The rich Mr. Benson has offered his hand to you in marriage."

"Impossible! Why, father, is not he an Indian?"

"No more of an Indian than you are; to be sure he is not quite as
white as your milk and water Billy."

"I should think he was milk and molasses, at least, and the largest
part molasses, but without its sweetness."

"Well, be that as it may, I'm thinking his thousands will make the
dose quite palatable at any rate. You must know, Miss, my affairs at
present are in an embarrassed state, and he proposes taking that large
tract of land adjoining mine, and giving me a generous price upon it,
provided you will become his wife. He is going to lay out the ground
like a garden, build a princely mansion, and you are to be its
mistress."

"O father, would you have me fall down and worship the golden calf?"

"But you must obey me; I cannot, I must not be frustrated in this
arrangement."

"But why, father, cannot you and he complete your bargain without
sacrificing my happiness on the shrine of Mammon?"

"No, he will leave the country immediately unless you consent to marry
him, and this, with my other property, is mortgaged, and cannot be
redeemed, and beggary stares me in the face. This step, and this
only, can save me. I told William the arrangement as he was marching
hurriedly away this morning with Colonel Somer's regiment, who were
ordered to reach the eastern border of the State as quick as possible,
as they fear an attack from the French and Indians in that quarter.
Mr. Benson is eager to have the marriage take place as soon as
possible."

Hannah sat like one in a dream for a moment, when she said,

"Father, has nature no voice to plead for me?"

"Child, it is your good I am seeking. How can you ever expect
happiness with William? It takes all he can earn to support his sick
mother, and let me tell you your chance will be a small one. Mr.
Benson's pockets are lined with gold, and he rides the best horse that
the country can produce; and let me tell you, your love, as you call
it, never yet put anything into the pot or kept it boiling, and it is
well said, 'when poverty stalks in at the door love creeps out at the
key hole.'"

"Well, father," said Hannah, rising up at her full height, "if I am
any judge in the case, that man is unprincipled, remorseless, and a
villian."

"I think you are no judge. What can you know about it?

"Well, you chose to put the business in my hands, and I have arranged
it to my own liking. Now you must be prepared by one week from this
day to become Mrs. Benson."

So saying he left the room, to bluster about Capulet like, to hurry
the coming event.

It was soon known by every member of the family, that great
preparations were expected for the coming wedding. Deeds were
drawn up, the land transferred into the hands of Mr. Benson at an
extravagant price, a large house erected upon it, and many carpenters
employed to finish one room, and a bed-room, so that they could occupy
it till the rest could be completed.

And so the shuttle was played to weave the woof into the meshy warp
that had thus been spread.

Hannah wept long after her father left her. She felt convinced it was
through his means William was pressed to go with Colonel Somers, and
her heart rebelled against his tyranny; and nothing would have induced
her to yield but her father's assurance that that alone could save
him from beggary. And she felt she would make the sacrifice for her
father's sake.

As she entered the kitchen, Sarah, the black slave, met her with,

"Why, Miss Hanner, 'pears to me I should not like to swap Mr. Lawrence
for Mr. Benson; 'pears he aint haff so perticler like."

"It is my father's wish, and I suppose it must be complied with," and
she passed out of the room to bury her feelings in her own bosom, and
nerve herself for the coming trial.

"Massa is doing good business, Sambo," said Sarah to a black man that
sat preparing some peas to plant, "he selling tu gals at once."

"Yes, yes; but I guess Miss Hanner hab no choice," and he rolled up
the whites of his eyes, and fetched a pompous nod of the head, as he
glanced at his sable companion.

"That does make some differ; now tree year don't seem bery long when
we bese so much wid one tother."

"The tree year most out now, white man buy his gal wid gold; but poor
nigger hab to work hard for his'n. Well, we be free then."

The conversation was closed by Capt. Currier's sharp voice calling
Sambo to bring the peas. He hastily obeyed the summons, as he did so
displaying by his open smile his ivory teeth to Sarah, who returned
the compliment in a very satisfactory manner.

All was bustle, stir, and preparation during the week. Dress makers,
milliners, and almost all classes of people were called into
requisition.

Mr. Benson strove hard to play the agreeable; but Hannah could
scarcely endure him. And the week passed away, as all weeks will pass,
whether laden with joy or sorrow; and the pale bride stood trembling
by the altar of Hymen, and the solemn words were passed that united
the destinies of two immortal spirits, and the recording angel
registered them in heaven.

After partaking of a sumptuous dinner, according to the custom of
those days, they entered a splendid carriage Mr. Benson had purchased
for the occasion, and with Sambo for a driver and Sarah for a waiting
maid, set out upon their wedding tour. But we will not accompany them.

Suffice it to say, it was productive of little happiness to the new
married pair. Sambo and Sarah enjoyed it very well, as she often rode
with him upon the driver's box, and they thus had a delightful view of
the country.

On their return, their house was ready for their reception, or at
least so that they could live in it while the other part was finished.

Hannah had frequently been surprised by her husband's frequent
potations of brandy during their journey, and his whole bearing had
been haughty and reserved.

