Danger in the Dark - ZseZse

90 D.ANG~R IN THE DAKK.
but faintly hoping heaven may favor my wishes, I'll
venture to spread out upon this sheet, some of the burning
thoughts that almost consume my brain to ashes.
'" '" '" 'I/< Alas! thou, the idol of my heart! the adored
angel of my first love! my only love! what madness
hath seized you ~ What infatuation hath come over thy
glorious mind, to bewilder and delude thee thus ~ or
what fiendish hand hath by violence, snatched from
me the rare flower I had thought bloomed but to
bless my existence, and to be cherished by my own
hand ~ 'Tis strange, 'tis passing strange, that one so
pure, so guileless, so true-hearted, as I thought thee,
should prove-I dare not say false-no, I will not;
for I know thy spirit is as spotless as e'er was the
new-fallen snow, and stainless as the purple light
of heaven! By the false hearted have you been led
into a dark and dreary path; a false religion hath
beclouded. the serene sky of thy mind: I '11 blame
thee not, but deplore thy blindness.v * "" '*' '" '" j>
0, think of it, delnded one, life's dewy morn, in all its
balmy freshness, has but just opened. upon you; and
the sweet flowers of pleasure are only waiting to
spring up at your feet, and unfold their beauty and
fragrance I Why will you despise and turn ~way
from all that wonld charm and give zest to life? Is
the spring-time of existence too long, and hath the
gloom of its winter a higher attraction, that you
thus hurry on to assume the habiliments of age, and
shut out from your vi;ion life's brightest sunshine 1
Is youth a crime, and beauty a sin? Wby then