Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-11-10


is now over. Let us prepare for that Of '59
and work with the unfaltering determination
to re gain all that has been lost.
sA-We candidly confess, that we have
never been, and never expect to be an admi-
rer of cold weather. We prefer the gentle
breathing breezes of Spring, and even the
longest sultriest day of summer, to the end
less tracts of snow and piercing winds with
which the season that rules the inverted
year. always furnishes US in our Mountain
Home But it is vain to grumble or com
plain. Winter will certainly soon be here
for as we now gaze from our sanctum window
the snow is falling thick and fast, and the air
this morniug was cold and biting enough to
give US foretaste of January. However
much we may dislike winter, we are aware
that there are those wto hail his approach
with emotions of pleasure, and bid him
cheerful welcome. And certainly he is not
without his charms to the young and thought
less, and to even the grave and careworn.
We have heard not few of our friends who
have passed the meradian of life, frequently
speak of sleigh rides beneath the cold winter
moon, with some one by thsir side as events
which had more of happiness blended with
them, thau any other of their lives. But
winter has charms aside from those of sleigh
ing. The long evenings afford an opportu-
nifty for intellectual improvement, and social
intercourse which is denied to the other sea-
sons. The raging of the storm without, only
tends to render the inmates of a comfortable
mansion more sensible of the comforts that
surround them, and convince all th at social
inclinations are necessary to the well being Of
the world, and that it is therefore the duty
improve them to the comfort of mankind -
At no period of the year are we better dispo-
sed to observe and faithfully carry out the
precept of our Divine Master, Glove thy
neigh5or as tbysef By this shall all mer
know that you arc my disciples, # you love
another
The long evenings of the season as We
have already said, are we'll calculated for in
tellectual improvement Certainly this world
affords no more pleasing scene. than "domes
tic circle o na winter evening, each nlembe
engaged in the perusal of work or som,
study calculated to afford rational entertain
ment and contribute to the storehouse o
knowledge. Campbell had evidently such
scene in his minds eye" when he penne,
the following lines:
''Let winter come! let polar spirits sweep
2 The darkening world and tempest troubled deep
, Though boundless SHOWS the troubled heath de
form,
And the dim scarce wanders through tn
storm,
0 Yet shall the smile of social love repay,
n With mental light the melancholy day.
Trim the gay taper in the rustic dome,
And light the wintry paradise Of home,
Safe from the storm, the meteor and the shower
! Some pleasing page shall charm the solemn hou
: With pathos shall command, with wit beguil,
. A generous tear of anguish a smile"
= Although we dwellers on the heights {
a the Aleghenies, encounter winter in h
e sternest and most rugged form, yet man
II of the dwellers in the vallies, behold his al
: proach with more terror than we do. "
e know but little of the extremes of eth,
. wealth or poverty. While none can boast
- sufficient wealth to justify them in claimir
!. to rank among Princes and Lords" all a
" possessed Of sufficient means to keep immed
IS ate want from their doors, and Justify the
n in beholding the approach of the season
10 frost and snow without any apprehension
IS suffering from either hunger or cold. But
is otherwise in our cities and even in O
Is large towns. There the palaces of the we:
:, thy and opulent. stand in marked contra
with with the miserable novels Of the poo
. There the poor laborer who even during t
long days of summer can scarcely succeed
earning scanty subsistence for himself a
family, beholds the approach of winter wi
IN emotions of terror which no Nountaineer
III ever realized. The suferings Of the poor
y. portion of the laboring classes in the citi
1d during the winter season, are we'll calculat
We to excite the pity and sympathy of every fe
We ing mind, and cannot be fully comprehend
he by those who have never been debarred FRI
RI the ordinary comforts of life.
,e- As the mind of man is really the N
on himself. to its cultivation and improvement,
ha ! laroa porfiop Of tba ooaroo.L;n- H. ~,