The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1875-04-13
1nehg
PICTURES IN THE FIRE.

A poem by Miss ALICE WILLIAMS, ol
Cincinnati-a graduate of Hughes High
School-Class of 1870
I am sitting by the glowing fire tonight;
Wall and ceiling all around me cleaning il
the crimson light;
Rain. drops patter on the window, autumn
winds are rising higher,
AS 1 sit here idly musing, seeing pictures ir
the fire.
Ghostly shadows.dark and erie, dance and flick
er on the wall, ~
rAs if troops of weird hobgoblins were holding
carnival;
Reckoning, waving, now receding. swiftly now
approaching higher,
Yet heed them not, for gazing on pictures il
the fire.
Should you glance across my shoulder. yor
perohance could only see
Heaps of coal and glowing em5ers, bat thos
same Goals show to me
| 1uduy nccuo VI psiioueu Plcuouie, NoniSHcs
hope and past desire;
All my life is here before me in these picture
in the fire.
Deep in yonder crimson cavern slowly grows
vision fair,
Of tiny, blue-eyed maiden, with bright curl
of golden hair,
Bending low in breathless wonder DER som
marvellous fairy tale,
Wandering amid the flowers by the brooklet il
the dale.
Dancing, playing in the meadow, chasing but
terfy and bee,
Knceling now to lisp prayer softly at tn
mothers knee
Then the crumbling coal sinks slowly, and tn
dancing flames leap higher,
And before my eyes there forms another pic
ture in the fire
'Tis the image of student bending Ger tn
lettered page
OF massive volume, filed with knowledg
culled from every age.
o, 10 gain the heights of learning, though t
| gain were TO expire.
Once again the settling elnbers change tn
picture in the fire.
Down green lane fringed with flowers, yout
and maiden slowly pass;
| ~ Il - ,6oJo al
round them on the grass,
Flowers are springing, birds are singing, al
unheeded by the two,
Telling DER the old, old story, told so oft, bu
ever new.
By one whispered word TIVE souls are mate
.;..----------
And two hearts beat on forever in one perfec
holy chime.
Brighter CLEAN the roseate hollows, and th
gay flames dance higher,
And there comes before my eyes another pi,
ture in the fire.
Children's graceful forms are gaily sporting
wild with childish glee,
Baby fingers gently lingering round tf
mothers knee;
Older now the face, and paler, yet, despite Il
altered guise,
Known the self-same, through all changes,
the love-hght in the eyes.
r Perfect peace and love dwell ever in the quie
= humble home;
, Aye, and happiness far surer than is four
) meath palace dome;
e Lower fall the fickering fame-tongues, ar
the CHASTITY shades creep higher,
I But beheld them not, for gazing on my pictur
4 in the fire.
Lowering clouds are sadly weeping in gent
I'll mist-like rain,
!. AS across the verdant meadow slowly moves
al funeral train
e "Dust to dust" the parson murmurs; "thous
e the form sleeps meath the sod.
Yet the spirit stands transagured in the pre-
4 ence of its God"
Earth-clods dropping on the coffin send throus
heart and brain the thrill
r OF sickening sense of loneness-all the wor
seems dark and chill
: Down into the cavern slowly sinks the funer
1 pyre,
And see through tear-dimmed lashes 9th
r pictures in the fire.
Many by-gone brilliant pageant glitters
yon crimson haze;
! Scenes of Joy and sorrow fit before my VISIT
. gaze
p One by one they rise before me, one by Of
? they fade away,
e Till view amid the embers this, my own for,
old and gray.
All alone silent figure, gazing on dyil
fire,
o One by one my friends have fallen in the stri
and "gone up higher"
a I alone am left to wander through earths d
p serted ways,
Ever gazing sadly backward in the light
: other days.
y Lord, how long! am so weary; let thy Sc
o want find rest,
, With the loved ones who have journeyed to t
!. regions of the blest.
: All my labor here is ended, and wait wi
Il folded haads
r Till the summons of thine angel calls me to
s better lands.
+ In the gathering gloom Tn sitting by the lor
}. ly hearth tonight;
In the darkening CRATE before mo slowly d
S the Htful light,
S Fades the last faint crimson glimmer, as
e crumbling Goals expire,
: Naught is left but dead ashes of nay pictures
the fire.
A bill which is before the Tenness
State Senate contains the following Sc
d tioE: "That bachelorism is hereby d
II c.ared a privilege, and every male inha
a liant of this State, over thirty years
J age, being of sound mind and enjoyil
It good bodily health, remaining unmarri