The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1874-12-23

An ancient girl, in Soo,h;
The dizzy room is ringing
: With hor shril song of youth;
! The white keys sob as swift she tries
Each shrill and shrieking scale:
"Oh, love is like the roscs!' cries
This muslincd nightingale.
In dark corner doing
close my eyes and ears,
And call up, while repoSing,
A glimpse from other years;
A genre-piciure, quaint and Dutch,
! see from this dark seat
'TiS full of human brightness, such
AS makes remembrance sweet.
Flat leagues of endless meadows
In Holland lies the scene),
Where many pollard shadows
O'er nut-brown bitches lean;
Gray clouds above that never break,
MlSlS LuC p14C SuNUCdIlo otiIpSb
With groups Of stcaming cattle, make
A landscape "after Cuyp."
A windmill, aud below it
A cottage near road,
Where some meek pastoral poet
Might make glad abode;
A cottage with garden, where
Prim squares of pansies grow,
And, sitting on garden-chair,
A dame with locks of snow.
In trim black, trusscd and bodiced,
With petticoat Of red.
And on Lcr bosom modest
A kerchief white bespread.
Alas! the breast that heaYeS below
Is shriveled now and thin,
Though vestal thoughts as white as snow
Still palpitate within.
Her hands are mittcned nicely,
And folded on her knee;
Her lips, thai meet precisely,
Are moving quietly.
She listens while the dreamy bells
Ger the dark fats intone-
Now coue, now gone, in dying swells
The Sabbath-soundS are blown.
Her cheek withered rose is,
Her eyes . violet dim;
Half ir her chair she dozes,
And huns happy hymn.
But soft! what wonder makes her start
And lift her aged head,
While the faint futterings Of her heart
Just touca her checks with red?
The latch clicks; through the gateway
An aged wight steps slow,
Then pauses, dofing straightway
His broad-brimmed gay chapeau!
SwalIow-tailed coat of blue so grand,
With buttons bright beside,
He wears, and in his trembling hand
A nosegay, ribbon-tied.
His thin old legs trip lightly
In breeches Of nankeen,
His wrinkled face looks brightly,
So rosy, fresh and clean;
For Old he is and wrinkled plain,
With locks Of golden gray,
| A,,I 1a,n F,-
lie hobbies on his way.
Oh. sky lark, singing over
The silent mill hard by,
To this SO happy lover
Sing ou, with summcr.cry!
He hears thee, though his blood is cold,
She hears, though deaf and weak;
She stands to greet him, as Of old,
a blush upon her check.
In Spring time they were parted
BY some sad wind Of woe;
Forlorn and brokcn-heaytcd
Each faltered, long ago;
They parted: half a century
Each took the path of pain
lie lived bachelor, and she
Was never wooed again.
But when the Summer ended.
When Autumn, too, was dead,
When every vision splendid
Ofyouth and hope was fed,
Againithese twain came face to face
As in the long ago;
! They met within sunless place
In the season of the snow.
"Oh, love is like the roses,
Love comes and love must fee!
Before the Summer closes
Loves rapture and loves glee!"
Oh peace! for in the garden there
He bows in raiment gay,
Doffs hat, and with courtly air
Presents his fond bouquet.
One day in every seven,
While church-bells softly ring,
The happy, silent heaven
Beholds the self-same thing:
The gay old boy within the gate,
With ribbons al his knee;
"When winter comes is love too late2"
O Cupid, look and see!
Oh, talk not Of loves rapture,
When youthful lovers kiss;
What mortal sight may capture
A scene so sweet as this?
Beside her now he sits and glowS,
While prim she sits, and proud,
Then, spectacles upon his nose,
Reads the weeks news aloud!
Pure, with no touch Of passion,
True, with no tinse of pain:
Thus, in sweet Standardization.
They live their love again,
She sees in him happy boy
Swift, agile, amorous-eycd;
He sees in her his own hearts joy
Youth, hope, love vivified!
Content there he sits smoking
His long Dutch pipe Of wood;
Gossiping of: and joking,
AS gay lover should,
And oft, while there in company
They smile for loves sweet sake,
Her s,uff.box black she hands, ana ne
A grave, deep pinch doth take!
There gravely j2venescent,
In sober Sabbathjoy,
Mingling the past and present.
: \ - ,oojI or6 hovI