Page:Peterson's Magazine 1842, Volume I.pdf/400

.

Ciara Elton was a spoiled child of fortune. Her parents were wealthy and worldly, With them the two great principtes were riches and rank, and they could not separate the idea of respectability from 8 man who kept an account ina bank, and had @ corriage and farm. T’o thom the doctrine that “wealth makes the man,” though very good on paper, was not so good in practice ; and however sweet a period it makes in the abstract, in real life it was a stumbling block. Mr. Elton had risen from almost the lowest grade, to his present high station in the business world, but, once having got thera, he did as people usually do—he de- spised the means that enabled him to arrive at the honor, Mrs. Elton was a woman, and loved her hus band, and-as a matter of course be was the focus of all her knowledge. If Mr. Elton had said the banks hed rained the country, every thing evil from the ruin of a community to the burning of a church, would be attri- ‘uted (o that source. If Mr, Elton said that Mr. So and. ‘So was not respectable, he could not havo beon admilted to the house. But Mr. Elton never did sey that a rich man was not respectable, and consequently that was the open sesame to the hearts and doors of this worthy couple.

Clara Elton presonted what at this age of the world ia not an uncommon character among this class of females—a being tight in feelings but wrong in prin- ciples, ‘To all the calla of charity che was ever ready. No one could accuse ber of stepping in the least from the paths of duty, be that whet it may. This was tho result of untaught native feelings; and thus far she was right, thus far the stream of the affections had not been turned out of the right channel by a fateo system of edu- cation, but she had been taught to revere and look up to wealth as the basis of all that was true and good in principles and actions. ‘This wae the fault, From her fathor she had cought all her contempt for the useful classes, and the tendency to cringe to any thing that partook of the show and giitter of wealth, without sn ‘attempt to strip off the guise and appreciate, if possible, the real character of the individual. This trait in her character, moreover, had beon strengthened by the members of the circle in which she usually moved. As wealth was the magnet of attraction with her parents—the means to secure a welcome reception to the dwelling of Clara Elton, all that visited there were either wealthy or made up tho deficiency in the real article by a dauble portion of pretension. Being ‘an heiress, and the daughter of one of the elite of the land, she lived in an atmosphere of flattery—a state of being where all the finer and better feelinga of the human mind are overrun by the rank weeds of pride and avrogance. All bowed to tho shrine of Clara Elton, and all, while they howed, saw in the distance the golJen visions of a father's wealth, Thas surrounded by the idlers of the season, and the hangers on of the latest French fashions, no marvel that she became haughty and vain in principle, and looked upon the different orders of society as far beneath tho station of Clara Elton.

Among the early associates of Clara had heen Ellen Lester. Mr. Lester was not so ich as hie neighbor, still he had enough at hie death to leave his widow in competency. Elten bad been the companion of Clara at school, and when she hed beon separated from that mother to enjoy the benefits of a superior system of instruction, she had accepted the proffered kindness of Claca to make her residence @ homo. At the desth of her mother, Ellen became the possessor of property sufficient to meet all her most lavish wants, and in obedience to her mother's will she took up her residence with her matronal aunt in a different part of the city. In the characters of the friends there was @ marked differ. ence. Ellen had been taught to look upon society av it is, to judge of mankind by the plain rule of truth, and not hy extraneous circumstances. This made her look deeply into the characters of the persons who consti- tuted the circle into which she entered, and, in her estimate, she was seldom mistaken. Plain and unas- summing in her manners, sho waa not dazzled or led astray by the display and assumption of little minds, or lured aside after the fleeting phantoms of fashions and extravagance. She had resided long enough with the Elton’s fully to appreciato the frst wish of the family— a splendid alliance for their daughter. ‘To the attainment of this hope she had seen thera bend all the energies of their minds, and often had her pure mind been shocked by theic conduct, Step by step she saw Clara being drawn into the vortex of fashionable life, anil inductod into the schemes of her family. In private she knew Clara to bo the kindest of creatures, but the web of the tempter had been set, and the vietim was now about to commence the struggle for life, Tt is the first etep in our career that decides our fate, and that had now been taken by Clara under the guidance of her father.

Among the early friends and companions of Ellen Lester was Edward Davi His father was in comforta- ble circumstances, but still thought it necessary to instit into his son habits of industry. Asa matier of course he was tought the business in which hie father had acquired both character and competency. Whilst the father was anxious to train up his son in the pathe of industry—he did not neglect his mind, and young Davis carly in life displayed marks of talent and genius. In character he was frank and open, and free from deceit and treachery, He soon gained the confidence and Jove of all who knew him, ond of none more than of Ellen Lester, who saw in him all that, in her opinion, consti- tuted the great trai truth, houor, and fidelily—and thus their young hearts

n the sum of a man’s character— �