The Memories of Fifty Years: Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the SouthwestSparks, W. H. (William Henry)
History
The Memories of Fifty Years: Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest
Sparks, W. H. (William Henry)
Georgia -- History -- 1775-1865; Southwest, Old -- History; United States -- Biography
The sexes universally associated at the same school, (a system
unfortunately grown out of use,) and grew up together with a perfect
knowledge of the disposition, temperament, and general character of
each other. And, as assuredly as the boy is father to the man, the girl
is mother to the woman; and these peculiarities were attractive or
repulsive as they differed in individuals, and were always an influence
in the selection of husbands and wives. The prejudices of childhood
endure through life, particularly those toward persons. They are
universally predicated upon some trait of manner or character, and
these, as in the boy perceived, are ever prominent in the man. So, too,
with the girl, and they only grow with the woman. This is a paramount
reason why parties about contracting marriage-alliances should be well
aware of whom they are about to select. The consequence of this
intercommunication of the sexes from childhood, in the primitive days
of Georgia's first settlement, was seen in the harmony of families. In
the age which followed, a separation or divorce was as rare as an
earthquake; and when occurring, agitated the whole community. For then
a marriage was deemed a life-union, for good or for evil, and was not
lightly or inconsiderately entered into.
The separation of the sexes in early youth, and especially at school,
destroys or prevents in an eminent degree the restraining influences
upon the actions of each other, and that tender desire for the society
of each other, which grows from childhood's associations. Brought
together at school in early life, when the mind and soul are receiving
the impressions which endure through life, they naturally form
intimacies, and almost always special partialities and preferences.
Each has his or her favorite, these partialities are usually
reciprocal, and their consequence is a desire on the part of each to
see the other excel. To accomplish this, children, as well as grown
people, will make a greater effort than they will simply to succeed or
to gratify a personal ambition to that effect. Thus they sympathize
with and stimulate each other. Every Georgia boy of fifty years ago,
with gray-head and tottering step now, remembers his sweetheart, for
whom he carried his hat full of peaches to school, and for whom he made
the grape-vine swing, and how at noon he swung her there.
'T is bonny May; and I to-day
Am wrinkled seventy-four,
Still I enjoy, as when a boy,
Much that has gone before.
Is it the leaves and trees, or sheaves
Of yellow, ripened grain,
Which wake to me, in memory,
My boyhood's days again?
These seem to say 't is bonny May,
As when they sweetly grew,
And gave their yield, in wood and field,
To me, when life was new.
But nought beside--ah, woe betide!--
Which grew with me is here--
The home, the hall, the mill, the all
Which young life holds so dear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account