Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-01-04
FHB 4 NJ CIRCLE I.
: xv,;++ao for the Rocky Mountain Husbandnaan.]
l THE DYING YEAR,

r uTr;f4ao for the ICUCEJ ho'iis>'
THE DYING YEAR.
r,l1 knee-deep lies the winter snow,
And the winter winds are YEARLY signing,
Ill 1e tbe church bell sad and slow,
nd tread softly and speak low,
FOR the Old Year lies a dying,
Old Year, you must not dlei
You came to US SO readily,
You lived with us so steadily,
Old Year, you must not die.
uovv hard he brcathes, over the snow
heard Just now the Growing cock.
The shadows flicker to and fro;
Fbe cricket chirps; the light burns low;
,Tisn nearly twelve O'Clock.
Shake hands before you die,
Old Year, We'll dearly rue for you,,
What is it we can do for you?
Sneak out before you die"
Al if he could only speak before he dies
fsar me. many of us, would feel inclined to
hide our faces in shame, remembering our
MANY misdeeds and mistakes, the broken
vows and long ago forgotten resolutions
which he would bring to mind. In the
.,,.lv DAYS of his s%ojourn we SO often
..o7oht that we would be SO much more
81, H. ul. than we had been during the life
rim. o. his predecessor, but now alas, we
nal NV ~recreant we have been. A year
.co w, were full of good resolutions. A
raoh how m%ourntully and tenderly the
.,ords dow as to some solemn musie! Long,
,onc 100 m ;ght seem'sadder; but as life for
war moves on. the present is soon as surely
emo as that far last that seems to us al
most a dream. The hand we grasped bat
Yesterday is now to u s a shadow, the reality
T.r away the voice tina was sweet music to
CUR ears hath ceased, and at best we can OH
,keep faint echoes that mtNt soon sleep as
deeply. So all the past is long ago, the
near as truly distant, and we start when we
think how soon to our forgetting heart ''for-
eveg'' sounds scarcely longer than "a year
ago."
We think of the friends who gathered
h around us bat a short year ago, and now
where are they? "Some now are in The
y church-yard laid, some sleep beneath the
sea." Some have married and gone to new |
homes and new ties, and now there are none
beside me, as l watch the old years life
flicker out none to join me in making new
4 covenants and imploring strength to keep
them, thinking Of past mercies and praying
for future good. Thinking of past mercies l
feel constrained to exclaim, Hitherto, hath
the Lord helped u.s. and in the words Of the
poet
with ~throbbing heart and yet with hope
ipause, and turn mine eye to cast,
FOR one long look a down the slope
That joins the present to the past;
ana let my gaze again review
me path my steps have Travelled DER,
me Lord hath helped us hitherto,
VIII he not help us everrnore?
by 0esert waste, DER pillows dread,
1hroagl1 shadow wales, Ger mountain steep,
hy countless snares and pitfalls spread,
where chasIns yawn and serpents creep;
Midst adyersaries bold aud strong,
Inc hosts Of darkness pressing through,
TX way Was rough, and sad and long,
hht COD has helped us hitherto.
Auiooking backward, l can spy
some shady bowers, cool and sweet,
where when the noontide sun was high,
we paused to rest our tired feet;
ana found that in the desert sprung.
N"inaflng the weary journey through,
NV lowers eulled the Wilds among,
showed that He helped us hitherto.
VI looking back, I see the frown.
hnal hoFered on the mountain,s snow.
SHsugtQ by the SunSbiY,a 70 , |