"And lo! at last relieved from every toil,
They come! the wanderers view their native soil!
Then the bright raptures words can never speak,
Flash in their eyes, and mantle in their cheek!
Then Love and Friendship, whose unceasing prayer,
Implored for them each guardian spirit's care;
In that blest moment all the past forget,—
Hours of suspense, and vigils of regret!" Mrs. Hemans.
Crawford, Monday, August 4th.
Dear Mother,—Since the hasty letter I wrote you, announcing our safe arrival at home, my time has been so fully occupied that I have been altogether unable to resume my journal. Our dear, lovely Pauline is to leave us the first of October. It is fortunate for me that cares and duties demand every moment of my time, else I fear, I should spend much of it in the unprofitable employment of weeping. Indeed, there is a sad weight at my heart, and sometimes when my darling child sits down before me, and lays her head in my lap, I am completely overcome. How fully, dear mother, I can enter into your sorrow, when I remember the convulsive embrace with which you held me to your heart on the event of my leaving home. I can again see the tears which flowed like rain down your pale cheeks, and hear your broken voice saying, "May God bless you, my own dear Cora, and comfort your mother in her loss."