The concluding orations were then spoken:

A Master's Oration, by
The Valedictory,

REV. ROBERT TRAVIS, JR.
JAMES STARR CLARK.

The exercises of the day were concluded by a benediction pronounced by the Reverend Doctor Haight, when the band struck up our national airs, and the numerous audience quietly retired, gratified, as is quite safe to assume, by the performances of the day, which long as was the time occupied, did not seem to be tedious.

The whole ceremonial; the animation of the scene; the character of the college; the imposing array of men of station and of character assembled on the platform; the whole audience; together with the general tone and delivery of the speeches, and their freedom from the exaggeration of language and sentiment, so often found in commencement exercises, combined to impart more than usual interest to this commencement, and to give assurance that this city will not permit its oldest institution of learning to halt in its progress or prosperity in the midst of the progressive prosperity of its more than half a million of inhabitants. Columbia College should be to New-York what Harvard is to Bos-a source of pride, an object of liberal foundations for scholarships, and of chairs of learning or of science, and especially for the education in the last resort, and in the highest excellence, of the youth of this great metropolis.

ton

THERE is an Altar that was once an oak
Cushioned around its foot with tufted stones,
So soft and green with moss they seem to ask

The pious pressure of the knee alone,

Too beautiful to tread on. Here, in spring,
When the pale wind-flower, the anemone,

Sprinkled the woodland paths, and arbute blossoms,
Nestled beneath last autumn's ragged shroud-
With punctual step I came, to see what havoc
Winter had made of my November wreaths:
But all were faded - leaf, and flower and stem!
Yet here's one garland that I wove from them:

Lady, in thy lonely walk,

Should'st thou nigh the altar stray,

Where the gentian's faded stalk

Yet recalls the gentle day

When we trod the woods together,

And marked November turning grey,

Though the soft air, that Indian summer weather,
And thy sweet presence, made it seem like May.

Should'st thou linger there alone,

Counting not such hours a loss,
Drop some token by the stone,
Leave some sign upon the moss;

So when next I wander thither,

In any mood of thought or prayer,

I may be certain by the leaves that wither

On the cold rock-what angel has been there.

Then, as worshippers of old

Heard strange oracles that spoke;

Heard a thousand secrets told

By the dark Thespræetian oak,

I from that rude trunk may gather

Such hope, that when I kneel again

In holy church, and humbly say, OUR FATHER."
Thy thought may strengthen my devout Amen.

The Lakes of New-York.

CAYUGA LAKE.

8 CENES AND INCIDENTS IN A PASSAGE OVER THE CAYUGA.

AURORA.

A GLIMPSE of a church-spire through the trees reveals the presence of another village, and the tourist will soon find the steamer approaching the village of Aurora. The Cayuga here expands to the width of about four miles. The eastern shore on which the village is situated, sloping gradually from the water's edge to the table-land; the houses skirting the curve of the bay, and thus fringing with animation the broad rich green, that diversified into varied fields, form the back-ground. The termination of the view, at north and south, are in coïncidence with the other features of the view. Southward, Rocky-Point, worn and bared by the constant dash of the waves, and sheltering a pine-grove just in its rear from being torn away in successive seasons by the winter storms. Northward, the little settlement of Levanna reaches out in its store-houses and dwellings to the very point, and thus flanked and fronted, lies Aurora.

The traveller will soon discover that there is evinced by the citizens of this village an appreciation of its location, where so many of the sweetest features of land and water scenery mingle in harmonious combination, and where all that is added in graceful architecture shows to the best advantage possible.

A tasteful, temple-like, summer-house rising in classic proportion from the verge of a garden, forms a winning introduction to the village, as it is approached by water from the north; and then there is a succession of gardens in differing degrees of cultivation; among which none will fail to discover the elaborate and finished care which characteristically designates the premises of a gentleman who is confessedly among the best florists of the state, and whose beautiful floritecture has been admired by the vast concourse who have been present at successive State Fairs.

There are sea-walls constructed of stones so ponderous as to seem as if they would defy the storm, and against which the waves break in the gale in ever-changing forms of beauty; and on these walls are pleasant promenades, from whence all the fairest features of the view are best seen. The neat common school-house has its prominent position on the bank; the academy, half hid by the rows of old poplars, that by their size give evidence of time, in which the place has been settled, has a convenient location. The busy dock-yard has its fore-ground of industry. A large hotel invites the traveller to its hospitality, and private dwellings, of advancing, taste, make up, in the entire view, a picture of a pleasant and a pretty village.

