The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1870-10-20
For the News.
UTOP1AN HIGHLANDS.
BY vtLETrE VtLLARs.

names and cOstlier equipages at Long
Branch, Saratoga, and shOddyviller
but no happier hearts than beat in the
bosoms of the tourists who wehded
their way to the Utopian Highlands
Pure air, magnificent scehery, and
springs Of medicinal qualities, have
been praised through list of adject-
ives that cannot fail to satisfy the most
ardent lover of hills and wales.
As reporter, I may not find favor in
the eyes of the fashionable world, by
minute descriptions of Partisan styles.
There were morning gowns Of lawn
and cambric afternoon founces and
rufdes, but "Mrs. Grundy" left the
first week of the season, because a
reighiug belle appeared three successive
evenings in the same attirej and main-
tanned her position in society. There
were laughed-at, timid ones, who
shrieked at sight Of stupendous cliffs,
and ever and anon carried basket
laden with geological specimens. The
only one of the party who had taken
the degrees of wife and mother, de-
serves especial mention for her devo-
ton to the jewel entrusted to her care.
Her maternal affection enhanced her
charms, and in these frivolous times,
it did our heart good to see one woman
thankfully and lovingly accept Heav-
ems best gift, nor sigh for wider
sphere OF influence, forgetting dear
ones at home, In eager desire to revO-
Ilutionize, civilize, and Christianize ~
the WORLD!
The pen glides smoothly, the room
seems Frightened. as memory recalls
another-a very bird of song, a ray
of sunshine, a type of all that is fair
and beautiful. She filled the halls
with glee; the wayside stream tinkIed
gladly when she stood beside it, and
ere many days, the eyes Of a noble
youth grew bright with lOve-light,
while her voice was to him music
more charming than song of celestial
band. When relentless Time hurried
her away, we wept with one accord,
and her lover, wrapt in poetic grief,
wrote in words unmistakable,
.. Westward the star of beauty tends,
Hryi.eart goes westward too"
and over the boundary of his native
State his heart wandered till he needs
must go in search of the prodigal.
Perhaps most unpresuming, surely
greatest in intellect, were two college
friends, late graduates of noted
University. Fame has reserved
space in her Temple for them. The
young Attorney, with words Of elo-
.quence, will thrill many a heart, at
the bar, in Congressional halls-per-
chance from the Presidential chair;
while his friend, imparting strength
to weak humanity, walks on in the
broad fields of science till his name
stands high among the learned.
There were others too, seeking re-
spite from srhool-cares-an on the
threshold of Life, looking out on the
worlds arena-cahdidates for Useful
ness and well-earned names. All this
merry making has been a season Of
improvement mentally, as well as
physically. To the truth of this as
sertion, parlOr walls, having mutely
heard poetry, fiction and philosophy
read and discussed, may testify.
But now the gay circle is broken /;
glad songs are changed to mOurnful
an reUoir8. The slowly falling rain
ushers in the prince of months, Octo-
Der, with his regal crown of gold and
crimson forest his spIendor untouched
by the yelling of the sum- and his
majestic tread no less firm, though
soft tears fall over departed joys.
The laugh or jest may resodnd
through counting or schoUl-tOOm, but
summer friends will not join in the
glee. It is well for reunions to occupy
the brief season of sun shine and fair
weather; for vacation to come with
Spring flowers and birds, and return to
labor when flowers fade, and feathered
songsters seek a more cODgenial cline.
It is all typical of Life's great summer
season, when no clouds blur the fnan-
cial sky. But in the turn of Fortunes
wheel, as in the revolutions of the
earth, the wintry season comes. Then
seek for summer friends in vain
Beneath snow, storms, and leaden
skies, tempest-tost trees gain strength
by battling with the unclaimed ele-
ments, till dawn of Spring proclaims
victory. Then, putting on their robes
of green, they nod approval of one
another's valor, and danger being past,
violets and daisies peer up, decking
the gnarled trunks, unconscious that
they hid their heads when most their
smile was needed.
Take it not unkindly-this allusion
to "summer friends" mueh-loved
tourists, but warned by earnest voice,
be strong in day Of adversely, reach
forth warm hand and hold with firm
grasp those weak in Winters ordeal,
and make them, through your strength,
strong as Lebanon's sacred cedars.
The Fifteenth Amendment has
penetrated the intrenched camp of