Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1878-01-01
BRISTOL NEWS
Carrier S Address.
CHRISTMAS, 1877.

Good friendl you shall have your Carriers Address,
Though you get the Meas for one dollar less
If you can't take the paper at price such as that
What use for the brains you keep under your hat
Without newspaper eyes your town could not see
Without newspaper ears your town would deaf be
The bright painted SUMMER and fruit scented air
Have gone off to the South to dwell awhile there,
And Indian summer, in pavilion of blue,
Lies sleeping far off where the roses bloom too
And the Snow King stands stawart and grim your doc
You can bear it, my friend, but God pity the poor
The great wheel of time round the Zodiac rolls
And a year less is left for the saving of souls.
Farewell to the rose and the rich powdered plum
Farewell to the vine and the bees busy hum
Farewell to the friend who with hands on her breast
Went invisibly off to the land of the best
The rose and the plum and the vine and the bee
Perhaps may return to bless you and me
But the loved ones that from these shadows did co.
Soiled with the dust of these trials below,
Never more shall we see till We too, pass above,
To loftier ministries in their mansions of love.
The gray soldier of Christ after 50 campaigns
Who the birth of all that to Bristol pertains
Faithful in church, and patient to bear,
Honest to all men-virtues so rare
Who carried more burdens, or greater ones drew,
Than he who made saddles and harness for you?
God said, Thats enough Here's your chariot of fire
"Step in, Tommy Johnston, and go thou up higher -
In vinecovered cottage, by our busy Main Street,
Where geraniums and roses and violets sweet,
Kept beauty eternal held up to view,
Was home where, think, between twilight and sun,
The missions of angels have sometimes been done.
How many, in wishes symbolic did sprinkle
With blood sympathetic that old Oaken Intel,
Hoping deaths angel might see it and pass
Over the loved one that dWelt there Alas !
The choicest of flowers, that bent its fair head
To the evening dew in that garden, IS dead
But it groweh again in the garden on high
You can see it again, in good time, by and by,
For the spirit that rules in that garden of bliss
Is pledged to admit such beloved ones as this.
Those Cherubs that few back one, after one,
When lfe's unknown journey had begun,
lust kissed by the mother, baPtised by the light
From that glorious world revealed to her sight,
Who remembers it not who can ever forget
The beautiful face when life's sun had set,
And only its twilight was left her to see
Deaths Angel her daily companion to be
The cottage and naples their shade still afford,
And incense in floral cups round them IS stored
But the spirit that graCed them prayer back bring
Down the ladder of light touched by Sandaphons wing.
Down through the buds and perfume of May
Passed the dark angel and stopped on his way
For the manifest form and pleasanteSt face
The column entwined by the tendril's embrace.
How the sweet tender flowers Law bruised and strewn,
When the grim eXecutioner struck and had flown!
Oh Pity thou brake on the passions of men,
There was need for thy tears and thy charities then
And down in the plain where the meadow once grew
In the beautiful dwelling 50 happy and new
The Reaper passed through took the stalk fully grown,
But the sweet little flower left blooming alone.
Heaven doeh this well, frail mortas must know,
But the means seemeth strange, as homeward we go.
Never good friend, since you vision possessed,
Did the planets that course nightly out to the west
Wear such wonderful crowns dademed as of fire
For their century march in their golden attire
How lovely a sight did November skies bring
When Mars slipped his head under Saturn bright ring
Fair sver-shod Venus with love on her lip,
In acar1o harcq HOurn on he fin
And millions did pause from their toll here below
To gaze with delight on that celestial show.
Fill up your lamps and replenish your fires
The New Year comes forth as the old one expires.
The panic remains and the money grip pnches
But our town to its stature has added more inches,
The era of boards has passed from streets
Metal CorniCe and brick the proud passer-by greets
Fair maidens by hundreds our college halls throng
And the car of our progress goes bounding along.
Sleep at your post of main street-take care
Your town well enough, but your roads-ah beware
Cut off from your reach are vast regions of trade
That you must secure or your dreams will all fade
The Carrier makes the last round of the year,
May he meet you again when next Xmas is here
And find you possessing the glories of life
Health, manhood, riches, religion and wife.
Do you complain of the way have served you the Meas
If you think it's delightful please put these Shoes
Otherwise let's be even at the end of the year,
A half dollar please, but don't go off on your ear