Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-01-09

0N OAN 49, SN 'NehN 1905"
Be ffty!-bave no sliding spree,
And hush sway ali wild desires!-
thought 'twere better not to be.
But two score years have glided by.
With summers heat and winters cold,
With sunny hours and clouded sky,
Till now I'm fifty-now Pm old!
Tbs sun-burnt locks are silvery now,
That used to dangle in the wind;
And eyes are dim, and feet move slow.
That left my ~playmates all behind.
Spectacles lie upon my nose,
But no white frill looks prim and cold
My grey hair curls | wear pink bows
| do not feel SO very old.
I play among the pebbles-I
Would love, on that familiar shore,
Where once l watched the swallows fly
The dancing, ripping waters Ger.
I'd like to climb the apgle tree,
Where once the spicy sweeting grew;
Make grapevine swings, and have a glee;
But | am fJly-'twouldn't do.
I'd like to 60 a nutting now,
And gather violets in the glen
And wreathc the wild how'rs round my brow,
AS we'll as e'er | did at ten.
I'd like a slide upon the pond
70 watch the old mill struggling there
In icy chains, while all beyond
Was one broad mirror, cold and glare.
I'd like to see the noisy school,
Let out a-hooning, as of old
Play Lost my glove" and Mind the rule"
My heart throbs quick-it is not cold.
] hear the cry of Kate and Jane,
OF Lottie, Lima, Helen, Sue
All, yes! (Ill own it in bctweeu.)
Come George, and Dan, and William, too.
I'm ffty-but l am not sad
| see no gloom in r%iqening years;
My hopes are bright, my spirit glad
How vain we're all my childish fears
My childish sports, | loved them them
| love to think them over still
To shut my eyes, and dream again
OF silvery stream, and woodland hill.
But life has pleasures holier still
Than childhood's play, with all its zest,
That, as we journey down the hill,
Makes each succeeding year the best.
There's stalwnrt men beside my heart,
And ''bonny lasses" laughing free,
That had not lived on this good earth,
IT. 1.ya a,J I,I,,, l,t g.,
And shall | pine for childhood joys,
For woodland walks, and violets blue,
While round me merry girls and boys
Are doing what / used to do
My days of toll, my years Of care,
Haye never chilled my spirits flow.
Or made one flower Of life less fair
Than in the spring time, long ago.
The paths I've trod were sometimes rough,
And sharp and piercing to my feet,
Yet there were daisied walks enough,
To make it all seem smooth and sweet,
Friends that ! loved hive passed from sight
Before me, to the spirit home:
Bat in the day that knows no night,
know thev'il greet me when / come,
Hopes that I've cherished, too, were vain
But have lived to feel and know,
That, were life to live DER again,
'Twere better that it should DO 80.
At every winding Of the way,
I've sought for love, and love have given
For love can cheer the darkest day,
And make the poorest home q Heaven.
Oh ye, who're passing down, like me,
Lies autumn side, be brave and strong,
Aud teach the lisper at your knee,
That fifty years is not SO long
That if they would be ever young,
And free from dolorous pain aud care,
The liie-harp must be ever strung
With love Of duty, everywhere.
AS violins in foreign lands,
i. Broken and shattered Ger and DER.
When mended, and in skiltul hands,