Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1860-03-31
HOME.


The treasures of the deep are not precious
A. are the concealed comforts Gf man
Locked up N woman love. scent The air
or blessings when come but near the house
What delicious breath marriage sends forth
The violet beds not swcetrr, -.H'df|et'".
Home WbHt n simple ard expressive
term. How well The human heart understands
il, when for time Soiourning among strangers
even when kindly aud Hospitality enter tain
cd bv them; yea, should the change trans ate
one from adversely at home to prospective Of
hucnce abroad Though one may seek com
fort from the reflection of the contrast, still
the softening and beautiful sentiment that lists
to no sinister IDEAS, comes over the entire bOdi.
" and mental systems powerfully and lrreSiS-
tibly. Who can give the wanderer comfort ?
None but the presence Of the loved ones he
has left behind. And the assurance Of the
great distance he has placed between himself
aud them. renders their memory the more pre-
ci0us, and his new and strange condition the
more bitterly painful. CauRught then admin.
lister consolatiOnr Nothing, save when oppor.
tunity offers to seek the most silent solitude,
and, undisturbcd, address their ideal presence
in copious floods VI tears !-unavailing tears !;
vet there is more Of this secret drama enacted
than the hcartlesS world is aware OF, or would
give credit to. Weep! yes. weep give out
those burning foods-too long unbidden and
pent up-give them freedom at least, like the
lonely lamentations. In this consists thy sole
relief
This love Of, and these signs for absent
"home, is not peculiar to man; it is shared
in by all or most of the humber orders OF
animated nature. Man, though he may travel
81, ali, all %
their WORTH concludes "his own best country
ever is At hOmc :" and even the savage loves
his "ndtire Shore" but the carrier dove land
other of her trihe) puts the indonitable love
for home beyond dispute-"b iteEer 50 hum
bic, and ever so distant that home may be
, whence she has been Snatchcd and though
tempting the treatment that might lure sor.
dincSs from the nursery nest, she will avail
herself Of the first liberty That accident may
! let slip, or design fling in her way, aud dart
direct, in a bce-linc, swiftcr than steam, and
second only to electricity, day aud night, and
day again-o over hill aud dale, over land and
! wide seas-tO all she held dear in that poo;
place her bounding heart now safely pilot.
and steers her to. The unilcdged birding
that Stravs from its mothers nest, the failing
Of the flock torn away for slaughter the
hoarth-theSe- proclaim, in accents not TO be
misunderstood, that from home there is ne
happiness on earth. Home, sweet home,
indeed
! This love Of home, nevertheless, cannot, il
all eases, be the result of a moments deep re-
Election; for, if ones circumstances in life b,
Bothered by the change, there is in reality
nothing tangibly felt to excite or even pro
mote grief Then it must necessarily be I
stupid regret for having been deprived Of one,
usual force of habit. II so, why should mar
Stoop TO the mere emotions Of animal thought
! lie, with his reasoning powers, should neither
grieve nor exut at trihes. Let ME then em
ploy this reason of mine a moment Tn,
brute, excuSably selfish, even in his moments
of frrocity, in this one feeling-sorrow foI
home seems elevated, as it were, beyond him
self If he SO far approaches man, in this on
feeling, the question arises does man become
dcbasrd by the temporary resemblance AT
no. for though reason may be supcrnaturA
and almost divine, yet to be natural is not de
basement. 1t is the abuse of nature by mar
that is brutal--wOrse than brutal. But ma
turc, in her simplicity, her softncss and gen
tlencSs, is always becoming; always in he
place; and, in this instance, worthy the ut
tcntion Of the philosopher, the poet, or thu
divine. Mans regret for leaving home mus
necessarily be more intense than that Of tn,
lesser animals, inasmuch as his discriminating
powers above them is unprecedented lii
memory, his reflections, his appreciation o
the past and the present, and his keenness o
perception in drawing comParisonsan and mark
ing contrasts, contribute to the poignancy o
his loneliness, even n the midst Of crowds
This, If any thing, constitutes 'home sickness
mot felt at the first outset, nor the first day
after having pitched ones tent among stran
gers but, after little silence, it sets in, in
creases, and amounts to an indiscribablc in
tcnsity--often to bitter anguish. 1t is not 81
much the old place as locality, that he ycarn'
after, as truly is the associations-the indi
viiuals, their faces, their smiles and thciI
manerisms. Envirencd, as it were, in thu
midst Of new associations ard strange sur
roundingS, unSuitrd to his every i1ea Of RICH
and wrong, and repulSive almost to his very
nature. he wonders how the natives can enjoy
them, when certain by-gone scene looms ~
to his jaded memory, now rendered tenderly
sensitive by the saddening reflection.