The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1867-07-04

| nlgnJ Wneu blOOut Dy lne uJLlo
gate, and you lay before me asleep
in the moonlight.
COMING BACK AT FORTf-FIvE.
1t is just score and q quarter of
years ago since | stood here by the
old gate, and my blood was hot
then and my heart throbbed high
with the fiery dreams and hopes Of
youth.
Am grown so old then9 Ihave
not passed beyond my prime yet,
though my years lean toward fifty
and my hair is oyershot with silver
here and there. gi sF.GIGJI
And yet tonight the yeats lie
heavy on my soul, and they seem
like the burden of age as Icome up
to the scenes of my youth.
Nothing looks changed heres
The harvest moon gathers the old
house into its folds just as it did
then-the tall cherry trees rustic
over my head--the current busheS
make their dark green line whet9
the fence has gone to decay, and
the ounce shrubs autter in the soft
wind.
And another wind blows up from
the coasts of my youth. Oh for
the old boy-heart that stood here
and dreamed ITS dreams and made
its plans twenty-five years agoi
Il was to be rich manp / said;
standing here, in the strong conf;
dence of youth. The world says
am that now. l would tell you,
too, that have an honorable name,
thanks to the prayers of the old
mother who sleeps under a. littlS
pillow or green grasses by the will
lows yohder. hH -G'
wonder if she can look down
and see her boy standing here;
leaning on the old gate to-nighta
She has gone to another houses d
fairer one than | was to make her,
and which still comes back to the
IN visions of the night sometimes,
with Amy's sweet face shining by
the window and my mother sitting
there with her black dress and
snowy cap. ...4J la.3
am not a man much given 10
sentiment or romance of any sort.
Years of hard graphing with fof.
tune have overgrown all that, and
they call me stern, and keen, and
practical in the world where Ihavk
to deal with facts and men, and the
dew of my youth has vanished long
ago; still the old memories See11
to melt my heart into the heart of
a little child as | stand here and
look down the highway OF years up
which | have travelled again to this
night.
Little Amy, with the chubby fig.
ure and the merry face; far away
from here tonight, stal&art boys
and fair. haired girls call the faded
matron mother, as others call me
'Fatherp
And little Lucy Ames9 Searching
among the graves out yonder, I
cane tlpon a small granite mond-
ment; aud i'll The gray stone,Mas
craven, .. su,J sI,
LUCY, AGED TWENTY 80.
Is that all? Lucy, with the gold
en- hair, and the eyes like fresh vie
letsl .a. ...l @ IONA eVad
Standing here tonight, amidst
the lost visions and hopes Of my
youth, could almost smile defis-
lively on what men say of me-
that / had been a success iii life.'
1t is true have grappled bravely
with circumstances; | have hewn
out with my own right hand q path
to fortune. But it looks small to-
night, coming back here and stand
ing by the old gate with the rusty
hinges, and looking at the old
house, beneath whose old roof 9th
er little children sleep to.night;and
on whose doorstep other children
play-oh the fortune looks smallto
me now, and it seems as thoughoI
would almost give it all to feel as
I used to when l went through the
cool meadow grass and up in i hill
pastures to drive the cows home.J
You have not changed, old house
that l left thirty years ago stand
ing in the moonlight, bat you can
not give back to me the strong
heart, the bounding pulses of my
youth. 1i5. log 10 iss
The birds sing, the grasses shiyer,
the trees move in joy about you,
but in place of the strong, restless,
eager youth that went out from
you, man, worn, bul'lened, wear
led with the struggle, comes back
| a. u