The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-02-26

| duu pdlulul lnollldllOn, IDdU COf-
ture the inward man on the terrible
rack of hope, fear, doubt, and un-
certainty.
In the hall where the differ ent
members of that numerous family,
gliding back and forward, to and
fro; but the most remarkable was
young man, tall and slender in
form, with handsome and lively
features. His dark chestnut hair,
combed in thick, short ringlets
about his neck and marble forehead,
that, by its whiteness, strangely
contrasted with the bronzed cheek
and other parts of his face, to which
exposure to a more tropical cline
had given a deep Castilian tinge,
through which, however, the mantl-
ing blush of life and health dif1used
its ruddy glow. His ever restless,
dark, hazel eye had a quick, penet-
rating glance that nothing escaped
and his dark, pointed whiskers,
detracting something from his
youthful appearance, gave to young
Ernest Greenberry-for he it was
more manly, striking, and chival-
rous air, than his mild, soft, and
placid mein, without this military
device, would naturally have pos
sessed.
How marvellous change the few
rapidly gliding years of youth bring
along with them? Today we be-
hold the helpless infant, fretting
and slumbering by turns, as he
rocks to and fro in his narrow bed;
tomorrow he is the wild, confding
boy, testing his increasing strength
by daring feats, and trying new
and difficult paths up the rugged
sleeps, to satisfy the burning phan-
tastes of vain curiosity and juvenile
ambition. The next day we behold
him in the glow of youth, the pride
of manhood, and the complacent
majesty of independence. He looks
back along the path of life he has
thus far travelled with contempt,
nor sighs, as is too often represent
ed, for those bright and playful
hours of immature youth; for he
remembers that they too had their
cares and difficulties, their disap-
pointments and regrets. But the
pilgrim youth has now ascended to
the first elevation in his road
through life, and the world spreads
out, a tinted fairy land before his
admiring gaze; "distance lends en-
chantment to the view," and the
untried future is seen afar, region
of sunshine and flowers. The rap
idly developing passions are spring
ing spontaneously into their first
glow of maturity, urging the soul
upward and onward; while the dove
of hope and promise, tluttering in
his path before him, or winging its
airy flight above, lures his gaze
toward the temple of Fame, where
the names of all the mighty of the
earth, in letters of gold blaze in the
sunshine of glory. And this is the
youth in its budding maturity
This is manhood in its first dreamy
development Love thrills though
every vein, with his wild sensation;
passion fires the flashing eye; the
grand, the beautiful wins his ad-
miration; the just, the noble, his
confidence and pride.
And such was Ernest Greenberry,
with all the tender sensibility, with
all the hight toned pride of the gal
liant cavalier. AT the early age of
ten, his uncle, who resided in Prov
idence. and whose name little
Ernest bore, insisted on taking the
youth under his care and training;
and the doting mother, though 10th
to part with her fond boy, yielded,
at length to his kinsman's solic-
itations. His uncle being rich and
heirless, young Ernest was INDUCED
in all taste for the classic lore of
the old world. Accompanied by his tutor,
he made the tour of Europe-saw the
imperial city in her decayed splendor,
and classic Athens in her ruins. But still
the speaking relics of former grandeur,
of power, and greatness, are there, i'll
those crumbling monuments of mans
power and industry, of his degradation
and effeminacy, calling the mediator back
to Greece in her pristine glory, and Rome
in her imperial greatness. But if the
power and triumph of man have risen up
like bright flame that blazed for while
in its resplendent glory, then sinking
away left the black trace of ruin in its
rear, the loneliness, the glory, the charms
of Nature still shine forth i'll all the en-
magnifcence of imperative
beauty. There the air is balm, and the |
very atmosphere infuses love. In those
climes, where every stream is embalmed,
as it were, in immortal song; where every |
steep, and tower. and tree is a speaking /
of those who cannot die; |
and every plain and valley has been
lists for the tourney. where chivalry tilted |
for the smiles of love-or the battlehelds, |
wher heroes strove for crown. There |
the youthful and ardent mind of Ernest
rioted in all the luxury of romance; for
there, wherever the eye turned, It feasted
On pE AIr.rv If on the ODeninp blush of /