Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1885-08-04
PoETICAL
from the Louisville courierSJournal.l j.
An Autumn IdyI.
BIZ W. D. BR1sG6B.

Brw.D. BRIss6s.
The old barn stands below the hill,
Half in sunlight, half in shadow,
Adown the slope the dusty mill,
In front the emerald meadow.
Its warm-thatched roof and dropping ca,
Where the pigeons love to gather
A haven for the golden sheayes
And kline in stormy weather.
Wide open hangs the great osk door
Gu hinges black and rusty;
Autumn's sunshine on the floor,
A6oye-the cobwebs dusty.
On either side the crowded NOW,
The farmers pride and trea sure
The fruit of honest TOLL trow
A good five hundred measure.
Implements of industrial care
Stand resting from their labors;
A Pitchfork here, Windmill there,
The scythe and sickle neighbors.
With gilded crest and flowing plumes,
The barn=yard knight reliant,
Softly to his harem croons.
Or sounds blast defiant.
Indian summers dreamy vail
By Ceres seemed suspended;
And golden light DER hill and dale
With autumn's foliage blended.
That autumn eve the farmer old
Flailed with rythmic measure,
And from the chaff and straw of gold
Beat out the harvest treasure.
The sultry sun, moved slow somehow,
A summers heat revealing.
And from his ruddy cheek and brow
Came the sweat of labor stealing.
More slowly fell the sounding fail
Less shrill the chirp of swallows.
As darting through the barn they sail,
Aud skim the hazel hollows.
The farmer wiped his frosty brow,
Rubbed nose aud blinking neIghbor,
And sitting down beside the NOW,
He rested from his labor.
The heightened shadows slowly crept
Adown the crested mountain
To where the placid mill-pond slept
Below the gushing fountain.
He dreamed again of boyhood's days
The cabin in the clearing,
The great oak logs and cheerful blaze,
The hearth those nights was wearing.
The old school-house and master wise,
And the flowers he used to carry,
To the little girl with soft brown eyes
He'd slyly hoped to marry.
A curious change tho vision took
The wondrous, with the real blended;
The work of fail and rcaping hook
Seemed now forever ended.
And moving through the heaviest fields,
One graceful stroke repeating
The grain before the cradle yields,
The scythe and stubble meeting.
Tho primitive and trite depart
In turn spectral shadow,
Sweeps at once with Merliu's art
The harvest field and meadow.
But 10 "visfons of unholy birth
By Joye!" he murmurs writhlng;
"The Devil is let loose on earth,
Hell's smoke and fire breathlngl'
His wheat, his corn, his lowing kline,
Away the monster carries
In cloud of smoke and steam behind
AS yelling on it hurries.
Then riding down magic wire,
With time and space competing
Winged with lightning, shod with fire
Came words of thought and greeting.
The evening sunlight slowly stole
Behind the Western curtain
The Blue Ridge wove in purple fold
Oflight and shade uncertain.
Above the mountain shadows cleaned
Tho hues of twilight nrmer,
And o'er the rocks the streamlet seemed
A lullaby to murmur.
And still the old man slept and dreamed
Dreamed of his corn and tillage-
But 10 the field beside the mill
Had grown to be village.
The old school.house, in Dingley dell,
Had grown church and steeple.
With sexton pulling at the bell
And ringing In the people.
Loud aud louder rang the bell
Above tho rafters upper
tMy sakes, he rubbed his eyes and eriet
SIT Is the bell for supper"
One hundred years beneath the sod
The farmer dreams no more of tiIlagc;
The school-house is church of God
The mill thrifty village.
Mocked is space, and time outrun;
Science, with Promethean nre,
Has made the thought of all as one
And charged with life the magic wire.
The 'Iron Horse" !" with might and main,
And sflvery flag unfurled,
Bears captive in Triumphant train
The products Of the world.
The anvil and the hammer ring,
Progress springs before us
In every land the reapers sing
A happy harvest chorus.
October 10, 1884.
MISCELLANEOUS.
MARVELLOUS MuK.-Tha hova