Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-04-07

BY COL, b. II. JONES of Lewisburg, w. Va.
In the blithesome days of boyhood, e
In the unforgotten past; r+.
Stamped upon my hearts fresh surface,
Was an impress that shall last.
Twas a form of girllsh beauty
Iresses auburn-eyes of blue;
And a voice so plaintive, dovelilSe,
And heart so ohaste and true.
And / loved the little maiden;
|, a boy of summers ten,
With such passion wild and tender,
As one never feels again;
And the maiden loved the school-boy,
Owned it by her stifled sighs,
Trembled meath his gaze so ardent
Blushed and dropped her tell-tale eyes,
Many were the little tokens
Passed between the maid and me;
Apples, peaches, blushing berries,
Slips of school-boy poetry
Smiles were given-gentle pressures,
Mute, yet eloquent of Love;
Silken traces neatly braided n,
Pencilings of heart and dove.
Often sat we in the shadow
Of the great white sycamore
And led her through the meadow,
In the halcyon days of yore;
Helped her to the cool and sparkling
With q thrill of rapture swung her s
In the rustic grapevine swing.
With my quaint, weli-sharpened Barlow
On the beechen's glossy rind,
Carved, with studied, labored flourish,
Rudely, yet so well defined.
That to-day the mountain huHter
Pausingfn his search for game,
Reads with ease the rough-e edged letters
= The initials of her name.
Saw with flashing eyes the advances
OF my hool-tellow-sJ John Ed*o-
Felt 'twould be a pleasant pastime
To relieve him of his head
To our young and ardent fancy,
Opened up a future bright.
When relieyed from laws parental,
We our marriage vows should plight.
Thus, through many happy summers.
Hand In hand we moved along;
Rocking nought Of the fierce trials
That to older life belong;
Then we parted-I to ponder
Over Academic lore,
She gas left q tsHder bualet,
0penining on KanaWhas shore.
Time sped on; and i, at manhood,
Saw another maiden fair;
Saw, and loved, and wooed and won her
Wreathed the orange in her hair.
She wife, so fond and gentle,
Makes my cup of bliss run O. er;
Never yet, hath nobler woman
sinoothed the path OF man below.
And the idol of my boyhood,
Now matron, staid and true;
Answers to the name of "Mother."
Peering into eyes of blue.
7 Years have fed, years five and twenty,
SINCE She maiden round nay Way,
Cast the sunshine of her presence,
That shall lingep there for ayel
For in hours of prison slumber,
Float across my dreaming brain,
Visions of the little maiden,
As she foateo round me then;
Still the same sweet girlish beauty
Tresses auburn-eyes of blue
Still the voice so plaintive-dove-li like
Still the Heart SO chaste aad true
Sylph-like round my prison pillow,
Gldes she as in olden time;
Pass again the little tokens
Written O er the school-day rhyme.
Strange, it is; yet monthly, weekly,
Dream l of those boyhood hours;
Lead again the life / lived then,
With the maiden mid the flowers !
Such is more than ones experience;
Toiling weary On cur way,
Sweetest joys, like April sunshine,
Brightest gild our morning day;
At noontide of our manhood,
Backward looking through our tears,
Diamond points amid the darkness,
Flash the joys of early years
-JoHNsoN's ISLAND, OHIO, JAN, 1865
*John Edward Ligon of Buckingham count
7irginia-a rival We called him John Ed
have been told that he died many years ago.