The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-05-17
Corre.pondenee of the Lntslliqsncer.

THE GRANGE, S. c., May 5, 1866.
My DEAR HorT: awe come again with song to
greet you," as the Vermont Psalmist used to sing
from his tin wagon. we have logged along thus
far with warm heart under our vest, and feel like
a blue jay on this beautiful May evening. In
leading our present life, we have but returned to
our first love. We once knew what it was to have
the friendship Of green fields and woods and
streams, jogging along the green-lined highway,
and caroling to ourselves as blithely as the blue
iay; we once had s. familiar face for rocks and
trees and stumps as we sat astride Of them on the
sweet summer times of long ago. Where are ye
now, old friends, and what child-lover woos your
dear caresses? No answer! SO distant are they
that the mist gathers and the forms are indstinot
only faint forms, like spiritual things, are there;
and We know that it is we who are removed so far
from that golden land. Dear old home! EN-
balmed in memory, we return to thee, faithful
every May-time, as the years whirl US away fur
ther into the gray of age, and hope that there is
pillow in store for us beneath the green turf Of.
thy holy haunts, when it shall be that We sleep
from our labors But May is here-we feel the
influence and hum q carol of the spring-time. God
bless the spring to our good and the seasons to
eur happiness
We have been abroad to-day, enjoying the pure
and delicious breath of flowers, and warm winds,
and murmuring waters and the glad companion
ship of youth, and beauty, and refinement in our
sister District of Greenvle. 1t has been day Of
the purest pleasures and we would try to tell you
of it at length, were our descriptive powers ade-
ouate to the task. A polite note, received few
days ago, and signed by Maj. ]. D. Sullivan, j..
H. Arnold Capt. J. Minis Sullivan, DR.. j. 7. Dom
aldson, Joe Alexander, NJ. B. Harrison, E.. II.
Hamilton and Dr. J. P. Latimer committee Of
arrangements, informed us that the teachers, pu-
pils and patrons of six schools, male and female,
would unite in q "Rural Gathering at Ceder Falls
on the 5th instant and that our presence would be
acceptable. We we're glad to hear it, for We had
heard much of the good people around Cedar Falls,
and we determined to accept the invitation and see
them and know them for ourself. Then too, there
vas something inviting in the very name of the
party. It was to be no May party-although they
are pleasant enough in their way-no maids Of
honor, no queen of IN hour, to remind us that our
unhappy country is fastening but too rapidly to
the acceptance of thrones and crowned heads-but
it was to be sRural Gathering" where oil would
be queens. The very name, called up viyidly to
| our mind, the freshness of untainted hearts, and
the cordial hospitality and untrameled pleasures
of life in the country
The scenery of Cedar Falls, would impress in
dividuals differently, according to their tempera-
ments and pursuits. The man of the goose would
no doubt think it a fine place 10 spongea coat the
angler to fish, and the man of dollars to make
money. 1t would set the poet to writing, the ar
tst to painting, the novelistto dreaming, and the
lover to wooing-mayhap the latter did take place.
1t impressed us with ideas of the beautiful and Of
the useful. The former was the most powerful,
owing doubtless to the array of pretty cheeks,
laughing eyes and fairy forms gathered about it.
1t was an admirable place for "Rural Gathering" {"
and as we arrived at an early hour in the morning,
we found u large crowd Of charming women and
lassies, and noble men and youths, already as
sembled--noble women, who had toiled on, prayed
on, hoped on--gallant men, who had fought and
endured to the end of our disastrous war. They
were congregated in beautiful confusion, in
charming spot just above the Falls the sun pene-
trated only ut rore intervals the done Of verdure
breeze perfumed by the forest, impaired delicious
coolncss. With happy abandon the crowd was
variously employed-sonle angling IN the river
hard by, some strolling, some playing whist some