The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1861-05-09
Written for the Telegraph.
The Past. .-..
BY w. B. IRVING.
The past with sweet remembrance brings,
The joys Of childhood's early hour,
Whom tender like the enrly hnNar thnt snl.iI


The past with sweet remembrance brings
| The joys Of childhood's early hour,
When tender, like the early flower that springs
In shady dell or leafy bower.
| IT'S sweet to look back 'er memory's page, and
read the beautiful thoughts of the hearts first as
pirations; when youthful innocence, undreaming OF
the bitter and blightng adversities of sterner age
with its weight of accommodating cares and sorrows
ever dreaming of fowery paths mid verdant
landscapes, and clear, singing streams meanderna
through the Eden of life; rejoicing in, and living
uponanticp ations light air, yet to the youthful
mind, the brightest goal of earthly bliss. The
hours spent beside the babbling brook sailing oei
its ripping bosom the tiny bark, on which was dis
played the genius of an infant mind Or beneath
the spreading branches of the old elm, erecting Of
broken sticks and wihered reeds, the little fortress
which seemed a castle of giant strength. Again
playing by the roadside, ON the velvet green
till the soft twilight warned us that the shades Of
night were gathering round our infant sport.
The past, when compared with the present, Is
fraught with deep and holy joy; no sorrow then
came weighing down the heart and overburdening
| it with oppressive cares. Life, with all its va
rlegated ills, has not yet cast its darkenne
shadow over the youthful heart but light and buoy
ant, cheered with hope and blissful anticipations
| II blooms on It's element OF unailoyed love. I'm
couraged and strengthened by the flattering illu
slops that the future will be as the past and that
its unfadng beauties will still shine on, undimmed
by the adverse storms that hover around approach
ing years Who that has arrived at mature years
and become conversant with life's vscsstudes and
ills, has not sighingly looked back to the happy
past, and longed to be a child again? Who can
not recount gladstone hours of youthful pleasure
when the simplest toy would please the heart and
charm the soul to rest But as age comes creep.
ing on the hearts void grows larger, and the sweet
enchantment of the magic spell, that could once
aay the light sorrows of the heart have lost their
primal freshness and cannet satiate the longings OF
the soul. Its aspirations become higher, and if it
would find solace-the same in nature-that made
happy the heart of other days. it must seek it be-
yond the elements of pleasure that the world af-
ords; 1t must possess that same spirit ofmeek love
that marked the child in youths early morn.
The past is ever with us; we have all been sub
IJect TO Its influences whether of good or of evil
The future Is before US, but all unknown, save by
that God who doeh all things well. If we would
make our lives beautiful; if we would 1--we happy,
and die lifted for the mansions of the best let us
in contemplating the past, strive to make the pres
ent andfuture as calmly sweet and holy, then shall
The of our declining day,
Sink softly in the western sky;
In robes of light will pass away,
10 realms of Glory upon high.
Bristol, April 81, 1861.