They had been at home but a short time, when, after being absent one
night and day, Mr. Benson returned home with a dark frown resting upon
his countenance; he slammed the door, kicked every chair that came in
his way, and stamping about, went and dismissed all his hands, took
another dram from his brandy bottle, and sat moodily down by the fire,
grumbling because supper was not on the table.

Poor Hannah pressed her hand upon her throbbing heart, and struggled
with the tears that rose to her eyes and seemed scalding her very eye
balls with their burning heat. There was a choking sensation in her
throat, but she swallowed it back, and prepared supper in the best
manner she was capable. Her husband seated himself at the table, took
a biscuit, looked at it, flung it back upon the plate, called his tea
dish water, and throwing back his chair hastily, left the table.

But why dwell upon the sorrowful years they spent together? He ever
came like a dark shadow upon the sunlight of home. Children gathered
around their fire side, but there was no gentle corner for them in his
heart.

His only son was ever with him like his shadow, drinking in his
precepts, practising his examples, breathing his oaths, domineering
over his mother and sisters, and a terror to the neighborhood.

His father telling him, he was in hopes to see the time he would dance
on Dr. Somers' grave, as he hated him with a perfect hatred, because
he had been his wife's attending physician, when she had been sick
during the years they had lived together.

James, for such was the name of the son, was instructed to hate
everybody that came in his way, and, of course, was hated by every
one.

The money that came by gambling, went in the same way, and
poverty--abject poverty--was now an inmate of their dwelling.

The house remained unfinished; the frame, which had never been
clap-boarded, had gone to decay in a great measure; and when one meal
was obtained, they scarcely knew where another would come from.

Discord reigned among them. Hannah was a wreck of her former self. She
had strung up her patience to its utmost tension, and would often bear
the scorn and abuse of her husband in sorrowful silence.

But this state of things passed away, and when her children shared
in her sufferings, the bitter waters were stirred in their deep
fountains, and she became a worn woman, with a hasty spirit. The
biting retort was now often upon her lips, and she became in a true
sense of the word, what might well be called a scold.

One gloomy fall day, when the sighing winds shook the mellow apples
from the trees in the large thrifty orchard, that stood before the
house, casting so deep a shade that the rays of the sun could scarcely
penetrate it, and the old house looked blacker for the rain that had
fallen upon it, Mr. Benson was seized for debt, and, conveyed to jail.

During his absence Mrs. Benson purchased some apples of the man that
then owned the orchard, and dried them, hoping to obtain some
needful clothing for herself and children. She cleaned her ceiling,
whitewashed the plastering, and made everything about the house look
as comfortable as possible, and enjoyed the privilege, at least, of
doing as she pleased, without being found fault with, which was to her
a great luxury, as her expressed wishes were generally vetoed at once.

She was a true mother, and strove to bring her children up in the
paths of truth and honesty. But there was such an opposing current,
and such frequent bickerings between herself and husband, that they
caught the infection, and seemed to live only to torment each other.

"O," said Mrs. Benson one day, to her sister Sarah, who was spending
a, day with her, "this is the princely mansion father promised me, as
a reward for giving up all my cherished hopes. Poor William has lost
his dear mother, I hear."

"Yes, she died one day last week; she liked much where they lived, and
after William came into possession of his uncle's princely fortune,
her life was spent in ease and affluence. He is likely to become one
of the richest men in the country, and he is loved for his kindness
and respected for his virtues. Your marriage doomed him to celibacy."

A shade rested for a moment upon Mrs. Benson's brow, as she said,

"O, these dark brown years have brought no joy to me in their course.
How I have lived I scarcely know. How dim-sighted is human reason? The
poor William is now the rich man, and the rich Benson is the poor one.
Could father know the misery I have undergone, he would think his
comforts dearly purchased; but he is gone from earth, and I will not
reproache his memory; but, oh, it has been hard--very hard."

"But come, Sarah, come into this old room with me, and help me pack my
dried apple for market. Is'nt it nice? I took great pains with it, as
I wished it to fetch the first price in the market. I am going to get
me a new cheap calico dress. This old patched faded thing is the only
one I have.

"I have wove a great deal this fall, and I think what I shall get for
that and the apple, will fix the children and me up quite comfortably.
The children paid for these apples, by picking up apples for Mr.
Lambert, and he says he shall want them again. I don't know as I care
much how long Benson stays in jail, for I enjoy myself much better
than I did when he was at home, scolding round all the time. And it
has made a perfect vixen of me, and I scold almost as bad as he does;
and the children catch it, and we have a little bedlam here all the
time; O, I wish it were not so, I cannot lie down quietly and sleep at
night, and I know something fearful will come of it."

"O, sister, I hope nothing worse than has come. I am glad to hear your
prospects look more favorable, and wish it were in my power to help
you. If you get a dress I will help you make it, and the children's
clothing. But I forgot to tell you Sarah is dead, and Sambo has got a
cancer, and it is thought he will survive her but a short time."

"Indeed; well, she was a faithful servant, and has gone to her reward;
and poor Sambo, how patiently he toiled, early and late, to purchase
her freedom, and they were very happy."

"O, yes, because they loved each other, and there was no one to
interfere with them."

They were now startled by hearing Mr. Benson chiding the children in
a loud, angry voice, with many oaths, for leaving the gate