Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-09-10
@gee: s.
Distance Lends EnOhantment."

We oil seem to be climbing a hill, whose
summit seems fringed with q sunshine whose
wool is gold-whose web is brighter than sill
yer.
Are We not all-young and old-grasping
after something that lies ahead, or that we
think is yet before us in the great pathway
Of life, that will give US real and substantial
pleasure? How eagerly we struggle on to
gain The summit Of that hill higher up in life
on which rests the boon we all so much Gov
ell Distance lends enchantment to the
view"
There is the school-boy. How he longs for
his probationary schooldays to come to an
end, and for manhood. ALL thinks he
mar-uo more Lltin-no more brain racking
mathematics But when he passes the last
ordeal Of the schooi-boy, he finds new scenes
openiug-new duties involving, and that
&" life is rcal-life is earnest"
There is the young man with the world
before him. lie looks ahead and just yonder,
almost within grasp, are the bright flowers of
pleasure aud the golden apples of bliss he so
much coveted when younger than now. Love
is king of bis heart and he is not long in fix
ing his affections on some dear one, and the
two fulfill Gods law in a holy manner by
4" loving and cherishing" each other. A
bright, bright wedding day, when all faces
are radiant with smiles except, mark ye, an
old mothers who has tried life longer, and
travelled its beaten path further than the leap
ing hearts Mt the altar,-a bright, bright day
to them for they think they see just yonder
n smooth pathway where tioo may walk hand
in hand to the summit of the hill radiant with
q sunshine Of real bliss-a sunshine whose
wool is gold-whose web is brighter than sill
verl Where golden apples grow that shall
not be as ashes in the mouth. Has the top
Of the hill ever been gained? If it has, does
the sunshine seem rs bright as from the val
ley below? Ali " It's distance lends en-.
chantment to the view" and the young man
with a wife leaning on his arm as they toll
up ifc's hill, claiming and deserving love
aud protection, realizes more and more that
"lifo is real-life is earnest -
" Away vain illusions of my youthful
days." says the matured man of the world
al will make money" This now becomes
the basis Of his long sought for pleasure. lie
fancics that when he shall have become ricf
ia this worlds goods he will be happy indeed
and he bows the shoulder to bear and labors
to gather gold, And he does gather it. All
how the heart throbs as he sees his wealth in
crease, and how bright the heavy gold anC
the ringing silver CLEANS out from the darl
recesses Of his iron chest-bright, bright ever
as the bright summit of the hill he has al
along struggled to attain. Does he drink
nectared cup Of pleasure unalloyed with bit
ter drcgs? Is the longings of the soul sat
isfed? Nay, verify More clamorous thar
before, the unsatisEed soul cries out, "giye
give p And the man of the world finds of
truth indeed that ''life is real-life is ear
nest ~
How is it with the old man that has wei
nigh travelled out lire's pilgrimage? lie ha
tried il, and from the depths Of his heart h
cries out, " vanity vanity u" lie has gair
ed the summit, and the sunshine, that locke
so bright from the vale Of youth below,
dim with gathering years-clouds obscul
its brightness and the descent to the gray
on the other side may be a dreary waste
it may be happily illumed by the brig
beams Of n star that hovers over q bett
land. How often the old man looks baC
with a dim but wistful eye adown the yout
full path, blessed here and there with u flo
CT that he, in his haste to reach the far
fields so green, failed to pluck or stopped to q
mire but he can never go back to the brig
scenes over which he FASTENED, and he boz
the head and is hurried on as the days COZ
and go. and the solemn tappings of the
mans cane rs he totters on and on seem
say at every feeble step" life IS real-h3i
earnest! -
The joys of life arc frail as the spider
thread. It's fields look green because tn
are afar OF; but faint not-look up and Sc
there is n land whose living hills are foreI
fringed with n brightness whose wool is b
ter than gold-whose web is brighter tn
s%ilycr!!