Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1866-10-27

pusJ will be ot bro h,r ! um "heh He
hands her into hi, fine carriage and dash
es down The village slreet with her BY his
side
Aud the poor old mOtheI-al, that's
the besl Of al, she who has iolled SO hard
,J keep Amy and me under tue old roof
since Iaiher die d,-she shal have the rest
she's needed SO long then! She shall
sit by the window OF the new house IN
the pleasant summer afternoons in her
back s;ik dress. and her pretty white
caps, and the hands thal have worked so
hard lying idle in heI lap then, and her
eyes. toll OF p,ido and tenderness, shall
follow her boy around the h"use-her
( boy thai is ! rch man now, ana that has
never forgotten :" ha she taught h'm, TO
be homes, and just, and tue, III Tie thick
ui o. tenptatlou.
ANA ,hcn, 700, som, body viii be grow n
a lady - l!tIe Lucy Ames--ihe Doctor 5
daughter, - ith her hair that has The god
Of tie slr,ug dandelions, and her eyes The
Jlae Of the cool spring away up among
the r.cks of iheTe-lille Lucy with
your sweet, shy face, and your kindly
words, auL smile always ready for me,
No was your fathers choire boy ! |
sha nj forget II then Aud what vii
you say when come back rich man.
with louses, and lands, aud an honorable
name
You will b. LADY then. littIe Lucy,
but u i'll your blue ey IS smile on me just
as sweell,-wIl you come asncing out
oG Tie door with tie lght in your golden
nai: and the OLD brigh. welcome in your
face
Whs, iG-what if-Ah, Lucy, the ques.
lion will do 10 wait, toI have ouly seen
mv eighteenth birthday vet, and you are
inside our fifteenth. But | shall carry
the thought hidden away down in my
heart to ,he great city tomorrow.
An, The DID, swii, hopes and longings
the sirong, fiery ambitions come back,
and sir he blood OF ny youth again. |
long for tie morrow TO come SO that can
he away, and al " Work. Goodbye, old
home, and yet shall carry you 100 in n'y
hear, as YOU looked thai last night wh' |
stood by the Iirlie gate, and you lay be-
fore NE asleep in The moonlight.
COMING BACK AT FORTY FIVE.
lis Jus, a score and quarter Of years
ago since stood here by the old gate,
and nv blood as hot then and my heart
Irhrobted high with the fiery dreams and
hopes OF youth.
Am grown sc old then {! have not
passed beyond my prime yet, though my
ears lean tow ard fifty and my hair is
overshot with silver here and there.
And vet to-right the years lie heavy
on my soul, and lhey seem like the bur
den OF age as come up 10 HE scenes OF
my youth.
Nothing looks changed here. The
harvest moon gathers the Cd house INTO
It's silver folds just as ii did tEen-ihe tall
cherry trees ruslle over my head-ihe
eu1ran bushes make their dark green line
where The fence has gone TO decay, and
the ounce shrubs fuuer in the soft
wind.
And another wind blows up from the
coasts OF MY youth. Oh for the old boy
fhear, that stood here and dreamed It's
dreams and made It's plans twenty five
years ago
ii was TO be rich mani ] said stand
mo here, in the strong confidence Of
youth. The world says am that now.
would tell you, too, that | have an
honorable name-lhaDks 10 the prayers
Of the mother who sleeps under little
pillow Of green grasses by the willows
out yonder.
wonder if she can look down and see
her boy standing here, leaning on the old
gate tonight!
She has gone TO another house, falrer
one Than was TO make her, and which
still comes back to me in visions Of the
MIG ht sometimes. with Amys sweet face
shining by the window and my mother
sitting there with her black dress and
snowy cap.
am not a man much given 10 senli-
meni or romance OF any sort.
Years OF hard graphing with fortune
have .overgrown all that, and they call me
stern, and keen, and practical in the world
where ( have to deal with Facts and men,
and he Gew Of my youth has vanished
long ago; still the old memories seem to
mel, nv hear, into the heart of little
child as | stand here and look down the
long highway of The years up which l
have travelled again 10 this night.
Little Amy. with the chubby figure
and the merry face. far away from here
lo-nishl, slslwari boys and fair-halTed
girls call the faded malron mother, as 9th