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New Series.

BE LM SET SM oe PORTRY THE WELCOME.

SY THE LATE T. 0. DAVIS, AUTHOR OF THE “ TRISH BALLADS.”

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Come in the evening, or come in the morning, Come when vou’re looked for, or come with- out warning, Kisses and welcome you'll find here before you, And the oft’ner you come here the more I’! adore you. Light és my heart since the day we were plight- ed, Red is my cheek that they told me was blight- ed, ‘ The green ef the trees looks far greener than \ ever, nd the linnets are singing, ‘True lovers don’t sever !”

i'l! pull you sweet flowere to wear, if you choose them,

Or, after you've kissed them, they’! lie on my bosom ;

VU fetch from the mountain its breeze to in Spire von;

l’L fetch from my fancy a tale that won’t tire you.

O, your lip is like the rain to the summer-vex’d farmer,

‘Or sabre or shield to a knight without armor.

Vil sing you sweet songs till the stars rise above me,

“Then, wandering, {’ll wish you, in silence, to

lowe me.

We'll look through the trees at the cliff and the evrie ; We'll tread round the earth on the track of the fairy ; We'll look om the stars, and we’ll {fist to the river, “Till you ask of your darling what gift you car give her, ‘Oh! she’ll whisper you, “ Love as unchange- ably beaming, And trust wher in secret most timefully stream- ing, Tull the starlight of heaven above us shall qui- ver, And our soul few in ene down eternity’s ri- ver.”

So, ceme in the evening, or comeia the morn- ing, "Come when you're look’d for, or come without warning, Kisses and welcome you'll find here before you, And the oft’ner you come here the more I[’!] adore you. ‘Light w my heart since the day we were plight- ed, Red is my cheek that they told me was blight- ed 5 The green ef the trees leoks far greener than ever, And the linnets are singing, ‘© True lovers don’t sever.” (ee

THRILLING SKETEH.

Jehn Taylor;

THE T(MON @F THE BACKWOODS BAR AND PULPIT.

ican never forget my first vision of John Taylor. It wat inthe court house at Lewisburg, Gonway county, Arkansas, mm the summer ef 1838. The occasion itself possessed terrible interest. A vast concourse of spectators had assembled to Witness the trial of a young and beautifi!

ERTY WHEN FREE-BORN MEN—HAVING TO ADVISE

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girl,onan indictment for murder. The Judge waited at the moment for the She- riff to bring in the prisoner, and the eyes of the impatient multitude all centered on the door; when suddenly a stranger en tered, whose appearance rivetted univer- sal attention.

Here is his portrait: a figure, tall, lean, sinewy, and strait as an arrow;a face, sallow, bilious, and twitching inces- santly, with nervous irritability ; a brow, broad, massive, seemed filled with wrink- les, but not from age—for he was scarce- ly forty; eyes, reddish yellow, like the wrathful eagle, as bright and’ piercing; and finally, a mouth with lips of cast iron, thin, curled, cold, and sneering, the in- tense expression of which looked the living embodiment of an unbreathed curse. He was habited in a suit of new buckskin, ornamented after the fashion of Indian costume, with hues of every color of the rainbow.

Elbowing his way slowly throngh the crowd, and apparently unconscious that he was regarded as a phenomenon, need- ing explanation, this singular being ad- vanced, and, with the haughty air ofa king ascending the throne, seated him- self within the bar, thronged as it was with the disciples of Coke and Blackstone, several of whom, it was known, esteemed themselves as far superior to those old and farnous masters.

The contrast between the outlanrlish garb and disdainful countenance of the stranger, excited, especially, the risib ility of the lawyers; and the junior members began a suppressed titter, which grew louder, and soon awept around the circle. They doubtless supposed the intruder to be some wild heinter of the mountains, who had never before seen the interior ofa fall of justice. Instantly the cause and object of tha laughter perceived it, turned hie head gradually, as to give each laugher a leok—his eyes» curled with a killing smile of infinite scorn—his eyes shot arrows of lightning — his tongue, protruding through his teeth, |it- erally writhed like a serpent, and ejacu- lated its asp-like poison in a single word: “Savages!” No pea can describe the de- fiant force which he threw into that term, no pencil can paint the infernal furor of his utterance, although it hardly exceed- ed a whisper. But he accented every letter as it Were a separate emission of fire that scorched his quivering lips; lay- ing horrible emphasis on the S, both at the beginning and end of the word—“ Sa- vages |”

It was the growl of the red tiger in the hiss of the rattle-snake.

