Camden Commercial Courier, 1837-08-12

Simcote brought to Mr. Zone's house a) jreat many visitors, but he did not intro introluce - luce introluce one to Mr. Zone's family. At times' ihcse gentlemen sat late at tlie card table, md deep imprecations were sometimes' lieard, as they retired, but Mrs. Zone bought it was one of the forms of fash-1 onablc life. The parlor occupied by Mrs. Simcote was strewed all around with elegantly bound novels and poems of a fashionable cast?with prints that would' liavc suited better for a Papfiian saloon,; than for a parlor of honest people.? Sometimes the other daughters would >pcak plainly to their mother and throw nit doubts of their sister's good fortune. Mr. Simcote would be gone whole weeks, ibsenting himself on sonic excuse of busttess. After one of the absences lie reurncd full of money, having, as he said, men a journey to a distant city to collect nonies due him: One excuse after another ,vas given for his not repairing to the south, o see his cotton and sugar plantations,! tut as he was llusli of money the good VIrs. Zone thought it arose from delicacy to Ilyacintliia's feelings that he coninlied to stay with her. The family ;ould not hut remark how few of the aces of Mr. Simcote's friends were ( mown to the merchants in the city, fori hey made many enquiries of New Orcans merchants about them. One gentle- i nan told one of the young merchants j ately connected with ttie Zone family, hat Alfred Simcote, who once was dis-1 inguished in the south, had several years, tcfore hern murdered and robbed, in the;

nounlains of Spain,., as he had always J inderstood, and since he heard that his elations had administered on his estates, md sold them. Simcote's confusion! vhen this was stated to him, was great, >ut recovering himself, he exclaimed, ( 'Good God! is this the report? so much, or staving from home so long. I must soon get ready to visit Louisiana, and! show them that they have been deceived." ; lie made preaarations to leave at once,! excusing himself from taking his wife, as] ie might have difficulties tiiere, and chose i lot to have his dear IJyaeinthia share hem; but he would go, put down all these tile rumors, and return as soon as possi>le. He soon took passage for that stale. 11 the course of a few months Mrs. Siin:ote received a letter from her husband,I raying, that he was getting along with I lis suits of ejectments against those who lad purchased his Plantations of his conins, who came into possession of them ?n his supposed death. This letter was ully accredited by Mr. Zone and family, i$ the same vessel which brought the leter, brought him a consignment of coton for Mrs. Simcote's bcnelit. Soon after her husband commenced his oyage for the south, his friend, Mr. Trc1011, was more attentive than ever to Mrs. sirucote. lie took her to all public places, tnd his attention were noticed with pain, >y the mother, and other members of the amily, but upon the slightest remonstrance Mrs. Simcotc rose to a towering

...? ...iv i.jwuivu, uiiu iiuw mucii sue earn- (J ed for him every day, could not object, or J rather thought it the wisest course not to t refuse her request. Oiic instructor after i another was hired, and II vacinthia was j I not suited; no one seemed to understand * her bent of genius but her dear mother, jl and she could not exactly describe, but 1 lelt assured that it was something of a|l higher order. The sums paid her tutors: began to grow severe in tlie sight Of Mr. J J Zone, and he remonstrated with his wife * upon the subject. She acknowledged,! that some of the masters might have suit-jf ?d, if her daughter Hyacinthia had notjt such a peculiar temper, or, as she had 1 heard lawyer Danforth say, "was not of such a delicate fibre." She had some i slight passion for music, and an old musi- i 3ian, who had spent the good part of a t fife in managing mothers and daughters, 1 contrived to keep the little uneasy, capri- 1 rious creature constant at her piono, until ( she had really caught some idea of music. I Hyacinthia had taste in sounds, and soon < acquired a tolerable execution on the pia- 1 no. Now the great secret of her genius 1 ivas discovered, and was to rival the Son- t lag and% Malibran, and the whole troop of 1 syrens of the opera, from Naples to New i ?ork; and it is to be confessed thnt ?br? 1

