The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-09-11
A MID SUMMER NIGHTS VISION

far in lands where the cotton never
whitens and the jessamine never
blooms, where the sombre pines are
never edged by the yellow sedge nor
| the mountains bathed in blue haze
Now and then the exile returns after
many years to his native heath. the
land of the Lost Cause, yet now the
land of exulting progress.
And when he returns, if ii be In
summer, there is one characteristic
scene, one phase of southern life
that he will look for and not in vain
the open veranda life of summer
! nights, where guitar and mandolin
accompany soft musical voices
through many melodies and inter
ludes of gay conversation occur as the
night wears on UNDECIDED and the
katydids never hush.
But the exile, returning after many
years, never finds just what he left
cannot taste just the flavor that thi
| summary evening life once had That
which he left has changed in the in
terval. He himself has changed. They
that were his companions on the We.
randa in the other years are gone
or subtly changed and in turn feel a
change in time, one knows not what
exactly. but simply, that no face; no
interests, no theme has stood just
| it used to be. The melodies have laps
ed that he used to hear; new ones
have come in their place. The little
children that sleepily. protestingly re
tired early to bed now occupy the
veranda on their own account. and
their world is not his world.
And so he falls into reverie as the
others gaily chat or sing, and the
wistful spirit takes wing across the
unreturning years to find its own COM
partnership and its own music Not
quite all is changed, for enough OF the
changeless staging of our transient
lives which nature kindly gives still
remains to yield memory a footho
The same stars shine in the same
places, and the breeze that rustles
gently through the oaks seems the
self-same wanderer OF the night
heard long. ago. The katydids and
the tree frogs seem never TO have
hushed at all. Faint odOrs breath
from the magnolias or the cape jes-
samine as of old and magically viyify
memory.
There comes to him a midsummer
nights vision of the long ago. a
southern lawn lies bathed in moon.
light, making it a playground f.
elves and fares among the waveringI
shadows and gohstly flowers. The
clematis and the moon flowers sife
the moonlight on a broad. spacious
veranda, so that IL dimly reveals the
graceful contour of white robed girls.
fresh in their blooming youth and
overflowing with gay vivacity-but
especially one sitting nearest al hand.
Masculine forms are there. too. and
bass or tenor voices mingle In the
melodies that ever and anon. after
bursts of lively chatter. float out into
the infinite night. The hours glide
swiftly by, for time Is charged with
no fretting cars and what has been
or what is yet to be are questions not
yet troubling the delightful present.
The wizardry of romance has cast is
delicate elusive charm over all things.
That world on which the glaring sun.
light shine is as though Il were not.
The unspoiled spirit OF youth Just
awakening to the spell OF moonlit
night and melodiOus song. when
young manhood and young woman.
hood discover their mutual fascina.
ton, rejoices to have its way made
enchantingly easy by natures cunning
collision. So it was for him-Once.
when he was one of those who are
barely in their twenties.
He knows that this midsummer
nights vision is no baseless fabric Of
something that never was on land or
sea. Somewhere back there in the
yesterdays he lived that experience.
Down at the other end OF the veranda
tonight he sees the young folks living
it now-sees it and feels vague sad.
ness of regret that for him such hours
can come no more. save as memory
may retain the vision OF his own lost
ones. Yet even the memory alone Is
blessed.
1t is personal treasure he would
not lose. The flavor OF Il Is never
found elsewhere. for elsewhere youth
and romance find a different setting
| -,