Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-04-25
APRIL.


Up springs the lark,
Shrill voic'd, and loud, the messenger of mans
Ere vet the shadows Az, he mounted sings
Amid the dawnng clouds, and from their haunts
Calls up the tunetu nations.
.Taompson's Spring.
There is no season that brings more pleasant
thoughts to a melancholy man than this lie
who sees in the departing year, that
ssThe glories of our mortal state
Are shadows, not substantial things
will find in the returning beauty of spring an
emblem of their renewal 1t gladdens sad
heart 10 see those things which represent so
well life's transitory joys, putting on new splen-
dour and assuming new beauty. The freshness
that is in the garniture Of the fields, and the
bright hues that flush the leafy woods III June,
give their own oolors to the musing mind-and
the renovation Of nature in the early month OF
April, brings the student from his desk, and the
melancholy man from his 6reside. 1t gives new
life TO the heart OF that man, who sees nothing
in the falling leaf Of Autumn, but how the JOY
of earth passes away & how the feverish dream
Of life closes. To such man, the decay around
him speaks Of nothing but his own; and as Sir
Thomas Brown says, sit is the heaviest stone
that melancholy can throw at man, TO tell him
he is near the end of his nature"
The month of April has given to poets many
ofther sweetest illusions. Its white clouds
and rich blue skies, and the sweet vicissitude
Of shower and sunshine, are beautiful themes
for those, who find within themselves some
thing of the romance of the poetical character.
They who can paint nature well in their wri-
tings, will at this season, say in the melodious
language Of one, that as the poet became the
worshiPper OF nature,
"Now from the town
Barred in smoke and sleep, and noisome damps,
Oft let me wander DER the dewy fields,
Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling
drops
From the bent bush, as thro' the rerdant maze
of sweet briar hedges pursue my walk"
For there is omething in the month Of April, |
that accords well with the light and shade of
poetical feeling. He that looks with curious
eye on the returning beauty of the earth and
the woods, will find them covered with the de-
licate richness Of the coming year. The Fairy
flag, with its yellow flower-buds, nodding be-
fore the tender leaves expand, springs up by
the edges Of woods and in grassy places by the
way sides-and the Golden Club lifts its broad
green disks by tide-waters and in marshy lands.
In the crevces of the bare rocks, the wild CO.
lumbine grows dropping into full arch, with
its long beautiful nectarines Of carmine red, *
the wood Anemone drCorates the solitudes OF
the forests with its blossoms and delicate green
leaves. These flowers, and many others, adorn
the earth in the month Of April, and are all in
dica,ions Of thar benevolence, which clothes
even the grass Of the field, and upholds The go
ing and coming Of the year.
lis pleasant in the month Of April to go in
10 the thick woods, and listen to the songs of
the birds, those sweet harbingers Of warmer
season that have returned with their bright hues
and cheerful melody from the climate OF the |
south. First appear the House Wren, and the
goldenwinged Wood -pecker, that ieeGs upon the |
berries Of the wild cherry and red cedar In their
season. Then comes the Ruby-crowned Wren
nipping the. first young maple blossoms, and
the lwittering Goldhnch spreads its black wings |
and displays the rich lemon yellow OF Its piu- |
maee-But the most delightful TO me is the
song of the brown Wood Thrush, as it sings
from the tall trees in woods, hoowy, aud soothes
me with lis music at the rising and setting OF
the sun. 1t is solitary little bird, and loves
low and thickly shaded spots and the branches
of alders covered with vines. 1t sings, too, in |
cloudy weather, and the saGder the day is, the |
sweeter is its song. love to hear it when the
morning first brightens in the east, and
when the evening is purpling the western cloud,
resounding through the woods like a distant
flute or the tinkling Of bell; the more tuneful
and attractive, When
'.4All day the low-hung clouds have dropt
Their garnered fuilness down,
All that soft gray mist hath wrapt
Hill, valley, grove and town."
cannot close these desultory remarks upon
the month of April, without mentioning that on
Its nineteenth day, 1924, died LoRD BYRON,
whose last actions were such as gave dignity to
human nature, but whose last writings were the
rank and noSious weeds that sprung up amid
the RUNS oil splendid mind. His farewell
lines to the poet MOORE, give us the true cha
racter of Lord ByrOn's feelings, when he left
his native land
My boat is on the shore,
And py bark is on the sea,
But ere 60, TOM MOORE,
Here's double health to thee
Here's q sigh for those love
Here's smile for those hate,
And whatever sky's above,
Here's a heart for any fate.
Though the ocean roars around NE,
II still shall bear me on;