Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1879-02-15
An Old House.

There Is something in an old house that
can never be in new one. The new one may
be bandsomer. it may have higher ceilings and
broader panes Of glass, medieval mantle
piece ard French paper on the walls and Per
san'rugs. You may be proud Of IL but you
loved the ola house-the dear old place. al
most as old as tho great trees at the door.
tall man conld touch the ceilings with his palm,
and the great mantlepieces were stiff and ugly
but there in the freight used 10 SIT once upon
time. the old grandmother with her knitting.
whilo the children climbed on her knee and she
told tie stories Of her youth.
Out Of that window--tbe little window with
the diamond pancs-she had looked to her
Young huebaud coming home after long days
hunt. flushed with exercise, bright and hand
some. There lay the great red deer he had
shot youder the dogs were kennelled-the
great brown-eyed dogs
One OF their race then unhoru, stands beside
her as she tells these tales, old and blind aud
toothlesss. and there are no deer now. Yes, up
that road she had ridden herself a gay young
bride. coming for the first time TO the hus-
bands house full Of hope and JOY. There her
babes had been born, grown 10 be men and
women, and gone forth.
Out Of the door went at last her husbands
long funeral train, and nothing was left her Of
life but lis memories. There she sat thinking
and knitting, telling the old stories. How
could she be so conieni,sthe young people ol-
ten tho't.
The tall clock stood in the hall aud licked
as il had done for seventy years lnthe glass
cuphorad were stored a sacred tea service with
Gilt edge and a silver teapot that had been q
wedding present. ,a
Foxes Martyrs AID TIE "Pilgrim's Pro-
gress " were in the bookcase and the biz BIZ
bic on the stand, aud there were black pro6lcs
of choked-looking ladies and gentlemen. with
wouderous pufis on their heads, on the walls
up 10 the bedrooms were rag carpets and high
post beds. and chests Of drawers aud long
presses. How many heads had rested on
those pillows7 What happy dreams had been
dreauel, what bitter tears shed2
And down Ia the parlor, with lis hard, mp
right sofa. guests with strange dulluess of
which 20 oDe dreamed, had been entertained,
and lovers bad woed aud won, and doubtless
there had been li;lc tragedies, such ~ So on
between lovers lhroug gh all generations. Story
after story has told itself in the old house.
They arc not all happy cnes but they make
the OLD house. different from the new one
Memories lurh In tie walls and who shall say
that the spirits Of those who lie at rest in the
old churchyard youder, under tombstoues on
which moss has grown, do not fi through ii
unseen bu, lcl,-hrlnsiug soiiened emotions
tender recolectious os they passed
The very trees in the garden are nola' other
trees. They haze their stories. Under this
fret kiss was taken; under that hands met in
an eternal parting.
Down n the orchard is baby's gra7e--tho
baby would be ifty years old if II had lived
to-day-bnt only little while ago his mother
sat there aud shed tear over Il.
The pew house is Cue aud costly and modern,
but there is no poetry in it and there will not
/ be until az least two generations have made It
an old house and haunted il with sweet ghosts,
as they did the old one.