The Port Gibson reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 185?-1857, 1854-05-10

s-fthink with pleasure on the past alone;
Tes = tie past alone my heart eonfne.
ALl chase the phantom u what once was mine"
-BYRos.
@oh Johnny las gone to the warsl'
On SoSa.
sIy heart ycarns for cdays Of my youth
will sing 70 tho hours which are gone -
Memory awakens Joyous scenes Of other days.
sad recollection paints them in golden hues.
Why loves tic heart to dwell with such de-
l'gt, on years long since passed away! Have
tle stern realities Of life sonred the very soul,
Aad bii Is find consolation alone in the rec
lecion Of days that were or. have we been
disappointed in hope, as in ambition ? All !
when tho soul 10 athirst for sympathy, and
hunaareth to find affection when the tender
scisas of tho heart yearn for the sunshine Of
ra7i feeling; when the cheerful face Of char
ilY IS met By those wayfaring men With cold
nrss. suspicion, and repulse; when the loved
,ac becomes cstranged 10 US BY doubt, or re-
moved from Us BY death when friends prove
h,se. aud We learn to look with mistrust upon
our brother man when the soul grows wca.
red With is bitter disappointments, and longs
for some genial spirit to share its sorrows =
,hcn it's tie heart looks back to other times,
mlGuds relief in the recollection Of youthful
Hiss anl innocence.
-Thoss old Militia Musters shall never
forget. Many a sleepless night have pass
~ far fear the stage. which was to take Us
% tie Muster.felJ, by some mischance would
na. SOP for me. Yes, a sad blow 'twould
haze been to me. to forcgo the pleasure Of
participating for once. even. in the sports
those oli muster days afforded.
Lad been saving my penries for three
long anxious months in anticipation Of hay-
ing glorious time on the approaching mus
Ter day. Old iron had been picked Up,
oil rags bad been accumulated, and sold to
increase the amount Of spending-money for
that e,entfal period. l had seventy-fve cents
in coppcrs, al told--a most tremendous sum
for a boy Of ny age and bad counted them
over At least twenty times. hdmiring their sbi-
ming faces. and dreaming Of the untold luxu-
lies they would procure. Yes, in my own
imagination was rich as Cr@sus-was not
that sufficient? ?
Tho stage was to start BY two o'clock the
next morning. and the driver was to rouse the
boys at that hour BY blowing a huge tin-horn.
Did sleep soundly that night No. not l.
I was in a ieverish excitement. Sleep could
not. but lay, from Dine o'clock at night until
two o'clock in the morning, uodding, nodding'
holding, but with one car intoDtly bent on
eaiching the first blast Of the stage-horn.
Once was aroused By the growing Of the
cock. Ny coat and boots were or in an in
slant, n had not pulled of my breecbes } and
vas hurrying to the door in anxious haste.
Where are you going, my son :" cried
ny mother. aroused from slumbef By the
noise Of my departure.
why. the horns blowed. mother" re-
Piled /, impatently.
That cannot Be" replied she ut is on
y twelve o'clock.
"The boys crazy" growlcd my father.
THE horn has not bIowed-to bed! to bed,
air.
Reader, returned to my room with
heavy heart. / can assure you but 60 must
for my fathers word was law with me-
Did | sleep? No. sleep was stranger to
ny eyslids that night; but lay and rolled.
and tossed. and listened. and tossed acain.--
The Old clock in the siiting-roOm kept up its
npnotonOus ticking, and each minute seemed