Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-02-05

saw vision in my sleep,
That gave my spirit strength to sweep
Adown the gulf of timclp

T. c,np5.R,
We have more dreams awake than
when we sleep. A large part Of every
ones life is passed amid d" the stuff that
dreams are made of" At times we
hardly know whether we have been asleep
or not Il vision of past and future appears
and then vanishes away.
1t was in one of those moods between
walking and sleeping. before rising on
the morning of the first day of the Year,
that this vision passed before me, with
all the vividness of the sun, and left its
impress so that can tell you what saw
and hoard.
! was walking on the bank Of deep,
broad, silent river, flowing onward toward
the sea. The stream was covered with
vessels of various names aud rig; all 90
ing with the current making progress
some more some less, but all getting on
Some of these ships were so near me thlt
| could see the men on board. and with
little care | could discover the work that
each was set to do, from the master to the
cabin boy. There was enough for all, and
each vessel kept on its course, when every
man did his own work, faithfully and well
There was some bad steering and >lovcn-
ly handling the sails, and here and there Il
captain was tipsy and things were ont of
sorts, and one ship would run into anoh-
er or get aground ;and saw that the neg
lect of any one to do his duty, made mis-
chief that brought trouble to al on
board.
Before me in the path stood Il man
whose white hair and wrinkles told me
&c nt 4 L., l.
carried Il scythc over his shoulder would
asily have known him as Father Time.
He said to me in firm and manly toues,--
Whittier goest thou?'
With the current" | replied; all
things seem tending to the sea, some go
by water, some by land and suppose we
are all going the same way"
Turn he said land 90 back with
me, on the path thou hast travelled"
We reversed our steps, and he spoke to
me of the ptth of human life; it is often
called IL Journey, a pilgrimage but it
should rather be spoken of as place, Il
house, n field, a battle, a service; he said
it is wrong to think of life rs IL sort of
space or distance between two goals, Il
race TO be run and then over: II voyage to
be made and then the port to be enjoyed /:
and us we walked side by side he dScoul $
ed to me of the duties of life, of the works
that each man has to do, and neglecting
which, he makes II failure. We came in
our walk, upon wrecks of vessels stranded
and rotten on the shore by the side of the
pathway, and now and then in the very
road itself, were the remnants Of broken
engines and the scattered members of
lnn,,tic, ,,,nnhip,r,- nnl tho h,,n, ,G I,,
man beings lying in the grass by the way
side. Puzzled with the sight of these
things, not one which had noticed when
pursuing my journey alone and with the
current Of the stream, looked up with
wonder to my patriarchal guide and
asked:
What are these wrecks that srew the
roadr"
" Lost opportunities" were the only
words that fell from his lips, but they fell
as from out of the sky, 50 far off, and so
solemn did they sound in my ear. was
silent, awe.struck, and anxious, for faint
suspicion came to my mind that this was
in part my work, and these ruins were
memorials of my neglect, if nothing
worse. And | repeated his words in II
tone of respectful inquiry:
" Lost opportunities? Whose and what,
tell me my counsellor and friend
lie paused in his walk and removing
from his shoulder the scythe. he rested on
it and began:
We have gone back far enough to
learn the lesson of the day. The distance
we have walked is in time one year. The
wrecks and ruins we have passed. and
those now in sight, are the resolutions
made, the purposes formed, the works be-
gun. the chances enjoyed, the means neg.
: lectcd, the mischief done, deeds left unfn-
ishcd, friendship lost, Sabbaths spoiled,
months run to waste, weeks frhitless, days
idlcd away, hours spent in vain; each one
of these lost opportunities is wreck and
! skeleton on the pathway of thy existence
, IIads't thou done thy whole duty in this
one year over which we have walked, this
, shattered flame, now helplessly ruined
, would havo been in beautiful operation
working out noble mission for the good
l of man Hads't thou stretched out hanC
, to save the struggling fellow-man, or le
, him lean on thy shoulder, when he wa
0 weak and thou strong for the struggle O
G life. he would now be by thy side, or i
left behind would be praying for thee, a
he pressed on toward the mark. You hay,