The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-07-12


time above described and visit with the
other dear friends of long ago.
At Atlanta 1 found aged maternal rel
atives and their jolly, happy daughters,
who knew me at glance in spite OF
wrinkles which they had never seen
and gray hairs that they knew not OF.
1t seemed almost wicked to allow my
much-changed features to be reflected
from the mirror which had been my
mothers in her youth, and which j, in
long gone years, had so often studied, as
is young ladies' wont, but ! looked at
last, and was startled to see how much
more my altered face resembled moth
er's than my own. L stood exPectant,
as if waiting to hear her speak, but aunt
addressed me by my girlhoOd's name
and broke the sudden spell. In one cor
ner of the cozy sitting-roOm sat grand
mothers vacant chair. She had been
for many years a cripple-dear blue
eyed, golden-haired old darling-and
her amputated foot yet sleeps in the lit
tie garden of the long ago. The chair in
question was of the most primitive, sub
stantial pattern, guiltless of paint or
polish, but secured to a severe whitness,
with its plethoric cushion of feathers
covered with n snowy case upon which
she rested her crippled limb while en-
gagged i'm her household duties long after
I .1.sg1 HaI rrfad into annf har
home. How severely neat, precise and
prim she was! And how love to think
that when she reached the shining shore
she found no dirt to blemish and no
grease TO tarnish her immaculate sur
roundings. What terror to us children
was her mania for cleanliness! How
good and loving and solicitOus she was
when one of us grew sickl
Grandfather's well-worn Bible and
hymn book lie near the vacant chair
Tears blind me as write; but after all,
thank Heaven! their work on earth is
done, and it is better so!
At Delevan 1 encountered more ma
ternal relatives and other dear friends of
other times, with whom for several
days / visited, devoting the evenings to
lectures, and crowning the last one of
my sojourn by attendance at a ''China
Wedding" with the principal actors of
which / had cause to cherish sacred
memories. The wedding was a grand
affair, the gifts Were splendid, and ev-
erybody appeared happy. Twenty years
of welded life have set lightly and
gracefully upon the "bride," but the
"groom" has almost faded from my
mortal vision, though his soul shines
through his eyes as of old, and in his
voice / can recall the cadenees of yore.
We were "young folks" when L saw
him last, but on this Occasion-after
twenty years-his son, a fine, manly
fellow of nineteen, escorted me home
from the party, and his wife and chill
dren kissed me goodbye on the door
step. Such is life. Sunday morning,
and my friend the "groom" conveyed
me in a carriage to the homestead OF
my youth. How changed and yet how
familiar We're the many scenes l wit
messed! Everything seemed hampered
and diminutive, but how dear and vivid
were the many memories of old that
thronged and pressed and crowded me
Another dear friend of the golden long
ago is the gratified owner Of the patri-
archal grounds, and royalty does he
keep and care for them. An uncle from
q dozen miles away, whom L had not
met for quarter of a century, having
learned that would visit the farm that
day, was there before us; and after din
ner we all strolled out through the fields
and pastures, over the well-remembered
, grounds and through the well-kept or
charCis, past the sites where once resided
both ancestral families, beside the
graves of long-departed dear ones, along
the banks of the Branch" a stream in
the pasture whose every rock and crook
was to me a reminiscence; and while
gazed upon all of these, and turned from
objects inanimate to the changed fea-
lures of my dear companions, the tablet
of unutterable thoughts was traced upon
my soul, and wished, oh, how fervent-
ly! that we were young once againl
But the desire was only for a moment.
/ would not, if could, recall the twenty
years.
My friend and I spent the night with
r other relatives, among whom many
gaps have been made by Death, and in
the morning, with dear cousin Celia, we
repaired to the graveyard to spend an
hour among our dead. cannot dwell
upon this subject now. brought away
mementoes from each well-remembered
ones last resting-place, and when my
Muse is ready will do them up in verse.
The trunk is packed now, and the last
bundle is ready, so we must leave these
"reminiscences and start with mine host
Of the old homestead and his bright
eyed wife to Peoria, where am to take
the cars for Council Bluffs and home.
Reached the Bluffs at 8 \. NJ on the
24th inst, where my fathers sister, who
had not seen me for twenty-eight years,
but who knew me by the "family resem-
blance," for which we are all noted, met
me with a CHEEKY welcome, and in her
cool and quiet guests chamber sit and
scribble, scarce needing the flying mo-
ments.
Have engaged to lecture here two
evenings, and will then write again.