On earth's sepulchral clod,
The dark'ning universe defy
To quench his immortality,
Or shake his trust in God.
LESSON CLXII.
Picture of a Good Man.-YOUNG.
1. SOME angel guide my pencil, while I draw,
What nothing else than angel can exceed,
A man on earth devoted to the skies;
Like ships at sea, while in, above the world.
With aspect mild, and elevated eye,
Behold him seated on a mount serene,
Above the fogs of sense, and passion's storm;
All the black cares, and tumults of this life,
Like harmless thunders, breaking at his feet,
Excite his pity, not impair his peace.
2. Earth's genuine sons, the sceptred, and the slave, A mingled mob! a wand'ring herd! he sees, Bewilder'd in the vale; in all unlike ;
His full reverse in all! What higher praise?
What stronger demonstration of the right?
The present all their care; the future his ;
When public welfare calls, or private want,
They give to fame; his bounty he conceals.
Their virtues varnish nature'; his exalt.
Mankind's esteem they court; and he his own.
3. Theirs the wild chase of false felicities;
His, the composed possession of the true.
Alike throughout is his consistent piece,
All of one color, and an even thread;
While party-color'd shades of happiness,
With hideous gaps between, patch up for them
A madman's robe; each puff of fortune blows
Their tatters by, and shows their nakedness.
4. He sees with other eyes than theirs; where they Behold a sun, he spies a Deity;
What makes them only smile, makes him adore.
Where they see mountains, he but atoms sees ;
An empire in his balance, weighs a grain.
They things terrestrial worship as divine :
His hopes immortal blow them by, as dust,
And leaned, in graceful attitudes, to rest.
How strikingly the course of nature tells,
By its light heed of human suffering,
That it was fashioned for a happier world!
2. King David's limbs were weary. He had fled
From far Jerusalem; and now he stood,
With his faint people, for a little rest
Upon the shore of Jordan. The light wind
Of morn was stirring, and he bared his brow
To its refreshing breath; for he had worn
The mourner's covering, and he had not felt
That he could see his people until now.
They gathered round him on the fresh green bank,
And spoke their kindly words; and, as the sun
Rose up in heaven, he knelt among them there,
And bowed his head upon his hands to pray.
3. Oh! when the heart is full-when bitter thoughts
Come crowding thickly up for utterance,
And the poor common words of courtesy
Are such a very mockery-how much
The bursting heart may pour itself in prayer!
He prayed for Israel; and his voice went up
Strongly and fervently. He prayed for those
Whose love had been his shield; and his deep tones
Grew tremulous. But, oh! for Absalom-
For his estranged, misguided Absalom-
The proud, bright being, who had burst away,
In all his princely beauty, to defy
The heart that cherished him-for him he poured,
In agony that would not be controlled,
Strong supplication, and forgave him there,
Before his God, for his deep sinfulness.
4. The pall was settled. He who slept beneath,
Was straightened for the grave; and, as the folds
Sunk to the still proportions, they betrayed
The matchless symmetry of Absalom.
His hair was yet unshorn, and silken curls
Were floating round the tassels as they swayed
To the admitted air, as glossy now
As when, in hours of gentle dalliance, bathing
The snowy fingers of Judea's girls.
His helm was at his feet: his banner, soiled
With trailing through Jerusalem, was laid
Reversed, beside him: and the jewelled hilt,
Whose diamonds lit the passage of his blade,
Rested, like mockery, on his covered brow.
5. The soldiers of the king trod to and fro, Clad in the garb of battle; and, their chief,
3. Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfin'd, And spreads a common feast for all that lives. In winter, awful Thou! with clouds and storms Around Thee thrown, tempest o'er tempest roll'd, Majestic darkness! On the whirlwind's wing, Riding sublime, thou bidst the world adore; And humblest nature with Thy northern blast. 4. Mysterious round! what skill, what force divine, Deep felt, in these appear! a simple train, Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art, Such beauty and beneficence combin'd; Shade unperceived, so softening into shade, And all so forming an harmónious whole, That as they still succeed, they ravish still.
5. But wand'ring oft, with brute unconscious gaze, Man marks not Thee, marks not the mighty hand, That, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres ; Works in the secret deep; shoots, steaming, thence The fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring; Flings from the sun direct the flaming day; Feeds ev'ry creature; hurls the tempest forth; And, as on earth this grateful change revolves, With transport touches all the springs of life. 6. Nature, attend! join every living soul, Beneath the spacious temple of the sky: In adoration join! and, ardent, raise One general song
Ye, chief, for whom the whole creation smiles,
At once the head, the heart, and tongue of all,
Crown the great hymn!
