Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1867-05-31

agricultural lepartn,snt.



1t is not only in the twittering of
birds, the budding of nature, and the
hustle of the farmyard, that we discern
the advent of the gentle season which
-"Yailedin ashower
OF shadowing rosesp
has Mt last descended OH our plains
That ETHEREAL mildness of which poets
have piped since the beginning of days
has its message not only for those who
gaze upon Gods face in the beauty of
the woods and fields, but for the fever
ish swarm who crowd the great cities
and pant for the breath of the violet
laden South behind dingy windows
and darksome brick walls. The sweet
new season delayed so long dips down
at last upon our Northern shore with
an influence doubly potent from delay;
and the warm blood courses with un-
wonted speed through veins long chilled
by the frost-bound Winter. Town and
country feel it alike. 1t calls the far
mer to his sweetest labors, the towns
man to his most honest amusements.-
The noise of the spade and the plough
share keeps time with the thump of
balls and bats. The tramp of the
yoked steers is echoed by the thunder
of the racers hoofs. The farmer who
has shuddered for his sprouting seeds,
frost-nipped buds, casts off anxiety,
and bends himself to hopeful TOLL
The city clerk and artisan, the mer-
chant and the ,stock-broker, forget for
while the jargon and chicanery of
trade, and lend themselves to athletic
sports and to amusements in the fresh
air of heaven. Young men don gay
uniforms, and hurry to the cricket
Held. The daily papers are crowded
with the record of ball matches, and
the telegraph wires tremble with the
story of the great victory of the Il Plu-
ribut Unum Nine, or the Peterborough
Eleven, as they trembled SO short a
while ago with bulletins of battle and
massacre. The city beaux, whose only
talk last winter was of the masquerade
and the German, the latest hop, and
the. latest new waltz, now thinks of
nothing but bowling, long stops, runs,
fielding, and the other mysteries of the
national game" Yale and Harvard
sheer at Euripides and Euclid, forsake
Helicon for Quinsigamond, and bow
before the stroke-oar with rather more
respect than before the President of the
College. The contests of the turf have
fairly opened. The great racing grounds |
aroused from their periodical torpor,
are putting on their busy aspect. Their
stables are fast filling with beautiful |
and noble animals, and the purlieus |
fast becoming infested with those hui |
man curses of sthe course whom to |
know Is neither to honor nor to praise. |
Fast trotting hnd fast betting have bro |
ken out i'm the usual way on Long Is |
land. New Jersey enters the Spring |
campaign with a vigorous enthusiasm. |
Thereafter aristocratic Jockey Club at |
Fordham publishes q glowing list of |
entries for the Spring and Summer |
stakes; and all the world of New York /
and good deal of the world from other |
parts of the Union, is getting ready to /
witness the running. There we may /
see sober Responsibility, who would /
notlook at a race anywhere else; gen. |
erls and judges; doctors and fl ne ladies;
Anonyma in her gorgeous silks and |
jewels ; the pretty young girl just out
of school; the, actress who moved the /
house last night to tears or laughter /
the famous author, with whose name /
the literary world Is ringing; the plain
farmer, bewildered by the crowd aud
the uproar; perhaps, if one. looks /
sharply, the clergyman who preached I
last Sunday; and very likely the edi-
tor who must go back from that bril-. |
Hant scene TO dusty office. and pen
fierce political leader while his brain is 4
whirling with the excitement of the /
equine contest.
And while the men are mad with /
the rage for manly sports, the women,
too, have given way to little mental |
turmoil melted by the season. Who |
has not heard of the exciting scenes of
milliners' Opening day?n and what is
that critical event but harbinger of
the budding year, the season when
earth opens her boarded stores, and |
casts off her sornber garments, and puts
on the beauty aud gayety of resurrec-
ton? The daisies glitter in ladies'
bonnets long before they peep from the
grass of the fields, and before the SHOWS
have quite vanished from the sheltered
bapksides and shady hooks there is a
simmer of pretty flowers, an odor of
coming Spring, in the crowded streets
of the cities, where woman has put on
her sweetest attire to celebrate the sea-
son. Young girls now are forgetting
their dances and preparing for out-of-
door life. Charades and tableaux are
giving place to riding; the Academy
of Music is yielding to the Central
Park. Croquet-charminge of games,
once more lifts its head. Balls and
mailets are drawn forth from their
Winters repose; and slender fingers
are busy decorating the coquettlsh lit
tie hats and embrodering the neat pet
ticoats, which, as everybody knows,
make an important part-and, to tell
the truth, not the least agreeable one
of this popular amusement.
So the reign of sunshine and smiles
opens with Its accustomed hum of ac-
tivity. And this year. more than for
many years before. it opens for us with
promise of abundant prosperity and
happiness. With peace at home and
no prospect of present war abroad
with the record of vast progress this
past twelve-months in the march of
human rights all over the world to
encourage us for the future; with every
sign of plentiful harvests forthcoming;
and with bright political horizon, we
shall be faint-hearted and ungrateful if
we do not enter upon this season of ac-
tivity with redoubled confidence and