The Red Cloud chief., 1880-12-09

- sUO"AOs pOoit8negs
RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA.
TWOSCORE AND TEN.
Across the sleepy, sun-barrcd atmosphere
Or the pe~wcheckered, square old meeting
Through the high window, I could see and
hear
The far crows caxing in the forest boughs.
Tho earnest preacher talked Of Youth and
"Life is q book. whose lines are fitting fast;
Each word q moment, every year a page.
III, leaf by leaf, VIC quickly turn the last"
Even while he spoke, the sunshinc's witness
By many a fair and many a grizzled head,
Some dropping heavily. as II they slept,
Over the unspelled minutes Is they sped
A boy Of twelve, with fancies fresh and
Who found the text no cushion Of repo-e.
Who deemed the shortest sermon far too long.
My thoughts were In the trce-tops with the
crows:
Or farther still I SCARED. upon the back
Till he recalled me from their dazzling track
To the old Westinghouse and hiRh-backed
pew.
HOW long and bright the unread Page ap-
pears!
But TO the aged, looking back, how brief
How brief the tale of half a hundred years.
Over the drowsy pew the preachers word
seem to hear IL now. as then I heard,
Re-echoin9 fn the hollow meeting-house.
come
Tho hnary voare Iike amnes,-drsven spows.
Flies fast. fiies fast, lies wasting pcnduiu N,
Nv mates sat wondering wearIIy the while
How long before his Lastly" would come IN,
or in some distant corner pIaying min.
Dut fin that moment to nv inward owes
A sudden window opened, and I caught
Through dazzling riffs a glimpse OF other
Tho div deeps the hIue abvss ~ thouoh,
Reside mo sat nv father ora Va and 0rav-
And old so on NJ twnscnra yeors nd Ign,
I said. II will remember him This day.
w
Nv very tbouShts. and how life seems to
me
This Sunday morning I'm INV thirteenth
YEAR
Row win 1t seem when I am old as hep
.wba, is the work that I shall And to do,
Shall i no worthy Of his honored namep
TUT t que o'"e' viii III ueAn o'
MY sccre' urcah vi happiheSS aid ia"e'
Thn ann;o3t NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. has nasscd away
Ard q, is nJaca a mndcrn ed,tica
Inyi,cs the xelI-dressed worshincr TODAY
With II have passed the well-rememberei
THO III oro rono tho hovs aro orav-b.Ired
men:
ihe'i n, so" are ''"'' Il" '"o'
And here am I Mt twoscore wears and tent
uow STRANGELY wandering bero hosidc tho son
rho Voice 81 crows in Wonder forest boughs'
A cIoud, n Sabbath hell. bring back 10 mo
That morning i'm the ga,Iut old Injecting.
""
A That "as aoI "lnl' SUNDAY smiI a as then Il
,soo I'm, stn.i Icnaratcd head. through tears
i see myself, that far-ofr wondering childl
Tho nows the nreacber and the
wall
An imaged book, with careless children
turning ~
Its ayfu pagcs-Ir remember all;
NV very thoughts, the questioning and
The haunting faith. the shadowy superstition
That i was somehow chosen, the special
care
fnI vision.
% Spirits and Influences of earth and air.
In curious pity Of myself grown wise,
think what then L was and dared TO hope,
The hov's brave dream and happy horo-
scope.
10 seo tho futuro flushed with morning fire.
ROSY with banners bright with ~beckoning
Fresh tieIds inviting courage and DESIRE
This is the glory OF our youthful wears.
To feel the pettiness of prizes won,
So much attempted and so little done
This is the bitterness OF growing old.
Yet why repine? Though soon we care nc
more
sweet,
They serve their use, as toys held out before
Beguiled our infancy to try its feet.
The blessing lies, and new experience
In daily duties done, hope kept alive, ~, on.
That Love and Thougnt are noused ana en-
tertained.
So not in vain the struggle. though the prize
MY feet nave MISSED lns palns vi aIaulsc,
Act ne Is e'ch hoic pieSSeu Ii iueenhou'
hucnes never sousn,, hnu ~. nv. ou,iu,
LII SteehS ~ @ , ~ fx;,hoo3 49, snrainn
"ht y" YIN
No w;,no-,n, envy of anotber,s lot.
~ nirhtn,,re ~ contention nlap,,es INV
Nor nightmare Oh ooh'en''oh' piasuoS my
fo1 ny In, In. Thaua ond What I IacS ora host
Do'"
.a-u,oro sacrod than far.saon s,ooess
N porfnmns INV solitary path. I And
60. annnanSation In nv h,,mhIeness
Anu reap NA
keep some portion OF my carry urealh'
Brokenly bright, like moonbeams on
river,
Moves as 1 move. and leads me on forever.
Our earnest lonH,ngs pr1pnesy ,ne iian,
Our fullest WISDOM sun inIolus the cniio'
And In my ne trace tnat iargeI pian
The storm-clad years, the years that howl and
mi WhTlh NhII1 1IIIh lAlIh SlH1I iii ~