Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-10-26
Everyday Glimpses.
81 MIGHT HAVE BEEN.''

|
| ''@f" $50 -- So " At4
| couple were walking slowly up Broadway
last evening, engaged in grave and earnest con-
versation. One of them was in the prime ofman-
hood, with free, firm STEP full, round tones, land,
as any one could discover at glance, an unbro-
ken spirit --a
The other was somewhat older in years, and a
great deal older in heart-any one could tell that
too. All, an old heart is wearier weight than
the burden Pilgrims bore, in the immortal dream
of the "Tinker" %
Just as we passed, we caught the words, 81
might have been" The jar of wheels drown
ed the rest; but it was enough for song or SER
mon-that, 81 might have been.' The plaintive
utterance haunted us; we heard it in the midst of
merry voices and blasts of music; we heard it
through the signing wind and the rafting rain it
was syllabled in the silent night, and we wri-
ting it this morning. 80 EsI@*E EEsat
The sschoolmen have invented six lenses in
grammar; but really there are only three; the
sparkling Present, the hopeful Future, and the
melancholy Plueperfect.
II shall be- and II might have been!' The
former the music of youth, sweet as the sound of
bells, fresh as .s.# ar.s ri. sr -,,.. -......rs-
'The breezy call of incense breathing morn,' safe.
the latter the plant of age the drge of hope, the
inscription for tomb. The one trembles upon
thin, pale lips, parched with "lfes ftful fever;"
the other swels from strong young hearts, to lips
rounded and dewy, with the sweetness of hope and
the fulness of strength. The one is timed by
heart that futters, intermits, futters and wears
out while that of the other beats right on, in the
bold stern march of life u4u = { .
81 shall be,' and 81 might have been!" What
toll and trouble, time and tears, are recorded in
those little words-the very stenography of life
How like bugle-call is that 81 shall be-" from.a
young soul, strong in prophecy!a 81 shall be-
gl eat, honored, affiuent, good.' s1aaso 5g2.oa
81 shall be- whispers the glad girl to herself,
as with one foot upon the threshold of woman
hood, she catches the breath from the summer
fields of .life-"I shall beloved by and byv'-|
That is her aspiration; for to be loved is to be
happy. a IL. 7@s5-l 'ss#e3a s5aa sar aae ~
81 shall be- says the struggling boy, Il shall
be the possessor of little home of my own, and
a little wife, some day, and the home shall be
s'ours,'' and the wife shall mine, and then-and
then--' who can fill out those 'sthens!' Who
but the painter that has dipped his pen in sunset
who but the poet whose lips have been touched
with coal fresh from the altar ofinspiration!@
'ssI shall be--victorious YETI murmurs the man
in the middle watch, who had been battling with
foes till night fell and is praying, like the Greek,
for dawn again. that SHE might see to fght.''.-ai
81 shall be, p family breathes the lahguishing
upon her couch of pain--"I shall be better to-
and she lives on because she hopes on,
and she grows strong with the sshall be'' she has
uttered 0 ,- T.s #@rsa 5'"t E.it <z1 ;7a @rsgA
And the strong man armed, who has q" fought
the good fight and has "kept the faith,;' when
they that sustained his extended hands through the
battle, are departing, and Joshua to bid the de-
clining sun "stand STILL he looks beyond the
rugged hills of the world, and sees a window
opened in heaven, and wounded hand put forth
in welcome, lays aside the arrnor he has worn so
long and we'll, and going down into the dark river,
he utters, with hope glorifed to the faith, 81
shall be over the Jordan tomorrow
Before the memory has tomb in it-before it
becomes the cemetery, the ''Greenwood' of the
soul-s'I shall be'' is beautiful as an old ballad
When graves are digged therein, and willows are
planted, and hopes are buried, and no light breaks
out of the cloud then 81 shall be- is as grand as
an old Pean. When --... ..s. ....-...,-..r
The battle is done, the harp unsrung, -
z-- Its music trembling, dying, % -3 .t-st
then 81 shall be- is as sublime as an old prophe5
Cyl! ga =s4s. = .7...#. Us ef1asssa @a1a -s95
IL But there is another tense in this Grammar o
Life, it were well to remember, the sparkling mo-
ment that dances out from the ripening hours, like
golden grain, beneath the fails of time, as we.
write, and even as we write, is gathered in the
great garner of the Past. q
There is an injunction it were well to remem-
ber: .ae.. i .3..-tf5arEr.l rsa3 ..-'a u~ a4aH
ssTrust Future howe'er pleasant; t.E .-.-.
Let the dead Past bury its dead s..... .-.-s. 4
- Act in the living Present
E +ts Heart within, and God o'er head'' ~ ~ sJ'
.s xsssst 81 s.- .a r..... ~ ..ss Eft