Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-12-12
Miscellany.



READ AT THE CELEBRATION or MS sEvESTIETH
BIRTHDAY, DEC 8, 1879.
Where is this patriarch you are kindly grcctiug2
Not unfamiliar 10 my ear his name,
Nor yet unknown to many Joyous meeting
In days long vanished is he still the same,
or changed by years, forgotten and forgetting,
Dull-eared, dim sighted, slow Of speech and thot
still DER the sad, degenerate present fretting,
Where all goes wrong and nothing as it ought?
Old age the gray-beardi well, indeed, know him.
Shrunk tnttering bent Of aches and ills the prey:
In sermon, story fable, picture, poem,
Oft have met him from my earliest day;
In my old Esop, toiling with his bundle
His load Of sticks,-politely asking Death,
Who comes when called for,-would be lug or trundlc
His fagot for him ?-he was scant of breath.
And sad "Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher"--
Has he not stamped the image my soul
In that last chapter, where the worn-out teacher
Signs DER the loosoned cord the broken boRl7
Yes, long, indeed I've known him at distance,
And now my lifted door -atch shows him here
take his shrivellod hand without resistance
And mud him smiling as his step draws near
What though Of gildcd bawbes he bereaves u.s.
Dear to the heart Of youth Of manhoods prime;
Think OF the calm he brings the wealth he leaves US
The boarded spoils the legacics Of time!
Affairs once flaming, still with incense fragrant,
Passions uneasy uurshngs rocked asleep,
Hopes anchor faster wild desire less yarrant,
Life's Acw less noisy but the stream how deep
Still as the silver cord gets worn and slender,
Its lightcned task-work tugs with lcssenng strain,
Hands get more helpful, voices grown more tepder
soothe with their sofcned tones the slumberous
brain.
Youth longs and manhood strives, bu, age remembers
Sits by the rakcd-up ashes II the past,
Spreads its thin hands above the whitening cmbcrs
That warm its creeping life-bloOd till the last.
Dear to its heart is every loving token
That comes unbiddrn ere its pulse grows cold,
Ere the last lingering ties Of earth arc broken,
It's labors ended and its story told.
All! when around US rosy youth rejoices
For rs the sorrow-ladcn hrcezcs sigh,
And through the chorus Of its jocund voices
Throbs the sharp note Of misery's hopeless cry.
As on the rauzy wings Of fancy flying,
From some far orb track our watcry sphere
Home Of the struggling suffering, doubling, dying
The silver globule seems g.isieuiug tear.
But Nature lends her mirror Of illusion
To win from saddcuing scenes our c-limme1 eyes,
And misty day-dreams blend IN sweet confusion
The wintry landscape and the summer skies.
So when the iron portal shuts behind Us,
And life iorPets us in it, noise and whrl,
Visions that stunned the RiarnR noundhy hnd us,
Aud eimm'ring starlight shows the gates OF pearl.
u come not here your morning hour to sadden,
limpng pilgrim, leaning on his staf,-
l. who have never deemed 1t sin to gladden.
This vale Of sorrows with a wholesome laugh.
II word Of mine aua,hor's gloom has Frightened
Through my dumb lips the heayen-seut message
came;
II hand II mine auother's task has hghtened,
1t felt The guidance that it dares not claim.
But oh. my gentle sisters, oh my brothers,
These thck-sown snowiakes hint Of tolls release;
These feebler pulses bid me leave TO others
The task once welcome; evening asks for peace.
Time claims his tribute; silence now is golden;
Let me not VeI the too long suffering Tyre;
Though to your love uutiriug still bcholden,
The curfew tells me-cover UP the hre.
Aud now with grateful smile aud accents cheerful,
And warmer heart than look word can tell,
In simplest phrase-these trAiOruus eyes are fearful
Thanks, brothers, sisters-ohildren-au farewell!