Old Scenes Re-visited.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 279, 1 June 1897, Page 2

Old Scenes Re-visited.

(By ' Wanderkr.') 1 As tlic custom now obtains with people who can afford it to re-visit England and view again the scenes of earlior days, the following may bo interesting : — Byrou says : " Abspnco makes the heart grow fonder " ; hut it is only with the absent one it does so ; those he leaves behind soon forget all about him, and he becomes uo more to them than if ho had never been ; and while he carries with him impressions that, like a picture, remain the same, in reality changes have been going on from the moment cf his departure. It needs not years ; eveu a few months are sufficient to effect the metamorphosis. I lelt the place I bad long dwelt in, for a period of two yoars, during which timo the old familiar faces and places I were ever present, endeared to me by a thousand memories, and I 3 earned for the time when I could return. It came, at length, and I once again trod the accustomed road, I entered the hotel with hand half outstretched, expecting to have it seized by the friendly host, he was not there, but in his place stood a stranger at the bar, and on enquiring for my friend he replied, " He took to fancying he was a game cock that could both fiybt and fly, and ouc day thre%v himself from a top storey window upou two men who were quarrelling in the street. He died- I'm running the show now." Then the stranger turned to attend to another customer. There was more reflection iv that glass I drank than in auy I had ever before taken, and I went out meditating. I next came upon the bakery : it was closed, and the shutters up. Here, too, driclt Jia-J wrought the change. The baker had, upon sotting tho sponge one night, forgotten to close tho lid of the trough, and when ho went to knead it -in place of seeing, as ho expected, a white, frothy ferment -he bel)6ld a black, seething, writhing, crawling mass — it was blackbeetles ; but his bedazed mind took them to be imps of Satan. The sight unseated lu'h reason, and he now resides in a mad-house. Where was the worthy storekeeper ? He, also, bad gone — passed through the fiery furnace of bankruptcy and been purified, leaving his creditors the dross, the ashes in the urn, I now saw an old acqnaintance, a lawyer. He passed on and took no notice of me ; but as during my absence he had bo come wealthy and had built a fine mansion, in which he now dwelt, it was i>ot to bo expected he would. I next came upon an old familiar, my companion of years. We had shared each other's troubles and each other's joys ; and if the same breast had not nurtured us, we had sucked from the same bottle. With hand extended I hailed him with " See I am back again, Charlie." He furtively answered "So I see " ; then added " Sorry I can't shake hands ; mine are full." He carried a parcel. Then with an apologetic '" Excuse me ; I have to meet tho train," he hurried away. I bad now reached the outskirt of the town and sat down, and in moody meditation soliloquized " Usurper Time, bow swiftly do you sever Friendship's bond when absence is the blade you cut with." Then I mused, " Can it be Time ? Or is it " — And hastening back I accosted every acquaintance I met with, " It was a gross miscarriage of justice. I never" - But I never got any further with my explanation, for they all passed on, with a shrug of their shoulders as comment. I saw that intimacy was at an end, so resolved to leave the place, never to return. I would hayo shaken the dust off my shoes as a testimony against it, but it had been raining hard, so I kicked cloda of dirt at it instead ; but I don't think they have tho same potency as dust, for I don't hear of anyone being affected by them ; indeed, I doubt whether they were noticed. To those who intend re- visiting old familiar scenes after long absence, " Wanderer's " advice is : Don't go. Save your money ; save your sigbs. And if you have a superabundance of the former and are lacking tbe latter, an exchange will be willingly made by — Wanderer.