"TILL DEATH US DO PART."

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1119, 30 November 1883, Page 4

"TILL DEATH US DO PART."

/> df Till jdeath ris do part,” rang out “totow;* clear Voice of the’ officiating minister throughout ’the church. And “Till dcath us'db part,” spoke the t ipari before 5 -rind 1 hj Till; death ns do her turn, repeated; the woman.

Thns they pHjjhted Uheir troth in thefacejof dbe ; Worldji arid /before <lheaven,> tliat man rind women-, Humphrey Car-: bonel and Emma- Crane. They hadi honour t6 comfort her r audtßbbGto liimpdnl sickness; h yl for; better for worse, fori richer, for poorer, until death did them; fpart 1 /;* -■ A; ■■ '. •• i May. .breezes! stole softly : ip through; •|b(e open porch;; May: viplgts .-filled, ’t?ie ! <Mr with perfume ; —May : dews yet: sparkled on the jeweldd grasses. It war i'itrna.bridal morning; and, amid, the; almost Sabbrith stillness and the spring-; tide loveliness, the ’vows were exchanged thai made them 6rie.

, Until death! The lover-hnsbririd glahcisd do^'uponihe timid girl, whoso hand Jay in liis, feelirig suddenly how terrible was that word—death ! Why should the thought have come to him ? He.clasped the trembling hand closer, as If he felt already the chilling of those wartn pulses, Even in the midst of the solemn service, his imagination travelled forward to a day when those solemn 'promises would have been fulfilled, arid death,had ended all—her death. ’__l.fi'.did pot occur to Captain Catbonel to think that it might be his own. ! The young girl, happy and smiling in her bridal robes, never once thought "of death at nIL How shonld she? Arid how—still less, how—conld either of them call up a picture of something Worse than death to break the marriage tows ?

A yonng conplo they, snprcmely happy on that May morning. Sunshine, and glistening dew, and opening flowers, arid; the joyous song of birds—they do riot put forth notions of winter-chill and gloom. No, riof portend'it- “ What God hath joined together, lot not man pnt asunder T’ ,

' The tremnlpns voice of the clergyrnnn, for he was agitated,, pronounced those words.very solemnly. The smile upon the bridegroom’s lip echoed but that of his heart. Who should have power to put asunder two who loved so well ? And Emma ? She thought only of the B'rong, manly form by her side. It was Okf, old story of the oak and the

vine. The present happiness was pefr feet, and the future would be like unto it; nay, much more abundant. So reason wein our blindness, in the inexperienced youth of our early morning, whemthe glamour of hope is upon us, and all looks ■ radiant. Later, standing before teacher, whose name is r Life, we learn that no eaVthly existence is' perfectthat' the sunniest life halir shadows, and that the sweet spring-time^Abe brightest summer, must give place to faded flowers,, to dying leaves. “ Yon can not have Emma unless you retire .altogether from the army, or get put upon half-pay,” had said Emma Crane’s stern old guardian to Captain Carbonel; for she had neither, father nor mother, brother nor ; - sister. And Humphrey Carbonel, tired, perhaps, of a soldier’s idle life, for all the world scorned to have been at pence for ages and likely to remain so, got put upon half-pay. .; ; . (To he continued.)