The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1860-05-25
A Floating waiG.

= From our window, we look on
over the fields and hills and upward
J. to the blue sky which stretche,
away, like an ocean at rest. it's clouc
!, waves beating silently upon .hs
shores OF eternity. In all that wide
expanse, there is but one light cloud
OF delicate tracery and dazzling
d whiteness. 1t floats like a creation
|, OF gosssmer wing-s feecy craft
beautiful enough to bear good an.
gels through the bright world ol
space.
Slowly the cloud drifts on. |,
has. passed the window and it's snowy
stresmer gone from the view. And
100 drift away our dreams of happi.
noss from tbe -~ind.-- ot IifU.
4 So come floating back he shadowy
forms OF memory over the misty sea
Of the past. Some arc like angels
walking upon tho waters, others like
storm spectres sweeping with angry
I flight back to u heart which would
forget them.
! Away on the sloping hillside near
the little clunp of naples, stands
the school house. Tho descending
sun sends back a flood of golden
light and the windows glow like
FURNISHED flames. All is still upon
the landscape. As we have watched
that weather-beaten structure, fount.
aims have been unsealed in the in
most heart and we have though. and
wept. An extacy oi.sadness, to use
the term, bears us away, and though
a tear has fallen upon our nib, we
would not turn away from the
thoughts which, likethe bright cloud
just gone, DRIFT across the heart where
they have been so long and sacredly
kept.
/ There is vision passing before
us, but Of more sunshine than sor-
row. 1t is a bright dream OF happi-
ness-of the bri ight spring OF child
hood, with its music OF birds and
streams, its gorgeous wreath Of flow
ers its green woodlands and mead
ows, its sky whose clouds were
beautiful, and its streams which were
always bright AS they danced aud
sung in the sunlight.
!, That old scho Il.house calls up a
thousand memories so blissiuI that
we clutch them with mser's grasp.
We must dream for an hour.
We see an old school-house upon
the steep hillside. The wall upon
the house side is old and covered
with moss with tufts Of grass grow.
ing in the crevices and athistle with
its red blossom standing reaching
out. The sun has not yet reached
that side and the dew yet fingers
there, and bee who was caught
out has taken shelter under the
prickly covert. Tho house is old
and weather beaten, and its chimney
too, crumbling away. The jack,
knife has been busy upon the clap
boards where rude skll has traced
images and m Lcs. many OF the let
tiers turned the wrong way. The
old door sill is broken and deeply
worn, and from beneath, the gras,
grows rankly green, and upon either
side Of the hard path.
i There is the old rock by the tuit
Of elders, sloping from its pprpcn-
dicnlar !rcnt back to the ground, and
worn smooth by bare feet. How
warm the sun made it, and what
glorious tumbles we had from the top.
The rock is there yet, bu' many
of the bare feet have trodden throug b
the journey Of life.
There is the old thorn tree, its
scrsggy trunk and lancelike weapons,
but oh what a gorgeous wealth OF
white blossoms when the bees hum.
med their sweet melody. sOn the
knoll beneath, was the mimic car
lrisge way with it's bridge Of bark
and embankmcnts of fresh earth.--
no Architect Of ancient grandeur
was ever prouder ofhis achievements.
I Beneath was the old mill and the
deep dark fume, and the pond GOV.
cred with floating timbers. The
, mysterious old wheel was covered
> with moss and as it's dripping arms
went round, wealth Of bright gems
y flashed in the sunbeams. We watch,
I ed with awe from the hole through
i. the floor, and hurried away as the
school call was raped upon the
/. window. Below was the still water
u and the green covered stones on the
!. bottom, and the "horned dace," thai
3 lay lazily in the sun and seemed sc
wondrous large. We would give &
> world to sport again in the coo
stream with the light of childhood
- - in the heart and the alder and haze
: hanging over from the bank.snr,.
L How stilly the sun creeps into th'
ID open door OF that old school l-hous
J, and away across the warped boards
worn smooth by playful feet an
swept nicely. How warm and ric
a that same sunlight looks as it come
d in at the window upon the we
II II worn seat. and then leaps of TO th
opposite side upon the floor. Ho'
'' sweetly it laughs "a it steals owe
g., that sleeping boys face and upo
.. his golden hair. The little sleepe
lis Just at school and the mistress hs
= kindly laid him down, his arr
os hanging down towards the floor an
on his chubby feet tucked up on IL
St, bench. The sun is moving ava
oh So will move away the child dream
- of his school daysl
All is hushed and still. save a 10
10 murmur OF little voices, and the hu
= OF the fly as he wings about in q
srnhaama crawls on tho warm wi