The Bride of Fort Edward

The Bride of Fort Edward

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Title: The Bride of Fort Edward
Author: Delia Bacon
Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7235] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 30, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE BRIDE OF FORT EDWARD.
FOUNDED ON AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLUTION
BY DELIA BACON

PREFACE.
I am extremely anxious to guard against any misconception of the design of this little work. I therefore take the liberty of apprising the reader beforehand, that it is not a Play. It was not intended for the stage, and properly is not capable of representation. I have chosen the form of the DIALOGUE as best suited to my purpose in presenting anew the passions and events of a day long buried in the past, but it is the dialogue in scenes arranged simply with reference to the impressions of the Reader, and wholly unadapted to the requirements of the actual stage. The plan here chosen, involves throughout the repose, the thought, and sentiment of Actual life, instead of the hurried action, the crowded plot, the theatrical elevation which the Stage necessarily demands of the pure Drama. I have only to ask that I may not be condemned for failing to fulfil the conditions of a species of writing which I have not attempted.
The story involved in these Dialogues is essentially connected with a well-known crisis in our National History; nay, it is itself a portion of the historic record, and as such, even with many of its most trifling minutiae, is imbedded in our earliest recollections; but it is rather in its relation to the abstract truth it embodies,--as exhibiting a law in the relation of the human mind to its Invisible protector--the apparent sacrifice of the individual in the grand movements for the race,--it is in this light, rather than as an historical exhibition, that I venture to claim for it, as here presented, the indulgent attention of my readers.
THE AUTHOR. _New-York, July 7th_, 1839.

THE
BRIDE OF FORT EDWARD,
A DRAMATIC STORY.
SCENE. _Fort Edward and its vicinity, on the Hudson, near Lake George_.
PERSONS INTRODUCED.
British and American officers and soldiers.
Indians employed in the British service.
ELLISTON--A religious missionary residing in the adjacent woods.
GEORGE GREY--A young American.
LADY ACKLAND--Wife of an English Officer.
MARGARET--Her maid.
MRS. GREY--The widow of a Clergyman residing near Fort Edward.
HELEN, and ANNIE,--Her daughters.
JANETTE--A Canadian servant.
_Children, &c_.
_Time included--from the afternoon of one day to the close of the following_.

PART
I. THE CRISIS AND ITS VICTIM
II. LOVE
III. FATE
IV. FULFILMENT
V. FULFILMENT
VI. RECONCILIATION

THE BRIDE OF FORT EDWARD.
* * * * *
PART FIRST.
* * * * *
INDUCTION.
DIALOGUE I.
SCENE. _The road-side on the slope of a wooded hill near Fort Edward. The speakers, two young soldiers,--Students in arms_.
_1st Student_. These were the evenings last year, when the bell From the old college tower, would find us still Under the shady elms, with sauntering step And book in hand, or on the dark grass stretched, Or lounging on the fence, with skyward gaze Amid the sunset warble. Ah! that world,-- That world we lived in then--where is it now? Like earth to the departed dead, methinks.
_2nd Stud_. Yet oftenest, of that homeward path I think, Amid the deepening twilight slowly trod, And I can hear the click of that old gate, As once again, amid the chirping yard, I see the summer rooms, open and dark, And on the shady step the sister stands, Her merry welcome, in a mock reproach, Of Love's long childhood breathing. Oh this year, This year of blood hath made me old, and yet, Spite of my manhood now, with all my heart, I could lie down upon this grass and weep For those old blessed times, the times of peace again.
_1st Stud_. There will be weeping, Frank, from older eyes, Or e'er again that blessed time