Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1861-09-14
A PICTURE OF HOME.
BY DR., j. G. HOLLAND.

in the journey of life, and its memory
floats back over me with shower of emo.
tions 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 price
less in its wealth of associations. The
waterfall sings in my ears, as it used to
through the dreamy, mysterious nights
The rose at the gate, the patch of tansy
under the window, the neighboring Or
chard, 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 pile at the door, the ghostly
white birches on the hill, and the dim blue
haze on the retiring mountains-all these
come back to me with an appeal that
touches my heart and moistens my eyes.
sit again in the doorway at Summer
nightfall eating my bread and milk, look
ing off up on the darkenng landscape,
and listening to the shouts Of boys upon
the hillside, calling or driving home soma
reluctant herds. watch again the de-
,ious way of the dusky night hawk along
the twilight sky, and listen to his meas
ured note, and the breezy boom thst &C.
companies his headlong plnnges toward
the earth.
Even the old barn, crazy in every tim
ber and gaping at every JOINT, has charms
for me. try again the breathless leap
from the great beams in the hay. sit
again on the threshold of the widely
open doors-opened to the soft south wind
Of Spring-and watch the cattle, whose
faces look half human to mo as they sun
themselves, and peacefully rumina.e, while
drop by drop the melting snow on the roof
drills holes through the wasting drift
beneath the caves.
The first little lambs Of the season tottle
BY tho side of their dams, and utter their
feeble bleatings, while the flock nible at
the hayrack, or pair Of rival weathers
try the strength of their skulls in an en-
counter half earnest and half in play
The proud old rooster crows upsn his
dunghll throne, and some delighted men,
Der of his silly family leaves her nest and
tells to her mates and 10 me that there is
another egg in the world
The old horse whinnies in his stable
and calls TO me for food. look up to
the roof and think of the past years swal,
lows-soon to return again-and catch
glimpse Of angular sky through the dia.
mond shaped opening gave them ingress
and egress. How, know not, and care
not, but that old barn is part Of myself
it has entered into 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 it's
homes. 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 Bible and reads
chapter from its hallowed pages. A sweet
woman sits at his side with her sleepy
infnnt upon her knees, and brothers and
sisters, grouping reverently around me. l
do not understand words, but have been
told that they are the words Of God, aud
have to believe it. The long chapter
| l. H. l. I Al.
good man prays. I fall aslep with my
head in the chair. and the next morning
remembering nothing how l went to bed.
After breakfast the Bible is taken down,
and the good man prays again; and again
is the worship repeated through all days
of golden years. The pleasant converse
of the freside, the simple songs Of home,
the words of encouragement as I lie down
to rest, the patient bearing with the freaks
Of my restless nature, the gentle counsels
mingled with reproof and approval, the
sympathy that meets and assuages every
sorrow and sweetens every little success,
all these return to me amid the response
biltios which press upon me now, and
feel as if had once lived in heaven, and
straying lost my way.
Well. the good man grew old and weary,
and fell asleep at last with blessings upon
his lips for me. Some CT those who called
him father, lie side by side in the same
calm place. The others are scattered and
dwell in new homes, and the old house
and barn, and orchard have passed into
the hands Of strangers, who have learned,
or are learning to look upon them as l do
now.
\ Lost, ruined, forever left behind, that