THE LAUGHING GIRL.
Lines suggested on viewing a Painting of a Female laughing.
| Oh, let me laugh out, till my eye-lashes glisten With tear-drops, which joy, like affliction, will bring; Be not vex'd my dear Hal—I must laugh, you may listen, And count the shrill echoes that cheerily ring. Hark! to the morning gun, Hail to thee! rising sun, Dances my heart with exuberant glee. The sky-lark from earth Flies to heaven with its mirth, But it cannot ha! ha! and be merry like me. Mine is no half-suppressed drawing-room titter, Strangled before it escapes from the lips; Nor the sardonic smile, than wormwood more bitter, Which might wither those flowers the honey-bee sips; But the fountain of joy, Without care or alloy, Springs in my bosom—refreshens my heart. Forest and river, then, Echo my laugh again— Never may gladness from Julia depart. Look not so grave, gentle Henry, at me, As if you would say all my griefs are to come; No gloom in the morn of my life can I see, And my laugh will scare sorrow away from our home. Pleasure unending Our footsteps attending, One brilliant May day through our lifetime shall last. Time shall not wear us, No trouble come near us, But the future be gilded by light from the past. Now laugh, for my sake, dearest Hal, and the kiss Which you sued for, I'll give, if you cordially roar. Well done!—never barter a pleasure like this, Were a crown to be purchased by laughing no more. In contentment and health, Tho' untrammel'd by wealth, True bliss from the store of our hearts we may draw. Let us laugh as we glide O'er mortality's tide, And cheer our last days with a rattling ha! ha! |
E. M.
COURT DAY.
To a northern traveller in the southern states, there is scarcely any thing more novel or entertaining than a Court Day. Familiar as the occasion and its scenes may be to a Virginian, there is something in the whole aspect of this monthly festival which rivets the attention of a stranger. And I have not been without my suspicions that the influence of this custom and its adjuncts upon society, manners, and character has never been appreciated. In our northern country there are no occasions upon which the whole population of a county, even as represented by its leading freeholders, convenes at one spot. County courts are attended by functionaries, litigants, and very near neighbors, but not, as in the south, by the gentry and yeomanry of a whole district.
The consequence of such an arrangement as that of the south is, that all the landholders and gentlemen of a neighborhood become mutually acquainted, and lay the foundation for friendly and hospitable reciprocities, which may be continued through life. The whole texture of society has a tincture from this intermingling. It is undeniable, that while aristocratic family pride, and chivalrous elevation of bearing, exist no where in greater vigor than at the south, there is a freer intercourse on the court-house-lawn between the richest planter and the honest poor man, than is ever witnessed in the manufacturing districts of Connecticut or Pennsylvania. This constant mingling of the aged with the young, tends to keep up national characteristics and to perpetuate ancient habits and sentiments. And let an old-fashioned man be allowed to whisper in the ear of this innovating age that all is not antiquated which is old, and that the hoary stream of tradition brings down with it not only prejudices, but wholesome predilections.