Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-04-20
ThoRoEARE.

aThe strange sweet days are here again
The happy-mournful days;
The songs which tremble on our lips
Are half complaint, half praise.
Swing robin, ON the budded sprays,
And sing your bithest tune
Help us across these homesick days
Into the joy of Junei'
feel as If ] were saying good deal
about the beauties of. Spring, in these
DAYS. but you see the Winter was so long,
and so cold that when the first days Of real
suns hine, with no ICY streak in them came,
each one was a revelation almost a new
life. An then April came to us with her
bright, laughing face, and with her came a
watt Of the west wind which thrilled us by
it's fresh and indescribable odors-the per-
fume Of the bursting sod, of the mould
under the leaves, of the fresh burrows 1t
was like an Embossed current OF JOY, and OF
fresh new life. Then, too, in spring every
thing has such margin there are such
space OF silence !'-The influences are at
work underground. Our delight is in a
few things. The drying road, a Wild
flower found by accident, the note of the
| first bird, the partridge drumming in the
April woods, the COW lowing in the high
way or hiding her calf in the bushes. By
the way, I read the other day: The cause
Of cows is, that they make good walking
where they feed In the paths of the
thicket the best engineer is the cow AS
! I was saying, not these alone, but the sweet
breath of the vic ct, filling the air with its
purple incense, and the bright gold of the
daffodil had also come to re-assure us, and
we were saying in the language of one of
the great ones OF Earth: THE ship is in
the harbor; the sails are swelling; the east
| .s~sI Ia, ov,1
forth to sea '-when-suddenly from some
unknown quarter came a strange wind, and
| forbidding clouds, and we were shrouded
in snow as completely as though January
had come again, and /, at least, have real
lied since, that, Fire is the most tolerable
third party | remember to have read,
somewhere, that April, at it's best, hi des its
smiles and dimples under hood of snow,
and is mixture Of laughter, and tears, and
icy looks. Even its fickleness is inviting
since we know that the sun, and the warmth
will come again, and the long delicious
summer days are before us. One of the
prettiest spring poems is that of Solomon
| ink:-''For 10, the winter is past, the
rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on
the earth; the time OF the singing OF birds
is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard
in the land
From land to land; and in my breast
Spring wakens too and my regret
Becomes an April violet
The regular business meeting Of the Ep-
worth League was held, in the basement of
the church, on last Thursday night. The
President, Mr.. HI. A. DeHart, opened the
meeting, and conducted the devotional exer-
cises. The minutes were read, and reports
| from the various superintendent given. In
the order of new business, the Rev. George
S. Golf was elected delegate to the annual
Conference Convention of the Epworth
League, to be held in Mount Holly on the
9th, 10th, and 18th, of May An enter
tainment, for the benefit OF the new church
fund, is one of the plans for the near
| future.
Considering the inclement weather church
services were fairly we'll attended. The
Rey. George S. Golf preached in the morn
| ing from the text: ''Then shall the righ-
teous shine forth as the SUM-" The argu-
ment was, that the character of the chris
tian, which does not appear to the outward
sight, shall shine forth in the kingdom OF
the father. At night the theme was taken
from Pilates words to the Jews: What
shall do then with Jesus ~ Here we were
tSAFCu Vic plCuuiCoquC HiSOUllCdl SteudolUH,
and the complex character of PLATE, and
made to face the question which PLATE
answered from the stand point of state
craft but which each one must answer for
himself, and which we know better how to
answer to-day.
| Mr.. and Mrs Collins Parker, from Tren-
ton spent some days. last week in the home
of Mrs. E. J. Lodge.
! Miss Alice Wilson. Of Philadelphia, is
spending a fortnight with her grandparents,
Mr.. and Mrs Taber Rambo.
Ruth Wilkins celebrated her eight birth
day, on last Saturday afternoon by enter
tanning few of her young friends. Those
who helped eat the birthday cake were Ada
Wilkins, Maggie Gibbs, Benetta Truncer,
Hettie and Alice Windish, Mary Eastlack,
Florence Low, Mable and Laura Rambo
Mary Platt, and Charles Thomson DeHart
Games on the Lawn were in order and a
happy time was enjoyed by all.
| Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo P Clark from Pauls-
boro visited Mrs. E. ]. Lodge, last week.
Mrs. Harding Richardson and her little
daughter, Mildred. from Paulsboro. spent
last Saturday and Sunday with her parents
Mr. and Mrs. VIM. Tredway
/