The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1850-06-15
Miscellaneous.
From the I.hdys Book.
GOSSIP ABOUT CHILDREN
In Familiar Epistle TO the
Editor.
~ LEwIs aAYLoRp cLARK.

Nh Dear GOdeig-l love Children. / used
90 think, when ! wns u bachelor, (ii N good
many years ago now, that there wHH some
Thing rathu pTesuminR ~ tho manner ~
Which dOnling fathers aud mothers would
ldng their "wco things around Them, aud,
lor the especial edihcallOn Of ua single lel-
hNa, cause them 10 miH,Hpoak half uttered
pords, aud go through with divers llulo les
suns ia manners aud elOculiOn, but both
parents and children were made 30 uppur .
emily happy 10y it, that never could think,
az certain ofmy irreyefoul companions were
wont 10 lhinh,and 60 sny, that it was "a bore" "
No, never thought or said that; buLi did
think, remember, ns have snd, ihni there
was a lllIlo bad tasto, and not little pre-
sumption la such "A course.
don't think no now.
When n ihtlior-and how much more a.
molher-sees for the first time tho CLEAN OF
affection illumiulng, with what the Germans
call hn "intorior light" The eyes aud features
Of his inthut child, when that Innocent soul,
fresh from henyon, looks for thc first time
INTO yours, and you feel Tint yours u nn an
aNrng look TO that newborn intellgg4cc-
hlen, ! sny, will you experience sensation
which h not "ofthe earthly" but belongs to
the correspondence" of a higher aud holier
spilurr.
| wish To gossip little with you concorn-
now, friend Cooley, quite full grown; yet you
were once a boyi aud | nm well assured That
sou viii feel interested In few Incidents
which nm going To relute IN Illustration of
my thcmc-incidents which hope you will
Judge 10 be- not unlfuilful Of monitory los
Sons 20 "childrcn Of larger growth" Than
mere girls and loys
Don't you think that we parents, some
tines, IN moments Of annoyance, through
L.. II.
forbid ihul which was hut innocent and rcr.
ronnblc, aud perfectly natural TO bc asked
fur r9----An,i do-',ot- the b--, oi-rurruts ne
qucnily multiply prohibitions until obedience
to item becomes impossible?
Excuse me; but all your readers have been
rhidroni many of them arc happy mothers;
muny motc That nrc not triH bo ia God'Sgood
ume;nnd cannot but believe ihHt many WHO
shnll pcruse these sentences will fluid sonih-
hing in them which they will remcmbor
Hereafter. .N
"'rhc sorrows mud tonrs Of youth" mys
Washington Irving, 'nre m bitter M those
ornRe;" and lie is right. They nra sooner
washed away. II h trnai bat oh how keen "a
mrWeseiu sensibility, how acute tho passing
mental agony!
My twin brother willis-muy his nshcs
Icposc in pence III his early, his uniimely
grave land myself when we were very lit
tie boys in the rouutry saw, ono bright June
duy, far up ia tho blue sky,a paper kite sway
ing TO and fro, rising and sinking, diving and
rurvcting. and finishing huck W. sunlight ia a
manner that was wonderful TO behold. We
left our little tin vessels IN the meadow whcTo
we were picking strawberries, and ran to a
neighboring field to get beneath II; and keep
,ng our eyes continually upon IL, gazing
scndfhstly toward heaven" we presently
found ourselves 10y the side of the architect
orthRt magnificent creation, and saw the line
which held IL renciing into the skies. nnd
little white paper messengers gliding along
upon IT, ms if TO hoiif communion with the
rrurcfil artiiieiti ,irtl eth air at the ,t,-
per end.
am describing this 10 you as boy, and
wish you TO think of Il as boy.
Well, many days n1erward, nnd nlicr va
rlous unsuccessful attempts, which not nalit.
to discounted us--for we thought we had
obtained tho "priuciple" ofihe kitc-wc suo-
-cccdcd- in making onn-which- thought
would fly. The air was too still, however,
for several dnys; aud never did hecnmcd
navigator wait more impa,iently for a breeze
to speed his vessel on her voyage thnn did
we for wind that should send our paper mes
scnger, bcdizcned with stars Off aud yell
low paper, dancing Up 10 the sky
Al last IL pleasei the 'gontlc and voluhlo
EFIriI or The mir 10 rily0F Us. Tuitd sUuItI
wind sprung up, and so denly did we man
age our mRchinC, th1f Il Was presently reduc-
ed to n mere miniature kite IN the blue ether
nbove az, Such triumph Fulton, when
he essnyed his first cXperiments,felt no more
cNunnt than did we when that great event
was achieved! We kept IL up until "'twiNt
'hr glontning md tho mirk," when VIZ drew
II down and deposited II iG the bnrn-hcsi.
taliug long trlere to place II, out of several To-
caliiies That seemed safe aud eligible, but &.
ualy deciding to stand il cndwise in barrel
in an unfrequenied corner Of the barn.
anu coming now TO n specimen The
sorrows and tears ofyuHlh," ofwhich Geof
frey Crnyon speaks. We dreamed of TINT
kite in the night; and, far up in the heaven
of our sleeping vision, NO saw il flashing in
,o sun and cleaning opaquely in the twi-
light mir. In the morning, we repaired he
times 10 the burn; approached The bnrret with
cagerness, as ifit were possible for the kite
10 have taken The wings Of the evening and
flown away; and, on looking down into the
receptacle, saw our cherished, our beioUed
kite hrokon into twenty pieces!
IL was our man Thomas who did il, climb
ing up on the hay NOV.
We both Of us "haied with q perfect hn-
Wed," for five years aiierwarh, the cruel
neighbor who laughed at us for our deep six
months sorrow nj that great loss--a loss in
comparison with which The loss of a fortune
II il.A fe+iet &c ts4aIalsaadS nsignihs-
canee. Other kites, indeed, we constructed;
hut that was the Kite ''you fedd OF III "This
PRESENT.
Think, therefore, o, yo parents diloays
think of the acuteness of child's sense of
childish grief
once saw an elder brother, the son OF
metropolitan neighbor,n romPing, registering
hladp in he fY,craRf - rnl pfi tho