Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1836-01-15
THE CLOSING YEAR.

the departed year. To trace back Tue Gu
nous threads of affection through its many
colnred wool and knot anew lis broken
places--to number the missing objects OF
interest, the dead and the neglected to
sum up the broken resolutions, the deferred
hopes. the dissolved phan'oms of antcipa
ton, and the many wanderings from the
| leading star Of duty-thls is indeed mel
anchoiy task, but, witlal, profit able, and
it may sometimes be. pleasing and a
soothing one. 1t is wonderful IN what
short courses the objects Of this world
move. They are like arrows fecb'y shot.
A year--a brief year, is fall of things
dwindled and finished and forgotten. No
thing keeps evenly on. What is there in
the running calendar of the year that has
departed. which has kept It's place and H.
magnitude, Here and there an asplran
tor fame still stretches after his GLIDING
shadow here and there on enthusiast still
cllngs to his golden Gream-here and there
tanG alas how rarely friend keeps his
truth, and n lover his ftrvOnr-bnt how
many more, that were as ambitious, aud en-
thn,insllc, as loving as these, when inns
year began, nrc now sluggish, and cold and
false! You may keep record of HE.
and as surely NJ it is human, it will be
augmented and diSinined history. crowded
with unaccnuntabcncss aud change.
There is nothing cons ant. The links Of
life are forever breaking. bnt we rush on
still. a fellow traveller drops from our
side into The grave-a guiding star Of hope
vnniShcs from the sky--a creature of our
affections, child or an idol. is matched
from nI-perhaps nothing with which We
began The race Is left 10 Us, and yet We do
not halt. OnwarI-s,ill onward" il
the eternal cry, and as the past rcccdcs.
The broken lies are iorgotten,and the pres
emf nnd future occupy US alone.
There are bright chapters IN the past,
however. II our lot is capricious ard bro
ken. it is also new and serious Onc friend
has grown cool, hut we have won another.
One CHARGE was less fortunate than we ex
pected, but another was better. We have
encountered one mans prejudces. but in
so doing, we have unexpectedly flattcrcd
the partlall,ics Of his ncighbor We have
I neglected recorded duty, but deed Of
charity done upon impulse has brought VI
the balance. In an cquable temper Of
mind memory, to a man of ordinary good.
; ness Of heart, Is pleasant company A
careless rhymer, whose heart is better than
bis head, says:
81 would not escape from Memory's land
For all The eye view;
For there's dedrer dust in Mcmory's Land,
| Than the ORC Of rich Peru.
] clasp the letter by Memory tw1ed,
The wanderers heart and soul TO bind.'
II was good thought suggested by on
ingenious friend OF mine, to make ones vii
annually. and remember all whom we .ovc
III It in the degree of their deservlngs.
have acted upon the hint since, and truly il
is Keeping q calender of ones hfr. ! have
little TO beqnealh lndecd--u manuscript OF
two, some half dozen pictures, and a score
, or two of much thumbcd and choice an.
, thors-bu', slight as these poor memcntU,
arc, II Is pleasant TO rate their difference
and write against them the names of oul
friends, as we should wish them left if We
knew we were presently to die. 1t woull
be satisfying thought 10 sickness, thai
ones friends would have n memorial &c
suggest MS when we were gone that they
would know We washed to be remembered
; by h"m, and RENE nbercd them among The
first. Ana 1t l. pleasant. too when alive
10 change the order of appropriation will
the evervaryng 'videnccs of aff,c'cn. |,
j Is Il relief tn vrXa'lon and mortified pride
% erase The name of one unworthy or false
9 and II il delightful. as another gets near.
, or To your heart, with the gradual and sure
! test of Intimacy, TO prefer hun in your Sc
= cret register.
, II ! should live Ia ae DID, doubt not i
, viii be a plea ant thing TO look over iheS.
little l"s'aments. II i difficult now, witt
Their klRd offices and pleasant faces eve
about one. TO realize the changes of feel
ING between the first aud the last-mor'
, difficult still 10 imagine, against any o
+ those familiar names ,hc sga fcant asle
. risk which marks the dead-yet if th'
g common chances Of human truth, and tE'
= sll more desperate chance of human life
conrlnue-i, is melancholy to think wha
n miracle it would b. if even half this list
D brief and youthful as it is, should be, TWEEN
f ty years hence, living and unchanged.
The festivities of this part OF the yeal
always seemed TO me misllmed and revolt
: ing. know not what cause the reflections
G of others take, but TO me it is simply tn,
o feeling of escape-the released breath o
=. fear after period of Suspense and danger
=" Accident. misery, death, have been abon
e us in their invisible shapes, aud while one il
: tortured with pain. aud another reduced /,
wrelchcdness. and another struck into III,
we are still living and prosperous. II l.
next 10 miracle that we are so-Wc have
, been on the edge OF chasms continually
OR feet have tottered. oar bosnms have
! been grazed by The thick shafts of disease =
had our eyes been splrll-keen, we shoulr
have been dumb with fear at our peril. !
k every tenth sunbeam were deadly arrow
: If the earth were inll Of invisible abysse
n If prisons were snwn thlckley in The AIR
3 life would hardly be more insecure. W.
n can stand upon our threshold and see it
d The vigorous are stricken down by n
II invisible hand, the active and busy suddenl
dlsapear--dealh is caugh, in the brcall
Of he night wind, in the dropping of Tn
= dew. There is NJ place or moment II
d which that horrible phantom is not glIdln!
is among us. IL is natural at each period q
l. escape to rejoice ferven,ly and from tn
i heart but know not, if others look upo
ID death with the same rrepress ible horror tina
n ] do, how can their JOY be so though,
n