The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-07-13
Summer Evenings.

] Iner6 Is an all-peFVa0l0g anu QlHu-
sive charm about a summer evening
anywhere. In the country, where the
air is fragrant with the breath of honey
suckle and rose, and perfumed, besides,
with a thousand subtle scents too
transient and delicate to be separately
defined, the evening is the climacteric
of the day. Not morning, with its
wondrous sparkle and shine, its glisten-
ing pearls suspended from myriad
! branches, its evanescent clouds, and its
chorus of song; not noon, with its hush
of spell-bOund splendor and its lovely
| languor of stately repose; not even late
afternoon, when the long shadows creep
down the velvet slopes, and the haze
hangs tremulous on the distant hills
is so fair as twilight. Through the faint
ethereal glimmer of brightness which
fingers in the west, through the glory of
the golden moOnrise, there come vague
Xquestionings and thoughts to our minds,
not clothed upon with speech, though
they wear the color of heaven. From
unseen haunts in the orchard, or from
the dark belt of frs which girdles the
ravine, there falls now and then a sill
very note, the vesper song of the robin,
or the last warble of the thrush ere he
tucks his head beneath his wing. Tran
GULLY and tenderly the night ap-
proaches, like a gentle mother whose
protecting arms gather the tired chill
dren close and fold them to slumber on
her breast.
In the city the scene is very differ
ent. Sauntering on a summer evening
through the uptown squares, every pro-
sale daylight detail has vanished, and
plain New York or Philadelphia has
taken on the airy grace of Florence or
Rome. Windows are opened, and lace
curtains, dimly waving, half reveal and
half conceal the beauty of sumptuous
drawing-roOms, where the lights burn
star-like or the tapers glow, and where
the idyl of love and home repeats itself
in ever-new measures. Softly-dropping
melodies are evoked from the ivory
keys, or a violin sends forth its persua-
sive strain; and while we listen, from
this house there comes the clear, bird
like, trilling voice of soprano, answer
ing the winning tones of a tenor, and
from that, with a charm still lOveiier,
the goodnight song of children. Then
you remember that it must be the chill
dren's bedtime, and a vision enhancing
as one of RaphaePs divine compositions
sweeps before your soul. How many
household darlings, white-robed, deWy
with slumber, blushing in innocent
beauty, are now lying on little couches,
watched over by invisible angels, and
by mothers as beautiful as they! how
many trustful prayers have been lisped
by childish lips ere they spoke their af-
fectionate goodnight! Thinking of
these uplifted petitions, you lose some
thing of the hardness and unfaith which
the world has taught you, and you are
ready to say, with one of old, ~ will
both lay me down and sleep, for Thou,
} Lord, only makest me dwell in safety"
Leaving the wide avenues and ample
} spaces which the wealth of the metrOp-
oils has beautified, the summer evening
: takes you to palmer neighbOrheods,
where comfort and respectability abide.
There, resting after the iabOrs of the day,
families have seated themselves on their
J doors steps for air and recreation. The
: boys are at home from the store or the
. factory, the girls have taken a respite
. from the sewiug-machine, and they are
: having a pleasant time together, as the
. little bursts of laughter and the min
Cling hum of conversation testify.
Music is heard in these dwellings, too;
familiar camp-meeting and Sunday
: school airs, as well as stray snatches
from popular operas, blended by manly
and womanly voices, greet you at every
COIucls L dbSluS Oll w I1O OOoCuACA AC-
: gions, where the tramps and the beg
gars and the motley crowd of the poor
est go to seek sleeping places, you lose
! neither the beneficence of the evening
!; nor the omnipresence of song. From
? such a haunt, narrow, dark, suspicious,
we heard, not long ago, shrhl child
: voices-sweet in their shrillness, too
2 and out over the wretchedness of their
] own opening lives and the squalor
around them they were pouring this
r promise:
3 We shall meet, we shall sing, we shall reign
D In the land where the saved never die;
, We shall rest, free from sorrow and pain,
Safe at home, in the sweet by-and-by."
: So, even where the shadow of death
seemed to be brooding, the festival OF
the summer evening had come. Poor
: women sitting, with babies in their
: arms, on the curb-stone, hard-looking
e men lounging in the dOorways, young
y girls with pitiful attempts at finery Wis.
9 ible in their dress, heard the silvery ill
d of the Methodist tune, and perhaps
: some blind stirring after the better life
8 and the boiler thought awakened in
+ their hearts. At any rate, the narrow
8 bed and the stale crust were made more
It tolerable by the gentle influence of the
o soug.-Harper's Bdzdr.
:,
= DEATH OF Mrs. NoRTON.-Mrs. Car