Even slightly parted with a smile! All the bitterness of death had vanished from that sweet fair countenance; it seemed as if a deep sleep had been prolonged beyond the usual term. when laid in her coffin, that angel countenance still smiled 'on; and oh, was it illusion, those eyes seemed to open, and those lips to part as in a last adieu, ere the covering was laid on which was to shroud her for ever from our view. I could bear it no longer; I turned and wept! Edward Perkins now seemed twice dead; and in Ellen Fanshawe's departure the link that had most closely bound him to the world was severed. Yes-yes, I was sad even to bitterness; these peerless samples of humanity were cut off at a blow. I was indeed, thrice bereft miserable. Hark, what strains are those, as a low pealing chaunt fell sweetly on my ear? "Our sister has gone-yes, she has gone to the land of sunny flowers, where, like them, her beauty shall blow for evermore! "She was severed from her love; the clinging vine cannot survive the loss of its support, nor the blooming rose the stalk on which it grew. "No, the infant cannot subsist without its mother's milk, nor the growing grain without the shower; the tender maiden bereft of the manly heart and the protecting arm, sickens and dies. "Yes, she had yielded her virgin heart to one who was 'worthy of her love, and when he was snatched away, she could not survive. "O, sisters they will meet again in the land of sunny flowers, where the rose for ever blows, and where love never dies." The words and music of this little recitative brought a balm and consolation which I am unable to describe. It seemed as if direct from heaven, and the thrilling voices went straight to' my heart. The young girls of Father Power's congregation, who under his directions, had imbibed no inconsiderable share of taste and skill, desirous of imbodying their respect, and the struggling emotions of their innocent breasts, had besought him, not unsuccessfully, for the words and music. There, they stood in white, with garlands in their hands, as they sang each stanza two or three times over, while the tremulous voices of some, and the tears of others, betrayed what they felt They would not enter for rest or refreshment; and when their simple song was done, departed slowly and silently as they came, till the last wave of their snowy garments disappeared amid the green-wood trees. Ellen Fanshawe was laid beside her Edward; side by side were the lovers placed, close as they could lie. Oh, had those lifeless remains retained one trace of thought or feeling, then and there would it have been manifested. As it was, their spirits must have embraced-if spirits can embrace in paradise. One inscription on the white marble tomb served for both. "HERE LIE THE REMAINS OF EDWARD PERKINS, aged Twenty-Four, AND OF ELLEN FANSHAWE, aged Eighteen. They loved each other in life, Years after, a red and a white moss rose grew beside the grave; and on each succeeding season, the anniversary of the lovers' deaths, |