The interesting and instructive character of this sensational narrative,which we cull from the traditions of a past generation, must coverthe shortcomings of the pen that has labored to present it in anEnglish dress.
We are aware that the propriety of drawing from the oblivion offorgotten literature such a story will be questioned. The decay ofthe chivalrous spirit of the middle ages, and the prudish, puritanicalcode of morality that has superseded the simple manners of ourforefathers, render it hazardous to cast into the hands of the presentgeneration the thrilling records of sin and repentance such as theywere seen and recorded in days gone by. Yet in the midst of aliterature professedly false, and which paints in fascinating colorsthe various phases of unrepented vice and crime, without the redeemingshadows of honor and Christian morality, our little volume must falla welcome sunbeam. The strange career of our heroine constitutes asensational biography charming and beautiful in the moral it presents.
The evils of mixed marriages, of secret societies, of intemperance,and the indulgence of self-love in ardent and enthusiastic youth, findhere the record of their fatal influence on social life, reflectedthrough the medium of historical facts. Therefore we present to theyoung a chapter of warning—a tale of the past with a deep moral forthe present.
The circumstances of our tale are extraordinary. A young girl dressesin male attire, murders her father, becomes an officer in the army,goes through the horrors of battle, and dies a SAINT.
Truly we have here matter sensational enough for the most exactingnovelist; but we disclaim all effort to play upon the passions, oradd another work of fiction to the mass of irreligious trash so powerfulin the employ of the evil one for the seduction of youth. In thevaried scenes of life there are many actions influenced by secretmotives known only to the heart that harbors them. Not all aredishonorable. It takes a great deal of guilt to make a person as blackas he is painted by his enemies. Many a brave heart has, under thegarb of an impropriety, accomplished heroic acts of self-denial.
History is teeming with instances where the love of creatures, and eventhe holier and more sublime love of the Creator, have, in moments ofenthusiasm, induced tender females to forget the weakness of theirsex and successfully fulfil the spheres of manhood. These scenes, socensurable, are extraordinary more from the rarity of their occurrencethan from the motives that inspire them, and thus our tale draws muchof its thrilling interest from the unique character of its details.
"But what a saint!" we fancy we hear whispered by the fastidious andscrupulous into whose hand our little work may fall.
Inadvertently the thought will find a similar expression from thesuperficial reader; but if we consider a little, our heroine presentsa career not more extraordinary than those that excite our surprisein the lives of the penitent saints venerated on the alters of theChurch. Sanctity is not to be judged by antecedents. The soulcrimsoned with guilt may, in the crucible of repentance, become whitelike the crystal snow before it touches the earth. This consolingthought is not a mere assertion, but a m