Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-08-11
Back to the Old Home.

HOW OLD HOME WEEK APPEALS tt
ONE WHO CAN NOT ACCEPT
THE INVITATION.
II On my desk are some photographs Of
my old home among the hills of New
England, taken in winter time, which
are gems of photography, as the ever
green covered hills are in marked con.
trast with the prevailing Wilderness OF
the snowy landscape. In the foreground
the snow-covered garden and fields are
seen without a speck, except where the
wind has blown the snow away from the
top rails of the fence, thus indicating the
depth of the winters blanket. A little
beyond the fence a dark line Is seen
which is the river running through inter
wales, being seldom frozen over because
of the swift current, so in its clearness Is
reproduced in the picture as a broad
dark line. A fringe of bare trees line
its opposite side, but do not obstruct
the view across the farms to the village
on the higher ground beyond. So many
of the houses in this village are painted
white, and their roofs hidden by the
snow, that they are barely dis
tinguishable in the picture. A few pine
trees have been allowed to grow along
the partition fences, which make some
contrast to the otherwise monotonous
whiteness of this part of the landscape.
Back of the village, and forming fit
background for the scene, the wooded
hills and mountains, covered with
growths of spruce, pine and hemlock,
show up black and dense, except where
some farmer has cleared few acres on
their sides for pasture, and these white
gashes resemble bears teeth, If the
imagination is allowed to have full
swing while gazing on it. Hanging over
their tops, completing the sky line, and
shutting in the valley, black clouds are
floating, the only light breaking through
the riffs, the
"Most fitting that unwarming light,
Which only seemed. whereer 1t fell,
To make the GOODNESS visible"
To gaze upon this true wintry scene,
with the suggestion of snow about to
fall from those threatening clouds,
makes one shrug his shoulders, and in
voluntarily SILVER with the cold that is
known to accompany such seasons.
This picture is true likeness of that
little world we as children saw whenever
the frost allowed us to see through the
windows, on the west side of the house.
And now, although far away from such
climate, the remembrance of those win
tiers calls to mind the desires we had
then, to see and know something of the
great world beyond those wood covered
mountains.
At school we learned of chimes where
there was no winter or frosty atmos-
phere, and many children of New Eng
land resolved to 60 out and see for them
selves what there was beyond the bounds
of their childhood's vision. What
multitude have in measure gratified
that determination, and have scattered
about over this earth; some stopping
only when the Pacific ocean barred their
westward wanderings, others more
courageous crossing to islands far out
from home land, others still pushing on
west, rested only when they reached
the antipodes.
No special invitation comes to any of
these former sons to revisit New Eng
land during its winter months, and many
wonder how they would like to spend a
season there just to see if they could en-
dure the cold, but have not the courage
to try the experiment. Our friends are
more considerable, and invite us back to
spend week at the old home during the
season that is in marked contrast to the
one of the photograph. The camera can
not give us true pictures of this time of
the year. The foliage is too dense, and
there is charm about the clear atmos-
phere and the ever changing color of sky
and mountain which must be seen on
the spot, to realize fully the beauty of
the summer there.
The invitation to visit our old home
may reach some who have made their
home on the great open prairies of the
West, where the heat shimmers over the
fields, where they have to work in the
dust, and drink water brought from
some we'll that has become warmed by
the sun. How the call will appeal to
such, as his thoughts take him out of his
treeless, sun-baked fields, back to the
cool retreats of the old home! If he can
not 90 this season, he resolves that the
next will be enjoyed the more by him,
in those cool shades so wildly remember
ed to-day.
Others will receive the summons who
live in the cities of the plains, where
brick walks, paved streets and fierce
heat, make one long many times day
to escape, and wander along some trout
brook, instead of the hot street, where,
instead of clouds of coal smoke filling
the air with flakes of SCOT, one could
spend few days in a climate where the
lungs could take in full breaths of air
uncontaminated by sulphurouS fumes.
Some attempts have been made in these
smoky cities, in new Office buildings, to
provide pure air to those who occupy
them, by what is called the laundry
process. The windows are kept closed,
shutting out the smoke, and air is forced,
first across a heated surface, then
through water and into the rooms, thus
in way furnishing pure, cool clements.
This is an improvement, but the shut-in
condition is CALLING, and to the fortunate
ones who can get away from such offices,
how they will enjoy life and its freedom
among the wooded hills of the old state.
Those whose days are spent outside
these favored offices, who have to be out
in the dust and heat of the streets, try
to find comfort in calling up old memo
ries of the shaded hooks where they
romped in childhood. Does not the in
vitation of the Old Home Week to such
find many ready to respond?
The smoke and dust that accompany a
trip on the cars prevent the hOme-comer
from noticing a gradual change of eli
mate, and so when he leaves the train at
the home station, to walk along the
country roads, he is suddenly conscious
of the new atmosphere in which he now
is sure to find so much pleasure. A few
rods on the way, and the side hill, cover
ed by growth of pine, sends out its
odors, and the first breath of them caus-
es the home-seeker to stop, unconscious
ly, to brace back his head and shoulders
and expand his lungs to their utmost
capacity that they may receive, to
their satisfaction, feast of this health
giving element. This balm-laden char
acter of the air is the first real differ
ence to be noted by him, or others who
have come out from places where there
are more or less impurities, and is the
| first of the old friends to extend greet
ings. Those whose lives are spent here
are not aware of the peculiar quality of
the air, and the visitor realizes that after
few days sojourn, he will become so
accustomed to it as to forget its presence;
but when he goes back to the smoky
city, he will long for the cool, odorous
breeze that is here enjoyed, as it is
blown across lakes of pure water,
through forests of fir and pine, uncon-