Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1857-10-31
Autumn.

us u tuo uod8Ou OF tHo yoef tuttOt ltb
impressions. And tho interest is the g'eater
whom No consider 1t smblematical OF tlp end
Of life, and az portraying, in its fsdiDf hues
and falling leaves, the decreptnde Of age.
and the failing Of those faculties which re.
mind one Of life's closing scenes. The yellow
leaf falling in the forest. the naked branches
Of shoru trees, the sighisg Of an autumn wind,
always impresses us irrssistibly With feeling
Of sadness and melancholy. So emphatical
is the language Of decay and frailty expressed,
that our mind ID instantly overwhelmed with
ideas Of the nothngness and the vanity Of
earth. We gaze, and listen, in fhuteness and
astonishment, to the sad and awfully impress
sive sloquence Of nature id her decaying
hues. BY the blight OF one severe fros.,
what humberless trees, decorated in their
ich and gay costumes. are stripped of all
their beauty, and stand lea6ess and naked
in the wild solitudes Of their forest homes.
What countless flowers blooming in the dales
aud Upon the hillside ara cat down by this
ruthless invader upon the retreats Of the
beautiful, the fair and the lovely. In like
manner, death ofttines plucks from our 6re-
sides, and our circles of beauty and affection,
and our flowers and buds of promise.
Autumn, with her sere aud so,i,bre prevail
ings. robes nature in all her gloomy and sad
der habilments. Indeed, the very zephyr is
changed from the bland and exbilirating
breeze to the chill and searching wind, that
makes one instinctively shudder, and wrap
his vesture more closely around him. The
sky wears less serene and gay attire as
autumn advances: the clouds become more
titiui, the winds more gusty, and the occa-
sional snowHakes admonishes of the spproach
Of winter. Perhaps the stern old mountain
is wrapped in her mantle Of white. and dies
like priestess robed for the bier.
1t is thrilling and sad to watch the steady
tread Of the autumnal footstep. First, the
tiny aud delicate flowers shed its frsil petals
to the gusty air, and the lyric notes OF the
early spring bird are trilled no more 10 the
groves. Next, the tender leaf lies scattered
remorselessly ever forest aud Heid, aud the
sere foliage which adorns the valleys and
hillsides speaks unmistaksbly that autumn
has come. Then, Eaked branches and leaf
less trees, with oil the sober livery which
attres the closing year. crowds on our pensive
eyes, and emphatcally speaks in all its Ian
guage OF mutation and decay. Such is
autumn-the emblem of the evening of life.
We have sometimes stood under the cold
canopy OF heaven. when the frost was spark
ling id the starlight, and gazed into the frigid
realms of ether, overwhelmed will admiration
and astonishment while beholding the twink
ling host that deck the brow OF autumn night /;
and gazing, have thought how unlike is
heaven to EARTH The stars liv twinkling in
the far ofiings Of heaven. as delicate and love.
ly as in olden time. They have shown on =
thousand sutumns, and hundred generations
of men, and neither dim nor fade in the
march of time. Earth 10 mutable: Heavsh
immutabls. We gaze npon the falling leaves
ana the dying 6VTSrs 'sss.f s-s1 that when
they perish they perish forever. They have
lived their day. and are never TO live again.
But not SO with man. Fer though autumn
cast off the calyx from the flower, and the
naked aud shorn branches lie prostratsI yet,
springiug from the dust. rises the soul i'm
mortal, aud wings to a cline which fnows no
decay and feels no decreptude.
When We see decrepid years gathering its
feeble frame around the fresidc in the chilly
season-wheu we mark the futFowed cheek
and the wrinkled brow-when wo mark the
frosty change in those raven looks, and the
dim aud fading lustre Of an expressive eye
We think OF the autumns=-of the fallen glory
and pride of the forest--the foding beauty Of
the dying year. Autumn hath its lessons OF
wisdom and though they be Of the sadder
aud sterner sort, are OF the most valuable and
lasting il their character.
The vanity Of earth, the frailiy, the decay,
the mutation and change, which is awfully
impressive at this season warns man against
confding his trust or placing his hopes in
things SO fleeing and fading. II serves to
wean the spirit from earth, and elevate its
affections TO things 10 that reaim where time
and mutation have lef, no impressions OF
decay and death, Aud as the heart is made
better by sorrow, and, things mourniul and
sad melt into tenderness the rorgh and en-
tameable disposltohs Of men so hath autulan
| its hallowed effect, by awakening these senti-
ments aud softenng the heart; and though
We are udmonished by the language OF the
seasons, and chastened by the bepd Of Nature
yet are we left to bless the tongue which
nd monshes and the hand which cbasteneth-
for God hath made both nature and the sea.