Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-01-21
Johns Letter.

We see BY the papers that Will Carlo
ton, the common peoples. poet, ha'
"crossed the bar" he might not bt
considered poet par excellence, but ht
did write some things that will be lonl
lived, and perhaps will never die, or moi
until the human heart shall have turned
to stone and the eye be incapable Of I
tear. The roughness In no wise renderl
indistinct the tenderness Of the minol
tones running through such Of his bal
lads a. "Over the Hill from the Poo
House." "Betsy and I are out, "How
Betsy and / Made Up" and others which
we never mem0rized and with which VI
are not so familiar. No one can be sale
to have lived wholly In vain who hal
brought smile to the face, . glow t
the heart and sympathetic tear to TIT
eye. We have heard tell of here ant
there a traveller who has never gained
even local notoriety as an expert along
that line.
We we're up in the birches the othsl
day and saw something that almos,
caused us to think that "summer bal
come again." 1t was neither more mol
less than goodly gathering of grOs
beaks. At the first glance through oul
blue glasses We took them to be the deal
old robins. They seemed to be In fn.
spirits, and looked out upon tho world
as II it might have been fixed up ex
pressly for them. They, and their kin
dred, surely have not lived their briel
lives In vain, measured by the enjoy
ment they have given to those who ap
p,eciate them and carry no gun when
the voice OF the wild calls them from the
Preside.
There is a little lone junco-that Is
what the bird book calls him-haunting
our door yard pines. Although alone,
he or she or it doesn't seem to feel lone
~, not to the extent Of taking away his
or her or Its appetite for crumbs. We
wonder II he, she or it Is the sole sur
.vivor OF q once extensive family here
about.
To one of the humans II must be .
saddening thought that he or she is the
last survivor of the family of which be
or she was once beloved member with
none but strangers to ''rattle his bones
over the stones" ''just pauper whom
nobody owns"
And now California and other salu-
brious chimes have received taste Of
New England strenuousness. They
need not expect always to have all the
good things OF this life and none of the
bad. The elimination of the orange for
season Ia not 80 calamitous as the elm
nation of the apple would have been.
One Is luxury, the other . necessity.
The luxuriouspess Of the orange never
appealed to us personally. Ever since
we began to chew things, the apple,
with but brief intervals, has found its
undisputed way along our alimentary
canal, to the evident benefit Of the canal
zone. The old orchard on North Hill
was . source of unfailing wealth to .
limited extent.
Quite likely there never again will be
found in all the world just that favor or
animation OF favors that inhered In
the favorite apples.o our childhood
flavors that lInger In memory like the
of the scent Of the rose that
died and was buried In Towns Fourth
Reader sixty years ago. No doubt the
present owner Of the old homestead
would say that he can exhibit apples
far superior In flavor to those our boy.
hood knew, and that our taste has
changed with the changing years. 1t
may be so. But why apples particular
"? We still retain in all It's old-tithe
freshness our taste for egg pie, mince
pie and cheese, and other edibles too
numerous to mention.
Well, the old orchard tided over many
a shoal in the family life. Without culture
or care, hot or cold, vet or dry, 1t never
failed to come up smiling. And what .
home for birds and what desert for the
insects that destroy because of the birds.
All that is changed with the changing
years. Change 10 not always for the
better on all lines. Progression Is some
times pronounced retrogression and cor
rectly so.
Not long ago We received the New
England Magazine from Hon. ]. D.
Long, containing . biographical sketch
OF Zadoc Long written BY his son, which
brought to mind many OF the things that
were. Later We received from tho Same
source the Rollins Magazine, In which
was an article, "Birds Of Prey" by J. D..
Long, containing sound advice to those
seeking investments. BE got ripped
slightly when young and confiding. His
lesson was learned for al time.
JOHN.