The Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 5. May
1848, by Various

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Title: Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 5. May 1848

Author: Various

Editor: George R. Graham
Robert T. Conrad

Release Date: June 28, 2009 [EBook #29262]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, MAY 1848 ***

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[Illustration: J. Addison]

CLARA HARLAND

Engraved Expressly for Graham's Magazine

GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE.

VOL. XXXII. PHILADELPHIA, MAY, 1848. NO. 5.

CLARA HARLAND.

BY G. G. FOSTER.

[SEE ENGRAVING.]

CHAPTER I.

I am no visionary--no dreamer; and yet my life has been a ceaseless
struggle between the realities of everyday care, and a myriad of
shadowy phantoms which ever haunt me. In the crowded and thronged
city; in the green walks and sunny forests of my native hills; on the
broad and boundless prairie, carpeted with velvet flowers; on the blue
and dreamy sea--it is the same. I look around, and perceive men and
women moving mechanically about me; I even take part in their
proceedings, and seem to float along the tardy current upon which they
swim, and become a part--an insignificant portion--of the dull and
stagnant scene; and yet, often and often, in the busiest moment, when
commonplace has its strongest hold upon me, and I feel actually
interested in the ordinary pursuits of my fellow-beings, of a sudden,
a great curtain seems to fall around, and enclose me on every side;
and, instead of the staid and sober visages of the throng, vague and
shadowy faces gleam around me, and magnificent eyes, bright and
dreamy, glance and flash before me like the figures on a
phantasmagoria. In such moments, there comes over me a happy
consciousness that _this_ is the reality and all else a dull and
painful dream, from which I have escaped as by a great effort. The
dreamy faces are familiar to me, and their large, spiritual eyes
encounter mine with glances of pleasant recognition. My heart is glad
within me that it has found again