Who of all that address the public ear , whether in church or court-house or hall of state , has such an attentive audience as the town-crier ! What saith the people 's orator ? `` Strayed from her home , a LITTLE GIRL of five years old , in a blue silk frock and white pantalets , with brown curling hair and hazel eyes . Whoever will bring her back to her afflicted mother -- '' Stop , stop , town-crier ! The lost is found . -- Oh , my pretty Annie , we forgot to tell your mother of our ramble , and she is in despair and has sent the town-crier to bellow up and down the streets , affrighting old and young , for the loss of a little girl who has not once let go my hand ? Well , let us hasten homeward ; and as we go forget not to thank Heaven , my Annie , that after wandering a little way into the world you may return at the first summons with an untainted and unwearied heart , and be a happy child again . But I have gone too far astray for the town-crier to call me back . Sweet has been the charm of childhood on my spirit throughout my ramble with little Annie . Say not that it has been a waste of precious moments , an idle matter , a babble of childish talk and a reverie of childish imaginations about topics unworthy of a grown man 's notice . Has it been merely this ? Not so -- not so . They are not truly wise who would affirm it . As the pure breath of children revives the life of aged men , so is our moral nature revived by their free and simple thoughts , their native feeling , their airy mirth for little cause or none , their grief soon roused and soon allayed . Their influence on us is at least reciprocal with ours on them . When our infancy is almost forgotten and our boyhood long departed , though it seems but as yesterday , when life settles darkly down upon us and we doubt whether to call ourselves young any more , -- then it is good to steal away from the society of bearded men , and even of gentler woman , and spend an hour or two with children . After drinking from those fountains of still fresh existence we shall return into the crowd , as I do now , to struggle onward and do our part in life -- perhaps as fervently as ever , but for a time with a kinder and purer heart and a spirit more lightly wise . All this by thy sweet magic , dear little Annie ! WAKEFIELD . In some old magazine or newspaper I recollect a story , told as truth , of a man -- let us call him Wakefield -- who absented himself for a long time from his wife .
The fact , thus abstractedly stated , is not very uncommon , nor , without a proper distinction of circumstances , to be condemned either XXXXX naughty or nonsensical .
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