Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-06-25
OLD THINGS THE BEST.

Let others wish wide earth to range
To please the changetul breast,
No wish have for frequent change
Old things love | the best.
The songs my mother loved to sing,
As sat by her knee,
Still DER my soul their magic fling,
Sweeter than life to mo!
The old home with it's ivy clad;
It's rOck-wallcd chrystal spring.
Its dairy, in the old oaks shade,
Where moss and lichcnS cling;
The grey old church, whose tolling bell
Hung hOuselcss Oh the tree
BE mute, my lips-ye cannot tell
How dear these are to me!
And long-loSt faces round me rise,
Still, in the crowded thr0ng;
Dearer than those that greet my eyes
With beauty, mirth, and song.
Some tread strange lands beyond the main,
Some silent sleep i'll eartll--
Dearer to me this sad-eyed train,
Dcarer, than all of earth.
The flag my hero fathers bore
Through battles angry tide,
That famed, meteor light, of yore,
On plain and mountain side;
Mid all it's Haunting ellSgns new,
Earth has no flag like thee,
OF all loved old things, tried and true,
Dearest art thou to me!
While the fair performer was singing, Victor
stood like one entranccd The simple and natural
sentiment of the song, the liquid flow of the meas
urc, aud the sad, sweet voice of the performer,
giving utterance to an air whose paintve and
drcam-like melody touched and softened the heart,
held him silent and spcll-bound. The full signih-
cancc of the closing stanza did not burst upon him
until Miss DeNere had risen from her seat II
pcrpcxed and startled him. With the guns OF
the enemy, over which the 'old flag was floating,
booming upon the car, as they sent their missiles
of destruction into the ranks of his countrymen,
surely she uttered it without feeling, or at least,
intending the significance which attached to the
language. Surely, he thought, it was an old song
which she had sung long ago, and which she now
sung for its melody. He was about to call her at
tenton to the unpatriotic bearing OF the last stan
"a, if literally construed, when voice was heard
in the doorway, and, looking around, he saw glr
Of perhaps fourteen or fifteen, standing tnidy at
the open door of the parlor. She was scantily and
tawdrily clothed in dress that had once been
6ue-too fine for one in her evident condition in
life, She bore work basket upon her arm and
stood looking timidly into the paror as if search
ing for some one, until her gaze rested upon Miss
DeVere. Her face was thin and sallow, and made
her large, lustrous black eyes seem doubly sad.
Victor was struck by their melancholy and mourn
full expression, and they made him feel sad for
hours afterwards That poor girl was faithfully
daguerreotyped upon his memory. tie saw her
then for the first time, and saw her once more,
under most painful and agonizing circumstances.
Her eve seemed to shadow forth some sad and un,
happy destiny
Before Victor was aware of her movement, Miss
DcVere, with few words of apology to Mrs. Yer,
non. took her leave of the ladies' and with an in
cliuation of her head to himself, passed from the
room, followed by the sad-eyed child with the bas,
ket upon her arm. Victor saw her cross the street
and enter house nearly opposite, still followed by
the girl.
Victor seemed lost, for moment in thought.
He did not move until Mrs. Vernon spoke.
Miss DcVcre has given us quite musical
treat" said she. GLOW do you like her as per
former?"
II think she is almost unequaled, replied Vic
tor. ''I have never listened to a more skifu
musician. Can you tell me her given name?
added he, hesitatingly. ''There are other ladie:
in the State by the name Of DeVcre, 1 believe
and would not know how to distinguish her from
them, should hear her spoken Of again.
ut is Rachel" said Mrs. Vernon, with {
promptness that relieved and delighted Victor
t.bnt am not aware that there is any other De