Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-01-02

This story then the sage shall tell:
. The1r is To time ia all the year
That ha'n no, soulc glad charm or speN
70 <cohe our checkersd journey here.
I've known the fullest joys III spring;
The gu TulerS glAlde> days were niue:
The cund autumn laughed with me
Der haS"ns nllsd wit harvest wine.
Ava v inter! why. Its lusty breath
Hath blown the rcust of cares awav
And walked to energies divine
Inc sou, mat might have known decay.
lhe Tree. glad truM pc: of The u inds
That strikes the frosted harp uf pines,
AAlEtes the closing year with tones
in harmony with Gods designs.
OLD BONES TREASURE.
Far back, in the days when good
natured Queen Anne lolled comfortably
upon her throne, and generation CT
wits and geniu>es strutted about under
huge periwig nightly out
Of place with the wisdom they muttad
a certain doctor Of antique mould was
living ia London, and waiting philo-
~ophically for the fame and reputation
'gnich had looked at him through
futures vista fifty years ago. Now, in
truth, DR.. Bone, as he was called, was
luack: but his nature refused to con-
torn itself to the dictates of fashion
and patronage, and consequently the
general public had always regarded him
through the wrong end of life telescope,
whereby his person and skill had ap-
peared Of Indifferent make.
Thus for thirty years or more he had
trudged his weary journey, proving him
self of infinite value to the needy, and
acknowledging uncomplainingly the pro-
priety Of his fate, but with q pride that
showed his Indifference to the fashion
sble appreciation. He met disdain with
contempt; and, although he was loser
thereby, had the conscious self satisfac-
ton OF an independent spirit. Perhaps,
morally speaking, be was in the right;
but in those days of fawning and fattery
the renown he sought was as unattain-
able to him as the lord mayorship would
have been.
As tor his person, he was tall and lank,
with somewhat pon0erous Roman nose,
lips that fell, by long practice, at the
corners, and penthouse brcws which
matched his eyes but poorly, for the
water would often CLEAN under them at
tale Of pity. Upon his head he wore,
within doors, a rusty old skull-cap, from
which his natural bookshelf downward in
a thin avalanche of silk, and upon his
shoulders habitually cloak, unlike
Wilmington, turned little to his advan-
tage. His knee-breeches, witless of or
nament, bore some resemblance to iron
stove-pipes which have known many
dOwn-pour of rain; and his needless
shoes, long unenthralled by buckles, but
too often succumbed to the pressure OF
circumstances, and brought portions of
bis bare feet into contact with their
mother earth.
When the world was greener to the
poor Bone, he had married a merry.
hearted lass from his native village, who
for many a year had faithfully and IN
grudgingly borne the trials of poverty
by his side, and lightened the gloom Of
his existence with unfagging spirit; but
one blank night the fame Of her little
life shot up brilliantly for moment and
then fluttered into darkness, though the
poor child was sorely stricken for the
tired traveller she was leaving behind.
And he, simple practitioner, bowed his
fading head to fate, and toiled onward,
childless, alone and sorrowful.
But one day, when he had passed his
sixtieth year, patient of his, an old
woman, died, and in the bountyfof his
ancient heart he took q forlorn little
grandson of hers to his own home and
swore solemnly to foster this STRIPPING of
three years old and bring him up as his
own son.
He kept his word, and for three more
years now had reared the minute adop.
ton with zeal and tenderness befttinp
his noble nature. For hours would he
sit in his mouldy old study, feigning to
be absorbed in some moth-ea eaten volume.
but in reality watching and ENJOYING
the gambols of his little GeoffreY az he
tumbled about the floor with hundred
infantile whims which went direct to
the sunny heart of the observer. With
his own hand would he direct the Young
ster's meals, and when his old house
keeper, Betsey, had put him to bed he
would creep upstairs for q goodnight
kiss or a playful wrestle, in which the
little arms always came off victorious
Then would he return to his gloomy den
and exercise his wits in solving of some
intricate problem, which last habit had
happily absorbed many an hour. of his
tedious life.
What dear gift is the power of deep
inward contemplation to q mantle
power which enables him, as in the sto-
RES told OF some ancient Christian mar
tyrs: to wrap his mind in that dense
mist OF thought which renders external
objects and actions the mere ADVENT.
tious nonentities of dream. Manv
an insipid existence becomes endnrahie
when:this power is acquired for f. il not
10 much due to nature as to solitarinesa
and self-dependency. Thus il often
happens, by q generous dispensation of
Providence, that those whose DAYS are
greatly Swallowed attain an eminence Of
thought. The sweetness and nobility Of
which is never experienced by the more
wanton members, of mankind. Thus,
also, many of our mott brilliant discov.
cries originate in the breasts of such re-
cluses-who become 10. in manv "a.
s stances, rom misfortunes and neglect
t ne.ns el ths at along a weary perspec.
i've OF tno9ght which is generally over.
looked by the public as It faces the ii.
gantic conclusions thereof. '''o g
The good doctor had, in trnth ,l.,,.d
to science by this habit of bis; but he
had at least gained greater riches to
himself than wealth could bring, which
compensated, in some degree, for the
dreary poverty of bis younger days. So
1ar he had logged on with quiet
patience and humor, but when the
Psrentless baby fell to his keeping, a
new ana rich interest was added to hia
store OF grain, by which he was thrust
mt0 az INFESTED groove of calculation.
To- Ii the mean time biz patients bad