ad solaced the many lonely hours of my
bachelorhood in acquiring by memory and rehearsing many scraps of
poetry. Mr. Bell's favorite method of passing the evening was in
teaching his children to read and declaim poetry with dramatic
expression, and in this delightful occupation I was an acceptable
assistant. Many were the domestic dramas which we produced,--pieces of
our own invention,--in addition to our readings from the poets.

* * * * *

Frederick and Clara were to pass a year or two in schools at the North,
and thither Mr. B. removed. The first winter of their absence, I
received a letter from him relating that Clara had succumbed to the
rigor of a northern climate. Soon came the father and brother with the
corpse of their darling, which was placed within the cemetery mausoleum.
Into this I entered for the first time, but the interior differed in no
respect from others. Within its walls the mother and daughter were left
together. In less than a week it was again opened, to receive the son.
He had been drowned while attempting the rescue of a companion.

To my surprise at the time, the desolate father exhibited no grief.
There was in his demeanor an appearance of satisfaction that their
removal had preceded his own,--that he would leave none of his heart's
treasures behind him, but be enabled to claim them all in the future
existence.

* * * * *

The days lengthened and shortened through three years, in which the
routine of my life was varied by no incident. With Mr. Bell my relations
continued the same. At all times he spoke cheerfully of the past and the
future, frequently giving utterance to the feelings above attributed to
him. In one of these conversations I ventured to inquire concerning his
wife. His whole countenance was irradiated. It seemed that some bright
and glorious recollection of her had been recalled. The fancy impressed
itself on me that he had a visible consciousness of her presence. The
animation subsided into a quiet self-communing, and he soon proceeded to
relate the history of her whose marble similitude had so excited my
wonder and admiration.

* * * * *

It is nearly thirty years since I came from a New England country house
to this city, as a clerk in the branch house of Sampson Brothers. I was
then a raw youth; but my New England training had given me the serious
and money-seeking character