The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1856-05-03
CITE Californian.
For The CALEDoHIAN.
LfA\ ES FROM OAKLAND.
Bp .Du!ia NaW!bornc.
birthday Thong hts.

brush off the dust of travel. and look over
ITS account with Time He is an importu
nate creditor; forever reminding us of his
CLAIMS. and forever seiziny our choices. earth
y treasures to balance 'I.. but there arc
treasures which he cannot reach treasures
OF hope at our journeys end. when Times
account is closed-treasures of Memory laid
away in the past, when that account had bat
just begun.
Were there nothing else to tell me that |
had passed LIES meridian, should know it
by this token: tha; every added year seems
to give new charm to nv earliest memories.
There were the birthdays of long a.o-Oh,
how far apart they seemed and so eagerly
looked forward to. and so full of ENJOYMENT
when they came and now, as | look back.
the c'oudshadows that lay between them
have all fitted away, and only the blessed
sunshise lies over everything. There were
the schoclirlends ard playmates of those
days, toO-how different from the friends AMI
companions Of later wears. They were not
cfoScn because we saw something in them 10
love and admire, or because their tastes and
feelings were like ours thev were given to
us by our Father,as TOYS were given Us bv or
earthly parents. that that rlaytime of exist
encc before til, brain or hands had bccnn to
work, might not bc idly spent And who
may tell what influences were moulding our
n'ird>. and what thoughts and tastes had
b!rth in those careless davs. thar have gone
"a: towards making our characters what they
are
There is a sad pleasure in tracing The r:.'s
of these companions down the course Of
years. Some Of them tainted hv the way
SIDE, and were early lost to view Some
turned aside into the bv ways of life, and we
cannot note their progress without fear and
trembling A few are pressing on, earnestly
and hopefully. in the narrow wav
i; is curious as we remember the charac-
teri>'ics Of those child d-friends. to see how
plainly. in many instances, ''thc child is IA
ther of the man" There wee the little
As, always frank and truthful then,
solid. earnest men and women now. whose
friendship is treasure. Then there was
Katie b. pleasant and playful TODAY.
porting and sour tomorrow. whom | usually
took the precauton to propiiate with dolls
hat or apron, or some other freewlI offering
from my stores. when wanted la good play :
and the woman Kate is Just as variable in
temper. and Just As little TO he depended on
for disntcre>ted friendship, as the child
One of the C children once said to me.
as we were playing near his home, "Onr
house is only two stories high, but it looks as
If it were six or seven" | looked at it then,
and looked at il afterwards, and, though I
could not appreciate the difference between
> it and other houses, had no, the least doubt,
in my simplicity, that it wos wonderfully
high; and ever since, the world has been ex-
pected to believe that my friend C lives
in very high house; and not few grown
children have thought. as | did then, tha,
y such remarkable pretensions must be well
founded.
' To me there is something beautiful in the
tondness with which the very aged talk Of
=, their youth. Pollok saws of the old man,
n "-Fach thing remembered all hnt cut
- Was pleasant, and constant source of jov
" And perhaps the same poet has written moth
Ing more bold, and vet nothing which an
~ peals so directly to our human instincts, a
,s the scene where he describes the 'ancien
k bard of earth" after ages of perfect bliss. a
u mid The glory and maenifcence of Heaven
, rausinS in his story of Mans fall and re
ID demption, to paint for his angel auditors
picture Of the scenery around his birth
s. place-thc ash trees, and the elm that shade
. his cottage home
h. How wisely and tenderlv the Father weicl
with his finger the burdens which his chi
c dren carry, and proportions them to thei
=, strength. They set out to perform the eli
,e. cult of life with all the spring and buoyanc
that makes labor pastime. What care the
n if the way IS steep and the burden heavy ?
u, o What care they. though they are every ho,
on leaving the brightness and the flowers ia
Of ther and farther behind? thew are too il
RS tent on making progress to look back an
d" note The change. What if there are difficu
no ties to be surmounted? they know that ii
i'm same obstacles can never lie in ,he: path
nd gain, for no man was ever called to retrat
-" +" his steps; and so they press on hopefully
=, the summit, cross the meridian, and for
ith long time scarcely perceive the downwa1
yet tendency of their path But wheE the e
DIS ersies begin to flag, and the soul pauses
.h gather strength, they begin to feel that Ii
lid is a sphere, ard that they are going rour
be towards the point they left so long ago. tt
me auroral rays seem now rather before than
70. hind them and every year they grow clear
ht. and more delightful. They cease to toll az
It's. struggle along the road, and allow tbemsev
p.s to slide quietly along, and the light of the
- early morning iliumines the night of year
~. Till memory links the two ends Of their beir
es- together, and the journey Of Mortality
ended