Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-12-18
THE IRON GATE.

Read by Oliver Wendell Holmes at breakfas
given In homo. Of the SEVENTEEN anniversary Q
his birth
Where Is this patriarch you are kindly greeting
Not unfamiliar to my ear his name,
Nor yet unkDow to many JOYOUS meeting
In days long vanisaed-is he still the same,
Or changed by years, forgotten and forgetting,
Dull;;eared, dia'-sishtsd, slow of speech ant
SIN DER the sad, degenerate present fretting.
Where all goes wong aud nothing as 1t ought7
OLD age, the gray bsard-vell indeed know him
Shrunk, tottering, bent of aches and ills tn
Ia sermon, story. faole, picture, poem
OFT have met him from my earliest day.
In my old 1F,op, toiliug with his bundle,
His load of sticks, politely asking death
Who comes when called for-wouli he lug or trun
His fsgot for him7 lie was scant of breathl
And sad " Ecclesisstes or tbs preacher
Has he not stamped the image on my soul
In that last chapter, where the w0rn-Cut tt acher
Signs DER the lCoseaed cord-the broken bowl?
1es, long indeed I've known him at distance,
And now nay lifted door latch shows him here
take his shriveled hand without resistance,
And find him smiling as his step draws near.
What though Of silded baubles he bereaves us,
Dear to tbs heart of youth, to manhood's prime
Think OF the calm he brings, the wealth he leaves
The boarded spoils, the legacies of time.
Affairs once flaming, still with incense fragrant,
PASSIONS uneasy nurslicgs rocked asleep;
Hopes anchor faster, wild desire less vagrant,
LIES flow less noisy, bat the stream-how deepl
Sill. as the silver cord gets worn and slender,
Its lightned task-work tugs with lessening strain,
Hands get more hopeful, voices grow more tender
6oothe with their sofeened tones the sumbrous
brain.
Youth longs and Manhood strives, but Age remem-
bers-
Sits by the raked-up ashes Of the past;
Spreads its thin hams above the whitening embers
That warm its creeping life blood till the last.
Dear to his heart is every loving token
That comes unbidden ere its pulse grows cold;
Ere the last lingering ties of life are broken,
Its labors ended and its story told.
Ahl when around us rosy youth rejoices,
For us the sorrow-lalen breezss sigh,
And through the chorus of its iocund voices
Throbs the sharp noe OF Misery's hopeless cry.
A. on the eauzy wings Of fancy, flying
From sems far orb, I track our watery sphere
home, of the struggling, suffering, doubling,
The silversd gobuls seems slistening tear.
But nature lends her mirror of illusion
To win from saidenins scenes our age-dimmed
And misty day dreams blend in sweet confusion
1OW1QseIy landscapes anu tQ0 euWm6r EK03
60 when the iron portal shuts behind US
Aud lif, forgets us in its noise and whirl,
A'isions that summed the glazing MONDAY find US,
And glimmer!ng starlight strews the gates OF
pearl.
] come no. here your morning hour to sadden
A limping pilgrim leaning On his staff
who have never deemed il sic to gladden.
The vale OF sorrow With wholesome laugh.
II word of mine acother's gloom has frightened,
Through my dumb lips the heaven-seut message
came,
Ii hand OF Minis another's task has lighterel,
1t felt the guidance tina, 1t dares not claim.
But oh my gentle eisters- oh! my brothers,
These thick-sown snowhakes hint of toll release;
These feeble pulses bid me leave to others
The tasks once welcomed-Evening asks for
peace.
Time claims his tribute; silence now is golden;
Let ME not vex the too IoCg suffering Tyre;
Though 10 yolr love untiriug still beholden,
The curfeH tells me-covsf up rhe fire.
And now with grateful! smile aud accents cheerful,
And warmer heart thai 101k or word can tell,
In simplest phrase-theae traitrous eyes are
fearful
Thanks-brothers, sisters, children and farewell.