Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-01-29

port again, and 1 know it," Again
there is a long si,enca, and then |
Crazy Joe says abruptly, Hugh,
the year is dead" care YOU glad /
or sorry?" "Well, Hugh" he re-
plies, "your question is rather a
mixed one. If YOU ask ME if | want
to go through the scenes of the past
year again, | answer, no. Ii you
ask me if | am glad to see the years
go drifting away, again say, no."
Every good, Joe, very good, l see
what you mean. You are not salts
fed with your life as it now is, and
you have desire to make it better"
"DcSire Good Heavens, Hugh,
why do you philosophize IN that
cool kind of way? You know I'd
rather feel this shaft on which we
stand crumbling into the sea than to
think my life must go on in this
same channel" "Well, why in the
world don't you change its course
them" inquiries his companion.
"Hugh, don't; don't talk to me like
that, it aggravates me-" replies Joe,
impatiently. "Why don't one-half
of humanity lift the burden that is
crushing them, and breaking the
hearts of so many patient suffering
n others and sisters and wives
Hugh James, you arc an old friend
of mine. You know more of my
life than any other living man. You
were with me in the springtimc of
the year that is dead, when | was
full of ambition and hope; you knew
those friends; you saw the vision of
fame which was held up before me;
you have followed me until stand
before you tonight as l am. 1t is
my fault, but why do you ask me
why | did not choose that course in
stead of this? Why didn't |? You
know why did not. But no mat,
ter, that is all passed AMI gone, and
| am left like broken spar adrift
on the changing tide, with my aches
and pains and sundered ties, and
with only a dream of those happy
hours, and friends so dear, and the
heartfelt longing and human hope.
Hugh, | cherish the memory of poor
Tom Moore just because he wrote:
"All that's bright must fade,
The brightest still the fieetcst;
All that's sweet was IN lie
| But to be lost when sweetest"
So it is. The last year ha,
strengthened that strange ambition
and taught me a deeper love for
that singular fame. 1t has tight.
encd my furious grasp on that gild.
ed vision. And now they must al
fade when brightest and be lost
when sweetest. The old year has
taken away that true and christian
friend of mine, in manhood's prime
That schoolmate so good and limo.
cent. And the loving brown-eyed
girl who did not forget me in my
suffering, while she was playing
among the flowers. Yes, Hugh
everything must fade when bright
est and be lost when sweet
est" " Look here, joe" interrupts
Hugh, "Do you see that sail that
has come up into the light while
you have been speaking, and is now
disappearing? AS in mysterious
reality that sail has crossed the line
of our natural vision, even so a hui
man soul is visible only for a mo.
ment, as it were, and then it passes
from the seen to the unseen. L.
there nothing in this mighty OK
panse before us that speaks to you
of the eternity of existence Dc
not the countless stars-look now
Venus, the evening star, has finish
ed her mission and glorious Mercury
is rising with the morning--T say,
don't they testify to something
bright that will not fade, and some
thing sweet that cannot be lost
II matters little, here or there,
Gods worldiswide and heaven everywhere
We cannot go so far
That home is out OF sight,
The morn, the evening s'ar.
Will say "Good,day !n-"Good-night."
The billowy years of our earthly
existence are like the waves break
ing beneath us. Only few more
shall roll in, Joe, and the book
which you and | are writing viii be
finished. But does that end it all
No, there is something beyond these
trials and penalties; there are joys
and rewards beyond your aches and
pains and heartfelt longings that
shall never end" perhaps so, per-
haps so, Hugh, / used to think so,"
replied Crazy Joe, somewhat sadly
and then after a moment lie say.
again, "Dut let us retire to the ship
and talk, the wind is getting cold
up here"
Oh, Help of the helpless, look