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Sparks, William Henry, 1800-1882

"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 i"

The young adventurer stands alone and the
crowd goes hurrying on. How many in desolation of heart have stood
alone and unheeded by the busy, passing multitude upon that broad
levee! How many tears of misery have moistened its shell-covered
summit, when thinking of friends far, far away they should never see
again, and when hope had been rooted from the heart!
He wandered to the great square, now so beautifully ornamented with
shrubs and flowers which love the sun and the South's fat soil, growing
and blooming about the bronze representation of the loved hero who had
been her shield and savior in the hour of her peril, Andrew Jackson.
Then there were a few trees only, and beneath these, here and there, a
rude rural seat or bench. The old, gray cathedral was frowning on the
world's sins, so rife around her; and the great, naked square and the
mighty muddy river which was hurrying away to the sea. To the most
thoughtless will come reflection, and the sweetest face is mellowed by
sorrow. Here under these trees, in the midst of a great city, came to
the young adventurer reflection and sighing sorrow.


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