Rudolph and Alice [pp. 263-275]

The Storm: A Fragment.-Rudolph and Alice.
Tell me even, that you have married her, and I
will pardon and bless you! Speak! why this silence? will you answer. Say one word, where is
my daughter. where is my Lelia? my life! my
light! my hope! my child! my child!'
The Mineralo started, as from a dream. He
looked about him, as if he could not comprehend
what was passing. A mortal shuddering ran through
his frame.
"' Bring lights, torches!' he cried,' and all of
you follow me!' And he rushed without. He
was promptly joined by those who were present,
amounting to more than twelve, with lighted torches,
which streamed through the storm like meteors.
As to Francesco, he seemed scarcely able to stand,
but reeled to and fro, like one intoxicated.
"At last they reached the place he sought, and
by the blaze of the torches they perceived something white at the foot of the rock. It was Lelia.
Her back was resting against the stone; one of
her hands pressed her bosom, like one suffering
with cold, and with the other, she held the lamp
whose flame had expired.
"Francesco fell on his knees on one side, the old
man knelt on the other; the torches shed a gleam
brilliant as day-light. She was cold, cold as
stone!
"The poor, desolate and childless old man, wished
afte r wards to seek the object of his daughter's devoted love, but Francesco was never seen after
that fatal night.
" A plaintive sound is sometimes heard on the
mountain; the inhabitants assert, it is uttered by
the Mineralo as he seeks his betrothed among the
rocks; and every dark and stormy night, may be
seen on the mountain the lamp of Lelia, lighting
the phantom of her beloved in its search for gold."
JANE TAYLOE W.
0 glor i ous the st o rm!
See, it cleaveth a pathAnd the forest is bared,
In the strength of its wrath!
And the branches are torn And the leaves, tho' they're green,
Where the flash leaves the cloud
In the Heavens, are seen!
Though blighting the stroke,
Of the thunder-sent blast;
Though the glories of earth,
On its wild winds are cast;
Yet deadlier the blow
That strips the heart bare,
When the bright budding joys
Of its love clusters there.
0 cloud of my day,
Of my night, of my noonPour on thy thick spray'I'here is rest in the tomb.
I heed not thy roar Though death'is in the sound;
The world hath not left me,
A joy thou cani'st wound.
It was a fine evening in the beginning of spring,
when a loving pair sat under the arching fresh
green trees on the sea shore. The suni had already
" gone down to sup with the ocean;" but the
high rocky points opposite, were still ornamented
with a red light. Twilight spread over the deep
vallies; a single column of mist rose high fromni
the pine woods; and, slowly spreading itself, fell
back again. The clouds of heaven trembled in
the slow moving waves,-a single star shone on
the dark blue, reflecting its image in the water.
All was still and solemn. It was the close of the
Sabbath; no noise of laboring men broke the
silence-no sound was heard, save the waves of
the sea, striking with slow strokes on the shore,
and, at intervals, the call of a solitary herdsman
from the Alps. Rudolph and Alice embraced;
their hearts were filled with love and thankfulness
to God, who had so wonderfully preserved them
until now. To day, for the first time, their banns
had been proclaimed in the church of the Benedictines, and their wedding was fixed for the next
month. Well they deserved their happiness; their
love had been proved by many heavy trials; now,
after years of separation and sorrow, they were at
last to enjoy a happiness made so dear to them by
long privation. Rudolph's father had been the
rich cutler-master, Christolph, whose houses and
workshops of various kinds were situated in the
opposite woods, where the loud noise of the powerful machinery startled the roe buck from the dark
fir woods.
0 cloud of the night!
That sullenly hangs o'er
The steep mountain's height,
Cease, cease not thy roar!
O! thunder thy rage,
On the tree, or the cot,
Though thy victims may cry Stormii, reck I thee not!
I live in the light
Of thy burning bright flatsh!
I watch thy swift flight,
And I wait for thy crashNow frowning-now muttering Now flyin g away- f
To set earth and the sky,
In battle array!
1843.]
263
RIJDOLPII AND ALICE.
(Translated fro?n the German.)
BY A LADY OF VIRGINIA.
Chilicothe, Ohio.
TIIE STC)IIM; A FRAGMENT.
BY R. F. FERGUSON, JR.