Alvira: The Heroine of Vesuvius

e's Happ

arriers of nature, so the waves of trial and misfortune break on frail humanity in crushing proximity. The second and third billows of misfortune are fast und

ed a funeral pyre for his child. Madeleine could scarcely weep; the grief of nature was calmed by the impulses of grace, and she felt in her heart a holy joy in the sublime destinies of her son. Could we, in the face of the holy teachings

tible power, by which they burst through their confining cells and set themselves free, the

at would melt the last crystal of the vital principle, she summoned her family around her to wish them that last thrilling farewell which is never erased from the tablet of memory. In the farewell of the emigrant, torn by cruel fate fro

he last terrible warning that speaks

her last, dying looks towards heaven, and whispered l

reconciled spirit; at the same moment her liberated soul had travelled the vast gulf between time and eternity,

ic monument, still extant, and not far from the famous tomb of Abelard and Eloise, would point out to

be with her!"

at their n

! how poor i

athy wi