Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1898-09-25
Preacher Among the People,
Things Amt As They Used
To Be-"

with
"A feeling of sadness and longing.
That is not akinto pain
And resembles sorro only
AS the mist resembles rain"
l was reviewing the old place dear
to me in my boyhood, and musing up
on the incidents and associations of
bygone days. Only the site of the old
school house was left to remind me Of
the schoolmates of my youth. But as
I stood on the old playground, hallow-
ed precinct of childhood, fancied that
l could hear again the merry ming
ling voices of John and 10 and Jim.
Matte and Mary and Martha and all
the rest just as l had heard them in
my youthful days. The games we
used to play after our pretense at
study, methods devised whereby we
sought to cheat the teacher, but alas!
whereby most of us were ignorantly
cheating ourselves, the old time SPELL
ing school that served so well as a
ruse for many a jolly meeting in the
evening, all seemed as fresh in my
memory as they did on that day when
/ gathered up my books and passed
out of the old school house never to
enter it as pupil again. AS walked
slowly down the road, thinking of the
past and wondering where all my old
schoolmates were and how they Jared,
l heard familiar voice calling my
name. Turning about quickly, l
grasped the extended hand of my
friend and after hearty greeting, be-
gan at once pouring out to him my
thoughts concerning the past, when
we were school boys together. The
interest with which he listened show
ed that he too was living over again
the happy days of our youth. Having
finished my rehearsal, l paused and
waited response from him. He was
silent for moment, lost in deep
thought, then arousing himself as if
from dream, he spoke of our free
dom from care, our happiness during
those days we spent together in
school, but" he added, and there ap-
peared to be an element of sadness in
his voice, things aint as they used to
be-" Recalled suddenly from the past
by his sad tone. noted that his face
was careworn, his form slightly bent,
his hair thin and turning gray. The
responsibilities of the present did not
allow him to dwell long on the inter-
esting past. An invalid wife to care
for, resources waning and uncertain
employment were making my friend
prematurely old. ! listened to his
story, all the more pathetic to me be-
cause he had been leader in our boy
hood sports, spoke word of encour-
agement, bade him goodbye and walk
ed on. But / could not shake off the
impression made upon me by that
early morning talk. Change" seemed
to be written everywhere, and every
spot visited echoed back the sad re-
frain, Things aint as they used to
be-"
Much of the woods through which l
had wandered many times, hunting
for game or a COW that had strayed
from the pasture, was cleared away,
and in its place were fields of wheat
and corn. In the midst of one of these
fields there was still standing the
trunk of dead tree. It's companions
of former days were all gone. Stand
there alone, lifeless, decaying, it |
seemed to be calling across the field to |
me, Things aint as they used to be-"
AS il it were to intensity the old trees |
feeling Of lonliness, a solitary bird fly
ing toward it turned abruptly and |
winged its way toward a leafy grove
in the distance. Just then a chip
munk ran down the fence and stop
ping nearby, began series of antics
which seemed to be sort OF dare to
me to give 1t chase. AS / did not |
move, it stopped suddenly, raised |
itself upon its launches and solemnly |
eyeing me, seemed to say, Things |
amt as they used to be-" mo, no, my
little striped friend" said to myself,
things are not as they used to be,or
would arm myself with sticks and
stones and proceed to make life mis-
erable to you. But having been pro-
foundly impressed with the magnitude
of grief incident to life, am SO glad
to see even chipmunk happy that /
40 not feel the slightest temptation to
do you harm"
! stopped at the place where the
boys used to assemble on hot summer
afternoons, sometimes with the con-
sent Of their parents and sometimes
stealthily, to enjoy a swim. But
found the old pond empty. The will
lows that stood upon its were wither-
ing and fading away. Its parched and
cracked bottom seemed to be pleading
TO-