vcr enter society again. l:i truth, you never were in socitey; you treated with contempt your own family, and never readied the fashionable world, you so strongly desired to join. I feel liappy in the thought that 1 have left you sniti- } cicnt proprety to keep you from want.? Never think of me again, but set about ' purifying your own mind, and preparing yourself to sustain with fortitude the disgrace you cannot shun. ' There were times in our lives, when I was on the point of drawing the veil from all the mystery which surrounded us, and of making a full disclosure of every thing, ami of going with you into retirement, and of struggling together to be happy in a humble situation; but I had not the moral courage sufficient for the task, or I thought you were so wedded to the meretricious state you were in, that nothing could reclaim you. Your mother too, in the main, a good woman, had became so poisoned with the sound of fashionable iife, that she would not have aided 1)1 o determination. My hear1 was Mvollen almost to bursting, to think how wretchedly you were deceived. That elegant Rrskine Russell, who boasted of beiiur related In ilm <lnL*r? n

lid make some improvement, by dint of, t exertion and the force of flattery, tier ! nother thought that Ilyacinthia had an I exquisite taste in dress, but she always r ippeared gaudy, flaunting, and cxtrava- i pint. She was never in equable in spirits, r either melancholy or extatic. Her con- ?i fersntion was offensive to a man of sense, i \n uncle of hers came to the city to seejl lis brother, and was well received. Ile j' tvas a lawyer in the interior, a sensible f nan, with an affectionate heart. He was s ;oon at home with all the rest of the fa- j i nily, but Ilyacinthia had not determined 1 whether it was genteel or not to be socia- < jlc with an uncle from the country. !!c 1 was disgusted with her on a lew minutes' | i conversation. She quoted all the modern t lovcls and senliincntal poetry, thinking | i t would be quite acceptable to a literary 1 nan. In the first place, he could not I iud out the meaning half the time, and c vhen lie did catch a glimpse of it, he con- ;s lidered it as the moat wretched affectation Jl n the world, and could not help treating 1 , ?.,?K 'in._ .i

< viu uiuiii) (111*1 luciiiiiicu uv iiiu whichman; but he could not remember a single feature of the person lie look with him fori a short repose, but 011 reviewing nil the circumstances, he was fully of opinion, that the drunkenness was feigned. No farther progress in discovering the assassin was made for some time. No news was heard from Simcotc for a year or more, when a ship from New Orleans, brought Mrs. Simcotc letters and some drafts. She opened her letter and i read it?she uttered a scream-, and the j mother entered the room found her (laugh-j ter in convulsions. A physician was sent for, but all to no avail?Mrs. Simcotc, expired the next day at noon, having broken a blood vessel in her paroxysms. The father took up the letter from Sin cote and read as follows:? Dear Wife,?(I still will call you so, J though lost to me forever.)?Siiif-Hoard. ! 41 When this shall reach you, no trace of the wretch, once your husband, will be found on earth; my body will be in the bosom of the sea. Several days Miice, 1 fractured my leg, and mortification has taken place. 1 do not regret it; mourn J

wise physician, allowed, in their reading, i to ramble over hill and dale, meadow and I woodland, to gather flowers for themselves 1 without a guide?oden taking tlx* most ' poisonous of all, allured by the brilliancy * of their colors, and at the same time ne- ? glecting to the salutary and medical ones, 1 being less attractive to their senses. The ' ? literature of the age is full "of thrilling i sentiments, of stirring incidents, of rap- < turous glow, of unheard-of suffering," j' and all that sort of machinery to swell the i bosom with emotion, and to fill the eye ,? with tears. This inundation of poison poisonous - ous poisonous confectionary is distressing to those > who love wholesome food for the body * and mind. Intemperance and consump- i fion slays thousands daily, or robs them, i at least of the joys of life. Slill the t world is on the watch against these ene- s mics of the human race; huf who thinks 4 of stemming the current of deleterious (s sentiment which is constantly flowing- in

>assion, and said it was too hard to be orever annoyed by tbc narrow and vulvar views oi' lier family. It must be rcncinbeicd that she and Iter linsband were icoplc of the world, and led, instead of oil owing, in society. She repeated all bat had been told Iter of the freedom of nanncrs in France and England, and the grandees of these nations were the only icople to be thought of. The good 1110her heaved a sigh, but found she had ost all control over her daughter. The umors increased, and on investigation verc found to be true. One evening one! i >f the gentlemen who were allied to the ; amily, insulted Alexander Trenon, esq. t a public garden, by calling him a blackcg. It was thought a duel would follow,! >ut the devoted friend of Hyaeinthia, ould not condescend to light with a man if common standing. Mr. Zone forbade dr. Trenon bis house; but still the procribcd was seen with bis friend's wife,; 11 many parts of the city; and it was be-' ieved the}' bad private intercourse, even