Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-11-12
Eighteen {!

AT eighteen the true narrative of life
is yet TO be commenced. Before that
time we sit listening to tale-a mar
velous fiction-delightful sometimes and
sad sometimes; always unreal. Before
that time our world is heroic-its inhab-
itants half divine or semi-demOn; its
scenes are dream scenes; darker woods
and stranger hills, brighter skies, more
dangerous waters, sweeter flowers, more
tempting fruits, wider plains, drearier
deserts, SUMMER fields than are found in
nature overspread our enchanted globe.
What moon we gaze on before that
time! How the trembling of our hearts
at her aspect bears witness to its unut-
tcrable beauty! As to our sun, it is a
burning heaven-the world of gods At
that time-at eighteen, drawing near
the confines of illusive, void dreams,
Elf-land lies before us, the shores of re-
ality rise in front. These shores are yet
distinct; they look 80 blue, soft, gentle,
we long 10 reach them. In sunshine we
see O greenness beneath the azure as of
spring meadows; we catch glimpses of
silver lines and imagine the roll of living
waters. Could we but reach this land
we think TO hunger and thirst no more;
whereas, many wilderness, and often
the flood of death, or some stream of
sorrow, as cold and almost as black as
death, is to be crossed ere true bliss can
be tasted. Every joy that life gives
must be earned ere it is secured; and how
hardly earned those only know who have
wrestled for great prizes. The hearts
blood must grace with red beads the
brow OF the combatants before the
wreath of victory rustles over 1t. At
eighteen we are not aware of this.
Hope, when she smiles on us, and
promises happiness tomorrow, is inn
plicitly believed. Love, when he comes
wandering like lost angel at our door,
is at once admitted, welcomed, EN-
braced; his quiver is not seen; if the
arrows penetrate, their wound is like n
thrill of new life; there are no fears Of
poison, none Of the barb which no
leech's hand can extract; that perilous
passion-no agony ever in some of its
phases, with many, one agony through
outs believed TO be an unqualified
good. In short, at eighteen the school
of experience Is 10 be entered, and her
humble, crushing, grinding, but purify
ing and invigorating lessons are yet to
be learned Alas, experienced No
other mentor has so wasted and frozen
a face as yours; none wears robe so
black, none bears rod so heavy; none
with hand so inexorable draws the
novice 30 sternly TO his task, and forces
him with an authority so resistless 10 its
requirements. II is by your instruc-
| tions alone that man or woman can ever
| find a safe track through life's wilds /;
without it, how they stumble, how they
stray; on what forbidden ground do
they intrude; down what dread declivi-
ties are they hurled
A ROMANTIC relic Of Cowpens battle
was shown by Mr.. William j. Randolph
at Kings Mountain during the centen-
nial observance. The relic is a plain
22-oarat gold ring, which was found on
/ the Cowpens battlefield in 1921. The
inscription reads "This and ye giver is
| yours forever, 1722.n IL was presented
to British officer by his sweetheart be.
fore his departure with Lord Cornwallis
for America. The officer, who was
killed at the Cowpens, also wore but.
tons of 20-carat gold on his uniform,
and some OF the buttons are still owned
in the Carolinas. One was presented tC
; Gen. Lafayette In 1926, and others were
sent TO England, the coat-oi-arms OIL
them revealing the family to whom thel
belonged
= No matter how old crow-bar ma,
9 be, 1t remains as pry as ever.