Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1895-01-04
VANISHED YEARS.

"What d glorious company i
wears there must be, somewhere
to be sure. Eighteen hundred
and ninty-fve since the new
count began, and III body knows
very certainly, hOaV many before
that ~ We attempt to solve the
difficult problem, but give it up.
Query: when Mother Earth
keeps her age such a profound
secret, are not her daughters ex-
cusable for doing likew1s
Biologists smile into the grave
prandam's eyes, as they find the
mysterious Biography Of Vanish
ed Years, written in the mr.
rock and everlasting hills. In
deed the past quarter of a century
has been the very resurrection
time of vanished years, and the
strange DISCUSSES i'll which some
of them appear, are amazing.
We take up piece ofTripoli, or
rotten stone, scarcely dreaming
that we hold in our hand, a mon
ument, composed of the crescent
shaped shields of tiny warriors,
who laid down their amor be
fore Alexander thought of coll
quests or the world of Alexander.
And the coal as it gloWs and
brightens i'll our CRATES, starts a
train Of thought down the track
of Vanished Years, to the Age
when it was transformed from
the Vegetable to the Mineral
Kingdom.
As we mark the footprints of
Nature i'll the giant rocks, so in
regard to the Past, as we'll as the
Future History of Man, it seems
as if the key had been found i'll
that "glorious mountain of
glorious thoughts, the Great
Pyramid Of Gizeh. It's records
of the vanished years of Gods
people, bear evidence Of the
highest moral and intellectual
qualities.
As we come down the avenue
of Ages, we stop and note their
events. The Athenians illunin-
ed their years with such lofty
achievements i'll poetry, i'll elo-
quence, ill philosophy, and i'll
art that we, iii our advanced age,
stop, to study and to initiate.
Sparta has her record Of martial
glory. Carthage, a warning of
It., shoals on which many
glorious Ship of State has been
wrecked. We unroll the pano-
rama of the Dark and Middle
Ages, and find a charm about
tn. I>Iizabetllan, which makes
us linger, as we mark its constel-
lation of great men, and bask III
the golden glory of their immor-
tai genius.
Our own Age, too, replete as ii
is with inventions, discoveries,
and Progress stamped upon every
thing, has given its vanished
years, monuments, of which they
may we'll be proud
While studying the records of
Nature, and Nations, we find
that the past has its individual
memories too. | once read a lit
tie gem Of poetry, about a group.
of hours which met one evening
on their way to Heaven. Each
bore its report of the days good
and evil deeds. Some glowed
with hopes, and smiles, and OH
wings of crimson and gold, sped
their way, while others"drooped
like faded flowers, under their
weight of sorrow, care, and vast
ed opportunities.
And if the hours have their
records to bear on High, what a
mighty ingathering their must
be, when we stop to think Of the
hours which have made the days,
the days the years, and the years
ages, since the "Beginning.'
Each life has left its impress.
The tree shows its age, not by
the quantity of soil its roots has
uplltted, but by the number of
rings within its trunk. And SO
our life is to be measured by the
rings of expansion and develop
ment which the character can
show, and If We attain to the
Psalnists span-three score and
ten, may they speed on wings Of
purple and gold bearing" sheaves
OF llte's ripened grain" as they
JOIN the innunlerable company of
Vanished Years OH
-''the tideleSs shore,
Where rests the wreck of Hereto fore.