The home journal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1857-1857, 1857-01-22
Written for tho Home tourni.
"A STRAY LEAF FROM THE VOL UME
OF MEMORY.
ny MRS. A. C. GRAVES.

khe, merry Christmas and the the New
Years, with all their delights and all
:heir joyous festivities. They como not
|egain--no, not till twelvemonth has
I,tepped between, with new pleasures, new
|cnjoyments and new duties.
But shall they be forgotten? Never!
Al that is joyous, all that is delightful,
1--we love to remember, while all that is
gloomy and painful, we strive 10 forget.
Even thus in looking back 10 our ear.
lier years we lose sight Of our childish
sorrows and trials, or if mirror.d at all
lin the retrospective glass Of memory, they
loom up but dimly before our mental Wis.
lion, as islands in an ocean. fog, scarcely
Idiscemible through the mists hat sur.
lround them.
EStrange that fond Memory when sie brings
1.-THE past, removes its bitterness and pain,
| And but restores its brighes, hapTest spots;
Its sunniest skles--its coolest ,shadest grots.
We scarce remember childhood hath day
OF storm and darkness; such are passed away.
And when we greet those ot,returning
They fling us back the sunshine and the
flowers,
And friends, recalled, that in the grave lie hid,
Leave all their faults beneath the cofin's i'd
"A merry Christmas and ahappy New
Tyear!" Such was my greeting from time
limmemorial, even beyond my earliest rec.
lollecton. Brothers and Sisters shouted
Fit atme, as we met on Christmas morning,
Father and Mother smilingly Uttered it,
fas we exchanged our pleasant SITUATIONS
and the grey.hared old Grandparents, al
whose groaning board we ate our Christ
mas supper, pressed it on my cheek with
following kiss, while Aunts, Un.Ies, an(
lCousins, echoed and re.echoed il, till tn
ldear old walls rang again.
Memory will go-pda'ack this datS1nn
night Of the first month of the prh,s,aT
year, to the precious past-l cannohelp
III. Neither can you, dear reader, when
cares and anxieties are upon you, anyou
iS4 ..he dear delights of earlier yars,
ges w but surely slipping from your los
snedF grasp. Nor will you need to Wit
Idll you are old; til the silver threads re
reePing one by one among the brown
AVkn locks that shade your still unwrn
ed brow before you begin the RETROSPECT
Memories Of childhood and youth! OH
tw leasant, how ndescribably precious'
The first unfolding bud of Spring, the
Simmer sky undimmed by cen passing
cloud, the first ripe, luscious fruits of ear
u Autumn-pleasures all yet dim, taste.
less and underlined, compared with those
sweet memories Of dawning, budding,
growing life.
Christmas ga,hcrnss--New Years fes.
tivals-what pleasanter to be remember.
ed than they? Family meetings, blisstul
reunions of hearts long severed, recipro.
Gated kindness Of trusting (riends-let
such recolIections bridge departed years
tonight, and let all that brought me gloom
and sorrow in the past, be Illuminated by
the memory of such joyous hours.
will HE me back to the crumbling,
old, brown house on the hill, almost hid.
den among the clustering cherry, plum,
apple. peach and pear trees 'hat press SO
closely and so lovingly around it. Twill
wander from roon to room in the antigua.
ted mansion, mount the broad, old.(ash'
ioned staircase. and turning key in a
door to the right, enter and fill my pock'
ct with nuts OF various kinds, and return,
as in the oldsn time, to the vaults be-
meath for m1 dish Of apples and the mug
of clear And sparkling cider.
will look, too, at the brook, in Sum-
mer, singiAss so cheerly between the tall
ranks Of ieuint and PEPPERMINT on Ell.
thszf .Nr,<,Ila MI ,Ilants and shrubs crowd
M ntain Hou!'s edge, to lave the
10 Nm. !, and drink theil
!, I'D on hand, ter
- Die =, such as
ssAit, n Tro,ting !, at Christmas
rs A,h., I'D, that not {
M rant &enco 10 ne same sweet
sh. 4 (licited. llicited, sang al
Skncse Ihi' prs as with blep
49, in " Md tiny, tinklint
- ~. nv 10 shut my eye.