Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-02-28

] it, except in the brightest of mornings, when
the suii was shining and the birds were sing
ing, and the COWS went lowing, Indian file,
| to the pasture; and after awhile, the old
house t,imblcd down and crumbled away
| Such stories thrive along old roads, even
as the May weed, aud the thistles, that mo-
body ever cuts down, and on whose pink tops
the yellow birds rock up and down, like little
boats at anchor, till the Fall winds whistle
away the golden birds and the white down.
Even the brooks that used to tinkle across
the track and under the little bridges, have
somehow run dry, or gone another way, and
you will see an old trough, dusty and
blcachcd, by the roadside, the strips Of bark
that brought the water from the hills, broken
and scattered, and the Garth worn hard and
smooth with the trf,mpling of many feet,
| Very long ago tin cup used to hang there,
tethered with string, for the sake OF thirsty
| travellers We like to stand by the deserted
watering place, where only broken thread
of ice-cold water trickles its way down 10 the
roadside, and fancy how eagerly; in the long
summer days, the horses painting through
the heavy sand up the rocky hills, thrust
their noses deep into the oveiflowing trough
of crystal coolness, while ever and anon the
cautious drivers pulled up their heads with
jerk, till the long-drawn breath ofinarticu
late content.
We like to think how the dripping cup
was borne to bearded lips, that were eloquent
aud true of old, and lips, perchance ofbeauty,
that are dusty; how bees, from the SHIN
mering fields, came bugling thither, and
cropt, with dainty feet along the troughs
damp edge; how birds sat there and drank,
aud rendered their little thanks, and rode
away upon billowy air; how now and then a
squirrel, red and sleek, with snowy throat,
flashed chattering along the devious rails
thereto, and flashed away again; or a gray
rabbit with little noiseless leaps and listening
ears, took hurried draughts and squatted
along the alders till the painting dog had lap
ped the nectar of the wayside spring.
There, where the emaple wears its crown,
lazy gate is swinging in the wind, sole
relic of fence that struggled round home,
of which the weedy, tangled hollow alone
gives proof 1t may have been some Rachel
dwelt therein, who met second Jacob at
| the spring, and Fancy listens for the words
she said-tlIe maid matron, and the matron
dead
And then strolling thoughtfully along,
where the track grows dim, and loses itself
| in the grass, we come to the beeches, where
to, we Ike to think, glad children once made
pilgrimage That chaied and sturdy limb
Just there, has borne weight more precious
than its leaves Upon that stout, old arm,
swayed to and fro, like canares in IL ring,
swung clusters of laughing girls and boys;
and in long rows, and hand in hand made
bows and ''courtesies" to the passing travel
er, while tattered hats of straw and wool
, tossed here and there, proclaimed the coming
stage. . :,
Ali those were days. when, over the old
| road ran the yellow, mud-stained coach, Ia
boring up its hills, and pitching along its
log ways, and lurchng in its deep-worn
tracks, rafting down its sleeps, and splash
ing through its brooks. And there, even
there in that roofiess dwelling, whose clap
boards rattle in the wind, behold ''the
stage coach" Of the elder time. Day after
t day, from the neighboring hill, the driver $
horn, blown sharp aud shrill, proclaimed his
that low-browed stoop, through whose bro
ken floor weeds are growing! What a,rat-
/, ting of bolts and axles, and iinglng of chain'
there were, as he drew up, and with what
professional air he gathered the ribbons il
one hand, and the Alexandrine lash slippeC
o noiselessly through his fingers, and exploded
like wtch's laugh between tho two ears ol
U the of-leadcr .l.,......l.
. This was the route ofthem, perhaps, wht
founded cities in the brave, young West; it
!. future sincws and its coming men; of newly
welded pairs bound for the latter Canaan
s of murderers Fastening from the hue ant
cry. Across its beaten track the deer lfa,s
1t dashed, the Indian noiseess stole, the fores
;, shadows fallen at high noon. Westward
" went, to some great lake, they said, whcr
fields all ready for the plow grew green :
the waters; edge where Springs came carl
W and golden Autumns fingered late t.h
Like very old memory, in the heart,
III it, and all forget it but the year. Spin
i. remembers it, and borders it win green an
III sprinkles it with the gold coin Of the dand,
lion, and the lit..,e stars of the May-weet
- Summer F.snds the bees thither to bug
ID. amor. the thistle-blows, and the grour
II sparrows to build in its margins, and Il
faded ribbon of yellow sand grows bright
I'D its glowing sun. The winds watt the breat
the morning over its desolate way, al
- the rains beat out the old footprints it h
borne. Autumn sighs as follows it throul
the ravine and among the hemlocks, al
- the drifts that Winter heaps are unbrok
N and stainless. uH
- No bolder feet, old road, ever left tn
4. hastened on thy rugged way, have o,
e9 painted for ''the better and." If the
nd were ever those whose laugh was music, tn
er. thy woods have heard it, the daughters
Hel the West are passing fair, but those you
int brows of old, whose white flashed VIII
oig again from thy once singing streams, a
lhd li eyes anced back to eyes-no brighter, a
ola no, purer were ever bent above a elias
ssy 'ss wave!-[B. f. Taylor, in hicago Journ
'aa'' l.t ---->e -.-----
.me oes The Charleston Is C.) Mercury mott
a"l. the result of the Virginia election under
S her heading Distressing Foreign News, "