Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-02-07

Pantalees, and one tall pair
Reminded me, love- of you;
And thought, as l swung on the gate
In the cold, by myself alone
How soon the sweetness of hoarhound dies,
But the bitter keeps on and on
1t was quite touching to see how solcmnly the
old soldiers listened, when this was being read
to them and when | came to the lines
"I feel as if something had got in my throat,
| Ard was choking against the strap
Ivanhoe looked up with questioning eyes, as if
he would have said, show did you know
that!"
1t is surprising how soon children-all chill
dren-begin to love poetry. That dear old la
dy-Mother Goose what would childhood be
without her! Let old Mother Goose pack up
her satchel and begene, and dreary world this
would be for babies No more " Pat-a-cake
bakers man " no more /" Here sits the Lord
Mayor; " no more "This little pig went to
MARKET" no more Jack and JILL going up
the hill after that unfortunate pail of water
no more "0ne, two, buckle my shoc;" and
" Old Mother Hubbard" who had such an un-
commonly brilliant dog and " Simple Simon,"
who was not so simple as the pienan thought
he was and Jacky Horner, whose thumb stands
out in childhood's memory like Trajans legend
ed pillar; and the royal architecture Of i" King
Boggin;" and the peep into court life derived
from the wonderful "Song of Sixpence; y
what would that dear little half-price world do
without them Sometimes, too, the melodious
precepts of that kind old lady save a host of
rigid moral lessons" Tell tale tit," and
+" Cross-patch, draw the latch, are better than
twenty household sermons. And then those
, golden legends; " Bobby Shaftoe went to sea !"
and " Little Miss Mufitt, who sat on tufit !"
and the charming moon-story of Little Bo Peep
with her shadowless sheep; and the capital
match Jack Sprat made, when he got his wife !;
and the wisdom of that great maxim of Mother
Goose
Birds of feather flock together"
What could replace these, should the price
, less volume be closed upon childhood forever!
When we think of the great world. and its
elaborate amusements-its balls and its con-
certs; its theatres and its opera-houses its
costly dinners, and toilsome grand parties its
changing pianos, and its roaring convivial songs;
its carved furniture, splendid diamonds, rouge,
and gliding tits hollow etiquette, and its sckly
sentimentalities, what poor miserable show it
makes beside little Posterity, with its tolls and
pleasures its satchel, and scraps of song, sit
ting by its slender pathway, and watching with
great eyes the dazzling pageant passing by
Little Posterity! Sitting in judgment by the
, wayside, and only waiting for a few years to
close, before it brings in its solemn verdict.
What delicate perceptions children have, live
ly spmpathies, quick-eyed penetration. How
; they shrink from hypocrisy, let it speak with
: ever so soft a voice and open their little chub
; by arms, when goodness steps into the room.-
What a sad-faced group in was that stood upon
our bank, the day little Tommy was drowned
3 There is a smooth sand beach in front of oui
house, small dock, and boat-house. The
l railroad track is laid between the bank and the
beach, so that you can look out of the car
windows and see the river, and the palisades
the sloops, the beach, and the boat-house.-
y One summer afternoon, as the train flew by the
cottage, (for the station is beyond it shor
. Walk, | observed quite concourse of people or
one side of the track-on the dock-and dowr
. by the waters edge. So when the cars stopped
" hurried back over the ground had just passed
i, and on my way met man who told me LITTLE
- boy was drowned in the water in front o
: my house. What desperate race Sparrow
" grass ran that day. with the image of each o
\ his children successfully drowned, passing thro
:. his mind with the rapidity of lightning flashes
y When got in the crowd of people, saw a poo
=, woman lying lifeless in the arms of two othe
:, women some were bathing her forehead, som
:, ~ were chafng her hands, and just then hear
some one say, "It is his mother poor thing.
:. How cruel it was in me to whisper Than
:. = God " but could help it! To rush up tn
.. ~ bank, to get the boat-house key, to throw ope
= the ontside doors, and swing out the davits, wa
- but an instant's work; and then down wen
80 II the boat from the blocks, and volunteer cre1
- : had pushed her off in moment. Then the
slowly rowed her down the river, close in shore
! for the tide was falling, and every now and the
the iron boat-hook sank under water on its Ell
rand of mercy. Meanwhile we lashed hooks t
!. other poles, and along the beach, and on til
A. dock, o number of men were busy searching fc
10 the body. AT last there was subdued shout
a it came from the river little south of the boa
20 house-and the men dropped the poles on I'll
"a dock, and on the beach, and ran down that wa,
- and we saw little white object glsten in tt
- arms of the boat-men, and then it was laid tel
- derly, face downward, on the grass that gre
,or on the parapet of the railway. Poor litt
fellow lie had been bathing on the beach, al
. had ventured out beyond his depth in the rive
,,s 1t wus too late to recall that little sprit-th
Ga slender breath had bubbled up through the W
o.t ter half an hour before. The poor peop
es- wrapped up the tiny white death in q war
;tb shawl and one stout fellow took itin his arm
ro and carried it softly along the iron road, ollo'
Ter. ed by the concoursc of people.
on When came up on the bank again, than
ask ed God, for the group of small, sad faces foul
of there-partly for their safety-partly for tn,
sympathy. And we observed that aftcrnoo
how quiet and orderly the young ones were
though the sun went down in splendid clout
and the river was flushed with crimson, and /
birds sang as they were wont to sing, and t