Ding-dong ! Now he raises his clear , loud voice , above all the din of the town ; it drowns the buzzing talk of many tongues , and draws each man 's mind from his own business ; it rolls up and down the echoing street and ascends to the hushed chamber of the sick , and penetrates downward to the cellar kitchen , where the hot cook turns from the fire to listen . 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 . O , 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 , afrighting 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 revery 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 . There is snow in yonder cold gray sky of the morning !
- and , through the partially frosted window-panes , I love XXXXX watch the gradual beginning of the storm .
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