Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-01-13

'ri,o land DER who-c brightness no shadow.
are cast,
Where the monarch and begg,r are equal at last -
That knows not the coffin, the shr1ud or the bier
And where 'ti- forever one bright Happy Year
The ShortueSs of Time.
Live as long as you may, the first ;weu-
ty years Of your liieis the longest half Of it;'
this was said by one of our modern writer's,
and doubt whether any thing more true
was ever said by any man
Don't you fnd-you that have reached
middle life, and you that are approaching
middle liie-that time passes much more
quickly than it used to pass Don't you
find. when the evening comes and the days
work is over, that it seems only few mo-
ments since the day work began You may
have been very busy but when you return
home to your children it appears a very short
time since you left them in the morning OF
course there are exceptional seasons, as when
health is bad, or when a heavy grief presses
on you but on the whole, is it not now
subject of constant remark that the days pass
with incredible rapidity?
And don't you remember when tne case
was very different Don't you remember
how long the day used to be, when you your
self were child-what u crowd OF delight
full interests multiplied and diversified the
hours-and how extensive the prospect was
when you looked toward the future The
fact is, you and your children are living lives of
different lengths in the same space of time
The day is far longer to them than to you
They feel as if time would never end. You
feel, when you think Of it., as if its begin.
ming and its ending were almost the same
When they lay their little heads on the pill
low, weary with their twelve hours play
their toys broken.-ther excitement about
triHes at an end-their merry laugh, their
eager quarrels, at length brought to pause
those twelve hours have made, to them,
very large period in their existence, Your
toys too, perhaps, are broken--you too may
have been occupied with trAes-your laugh.
ter may have been ughtless-your quar-
res inconsiderate--bu your longer, your
more responsible day, has been far shorter
than theirs
1t might not be very difficult to explain
this. Our sense of the lapse of time does
not depend enterly, or even chiefly, on the
duration of the time itself. When impress
sious are vivid, lorcibe and fresh, the time
seems long. When the events of our lives
are monotonous and niform-if only mean
while we are in diligeut oceupation--the time
seems short Any man may test this for
himself by comparing passages of his own ex-
perience. The first few days spent in new
place are longer than those that succeed
them but soon the novelty is past and then
the stream moves on, quietly and rapidly as
before. And no one, ON the other side, needs
to be reminded that days of anxiety and
watching, when the mind is consciously on
the stretch, are irightfully long At the bat
tie Of Waterloo, for instance, can You not
imagine, if you remember the circumstances
of that engagement, how different was the
length of that summer day to the great cap
tain, ON the one hand, on whom rested all
the suspense and responsibility aud to some
private soldier in the ranks, on the other,
actively occupied and with nothing to think
of but to be prompt and to obey
How desirable then to make sure of doing
something in the present which really win
bear good fruit in the future
All me
There is no rest
W hat rein can curb our headstrong hours
They post away they pass, we know not how
Our Now Is gone before we can say Now
Time past and futures none of ours
That hath as yet no being
And this hath ceased to be
What is. is only ours how short Il time have wei"
-...s
a BEAUTIFUL PAssAGE.-Artesan wells
are sunk through the sod of the prairies,
through the loan, through the gravel through
Al. l.