Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-11-14
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singing a merry song towards their home in
the billowy bosom of the deep blue sea. Now
and then there came a drift Of forest leaves
being waited away, some chasing merrily
along with the limpid wavelets, while others
lodged in the eddies to sink and rise no more.
So it is in life. While many ride on cheeri-
ly with fair wind and tide to the promised
haven, others founder and perish. We saw
another brooklet whose foundation had been
dried by the fervid kiss of the summer sun.
Its pebbly bottom was dark and dry, and the
green grass on its banks had long since with
cred and died. How many fountains of JOY
that spring up with ripping music from the
human heart have ceased to flow since the
last autumn flowers withered and the leaves
of last year fell! Many, Oh many mourn
ers have sat on the banks of the failing Ke-
dron of home, and wept bitter tears among
Hopes withered flowers. The sword of the
Frost King has severed the leaves from the
parent bough and they fall in showers of
gold and crimson on the bosom Of the earth,
but as they fall, wider and brighter grows
the fecks of sparkling sunbeams that CLINT
through the trees on old mother earth in
robes of mourning. So we shall find it in
all the walks of life if we would but look
Alright. The Good master sends blessings in
the wide wake of calamities to comfort and
to cheer. And if the silver crowned pilgrim
down in the Autumn valley of life would but
lift the eye aloft, his soul would be cheered
by widening fields of bluer skies, and the dis
tant hills would wear a brighter and more
glorious halo than was possible to be dis
cerned through the bloom and greenness of
youths budding Springtime.
AN ENGLISH WRITER once declared the
American forests unrivalled for beauty. He
was right. To wander in our forests in Au-
tumn and behold the trees clothed in their
gala colors-the leaves of every known tint
falling gently to their resting place; to walk
through rustling masses over the nut-paned
hillside; to hear the rustling of the wind
through the dry boughs overhead, giving forth
the sweetest sounds through the woodland
Kolian, and now solemn tones through the
giant reeds of natures organ-all solemn.
pure, majestic and holy-and indeed sights
and sounds that fills the soul with awe and
admiration to Him
= * y . "Who spoke creation into birth,
Archd the broad heavens, and spread the rollin!
earth;
Who form'd a pathway for the obedient sun,
And babe the seasons in their circle RIM
Who flld the air, the forest, and the flood,
And gave man all for comfort, or for good"
THE PAST YEAR has been one marvellou
in many respects. God has seen proper t.
bless it with plenty, and, at the same time
to afiict it with p~estilence. King Death il
his Yellow Robe planted his throne in a sis
ter State and Stayed, and Stayed, and Stayed
A nation mourned. All! since last year
leaves carpeted the earth, how many love
ones have been taken away! The deares
idols of ten thousand homes have been bro
ken and the shattered fragments hid fror
the sight for aye. Thus it has been fro1
year to year until the best treasure the mos
of us have lies under the hallowed sod. .
father, a mother, a brother, a sister, or a vii
have been taken from US by the Great Re-
per, and sleeps the long sleep in the gray
while the immortal germ is secure in tt
great garner above. A single year, short
it seems, affects a great deal in the social r
lations of life. We remember many that sa
last years leaves fall who will see the bu,
bloom and the leaves fall no more.
CLARK! through the dim woods dying
With a moan,
Family the winds are sighing;-
Summers gone!"
Yes, farewell Summer-farewell bounteo
} October. November has come with it's ru
ged garb and barrenness, but October we
out with pageantry and f~easting. The glt
2 sy acorn is nestled among the whirling leav'
the dark chestnut glows in it's spicy shell a
5 the nimble squirrels enjoy a luscious fe;
in the waving tops of the beach. Adie
: October, in the midst of this great banqu
e of nature. And let the nation raise it's he
: in thankfulness and bless God for His bel
r fits. \