Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-01-02

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In foreign lands to trace our weary way;
For US the wires encircling every zone
| Soon make the deeds of distant nations known
AT last when laid aside the welcomed page
| Some simple games the youthful mind engage
More loved and lovely now than when bride,
from her light task the mother turns aside
And on her face sweet and tender smile
Dlspels the gloom that Swallowed it the while,
As she looks with fond pride and pleasure there
On the rich treasures trusted to her care,
And ieeIs her tasks grow lighter day by day,
When borne for those who honor and obey
Such homes as these preserve our nation still
From all the gathering storms OF direst i'll.
ihelr ry lives throughout our after lives
And all the wreck of fondest hopes survives
Such homes produced-the sehoolboy early
learns
In England, Wordsworth and in Scotland
Burns,
And in the New World. plain, sincere and grand,
Inc Llncoins and the Stephens of our land.
Perhaps within that circle thus obscure,
is one whose thoughts for ages shall endure
In manly prose- or words of glowing rhyme,
The carp of critics and the tests of Time.
And watched the softened rays of sunlight
CLEAN
Through overhanging boughs that turned aside
The fercer currents of its golden tide;
And sitting there, upon messy bank
Meath majestic oak that deeply drank
Inc placid waters, would watch for hours
Inc many plnmaged birds, the forest flowers,
Inc strange fantastic forms of shrub and tree;
Until some fairy scene it seemed to me-
Where magic wands, moved by some master
hand
Created cities fair and castles grand.
And peopled them with dwarfs and giants
grim,
That passed before me in the shadows dim
Ana here come again, before GO
70 muse alone, and watch the steady flow
OF these dark waters, that through every day
Are nearing the great ocean, far away;
And, musing thus, think upon the time
Nhen thoughts OF mine that flow in simple
rhyme
Shall nd with with deeper wisdom far be fraught,
Ana mlngle In the sea of human thought
And there, upon the darkeued waves aloat,
Before me passes now tiny boat:
Aad on Its side see the name of one
knew ere yet her maiden's life begun
known and beloved DER all the country side.
A mother S treasure, and fathers pride:
But once as flowers bright adorned this dale
across the waters came the boatman's pale,
And on the eve of that fair summers day
from nome and friends he beckoned her AWAY
She saw his bark approach the misty shore,
And heard the dip OF the muflied oar;
She caught cleaning of its snowy sail
mat slowly swayed beneath the rising gale
Then with a look that ever seemed to saw
Farewell, dear friends; in realms of endless
day
I'll meet you soon,' she vanished from our
sight,
And all our sunshine changed to deepest night.
Her form has passed beyond one fond recall
But what she was to us, and might have been,
Are SAD, sweet treasures no fair gift may win
And as 10 day look upon her name
her memory viii passing tribute claim
Fair as the past has been, get still see
brighter, gTander future yet for thee;
When shall be heard the iron horse afar.
Approaching with the heavy laden car.
AND his loud neighing waited on the gales,
Snail wake the echoes of thy quiet wales
When temples reared to Science and to Art
Upon these hills their classic lore impart
I'LL from their halls some hand reserved by fate
through darkened waves shall guide the Ship
of State.
When men from sister States shall come each
year
And seek new homes, and seeking find them
When honest freemen shall around thee draw
The safeguards of higher better law.
Prosperity has richly blest thy past
Few the shadows that have been DER thee cast.
From WaI snd Pestilence thou hast been free I
While some were sunk in grief, on thee
Nor Hood, nor hrefend, yet have left their trace,
Nor sudden tempest marred thy lovely face;
But Peace and Plenty smile each passing year.
And fill thy every home with love and cheer.
