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Article THE INVISIBLE SHIELD* ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Invisible Shield*
gradations of adverse fortune ; until finally they rest secure from any further reverse of the fickle goddess , in the slough of pure , unmixed loaferism ; while upon the breasts of some , whose hearts once exulted in the buoyant anticipation of length of years and fulness of joy yet to come , rest the green clods ofthe valley . Such are the shiftings of life ' s kaleidoscope . Amongbut distinguished above allthose to whom I have alluded
, , , was my young friend Harry L . AVith a remarkably fine person he united manners the most engaging . Not destitute of elegance and grace , there was , also , about him an unaffected and manly frankness ivhich at once won the heart . AVarm , generous and quick in his sensibilities , a tale of distress or of wrong , could at any time command his purse to relieve , or his right hand to avenge . One or two more points added to his characterand it would have been a perfect one . But he
, lacked that steady , constant , stern self-controul , the absence of which frequently turns even the good traits of a nature such as his into vices . He possessed , in short , passions as fervid as his sensibilities were lively , and by some he would have been called a roue . And yet Harry L was not that monster , the cold-blooded , flattering destroyer of innocence . No one had a more exalted reverence , in the abstract , for female purity and virtue , or could sooner have been wrought upon to become the
avenger of a deliberate seduction . But he was not proof against temptation ; and when once the unholy passion was kindled , his pursuit was eager , headlong , impetuous , until gratification brought with it reflection , and reflection , remorse—deep , pungent and bitter . Harry L , more than any person I ever knew , needed some constant secret monitor , whose voice should be more potential than , alas 1 that of conscience often is , unaided by religion , and drowned by the hot flow of youthful blood .
That monitor he found in , but I will not anticipate . Among the many beauties of K , at the time at which I write , was Helen S . She was , indeed , a being to intoxicate and madden a youthful imagination . A form surpassing in its voluptuous ripeness and symmetry those of all other women—a complexion of that warm , rich brunette , which is peculiar to the passionate South—a clustering profusion of curls , black as the raven ' s wing , shading a neck and
bosom of surpassing beauty—with eyes dark as midnight , large , and lustrous with the light of the feelings of the girl of sixteen—she presented a vision as alluring to the refined sensualist as one of the houris of the pagan paradise to the followers of Mahomet . She was the daughter of a widow in reduced circumstances , and unfortunately had been destitute , almost from childhood , of all other guardianship or protection than that of a vain , weak mother , and such as might be derived from that " INVISIBLE SHIELD , "
' ¦ AVhich none but Crttftsmrii ever saw , " but which , nevertheless , under Providence , has saved thousands from a course of life , than which death were preferable . Young , ardent and guileless in her feelings , a neglected—or rather I should say , an illjudged education—had given just that tone and complexion to her mind which fitted her to become an easy prey to the experienced voluptuary , while her extraordinary beauty and equivocal position in society , exposed her in a peculiar degree to the attempts of the designing . * * -A" •* VOL . I . x- v
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Invisible Shield*
gradations of adverse fortune ; until finally they rest secure from any further reverse of the fickle goddess , in the slough of pure , unmixed loaferism ; while upon the breasts of some , whose hearts once exulted in the buoyant anticipation of length of years and fulness of joy yet to come , rest the green clods ofthe valley . Such are the shiftings of life ' s kaleidoscope . Amongbut distinguished above allthose to whom I have alluded
, , , was my young friend Harry L . AVith a remarkably fine person he united manners the most engaging . Not destitute of elegance and grace , there was , also , about him an unaffected and manly frankness ivhich at once won the heart . AVarm , generous and quick in his sensibilities , a tale of distress or of wrong , could at any time command his purse to relieve , or his right hand to avenge . One or two more points added to his characterand it would have been a perfect one . But he
, lacked that steady , constant , stern self-controul , the absence of which frequently turns even the good traits of a nature such as his into vices . He possessed , in short , passions as fervid as his sensibilities were lively , and by some he would have been called a roue . And yet Harry L was not that monster , the cold-blooded , flattering destroyer of innocence . No one had a more exalted reverence , in the abstract , for female purity and virtue , or could sooner have been wrought upon to become the
avenger of a deliberate seduction . But he was not proof against temptation ; and when once the unholy passion was kindled , his pursuit was eager , headlong , impetuous , until gratification brought with it reflection , and reflection , remorse—deep , pungent and bitter . Harry L , more than any person I ever knew , needed some constant secret monitor , whose voice should be more potential than , alas 1 that of conscience often is , unaided by religion , and drowned by the hot flow of youthful blood .
That monitor he found in , but I will not anticipate . Among the many beauties of K , at the time at which I write , was Helen S . She was , indeed , a being to intoxicate and madden a youthful imagination . A form surpassing in its voluptuous ripeness and symmetry those of all other women—a complexion of that warm , rich brunette , which is peculiar to the passionate South—a clustering profusion of curls , black as the raven ' s wing , shading a neck and
bosom of surpassing beauty—with eyes dark as midnight , large , and lustrous with the light of the feelings of the girl of sixteen—she presented a vision as alluring to the refined sensualist as one of the houris of the pagan paradise to the followers of Mahomet . She was the daughter of a widow in reduced circumstances , and unfortunately had been destitute , almost from childhood , of all other guardianship or protection than that of a vain , weak mother , and such as might be derived from that " INVISIBLE SHIELD , "
' ¦ AVhich none but Crttftsmrii ever saw , " but which , nevertheless , under Providence , has saved thousands from a course of life , than which death were preferable . Young , ardent and guileless in her feelings , a neglected—or rather I should say , an illjudged education—had given just that tone and complexion to her mind which fitted her to become an easy prey to the experienced voluptuary , while her extraordinary beauty and equivocal position in society , exposed her in a peculiar degree to the attempts of the designing . * * -A" •* VOL . I . x- v