Alonzo and Melissa; Or, The Unfeeling Father: An American Tale, Page 5

interested, and was suddenly aroused to therefinements of sensibility. Like an electric shock, it reanimated hiswhole frame, and vibrated every nerve of his heart. The glooms whichhung about his mind were dissipated, and the bright morning of joy brokein upon his soul.

  Thus were the expectations of Alonzo and Beauman disappointed--howdifferently, the sequel has shown.

  Melissa's father retired immediately after pronouncing the declaration;the two young gentlemen also soon after withdrew. Alonzo saw the tempestwhich tore the bosom of his rival, and he pitied him from his heart.

  A fortnight passed, and Alonzo felt all that anxiety and impatiencewhich a separation from a beloved object can produce. He framed athousand excuses to visit Melissa, yet he feared a visit might bepremature. He was, however, necessitated to make a journey to a distantpart of the country, after which he resolved to see Melissa. Heperformed his business, and was returning. It was toward evening, andthe day had been uncommonly sultry for the autumnal season. A risingshower blackened the western hemisphere; the dark vapour ascended infolding ridges, and the thunder rolled at a distance. Alonzo saw heshould be overtaken. He discovered an elegant seat about one hundredyards distant from the road; thither he hastened to gain shelter fromthe approaching storm. The owner of the mansion met him at the door,politely invited him to alight and walk in, while a servant stood readyto take his horse. He was ushered into a large room neatly furnished,where the family and several young ladies were sitting. As Alonzoglanced his eyes hastily around the room, he thought he recognized afamiliar countenance. A hurried succession of confused ideas for amoment crossed his recollection. In a moment he discovered that it wasMelissa. By this unexpected meeting they were both completelyembarrassed. Melissa, however, arose, and in rather a confused manner,introduced Alonzo, as the classmate of her brother, to the family of Mr.Simpson and the company.

  The rain continued most part of the afternoon. Alonzo was invited, andconsented to stay all night. A moon-light evening succeeded the shower,which invited the young people to walk in an adjoining garden. Melissatold Alonzo that Mr. Simpson was a distant relative of her father; hisfamily consisted of his wife, two amiable daughters, not far fromMelissa's age, and one son, named William, about seventeen years old.She had been invited there to pass a week, and expected to return withintwo days. And she added, smiling, "perhaps, Alonzo, we may have anopportunity once more to visit the bower on my prospect hill, beforewinter entirely destroys the remaining beauties of the summer." Alonzofelt all the force of the remark. He recollected the conversation whenthey were last at the place she mentioned; and he well remembered hisfeelings on that occasion.

  "Great changes, indeed, he replied, have taken place since we were lastthere: that they are productive of unexpected and unexampled happinessto me, is due, Melissa, to you alone." Alonzo departed the next morning,appointing the next week to visit Melissa at her father's house.

  Thus were the obstacles removed which presented a barrier to the unitedwishes of Alonzo and Melissa. They had not, it is true, been separatedby wide seas, unfeeling parents, or the rigorous laws of war; buttroubles, vexations, doubts and difficulties, had thus far attendedthem, which had now disappeared, and they calculated on no unpropitiousevent which might thwart their future union. All the time that Alonzocould spare from his studies was devoted to Melissa, and their parentsbegan to calculate on joining their hands as soon as Alonzo'sprofessional term of study was completed.

  The troubles which gave rise to the disseveration of England fromAmerica had already commenced, which broke out the ensuing spring intoactual hostilities, by the battle at Lexington, followed soon after bythe battle at Bunker Hill. The panic and general bustle which took placein America on these events, is yet well remembered by many. They werenot calculated to impress the mind of Melissa with the most pleasingsensations. She foresaw that the burden of the war must rest on theAmerican youth, and she trembled in anticipation for the fate of Alonzo.He, with others, should the war continue, must take the field, indefence of his country. The effects of such a separation were dubiousand gloomy. Alonzo and she frequently discoursed, and they agreed toform the mystic union previous to any wide separation.

