Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1852-07-15

earIv old tenants.-and these moderns ma,
have THEN more costly and arIsiocratic building,
md the pnny race reared in them. Give me the
pleasant old fire place, with its glowing FAM
and its ruddy heat a1l | ask not for the gIoc ~
stove, and STILL escape its muddy s,upor on N,
brain. \ B, give me the welcome cid fireside
and its Old associates, for Christmas party, OF
cold winters night Not ally have the de.
7cPndanis oftEese nnbe ancestors erased nearly
every trace Of their original simplicity al M
their donieils and in their apparel but even have
changed their mode of living. The lusty old
brown loaf ana the luscious dish Of bean por
ridge mrelY ever grace ihei: daoty tables. The
old puritan manners, and hcaty warm friend
ship too, has been discarded. Time was When
h.ighbors were brothers :; and the good or bad
fortune Of one interested all. Time was. when
aye was re~rected, and grey haiss we're held ia
penern'i0n Bu; now the sancy urchin takes
pride III abuaing his veteran ancestors, and ir
setting at defa-'e parental authority. In these
changes we see that the simplicity, beauty, anC
glory Of former years has faded away.
1t is a solemn lesson upon the fraity of mar
to trac e history of our race, either in its sep
aralc ndivduallties or its masses. Follow the
successive acts Of the n st renowned Of ancien
or modern times, and into how little space is
crowded their virtue ,aDd lolhes, and how quick
y has life rounded t. its closing sletp. Wha
was ha triumphul oarch of Alexander, but
resistlt3s tide of ruin which swept over tht
East, | 3arlng populous cities and powerful i"sll
tluus to oblivion: And with VIII briefnes.
did he write hs history in letters OF blood ant
foIlpw n the wake o that obhv Gus wave
What he pomp and glory Of the victories o
| Napoleon but an exemplfcuton Of the folly o
ambi ion, and the instability of cart. ly renown:
Whit stronger proofs Of the vanity nd nothing
ness ii human power than that epi aph upon
tomb tone standing mid the desol te rocks o
St, { elena !? Though fate less distinguished
and 1tubIe may write ont the history Of mos
men. sill a common frahy attaches to all. Ant
though we nny differ few years in The periot
Of Our lives, ard though the incidents of tie
same may vary somewhat-siill as distinctly and
emphatcay is mutation ard change stanpe
on all.
How torcibIy and impre$singly is this trnti
brought home 10 the nI.nd while standing oy Tx
pyramids and tombs which house the dust Il
heroes and mo12tCIls If other days The ruu
OF temples and edldces which remain of tht
cities OF ollen tine, with their crumb ing col
umns and ptiars which slowly resist decay
all teach alike the Iral,y Of that vanishing anl
tl4etlng race, once jheir occupants
! 1t Is related by u celebrated traveller that il
| Adrlansvlla magnificent forest trees are seer
growing 10 the cenIe of the courts of the i'm
perial palace II this be true Of things so re-
cent, how utterly changed and obviously buried
are thousands Of the c,i'a5 OF remote antiquity
Upon their very site forests my have grown to
mtlur'y, decayed and been renewed IN by gone
centuries. Az, efter the dwge sang for ages at
the tnno nt oiden towns--4rt may have again
put torta her energy and built once more upon
the RUNS Of aniqdliy.
Who cln dsclphh the name Or history u
tn Sc cities whose ruins lie scattered over Cen.
trd A Nerlca? No poe. has imnoftaIzed them
In son :. nor histnf4u made record OF their for
Der glory. Tneir m)0llsring .uin7, awe i app
sing and solemn, as they stand, nelthet tell their
fate nr name. Conjecture alone must fill i.
the long interim since they hOJrshed in thei
glory III sp'enior,
Many cities are spoken of by the sacred his
torian which have SO utterly per,shed that thel
existence would never have been even conjPc
tt d but for This mere TACT. and there can b,
no stronger probability, than that whole cite
have been boJt, and peopled, and again paeset
uway-and ave now as utterly forgotten as i
they hal never been, Indeel, whole tribes AM
nations Of men no doubt have sprung up AM
figured their day .pon our globe, who have no
left record OF their deeds or names. Nor conlt
we deGipher the future, are we at all sure, bu
that the oblIVious wave which now bnries tht
past vii, the course Of time as effectually bio
out the remembrance of the present p:oud king
dums and empires Of the earth.
Nay, it is almost absolutely certain that wheI
rllre centuries have marched over the dial fac,
of time, that neither tampes, toObs, nor ruigs @
our slupendous ediices and monumtn nts will re
main to ieIl of our glory or existence. And NJ
story, if ;o1 in history or Song, will ere long bC
forgotten, and the very books in which they ar
recorded aud the marble on which hey are en-
graved viii moulder and crulnble to dist, yield
ing up itevocably and irrecoverabIy 0 oblivion
the as renen.brance of us.