CHAPTER XXVI. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF BOYHOOD. 



BACK TO THE OLD HOME THE BARRETT BOYS THE OLD SCHOOL- 

 HOUSE HAIL, GENTLE ROBIN THE OLD FENCE CORNER THE 

 CHURCHYARD THE SNOW-BALL CONFLICTS. 



" I'll wander back, yes, back again, 



Where childhood's home may be, 

 For memory in sweet refrain 

 Still sings its praise to me." 



MAN may roam wheresoever he will, and his absence be 

 prolonged to whatever extent it may, yet the memory of the 

 old homestead will always be cherished. The reflex of the 

 scenes of childhood are indelibly stamped upon the human 

 mind, and can never be effaced. In the midst of busy scenes, 

 of exciting surroundings, when the mind is weighed down 

 with the cares of business, how often does memory steal away 

 from the harsh, practical present into the dreamy, poetical 

 past, and recall the days of childhood, of boyhood, of youth. 

 How whole years of that blissful period of life will pass in 

 rapid review through the imagination, and how fervently do 

 we sigh as we awaken from the delightful reverie : 



" Backward, turn backward, O Time, in thy flight, 

 And make me a boy again, just for to-night." 



And yet when we realize that it cannot be so, that " the 

 past is joined to the eternal past," we brush the tear from the 

 furrowed cheek, and return to the realities of the hour. 



For nearly a quarter of a century since I left the old home, 

 I have roamed through the world and battled with its stern 

 realities. During that time I have seen, perhaps, as much of 



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