Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1851-04-24
Unfading Flowers.
BY T. s. ARTHUR.

DO you love flowers 2 said he.
The boy replied, Oh, yes. We used to have
such beautiful flowers in our garden,
The man laid down his knife, and gathered a
few flowers, took them to the fence, through the
pannels of which the boy was looking and handed
them to him, saying as he did SO, Here's little
bunch for you
A flush went over the boys face, as he took the
flowers. He did not make any reply, but in his
large eyes, as he lifted them to the face of the
man, was an expression of thankfuness, to be read
as plain as words in book.
The act on the part of the man was one of spon-
taneous kindness, and scarcely thought of again,
but by the child was never forgotten.
Years went by, and through toll, privation and
suffering, both in body and mind the boy grew up
to manhood From ordeals like this, come forth
our most effective men. If kept from vicious as
sociaes the lad of feeling and mental activity be-
comes ambitious, and rises in society above the
common level. So it proved in the case of this or
phan boy. He had but few advantages of educa-
ton, but such as were afforded all improved.
I fee; and the young compositor soon became inter-
/ esled in his work. He did not set the types
mere mechanic, but went beyond the duties of his
calling, entering into the ideas to which he was
giving verbal expression, and making them his
own. At twenty-one he was young man gilmore
than ordinary intelligence, and force of character.
At twenty-five, he was the conductor of widely
circulated newspaper, and as a man, respected
and esteemed by all who knew him.
During the earnest struggle that all men must
enter into who are ambitious to rise in the world,
the thoughts do not often go back and rest, medi-
tatively upon the earlier time of life. But after
success has crowned each well directed effort and
the gaining of desired position no longer remains
a subject of doubt the mind oftens brings up from
the far off past most vivid recolections of Incidents
impressions that were painful or pleasurabe at
the time, and which are now seen to have an In
uence, more or less decided, upon our whole after
life. In this state of reflection sat one day the
man whom we have introduced. After musing
long time, deeply distracted, he took his pen and
wrote hastily-and these were the sentences he
traced upon the paper that lay before him How
ndcliby does little act of kindness, performed at
the right moment, impress itself upon the mind
We meet as we pass through the world so much of
rude selfshness, that We guard ourselves against
it. and scarcely feel its effects But spontaneous
kindness come so rarely, that we are surprised
when it appears and delighted and refreshed as
by the perfume of flowers in the dreary winter
When we were small boy, an orphan, and with
a memory of home forever lost, too vivid in our
young heart, man in whose beautiful garden we
stood looking, pulled few flowers, and handed
them through the fence, speaking kind word as
he did SO. He did not know, nor probably never
viii know, how deeply we were touched by this
act. From little boy we loved flowers, and ere
that heaviest affiiction child ever knows-oss of
parents-fell upon US. we almost lived among them.
But death separated between US and all those ten
der associations and the affections that to the hearts
of children are like dew to the tender grass we
entered the dwelling of the stranger and were
treated henceforth as if we had or ought 10 have,
no feelings, no hopes, no weaknesses. The harsh
command came daily to our ears; and not even
for work well done, or faithful service, were we
cheered by words of commendation.
'One day-we were not more than eleven years
old-something turned our thoughts back upon the
earlier and happier time when we had true home
and were loved and care dior We were once more
in the garden and among the sweet blossoms, as Of
old, and the mother on whose bosom we had slept
sat under the grape arbor, and we filled her lap
with flowers. There was a smile of love on her
face, and her lips were parting with some kind
word of affection, when to scatter into nothing
these dear images of the lonely boy, came the
sharp command of a master, and in obedience we
started forth to perform some needy service. Our
way was by the garden of which we have spoken;
and it was on this OCCASION and while the sudden
~ dlsslpated image of our mother among the How-
ers was reforming itself into our young imagina-
ton, that the incident to which we have alluded
occurred. We can never forget the grateful per-
tune OF those flowers, nor the strength and COM
fort which the kind words and manner of the giyer
impaired to our faint spirits. We took them home,
kept them fresh as long as water would preserve
their life and beauty; and when they faded. and
the leaves fell, paleand withered, upon the ground
we grieved for their loss as if a real friend had
been taken away
sIt is long, long time, since that incident occur
red. bnf the flowers which there spring un in orr