Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-02-10
A NEW ENGLAND HOME.

SERVES from memory, one OF these rural
homes
81 recall home like this long since left
behind in the journey Of life and its memo
rs floats back over me with a shower Of emo
tons and thoughts, toward whose precious
fall my heart opens itself groodily like a thirs-
ty flower It is a home among the mountains
humble and homely-but priceless in its
wealth of associations The waterfall sings
again in my cars, as it used to sing through
the dreamy, mysterious nights. The rose at
the gate, the patch of tansy under the win
dow, the ncighboring orchard the old elm,
the grand machinery Of storms and showers,
the little smithy under the hill that famed
with strange light through the dull winter
evenings, the wood-pilc at the door, the ghost
ly white birches on the hill, and the dim blue
haze on the retiring mountains-all these
come back to me with an appeal which touch
cs my heart and moistcns my eyes ! sit
again in the doorway at summer nightiall
eating my bread and milk, looking off upon
the darkening landscape, and listening to the
shouts Of boys upon the hillside, calling or
driving homeward the reluctant herds. l
watch again the devious way Of the dusty
night-hawk along the twilight sky, and listen
to his measured note, and the breezy boom
that accompanies his headlong plunge toward
the earth.
Even the old barn, crazy in every timber
and gaping at every joint, has charms for me-
try again the breathless leap from the great
beams into the hay. ! sit again on the
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-
fhnv oil .r,l To uni
nate, while, drop by drop, the dssolying
snow upon the roof drills holes through the
wasting drifts beneath the caves, down into
the oozipg olTal of the yard The first little
lambs of the season toddlo by the side of
their dams, and utter their feeble bleatings,
while the flock nbble at the hay rick. or
pair Of rival wethers try the strength Of their
skulls in an encounter, half in earnest and
half in play The proud old rooster crows
on his dung-hill throne, and some delighted
member of his silly family leaves her nest
and tells to her mates and to me that there
is another egg in the world. The old horse
whnnies in his stall, and calls to me for food.
look up TO the roof, and think of last years
swallows-soon to return again-and hear
the tortions of their musical morocco, as it
wraps their young, and catch glimpse of an
gular sky through the diamond-shapod OPEN
ing that gave them ingress and egress. How,
| know not and e-ss noe, lue ehat ofd barn
is a part of myself has entered into my
life, and given me growth and wealth.
But look into the house again, where the
life abides which has appropriated these
things, and finds among them its home. The
hour of evening has come, the lamps are
lighted, and a good man in middle life
L. I'll. I
the wel-worn Bible, and reads a 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 rever-
emily 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 then 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 aud again is the worship
repeated, through all the days of many golden
years. The pleasant converse of the freside,
the simple songs of home, the words of en-
enlargement as | bend over my school tasks,
the kiss as lie down to rest, the patient
bearing with the freaks of my restless nature,
the gentle counsels mingled with reproois
and approvals, the sympathy that meets and
assuages every sorrow and sweetens every
little successful these return to me amid the
responsibilities which press upon me now,
and feel if had once lived in heaven,
and, straying had lost my way
Well, the good man grew old and weary,
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 posses
sion of strangers, who have learned, or are
learning, to look back 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 it away with me, and
shown it to you; 1t was the home of my
boyhood In it found my first mental food,
a,nI kVs 4 =. Il.