ral disposition had received
a powerful check, which promised to be lasting.

From this unhappy period she remained at home a long time with her
father. In kindred grief there was derived a congenial sympathy, and her
society contributed in some degree to allay his sorrow, as the deep
concern he felt in her welfare caused him sometimes to restrain the flow
of it in her presence. Self-exertion roused him in a measure from his
lethargy, and by thus assuming serenity, to become in reality something
more composed. Nevertheless, he would often witness the excess of
anguish which had taken place in the bosom of his child, and behold her
interesting face bathed in tears, and her youthful brow clouded with a
sadness that nothing seemingly could dissipate.

His situation now became more sequestered than ever; he roamed in
solitude, or pleased himself in ranging through silent glens in
loneliness. His thoughts were absorbed in the gloomy experience of the
misery of a painful separation from a dear and beloved object; he wept
for her whose mild and winning graces had power to soften and illuminate
the darkest shades of life, or alleviate the distressful scenes of
adversity.

His mind was wholly absorbed in those gloomy reflections that scarcely
admitted a ray of consolation, when the weekly newspaper arrived from
the neighbouring village; he took it up, hoping to find something to
amuse his thoughts; he opened it to read the news of the day; he ran his
eye hastily over it, and was about to lay it aside, "when the death list
arrested his attention by a display of broad black lines," and he, who
had not yet become reconciled to his present misfortune, was now about
to experience another equally severe.

What could equal his bitterness, his surprise and grief, when he read
the disastrous news that his youngest son (who had lately gone on a
foreign expedition) had died of a fever in a distant land a few weeks
previous!

The paper fell from his palsied hand,--a sudden faintness came over
him,--he fell back almost senseless in his chair,--exhausted by excess
of grief, he remained a long time in a stupifying anguish.

The tidings were so unlooked-for of the premature death of his
unfortunate son, who about this time was expected to arrive in New-York.
For him an only brother was inconsolable; and Alida, who had long been
accustomed to his kindness and caresses, was overcome with a dejection
that time alone could alleviate.

Her