Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-06-25
ORIGINAL PAPERS,
For the Spirit of the Age.
An Apostrophe to my Mother.

you left the shores of time, have rolled
Their trackless round, cutting down in their
course the old, the young, the humble and
the great, and leaving their wasting foot
prints deeply engraven on every visible OBJ
Ject; yet thy influence, too pure to be
suiled by times corrosive touch, is still
lmparting its healing balm o--tbis cad
heurt. How often do l. as Springs gentle
zePbyrs awake the sleeping flower and re-
animate the feathcred' choristers, revert to
the morning of youth when |, blest with
your admontions and counsels, tasted not
the bitter draught which care and sorrow
.unsparingly pour in the cup of ripper days.
Hail 4! delightful hours of retrospection,
when surrounding objects arc all forgotten,
and | fancy myself little child again
kneeling at your side and lisping my morn
ing prisons. Again listen to the sweet
notes you used to sing to sooth some tran
STORY grief Again your hand gently leads
me along the rivers edge, gathers for me
the pebbly crystals aud culls the odorifous
wild flowers reeEing with early dew
Then, as twilight throws her diamond
decked mantle over r0posing nature, look
still farther down the long, dark vista of
the past, and see your fair prospects blight
ed, the strong arm on which you leaned
withdrawn, the soft, generous heart in
which you so confidently trusted steeled to
your entrcatics, and you left to brave the
perils of a hostile world. l then behold
with horror that heinous serpent, the rum
seller, wringing from your husband the
wages of his daily toll and recognize in
him the cause Of your grief.
A rumscller disgraccful appellation to
the being who bears the image of his Ma
ker. Sad curse to the human family.
How long, oh rulers of America, will
you WELD your weapons to protect your
deadliest foe 7 How long will you suffer
the oul.destroying fumes Of alcohol to
charge the atmosphere of tie brave and the
free How long, oh ministers of the
gospel, will you countcnance in the holy
sanctuary of the Deity, an enemy too base
to enter the remotest suburbs of a civilized
land? See yonder majestic oak, as the
violent storm approaches, bends not it's
stately head before the adverse winds
Again they attack it with accumulated
force. The trunk is shvered. The strong
roots uptorn and tits felled to rise no more
The yielding willow is tossed to and fro by
the same blast; its pendant branches are
now extended upward now surchargeC
with ice aud snow they kiss their mother
earth. The storm subsidies and the willow
droops its plant boughs more GRACEFUL,
than before. So gentle woman now bend
ing under the calling yoke now trembling
before the dark and impending clouds q
indigrities which an incbriated husban
heaps upon her, surmounts every obstacl
that king alcohol and his fondsh subject
can oppose, and shines refulgent in tn
unsuled lustre Of mcckness, forbearanc
and piety. BY her influence the inebriat
is raised from the slough of ntemperanc
to the noble, upright man. Through he
instrumentaity he is led to embrace th
religion of Christ, and becomes an orni
ment to the church. And will not the sol
thus won, be bright star in the coronC
that will encirclc her brow in the realm
Of endless glory? Is not such deed MOI
praiscworthy than any that was ever AZ
complisbcd 10y the Caesars?
Oh thrice happy days did I, dear tn,
ther, spend while blcst with thy sainte
presence. Every physical need was b
your assidious hand supplied and the
knew no sorrow for which you had not
balm. Having made some progress
school new and delightful field of thong
began to open, and bright prospects to glea
up in expectancy. But, alas, how da
aud foreboding the cloud that then oyt
shadowed my heretofore serene horizon.
Are you, gentle reader, blest with
kind, aiTcctionatc and pious mother? Y
are then the recipient of the purest lc
that ever gowed in human breast, and ;
ignorant of the agonizing grief which rer
the heart when the golden chain which {
love entwincs around it is broken. I
luxuriant vine as it asccnas the tall hero
the forest, entwines now and then a t
drill around the shrubs that grow benea
Fell the tree, and the vine, deprived of
support of It's trunk, cannot support it,
by the yielding twigs to which its tend
arc clasped.
So, dear mothcr, when the covct
monster, death, snatched thccaway, he
prived me Of a prop that no intcrmedi
relative could supply. | had affecti
ato brothers and sisters, but these did
bear the burden which rested on you.
kind father too, but the numerous du
~
sphere. Thus left at the early age of
/ soon began to place too high an estin
on the trausitory pleasures of earth.
idea Of improving my mind aud prepar
for future usefulness was abandoned.
me nothing appeared more desirable t
TO be the most devoted devotec of fash
and to be viewed through tue medium
the dccetful glitter Of gold. Alas
the human mind, the consummatc mecl
ism Of the Deity should be cngrossed
subjects so unworthy Of its nature.
that the soul which must run parallel
eternity, should set its affections on Il
that perish with the using. As the Fl
in the lower strata are not destroyet
the massive rocks which are heapod a
them, so the pious impressions mao
the mind in early youth will in the
day. of accounts stand forth as so
memorials against the soul that a
then. How often, dear mother, did
voice, though mute, admouish me to
not the fair flowers that bloom on the