CHAPTER II. NANCY GOODELL. "Thy days were few and quickly told; THERE is a green and shady road leading around the northern side of Windmurmur. As you enter it, and pass along in many places through orchards and fields of corn and clover, there are gates which must be opened and shut as you go from one inclosure to another. In one of its pleasantest turnings, where the sun shines the sweetest, and the air is the most bracing and pure, stands the cottage homestead of Daniel Goodell. A low-roofed house, simple in its rustic adornments, there it stands among the apple-trees, with the birds singing about it, and the sweet-scented clover blooming up to its very threshold-an ideal of rural simplicity and peace. On its western side the apple-trees stand close by the window, and at the eastern corner stands a large butternut-tree, which shades the well, and then reaches forth its great arms protectingly toward the kitchen door, as if it would gladly shield its inmates from heat or tempest. In this spot Mr. Goodell settled in early life; and a family of ten children rose up around him, would I could say, to call him blessed. But the fair scenes around his home, and the circle at his fireside, were often visited by a fell demon, who brought with him a legion of wicked spirits from the world of darkness, who stole away his comfort, and chilled the warm current of affection in the hearts of his wife and children. This demon, who robbed him of his heart's best treasures, was Intemperance. And when, like the deceiving serpent, he first began his ruinous work, it was in a home of quiet and peace, where there was a family altar, and both parents were the professed disciples of Christ. But once admitted, he came again and again, till love was thrust out, and the father, lost to everything good, became a tyrant, cruel, murderous, and fiend-like. The peace-loving mother, to protect her own life and those of her children, was at length compelled to take legal steps to procure a separation. In this she was successful; and the light was put out in their once peaceful dwelling; the hearthstone became desolate, and the family were scattered. Nancy Goodell was the youngest daughter of this wicked man. Her disposition by nature was timid and retiring. She was one of those sensitive and self-distrusting children who need urging forward, and a careful training of the intellect, in order that the mind may become strong enough to maintain its proper control over the tender and susceptible feelings of the heart. But Mrs. Goodell had many cares, and much trouble and anxiety in her family, and little time to spend in the education of her children; and thus the character of Nancy was left to be molded according to the circumstances in which she was placed. Her father became her great terror. She feared him at all times; and when he came into his house, infuriated to the phrensy of a madman, and raved around without rea |