Thy people, toiling on their fertile lands
Have reaped the honest labor of their hands:
| Nor feared the profits from each small estate
Must go to swell the Golfers of the great
Thou hast thy evils, too; though far away
| From scenes where Vice holds undisputed syay
And gr edy Avarice ever lies in wait
| To pluck the weak that come within her gate.
| And willing victims follow in the train
| OF foolish Fashion and applaud her reign
| All is not perfect here: nor shall we find
| From Folly free the wisest of mankind
| The village apes the town; too oft we see
| They differ not in kind, but in degree
| With all thy faults, and they are many vet
leave thee with deep unfeigned regret
And scarcely hoping Shall ever find
In ali my travel. friends SO true and kind
AS tried, as faithful through each passing year
As in the past I've known and trusted here;
Who wished me well, and gave me timely aid
And for my welfare worke d, as well as prayed,
Looked with compassion on my hayward WAYS
And gave for earnest effort honest prais-;
Nor deemed as wholly idle or as vain
The wild and weird aries of my brain.
For strange poetic visions on me wrought
And urged M oft to be what l could not,
A child of Fancy striving t. express
To others, thoughts hardly dared confess;
| Thoughts uncongenial to the din and rush
OF busy trade; more suited to the hush
And quiet Of some calm sequestered vale
Where Commerce spreads not to the passing gale
Her broad, white wings; nor Earring interests
clash
Nor glittering gewgaws in the sunlight flash;
And where the gentle and refreshing breeze
Sweet music WATTS through bloSSom-laden trees;
Where morning fair reveals TO eye and ear
Views that delight, and sounds we love to hear;
Where all the passing day a varied scene
Or broad, fair fields, and woodlands dark be-
tween
Breaks ever on the glad, enraptured view;
Each day unchanged and yet forever new.
With friendly call from neighbor DER the wav
Who stops in passing, but consents to stay
And talk upon the topics of the day,
| Till Evening comes at length, and calm repose
Brings each days scenes and labors to close,
Nor feyerish dreams of Fame nor unjust gain
Impede the flight of the fantastic brain
Into Elysian fields of JOY and bliss,
Beyond the sordid cares and tolls of this
Thus had hoped to live, and thus to spend
With BOOK and flock and herd and some kind
friend,
The passing years. till time for me should end
And angel hands should beckon me away
From earthly scenes to realms of perfect day
II cannot be; but it may be the best
That we should labor when we fain would rest;
That still the barriers firm must ever stay
That rise in silence round our narrow way;
That it lies not within our narrow sphere
To choose the paths that we would tread while
here;
For often hands that seemed but formed to
write
Must WELD the sword the foremost in the fight :;
And men whose hearts love but the peaceful
shore,
Guide storm tossed vessels mid the oceans
roar
And many follow who were born to lead,
Deferred and scanty praise their only need;
And men with giant intelects obey,
Some mental pigmy of the passing day;
All we are not what we would be /; each day
There is a power divine we must obey
That leads US into paths we would not choose
Where sharp thorns pierce us, and where rough
Our weary feet; but still, though tempests frown
Our hopes are not destroyed though oft cast
down.
At last we feel as we securely stand,
1t was loving, though Christening hand.
Now to the sunset State I wend my way,
| Amid its wonders for awhile to stay;
| To stand upon the mountains rugged side,
| And look far out upon the valleys wide
| To view the greatness of our Farther West,
| Its arts and customs, and that wild usrest
| That ruled so fiereely in the Days OF Cold
| Nor even yet has quite released its hold
| There shall facet again. in that fair land,
| With members of a once united band,
| Now widely sundered, but who still retain,
Amid these latter days of Greed and Gain,
| A deep abiding love for that dear pace
| Where drst they looked into mo hers face.
And " here their earlier years were duly blesG
| BY devoted father-gone to rest
| Nh 0se life below was simple, yet sincere;
| W nose kindly deeds illuned his humble sphere.
We learned too late to prize him; but we know
! He loved US: am that cheering thought shah 90
( With Us through life. Bit. oh the far aud good
While with Us are too little understood.
Too late we grieVe. when they are called away
Ger unkind words and deeds; but still we may
In future strive, with yet more willing minds,