Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1853-05-07
TUE CLOSING SCENE.

Elcgy In Country Church.Yard:
TUE CLOSING SCENE.
BY r. BUCHANAN READ.
Within The sober realms of leahess trees,
The russet year inhaled the dreamy airi
Like some tanned reaper in hls hour Of case
When all the ficlds are lying brown& bare
The gray barns, looking from their hazy hills
Der the dim waters, widening in the wales,
Sent down the air greeting to the mills,
On tho dull thunder Of alternate fails.
All sights were mcllowcd, and all sounds sub.
ducd,
The hills seemed farther, and the streams
sang low;
As in q dream, the distant woedmun hcwed
Ills winter log with many mufilcd blow.
TIL enbattlcd forests, crcwhilc, armed in gold;
Their banners bright with every martialhue
Now stood, like some sad beaten host Of old.
Withdrawn afar in tunes rcmotest blue.
On slumbcrous wings the yulturc tried his
fight;
The dove scarce heard bis signing mates
complaint;
And like star, slow drowning in the light
Tho village church.rnne seemed to pale and
faint.
The sentinel clock upon the hin side crew
Crew thrice, and all was s,illcr than before,
Silent till some replying warbler blew
His alien horn, and then was heard M ino:c'
Where crst the jay within the elm's tall crest,
Made garrulous trouble round her unfledgd
young;
And where the oriolc hing her swaying nest,
BY every light wind like ccnser swung;
Where sang tho noisy mason Of the eaSee
The busy swallows circling ever near
Forcbodins, as the rustic mind believes,
An early harvest and plentcoas year,
Where every bird which ehatm'd the sefnal
feast,
Shook the sweet slumbcr from its wings ut
morn,
To warn tile rcapcrs of the rosy cast;
All now was songlcss, empty, and iorlorn.
Alone, from ou, tho stubble, pipcd the quail,
And croahcd the crow, thro' all the dreamy
gloon,
Alone the pheasant, drumming in the vale,
Made echo to the distant cottage loom.
There was no bud, no bloom upon the bowers;
The spiders wore their thin siirouds night
by night;
The thistle down, tho only ghost Of flowers,
Sailed slowly by-passcd noiseless oct Of
sight
Amid all this, in this mos, cheerlcss air,
And where the woodbinc she'd upon the
porch
its crimson leaves, as If tho year stood there,
Firing the floor with his inverted torch.
Amid all this, the centre Of the scene,
The whi,e.huircd matron, with n,onotonous
tread,
Piled tho swifs wheel, and, with he's joy less
msin,
Sat, like Fate, and watched the nying
thread.
She had known sorror He had walked with
her,
on suppcd, and broke with her the ashcn
crust;
And, in The dead leaves, still she heard the stir
OF BIS hiuck mantle trailing in the dust
While yet her check was bright with sumner
bloom,
Tier country sun,nlon'd, and she gave her all
And twice, war how'd to her his sable plume
Re.gavc the swords, to rest upon the wall.
Re.gnvo the swords bu. not the hand TIM.
drew,
And struck for liberty the dying blow;
Nor him who, to his sire and country true,
Fell mid the ranks Of the invading foe.
Long, bu. not loud, the droning wheel went on,
Like the low nurmurs ofa hive at noon:
Long. but not loud, the memory Of The gone
Breathcd through her lips sad und tre,nn-
lols tune.
At las. the thread was snapped her head was
Life dropped the dis,atf through his hands
serene; b
And loving ncighbOrs smOothed hcs careful
shroud,
While death and winter closed the autumn
sccnc.
u An unknown author has pcnned the
following:
1.-THE entrance Of single woman Of talent
into family, is sufficient to keep it clear o'
fools for several generations"