Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1858 — NELL NARLIE, NO. II. [ARTICLE]

NELL NARLIE, NO. II.

Dear Gazette: Kindly greetings to you | and to all whose homes are gladdened by your presence. Health, prosperity, and pleasant homes. It is a time, now while the Storm King ;- • I broods in the darkened sky, to draw more closely to, and prize more dearly the fires’de > hearth, The iron fetters of business may j be relaxed, and the warmer social sympathies of the heart, not dead, but perchance sleeping, be awakened to renewed vigor. We too much forget that it is not a’l to “live and get gain;” that “those we love are passing from us,” and that our life is a state of chrysalis—the bud of the next world. Go to the window and learn a lesson of the north wind. See it mold of the falling snow-flakes, with unseen fingers, wreaths of Parian marble with matchless skill. How i lavish of its gifts, yet how beautiful and I pure! The oak, on whose venerable head has descended the snows of many winters, stretches not forth its aged limbs in vain—the elm and willow, whose limbs sway in the ■ breath of Eolus, receive a passing tiibute—the thorn and myrtle-tree are invested in a swan-like robe—on coop and kennel and garden gate he graciously bestows his gifts, until the earth seems a fairy’s dream chrys-i talyzed. Now close the shutter—yes, close the heart’s curtain —let its life throbs speaki and their echoes be thy heart’s confessor. ■ If thou hast chosen a sordid part, renounce it there, and upon a purified shrine offer ac-i ceptible incense. Let. thy first, best! thoughts arise in thanksgiving to the Giver i of al) good—then before the altar dedicated to thy households gods renew thy vows and offer a fervent oblation, like earth s snowmantle, chaste, beautiful and unreserved.. Bid each holy influence welcome—the flowers of love to blossom, and affection shall weave them into a fadeless garland which shall festoon the hall of memory, when, perchance, the hand that braided them will be gathering the b'ight blooms of Paradise to enwreath a “harp immortal.” O! better I this than that those walls be draped with , the sable drapery of remorse. Life is beautiful when the frostwork of Time, on the windows of the soul, reflects only pure thoughts and guiltless actions. We may create a world and call it “The Past”—we may erect therein a beautiful Palace of Life, and enrich it each day with the treasures of the heart—noble deeds be its priceless surroundings. Incur ample domain there- shall be mountain bights of integrity and truth, whose “mountain passes” shall be peace) there shall be woodland and lea, and their paths shall be pleasantness; and though the vale of sorrow shall bethere, and perchance the thorn-tree, we will woo the nightingale thither, and its sweet songs shall resound through the valley, along the hill-side and adown the “smooth-flowing river,” from which arise only silver mists, through which moon-beams softly shine, and the sun of happiness dispels in the light of coining days. O! we will call to the world in the faith and hope and light of “Home and Heaven,” and the echo will be—“Do noble tilings, not dream them ail day long; And thus make life, death, and that vast forever. One gland, sweet song.” „ o -

Sincerely,

NELL NARLIE.

Newton Fulls, Dec., 1858. G/T’Tbia ia a remarkably “open” winter.