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chambers. No! Science is not opposed to Poetry, it only opens a wider field. When I think that each of those sparkling points that I see above me sprinkled over the blue shell of the sky, is a distant world that

may call him the wealthy owner of a thousand acres. I shone steadily-and the rest had withdrawn behind The poorest painter that ever passes his estate owns the veil of the moonlight into their fathomless blue more of it than he; the little school-girl who stops to list his robin's song, or to dabble in his running brook, or to chase his butterfly, or to pluck his dandelion, owns more of all his land than he ever knew there was to own. I do not covet your broad wood-spins alorg its meted course forever, and that its lands, they are mine now- -here from my window, twinkling is but the incessant obscuration caused by all, as far as I can see, is mine,-I pay no taxes. the passage of invisible atoms across its disk; when Habit steals the sweetness out of our pleasures. I know that some of them are double, and of comThe hard drudgery of a week's work makes the plementary color, though they seem to us as one, do silence of the seventh day its blessing. To the city I not find a lofty truth therein, which is full of man of business, the few free hours in which he can Poetry? We need not fear that science shall crowd smell the fresh air of the country, are by far poetry out of nature, by depriving it of mysterypleasanter for the tedious routine of his common for ever the web grows more complicate, and the life. Sleep is sweetened by labor. The poor stu- secret more unfathomable. Yet the imaginative dent whose hard earned dollar was pressed out of may well fear, for it is our stand point, that enables aching needs and privations, and given for the book us to find poems in the common life of every day. he coveted, sweetens his life and soul by it—but the This dry muscle-shell which lies beside me, will rich virtuoso has no dark vista of expectation and grow translucent and veined with a thousand curidesire, to heighten the charm of the object he pur- ous hues and prismatic lights, as soon as the salt chases. Never was play so good as in the quarter spray touches it. And so when the commonest fact hour at recess, hemmed in between the walls of of nature is wet from the fountain of inspiration, it study. Too much tasting vitiates the palate. We shows its thousand radiant, yet hidden beauties. artists live the best lives. We are like children, lured Custom and convention alone kill the poetry out of on by the scent of flowers in a green and pleasant nature. Laws of society, which are barren forms, meadow, which, though they are seldom found, make hang lead weights upon the young enthusiastic the seeking a delight. Art thus entices us gently on. Apollo. Every youthful heart, which in its first flush The mechanical is so harmoniously connected with of hope would clasp the world to its bosom, finds. the intellectual, that mind and body are both satis- that it clasps a cold mailed body-stuffed with a fied. We smell a perfume after which all common trite commonplace, instead of the genial glowing things, dusty and scentless in themselves, seem spirit that it sought. Enthusiasm is unfashionable— vivified and transfigured. The old barn-yard, the the ideal, a bore-high projects are foolish transcengnarled oak and the stunted willow, and every sun-dentalism-and when the bewhipped heart, after it set and sunrise, and all the clouds, and all human has run its gauntlet, turns and asks, what is true faces, become full of interest for us. They are no and good? "Our forms," says the world, and he longer tame and prosaic, but filled with an ever- consents for sake of peace. shifting beauty. Had we only the ideal, we should soon give up, but the constant contact of the actual, from which our problem is to shape out the ideal, gives a sincerity and truth to all our aspirations and labors. Our brushes and paints lie between the picture and our hands, and between the conception and its embodiment there is a great deal of actual work. Thus a pleasant vibration is constantly kept up between the spirit and the sense. Along the pencil runs the thought to bury itself in the canvass, as the lightning from heaven flashes along the iron rod to seek the earth, We are kept from being too visionary by a constant necessity of reducing all our feelings and emotions and ideas, to something actual and visible. Thus we can sit and realize our ideal world-and is not this the greatest joy?

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I have been looking out of my window into the moon-light. The fresh air as it blew in, fluttered the flame of my candle, which stood on the mantel, and threatened momentarily to extinguish it. Being in a superstitious mood, I determined not to move it, but to try my fate by it. If it were blown out, my love would also melt away. If it resisted the wind and burned on, my love was not a foolish fancy, but would live to shed light and happiness around me. I have watched with curiosity, for some time, the struggle between the wind and the candle. Now it seems as if the wind would get the better, for the flame hangs fluttering around the wick, and seems barely to keep its hold. And now again the wind flags, and the flame burns brightly and steadily. So it is with me. Love, the flame, now burning brightly, and now threatened with doubt and distrust. How universally this desire of snatching an intimation of the future out of the passing facts of the present, possesses the mind of man. Do we not, when anxious for an undetermined result, endeavor to strengthen our belief in what we hope,

