Prepared for never-resting Labor's eyes Breaks from a many-windowed fabric huge; And at the appointed hour a bell is heard, Of harsher import than the curfew-knoll That spake the Norman Conqueror's stern behest— A local summons to unceasing toil! Disgorged are now the ministers of day;
And, as they issue from the illumined pile, A fresh band meets them, at the crowded door— And in the courts-and where the rumbling stream, That turns the multitude of dizzy wheels, Glares, like a troubled spirit, in its bed
Among the rocks below. Men, maidens, youths, Mother and little children, boys and girls, Enter, and each the wonted task resumes Within this temple, where is offered up To Gain, the master idol of the realm, Perpetual sacrifice. Even thus of old Our ancestors, within the still domain Of vast cathedral or conventual church, Their vigils kept; where tapers day and night On the dim altar burned continually,
In token that the House was evermore Watching to God. Religious men were they; Nor would their reasons, tutored to aspire Above this transitory world, allow
That there should pass a moment of the year, When in their land the Almighty's service ceased.
Triumph who will in these profaner rites Which we, a generation self-extolled, As zealously perform! I cannot share His proud complacency :-yet do I exult,
Casting reserve away, exult to see An intellectual mastery exercised O'er the blind elements; a purpose given, A perseverance fed; almost a soul
Imparted to brute matter. I rejoice, Measuring the force of those gigantic powers
That, by the thinking mind, have been compelled
To serve the will of feeble-bodied Man.
For with the sense of admiration blends
The animating hope that time may come
When, strengthened, yet not dazzled, by the might Of this dominion over nature gained,
Men of all lands shall exercise the same In due proportion to their country's need; Learning, though late, that all true glory rests, All praise, all safety, and all happiness,
Tyre, by the margin of the sounding waves, Palmyra, central in the desert, fell;
And the Arts died by which they had been raised.
-Call Archimedes from his buried tomb Upon the grave of vanished Syracuse, And feeling the Sage shall make report How insecure, how baseless in itself, Is the Philosophy whose sway depends On mere material instruments ;-how weak Those arts, and high inventions, if unpropped By virtue.-He, sighing with pensive grief, Amid his calm abstractions, would admit That not the slender privilege is theirs To save themselves from blank forgetfulness !"
When from the Wanderer's lips these words had
I said, "And, did in truth those vaunted Arts Possess such privilege, how could we escape Sadness and keen regret, we who revere, And would preserve as things above all price, The old domestic morals of the land, Her simple manners, and the stable worth That dignified and cheered a low estate? Oh! where is now the character of peace, Sobriety, and order, and chaste love, And honest dealing, and untainted speech, And pure good-will, and hospitable cheer; That made the very thought of country-life A thought of refuge, for a mind detained Reluctantly amid the bustling crowd? Where now the beauty of the Sabbath kept With conscientious reverence, as a day By the almighty Lawgiver pronounced Holy and blest? and where the winning grace Of all the lighter ornaments attached
To time and season, as the year rolled round?"
"Fled!" was the Wanderer's passionate response, Fled utterly! or only to be traced
In a few fortunate retreats like this;
Which I behold with trembling, when I think What lamentable change, a year—a month- May bring; that brook converting as it runs Into an instrument of deadly bane For those, who, yet untempted to forsake The simple occupations of their sires, Drink the pure water of its innocent stream
With lip almost as pure.-Domestic bliss (Or call it comfort, by a humbler name,) How art thou blighted for the poor Man's heart! Lo! in such neighborhood, from morn to eve, The habitations empty! or perchance
The Mother left alone,-no helping hand To rock the cradle of her peevish babe; No daughters round her, busy at the wheel, Or in despatch of each day's little growth Of household occupation; no nice arts Of needle-work; no bustle at the fire, Where once the dinner was prepared with pride; Nothing to speed the day, or cheer the mind; Nothing to praise, to teach or to command!
The Father, if perchance he still retain His old employments, goes to field or wood, No longer led or followed by the Sons; Idlers perchance they were,—but in his sight; Breathing fresh air, and treading the green earth; "Till their short holiday of childhood ceased, Ne'er to return! That birthright now is lost Economists will tell you that the State Thrives by the forfeiture-unfeeling thought, And false as monstrous! Can the mother thrive By the destruction of her innocent sons In whom a premature necessity
Blocks out the forms of nature, preconsumes The reason famishes the heart, shuts up The infant Being in itself, and makes Its very spring a season of decay! The lot is wretched, the condition sad, Whether a pining discontent survive,
And thirst for change; or habit hath subdued The soul deprest, dejected—even to love Of her close tasks, and long captivity.
Oh, banish far such wisdom as condemns A native Briton to these inward chains, Fixed in his soul, so early and so deep; Without his own consent, or knowledge, fixed! He is a slave to whom release comes not, And cannot come. The boy, where'er he turns, Is still a prisoner; when the wind is up
Among the clouds, and roars through the ancient woods;
Or when the sun is shining in the east,
Quiet and calm. Behold him-in the school Of his attainments? no; but with the air Fanning his temples under heaven's blue arch. His raiment, whitened o'er with cotton-flakes Or locks of wool, announces whence he comes. Creeping his gait and cowering, his lip pale, `His respiration quick and audible;
And scarcely could you fancy that a gleam Could break from out those languid eyes, or a blush Mantle upon his cheek. Is this the form,
Is that the countenance, and such the port, Of no mean Being? One who should be clothed With dignity befitting his proud hope; Who, in his very childhood, should appear Sublime from present purity and joy! The limbs increase; but liberty of mind Is gone for ever; and this organic frame, So joyful in its motions, is become Dull, to the joy of her own motions dead;
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