Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1877-02-16
THE SENTINEL.
For The Sentinel
Goodbye, Old Home"

" Goodbye, old home, she said, as she
waved her hand and turned half joyfully
half sadly, toward the home of her childhood
which was passing from her sight forever.
All, from what light, unmeaning hearts come
our fairest and most touching words. We
weep over words that fall lightly from tutored
lips, all unco nscious of the emptiness of the
unfathomed recesses Of the human heart Too
often are our best words a mockery
and pretense--a vision of hypocrisy to
lead the thirsty seeker after the waters Of
truth and love upon the parched regions Of
GOODNESS and gloom. And then, again, when
the tongue gives no sign Of feeling, when, be-
meath the " stole eye and aspect stern" there
can be detected no sympathetic emotion how
often is the heart bursting with its boundless
wealth Of affection or sorrow. We find but
little truth in life when once the chaf Of de-
eeption is winnowed from the good seeds OF
sincerity and constancy, and life at most is
little better than n train of coneeits, a shifting
stage of pretenses and shams. Man looks be-
yond this tickle world for realization OF his
fondest dreams OF purity and love. Were be
confined 10 the poor, deceptive things of life
for comfort and consolation, his heart would
be as barren of the fruits Of hope and conf
dence as the desert is of the bright flowers OIL
Spring.
Perhaps the poor young thing knew not the
force OF those words, spoken so lightly; why
should she, child MS she WAS She had known
Of he nft I,a he
heartlessness of its people. Caressed, hum
ored, BATTERED through all her young life, she
looked upon life as a picture without blemish
or shadow, expecting naupht but a continue
lion Of the scene OF pleasure and adulation
through which she had passed Perhaps all
sadness Mt leaving the old home was dispeled
by the bright visions she had formed of the
happiness that was in store for her as the wife
OF the man AT her side. She was sacrificing
the joys OF home on the altar Of the love she
bore him, and as they moved farther on from
The scene of all her youthful joys she drew
closer to his manly form, as il there lay all Ter
hopes of life and its protection and comforts
AS the coach rolel onward and the turret
of the dear old mansion was sinking beneath
the intervening hills, again the little hand was
thrown upwards aud "a final Goodbye, old
bone, was uttered. But, all how different
fell The words now. Even then the picture OF
life was changing. Now the heart began to
speak before the tongue breathed the liquid
farewell. They had passed the brook whose
silver water her chds feet had many time
rimpled, and the meadow from which she had
gathered the first vioets of spring or over
which she had rollicked with all the zest Of a
careless country girl when the hay lay swathed
before the scythe of the mowe-, stretched far
away along the peaceful brook, dotted here
and there with an elm o. maple, all COM
panions of her young life Then the quiet
stream broke over a rocky bel where many a
time she had stood and listened enraptured 10
the drelry music or tried to follow The sport
lag wave with her eve ms it leapt onward to
its destiny. Then the grand old forest through
which she had rambed with childhood com
panions, to gather the glossy cheslnuts, the
clusters Of grapes, or the many colored leaves,
TO work aud weave them with all the rude art
OF child's hand, rose TO her sight, and she
Almost fancied she could hear the voices OF
those she had met there, speaking out of its
Heavenly serenity. Farther on, the little
square grove which surrounded the rude log
school-house rose TO view, with the swing, the
playhouse and the flower-bed, as she and her
companions had left them in days before, all
Of which told their story of childish JOY, and
left their impress upon her heart. Perhaps
some object there told its secret story Of first
love- which she had laughed and wept over in
memory, and which seemed very sad and
sweet rs she looked back upon it. Perhaps,
too, this first love had been cut in twain By
death, and il may be she saw the green spo
where that love seemed to end, even in the cold
grave. And there, too, almost hidden from
view by the huge chestnuts that surrounded
the little church. stood the monuments which
bore the beloved name OF father and mother
Perhaps the recolections these called forth
started the glisenng tear-6rop and prompted
the half-articulaed Goodbye, old home
Perhaps she remembered the prayer which she
y had lisped when kneeling at her mothers side,
or the last blessing of the tongue that could
speak no more, and almost feared that the
piomise then given would be forgotten amidst
thecares and struggles of life.
Aas these were thoughts which moved the
hearttlSSt stilled The tongue. Then, for the
mrs. Time in her life, she felt the full force Of
those beautiful words she had so often sung in
that quiet little grove when the heart felt no
care, no sorrow, no longing for the unattain-
able
1.-THE heart speaks most when the lips move
not
And the eye speaks gentle goodbye
How soon would those sad, sweet thoughts
pass away amidst The JOYS or the sorrows of
life. "0ut 6f sight would they not soon pass
out Of mind 2" She could not acknowledge
that; but in bidding a last goodbye to the
old home, was she not passing away from the
brightest and happest period Of her life 2"
That was question she could not keep down,
but which she could not fairly answer then .
she hoped not. The world seemed to her then
all strewn with roses, and the man she had
promised TO love and honor was all perfection
IN her eyes; and why should he not have
beene Could she be expected to break loose
from the sacred confines % the old home an d
all the hallowed associations centered there for
anything short of perfection ia the man she
loved2 Ali great was the responsibility
resting upon him who had thus won the love
Of a faithful and conGding heart. What less
could he do than cherish and cultivate love
that would yield all for him2 We could not
do else than join the fair young thing in re-
posing confidence In human honor and integ-
rity but how often is such love, when the
howers of passion have faded, been allowed TO
hunger and thirst for the realization of the
hearts fondest expectations how often when
the wakeiul dream of love is past does the
eonhding soul, finding no solid ground upon
watch 10 rest its hopes, turn 10 sad, sweet
memory, TO the home of childhood, which,
when il passed out of sight, bore with il all OF
LIES joys. and exclaim Goodbye all of
hfe's fondest hopes, goodbye, old home -
Y.
SINGULAR PRopERTY or TOMATO LEAVES -
planted peach orchard writes NJ Siroy,
OF the society Of horticulture Valparaiso and