MARIA J. MCINTOSH, AUTHOR OF "CHARMS AND COUNTER-CHARMS," "AUNT KITTY'S TALES," TWO LIVES: OR, TO SEEM AND TO BE. CHAPTER I. LIFE IN THE SOUTH.-THE VOW. "Two lovely berries moulded on one stem." Midsummer Night's Dream. "A mansion where domestic love And truth breathe simple kindness to the heart." Mrs. Gilman. BENEFICENT Nature, how often does the heart of man, crushed beneath the weight of his sins or his sorrows, rise in reproach against thine unchanged serenity! We sin, and call on darkness to cover our shame,—but at morning hour the sun goes forth, "rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. We lay our loved ones in the earth; and while we weep above their graves, the light shines merrily there, and calls forth the gay flowers of spring to deck the sod; and we reproach thee because thou dost not, like us, struggle against the will of Universal Love,-because thou dost not cease to give forth from thy motherbosom food, and light, and warmth, to all thy children,because, even while we murmur at thee, thou continuest to smile upon us and to send sweet and softening influences into our hearts from thy serene aspect. It was feelings such as we have described which made |