Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1865-09-15
THE OLD MANS BIRTHDAY.

IL lSMy SeNeHtF-NltH Dlftn-u0y. AS
sit by my door and look out On the still
shadows that fal!acrcss the meadows, and
hear the soft murmuring of the leaves
my inmost heart is touched. Wrap
ped iii summer beauty, the whole earth
seems full of light and joy, as II the
very spirit ofall life and love were brood.
ing over it and enfolding it with pro-
tecting wings. l know that far away
in the crowded city there are noise and
tumults, hurrying to and fro, the strife
of angry tongues and the fierce discord
ofwild unbridled passions: but i'm this
quiet spot it is hard to conceive OF these,
and | will not mar the sweetness of this
hour by such unwelcome Visions
Thank God, there are green, still places
where an old man may sit and think
thoughts of peace. Thank God, too,
that His voice is heard amid the rush
and roar of crowded cities, melting men
to lofty purposes and noble deeds, re-
straining the vile and encouraging the
weak. Yes, the protecting wing of the
Great Spirit does indeed enfold the
world, city and country alike, and none
are shut out from His love and care.
| am glad to sit hear to-day and think.
Think? Rather should 1 say remember,
for my mind does little but present
coloring. As l gaze on these pictures,
] am mere lookor-on; and l wonder II
the boy see in one of them, the wild
est of a set OF wild village boys, or that
middle-aged man, who in another is
boldly pressing his way against oil oh.
stacles. and working 10y day and night
TO win for himself q name and II place
in the busy world, can in any way be
connected with the weak old man who
sits here in his chair, and whose white
locks are stirred by the summer breeze.
1t is hard to believe il, yet they are
called by the same name, and spoken of
as one. The same, yet how strangely
different! 9 Gss3 Eal Aatls Oh Ja.'t o.
How things long forgotten come back
TO the old man as ne sits here in the
stiffness. How distinctly he sees Il
brown-eyca little girl playing by the
brook at the bottom of the garden; she
steps out on the narrow plank that
bridges the brook, and, sitting down
on it, paddles with her bare foot in the
rirrling wave, laughing to feel its cool-
ness. and to see the spark ling water
break into countless mirrors, each with
the face of the tiny girl looking out of
it. She laughs and stoops over, and
oh horrors !she slips off, and goes down;
aud the waters of that little stream are
deep enough to drown her. She gasps
and rises and goes down again, her long
bright hair floating out on the CLASSY
wave. Will that sweet, young life Ice
thus quenched, To be seen no more on
earth !? A stout, rough, bare-footed boy
rushcs out from field, and is by her in
an instant; he scizcs the bright locks
and pulls her out, and with check IA
peariy white as her own, bears her in
| to the house, where the horror-strickeg
parents chafe the little limbs, and after
a long, long hour of suspense and fear,
the brown eyes open wildly, the faint
! tiickcring of breath is felt, and their
darling child is saved.
| Again he sees that coarse. rough boy
he is no longer bare footed, but clothed
In his best home-spuu suit is sitting, u
sturdy youth, in the village school
! house. 1t is q cold winter night, and
| the SHOWS are drifting over all the hills,
and piling up I'm every valley, but what
care those lads and lasscs for all that
The wind and snow only make theil
cheeks roster, their eyes brighter, and
their stout well knit muscles firmel
and more vigorous. Its village sing
ing school, and though many young
men and maidens will, when school il
/
over miles of the drifting roads, how
! loud and clear ring out their voices In
! the good old psalm tunes and anthems
grown lad has the finest bass voice, they
say, of all the choir, aud bashfiily con,
scious Of it he raises il to the utmost
in that grand old +" Halleiujah cherus,'
which concludes the school, shSiy
glancing AS he sings mt a brown-eyed
maiden on the opposite seat who looks
the other way and pretends she doesn't
see him, though he knows she does.--
And how his cheek redtens, and his
heart beats rs If it would leap out of his
bosom, Us he takes the hand Of the
youngmaiden and puts her In his sleigh
tucking the buffalo around her, and
drives offagainst the fierce portlwester.
d thrce-miles ride Is before them but
there il no little warmth, and light, and
JOY in that old-fashioned sleigh and
, the stars which peeped out on them,
now and then, from between the cloud
riffs, saw few fairer sights as they looked
dowas erer tase earth that night than
this strue-hearted, pure-rninded couple.
He has never spoken to her of love, but
his heart has turned toward her for
many year; even, 1t may be, from the
lifeless, from the brock.
But other pictures rise. The boy goes
forth from his home ameng the hills
His heart i5 hot with the restless blood
8of youth and green, rough village lad
though he is, he will mako himself
something in the world. So he tolls
and sweats and struggles; he has sue
cess and disappointmeztss he gains
and leses; but still he struggles on
sometimes with good heart, and sone-
times embittercd and desponding,
though never quite losing faith and
courage. He sees the world and min
giles In it, that great world which in the
distance looks so alluring, and finds 1t
q strange compound Of good and evil ;
he learns, that in his own soul there is
also strange mingling of good and
evil. He finds his way into society,
for In the past years he bas gained rep
utation as business f.ian, and u now
taking position among the better clas-
ses. His boyish awkwardness il gone,
his rude strength has been toned down,
and as he enters polished circles his bow
is now as graceful, his smile as win
ning, his tones as bland as if he had
never been bare-tooted boy on the
mountain side; and his heart--ah, is
sAi"N LohCStt no tchdC2 anu JIuC bS
when he sang in the village choir :?
We shall sec, for there arises another
pictare. ssa NJ, ..
He has been unfortunate. The in
vestnfcnt which was to have brought
him princely wealth has brought only
disappointment, with poverty and debt
and hariassing care but from these he
can free himself There IL q way. A
partnership with wealthy firm has
been offered him, and now, before his
bad fortune becomes known, he can
avail himself of it and begin career
more prosperous than the former; nay
even ii his losses are made public, he
believes the offer will not be withdrawn,
for 1t is his energy and business talent
and not his capital. And his heart tells
him that once in the firm he may win
for his bride the sister Of one of the
partners, gay, fashionable woman, not
very young, but still brilliant, and Gre
atiig a sensation In society. What can
the disappointed man of thirty wish for
better than this? What wonderful luck
for the unfortunate speculator! There
stands III his way one obstacle; one lit
tla obstacle SOmp yynuld <.aII - :, -....,.