The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-12-18
What the Winter Brings.

From the New York Journal of Commerce
December came in on us with something of
the old-iashioned snap to the night air, and the
first morning of the first winter month was
cold and clear, with sky that stretched away
into infinite distances. There was never u
winter like this in America. Even the last,
dreary as it was had not so much of gloom as
the present 1t may be difficult to define the
causes which operate, but they are operating,
and every one feels them. in an unusual depres.
calamity. The city Of New York was never
more gay. The widest revelry marks the third
war winter. Wealth and fashion faunt their
gaudiest and most cheerful colors in the streets
The stranger who walks along Fifth Avenue in
the evening, and sees the flashing lights and
hears the sounds of music and merriment, would
never dream that great heavy cloud OF gloom
in reality Overhangs almost every house, and
Expresses every heart which is old enough to
feel, or experienced enough to be affected by
the dread realities which surround us. We
seem to be prosperous, but no one has faith i'm
his own prosperity. Men are specializing wild
ly, but they do it more with the rccklessness
of those who are playing with shuttlecocks or
India rubber balloons, than like men that are
dealing with hard metal or real values. 1t is
not to be denied that there is at this moment
general distrust, doubt and anxiety, affecting
more or less all classes and kinds of men, and
making our cheerfulness and our prosperity to
seem hollow and deceitful.
live go out of the cities and villages into the
country we find similar state of things.
Mostly the people are in deep anxiety for news
from the war whittier the boys are gone This
terrible war which stretches its slow length
along our land is the great cOpperhead, whose
poisonous breath affects every PARTON of the
country, penetrating howell and hall alike. The
winter brings but little cheer to the homes
from which the young and strong have gone
To fHo hiatt In fS2l,1 for fho
and the deeper the snow, the more serious is
the apprehension that the absent will suffer
and perhaps perish. 1t is no child's play,
this war of ours, as the people are learn
ing to their cost. 1t is no bagatele of
the politicians as some imagined it to
be once. 1t is fearful fact, terrible
truth, an overwhelming reality. 1t is taking
our blood to be the cement of its resulting ia
brio. and when the blood of the people is used
to make mortar foe a temple they NAV well
look anxiously tOknow what the building is to
be- The winter will bring on hours of deep
thought, of intense study throughout the coun-
try. People think 3 great deal now There
was never time when you could see men and
women sit SO long and so frequently as now at
the window in the twilight looking out into
the coming darkness. People fall into reveries
now as they never did before, and time drags
along slowly while they think great thoughts
heavier than Americans have been accustomed
10 thlnk. Inc winter nights will find men
wakeful too. People do not sleep well i'm these
times. Restless nights are common and men
sometimes say they can't tell why they lie
broad awake all night, when they can find no
apparent disease or nervousness to be the
cause of it. We imagine that this winter will
fiud a great many such persons in city and
country. Some will be thinking of the battle
field and some will be thinking of property at
stake, and some will be planning future opera
tions, but thousands will be unable to sleeu be.
cause of the oppression which we feel in these
times, and the gloom which presses ON the
mind of every patriot How we shall sleep
when we have peace again! What sudden
sharp relaxation OF this tension on mind and
nerve will drop us into rest and slumber! The
MghtS win be glorious. then, and the mornings
welcome with those hours of delicious, half
sleeps half wakefulness, when real life comes
over us with dreamy beauty, and the actual
scenes and facts of the day blend and melt into
misty softness of imaginations. We do not lie
thus, awake and asleep. in these times. We
live too severe lives, and we wake in the morn
ing to a too stern and solemn and eXacting day.
But after winter always comes spring.
BEGINNING TO WALK.
He's not got his sea-legs the darling;
He's been in orr ship but year;
He isn't yet versed in orr lingo
Knows nothing OF sailing, fear.
But he soon will hear more of the pillows