Lucy (Chapter_20)

bright--the earth was green--All nature seem'd to breathe of Joy--Is Lucy only sad? Poor Lucy, she felt the contrast--and the joy of all nature, fell on her heart, as sun beams on a frozen stream. A heart that felt as if forever closed to hope or happiness-chilled--almost frozen by suffering and disappointment. As evening came on--Hannah called, and told her she had better come in, it was growing cool--But Hannah had told her too, that when it was dark, she would come for her child, and Lucy thought it would not be dark here as soon as in her little room; so, she staid, to watch the descending sun, and to catch his last rays. ["Oh why," she exclaimed, as she marked the swiftness of his course, "why can I not, like Joshua of old, bid the sun stand still! Oh if I could, it should stand still forever--but alas, in a few short minutes it will be gone! And you my darling, you will be gone too!" [Closely she held it to her bosom, while her eyes went fixed on the sinking sun, as if indeed she could have stopped its course--Now it has almost disappeared

it sinks behind the high woods of Kalarama, but yet awhile it seemed between the still leafless branches, --lower--lower--now it is gone!--But the western sky still glows--the naked woods seem almost on fire--"It is not yet dark"--thought Lucy--and she still gazed --Now, that glow has faded--the last ray has disappeared---"It is dark!" said Lucy, as she almost frantically clasped her child--She opened her bosom, for the last time, for her babe, and whilst she felt the warm pressure of its little lips, she wished with the milk, it could draw her heart's blood too, and that when she parted with him, she could part with life--Her head had sunk on the face of her { ?} and she felt not the cold night wind, as it blew aside her locks--she saw not the stars, as they came out one by one twinkling through the clouds, she was lost, --absorbed in that deepest, and strongest of all feelings, the human heart can know--a mother's love. Mrs Fairely, not finding her in her room

Mrs Fairely, not finding her in her room felt a momentary alarm, least she had escaped, but soon learned from Hannah where she was, and accompanied by that kind hearted creature, went in search of her-Lucy followed them more dead than alive to the house. Mrs Fairely took the child from her arms--she made no resistance--it was asleep--Without awakening , it was wrapped warmly up, put in the basket, and Hannah was ask'd to take it. Still Lucy spoke not, but followed the woman, and when Mrs Fairely would have prevented her going, Hannah, said, ["Let the poor soul have her way, now mistress, I'll take good care of her." [Mrs Fairely made no opposition but wrapped a large cloak round her, and drew the hood over her head--The night was clear, and not cold--Lucy would have taken the child out of the basket--but Hannah gently prevailed on her not to do so, for fear of awakening it. ["Come now Missey, be of good heart--all will go well; it isn't them that has fathers and mothers, that always does the best in this world; indeed I've heard old mistress say, that orphans generally have the best luck--seeing as how, as old

Mistress says, they be God's own children--for you know the bible says, "God is the father of the fatherless" So now to be sure, he can do more than any yarthly father can, and so Missey, just give up little William to God, who will take better care of him than you can.--Moses, you know Missey, would have been but a poor despised jew, and ha' been kept making bricks all his life, if his mother hadn't a put him away from her in a basket, just as we'er going to do with little Master--and who knows but he may come to be President, as well as Moses" [If in the midst of a {dark }storm, the sun had suddenly burst from behind a dark cloud, it could not have more instantly dispelled the gloom from nature, than this allusion to the story of Moses, did the gloom from Lucy's heart. When a child, this had been a favorite story; not listened to in detached chapters, but listened to, as told, and often told by her father, as at twilight she sat upon his knee, by their quiet fireside. The whole scene, the

The whole scene, the whole story, rushed upon her mind, and tho' it affected, it settled and comforted her. For often had he expounded the story and explained all its beauty and its mystery of Goodness-Her father had showed how wonderful are the ways of God, and what strange, and unlikely ways he chuses, to work out his own good pleasure. The greatest affliction to which the Egyptians subjected the Jews, the destruction of their children, was made the means of their redemption from slavery, their return to their homes, and conquest of the promised land. ["Thy will be done!"-- said Lucy, meekly raising her eyes to heaven--"This poor child, had I kept him, would always have been despised--I could not educate him; he would have remained poor and ignorant--but now, if under the care of these pious christians, these kind, good ladies--who knows but he may prove a blessing to his country--it is all for the best--Father in heaven, thy will be done." [She now with a lighter heart, and quickened step, cheerfully followed Hannah