The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1889-11-02
RANDOM SKETCHES
AUTUMN DAYS.
For the SENTINEL

~" sasSDS ihioNiI
cumuli, dripping mournfully from low
caves, sending nervous clilfs through
IA sensitive frame, premonitory Of cold
Ell days. and heavier storms to come.
Have you ever wondered why you
feel calmer, and wiser and older in
these melancholy days" with half the
beauty of midsummer lingering around
them yet, as they settle softly and
sighingly down on the earth 7 Spring
may be the renewal of Nature and the
symbol of Il glad resurrection for man,
but we need the warning decay Of au-
tnmn TO remind MS thar in our OWN
lives must rome Il season of decline
followed by the winter of our last
long Sleep ere we awaken to the i'm
mortal Spring which, for some, is to
last forever. There are rainy days.
and glorious ones, too. Autumn is the
prlestess of memory. Stand upon the
summit OF some grand mountain,
and in the dreamy haziness wrapping
the fields of golden grain, and yelling
the distant town and vale below, with
the scre or motley colored leaves of
oak or maple dropping gently around
you, and the white clouds chasing each
other overhead, forget the present and
the future, and recall the brightest
and the darkest, the happiest and the
saddest days of your past life. Look
| up to heaven and invoke the spirits
of your sainted dead to hover around
You in this solemn hour. Would you
not be willing to 60 down into Hades,
it needs be, to charm from thence
some lost Eurydice. sone loved Pro-
serpine whose presence Once made the
world for You! Are there unburied
shades still wandering by the Stygian
shore haunting you rrproachfully,
with unfultilled duties of the past :
Must they, too, burden and break your
heart, to-dayi
Does the phantom of love come hack
to taunt YOU with broken vow and
r,sined shrineS Or. do you feel it's pre-
sent power thrilling, prevailing your
being and carrying you away, away
down the river Of Dreams until you
waken to find yourself with ontstretch-
ed hands. wailing over some lost hope
-~Eurydice! E%urydice!
Is it the spectre of Friendship
loves arche-type, and vet not love-
bringing back some familiar face,
some loving fleart you trusted once 7
The sweet tears Of sympathy, the kind
words of comfort from some faithful
friend when your heart seemed break
.ing-hOw these little things come back
to you. to-day! Perchance the grave
-Or that wide charIel house the
world, has swallowed up some friend
w1iO.: whether he slumbers beneath his
mother-earth or wonders cold and
careless Dn the elrth shove is equally
dead to you. e
Do the old ambitious. the old hopes
and joys and sorrows rush back with
an exquisite pain to cloud some bright
er memory! But the pleasures Of life
and its suniiest hours are the ones
which linger longest in uur. memories,
and which Of us would not pray with
the grandsire in Dickens Haunted
Man, "Lord keep my memory green"
Perchance the autumn of life has
come to you, when the suspicious
creases in the face aud the. frosty tints
appearing on the locks erst-while SO
bright or brown; begin to warn you
that you have turned the summit Of
the hill and are starting down on the
other side. Is it a pleasant thought
that you arr growing old Worse
still, that people talk of you IA getting
oldf Old in years. perhaps, but
| young in heart and hope in spite of all
life's Accomplishments and sat: expe-
riences.
Are you tired Of life DO you feel
in your secret soul that it has been /;
failure, and you would like to lay the
burden down aud get rid of the res,
| possibility: Wrote Miss Alc"tt at
is cowardly to die till one has don.
something" Her own noble record
attests what she did for the world and
| those she loved. every mar is i'm.
mortal until his work is done" What
is yOMr work, and what have yon done
to make the world better or happier
! that YOU have lived in it? Alas. too
! MANY faint by the way. and long tt
| give up their work before it is hall
| accomplished.
l.For most of MS travel at very poor speed.
| Failing in heart where We conquer in deed,
' Least brave in the hour of greatest need
AS We thread Ire lntflcart ntaZeb.
Is il strange that heart once brave and stron.
should falter at last and most earnestly Ion.
For a calm sleep under the daisies :"
EssIE.
Fitzpatrick's mammoth Spectacular
Rip Van Wrinkle Co. will give ~ o
their grand spectacular performance:
tomorrow night. The K~nickcrbocke1
Demon Cornet Band viii! make IA CRANE
street parade at $3.50 =. H., which
everybody should Y.