The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-02-18
FEEE Iron GIE1S


Tread by DR.. Oliver Wendell Holmes as a response
ut the Breakfast extended MIN IN Boston by array
Of literary celebrities the event Of h 10th birth
| day.l
Where is this patriarch you are kindly greeting1
Not unfamiliar to my ears his name,
Nor yet unknown to many joyous meeting
In days long vanished-is he still the samei
Or, changed by years, forgotten and forgetting,
Dull-eared, dim-sighted, slow of speech and
thought;
n Ger the sad, degenerate present fretting,
Where all gOes wrong and nothing as 1t ought.
Old age the gray beard wsn, indeed, I know
shrunk, tottering, bont sf aches and ills the
In sermon, story, fable, picture, poem,
OFT have met him from my earliest day
In nay old H1sop, toiling with his bundle
His load OF sticks-politely asking death.
Who comes when called for-Would he lug or trun.
die
His fagot for hirnf He was vclnt of breath.
And, sad (Ecclesiastes or the preacher)-
Has he not stamped the image on my soul
In that last chapter, where the wOrn-out teacher
Signs o'er the loosened cord, 3he broken bowl?
Yes, long indeed, I've known him at distance,
And now my lifted doOr-latch shows him here.
take his shriVeled hand without resistance
And ind him smiling as his step draws near
Dear to the heart of youth, to manhoods prime;
Tlunk 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 nursing rock cd asleep
Hopes anchor faster wild desire less vagrant
Lies How less noisy, but tho stream how deep.
still, as the silver cord gets worD and slender.
It's lightencd task-work tugs with iessening shain
Hands gets more helpful, voices grow more tender
Soothe with their softened tones the slumbrous
BRAIN
Youth longs and manhood strives, but age remem-
bers
Sits by the raked up ashes of the past,
Spreads its thin hands above the whitening enbers
That warm its creeping life blood till the last.
Dear to its heart is every loving token
That comes unbidden ere its pulse grows cold,
Ere the last lingering ties OF Ii are broken,
Its labors ended and its story told.
All, when around us rosy youth rejoices,
For us the s0rrow-laden breezes sigh,
And through the chorus of its jOcund vices
Throb the sharp notes of misery hopeless cry.
Ason the gauzy wings of fancy flying
From some far orb track watery sphere
Home of the struggling suffering, doubling, dying
The silvered globule seems gistening tear.
But nature lends her mirror OF illusion
To win from saddening scenes our sge-dimmed
eyes,
And misty day-dreams blend in sweet confusion
The Wintry landscape and tle summer skies.
So when the iron portal shuts behind us,
And life forgets us in its noise and whirl,
Visions that Stunned the glarng MONDAY find us,
And glimmsring starlight shows the gates Of
pearl
I come not here your morning hour to sadden
A hmping pilgrim, leaning on his staff
/, who have never deemed it Bin to gladden.,
This vale Of sOrroWs with wholesome laugh.
If word of mine another's gloom has frightened,
Through my dumb lips ths heaven-seRt message
came
If hand of mine another's tasl, has lghtened
1t felt the guidance that it tlares not claim.
But oh my gentle sisters oh my brothers,
These thick sown snow fakes hint of tolls re-
Iease;,
These feebler pulses bid me leave to others
The tasks once welcome; evening asks for peace.
Time claims his tribute; silence now in golden;
Let me not vex the too long suffering Tyre;
Though to your love untirina still beholden;
The curfeW tells me-coVers up the fire.
And now with grateful smile and accents cheerful,
And warmer heart than lock or word can tell
IN simplest phrase-these rRitOrOus eyes are tear
Thanks. brothers. shiIdren-and farewell