Middletown transcript., 1869-02-27
nIY BoYHOoD,s HOME.

just at the top of the sloping lawn
Where the elm and the locust stand,
And the blooming lilac meets the view
By the cooling zephyr famed,
Where ike Lombardy poplar lifts its head
To meet the rising storm,
And the mulberry sheds its worm-like flowers,
Stands the house where was born.
Its massive walls of unhewn stone
Full many mark they bear,
Of a childish hand, untaught, unlearned,
With a heart untrammeled by care;
For oft have in my boyhood's days
Struck hard on the flinty stone,
And laughed in my glee as the sparks fell round
From the walls of my childhood's home.
And oft have in my earlier days
Reclined at the noontide hour
Meath the shadowy arms of the tall old trees
That Knocked the suns broad power,
, And oft to the mowers in the field,
In the days of my youth gone by,
Borne cooling draughts from springs that wei
At the foot of the hill hard by.
l see them yet those stalwart men,
~ Slow swaying to and fro,
While meath their stroke the waving grass,
Cut by the scythe, falls low
see them too, when homeward bound,
Their day hard labor done,
Pass slowly FER the stubbled field
Lit by the setting sun.
- Now yonder rill attracts my gaze,
1 Slow winding through the mead
Twas here l culled the violets,
Nor to fleet time gave heed;
Twas oft the scene of boyhood's pranks,
OF rambles wild and free,
And oft, reclining on its banks,
] dreamed of times to be.
Not far from here, the creek adown
A breast-work placed across
hundred years or more above
The wagons passed across
The sily'ry rill Pm mentioning,
Helped swell the rising tide
Where with kindred spirits oft,
Swan DER 1t side by side.
Now down the stream cast my eyes
My dream of life is DER,
Where once | roamed beneath the shade
The wild trees wave no more;
Where once the wildwood flung its shade
Ger hillside, stream, and dell,
The brambles link their thorny arms
Rude hands the trees have felled.
Those trees loved-so fondly loved
Beneath whose boughs | strayed,
Oft sought them in the summer time,
= And with my brothers played
- Off sought them in the nutting time,
When leaves bestrewed the ground,
And echoes from the murd ring gun
Made hills and woods resouud
The rabbit sought the cooling shade
The gray squirrel loved so well,
The partridge took its whirring fight
Where wood-cocks loved to dwell;
The jay, the crow, the busy wren,
The wild hawk soaring high,
The meek-eyed robin with her brood,
Passed not the green wood by.
Unawed by man. by boy, or hound,
The chatcring ground-squirrel hied,
Now perched upon root or stone
The falling nuts he eyed.
And oft in autumn's chilly days
lie robbed me of my prize,
a. The cunning elf would not harm
Just see those sparkling eyes.
See see those pouching checks,
That quickly twirling tail,
He's tn .re-he's not SO fleet
Well catch him on that rail-
i. The nuts he s dropped-hes scared indeed !;
I-s-- Pm sure we have him here
Halo ! why who'd have thonght
He had hole so very near
Twas often thus in boyhood's days,
q, While rowing through the glen,
trapped the rabbit and the squirrel
All ! was happy then;
! rocked not of the cares of life,
| thought not ofitS i'll,
cared but for the wild green wood
And loved its shaded rills.
little thought that troubles came
So soon upon the mind,
little thought that should leave
- Ny home SO soon behind;
/ never thought our household group
s | loved SO well to greet
Would ever be q broken band
So seldom now We meet.
Bnt evcr-changing, restless Time,
Unccasing in his round,
Has broken in thousand ways
The ties by which twas bound
And /, the youngest of that band,
Selfstyled ''the wandering one'
Have but one hopc-beyond the grave
Gods holy kingdom won.
The years pass slowly, one by one,
The past ones review,
The future-ah dare not dream,
Past pledges they'll renew.
On past scenes gone, but not forgot,
Ny memory loves to dwell,
& 1t tires not of the dear, dear spot
ba oil