The expanse of lake and bay presents to the dwellers on the shore

a series of ever-changing features, varying only to present the landscape in some new combination of beauty or majesty, now reflecting the superb hues of sunsets of unsurpassed splendor; the towers and pillars and mountains of gorgeously colored clouds, hanging over the setting sun, like friends or followers at some conqueror's death scene; sometimes forming a broad road of golden fire directly banding the lake, so vivid that the eye is pained by, as well as delighted, with its richness; to be succeeded, it may be, in the still evening, by the bright and well-defined but warm pathway of light thrown from a single star. The waters are smooth as the very ideal of repose, in some of the hours, while at others, they are in all the wilder grace of waves of the deep, deep green, such as Niagara shows at that curve, the like of which the world never elsewhere sees; fringed and softened as the wave breaks by its border of foam. These are some of the pictures which are ever open in the free gallery of Nature, and like unto which, no painter painteth.

In the early part of the month of December, of the year immediately succeeding the period when the first settlers of Aurora arrived there, there was seen approaching the settlement, from the direction of the ferry, or of the bridge, as would now be said, a yawl; such an one apparently as would be in use by the larger class of vessels that navigated Lake Ontario. It was urged forward by a couple of oars which were handled (and in a manner that showed the exercise to be a practised one,) by two sailor-like-looking men. They were by no means the only occupants of the craft. It had a full complement of passengers, and the persons on shore by whom it was seen, observed that the three, who, beside the oarsmen were in it, comprised a gentleman of mature age, a lady, finely formed and young, and an old man, who seemed, like those who were at the oars, to be a sailor. There was also a full allowance of luggage of different species, but all with a neat and wellarranged air about its condition. The boat moved easily forward but not rapidly. The sailor who was in attendance sat at the bow, as if to keep a look-out, or to act as pilot. Its course was near the shore which it skirted in silence, until it reached the mouth of the small creek that runs through the southern part of the village, and which is now on or adjacent to the premises of Richard Morgan, Esq. On reaching here, it was suddenly changed in its course, and a landing was made. The lady sprang out gracefully enough, and was assisted, with the kind manner of one who was in intimate relation with her, by the gentleman. When these were from the boat, by the strength of the three sailors, she was drawn up on the beach, though heavy and unwieldy, so far as to be out of the reach of annoyance by the waves, should a heavy blow come up. This done, and the trunks, etc., brought on shore, the entire party held a brief conference, which ended, leaving the lady for the time under the protection of the crew of the boat, while the gentleman went to the nearest house.

Rather rude was the dwelling architecture of Aurora, just at that beginning of its career, but the rough exterior may hide the jewel, and the application to the very first house for temporary shelter was met by an offer of hospitality, which needed no other introduction than

the word stranger. This information was received by the girl with a delight that showed itself in the charm which pleasure ever gives to the face of beauty.

These words anticipate a description. This was Ellen Grey, daughter of Colonel Hubert Grey, whose conduct in his country's service on the continent had won for him a brilliant reputation for all that gives lustre to the soldier's character. The sailor who had acted as pilot was devotedly attached to the Colonel and his family, and had passed many years in his service, though John Gossine always declared that he had no peace on land, and that all he asked was a deck to walk on and a wave to float on. For reasons which the narrative will subsequently reveal, the Colonel had taken the rather toilsome and unusual-though by no means so unusual then as it would be now route by the way of the Oswego and Seneca river from Lake Ontario to the Cayuga lake. The boat and crew belonged to the fine fore-topsail schooner 'Chatham,' whose usual voyage was from Kingston to the settlement, then in its infancy, but now the capital of the British possessions in part Toronto. She had arrived at Oswego about a week previous, and Colonel Grey had, by enterprise and courage, and in many places of difficulty by portage and rapids, by very arduous labor, succeeded in arriving with the boat at this his place of destination. Their progress, since they entered the Cayuga, had been rapid, having been enabled to use a sail until the last two miles, when the wind utterly deserted them.

Mr. Mitchell, at whose house they found such kindness, had emigrated from Berkshire in Massachusetts; that family which has furnished statutes for every niche in society. He had heard of the fertility of these shores from the representations of Lieutenant Van Benschoten, who drew the military lot on which Aurora is situate, and who was much more eulogistic of his western possessions than careful about them. He was gratified that his country had remarked him, and there it ended. Mr. Mitchell, was a quiet, observing, and generous hearted man, and a man of the world enough to recognize that his new guests were people who had seen the pleasant things of life.

Rest and refreshment after such a journey were the first duties, and frequently during the afternoon did Colonel Grey congratulate his daughter on their having so soon found the shelter of a roof; nor did he fail to impress the fact, that they had been fortunate in John Gossine, who seemed to appreciate it, but not quite so warmly as did the Colonel.

This is a nice house, doubtless, Colonel,' said he,' and Mr. Mitchell seems to be one of the right sort; but I want to know who would want to live ashore, if he could help it. I think, Sir, that if the Chatham' was out at anchor in this pretty bay, I would rather winter aboard than in the best house there is in this place.'

The Colonel doubted whether the winds of the winter would not change his followers' opinions, if he had the opportunity to put them in practice.

While all these incidental affairs were transacting, there sprung up a north-west wind, which, though it did not blow severely, brought with it an air so keen and piercing that all the parties to our narrative were