The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-01-30

And seek the woods. The sunshine on my
path -
was to me as q friends The swelling hills,
The quiet dells retiring far between,
With gentle invitation to explore
Their windings, were a calm society
That talked with me, and sootRed me. Then
70 the chant -
OF Birds, and chime of brooks, and soft caress
OF the fresh, sylvan air, made me forget
The thought that broke m5 peace, and Ibegas
70 gather rsiaples by the foHntain's 8 brink
And lose nyselfin day dreams. While stood
In nature's loneliness, was with one
With whom early grew familiar, one
Who never had frown for me, whose voice
Never rebuked me for the hours stole
From care / loved not, but of which the world
Deems highest 10 converse with her. When
shneke6
The bleak November winds, and smote the
woods
And the brown fields were herbless. and the
shades,
That meet above the merry rivulet,
We're spoiled. I sought, IlOved them still-they
seemed
Likeold companions in adversely.
Still there was a beauty in my walks: the
brook
Bordered with sparkling frost work, was as gay
As with its fringe of summer flowers. Afar,
The village with its spires, the path of streams,
And dim receding valleys, hid before
Bvinterposing trees. lay visible
Through the bare grove. and my familiar
haunss
Seemed new to me. Nor wasI slow to come
Among them, when the Clouds. from their still
skirts,
Had shaken down on earth the fcathery snow.
And all was white The pure keen air abroad,
Albeit it breathed no scent of herb, nor heard
Love call of bird MOI merry hum of bee,
Was notthe air of death. Bright MOSES crspt
Over the spotted trunks. and the close buds,
That hay along the boughs, instinct with life,
Patient, and waiting the soft breath of Spring,
Feared not the piercing spiritof the North.
The snow bird twittered on the beechen bough,
And meath thehemlock, whose thick branches
bent
Beneath It's bright cold burden, and kept dry
A circle on the earth of withered leaves,
The partride found shelter. Through the
snow
The rabit sprang away. The light track
OF fox, and the raccoon's broad pat, were there.
d4CroosSag each other. From his hollow tree.
The squirrel was abroad, gathering the nuts
-Jtst fallen, that asked the winter cold and
sz sway
ofwinter blast, to shake them from their hold
But Winter has yet brighter scencs-he
sse5 boasts
splendors beyond what gorgeous Summer
knows;
: Or autumn with his many fruits. and woods
/. An flushed with many hues. Come when the
go rains
Have glazed the snow. and clothed the rees
with ice;
When the slant sun of February pours
Into the bowers food of light. Approach
The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps.
And the broad arehing portals of the grove
Welcome thy entering. Look the massy
= trunks
Are eased in the pure crystal; each light spray
Eodding and tiDkling in the breath of heaven,
Is studded with its trembling water drops,
Butround the parent stem the long low boughs
Bend, in glittering ring, and arbors hide
The CLASSY floor. Oh you might deem that
s,g5 spot -
The spacious cavern of some virgin mine,
Deep in the womb of earth-wherc the gent
And diamonds put forth radiant roads and
bud
, With amethyst and topaz-and the place
Lit up most royalty, with the pure beam
That dwells in them. Or haply the vast hal
offairy place that outlasts the night.
And fades not in the glory of the sun;
Where crystal columns send forth slender shafts
And crossing arches, and fantastic aisles
Wind from the sight in brightness, and are los
Among theerowded pillars. Raise thine eye
Thou seest no cavern roof, no palace vault;
Z There the blue sky and the white drifting clou'
Look in. Again the wiIdered fancy dreams
OF spouting fountains, frozen as they rose,
And fixed, with all their branching jets in air
And ali their sluices sealed. All, all is light
Light without shade But all shall pass ava,
With the next sun. From numberless vas
trunks
Loosened, the crashing ice shall make soun'
Like the far roar of rivers, and the eve
Shall close Ger the brown woods as it wa
wont.
2 And it is pleasant when the noisy streams
Are Just set free, and milder suns melt on
The hashy snow, save only the firm drift
In the deep glen or the close shades of pines
'Tis pleasant to behold the wreathes of smoke
Rolled up among the naples of the hill,
Where the shrill sound of youthful voices wax
The shriller echo, as the eleaf pure lymph,
That from the wondered trees, in twinklin
drops
fails, mid the golden brightness Of the niori
l. Rnthefed In With trimming pals, and Of
5Al--1- 1s->--ss>SI<a - a..
Welded by sturos .atnos, s--e--- - IKE
Makes the woods ring. Along the quiet al
Come and float camiy of the soft light cloud
. such q you see in the summer, and the wind
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