7. For me, when I forget the darling theme,
Whether the blossom blows, the summer ray
Russets the plain; inspiring autumn gleams;
Or winter rises in the blackʼning east ;
Be my tongue mute, may fancy paint no more,
And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat!
8. Should fate command me to the farthest verge
Of the green earth, to distant barb'rous climes,
Rivers unknown.to song; where first the sun
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam
Flames on th' Atlantic isles; 'tis nought to me;
Since God is ever present, ever felt,
His hands convulsively, as if in prayer;
And, as a strength were given him of God,
He rose up calmly, and composed the pall
Firmly and decently, and left him there,
As if his rest had been a breathing sleep.
The Miami Mounds.*-S. L. FAIRFIELD.
1. WRECKS of lost nations! monuments of deeds,
Immortal once-but all forgotten now!
Mysterious ruins of a race unknown,
As proud of ancestry, and pomp, and fame—
Prouder, perchance, than those who ponder here
O'er what their wild conjectures cannot solve !
Who raised these mouldering battlements? who trod
In jealous glory on these ruined walls?-
Who reigned, who triumphed, or who perished here?
What scenes of revelry, and mirth, and crime,
And love, and hate, and bliss, and bale have passed?
Ah! none can tell.
Oblivion's dusky folds
Shroud all the past, and none may lift the pall;
Or, if they could, what would await the eye
Of antique research, but the fleshless forms
Of olden time; dark giant bones that tell-
Nothing! "dim mysteries of the earth and air!
Since human passions met in conflict here,
The woods of centuries have grown-and oft
And long, the timid deer hath bounded o'er
The sepulchre of warriors, and wild birds
Sung notes of love o'er slaughter's crimson field,
And the gaunt wolf, and catamount, and fox
Have made their couches in the embattled towers
Of dauntless chiefs, nor dreamt of danger there!
Princes and kings-the wise, the great, the good,
May slumber here, and blend their honored dust
* In various parts of the Western States, numerous remains of fortifications, and mounds of earth have been discovered, which have excited the astonishment and curiosity of all who have seen or heard of them. Some of these fortifications are small, while others enclose 40 or 50 acres of land. The mounds are built in the form of a sugar-loaf, and were undoubtedly used for burying places, as they are found to contain human bones. They must have been built at a very remote period, as trees several hundred years old are often seen growing upon them, and the present race of Indians have no tradition respecting their origin. They indicate great labour, and were evidently the work of a people who had made some advances in civilization, and who possessed considerable knowledge in the business of fortifications.
With Freedom's soil; and navies may have rode
On the same wave that bears our starry sails.
3. Here heroes may have bled to win a name
On Glory's sunbright scroll, and prophets watched
Their holy shrines, whose fires no longer glow.
Sweet rose and woodbine bowers around these walls
May once have bloomed less fragrant and less fair
Than the fond hearts that blended, and the lips
That pressed in passions rapture; and these airs,
That float unconscious by, may have been born
Of gales, that bore Love's soft enchanting words.
But all is silent now as Death's own halls!
4. Empires have perished where these forests tower
In desolate array-and nations sunk,
With all their glories, to the darkling gulf
Of cold forgetfulness! But what avails
The uncertain guest, the dark and wildering search
For those whose spirits have but passed away
To the dark land of shadows and of dreams,
An hour before our own? Why in amaze
Behold these shattered walls, when other times
Shall hang in wondering marvel o'er our own
Proud cities, and inquire-" Who builded these?"
On Time.-H. K. WHITE.
1. WHо needs a teacher to admonish him
That flesh is grass?—That earthly things are mist?
What are our joys but dreams? And what our hopes
But goodly shadows in the summer cloud?
There's not a wind that blows, but bears with it
Some rainbow promise.-Not a moment flies
But puts its sickle in the fields of life,
And mows its thousands, with their joys and cares.
2. 'Tis but as yesterday, since on yon stars,
Which now I view, the Chaldee shepherd* gaz'd
In his mid-watch, observant, and dispos'd
The twinkling hosts, as fancy gave them shape.
Yet in the interim, what mighty shocks
Have buffetted mankind-whole nations razed-
Cities made desolate the polished sunk
To barbarism, and once barbaric states
Swaying the wand of science and of arts;
Illustrious deeds and memorable names
Alluding to the first Astronomical observations, made by the Chaldean shepherds.
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