  One event tended to hasten this resolution. The attorney in whose officeAlonzo was clerk, received a commission in the new raised American army,and marched to the lines near Boston. His business was thereforesuspended, and Alonzo returned to the house of his father. He consideredthat he could not long remain a mere spectator of the contest, and thatit might soon be his duty to take the field; he therefore concluded itbest to hasten his marriage with Melissa. She consented to theproposition, and their parents made the necessary arrangements for theevent. They had even fixed upon the place which was to be the futureresidence of this happy couple. It was a pleasantly situated village,surrounded by rugged elevations, which gave an air of serenity andseclusion to the valley they encircled. On the south arose a spacioushill, which was ascended by a gradual acclivity; its sides and summitinterspersed with orchards, arbours, and cultivated fields. On the west,forests unevenly lifted their rude heads, with here and there a solitaryfield, newly cleared, and thinly scattered with cottages. To the east,the eye extended over a soil, at one time swelling into craggyelevations, and at another spreading itself into vales of the mostenchanting verdure. To the north it extended over a vast succession ofmountains, wooded to their summits, and throwing their shadows overintervales of equal wilderness, till at length it was arrested in itsexcursions by the blue mists which hovered over mountains more grand,majestic and lofty.[A] A rivulet which rushed from the hills, formed alittle lake on the borders of the village, which beautifully reflectedthe cottages from its transparent bosom. Amidst a cluster of locusts andweeping willows, rose the spire of the church, in the ungarnisheddecency of Sunday neatness. Fields, gardens, meadows, and pastures werespread around the valley, and on the sides of the declivities, yieldingin their season the rich flowers, fruits and foliage of spring, summerand autumn. The inhabitants of this modern Auvernum were mostly farmers.They were mild, sociable, moral and diligent. The produce of their ownflocks and fields gave them most of their food and clothing. Todissipation they were strangers, and the luxuries of their tables werefew.

  [Footnote A: Some who read this description will readily recognize the village here described.]

  Such was the place for the residence of Alonzo and Melissa. They hadvisited the spot, and were enraptured with its pensive, romanticbeauties. A site was marked out whereon to erect their family mansion.It was on a little eminence which sloped gradually to the lake, in themost pleasant part of the village. "Here, said Alonzo one day toMelissa, will we pass our days in all that felicity of mind which thechequered scenes of life admit. In the spring we will rove among theflowers. In summer, we will gather strawberries in yonder fields, orwhortleberries from the adjacent shrubbery. The breezes of fragrantmorning, and the sighs of the evening gale, will be mingled with thesongs of the thousand various birds which frequent the surroundinggroves. We will gather the bending fruits of autumn, and we will listento the hoarse voice of winter, its whistling winds, its driving snow,and rattling hail, with delight."

  The bright gems of joy glistened in the eyes of Melissa. With Alonzo sheanticipated approaching happiness, and her bosom beat in rapturousunison.

  Winter came on; it rapidly passed away. Spring advanced, and themarriage day was appointed.

  * * * * *

  The spring opened with the din of preparation throughout America fordefensive war. It now was found that vigorous measures must be pursuedto oppose the torrent which was preparing to overwhelm the colonies,which had now been dissevered from the British empire, by thedeclaration of independence. The continental army was now raising, andgreat numbers of American youth volunteered in the service of theircountry. A large army of reinforcements was soon expected from Englandto land on our shores, and "the confused noise of the warriors, andgarments rolled in blood," were already anticipated.
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  Alonzo had received a commission in a regiment of militia, and waspressed by several young gentlemen of his acquaintance, who had enteredthe army, to join it also. He had an excuse. His father was a man inextensive business, was considerably past the prime of life, had anumber of agents and clerks under him, but began to grow unable toattend to the various and burthensome duties and demands of a mercantilelife.

  Alonzo was his only son; his assistance therefore became necessaryuntil, at least, his father could bring his business to a close, whichhe was now about to effect. Alonzo stated these facts to his friends;told them that on every occasion he should be ready to fly to the postof danger when his country was invaded, and that as soon as his father'saffairs should be settled, he would, if necessary, willingly join thearmy.

  The day now rapidly approached when Alonzo was to make Melissa his own.Preparations for the hymeneal ceremony were making, and invitations