Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1855-04-03

TIME CHANGES.

Time Changes! All! yes, how wildly we mark
its changes, in all nature-in all things!
The flowers come and go, when time calls them.
The leaves in all their living verdure, are chan
red to coorless lifeless remains of faded beauty,
and are mementocs that ,re must become changed
must become inanmatc, and be carried away
by the blast Of death to decay, as the winds carry
the withered leaves CT autumn to their graves.
There is no alternative-we must sooner or later
take our departure to our eternal homes. An!
yes, Time depicts himself in all animate and IN
animate things and creatures.
Now, We behold city in the great west where
we remember we once could stand alone in soli-
tude and gaze away across the wide brown prai-
ries without discovering a single object. Our
minds wander back to the days when the Red
Mans -whoop-the Pickering fire in his wig
wan, and the bowls and gatherings of wild an
imas, were all that inhabited and Invested the
wilds of the west of their lonely solitude. We see
the red men, in Imagination, passing before the
onward march of the ''pale faces until they are
lost in the darkness Of the frown of the noun
tains, far towards the setting sun. Their wig
wan fires die away, and the howl and gatherings
of the wolf and night bird cease-becausc silen-
ced by the echoes of the laborer's efforts to pro-
mote the spirit of progress. How changed-how
different is every thing now. Church spires tower
toward the sky, where the camp fires of the say
ages once blazed and farms dot the old hun
ting grounds of the vast tribes of Indians that
roamed over them unmolcstcd by civilization.
The iron horse ploughs through the high hills
and over the vast prairies, and large towns and
cities may be seen now, on many spot that was
once dear to the Indian hunters. All! Time, so
mighty in thy fight what canst thou not accom-
plish in few short years?
To-day we behold a sweet blooming babe whose
tender matchlcss moulded symmetry, sparkling eyes
and dimpled cheeks tell us it knows no care, no
labor, no sorrow, no grief, save that which a
rises from the rcproof of kindly parent which
brings but momentary tear that passes away in
smiles like dew in the sunshine. Time fees on
years pass by--wc again meet the child; it has
grown to maturty-is Il man ;-he thinks and acts
for himself, has purpose in view-a fixed sta
ton he wishes to arrive at he struggles with
poverty, sickness and every other obstacle that
obstructs his road, with unshrinking energy.
After wading through trials and dangers he at
poSi'ioAi'
now? Is he more contented than before? No !!
he sets another mark. still higher. He has spent
two-thirds of his life in gaining the position he
now occupies, and thinks heis so we'll experienced
in the turmoils of life he can arrive at the last
mark without much difficulty, and in much less
time than he did the first. He commemorate
struggles again and again--hc meets with more
opposition than before, for greater is his aim.
At last he arrives at his desired haven not till he
is bowed down and gray haired, but he has won
I'm enviable postion-one he deserves but how
dong is he permitted to occupy it !? A few short
years, or months and the voiccless tomb contains
his superanuated body; eternity his spirit and
the world nought but the namc-the fame he
struggled to win, which time soon effaces from
her list to be replaced by another.
All! cruel time! why, oh why, could'st thou
not wait for him to enjoy the reward of his la
bors on earth? Oh! earth, what have we to con-
tend for? Why should We weary our poor NOR
tai bodies in seeking that which cannot benefit us
in another world?
Illinois. Feb. 1855.