Willmar tribune., 1908-12-30
Do You Remember?

00se~~eeA~SS
Memory: There are smiles and tears
In the word. There are blessings ana
curses. comedies aud tragedies, deaths
and births. loves and hitreus, all OF
the bitter and sweet Of life only tha,
the sweet has grown sweeter and the
bitter has lost its bitterness. Memory
Is an alchemist. 1t changes the baser
metals into gold. Grief loses it's pang
the rough places seem softened. the
loves are intensified. and over all shines
a reflected glory. The ugliness Is lost.
and the beauty remains. The past Is
enchanted ground. and we visit the
temple of memory as our holy of holies
There is our gallery Of paintings. our
keepsakes. a pair Of little shoes. an old
pressed and faded flower. How little
it takes to call them all unto us-a
word. a song. the perfume of a rose. a
baby's laughter-and here come troop.
ing back all those whom we used to
know. father and mother. playmates
and sweetheart, and their faces shine
with new light, transfgured by i'm.
mortality. for are they not immorta!
to us?
Do you remember? That is the most
pregnant question in language. Do YOU
remember when you were q little tad
splashing barefooted in the runs and
pools? Do you remember when you
went to school in the little school.
house on the hill? DO you remember
the old playground and the games OF
"black man." "hide and go SEEK" "long
town" ball and bull pen?' Do YOU
remember how you coasted down the
long hill in winter? Then do you re-
member. when the warm spring days
came on. how you thought that school
would never let out-never? Do you
remember in the summer how you had
to hoe corn when you knew the fish
were just dying to bite If they only
had chance? And do you remember
the deacOn's watermelon patch? But |
forget. Perhaps you were a good boy
who did not visit watermelon patches
after night
Do you remember? Oh. there are so
many things to remember! Do you
remember when you went away to a
larger school when ambitious voice
began to cali to you? And the letters
you got from home in the cramped. o.d
fashioned writing. but full of love and
solicftude? Then when you graduated
bow proud We're the old folks! They
We're repaid for all their skimpinS and
saving to send you to school. Then
you stood on the threshold of man.
hood. and the battle of life was before
you. You went into the world and
the old folks hearts ached for you.
but you never knew.
Do you remember your first sweet
heart? There she stands with the sun.
light on her hair in the old and golden
days that are dead But she went out
OF your life. First sweethearts nearly
always do. She married another or
she died. But we will draw the curtain
over that.
Do you remember the old home
stead? Probably dilapdated now. a
sagging fence around it. amid the an.
pie trees. homely and old fashioned
place perhaps. but to you the most
sacred spot on earth. You will never
forget 1t. 1t will he the last memory
to linger when the shadows close about
the end OF the path. Up by the little
old church are some graves. Your
dead sleep there. Everything about the
place is dear to you, even the memory
Of its SORROWS.
Who would forget? When 20 to
heaven. II ! ever do. should | he grant.
ed but one treasure to carry with me
l will take the memory of my boybood
for can feed on that for an eternity
and be happy.