| | 1 | Author: | Brown
Charles Brockden
1771-1810 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Clara Howard  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | What could excite in you any
curiosity as to my affairs? You once knew
me a simple lad, plying the file and tweezers
at the bench of a watchmaker, with
no prospect before me but of labouring,
for a few years, at least, as a petty and
obscure journeyman, at the same bench
where I worked five years as an apprentice.
I was sprung from obscurity, destitute
of property, of parents, of paternal
friends; was full of that rustic diffidence,
that inveterate humility, which are alone
sufficient to divert from us the stream of
fortune's favours. Why do I write? For whose use do I
pass my time thus? There is no one living who
cares a jot for me. There was a time, when a
throbbing heart, a trembling hand, and eager
eyes were always prepared to read, and ruminate
on the scantiest and poorest scribble that
dropped from my pen, but she has disappeared.
The veil between us is like death. I need not tell you, my friend, what I
have felt, in consequence of your silence. The
short note which I received, a fortnight after
you had left me, roused my curiosity and my
fears, instead of allaying them. You promised
me a longer account of some mysterious
changes that had taken place in your condition.
This I was to receive in a few days. At the
end of a week I was impatient. The promised
letter did not arrive. Four weeks passed away,
and nothing came from you. I shall not call on you at Hatfield. I
am weary of traversing hills and dales; and
my detention in Virginia being longer than I
expected, shall go on board a vessel in this
port, bound for New-York. Contract, in my
name, with your old friend, for the present
accommodation of the girls, and repair to
New-York as soon as possible. Search out
No......., Broadway. If I am not there to embrace
you, inquire for my wife or niece, and
mention your name. Make haste; the women
long to see a youth in whose education I had
so large a share; and be sure, by your deportment,
not to discredit your instructor, and
belie my good report. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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