Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1868-03-21


"MoRRIs, PENN, March 6, IS.
Dear Cousin:
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and am GO
ing to have dozen cOlOred eggs and a big
COB Of maple sugar. | wish you could be
home, Come east next summer. and we will
90 down to the Great Pond and catch lois If
fish. The clubs are splendid, 1 assure you !
No more at present, only that sister Mary has
got a live boy baby, and hoping that these
few lines may find you enjoying the same
Godss blessing, remain,
Your aft, cousin,
When reading this boy epistIe, our
coat sleeve inyeluntarily passed over our
eyes. For near three decades the green
grass has nodded to the breeze over bis
narrow house, and the SHOWS of near thir-
ty winters have emblemized the gentle
spirit beneath. If the ''boy baby" still
lives, be is in the meridian of manhood.
The "Great Pond looms up before our
mental gaze like boundless ocean, while
the old mill-with its Londerous wheel,
large as the moon--is suggestive of
warm biscuit and buckwheat cakes.
Good by, Robbed Old mill shall we
ever see you againi Little clubs! will
you ever dsngle at the end of our line
again! Dear Robbed shall we not en-
brace once more9 The postage on this
letter is marked lSf cents-to be collect
ed. At that time weekly stage coach
was Observation-Disclosures only tayer-
sed one road, and "side wheelers" had
never plOwed the Ohio or Mississippi
rivers
Here is another letter. Tt is from our
first school mistress. We can see her
now, with vivid recollections of birch and
dunce-caps. We were boy-she a
maid of forty years, with face resem-
bling baked sweet apple. She says
ia conclusion-"Dear boy, be virtuous and
you will be happy" If she has forgiven
us our early waywsrdness, We think of
her kindly to day. That sweet apple
went to press long years ago She bad
one popularity. She was so strictly
temperate and sweet in disposition she
wouldn't eat a spring pulIet that roasted
on sour apple tree!
Here is another, written in a bold,
trembling hand, on coarse foolscap. 1t
is signed-"your affectionate Grand
mother7--and closes-'and now, my
boy, remember thy Creator in the days
of thy youth"
We can see her now--that old
fashioned Grandmother. She sits in the
easy chair in front of tue open fireplace
Her cap is snowy white--the old family
book of Psalms and Hymns lies open on
chair to her right, while her fingers are
manipulating the needles that were pro-
ducing the mittens for our little hands
hands that the intervening years have
made rough and brawny For a time
the psalms and needles are neglect'a
while she peered over those huge spec
tacles, watching the sparks as they as
cended through that old fashioned Chin
ney. A crystal drop nestled upon that
wrinkled cheek, and for time our bow
ish sports were shiled into awe. At
length we ventured to ask-"Are you
in, Grandmother NO." said she,
"only thinking-thinkingp
She was thinking of gallant young
officer who fought at Trenton. and Lex
lngton, aud Monmouth, and Bunker Hill
One by whose side she stood half a
century before and responded-"I WILL"
Long years agl we en- remember
the cottage well-she went up to join
the angels.
Amid thousand others, we ind a
package. 1t is tied with a white satin
ribbon with double bow knot. We
counted them. There were just one
hundred and thirty five. In their con-
secutive numbers a few were missing
They were destroyed by mutual consent
perhaps; for boy quarrels and girl quar-
rels always occur. This is necessary.
it is necessary to make boy enraged 60
measure his grit. A rough stone requir-
es the refiner's process of Furnishing.
But we must not enter into this cores
pondence of two years. Ii led to that
GordiaI knot, which is supposed to be
inseparable, with the girl whose basket
we proposed to carry up the bill long
years ago.
READERl-We had nothing else to
write about this morning. and memory
has run wild. Preserve old letters
cling to old friends-loye old loves.