Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-03-26
THE MOMENT LOST.
rY THE HRv. J. V. WATSON, n. D.

40G MVIuGN ! 1UD l.,
Ely THE RRv. ]. v. WATSON, u. d.
ONE delinquency has occurred in my min
| terial life, SO sad and touching, that the n
I Bnembrance thereof is always painful and hi
Z miiating. For the sake of example, cannC
Etolhear to record it. God has forgiven me
| bu6 never have forgiven myself. Wheneve
Dusy memory, in retracng my past steps, come
20 this event, have always felt an inyoluntar,
shudder, and rush to forgetiulness for relief, o
10 the retr0spection of events more pleasing
Reader, did You ever unwittingly do a thing
That so hurt your conscience, as to leave evei
aitera wound in the heart, which, like the pooi
WOman's issue, was incurablo but by the mer.
cliul touch Of Omnipotcncel How much like
the worm that dieth not, is this! have called
my sin, which cannot forgive, a delinquency.
In moral turpitude, and in justice to myself,
know not that have a right to use q harsher
cpithet.
|. intended no harm, hut touching injury en-
sued. l had been pledged to guard against
mat injury. The time was tixed but, under a
slight temptation, concluded to choose my
own time. l failed to be sc instant in season.''
was junior preacher on Veva Circuit, South
east Indiana. 1t was fOur-weeks' circuit, and
| alternated with my venerable colleague, the
Rev. James Jones, in preaching every two
weeks in the pretty little village OF Rising Sun,
on the banks of the Ohio River. II was viii
lage of some six hundred inhabitants, and
though SO inconsiderable in size, was our me-
tropolitan appointment. Tome it was terror.
In my extreme youth and smooth-facedness,
the idea of preaching where l might have law
yers and doctors, and the village elite, whom
knew or at least | fancied, that they knew so
much more than myself, was an uncOnquerable
source Of embarrassment, which often became
absolutely sutfocating. would say to myself,
in weeping and modification, sc | can never
preach in Rising Sum-" j was aware that |
knew but little. A most profitable lesson which
had just learned, and which some of the
youthful cloth learn but too late. How stupe-
lying to genius is embarrassment There are
many who will read these lines with smile, to
think how they have struggled with it as with
the nightmare. They will remember the
pulpits and places in which they could never be
themselves. In the interior, and among the
log-cabns, where my whole itin rant career
had been spent and where all was confidence
in tho bOy-preacher by the simple-heartcd
peasantry, was always waxing eloquent, that
is magnilOquent, at least, to the satisfaction of
myself and few communicative admirers. In
deep modification, have often left the village
pulpit in the little oblong brick church that
stood west OF the village, on the slope Of the
hill, knowing that had treated the people who
had assembled to hear, with a mere bundle of
words, poorly chosen and confusedly COM
pounded, and whose ideas were, in proportion
HtD Itehl, rs three grains of wheat to as many
bushels of chaf. Tne faiiu.~s ia. pfsin1 Cnn
saddened me, and made me sigh for the ruder
interior; and | was wont to keep out of the
place, the genius of which was so unpropitious,
as long as | could. Six miles west at Woods
School-house, so called from the excellent
brother residing In its immediate vicinity, and
who kept Methodist preachers home, indeed
l had most favorite appointment. Here 1
always had great liberty, as was flatteringly
attested by the frequent reference made to the
sermon in the cass-meeting that followed. The
preacher preached and met class in those days
| have Said the little Chapel at Rising Sun
stood upon the hillside, and this shall lead me
TO mention some physical features Of the banks
of the lovely Ohio, quite peculiar On one
side, its waters generally lave the spurs Of hills,
while on the opposite side, the land is general
ly level, called, sc bottom-and." The two
sides OF the river rarely present the same
scene.
The spirit of beauty has its laws, and one is,
it ever seeks variety. Cut, as were, into pro-
montories by wild and eccentric creeks, which
drain the interior, the appearance of these hills
is wild and picturesque, and they often rise in
to the responsibility of mountains. Granite
cliffs sometimes creep out, with theirsides shag-
gy with the gray moss otages, filling the mind
with the idea of Alpine Sublimity, of mysterious
caverns, hermitage, and the like. WHAT mys-
tcrious inspiration always hangs like Tabor
Tsion around the magniiicence of mountain
scenery cannot analyze it, but feel it, and
feel that it is living entity, the soul ofpoctry.
So have / often mused on the hill and noun
tain scenery Of the Ohio. Mountains, hoGe
er, are scarce; and while the hills push them
selves out in every conceivable shape, they
are covered from the water's edge to their
submits with luXuriant growth of vegetation
OF trees, the variety is great. Here the sugar
maple grows as it grows nowhere else, whose
leaves in the autumn so beautiiy our Western
forests. Here the white-ash peers up in its
grace; the butter-nut, black walnut, and buck
eye, bestow the great fertility of the soil, and
the grapevine spreads like a network over the
tops of trees of different species, binding them
into lraternal harmony. Thus, in the society
the vegetable kingdom, even this; parasite
liveth not to ITSELF it receives from society,
but returns to it an equivalent The limbs
which it burdens, ii puppies with clusters,
which it bears for all. Nature abhoTs q loafer
as much as she does vacuum.
We became attached to the hills Of the Ohio,
its cabin-hOmes nesting on the sides, and its
little corn-iields turned up at an angle offorty-
five degrees, and yet yielding with an Egyptian
luxuriance. In this early day, when railroads
were not thought OF, man had no motive to
produce surplus, as markets were too remote.
His highest aim was to bring the year 'around,
which simply meant, that he raised enough TO
eat and drink l must raise corn enough to
do me, and pork enough said the farmer,
sand then, when the wintry blasts sweep over
my cabin, and the soft and teathery snow steals
silently down from the leaden heavens, l can
sit before my big back log, and watch my
friendly fire, and feel that the wintry blast has
no terror nor rebuke forme.' But let no one
suppose that this type ofunprogressive life was
doomed to scanty or unsavOry meals. l doubt
whether the highest culinary art Of more mod
ern phases of society has added any to the lux
uries of the living. Here was the yellow but
ter, fresh from the churn, and butter-milk far
SUI passing in richness the diluted milk Of our
city Market Here the warm Johnny-cake and
generous, smoking dodgsr, just from the skill
| let, bacon fattened on yellow corn, dried pump
kins, and densely populated poultry-yard, the
sides of whose denizens shook with fat, as they
| always had free access to the corn-crib. Ii
writing these lines, my astronomical nerve!
| become q little watery and clamorous. | have
| said | loved these hills. Perhaps il is the
mode of life have described which made mt
love them, as | am now signing for a quiet OBJ
scurity in which to die. But perhaps there il
a deeper reason why love them. lie who's
cOunsels have been the cynosnre Of my life, an
she who watched over my childhood, once S
lived, Such was the home ofmy boyhood, an
it has been the home Of my heart ever slnce.-
The tiny corn-crb, and the rude, and, whe
compared with North western farming, the Lii
iputian, tenements, have magic charms fc
me. In my fevered dreams and prosperity
helpessness, Imagination dwells upon such
| az rat a fnt-a