Yes

by watching the chance ending of trivial facts then pending, and attaching an encouraging and signifi cant interpretation to one of the two issues. we cannot build up so strong a wall of confidence, that it needs no prop to sustain it. And we are willing but too often that chance shall decide, when reason and judgment are wavering. And yet our destiny is almost the creation of our will-and often when a peculiar providence seems to have directed the result, and to have aided the individual, he in fact has created the circumstances and fashioned the event. When we are broken down in hope, and drowning, we grasp at straws. If a chance happen in our favor it gives us faith—and belief in our ability is the touchstone to success. When we have taken counsel in moments of hesitation, from chance throws of dice, from fates cut in a book, and the result has proved fortunate as thereby indicated, is it not the faith which the chance decision has inspired, that decided the issue? When Robert Bruce lay on his pallet watching the spider, and saw him make six unsuccessful attempts to fasten its web to a beam above his head, and then determined, that if the insect succeeded in his seventh attempt, he also, who had six times failed in his efforts for the freedom of his country, would make one more trial; was it not the faith which the final success of the indefatigable insect inspired, that was the guaranty of victory, and under the guidance of which, defeat and failure were next to impossible? We can do, what we do not doubt that we can do. All great minds have a settled fearlessness and confidence, which looks like inspiration. Napoleon conquered and intimidated all Europe, by his sublime faith in himself. After marshalling all his resources and omitting no precaution which pointed even dimly to success, he had over and above this, a fiery faith, which spread like wildfire over his whole army, which conquered the most fearful odds, and which strode over and crushed all doubt to the earth. No army could withstand that desperate resolution, which never harbored a doubt of its own ability. Without this faith, he might have possessed his eagle insight, his quick instinct, his rapid combination, his subtle calculation and foresight, still never have grasped the hydra of anarchy, and tamed it to submission, even while its fangs were dripping with gore, nor have waded through the blood of Europe to an imperial throne. If we have no faith in ourselves, who is to have faith in us? No great man is astonished at his own success.

For dubious meanings learned polemics strove, And words on faith prevented works of love.

CRABBE.

THE POOR MAN'S DEATH BED.
BY CAROLINE SOUTHEY.

Tread softly-bow the head-
In reverent silence bow!
No passing bell doth toll,
Yet an immortal soul
Is passing now.

Stranger! how great soe'er,
With lowly reverence bow!
There's one in that poor shed,
One by that wretched bed,
Greater than thou.

Beneath that beggar's roof,
Lo! Death doth keep his state;
Enter-no crowds attend;
Enter-no guards defend

This palace-gate.

That pavement, damp and cold,
No whispering courtiers tread ;
One silent woman stands,
Lifting with pale thin hands

A dying head.

No mingling voices sound-
An infant wail alone;

A sob suppressed-agen
That short, deep gasp-and then
The parting groan.

O change, oh, wondrous change!
Burst are the prison bars!
This moment there, so low,
So agonized, and now

Beyond the stars!

O change! stupendous change! There lies the senseless clod; The soul from bondage breaks, The new immortal wakesWakes with his God.

SONNET.

BY GEORGE S. BURLEIGH.

I thank ye, oh ye ever noiseless stars!
That ye do move so silent, in your high
Eternal marches through the voiceless sky.
When Earth's loud clamor on the spirit jars,
-The Captive's groans, the victor's loud huzzas,

And the worn toilers' deepening hunger cry, Then from your height ye gaze so placidly, That the low cares whose fretful breathing scars Life's holy deeps, shrink back abashed before

The love-sad meekness of your still rebuke, And the calmed soul forgets the earth storm's roar In the deep trust of your majestic look, Till through the heart by warring passions torn, Some pulse of your serener life is born.

ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF DR. CHANNING. | Thou art not idle in thy higher sphere

BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

I do not come to weep above thy pall,

And mourn the dying-out of noble powers;
The poet's clearer eye should see, in all
Earth's seeming woe, the seed of Heaven's flowers,

Truth needs no champions: in the infinite deep
Of everlasting Soul her strength abides,
From Nature's heart her mighty pulses leap,
Through Nature's veins her strength, undying,
tides.

Peace is more strong than war, and gentleness,

Where force were vain, makes conquests o'er the

wave;

And love lives on and hath a power to bless,

When they who loved are hidden in the grave.

