Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1834-06-19
CHILDHOOD.
Oh, give me sill the memories
That haIlow every scene,
Which stirEed any bounding bosom,
When existence all was green =
CIIILDHooD.


| love children. | delight to listen to
their innocent prattle, and to take part IN
their little amusements-to feel commu-
nifty OF interest with them, in their little
enjoyments and recreations. There is
nothing on earth SO unaffected, so open, SO
frank as childhood. How tie ligh! laugh
gurgles up from their young and unsophis-
ticated hearts! They have not been out
into the world--they have not yet learned
to disguise their emotions-to dissemble-
to smile, when their hearts are ranking
with envy or hate, or 10 weep, when they
secretly rejoice. They are as an open
book, in which one may read all that they
are--all that they feel.
There are not wanting those, who have
AN utter aversion to children-who well
nigh hate them. For myself. I want little
better evidence Of bad ungensrous heart
and prone as am To think kindly Of my
species. could almost say, Let no such
man be trusted He can have snlan en-.
joymcnt in himself, and is certainly little
calculated to contribute to the happiness Of
others, who cannot look with pure pleasure,
upon the innocence, and arilcssness, and
hilarity of youth. To me, the playful
sports, the laughing countenances, the
bsaming eyes of children, unpractised, as
yet, in the busy world upon which they are
entering with such light hearts cons
plete antidose against es.ati, a. depression
Of spirits.
[ remember, that during residence of
one sumner in the city many years apo
for gentle reader, am declining into the
vale of years--was, for few Of the first
weeks, exceeding lonely. There is no sol
itade like the solitude which stranger
feels in u large and populous city. You
meet thousands in the thronging streets, all
passing on. intent upon their own amuse-
nnents and ayocations-and il is a thousand
times more cherries than to be in the still
and solemn forests Of the wilderness, or by
the solitary shore Of the great and wide
sea- You have there the ebnmnnings of
your own heart, and the almost visible pre-
sence Of the Maker of the World. But
~ the city, your thoughts ara confessed
their variety leaves you no time to reject
--and they weary youiDto the very depths
Of gloom.
One Saturday afternoon, when desp0n-
dency sat heavy at my heart, sailed out
into the streets. 1t was the holiday from
the thraldom of the scliools---and their
% .''-'- inssiaias neatly dressed. md haaasi-
their pastime, and rambling with Their par
ents. or elder brothers and sisters, about
the streets. I was soon inoculated with
their visible happiness, as ! met them IN
my lonely walk. How many bright faces
cleaned upon me You look kindly upon
q child, aud how soon do they understand
YOU! How their young eyes will beam up
on Won. and how they will turn-especial-
" little girls-and look at you, and blush,
aud smile--and pass on little, and turn,
and smile, and blush and look again.
know not how it is, but in gazing up
on children, I am actually invested as with
spell. Time and space are annihIlated
II am carried back 10 To- morning Of life,
and for the moment live over again the
early days Of the past.
Before had reached my room again,
had all the familiar places OF my chlidhood
before me. II was as If had seized the
hour glass Of Time, inverted il, and rolled
back again the sands which had marked the
weary lapse Of years. ] was again 70
1.-THE meadow-in the field-abont the hre-
side hearth. My departed fathers voice
was again in my dreaming ear--my moth
er's hand was upon my young head. Again
! saw my paper kite, in the gentle south
wind, cleaving the upper air--and gazed
upon the same ample sky which spread
over my boyhood--
And marked The passing clonds that dmmed is blue
Like my own sorrows then, NJ fseiing and ~ ie~f
II is my earnest prayer, that as ! glide
slowly down the declivity Of years, y viii
please God to preserve in me that fresh
ness Of feeling, which enables me 70 look
1 upon childhood and youth, with such purl-
lty Of enjoyment. II beguiles life " y
sombro spirit. and the weariness of th'
/ Aesh.'---and while. il teaches rs, that w
arc receding farther from the shore
youth, il reminds Us. also, that We are ap
preaching that other shore, whore we shal
4 renew an existence Of immortal youtll.-
Let all, then. cultivate and cherish-thes
emotions. Let
sThe bright thoughts 81 early days
Sill gather 10 our sDemerles now,
And noi the latter cares, whose trace
EssiAmp'a 90 deeply ON The brow
What theugh those days Ecisrn 60 moset
The sweet FeDembFanee u not yasn-
For hoayen Il waiting o. restore
The childhood Of fhs sent again!
j. The Female Spiadlsr.-Some years .