Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1862-09-19
VOL Xiv.
a PICTURE OF HOME.
BY TIMOTHY TIrCoMB.

By TIMOTHY TITCOMB.
recall home long since left behind in the
journey of life, and its memory floats back
over me with shower of emotions and
thoughts towards whose precious fall my heart
opens itself greedily, like thirsty flower. 1t
is home among the mountains humble and
homely-but priceless in its associations. The
waterfall again sings in my ears, as il used to
through those dreamy, mysterious nights
The rose at the gate, the patch,of tansy under
the window, the neighboring orchard. the old
elm. the grand machinery of storms and
showers, the little smithy under the hill that
famed with strange light through the duh
winter evenings, the wood-pie at the door,
the ghostly 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, looking
of upon the darkening landscape, and listen
ing 10 the shouts of boys on the hill side call
ing or driving home the reluctant herds 1
watch again the devious ways of the night
hawk along the twilight sky. and listen to his
measured note, ard the breezy boom that ae-
companies his headlOug plunge towards the
earth.
Even the. old barn. crazy in every timber
and gaping at every Joint, has charms for Ee.
try again the breathless leap from the great
beams iu the hay. sit again on the tbFesho Id
of the widely open doors, open TO the soft
south wind Of spring. and watch the cattle,
as they sun themselves, and peacefully rumi-
nate, while drop by drop the melting snow on
the roof drills holes through the wasting drifts
beneath the caves The first little lambs of
the season tottls by he side OF their dams.
and utter their feeble beatings, while the
flock nibbie at the hay-rick, or pair Of rival
Iweathers try tie Strength Of their skulls IN an
Encounter, half iR earnest ard half II play
The old, proud old roosters crow upon the
dung-hil throne, aud some delighted member
of his silly family leaves her nest, and tells TO
her mates and 10 mo, thut there is one more
egg in the world. The old horse whinHies in
his slaIl aud calls to me for food. look up
to the roof, and think of last years swallows,
soon TO return again, and catch a glimpse OF
angular sky through theGiamohd shaped open
ing that gave them ingreSS and egress. How,
! know not. and care not, but that old barn is
a part Of myself, il has entered into my life
and given me growth aid wealth.
But look into the house again where the
life abides. which has appropriated these
things aud end among thenl lis home. The
hour of evening has cone, the lamps are light
ed, aud the good man in middle lie--thOugh
very old be seems to me-takes down the
Bible aud reads chapter from its haIlowed
pages. A sweet woman sits at his side, with
my sleepy head upon her knees, aud brothers
e R9 sisters are grouped reyereptly around me-
/ do not understand III, words, but 1 have
been told they are ths words of q ii, and
believe it. The chapter ends and we all hne cl
down, and the good man lnays. ! lall asleep
With my head in the chair, anJ the next morn
ing I remember nothing how l went 10 bed.
AfteT breakfast the Bible is taken down, and
the good man prays again, and again is the
worship repeated through all the days of many
golden years. The pleasant converse of the
frcsile, the simple songs Of home. the words
of encoura cement, as / benz nrcr my school
task, the kiss as lag down to rest, the patient
bearing with the freaks Of my restless nature
the gentle eounsels mingled with reproofs and
the sympathy that meets and as
sVages every sorrow acl sweetens every little
these return to me amidst the re-
sponsibilities which press upon me now, and
feel as il I had once lived inlearen and stray
ing had lost my way.
Well, the good man grew old and weary
and fell asleep at last with blessings onshis
hts Cox me-. Some of those who called him
father lie side by side in the same calm,sleep.
The others are scattered and dwell in new
homes, aud. the old house and orchard have
passed into the hands OF strangers, who have
learned, or are learning to look upon them as
] do now. Lost, ruined, forever left behind,
that home is mine to-day as truly as it ever
was, fo- have not brought it away with me
and shown it to you 1t was the home of
my boyhood. In it 1 found my first mental
food and by it was my young soul fashioned.
To me, through weary years and my sorrows,
it has been perennial fountain of delight and
purify ing influences, simply because it was my
home, and was aud is part Of me. The rose
at the gate blooms for me now. The land
scape comes when l summon it, and l hear
the voices that calls me from lips which mem
ory makes acknowledgement Republican