Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-03-29
LITERARY MISCELLANY.
For the Nationsi Era.
REcoILEcTI0Hs0 OF NY GRANDFATHER'sHo HOME


lac Weekly Routine.
Calm scenes Of pstrArohal life How long power
Your unworn pastoral images retain
Ger the true heart. which in chdhood's hour
Drank their pure freshness deep"
There's homely beauty in rustic life; and
who does not recall with pleasure weeks spent
in thrifty farm house. All the little minu
tiae Of the routine of its daily life come up to
remembrance, with fond longings for the green
fields, fresh air, and buoyant health, Of the old
haunt Does person wish to give tone to his
blood. and yigor to his muscles let him domcs
ticate himself with thorough abandon in the
family of New England farmer Watering
places present only diluted potons OF city life |;
and even fashionable mountain air Is antago-
nised by genteelly dyspeptic hours.
How ludicrous it is to see people, feignng to
fy from care and dissipation, but establish
themselves in an outer ring Of the whirlpool of
fashion
Gas lights have been waving for months in
town houses the parks and lawns begin to
look parched and dusty the trees rattle their
dry leaves; the hot brick walls stife the mar
row streets the little patches of grass, in the
courts, cease to give their sparkling dewdrop
welcome to the morning itinerant; in short, it
is midsummer in town. Sirius reigns-the
crusty cur has east glitter over everything
has infused his Juror into every animate and
inanimate object. Heat dust and thirst sue
coed to winters tonic joviality. The human
hydrophobia is over--the dog-star reigns, and
CANNES have it now. Never spark Of excite
ment, save when, on some sweltering day, M I'M
avodable festival fills the dusty streets with
country uncles and aunts and cousins innumer-
able, who come up to see the town and fash
IONS and 60 back wondering, naturally enough,
that town people are no better dressed and no
better hammered So the ennuied sojourners
decamp en- naasse, for the country.
And what is the country to them? All,
there's the joke. Peter Broker, the man on
change, the millionaire, whose bowed form,
wrinkled brow, nervous, determined, abstract
ed air, might mark him six months Of the year
on the pave, has reached his goal if for as
many weeks he may discuss undisturbed by
himself, future spsculations and prime Ha-
vsnas IN the piazza Of some crowded, cara
vansary-likc hotel while Miss Seraphina, his
beautiful daughter, checks the unwieldinets Of
his purse-and the roses in her cheeks, by late
hours, by breathing the air Of crowded dancing
rooms, by anxious hirtations, by all the mani
fold demands upon nature, contingent upon
crowded watering places!
The merchant goes back little recruited,
by few weeks inertness, but not renovated ,
Miss Ssraphina returns, the least shade paler,
slightly more spiriiueiie, and quite fades away
during the spasms of the next winters mad
ness! Peter Broker, and his daughter Sora-
pima, 90 to sucA country, just because the
greater part of the so-called ton do the same
thing. Six weeks at haying would have left
Peter Broker surplus strength at the end Of
his winters campaign and the same length Of
apprenticeship in dairy would have saved the
roses in Miss Seraphina's checks The young
sfar IN haa o.xka Int oh tboo
white milk is whittier even than her lily hands,
and fresher far than her thin blood
second class Of country-seekers comprises
the keepers-up Of appearances-those who are
Gliding down and those who are lettering up
the ladder Of fashionable appreciation. These
90 the country. Whittier away? Why, en- suite
Of the ton. Of course, thereby adding care and
anxious effort to the cumbersome and exhaust
ing etiquette Of watering place life.
Spurious Peter Broker sits in the piazza but
smokes second-rate cigars; while, alas, his 81
lent specuIations are of too private nature
for public avowali Miss Sophia, a second
Seraphins, with a few more airs, and a slight
sinister expression, holds nightly conclaves,
with her diplomatic mamma in second rate
apartments. upon the expcdiency Of divers mil
linery repairs, and, after tiresome furnishings
and furbelowingr, half dies with envy, to find
herself eclipsed, for the evening, by Miss Sera-
pima the first! Miss Sophia would smooth
her featnres, expedite her matrimonial schemes,
and keep Peter the second from clipping.
were che to practice her gymnastics in n
les public and more economical way for the
appointed time Of countryizing
But by far the greater part Of city outgoerp,
and their name is legion Though Miss Sophia
periodically styles them nobodiss, scatter them
selves through the little. country hamlets,
whittier they 90 because, forsooth, Peter Bro
ker the first and Peter the second went 10
Ssratoga) b repay with an JUNCTION, the shop
ping excursions OF some fortieth removed coun-
try cousin. Wo to the lucklets housewife,
whose lsudsble and economical curiosity has
entailed upon her such q visitation. The cid
ers Arc 70 be sure generally endurable for the
thrifty gsaces, having been by chance plough
boy, and his stylish lady farmers daughter
once away from what other people say with
old associations up como old instincts and, till
they have climbed up the ladder 10 Peter the
second, their summeripgs in the country have
. relish 10 them
But the juveniles--they carry of the palm
Of Snobismi Lisping damsels sport their
extra afisctations with IMMUNITY, ogle at the
honest country lads frighten every quadrupcd
in their path ty their screams and got at de-
hhooc Al INC laws ~ uecofum IN the UiihEn
church while miniature dandies turn the
heads Of half the lads in the parish, by their
exquisite fits, downy mustacbes, and incom-
parable accent Fresh air and early hours
benefit thea, nevertheless The damsols 20
bask % town, with roses in their cheeks the
lads with strength in their muscles 10 be
vastsd IN future summerings a Ia Peter Bro
her.
80 much Tor ccuntryizing in general Here
sod there y an honorable exception. rich
Inan, above fashion, leaves his oven of city
20 hnd health and strength 10 nature. His
sons harden their hands, and bis daughters
brown their compIexons in athletic exercise
wh,le they better their hearts by living natu-
rally with Mature
And herc and there man Of letters domes-
ticatss himself 10 quiet family, in some out
of-theworld village, while lookers-on wonder
what oompanionship he can find there. The