The general gaze, however, was di- verted by the advent of the fair prisoner, who then came in, surrounded by her guard. The apparition was enough to drive a saint wad; for here wasa_ style of beauty to bewilder the tamest imagi- nation, and melt the coldest heart, leav- ing in both imagination and heart a gleaming picture, enameled in fire, and fixed ina frame of gold from the stars, It was a spell of enchantment to be felt as well as seen. You might feel it in the flushes of her countenance, clear as a sunbeam, brilliant as the iris; in the contour of her features, symmetrical as if cut by the chisel of the artist; in her hair of rich auburn ringlets, flowing without a braid, softer than silk, finer than gossa- mer; in the eve, blue as the heaven of southern summer, large, liquid, beamy; in her motions, graceful, swimming, like the gentile waftures of a bird’s wing in the sunny air; in the figure, slight, ethe- tlal—a syiph’s or a seraph’s; and more than all, in the everlasting smile of the rosy lips, so arched, so serene, so like star-light, and yet possessing the power of magic or of magnetism to thrill] the

beholder’s heart.

HARLOTTETOWN, AUGU

850.

ececenrerteeneeestentcennaatn tea

As the unfortunate girl, so tastefully dressed, so incompareble as to personal ch calm and smiling, took her place b he bar of her judge, amurmur of admfation arose from the multitude, which the prompt interposition of the court, by astera order of “ silence,” could scarcely repress from swelling to a deaf- ening cheer,

The Judge turned to the prisoner; “Emma Miner, the court has been ih- formed that your counsel, Col. Linton, is sick ; have you employed any other ?”

She answered, in a voice as sweet as the warbling of the nightingale, as clear as the song of the sky-lark.

“My enemies have bribed all the law- yere—even my own—to be sick; but God will defend the innocent !”

At this response, so touching in its simple pathos,a portion of the auditors buzzed applause, and the rest wept.

On the instant, however, the stranger whose appearance had previously excited such merriment, started to his feet, ap- proached the prisoner, and whispered something in her ear, She bounded six inches from the floor, uttered a piercing shriek, and then stood trembling as if in the presence ofa ghost from Eternity ; while the singular being who had caused her unaccountable emotion addressed the court in his sharp ringing voice, sonorous as the sound of bel!-metal—

“May it please vour honor, I will as-

sume the task of deiending the lady ?” * What!” exclaimed the | astonished judge, “are you a licensed sitorney ?”

* The question is irrelevant and im- material,” replied the stranger, with a venomeus sneer, “as the recent statute entitles any person to act as counsel at the request of a party.”

* But does the prisoner request it?” inquired the judge,

“ Let her speak for herself,” said the stranger,

“I do,” was her answer as a long drawn sigh escaped, that seemed to rend her very heart strings.

The case immediately progressed ; and as it had a tinge of roinantic mystery, we will epitomise the substance of the evi- dence.

About twelve months before, the de- fendant had arrived in the village, and opened an establishment of millinery.— Residing in arow connected with her shop, and al] alone, she prepared the ar- ticles connected with her highly respect- ed and honourable trade with unwearied labor and consummate taste. Her habits were secluded, modest and retiring; and hence she might have hoped to avoid no- toriety, but for the perilous gift that extraordinary beauty which too often, and to the poor and friendless always proves acurse, She was soon sought after by all those glittering fire-flies of fashion.— But the beautiful stranger rejected them all with unutterable scorn and loathing. Among these rejected admirers was one of a character from which the fair milliner had everything to fear. Hiram Shore was at once opulent, influential and dis- sipated. He was himself licentions, brave and ferociously revengeful—the most famous duellist of the south-west. It was generally known that he had made advances to win the favour of the lovely Emma, and had shared the fate of all other wooers—a disdainful repulse.