Thy spirit bends itself to loving tasks,
And strength, to perfect what it dreamed of here,
Is all the crown and glory that it asks.

For sure, in Heaven's wide chambers, there is room
For love and pity, and for helpful deeds;
Else were our summons thither but a doom
To life more vain than this in clayey weeds.
From off the starry mountain-peak of song,
Thy spirit shows me, in the coming time,
An earth unwithered by the foot of wrong,
A race revering its own soul sublime.
What wars,

come,

what martyrdoms, what crimes, may

Thou knowest not, nor I; but God will lead The prodigal soul from want and sorrow home, And Eden ope her gates to Adam's seed.

The sculptured marble brags of death-strewn fields, Farewell! good man, good angel now! this hand
And Glory's epitaph is writ in blood;
But Alexander now to Plato yields,

Clarkson will stand where Wellington hath stood.

I watch the circle of the eternal years,
And read forever in the storied page

One lengthened roll of blood, and wrong, and tears,-
One onward step of Truth from age to age.

The poor are crushed; the tyrants link their chain;
The poet sings through narrow dungeon-grates;
Man's hope lies quenched;—and, lo! with steadfast
gain

Freedom doth forge her mail of adverse fates.

Men slay the prophets; fagot, rack, and cross
Make up the groaning record of the past;

But Evil's triumphs are her endless loss,

And sovereign Beauty wins the soul at last.

No power can die that ever wrought for Truth;
Thereby a law of Nature it became,
And lives unwithered in its sinewy youth,

When he who called it forth is but a name.

Therefore I cannot think thee wholly gone,
The better part of thee is with us still;
Thy soul its hampering clay aside hath thrown,
And only freer wrestles with the Ill.

Thou livest in the life of all good things;
What words thou spak'st for Freedom shall not die;
Thou sleepest not, for now thy Love hath wings

To soar where hence thy hope could hardly fly.

And often, from that other world, on this

Soon, like thine own, shall lose its cunning, too,
Soon shall this soul, like thine, bewildered stand,
Then leap to thread the free unfathomed blue:
When that day comes, O, may this hand grow cold,
Busy, like thine, for Freedom and the Right;
O, may this soul, like thine, be ever bold
To face dark Slavery's encroaching blight!

This laurel-leaf I cast upon thy bier;

Let worthier hands than these thy wreath entwine; Upon thy hearse I shed no useless tear,—

For me weep rather thou in calm divine!

ABOU BEN ADHEM.

BY LEIGH HUNT.

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,-
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,-
An Angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And, in a voice made all of sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord!"
"And is mine one?" said Abou. Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said: "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow-men."

Some gleams from great souls gone before may The Angel wrote and vanished. The next night

shine,

To shed on struggling hearts a clearer bliss,

And clothe the Right with lustre more divine.

He came again, with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

THE WASTED FLOWERS.

snow-balls; but at length, coming hand to hand,

On the velvet bank of a rivulet sat a rosy child. they coped in a rage, and many bloody raps were

Her lap was filled with flowers, and a garland of rose-buds was twined around her neck. Her face was as radiant as the sunshine that fell upon it; and her voice was as clear as that of the bird whieh warbled at her side.

The little stream went singing on, and with every gush of its music the child lifted a flower in its dimpled hand, and with a merry laugh threw it upon its surface. In her glee she forgot that her treasures were growing less, and with the swift motion of childhood, she flung them upon the sparkling tide, until every bud and blossom had disappeared. Then seeing her loss, she sprang to her feet, and bursting into tears, called aloud to the stream-Bring back my flowers." But the stream danced along, regardless of her tears; and as it bore the blooming burden away, her words came back in a taunting echo along its reedy margin. And, long after, amidst the wailing of the breeze and the fitful bursts of childish grief, was heard the fruitless cry," Bring back my flowers."

Merry maiden! who art idly wasting the precious moments so bountifully bestowed on thee-see in the thoughtless impulsive child, an emblem of thy

self.

Each moment is a perfumed flower. Let its fragrance be dispensed in blessings on all around thee, and ascend as sweet incense to its beneficent

GIVER.

Else, when thou hast carelessly flung them from thee, and seest them receding on the swift waters of Time, thou wilt cry in tones more sorrowful than those of the weeping child- Bring back my flowers." And the only answer will be an echo from the shadowy past-Bring back my flowers." The Lowell Offering.

liberally given and received.

