University of Virginia Library

2. II.
THE DEAD HOPE.

Albert Laighton.

Longfellow beautifully asks in Hyperion, “What
is Time, but the shadow of the hour-hand on a dial-plate?”

The flowers of the earth and the hearts of men
are dial-plates. The shadows coming and going on
them are the hour-hands; when a flower fades, or
a heart ceases to beat, it is only a weight run
down. The whole universe is but one immense
time-piece, throbbing with innumerable wheels, heavy
with weights, and wearing itself away! Desire is a
restless pendulum, one end linked to the heart, and
the other pointing downward!

A year had added another link to that chain
which stretches through eternity. A year! Battles
lost and won: nations in mourning for their dead:
ships gone down at sea; and new paths worn to
graveyards!

O, for the castles that blow down in a year!

But time fell gently on the inmates of the Old
House. The trees and vines were a little larger;
and winter had somewhat browned the gables.
Bell was paler and more beautiful, and Mortimer
was still the same dreamer.

There was a question which haunted the Old
House. It was heard in the garden, at “the round
window,” and on the stair.

“When will father come home?”

The months flew away, like carrier doves, with
memories beneath their wings.

“When will father come home?”

And the question was asked again and again, till
the little lips and heart of Bell grew weary. Then
she folded her hands, and said:

“He will never come!”

Her blue eyes became more dreamy, and her
slight form—so very slight—glided about the house.
She would listen to the sea. Once she said, “Never
more!” and the sea repeated it with a human voice.
In the still night she asked,—

“When will father come home?”

“Never more,” said the sea—and she heard it
through the open window—“Never more!”

She waited, and the months went by.

Was the child Bell the only one in this world
waiting?

Who has not some hope at sea? Who has not
waited, and watched, and grown weary?

Who has not a question in his heart, to which
a low spirit-voice replies:

“Never more!”