At nine o’clock on Christmas night, 1837, the people of Lewisburg were startled by a loud scream of morta! terror, while, following with scarcely an interval, came successive reports of fire-arms, one, two, three, witha dozen deafening roars. They flew to the shop of the milliner whence the sounds proceeded ; pushed back the unfastened door, and a scene of horror was presented. ‘I'here she stood

in the centre of the room, with a revelver

THE PUBLIC—MAY SPEAK FREE.”-—Mi.ton’s Evripiprs.

geen SSSE Ne peenaseNAN een ae ee pene Ee = eee

Vol. 1: No. 60

in each hand, every barrel discharged, her features pale, her eyes flashed wildly, but tips parted witha fearful smile. And there at her feet, weltering in his warm blood, his bosom literally riddled with bullets, lay the all-dreaded duellist, Hiram Shore, gasping in the last agony. He articulated but a single sentence.

“Tell my mother that [ am dead, and gone to hell !” and instantly expired.

“In the name of God who did this?” exclaimed the appalled spectators. _

‘*T did it!” said the beautiful milliner —* I did it to save my honor.”

As may be readily imagined, the deed caused an intense sensation. Public opinion, however, was divided. The poorer classes, crediting the girl’s vérsion of the facts, lauded her heroism in terms of measureless eulogy. But the friends of the deceased, and of his wealthy family, gave a different and darker coloring to the affair, and denounced the lovely hom- icide as an atrocious criminal. Unfortu- nately for her, the officers of the law, especially the judge and sheriff, were devoted comrades of the slain, and dis- played their feelings in revolting pattial- ity. The Judge committed her without the privilege of bail, and the sheriff chained her in the felon’s dungeon!

Such is the brief abstract of the cir- cumstances developed in the examination of the witnesses, The testimony closed, and the pleading began.

First of oll, three advocates spoke in succession for the prosecution; but neither hames nor their arguments are worth preserving. Orators of the blood and thunder genus, they about equally partitioned their howling eloquence be- tween the prisoner and their leather- robed counsel, as if in doubt who of the twain was then on trial. As for thé stranger, he seemed to pay not thé slightest attention to his opponents, but remained, motionless wiih his forehead bowed on his hands, like one buried in ceep thought or slumber.

When the proper time came, however he suddenly sprang to his feet, crosse the bar, and took his seat almost touching the jury. He then commenced in a whisper, but it was a whisper so wild, so clear, so terribly ringing and distinct as to fill the hall from floor to galleries, - At the outset, he dealt in pure logic, seper- ating and combining the proven facts, ull the whole mass of confused evidenee looked transparent as a globe of glass, through which the innocence of his client shone, brilliant as a sun beam: and the Jurors nodded to each other of thorough conviction; that thrilling whisper, and fixed concentration, and the language, simple as a child’s, had convinced all.

He then changed his posture, so as to sweep the bar with his glance; and began to tear and rend his legal adversaries. His sallow face glowed as a heated furnace, his eyes resembled living coals ; and his voice became the clangor of a trumpet. J have never, before or since, listened to such murderous denunciations. It was like Jove’s eagle charging a flock of crows. It was like Jove himself butt- ing red-hot thunder bolts among the quaking rank of conspiracy of inferior gods! And yet in the highest tempest of his fury he seemed calm; he employed no gesture save one—the flash of a long fore-finger direct in the eyes of his foes, He painted their venality and unmanly meanness, in coalescing, for money, to hunt down a poor and friendless woman;

till a shout of stifled rage arose from the

multitude, and. even some of the jury cried “ Shame.”

He changed the theme once more. His voice grew mournful as a funera! song. and his eyes filled with tears, ashe

traced a vivid picture of man’s cruelties and woman’s wrongs, ‘vith peculiar illug-

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