The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-12-24

|
experience on a farm and beside a farm
ers hearth. No one who has had such
experience, and then gone forth into the
world, away from such hearth and such
associations and such kindred, can appre-
ciate the value and interest which attach
es to the following:
recall home long since left behind
| in the journey of life; and its memory
floats back over me with a shower of emo
tlons and thoughts towards whose precious
fall my heart opens itself greedily like a
thirsty flower 1t is a home among the
mountains-humble and homely-but
priceless in its wealth and associations
The waterfall sings again in my ears, as it
used to sing through the dreamy, mysteri-
Gus nights. The rose at tue gate, the
patch of tansy under the window, the
neighboring orchard, the old elm, the
grand machinery of storms and showers,
the little smithy under the hill that fam
ed with strange light through the dull
winter evening, the wood-pile at the door,
the ghostly white brches on the hill, and
the dim blue haze upon the retiring noun
tains-all these come back to me with an
appeal which touches my heart and moist
at summer n,ghtfall, eating my bread and
milk, looking off upon the darkened land
scape, and listening to the shouts of boys
upon the hillside, calling or driving home
ward the reluctant herds. | watch again
the devious ways of the dusty night-hawk
along the twilight sky, and listen to his
measured note, and the breezy boom that
accompanies his headlongirg plunge to-
wards the earth
50 Even the old barn, crazy in every tim
Der and gaping at every joint, has charms
for me try again the breathless leap
from the great beams into the hay / sit
again on she threshold of the widely open
doors-open to the soft south wind of
spring-and watch the cattle, whose faces
look half human to me, as they sun them
selves, and peacefully ruminate, while
drop b. drop the dissolving snow upon the
roof drills holes through the wasting drifts
beneath the caves. The first little lambs
of the season toddle by the side of their
dams, and utter their feeble bleating, while
the flock nibble az the hay-rick, or a pair
OF rival weathers try the strength of their
skulls in an encounter. half in earnest and
half in play The proud old rooster crows
upon his dunghill throne, and some de
lighted member Of his silly family leaves
her nest. and tells TO her mates and me
that there i another egg in the world
The old horse whinnies in the stall. and
calls 10 me for food ! look up 70 the
roof and think of last years swallows
soon TO return aeain-and watch glimpse
Of angular sky through thc diamond shap-
cd opening that gave them ingres> and
egress How. | know not. and care not,
but that old barn is part ofmysef Ii has
entered into my life and given me growth
and wealth.
" But look into the house again, where
the life abidss which has appropriated
these things and find among them its home.
The hour of evening has come, the lamps
are lighted, and good man in middle life
though very old he seems to me-takes
down the well worn Bible and reads
chapter from its hallowed pages A sweet
woman sits at his side, with my sleepy
head upon her knee, and brothers and
sisters are grouped reverently around.
do not understand the words but / have
been told that they are the words Of God,
and | believe it The long chapter ends.
and we all kneel down, and the good man
prays. fall asleep with my head in the
chair and the next morning remember
nothing of the way in which | went to
bed After breakfast the Bible is taken
down, and the good man prays again; and
again and again is the worship repeated
through all the days Of many golden years
The pleasant converse Of the fireside, the
simple songs of home. the words Of en-
couragement as ! bend over nv school
tasks the kiss as lie down to rest, the
patient bearing with the freaks of my reck-
less nature, the gentle counsels mingled
with reproofs and approvals, the sympa-
n tl,-f hot
and sweetens every success-all these re-
turn TO me amid the responsibilities which
press upon me now, and ! feel as if ! once
lived in Heaven, and straying had lost my
way.
We'll, the good man grew old and wea-
ry, and fell asleep at last, with blessings
on his lips for me. Some of those who
called him father lie side by side with him
in the same calm sleep The others are
scattered, and dwell in new homes, and
the old house and barn and orchard have
passed into the possession OF strangers,
who have learned or are learning, to look
upon them as | do now. Lost, ruined
forever left behind that home is mine to-
day as truly as it ever was, for have | not
brought away with me, and shown it to
YOU? 1t was the home of my boyhood.-
In it ! found my first mental food, and by
it was my youns soul fashioned To me,
through weary years, and many dangers
and )rrows. it has been a perennial fount-
ain of delight and purifying influences
simply because it was my home, and was
and is part of me The rose at the gate
blooms for me now The landscape comes
when summon it, and hear voices that
call to me from lips which memory makes
immortal"