"There is an old belief that in the embers
Of all things, their primordial form exists;
And cunning Alchemists could recreate
The rose, with all its members,
From its own ashes--but without the bloom,
Without the least perfume.
Ah me! what wonder-working, occult science
Can from the ashes of our hearts
Once more the rose of youth restore?
What craft of alchemy can bid defiance
To time, and change; and for a single hour,
Renew this phantom flower?"
Taking New Hampshire in my route, I was pained to find the season too far
advanced to admit a trip to White Mountains, and among the great objects
of interest I must of necessity omit this "Noblest Roman of them all," and
pass silently by the grandeur of this rugged mountain scenery.
I went to Waterbury, Vermont, the birth-place of Mr. Arms, and, after a
short rest at the hotel, walked through the meadow, and crossed the clear
trout-stream he had so often pictured to me as most prominent among the
reminiscences of his boyhood. Going to the homestead now hallowed to me as
his birth-place, I was kindly received by the widow of his brother, who
needed only the knowledge of my acquaintance with her friends in the West
to place me upon a familiar footing, and I became an earnest, attentive
listener to her well rendered rehearsal of the pranks of his urchin-hood.
So was this day marked as memorable in the calendar of life. From
Waterbury I went to Burlington, and thence to Montpelier, and finding the
Legislature in session the sale of my books was greatly enhanced by the
liberal patronage of its members; and here as elsewhere I had reason to to
thank our national convocations.
The rigor of the approaching New England winter warned me of the necessity
for going South. While on the Hudson River Railroad I was accosted by a
gentleman who asked me if I could read the raised letters, and learning
that I could, he begged me to accept a copy of the Bible in that style of
lettering; I of course did so, and have this volume still in my
possession.
Going to Chicago I found Mr. Arms established in business, which gave me
an additional hope for future happiness, and 'tis needless to say,
"I built myself a castle
So _stately_, _grand_ and fair;
I built myself a castle,
A castle in the air."
Delicate lungs and irritating cough, sent me still further South, and I
reluctantly left Chicago and all I held so dear.