The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-10-31

flashed away again; or gray rabbit
with little noiesless leaps and listening
ears, took hurried draughts and SQUAT
ted among the Alders till the painting
dog had Tapped the nectar of the way.
side spring. ' oi + ''''
There, where the Maple wears its
crown, lazy gate is swinging in the
wind, sole relic of fence that strag-
gled reund home, of which the
weedy, tangled hollow alone gives
proof. Itmay have been, some Rachel
lived therein, who met a second Jacob
at the Spring, and Fancy listens for the
words she said-the 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, whsreto We like to think, glad
children once made pilgrimage. That
chafed and sturdy limb, just there, has
borne weight more precious than its
leaves. Upon that stout, old arm,
swayed to and fro, like Canaries in a
ring, swung clusters of laughing girls
and boys; and in long rows, and hand
in hand, made bows and courtcsies''
to the passing traveller, while tattered
hats and straw and wool tossed here
and there, proclaimed the coming
stage. All! those were days when
over the old road, ran the yellow, mud
stained coach; laboring up its hills.
and pitching along its log ways, and
lurching in its deep-worn tracks, and
rattling down its sleeps, and splashing
through its brooks. And there, even
there, in that roofless dwelling, whose
clapboards rattle in the wind, behold
the stage house" of the elder time.
Day after day, from the neighboring
hill, the drivers horn blown sharp and
shrill, proclaimed his coming; how
gallantly he brought to, before the low
browed stoop, through whose broken
floor weeds are growing. What rat
tling of bolts and axles, and iingling
of chains, there were, as he drew up,
and with what professional air, he
gathered the ribbons in one hand, and
the Alexandrine lash slipped noislessly
through his fingers, and exploded like a
witch's laugh between the two ears OF
the off leader.
This was the route of them, perhaps.
who founded cities in the brave, young
West; its future sinews and its coming
men of newly welded pairs bound for
the later Canaan; Of murderer's hasten
ing from the hue and cry. Across its
beaten track, the deer have dashed,
the Indians noislessly stole, the forest
shadows fallen at high noon. West
ward it went, to some great lake, they
said, where fields already for the plough
grew green to the waters edge; where
Spring came early and golden Au
tumns fingered late. ..-...- -.
Like very old memory, in the heart
is it, and all forget it but the year
Spring remembers it, and Borders II
with green and sprinkles it with the
gold coin of the dandelion, and the lit
tie stars of the May weed. Summer
sends the bees thither to bugle among
the thistle blows, and the ground spar.
row to build in its margins, and the
faded ribbon of yellow sand grows
bright in its glowing sun. The winds
watt the breath of the morning over its
desolate way, and the rains beat out
the old foot prints it has borne. Au.
tumn sighs as it follows it through the
ravine and among the hemlocks, and
the drifts that Winter heaps. are un
broken and stainless.
No bolder feet, old Road, ever left
their impress on other path no truel
hearts than hastened on their rugged
way, have ever painted for |" the better
land. If there were ever those who's,
laugh was music, then thy woods have
heard it; the daughters of the Yves
are passing fair, but those young browI
of old, whose white flashed whit
again from thy once singing streams
and eyes glanced back to eyes-nt
brighter and no purer were ever ben
above classic wave!-Chi. Journal