Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1869-10-16
Autumn Of the Year.

The "melancho!y days Of autumn, the
ssddest of the year, 10 some, and TO
others the sweetest, have come at last,
with their golden hues and fading Ver-
dure. And how brief has been the space
since the bright festival of spring tune
when tempest and desolstlon were all for
gotten amidst the sweet songs Ol birds IN
their shaded bowers OF bliss The child
breath OF nature is lmpercepubIy stealing
over plant and llowerr the IeaAet hangs
wrestling in the wind, and the green cJr-
pe,ing of creation is beginning TO wear
yelowish or moIley color-lhe index OF
decay.
This season is ever pregnant with re-
Election for all around and about US tells
oil the pelishable nature Of The things oil
earth. TO many who have Olready
passed the rubicon Of middle life, and
whose spirits are depressed by difiicul
ties or broken by unavaling snuggl les, 1t
is season of peculiar melancholy ; for
il warns them that their time for action
has passed-,hal the advent oi Iiies win.
ter is fas, approaching. They look back
upon The bright spring time OF their exis-
tence, when life wore the beauty oi
promise, and mournIulIy contrast the JOY.
GUS past with the dresry present.
10 those, too, who are but in LIES
prime, il is betimes saddet 10 look upon
the llowery fields OF existence through
which they have been rambling, and TO
contrast them with the beaten track they
no " tread, and the desola,e prospect in
perspective. Many a bright orb Of hope
that once cheered Them on the pathway
of life emis a lainIer beam the horizon
OF happiness recedes as they advance 10
wards it The sh, dows will soon begin 10
lrnpthen, and the chill airs OF evening 10
usurp the lervors of MONDAY. TO many
the pride Of their youth has passed away
and SO have their londest dreams ; and
they feel themselves TO be changed, and
their faculties Of enjoyment diminished,
and are filed with mixture OF worldly
scorn and unavaling regrel for the lovely
season that has so briefly fitted away
from Them, never To be recalled.
But autumn, vi,h all its deepening
shadows, is not wholly season OF gloom,
even though The bowling blast and scar
leal DO remind Us OF perlshed hopes and
and coming death. In the fall OF the
year, even with its mourntul decay, there
i. something which charms lhe soul and
sweetens human life ; for the rustic OF
the changing green, the winds low Sigh,
The creaking door, The house.rTIckets
prolonged chirp, and the lit up hearth,
8 nd our thoughts back on all errand oI
memory to those charming hours and hap
py days Of youth and hoPe-days OF
childhood, Of lnnocencc-when, with
many beloved one from whom We have
now parted, we sat around the family
healthstone and psrook oi the feelings o.
o.her times. There is a moral 10 be
gathered while contemplating the chan
ees Of nature al the present session oil Me
wear for We are apt 10 abstract our
thoughts from the perishable, TO turn
from eaIih's ephemeraI charms to 'he
more sublime beauties which lie beyond
| il. In our coutemp plstion lhe belief steals
upon US thai il The vital power is contIn.
usly sustained year after year upon the
| face of the earth. IN the grass bIsde, IN
the forest, and in the many forms oi ma
/ ture-so also will there come another ex-
! is,ence 10 mans life, and the lrsll dust oi
, his mortality will assume lar brighter
and purer shape, be animated with a
new existence. by the same power that
esrnishes so beautifully The forests and
I the noWers