American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-09-17
From the Saturday Emporium ]
CHILDREN.

From the Saturday Emporium.
CHILDREN.
Who does not love children Their iirracent
and hghted-hea5ted gaitv burst upon US ike a
CLEAN Of sunshine amid the wild and troubled
ocean OF tie worlds turmoil. Free, Grtioss nm
Suspecting, full Of hope as tic very heavens of
light, they cross oar Paths like beings Of anoth-
er sphere than this sordid and selfish wprld.--
Everywhere they greet us in our bliHG and way
ward wanderings, as it were, unblir.stcd relics
OF Eden, transmitted from ace to age. to re-
mind us Of eur sinloss and mGllcn state. Hap
Ply without guile, confident without Care--alone
healthtG! IN world Of disease, IN 4 world of
sin the sole thing iunoccnt--who does not love
children!
How joyous in tho first husl: oHd dawn Of
youthful! EOpG--bGOrC the prison shades OF Gus
,om and reality have closed upot ,t--how iov-
ols and aNultng is the heart OF childhood,--
How it tronbcs and hut!crs wit' untold emo
u0us, Ike the sweet, unfolding 3'ower, 1t puts
forth liz young leaves to the breath OF ibis rude
world, Gad drinks the warm sunbcams Of alice
ton, llLtID dreaming Of the so9a that slumber
there. fine, tender, holy thing is the heart
Of childhood. Hope and Joy. and faith and
.ovc, are it, sole and uu!orbiddcn guests; faith
il the good and baautiful--end love, pure
oounG!ass love, for all that is, and lives, and
revert with fond and almost reYercnt delight to
the days of his childhood, when the earth wore
the srg;Ie OF Eden, and the cold maXms OF the
world had not supplanted these pure instincts
which it is the curse Of human society TO stAc
and eTtingush. lfany such there be, we need
not ask if he is Il tender father or faithful
FRIEND, for whose has ceased 10 remember his
c2:v Years with tenderness, has already lost the
prime source and only bond Of affection.
Thore are many in WHOM the sight of chill
dren Cwakens no emotion Of tenderness and de-
light. These are the cold ones of the world, 70
whom the earth, with all its living associations,
is mass of barren facts; whc have never felt,
because they cannot feel, the poetry of exist
ence--that spirit, the gift indeed, and emana-
tion nf the mind Of man, but without which ma
tute ant the universe of thinge would be an in
animate and lifcless show. For ourselves, We
acknow ledge, we cannot lock upon group OF
children, such as we now lCOk down upon,
sporting in the glad sunlight, their bright locks
tossing the free wind Of heaven, without feel
ing the very springs OF our bong stirred within
Us We 90 back through many long per-
spectyg ''of sunshine ana Of shade, > with ul-
atterable feelings, to our own happy and glori-
Gus boVkood. Again that day is present when
We too wandered forth on the green hillside,
or along the lisping brook, p.0cElug the flow
, ers--the soft bright flowers with their shining
leaves, that pecpod forth like stars from be-
meath OUT very lcai, and listened to the birds
that first charmed us with wild melodies, such
as spirits might warblo amid the bowers Of pa
ra4ise. Again we chase the yellow butterfly,
or ply the hoop, or launch the tiny skiiE lrde
workmanship OF our own uns&Hul hands, yet
deare. far TO us than Il hundred ''wlngcu ma
vicsn-and our heart bounds with II rs 1t
bounds and chances over the dancing waters -
How, with an agony Of apprehension, we watch
I as the breeze ireshens, ard one and another
a-.rkl wavelet washes It's too iiall 2alls--lil Il
swift cruel rFplc sweeps away cur toy and
homes together.
Happy, thrice Happy days OF childhood
How near and dear TO us then appeared the
gorld and outward naturc-not behald as i'll
after years with the cold gaze Of indifference,
but 4 part Of our very being and consciousness
How: full Of W onder and mystery was every
thing that we saw or ielt-thc sky, the earth,
1urselyes-uot since resolved, but tanned, and
hidden and obscured, by the mist OF familiarity.
Hoy. as we looked within and saw reflected
he beauty and the innocence which smiled a
round, or upward 10 the pure heavens, unsulli-
ed with a cloud. or onward to the coming
years, overspread with skies OF stIsler purity
and more exceeding loveness-how did our
Young heart swell and vibrate with Joy that
could not be expressed, but gushed forth from
cur tingling frame in tide Of wild and pas
sioaate delight!
Such, in character, are the feelings and emo
lions which we once possessed. How much
have We lost by the years which have added
knowledge, but not innocence to the heart
o, who would not exchange manhood's poor
and dear bought "experience," for the light,
and freshness, the unconscious purity OF child
mood;
"fieaven lies about us in our infancy, so
says the poet Wordsworth, in that sub!imest
ode ever written; and who is there that does
not accede to the truth of the sentiment! 1t IS
n proportion as we recede from this "the toun-
lain light ofall our day. that we become cor,
rupt and hardened and selfish Infancy and
childhood are indeed the flower and fragrance
Of human life Hence old persons take such
delight in reverting to the scenes ana memories
Of their early years. Take from life its child
hood and you strip 1t Of lis poetry. Tie tEea-
slrcs of the memory-early feelings, hopes,
loves, and gres-richer to US in after years
than gold or all the wealth Of the universe
are gone, and nothing is left but dull success
sion Of uniform and hucless facts.
Mr. 4 sria., Do 1fnn~