The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1862-03-04
THE FALLEN LEAF"

The dry and dead leaf that quivcrs dow
and settles in your path as you rush alorg il
a rash of business beneath the Stripe,
branches of some poor tree, which leads a sick
ly life among the grim stones Of the street
will not, in all likelihood, arrest your particu
lar attention. You have other things to thiAl
about; darling investments, colapsing corpo
ratiors, stock sliding to cphers, remorseles
creditors, and medley of mystery. Money
has been, is now, and is to be, the guiding sta
OF your life. You have followed it faithfully
by day you have run a crazy race for riches
by night your dreams have been of the gilt.
tcring gold. Long ago, by some shrewd
friend or adviser, you were given distinctly to
understand that to get rich was the chief end
of your life. You have diligently needed the
advice, working like bee through wasting
years, working your form into deformity, your
hair off your head, and your face into prema.
ture seams and wrinkles. By this time you
have probably ceased to have faith in yourself
as thinking creature, with soul, and an
eternity TO make ready for, and are quite sat.
isfied that you have come to be an accurate
calculatir o machine, and that you are account
ed most sagacous man Of business, mag.
cal maker of money. Work, work, is the
word for you. The world is a great mine;
you must help work it, and must work hard,
too, if you mant the mirer's recompt nsc.
Well, good friend, yor are witness Of the
woo this money now and then pours upon the
people You see what phantom is wealth ;
and as incohstant as the t1rt who has fooled a
hundred hearts, You SIC it slipping away,
like the mist from the mountain, from its
most ancient devotccs, and it may pos lilly
occur to you that, after all, it is not worth
toilirg, sweating, dying for At least, do not
t'ample under loot this faded thing, Ting
and serc, and give it nc thought at all. Its
lessons should 90 10 your heart, as the thrill
ing writing on the wall Of Belshazzar's ban.
quet room went TO tho inmost souls of the gid
dy monarch and bis surrounding rcvelers. 1t
whispers, it walls in your ear that you are
passing away! You are young, perhaps, and
strong, and hale-vitality incarnatc. So was
this leaf while ago. Very lately it met the
breeze bright, green, blooming thing. -
Birds-if birds loved the city-would have
sought its sofiness hen. You sec, hero it is
dead.
Yes, passing away! Before many days
have rolled by, your vigor will d cline, your
faculties will fail, your eyes will glare, and
your body will lie cold and still under the
ground. People will walk over you as you
now walk over this fallen leaf; and whca you
reflect that to die is as inevitable as to live for.
ever beyond tho grave, does it not really seem
as if you ought to be doing something better
than chasing rises to fearful sacrifice Of sens
ibility, honor and con,cntmcnt? Tbs faded
leaf has done its duty-lved and p p'ri'hed.-
You are immortal, and not peri liable. 1t is
net sickly seuti'nentaity, believe, which
matches a solemn lesson from every sable
hearse, new grave, or autumnal leaf returning
to earth in lis decay and dissolution.