The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-02-27

! cletlcs be tied to my name till it was as
+ fchg as the chains which ghosts who jnhab
1t the genuine old school of haunted houses
are said to patronize. But it was not long
before discovered that sanguine, eager
| mind does not possess the disposition to
! graphic with abstruse subjects. Sol aban-
! doned this ''lrst love- but not quite. |
/ took enough of mathematics not to spoil
! my success in that classical literature which
! was now usurping SO large a share of my
affections.
Three or four years passed. was no
/ longer an undergraduate. l was "a splen-
/ did classic''-at least so my friends, SO
( the examinationlist, and, last and by no
means least, my vanity took care to inform
me. | walked over the course to a fel-
lowship," went down the Rhine, read the
classics with few select pupils, looked i'll
the glass, and thought I was very like
thirty years of age. ''And I am a splen-
did classic - thought l.
''Amd nothing more" whispered voice
that seemed very like that Of a ghost who
used always to warn me of the coming
death of one Of my ''first loves"
Why did my chambers look so dull and
comPanionless Did the fire blaze with
less hearty glow Did it reflect less be-
loved names as it spansled the gilt vel
lum backs of some of my pet quartos :?
Was the Turkey carpet less soft to the feet,
and had the deep maroon curtains lost
their deep, heavy repose Alas the
hau
spirit of my own discomfort, with the con-
seriousness of a life only half fulfilled and
another ''first love- was weeping the death
she could not avert.
And now | looked back at my past life,
and as l gazed into the fire as it glowed be
fore me, | seemed to see all my 'ffrst
loves pass before me, even as the kings
IN Banquo's glass, and l unused strangely
within myself.
The ghost of past life is heavy, COM
planning, repentant spirit ''IIad I but
done this ''If I had reflected on that"
'lf | had but known" and so on, human
nature ever trying to realize anticipations
never formed, and proudly calculating on |
the re suits of what mans providence
might have done, if higher providence
had not put the veto on the very thoughts
which might have averted-perchance a |
fancied evil, more often real good.
l suppose blushed-but the fire was
really very wSrm-as l thought of my |
0oyish attachment to GeoTgina. And then |
klndlier spirit seemed to whisper that no |
part of mans life is given him in vain,
md that even the silliest romance of a
'choolboy's first attachment'' may be
raught with an influence on his after
'eaIs, of which he has little knowledge,
till less honesty to confess.
Nor was 1t without pleasure that the
spectral cricket ground rose before my
light. 1t told a happy story of many
wicket ingloriously lost by the SUI g. ior
bowling of Tom Brown, and of certain
triumphant supper when ''our hedges l
lad recklessly broken through, or those
ponds | had foTded in state of costume
'athel Hibernian than English, speak very
)Itter words Of reproach. Even the ghost
# Newton seemed to speak consolingIy.
md bevy Of classic authors seemed TO
N'@-N u !
-ergraduate constructing, and the more
erlous false quantities" of non-public
choolmen.
But what was the lesson they taught ?
imply this: That no single part of a |
nan life is useless i'll itself--no part use-
nj by itself l had all along been the slave
I one thing or another. A ''ffrst love- ,
7hcther it was Georgina, my cricket bat.
T herodotus, had monopolized my whole
nergies, and l had cultivated one object
o the exclusion of all others.
And now for the moral. Facts and prac-
ice do the best teaching, after all there
ore, hear me little longer, and will tell
on how | now live.
First of all, am married. Mrs. Smith
not my first love > but, on the word
happy, happy husband, she is my
hly, and will be my last. Secondly. | d
IN play and romp with my own children. !
well rs my father once played and ;
'mped with mo. Thirdly, 1 have intro {
nced a new and Il delight to say success 5
Il method of bringing clean water into !
re poorest and least cared-for portions Of 5
lr neighborhood. And, lastly, | am I
iIting new edition of ''Demosthenes, d
which l hope to show that l have. at
Il events, not quite forgotten my Greek.
Dear readers, do not believe in ssirst
'ves-' They are, perhaps, among the /
est and hsppiest of cur misfortnnes. but
'lSfortunes they are. We are guilty of
5 much seltishness when we deify one
nrsut as we are inconsistent when we at !
'mpt to excel in all. Man was never
ade to live in objective infatuation. His
'riy lie is made up of parts, strange and {
enough, perchance but it is
'e union OF these parts which makes the
I'm total Of human duty aud human hap
mess.
% IMPROVE HoGs.-The editor of the
'"iSiana' Mo, Press, in relating what he
nows about farming touches uD the hoo t