The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1855-05-04
OUR NEIGHBOR.
From the New York Evening Mirror.l

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detail, and You could look upon the picture
only to exeam that man is noble. He lives
right next door, so near that only few steps
divide US; and though not very "neghborly"
in the social sense OF the term, We visit often
enough through the medium of the visual
organs to make us, MS the President starters
say, "Sure of our man."
Come, sit with us right here by this Ii tie
window, and note him in his daily walks
Listen to his happy-heartedness, bursting out
now in some soft, sweet whistle, now in some
gushing bust Of song, as with busy hands
he works away in the little garden below,
and you will say such sounds can only spring
| from heart content and sense of duty done.
Earnest and industrious, Day by day, rs
regularly as the sun rises, from this same lit
| tie window do we there behold our neighbor.
BY his side, when the air is bland and the
walking dry, with his futtering curls, half
imprisoned beneath his straw hat, trudges his
little three-year old boy--a sunny.eved, red
Tipped little fellow, with voice clear rs bell I,
and rs sweet as the breath of clover fields ut
sunset, 1t always seems to me the fathers
whistle is clearer, and his song more merry,
when the child is there fitting about hm-so
like human hae--and with n sympathetic
throb our heart bounds when we sre them
come forth together. Our neighbor loves
children; not in the spirit which prompts US
to pet the child in order to win favor with
the parent, but with the fond affection of the
great heart, which leads him to take their
little hands in his, and point the way to linn
who has said "Suffcr little children to come
unto me, and forbid them not"
No pleasure. seeker, amid the "pomps and
vantirs of this wicked world,"i is our neigh
Dor; but ut his own hearthstone, where plays
the flame of holy love and falls the light of
domestic happiness there is the scene of all
his joys, the beacon blaze which nightly
| guides him to his best earlh-a -atar--home-
Still, dear rs is that altar to his wearied steps,
tear Of sorrow quickly take him thence. No
matter how wildly whirls the wind or pOurs
the rain, if fellow creature needs watcher
by his bed side, look forth! and with his
brave breast turned against the storm, and
earnest face uplilted, earnestly Mastering
lhither, will you SIC our neighbor. Has
Death stolen in 1t the open duOr of some
owIy home, and smtten victim from whom
poverty withholds the common coffin, thiiher-
ward will you soon see the hollow house
journeyng, and at its side throbs the kind
heart of our neighbor.
Is the voice of sympathy needed, the word
OF consolation, or the ready act of charity?
Self is forgotten; and the voice, the word, the
deed-aIl are rendered by our neighbor. No
voice is more hearty in SITUATIONS, no hand
more earnest in its clasp, no eye clearer in its
gaze than his own. He is an advocate of
social distinction, approves of it MS right and
just but he never carries ii into Gods house,
in the presence of Him who is not IA respec-
Ter of persons" and his pew door is open for
rich or poor who need II seat therein, and our
neighbor feels neither elevated nor debased
by the contact. Education and moral rharac.
ter is the standard of distinction with him;
and, so that he have these, mn empty pock
or full purse make no difference in the
scale. For sooner would he lift honest John
Woodchoppers chid from the dirt, and kiss
the tears from its little face, than oflicousy
assist the pompous and depraveG Mr.. llaut
Ton from his carriage, though he might win
a goodly Office thereby. Our neighbor is not
what the world calls rich, but every honest
heart that knows him feels he has better
wealth, which is building for him mansion
in the skies.
Dearly we love to look out upon our
neighbour and his home. We know, were
there more such, the word would be better.
We love to see him come forth in the morn
ing, leading his little son by the hand. Wo
love to see him return IN the evening, to be
welcomed by his ove-Iipped wife; and when
the door closes after him, and the lamp light
falls, soitened and subdued through the
crimson curtain, we love to gaze out upon it,
picluring to ourselves the scene OF happiness
that lies beyond. We feel happier and Tier
for thus having near us so true man; so de.
vout Christian; so StaHnch an American;
and, when we drop our own curtains, and
turn to kneel at our own home altar, invol
UNFAIRLY our lips murmur, "God bless our
neighbor"
April 9th, 1855.
sSs- Capt. Norton, of the ship Northern
Liuht, which arrived at Fairhavrn, Ct, on