I went up to try if I could pacify them; for by this time a number of little girls had joined the affray, and I was afraid they would be killed. So, addressing one party, I asked, What are you fighting those boys for? What have they done to you?'

O, naething at a', maun; we just want to gie them a gude thrashin'-that's a'.'

That scene was a lesson of wisdom to me.

I

My remonstrance was vain; at it they went afresh; and after fighting till they were quite exhausted, one of the principal heroes stepped forth between the combatants, himself covered with blood and his clothes all torn to tatters, and addressed the opposing party thus :—‹ Weel, I'll tell you what we'll do wi' ye-if ye'll let us alane, we'll let you alane.' There was no more of it; the war was at an end, and the boys scampered away to their play. thought at the time, and have often thought since, that this trivial affray was the best epitome of war in general, that I had ever seen. Kings and ministers of state are just a set of grown-up children, exactly like the children I speak of, with only this material difference, that instead of fighting out for themselves the needless quarrels they have raised. they sit in safety and look on, hound out their innocent but servile subjects to battle, and then, after an immense waste of blood and treasure, are glad to make the boys' condition—if ye'll let us alane, we'll let you

alane.'

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THE FREE MIND.

BY WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.

Written by him while despotically imprisoned in Baltimore, in 1831, on a charge for libel; he having published an article against a New England merchant by the name of Todd, who freighted a vessel with slaves for the New Orleans market.

HIGH walls and huge the body may confine,

And iron grates obstruct the prisoner's gaze, And massive bolts may baffle his design,

And vigilant keepers watch his devious ways:
Yet scorns the immortal mind this base control!
No chains can bind it, and no cell enclose:
Swifter than light. it flies from pole,

And in a flash from earth to heaven it goes!
It leaps from mount to mount; from vale to vale
It wanders, plucking honeyed fruits and flowers;
It visits home, to hear the fire-side tale,

Or, in sweet converse, pass the joyous hours.
'Tis up before the sun, roaming afar,
And, in its watches, wearies every star!

THE REVELLERS.

BY WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER.

There were sounds of mirth and revelry,
In an old ancestral hall,

And many a merry laugh rang out,
And many a merry call;

And the glass was freely pass'd around,
And the red wine freely quaff'd;

And many a heart beat high with glee,
And the joy of the thrilling draught—

In that broad and huge ancestral hall,
Of the times that were, of old.

A voice arose as the lights grew dim, And a glass was flourished high,

"I drink to Life!" said a Reveller bold, "And I do not fear to die.

I have no fear-I have no fear

Talk not of the vagrant, Death;
For he's but a grim old gentleman, ́
And wars but with his breath."

A boast well worthy a revel rout
Of the times that were, of old.

"We drink," said all, « We drink to life,
And we do not fear to die!"
Just then a rushing sound was heard,
As of quick wings sweeping by;
And soon the old latch was lifted up,
And the door flew open wide,
And a stranger strode within the hall,
With an air of martial pride;

In visor and cloak, like a secret knight
Of the times that were, of old.

He spoke "I join in your revelry,
Bold sons of the Bacchan rite,

And I drink the toast ye have fill'd to drink,
The pledge of yon dauntless knight;
Fill higher-Fill higher-we drink to life,
And we scorn the vagrant, Death,
For he's but a grim old gentleman,
And wars but with his breath."

A pledge well worthy a revel rout
Of the times that were, of old.

"He's a noble soul, that champion knight, And he wears a martial brow; Oh, he'll pass the gates of Paradise,

To the regions of bliss below!"

The Reveller stood in deep amaze—

Now flash'd his fiery eye;

He muttered a curse-then shouted loud, Intruder, thou shall die!"

He struck-and the stranger's guise fell off,
When a phantom before him stood,
A grinning, and ghastly, and horrible thing,
That curdled his boiling blood.

He stirred not again, till the stranger blew
A blast of his withering breath;

Then the Reveller fell at the Phantom's feet,
And his conqueror was-DEATH!

In that broad and high ancestral hall,
Of the times that were, of old.

TO A WATERFOWL.

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

Whither, 'midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler's eye

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.

Seek'st thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side.

There is a Power, whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,The desert and illimitable air,

Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned, At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere; Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end; Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend Soon o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone; the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, And shall not soon depart.

He, who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,

And his sword leap'd out, like a Baron's brave In the long way that I must tread alone,

Of the times that were, of old.

Will lead my steps aright.

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