The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1869-11-12
a DREAM OF THE PAST.

Tonight I am thinkiag--or dream
ing--of by gone times, and conjuring up
scenes which belong to irrevocable ps-
RODS. And, oh, how lovingly our
hearts cliag to the past! How old
memories twine themselves around the
heart. wearing q wreath whose flowers
never fade or die; how we treasure up
and gard with jealous care The relics
of dead joys that have been ours How
we hlIld castles in the far of past, and
people them with q lends Of olher days
--gladdening our hearts with faces long
since missed. listening once more to IA
nliliar voices, and to the sound OF well
know II footsteps which have passed III
silence from the earth The castles
we build in the future, and people with
fancitul dreams, are radiant with sun
shine; but over the land OF the past
there hovers always the twilight. and
the soul. weary of the glare and glitter
OF the world, OF the hustle and ja"ring
OF life, retreats within itteli, and seeks
repose in the soft. gray shadows OF the
past. Forgetting The thousand petty
ills and vexation> that lie strown along
our lite path--remembering great sor
rows only Ms "blessing, in disguise"
memory fondly boards up the treasures
which have been ours. and the land of
the past becomes our lost Eden, over
whicn We mourn hopelessly.
AS falls the soft, blue, misty Eaze of
an Italian summer ethereal rs a poets
,lrealn--oyer the mountains and val
ieys, through which the sunshine kisses
the earth rs through veil, so over the
past floats siIvery sliad Nv. llumined
by memory S star, through Which we
gaze in search of days that are no more.
And as we gaze, voices long since mnLe,
but uhfOrgot1en. welcome us aSain---
eyes that We have seen groN dim beam
brightly on us, and faces on which the
dust oi'rhe valley hath lain for many a
year, live once more beinrd us. Loving
arms are gently twined around us in II
fond cfiibraet; and we wander delight
edly along with the joy of one who has
recovered the treasure most priZed
which for lime was lost
Through mansions fair, ilIumined by
the light Of other days--rhat light which
goes out in the heart when the eye Of
some loved one grows dim; through
rose gardens rCd0lent with fragrant
mor!es: halting in the STA. light and
the moonlight of re-swakened hope and
love, listening to fountains tiat sweet
~ siHg Of tae 5yGone; and lpll our sor-
rows all TO resI-onward we wander,
forgetting all, save the exquisite JOY OF
being reunited to that which we have
lo.ed and lost. But soon alas the light
which CLEANS like halo around lis dies
out, one by one, friend by friend drops
away from our side, and at every foot
step we tread upon II grave! And
through the dim lig IL rise sculptured
urtls aud phlp Sni,.as tbar fnIi i'm
lent tones, of what has been, but is no
more.
Far in the distance more shadowy
forms, which the spirit OF the past re-
veals unto the soul. Men, whose names
have shaken the earth in centuries IL
gone, whose deeds will live and thrill
down to the latest time, move side by
side with those whose lives OF sweet
simplicity have died ont like the per-
fume OF hidden flowers. felt, but ulseen.
Heroic martyrs, the tale of whose suf-
ferings will blanch the check of genera
tions yet to come; patriots. whose no.
bic deeds have thrilled to heroism many
a heart; poets;. whose sweet songs still
float melodious DER the earth, although
the Tyre they wokelis for e evmu5e, and
the cunning fingers cold in death, those
who bavc sned tears OF blood, and those
who have suifered--heaven only knows
now much yet gave 40 sign.
The solemn chimes of the night fall
on my ear, and as come back from the
dream world TO thaI OF the actual---out
from the land of the dead past into iiy-
ing, breathing tutare--therc rests upon
my heart the fragrance of sw eet memo
ries which have gathered, even rs we
gather flowers from other graves.