or dissipated part of the mist, that was before too thick for the eye to penetrate-I saw the valley opening at the farther end, and spreading forth into an immense ocean, that had a huge rock of adamant running through the midst of it, and dividing it into two equal parts. The clouds still rested on one half of it, insomuch that I could discover nothing in it: but the other appeared to me a vast ocean, planted with innumerable islands,* that were covered with fruits and flowers, and interwoven with a thousand little shining seas, that ran among them. I could see persons dressed in glorious habits, with garlands upon their heads, passing among the trees, lying down by the sides of fountains, or resting on beds of flowers; and could hear a confused harmony of singing birds, falling waters, human voices, and musical instruments. Gladness grew in me upon the discovery of so delightful a scene. I wished for the wings of an eagle, that I might fly away to those happy seats; but the Genius told me, there was no passage to them, except through the gates of death, that I saw opening every moment upon the bridge. "The islands," said he, "that lie so fresh and green before thee, and with which the whole face of the ocean appears spotted, as far as thou canst see, are more in number than the sands on the sea shore. There are myriads of islands behind those which thou here discoverest, reaching farther than thine eye, or even thine imagination, can extend itself. These are the mansions of good men after death, who, according to the degrees and kinds of virtuet in which they excelled, are distributed among these several islands, which abound with pleasures of different kinds and degrees, suitable to the relishes and perfections of those who are settled in them. Every island is a paradise accommodated to its respective inhabitants. "Are not these, O Mirza, habitations worth contending for? Does life appear miserable, that gives thee opportunities of earning such a reward? Is death to be feared, that will convey thee to so happy an existence? Think not man was made in vain, who has such an eternity reserved for him." I gazed with inexpressible pleasure on those happy islands. At length, said I," Show me now, I beseech thee, the secrets that lie under those dark clouds, that cover the ocean on the other side of the rock of adamant." The Genius making me no answer, I turned about to address myself to him a second time, but I found that he had left me. I then turned again to the vision which I had been so long contemplating; but, instead of the rolling tide, the arched bridge, and the happy islands, I saw nothing but the long, hollow valley of Bagdat, with oxen, sheep wal camels grazing upon the sides of it. LESSON XXXV. The World we have not seen.-ANONYMOUS THERE is a world we have not seen, There is a region, lovelier far There is a world,-and O how blest !-- And never did an angel guest One half its blessedness unfold. It is all holy and serene, The land of glory and repose; It is not fanned by summer gale; "Tis not refreshed by vernal showers; It never needs the moon-beam pale, For there are known no evening hours. No: for this world is ever bright The streams of uncreated light Flow round it from the Eternal Throne. There forms, that mortals may not see, In vain the philosophic eye May seek to view the fair abode, LESSON XXXVI. The Better Land.-MRS. HEM'ANS. I HEAR thee speak of the better land; "Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise, "Is it far away, in some region old, child!" Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold, "Not there, not there, my child! "Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy! Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom, -It is there, it is there, my child!" LESSON XXXVII. The Widow and her Son.-C. EDWARDS. "My life, my joy, my food, my all the world! I CONSUMPTION is a siren. She can give a charm even to deformity. In my school boy days, there lived an aged widow near the church-yard. She had an only child. have often observed, that the delicate, and the weak, receive more than a common share of affection from a mother. Such a feeling was shown by this widow towards her sickly and unshapely boy. There are faces and forms which, once seen, are impressed upon our brain; and they will come again, and again, upon the tablet of our memory in the quiet night, and even flit around us in our day walks. Many years have gone by since I first saw this boy; but his delicate form, his quiet manner, and his gentle and virtuous conduct, are often before me. I shall never forget,-in the sauciness of youth, and fancying it would give importance to my bluff outside, swearing in his presence. The boy was sitting in a high-backed easy chair, reading his Bible. He turned round, as if a signal for dying had sounded in his ear, and fixed upon me his clear gray eye-that look! it made my little heart almost choke me: I gave some foolish excuse for getting out of the cottage; and, as I met a playmate on the road, who jeered me for my blank countenance, I rushed past him, hid myself in an adjoining cornfield, and cried bitterly. I tried to conciliate the widow's son, and show my sorrow for having so far forgotten the innocence of boyhood, as to have had my Maker's name sounded in an unhallowed manner from my lips but I could not reconcile him. My spring flowers he accepted; but, when my back was turned, he flung them away. The toys and books I offered to him were put aside for his Bible. His only occupations were, the feeding of a favourite hen, which would come to his chair and look up for the crumbs he would let fall, with a noiseless action, from his thin fingers, watching the pendulum and hands of the wooden clock, and reading. Although I could not, at that time, fully appreciate the beauty of a mother's love, still I venerated the widow for the unobtrusive, but intense, attention she displayed to her son. I never entered her dwelling without seeing her engaged in kind offices towards him. If the sunbeam came through the leaves of the geraniums, placed in the window, with too strong a glare, she moved the high-backed chair with as much care as if she had been putting aside a crystal temple. When he slept, she festooned her silk handkerchief around his place of rest. She placed the earliest violets upon her mantel-piece for him to look at; and the roughness of her own meal, and the delicacy of the child's, sufficiently displayed her sacrifices. Easy and satisfied, the widow moved about. I never saw her but once unhappy. She was then walking thoughtfully in her garden. I beheld a tear. I did not dare to intrude upon her grief, and ask her the cause of it; but I found the reason in her cottage. her boy had been spitting blood. I have often envied him these endearments; for I was away from a parent who humoured me even when I was stubborn and unkind. My poor mother is in her grave. I have often regretted having been her pet, her favourite for the coldness of the world makes me wretched; and, perhaps, if I had not drunk at the very spring of a mother's affection, I might have let scorn and con'tumely pass by me as the idle wind. Yet I have, afterwards, asked myself what I, a thoughtless though not heartless boy, should have come to, if I had not had such a comforter:-I have asked myself this, felt satisfied and grateful, and wished that her spirit might watch around a child, who often met her kindness with passion, and received her gifts as if he expected ho mage from her. Every body experiences how quickly school years pass away; and many persons regret their flight. As for myself, I do not wish for the return of boyhood's days. I cannot forget the harshness of my master. I cannot but know, that, if he had studied my character, and tempered me as the hot iron is made pliable, I should have been a different and a better being. I still remember the tyranny of older spirits. School may have its pleasures; but the sorrows of a thinking boy are like the griefs of a fallen angel. |