The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-06
THE BREATH OF ROSES.
'YOu MAY Break. You MAY Shatter
the Rose IL You VIII but
Memory Survives.

TO the Editor:--The following edi-
torial in the Richmond News-Leader
of Wednesday, is a good specimen of
the rare gift which it's chief editor,
Mr.. A. B. Williams, has of combin-
ing beauty of expression and thought
with healthful, helpful suggestion or
inspiration.
Y seemed to me appropriate for
Sunuos reading, and / enclose it to
the News and Observer for the benefit
and pleasure of it's multitude of Sun
day readers. I had honestly rather
be able to honestly sign my name as
author to such a sweet piece, than to
be able to write a perfectly reliable
and truthful ten-column account of
the exact status of the various and
sundry proposed Republican daily
newspapers to be started in Green's
boro, beginning all the way from July
1st, (Which has paSsed) to August s1st
(Which has passed), and continuing on
to September 1st. with final limit of
October 1St.
Old Rose Memories.
Sixty years ago an EngIiShman set
tied with his wife in lonely place In
Virginia, not far from Richmond, hay
ing the management of a new enter
prise that was projected there No
body in the neighborhood where lie
lived remembers him. His enterprise
failed and vanished. There is not a
trace of his home. But his wife, In
the loneliness of a strange country,
devoted herself to making the home
beautiful with her own hands and
such simple means as she could COM
mand. She grew many flowers,
trained vines about the portals and
planted and cultivated a garden OF
roses.
A month ago a man 85 years old and
living in another State talked In remi-
niscent mood of Richmond and his
visits here in long gone times. One
of his most vivid and delightful mem
ories was the English woman'S roses.
He had forgotten the name of the
family and the purpose and charac-
ter of the work in which 1t was en-
ployed But he remembered the roses
and described their splendid size, va
rieties and combinations of color.
Their fragrance on one June day came
back to him another June day across
a chasm of sixty intervening years.
crowded with changes of many kinds.
in which lie had passed from early
manb to old age. The very pres
en@ Ind spirit of the gracious gentle
woman whose deft hands and loving
thought had made the roses bloom
remained alive and came with the
breath of the long dead and vanished
flowers, ana 1Ved In this old heart. No
doubt the woman herself is dead ana
her husband; and probably the under
growth has come up or the plow has
cut where the home and the rose gar
den were. Yet she lives in the MEM
ory of this stranger after sixty years,
and none of us need hope to be re-
membered more deliciously or happily
than with June day in a tranquil
country, with the faint but living
breath and redolence of roses.
1t is a simple thought and should be
familiar, but it is worth cultivating
Each day we plant memories of our
selves to live and be recalled we do not
know how long nor where. 1t is sweet
to think of being remembered in shc
long hereafter like the English wo-
man of long ago. with the tranquil
glory of a June day and the far-off
fragrance of roses. The memories
will be as we plant them. They may
be harsh, bitter, cruel and burning
They may be pleasant and happy,
peaceful and beautiful. We can make
them as we may choose that they
shall be.
The Carthage Blade has entered