Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1857-03-20
Citerarp 5elertious.
From Harper's Magazine for December.l
THE OLD MANS STORY.

most done with me. My limbs, which
once did their work so well in support
ing my youthful frame, now totter under
their weight, and my vision is now so dim
that all nature is but an indistinct shad-
Owt me. And among the scattered
gray locks upon my head there remains
only here and there'a raven hair to tell
sf the youth now past and gone-sad
remeunbrancers of hours which can never
come again and I shall sink into my
crave, as others have done before me,
forqotten, unknown, save to few, whose
hearts will still sadden at the recollection
ofme. Think not, dear reader, that
those are the querulous complaints of an
,ld dotard. whose last act is an effort to
bring himself into notice, that his name
nav live after him. 1t is not so. / do
-, wnrmur. / am well content that it
should be 50. 1 have a better object
than the mere seeking of the "bubble
ranptation." 1 want to do you some
rood before | leave the world. Excuse,
then. the simple style of an old man, who
bas forgotten all his flowers Of rhetoric,
and whose first attempt at authorship is
made when he cannot even be inspired
By natures beauties, when his head is
bowed beneath the cares and sorrows of
seFenty winters, but who, notwithstand-
ng has still heart warm for those who
vet stand upon the threshold of life, in
experienced in the troubles and also in
the joys which maturer life brings with
t.
Ny life has not been an eventful one !;
the same path which / have trod others
bsye trod before me. | have climbed its
sleeps, and toiled in the burden and heat
Of its day but have, too, walked in its
pleasant valleys, and been refreshed by
It's cooling streams. Occasionally ser
pent has crossed my path-an adder
stune me. Sometimes flower has smil-
ed before me in all its beauty, and when
plucked it. I have found treacherous
thorns; but do not forget the flowers
without thorns, which gave to me moth
inr but pleasure. There was, however,
turning from this well-beaten track-a
passage in my Iife's history which re-
deems it from monotony, and which may
win you as listener for little while
This one passage which, through long
vista of fforty-nine years, quivers this aged
frame with sickening horror, will send
thrill through your young heart which
will be recompense sufficient for any
trouble on my part.
Ny life began in the State of Georgia,
where my father owned large planta-
ton. He had started in life with but lit
tie, but by those strange turns and quirks
Of fortune had amassed an immense prop
ery. It is not worth while, as it has
nothing to do with my story, to enter into
absorption of the personal appearance
character and mental qualifications ofmy
dear father. Suffice it to say that he
vas a noble, high-souled Southerner
warm hearted and generous to degree
which had Dame Fortune been less con-
slant, would have made and left him 6
beggar. 1t might with truth have beer
said of him, that he was without littlenes'
Of feeling, and it makes my heart swell
With honest pride to call him father.
Ny mother! oh, what streams of ten
derness flow in at the very name, refresh
ing and making me young once more :
What do not recall of her that is beau
tful and loving! with her soft brown
hair and smooth pure brow, traVersed
even as first remember it, by lines o
care; the deep blue eyes, too, with tht
shadow over them, showing that life haC
Otbeen without its strifes to her.
She had rejoiced in the birth of man.
children, but bud after bud had droppe'
InOlossOming from the parent tree unit
alone was left, and upon me was Law
Hhed all the tenderness of her lovinI
Aeart. There was one other member @
suF family whom / must mention-it wa
ward Of my fathers, young orphan
efl, left to him by an intimate frien'
~aen she was but an infant. She wa
4s only being who ever attempted t
''ai me IN the affection of my parent;
sDu We loved each other too fondly fo
!'%0nSy. From being pure, fairy-ik
A''le being, like, indeed, to a fair flower
"e called her Lily. The name suite
AT we'll; she was just one to smile an
'!olce IN the sunshine, but bend an
Op before the storm. She was young
ulAn myself and well remember tia
r.ue took in protecting her. She wa