The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1859-05-14
Communications.
For The Cecil Wing.
Letter from the Country.
IL THE COUNTRY, May LIST, 1859

IN THE COUNTRY, May list, 1859.
After the long months of snow, wind and
rain, particularly the latter, which has al
most led us to ask:
Has nature. in her calm, majestic march,
Faltered with age at last -
how joyous and happy one feels on this
beautiful and glorious day and with the poet
We sing:
..Ag"in the merry month of May
Has made our hills and valleys gay"
How pleasant it is to wander out in the
woods, and hear
The birds rejoice in cafy bowcrs,'
or raniblc in the fields, and see
The bees hum round the breathing flowers"
and along the brook, and listen to the music
of the CT, stall waters
What magic power this month possesses!
With its advent come warm days. moonlight
evenings, birds and flowers Everything is
Inspired with a new life.
But it was not so much my intention in
writing this letter to talk about the beauty and
life of May; to tell about the birds and flowers
how the bees hover round the sweet blossoms.
and how the lambkins skip on the green, as
1t was to give some stray thoughts which have
been passing through my mind, as sat under
this budding tree, listening to the singing
birds, and watching the clear waters of
The streamet gently murmurins
Which winds along its devious way
thought of Years gone by-those happy
times, school boy days. And as l thus in
dulged in the reveric, l almost felt like ex-
claiming, with Holmes:
Where oh Where are lfe's lilies and roses.
Nursed in the golden dawn's curly smile!
Dead as the bushes round little Moses,
On the banks Of the Nilc.'
But leaving these reflections out, will only
iudite those connected with this happy day.
was carried back to the times when we gath
cred around the school house door, awaiting
the appearing of the teacher, to lead us to
some beautiful grove, where to pass the day
in gathering flowers, jumping and swinging,
or otherwise amusing ourselves as our inclina-
tons prompted us. Who does not remember
such scenesl But all /! whers are all those
smiling countenances and glad voices, which
then made everything around them happy, and
the woods ring with their merry sounds 3
Some of the gentler and weaker have long
since fallen :: in the worlds broad field of
BATTLE" and been forgottcn some are far in
advance fighting mantully for the prize while
others, who have shrunk from the ficrccr
strifes Of life, are far in the rear. And how
striking is the similarity between the modes
in which their severally sought pleasure and
amusement on those days and the course
pursued by them in after life. Those who
delighted in the flowers and the society the
gcntler sex, and who took everything with a
goodwill, have since sought, found and en-
joyed the real pleasures of life, and who are
an honor to their parents, and ornaments to
the community. Those who took part in the
rough and coarse amGsemcnts of boys, have
since wasted their time and talents 4 a profit
gate and brutal life. Those who kept aloot
from the company, and wandered away to
some lone and unfrequented spot, to indulge
in their accustomed sad thoughts; who were
ever cast down by some imaginary trouble or
insult, have since grown to be confirmed
hypoclrondriacs who look on liA as an
"empty Dream" and are ever finding faul,
with the world and those in it, and who are a
burden to themselves, and nuisance to those
around them. And after thus seeing the
similitude between their earlier and atterlifc
how forcibly must every one be struck with
the truth Of the old maxim:
g. AS the twig is bent
So the tree inclines.'
If, then, this is true, how careful parents and
teachers should be of the carly training Of
their children. Let them be brought up amid
the sweet scented trees and flowers, and
cultivate in them taste for the beautiful in
nature, and the sublime in literature, and
think there would lie less families mourning
forprodiga sons and erring daughters. X.