Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-05-31
The Shadow Of the Mountain.
The following we clip from San Francisco

I e
The following we clip from San Francisc,
paper:
In my listlcss ramblcs have sometime.
encountered a strange shadow-the shadow
| OF solitary immovable mountain that stand.
by the changing sea. Like the shadow or
| the dial it seems to come and go with tn,
| circling sun. Unlike that shadow, it is un
| certain and trembling, yet now and then pon
etrating the deepest core of great city. The
other day when this shadow lay near me,
arose and walked therein, out to this solitary
memorable mountain that stands by tn,
changing sea. ...... ...
l climbed few struggling hills, and de-
scendcd a long valley until, like Christian, in
that wonderful dream of Bunyan,I reached q
:" Wicket Gate" Mercy and Faith were a..
ready there in the likeness of two female
figures in mourning, toing up the ascent
carrying basket containing few flowers
and shrubs to deck some remembered grave
That dreary tenement to the southwark. look.
ing bleakly over the dotted hillside towards
the sea, might have been the Doubling Castle
of Giant Despair. l half expected 10 read
some such familiar inscription on the little
guidcboards, but whatever legends may have
borne, they were now faded and illegible.--
The letters looked misty and indistinct as
though washed away by mourncrs' tears
The air grew chilly from the sea and rattl-
ed the crisp leaves Of the scrubby oaks harsh
", like the dry bones Of that ancient valley.
The sunless sky offered no invitation OF
warmth or refreshment to the flowers Only
the stony white lilies on their rigid columns
looked appropriate and statuesque. They
might have been taken for monumental urns ;
the drifted sand which halffillcd each mar.
BILE calyx for sacred ashes. It was not a day
for pleasure seekers to come hither. Only
the shadows Of the mountain and /" they that
walked therein were meet company.
climbed little spur of the ridge and
looked down the road and saw the shadow
creeping slowly towards the mountain. One
two, three, four, five black carriages. turn
cd seaward. \ thin grey mist just touched
the outline of the uttermost hill. l thought
of the season when the fog lay all night in
the valley, hiding away among the tolnbs till
morning; how to the fancy of another it
then "arose silently, and like the departing
spirit, trcmbled away in wreaths of ghostly
vapor to the sky" From the ridge / could
see the GOLDEN GATE. It was not tar from
the mountain-thc mountain that stands SOL
itary and immovable as the white sails fit in
and out Of the golden portal the mountain
that levies its dreadful tribute on their living
freight Here stands the Mountain like the
the great lodestone hill Of the Eastern legend
exercising it's calm but resistlcss sway. Here
come to the freighte1 ships at last Here lie
the shattered wrecks of many rich argosy
scattered about its base.
Was it for this, o, boldcst and youngest
of Argonaute, thou didst brave the tempest
and the sea? Is this thy fortune-this thy
golden fleece? Did no dark shadow of the
mountain fall across thy deck, as thou didst
enter the golden gate and shining strait
Who shall hoist the black sail, as some white
haired Aigeus waits for thy native promon.
tory. For, 10, round thee lie thy brave COM
panions. Among the graves l number the
ashes of Escuapius, Hercules, Meleager, Mes
tor, Telemon and but day or two ago, hith.
or we brought the gentle Amphion and his
broken Tyre. Argo lies rotting at the wharf.
looked once more towards the sea- A
great ship is dropping down with the tide
On the narrow strip of beach l see the white
flash of the wave that brings the wanderer to
the mountain. In its cnahanted moan," |
hear ever breaking from its eloquent lips, an
echo OF the Laureate's musical numbers -
Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags o. sea-
And would that my lips could ntter
The thoughts that arise in me.
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill
-... But O, for a touch of "A vanished hand,
And the sound Of a voice that Is still.