Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1871-12-23
Home.
IRON the CousRatts Times

Nh home. sweet. sweet home WHAT
...suoe but delicious emotions thrill
.hs heart as the symphonies OF that
ua.ut;ful word smite the cords OF
samorv and of love! The earliest ie-
collections of youth are OF tnat noiy
Lace, that heayen-given habltatioh
rrhore divine lessons fell from moth
w., Inns and the sage counsels anu ad-'
.aor;t;ous of a father, implanted them
.elyes upon the young m'nu WIN III.
nrad;cable force. Wander wherever
nan may in the broad, seething,
tumultuous world; amid whatever
scenes NAV be cast his eventiui hie;
surrounded with whatsoever aSsocia-
,ions and circumstances among the
rrand living, moving masses OF earth,
the,e IL ever an hour when the memo
w of home, his childhoods home, Will
TRANSPORT his mental vision to by gone
Years. and cause him to behold the
very similitude of the scenes ana places
at early days. No change OF seasons
or time or place can ever banisn from
the humah heart the longing. iinger-
inv contemplation of the happiest mo mo
,ne,,fs uf earths probation; those mo-
,nents ballowed Ia memory by the SON
rcn;ys of happy childhood. All, how
soJ and desolated must be that mans
heart. acrosswhose tendrils the incense
of a mothers love never quavered
among the bowers OF chiidhcods home
How callus and insensate must 1t be,
If it can not recall moments spent III
holy aspirations at the mothers knee /;
or in listening TO fathers daily invo-
cations of Gods blessings upon the
dear ones of his heart, as they ascend
ed at vesper hour to the Great Throne
or which can not remember the festive
sports of childhoOds prattllng hours
among the dells and hills OF his natal
habitation
But oh if there be one place OF earth
holier than another it is when roaming
.discontented man buiies the worlds
love out of sight, and finds paradise
by the hearth stone of the home OF his
manhood horRs. 1t is there that no
vexatious cares for worldly concerns
may rise up as grim spectres to disturb
the unmingled felicities OF his soul
hut, with the cherished, precious
treasures vouchsafed from on High,
he finds a safe asylum, o very refuge
from the contaa,ination of earthly van
tiles and vices, may if he choose, gath
or unto lfmselfsH of the highest, and
noblest and nest hallowed blessings
of our sublunary existence. Then too,
no man realizes, or can realize the
depth, and the height and the breadth
of the meansag of the word HOME till
ho has wandered and strayed away
from his household gods. All, then it
ia that the heart cries cut with the la
mentations OF grief, aR1 longing love
and despair for the restoration efdts
idols. Then it is, that pillows OF ray.
less gloom sweep over the soul. and
the world, with all its glare and poiall
and glittering pleasures can give TIC
relief or Joy or hope; bat, struggling
and battling to seem what it is not
struggling and battling to seem Joyous
and careless and full OF hope and
buoyancy when its every cell rs a.
withered grass and as a parched sd
hara. that heart means an and signs
with none to hear the echo OF its plain
tive woes but its own ianerself A
last, mayhap, if fate, az fortune, or
God, in whom alone eve live ant
move and have our being" Wills snt
il man be true to himself, the gloon
will he dissipated, and Hcme will agar
appear to the wanderer, aud baPi',
hearts will sing paeans of joy at hl
,d,-.c+ All fhara Ia no word SO ful